The sun shone warm at noon, slowly bringing the temperature back up after the New Year’s cold in the northern lands.

But the soldiers of Tie Mu City had firmly barred the gates, standing at their battle positions along the walls as they usually did. The watchtower beacons were lit, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky.

Viscount Souter was alarmed as well; he sent his two younger brothers with some soldiers to investigate outside the city, while he donned his armor and took charge of the castle’s operations.

“My dear, what is happening?”

Even Richard’s mother, Lady Catherine, was shocked by the commotion.

“It’s nothing. Just a plume of black smoke, perhaps from one of the noble families’ guard patrols.”

This was a rule Richard had implemented.

Multiple watchtowers stood at various points around Tie Mu City, and any time enemies were spotted, the towers would light signal fires. A single plume indicated a minor threat, enough to warrant basic defensive maneuvers. Two plumes meant a moderate risk, requiring mobilization within the city. Three plumes indicated an overwhelmingly powerful enemy, and in such cases, in addition to fortifying defenses, the city must also prepare to evacuate.

Lady Catherine nodded worriedly before returning to the inner quarters of the castle. She was a sensible woman and understood that keeping the women of the castle under control and maintaining order within the inner quarters was her greatest contribution during these troubled times.

By now, Richard had arrived at the gates of Tie Mu City. The sight of the tightly barred gates and thick smoke rising from within gave him some small measure of relief.

If the Tie Mu City guards, who had been training diligently for this very occasion, showed no sign of alert after seeing dozens of heavily armed soldiers approaching, then he would be upset.

“This is Richard. Open the gates and stand down.”

Thanks to the fact that Richard frequently visited the soldiers at their posts, the guards knew him well despite his relatively small number of appearances.

After the captain of the guard at the gate recognized Richard, he promptly ordered his men to stand down and open the gates.

Though they did not know where these finely equipped soldiers had come from, Richard’s long-standing reputation in the city compelled them to obey his orders without question.

Richard led the System’s soldiers straight to the Wooden Iron Castle as soon as they entered Tie Mu City. The civilians watched with curiosity as this small army marched through. These soldiers were unfamiliar; they were not part of the Tie Mu City guard.

“Hey, Richard, what’s going on? Who are these people?” Richard’s second and third uncles, who had hurried over to investigate the situation, bumped into him on a street.

“Nothing, they’re soldiers I trained myself, all on our side,” Richard brushed them off.

“But why have we never seen them before?” the two uncles mumbled suspiciously.

However, they trusted Richard, so they didn’t attempt to stop the soldiers and instead joined the procession to march back toward the castle.

Upon their return, everyone was surprised by the well-equipped soldiers, and some even speculated that they were the personal guard of a noble visiting from the Marquis of the Northern Frontier’s estate or the Imperial Capital.

The soldiers produced by the System all donned iron armor, and three of them wore the more expensive full plate armor. The most bizarre among them were the Crusaders, whose full helmets made them look like iron cans.

In contrast, Richard’s Tie Mu City guards were outfitted with the more cost-effective leather armor. The Hunters were not a particularly wealthy noble family, so equipping their soldiers with expensive full plate armor was impractical.

Thus, Richard settled for the next best thing. He assembled a team of mediocre blacksmiths and artificers within the territory to establish the Hunters’ own equipment workshop. This makeshift team eventually managed to create the leather armor and iron bone helmets, which offered a good balance of cost and protection.

Unconcerned with the curiosity of the castle’s residents, Richard ordered his officers to settle the System soldiers in a separate barracks before taking the Crusader Ronen to see his father, Viscount Souter.

“Ronen, when we meet my father, let’s show him some energy and demonstrate our capabilities, alright?”

“Mm-hmm.”

The Crusader named Ronen was quiet by nature, but he gave off an impression of reliability despite his few words.

Soon, Richard brought Ronen to the front hall of the castle to meet his father.

Viscount Souter was still dressed in full plate armor, complete with greaves, which bore traces of prior repairs. However, the armor was well maintained and remained protective. Viscount Souter had already noticed Ronen standing beside him, and he turned to Richard with a questioning gaze.

“This is Ronen. He will be my deputy general from here on out.”

“Where are you sourcing these soldiers from?”

Clearly, Viscount Souter had also noticed the System soldiers. Richard hesitated slightly; he had prepared a whole stockpile of evasive lies, but he found it difficult to speak them to his father.

It would be easy to poke holes in these lies, and he could easily deceive his two uncles without a second thought, but he didn’t want to lie to Viscount Souter. “Are they reliable?”

“They are.”

“Good.”

Seeing that Richard had no intention of addressing his doubts, Saut changed the topic. He had absolute faith in his genius son and trusted that Richard had his own reasons for doing anything and everything.

“Father, it’s about time we brought an end to our conflict with the House of Will.”

“Are you certain?”

Saut might not have been familiar with the administration of territories, but he was well aware of the animosity between the Hunters and the Willers, a feud that could be considered a blood grudge.

The territories of the two noble families were right next to each other, with the Hunters’ territory even further north than the ironwood forest. Before Richard’s grandfather earned his title through merit, the vast territories adjacent to the ironwood forest had long been considered part of the Willers’ domain, and encroachment upon the forest as well as logging and selling ironwood had been routine practice for the Willers.

Unfortunately for them, Richard’s grandfather chose to claim the unclaimed territories adjacent to the ironwood forest as his fiefdom after returning from battlefields with honor. The Willers couldn’t defy the orders of the kingdom, but their grudge with the Hunters was born at that moment.

The Weylin family, on the other hand, had a much longer history. Though their current ranks included only one knight, Viscount Weylin, they boasted ten quasi-knights, and were thus stronger than the Hunters. The Weylin family had long been engaged in minor conflicts with the Hunters, occasionally encroaching upon their lands or cutting down ironwood for sale.

Historically, the Hunters had suffered minor losses in these conflicts, but Richard had managed to turn the tide in the last two years, dealing blow after blow to the Weylin family’s attempts at encroachment.

His decision to lower agricultural taxes and regulate trade had led to many of the Weylin family’s subjects fleeing to the Hunters’ lands, while caravans preferred to conduct business at Tie Mu City.

Signs of decline were apparent in the Weylin family’s territory, and as such, their attempts at mischief had become increasingly frequent, escalating to the point of kidnapping merchants and crossing into neighboring territory to pursue escaped peasants.

In essence, the Weylin family’s actions were not inherently wrong. The prosperity of Tie Mu City inevitably led to the decline of the Weylin family, and a more serious conflict between the two was only a matter of time.

“Ronen.”

In response to Viscount Souter’s question, Richard gave no direct answer, instead gesturing for Ronen to step forward.

Ronen nodded and stepped up, a faint green energy igniting around him.

Saut stared at Ronen in disbelief.

“A knight?” Saut asked, incredulous.

“Indeed,” Richard confirmed.

Saut looked at Ronen, then prepared to say something more.

“Ronen, return to the barracks for now. Someone will arrange a private residence for you.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ronen retreated to the door, saluted respectfully, and left for the barracks.

Only after his footsteps faded did Souter lower his voice. “Is he reliable?”

“Absolutely.”

Viscount Souter clenched and relaxed his hands several times. “Richard.”

“Father.”

“Do as you think is best.”

“Understood.”

After Richard left, Viscount Souter drew his sword again, as if to vent his inner turmoil, and made a few practice swings before sheathing the blade, once more composed.

“Perhaps the Hunters will one day be a force to be reckoned with in the northern lands.”