“My Lord, you are already twenty-two, it’s time you had a virtuous wife…”
In the Valley Wood Fort, Old Butler Cooper’s tone was surprisingly consistent with Baroness Galvin’s.
During the family banquet at Sap Fort, Baroness Galvin subtly indicated that they did not mind Art’s commoner status and hoped to marry Lottie, Baron Galvin’s only daughter, to Art.
At the same time, Baron Galvin hoped that Art could, in his name, lead no less than ten self-armed Soldiers from the Patrol Team to Tinietz County City to assemble and enlist for military service. These ten conscripted Soldiers were the military service quota assigned to Tinietz County. Additionally, Baron Galvin had to dispatch fifty of his own private troops, led by his knights, to campaign for his liege lord (Baron Galvin’s liege lord was not Viscount Pierre). As a noble unfamiliar with military affairs, dealing with his liege lord’s military service was already overwhelming, so the military service assigned by Tinietz could only be outsourced.
Of course, all expenses during the substitute service period would be paid by Baron Galvin.
Baron Galvin’s second matter was essentially hiring Art’s Patrol Team at a high price to substitute for military service. Art had no intention of remaining a bystander in the turbulent times ahead, so he readily accepted. Since it was an employment relationship, Art did not stand on ceremony with Baron Galvin—first, Art demanded two sets of leather armor, five broadswords, battle axes, and war hammers, five short spears, and two hundred light and heavy arrows as weapon supplies for the campaign; second, Baron Galvin had to pay each of the ten substitute Patrol Team Soldiers a daily wage of ten fennies until the Court announced the end of their service; third, the ten substitute Soldiers would nominally be led by Deputy Captain Odo of the Patrol Team. Art also promised that the hired Patrol Team Soldiers would bear the responsibility for their own casualties, but all war spoils would be theirs.
Baron Galvin had to focus all his energy on trade with Provence and providing military service to his superior liege lord, so he readily accepted all of Art’s conditions, signed an employment contract with Art, and wrote Art a sealed document proving that Odo was the Commander of the Soldiers dispatched by Baron Galvin to Tinietz County for military service.
As for Art’s marriage to Miss Lottie, Art did not give a clear answer, because marrying a noble lady as a commoner would inevitably put Art in a passive position before Baron Galvin in the future, and he also wanted to ally with a powerful noble lady in the future to rise up.
“My Lord, I don’t understand matters of war, but you really should consider marriage. Not to mention that men in ordinary farmer families marry and have children at fourteen or fifteen, even in ordinary noble families, sixteen or seventeen is the time for marriage. Although you are determined to wipe away family shame and revive your family, this does not prevent you from marrying and having children, does it?”
Cooper leaned close to Art’s ear and whispered, “Moreover, if you can marry Miss Lottie, perhaps your cause of family revival can even gain the support of the Hugues Family, can’t it?”
After listening to the Old Butler, Art pondered for a long time, then asked Odo, Roen, and the others sitting around the long table in the Wood Fort, “Everyone, what do you think about this matter?”
Odo and the others had only seen Miss Lottie once or twice in Sap Fort and did not know much about Baron Galvin’s only daughter.
Odo answered softly, “My Lord, this is your private matter, and we shouldn’t say too much, but I think you can consider this. Putting everything else aside, I think Miss Lottie is very suitable to be a virtuous wife. Although she is a noble lady, she has none of the affectation of a noble lady, nor the arrogance of typical noble ladies.”
Kazak also chuckled in agreement, “Yes, at Lord Galvin’s banquet last time, Miss Lottie took the initiative to toast you several times…”
Everyone at the square table expressed their opinions in a few words, but their unanimous view was that Art should marry Miss Lottie.
“My Lord, the Valley Wood Fort also needs a kind and virtuous mistress,” Scott, sitting at the end of the long table, made a brief concluding remark.
Art looked up and said, “Alright, since Lord Galvin and Miss Lottie don’t mind me, a commoner without status, there’s no need for me to pretend. I’ll write to Lord Galvin in a moment and tell him that after the Court’s service ends, I’ll go to Sap and get engaged to Miss Lottie!”
Cheers erupted in the Wood Fort.
Art raised his hand to quiet the cheers, “Alright, let’s talk about the matter of sending troops for Baron Galvin’s military service…”
According to the agreement with Baron Galvin, Art’s Patrol Team would dispatch ten armed infantrymen and one cavalryman (representing Baron Galvin himself) to Tinietz County for registration, then follow Viscount Pierre to the Court to assemble into an army, and then be arranged by the Court to defend the border or participate in battles at the front line.
Art had not intended to only send Odo with ten Soldiers. He planned to actively seek out the Court Minister of Public Security after the Patrol Team had rested and trained for a period, requesting the Minister of Public Security to allow him to lead the Patrol Team’s Soldiers to the eastern border to participate in combat. If he was lucky enough to achieve military merit in the war against Swabia, he might be able to obtain a knight’s title with the help of Bishop Olov, and then his ambition for dominance could advance a step further…
However, Art did not expect that such an opportunity would not require him to strive for it; sometimes luck (or misfortune) would always come knocking…
On the third day after returning to the Valley Wood Fort, Art was supervising the Patrol Team Soldiers’ training in the open space outside the Wood Fort when Lawrence, who had been responsible for supervising the prisoners of war building the carriage road to the edge of the dense forest in the north, rushed back to the Wood Fort in a hurry and found Art.
Lawrence had clearly run back non-stop all the way. When he stood before Art, he was pale, lips purple, and clearly exhausted. Art had Roen quickly help Lawrence rest for a moment and drink a few sips of clear water.
Having recovered, Lawrence reported an important piece of news to Art—while building the carriage road in the dense forest, they had discovered black smoke rising from the wilderness outside the dense forest. Lawrence led men to scout the edge of the dense forest. The thick smoke was rising several miles from the edge of the dense forest. Lawrence dared not leave the dense forest to scout more closely, so he rushed back to the Wood Fort to give the alarm.
“Odo, assemble the Soldiers and prepare for action.”
“Roen, take your Sentry Cavalry and come out with me,” Art thought of something and quickly called Roen back to the Wood Fort to fetch horses and saddles to rush with him to scout the northern edge of the dense forest.
Originally, Art had told both Viscount Pierre and Baron Antayas that if there was an emergency, they should find him at the Patrol Team’s station tens of miles south of Laine Manor, at the edge of the dense forest. The messenger only needed to light a pile of black smoke, and he would rush over. However, Art could not rule out the possibility of an enemy attack, so he had Odo prepare for battle.
Most of the carriage road leading to the northern edge of the dense forest had already been built. Art, with Roen, Jason, and Leide, three Sentry Cavalry, galloped along the newly opened carriage road in the forest, arriving at the road construction site in less than an hour.
There were two temporary shelters at the construction site, one for the prisoners of war and the other for the Fort Guard peasant Soldiers. At this time, the busy construction site had quieted down. Cooper directed the Fort Guard peasant Soldiers to herd all the prisoners of war back into their shelters for custody, then personally led three brave young peasant Soldiers with short swords to guard the end of the carriage road near the dense forest.
Seeing Art and his companions arrive on horseback, a peasant Soldier guarding the prisoners of war stepped forward to report the situation. Art signaled the peasant Soldier to call Cooper and the others back.
A moment later, Cooper returned to the construction site and walked to Art, saying, “My Lord, there’s no situation at the edge of the dense forest for now.”
“Good, Cooper, you all stop work and stay on guard. We’ll go out and check the situation first.”
… … … … … … … …
The two riders in the wilderness throwing dried wolf dung into the bonfire were indeed cavalrymen under Viscount Pierre. A few days ago, they had been assigned a tough task—to find the Tinietz Southern Border Patrol Team’s station at the edge of the dense forest, twenty-five miles south of Laine Manor, past a Giant Stone Pile, and deliver a letter to Patrol Officer Art.
The two riders knew that bandits were rampant in the south and that this journey was quite dangerous, so after receiving this task, they were extremely reluctant and tried every means to shirk it, until Lord Pierre’s adjutant promised a heavy reward, after which the two of them, displaying Viscount Pierre’s banner, walked and stopped on their way to the southern border region. Whenever they passed through villages, forts, or manors along the way, they would stop to rest and inquire. If there was any news of bandits, they would firmly refuse to move, insisting on staying in the manor or village fort for a day or two until the bandit threat subsided before continuing their journey.
Lazily traveling one day and resting two, it took them six days to reach the wilderness Giant Stone Pile. There, they encountered a few lone wilderness wolves, which scared them into running in all directions, causing them to get lost. They wandered in the wilderness for two days before basically finding the right place…
In any case, the two had roughly found the vicinity of the Patrol Team’s so-called station. So, they lit a bonfire with wolf dung added to it, about three miles from the edge of the dense forest. They only planned to wait one day in this desolate, uninhabited place. If no one from the Patrol Team appeared by tomorrow morning, they would turn tail and leave.
… … … … … … … …
Art and his four riders arrived at the place where the thick smoke was rising and saw two Soldiers throwing wolf dung and green branches into the bonfire. After confirming that there was no danger in the vicinity, Art led Roen forward on horseback.
One of the Soldiers by the bonfire spotted the two cavalrymen approaching from the south and quickly pulled his companion, leading their warhorses, ready to flee for their lives…
After a while, the Soldiers realized that the two riders approaching them had no hostile intentions and calmly waited in place.
Art and Roen dismounted and slowly approached the bonfire.
“Patrol Officer, My Lord!!!”
“Patrol Officer, My Lord???”
The two almost simultaneously shouted the same words, but with two different emotions: one of shock and one of joy.
The one who was shocked recognized Art, because last winter, at the north gate of Tinietz, Art had thrown a bloody bandit head to their minor leader. That leader had returned so terrified that he became somewhat demented, and even now, the mad minor leader was still receiving exorcism from the priests in the Tinietz church, so he was startled by Art’s sudden appearance.
The one who was joyful also recognized Art, because when Art was still a forest hunter, that fellow had received a lot of drink money from Art, and of course, he had also saved Art a lot of taxes. After last winter, he had been transferred to the bandit suppression team, so he did not know that this former hunter had transformed into the Court Southern Border Public Security Patrol Officer, and thus felt extremely delighted.
“Patrol Officer, My Lord? You’ve become Patrol Officer, My Lord! I knew you wouldn’t be a hunter your whole life, and I was right!” Compared to the startled Soldier, this Soldier, who was once “familiar” with Art, was much more relaxed.
“Roen, tell Jason and the others to come over, it’s safe here.”
Roen blew a loud whistle towards the small hill behind them.
Art turned to the “familiar” Soldier and said, “Brother Wall, long time no see, are you well?”
The Soldier named Wall looked at the two fully armed cavalrymen following Art from behind, swallowed, “My Lord, I—I’m very well—you’re truly impressive now, you even have three armed cavalrymen under you.”
Art patted Wall’s shoulder and said, “You’ve worked hard, Brother Wall. You’re here to deliver a letter to Lord Pierre, aren’t you? Where’s the letter?”
Only then did the other Soldier come to his senses. He quickly went to the satchel in front of his saddle, took out a well-preserved sealed letter, and respectfully handed it to Art.