“I’ll leave the town to you, Sir Charles,” Adam said, tipping his helmet. “I hope you’ll remember the advice I give you.”

Sir Charles merely bowed his head in response, watching as the group began to make their way out, continuing on their journey to bring the various different baronies to heel. With Adam was the newly appointed knight’s grandson, Charles Junior, or Junior as he was known by most.

The Count had left behind a knight and a quarter of his soldiers, while taking along half the soldiers which Adam had pardoned, leaving the other half behind. He was certain his soldiers could hold out in the castle if anything were to happen. He disagreed with Adam’s actions, pardoning all the soldiers, though he understood the pragmatic decisions behind it. Yet the young man wouldn’t hear of even killing a single soldier to send a message.

“I have sent my message, loud and clear,” the young man had stated the previous day, before the rest of his army had even arrived at the castle.

‘He’s dancing far too close to the sun…’

They continued to march forward, towards the nearby villages, who were now under their domain. Adam made sure to greet the chiefs of the various villages, bringing them each pieces of silver and brass he had taken from the treasury. The army received small bags of flour and moved along their way.

They camped within a village, almost doubling its residents for the night, but continued along the next morning. The heat of the summer days were brutal, but this army had something no other army possessed in the land, and that was Adam.

Trick: Tricks

Adam sipped his cool water, glad that he was able to use simple magics to assist with the heat of the Sun Father. “We really had to go during the summer?”

“Battles are most just during the second season,” Count Moonglow stated. “The Sun Father will watch over the most noble.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Adam replied, sighing. ‘That’s how it always is…’

“Adam, are you okay?” Jaygak asked, riding up beside him.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“…” Jaygak pat his back. “Let’s bring back a lot of gifts.”

A wide smile crept along his face, before he nodded. “Yeah.”

As evening descended across them, they approached the town, which had already formed its armies outside the walls, at least three hundred strong, though most were peasants with farm utensils. The baroness, a young woman adorned in full plate, with a brass blade at her side, rode forward with her knights.

“Count Moonglow,” the young woman greeted, bowing her head gently.

“Baroness Brasswall,” the Count replied, bowing his head in a similar fashion.

“You have come to conquer me, but know that it will not be easy, for our walls are tough.”

“I ask that you bend the knee to me and I will allow you to continue to work as you have.”

“We of the Brasswalls once ruled over the nearby lands, though not quite to Rockcastle or Moonglow, and though we have lost our distant lands, we have never bent the knee. That will not end with me this year.”

“There is no need for bloodshed, not when there are greater evils to point our blades against.”

“How many times has this cycle repeated, Count? It will not end even if you are to raise your blade.” The young Baroness let out a gentle sigh, looking beyond the Count, beyond his army, and beyond even the sky. “You’re shaking the balance needlessly.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Aren’t you too young to be lecturing me?”

“If you cannot see it, then it’s to blades.”

“It’s to blades.”

The pair raised their blades, before they retreated. Adam wondered if he could have spoken up, but seeing the resolute eyes of the young woman, he sighed. ‘Damn it.’

“Sorry, Jurot. I don’t think I could have spoken up…”

“Okay,” Jurot replied, nodding his head.

Mana: 21 -> 18

Mana: 18 -> 15

Mana: 15 -> 12

Count Moonglow watched as the soldiers retreated back to their town, and the gates quickly shut. He rode up to the charred body of the nobles, the Baroness and her knights, finding one knight atop her to try and protect her, though it had been useless.

“It is a shame you did not bend the knee, Baroness Brasswall,” the Count said as the soldiers began to cremate the dead outside, before he began to deal with the town.

“A word of advice,” Adam said, riding up to the count. “You want people to love you as their king.”

“Punishments must be meted out appropriately.”

“The Baroness you just killed didn’t look at the bigger picture, and now you’re burying her. We can only protect you until the fourth season, and then we’re going to head back home. You? You’ve got to live with these people.” Adam tipped his helmet, before retreating away from him.

Junior sat with Robert, frozen in shock. Robert held up a piece of bread for the young man, who took it with a shaky hand, and bit into it.

‘A Night Lord!’

“Here,” Jurot said, placing down a small bowl of freshly made porridge. “Eat it slowly. It will help.”

“Thank you, Sir Jurot.”

Jurot’s neck pulled taut as he was called Sir, but he remained silent. Adam had bullied Jurot into taking the dishonour of being a sir. If it weren’t for Adam complaining about how he also felt bad about it, Jurot would have refused, but to allow his brother to suffer alone? Kitool and Jaygak had almost refused too, but Jurot joined in on bullying them before they also relented.

“Are you okay?” Jaygak asked.

Adam stared at the burnt bodies which were being piled onto the pyres. “Let’s bring back a lot of gifts.”

As the days passed, they continued their march forward, managing to take several villages and towns with minimal losses. Adam’s Fireballs was the greatest weapon that any army possessed within the lands. He had even used the Fireballs against the horde of giant lizards which had come across the party, much to the Count’s chagrin.

“I’d rather use it against beasts than people,” Adam stated, with almost a furious glare within his eyes when the Count had informed him of how much the giant lizards were worth.

They also came across various armies which were out to conquer the lands, and Jurot was finally able to duel appropriately. He defeated each army’s greatest warrior before Adam rained Fireballs upon the armies which chose not to surrender.

Within a month, Count Moonglow had brought over a half dozen towns under his fold, and he raised Adam and Gerald into counts too.

“You want me to kneel?” Count Moonglow asked, surprised Adam could still shock him.

“These ceremonies are important, Count,” Adam stated. “If you don’t do this much for the nobles beneath you, resentment will grow. You want to make sure you’re working with your partners, or as you might call them, your lessers. If you don’t, then continue looking over your shoulder for the daggers they’ll send your way.”

“I am to be a king,” Count Moonglow declared, his eyes glaring deep into Adam’s eyes.

“A king for a day, or a king for a century?” Adam asked.

‘A century?’ Count Moonglow could already feel how heavy his body had become, even as they rode forward to bring all the towns to heel.

“The ceremony shall be only once for each ranking, save perhaps for the title of duke, and since you’ll be a king, you’ll only need to do it once. It’ll be only before your dukes and duchesses, who will need at least this much from you. It will be expected of them to raise you to kinghood, and if they use that ceremony to grab power, then you will know who your enemies are out in the open.” Adam inhaled deeply. “The Moonglows can be in power for one generation, or they will be a dynasty lasting thousands of years. It is up to you to pick which you would like.”

“You are going too far, Count Fateson.”

“I’m telling you what I’ve seen, Count Moonglow. What I am doing is giving you the keys to make sure your realm is stable from your people. I can’t deal with everything, but this much should give your lords pause in trying to deal with you. Some might want more power, but with this much power? They should be satisfied for a while. Those who are stronger may want to vie for greater power, but the other nobles will recall how you treated them, and the people? They’ll love you too. If you can do that much, the people will want you in power, even if they are worse for it.”

“…”

After the ceremony, with the Count kneeling to take his title as a margrave, Adam returned back to his group.

‘I’ve earned quite a bit of XP, and they should level up soon too. How the hell do people learn magic though? How am I going to get Robert to be a…’ Robert and Junior had been fighting on the battlefield with Jurot, Jaygak, and Kitool guiding them, but Adam still needed to work them hard.

The group began to return back to their original town, having conquered enough, but needing to settle the towns they had already conquered. Adam’s group had gained quite a few baronies, and they had been given to Jaygak and Kitool to administer, while Adam raised Robert to the status of a baron, and his heir.

“Count Fateson,” Margrave Moonglow called during one night within a village, staring beyond its walls, the moonlight illuminating the land beyond.

“What the hell is that?” Adam asked, narrowing his eyes.

Margave Moonglow finally realised Adam wasn’t a Night Lord.