103: Second level lord

When Kovenreid left with the signed contract, his steel boots clanged on the floor.

Randall and Old Hather gathered in the living room to report the progress of various tasks to me.

"He hid fifteen additional clauses in the quote." The Holy Knight dripped melted wax onto the newly arrived sealing stamp, "...additional Flame Fist uniform armor fees, including the Flame Fist's privilege to purchase military rations in your territory at below market price.

However, they are mostly standard requirements for the Flame Fist.

Tomorrow morning, sixteen Flame Fists, four Iron Hands, and one Elite Guard will report to the market.

Each Iron Hand will lead four Flame Fists to form a squad, and the Elite Guard will command the entire force, directly answering to your orders."

"As expected, it went smoothly," I said, "Old Hather, buy a few more horses today, and first thing tomorrow morning, Randall will send a squad to Eileen Village to relieve the Amn Trade Company's guards."

"Yes, My Lord. The horses are being carefully fed and prepared. They will reach Eileen Village by tomorrow night." Old Hather's quill scratched on the parchment.

"Old Hather, tell me about the bounty missions you learned from the town crier in the square this morning," I continued to ask.

"The first is to find the true culprit of the serial murders, with a reward of 10,000 gold coins. Four people have died consecutively in Gorebest over the past two months, one every half month, and their deaths are very bizarre, even the Flame Fist cannot solve them.

The second is to combat bandits; the city hall is purchasing each bandit's left ear for 1 gold coin.

Some mercenaries and adventurers in the town have already begun to clear out the nearby bandits, but only within a few miles; those who have gone further have not yet returned.

Third, for whoever finds the bandits' lair, upon verification, the city hall will offer a reward of 1,000 gold coins.

Fourth, for whoever eradicates the bandits' lair, the city hall will offer a reward of 10,000 gold coins.

Fifth, eradicate the Gnolls.

To the south, there are not only bandits but also man-eating Gnolls.

The Gnoll lair is said to be in Quagmire Fortress, at the westernmost end of the Cloudpeak Mountains.

For some unknown reason this year, a large number of Gnolls are going out to hunt humans.

I heard that the city lord personally issued a decree: whoever can completely solve the Gnolls of Quagmire Fortress, he will recognize that person as the new master of Quagmire Fortress.

And a reward of 50,000 gold coins will be given to the successful person.

Unfortunately, no one has dared to take on this order so far; Quagmire Fortress is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and no one knows how many Gnolls there are in the Cloudpeak Mountains." Old Hather stopped writing and reported all the official bounty missions he had inquired about during the day.

"Quagmire Fortress is closer to the Lord's territory, posing a greater threat to us than to Gorebest," Randall said.

I unfolded the map, my fingertip gently tracing the winding outline of the Cloudpeak Mountains, finally settling on Saint Cavell Valley to its west.

The symbol for Quagmire Fortress was marked with a danger sign.

It was directly south of Black Panther Fortress, with a treacherous Ogre territory in between.

The Halfling teachers had also mentioned Quagmire Fortress before, solemnly warning me that that direction was very dangerous.

And now, the situation had new developments.

The Gnolls had avoided the Ogres to the north and were quietly spreading northeast, preying on humans.

Then my territory...

At this thought, my heart tightened.

"Old Hather, go immediately and buy twenty-one horses, choose good ones." I turned to the Holy Knight and continued, "Randall, you notify Kovenreid to dispatch 21 soldiers tonight to rush to Eileen Village for garrison duty.

I will wait for you at the market to bring people over; tonight we will move into the small house at the market.

Tomorrow, an additional 10 soldiers will report to the market."

"You alone... let John and them follow you, go by carriage." Randall stood ramrod straight.

"Good, you tell John to arrange it, Old Hather will come with me." With that, I prepared to leave.

"Wait, My Lord, the mages you previously instructed me to find, I have found two, and they are waiting downstairs to see you," Old Hather hastily said.

"Randall, after you've arranged with John, go directly to the Flame Fist. While the carriage is being prepared, Old Hather, bring them up to see me.

Have four Flame Fists come in as guards." I thought for a moment and changed my mind.

The two young mages, both in their twenties, were a brother and sister from Gorebest.

The brother, Wesley Sharuiven, 22 years old, was a Level 3 Abjuration Specialist Mage; the sister, Lucie Sharuiven, 21 years old, was a Level 2 Evocation Specialist Mage.

Both were students of Candlekeep and also the second son and second daughter of the Sha Ruiwen family in Gorebest.

They were currently home for the holidays and could be hired until April, with a daily fee of 30 gold coins per person.

After understanding the general scope of work, the siblings expressed no problems.

I was very satisfied with their performance; although they were both junior mages like me, their mage levels were higher than mine, and their attitude towards everyone during communication was also good.

Their noble upbringing was fully evident in them at this moment.

After some consideration, I decided to sign a three-month contract with them.

The moment the contract was signed, my Lord level increased!

Including the temporary workers recruited in the market today, my number of subjects had just exceeded 100.

At this point, my Lord level had already risen to Level 2.

On my personal attribute panel, it also showed that my current spell power, weapon power, and skill check advantage had increased by 2%, and by 4% within my territory.

The updated territory information is as follows—

[Territory Name]: Black Panther Fortress, Eileen Village

[Lord Level]: Level 2

Note: The Lord's personal profession level is greater than Level 3 and the number of subjects is greater than 1000 to upgrade.

[Lord Prestige]: 50

[Number and Area of Territories]: Total 2 territories

Territory No. 1: Mage Stronghold (Black Panther Fortress), 0.0041833 square kilometers

Territory No. 2: Eileen Village and large territory, 1669 square kilometers

[Number of Subjects]: 101 people

Subjects include: 1 Holy Knight, 2 Holy Knight Squires, 1 Business Manager, 82 Villagers.

Temporary subjects include: 3 Red Canyon villager helpers, 4 temporary Flame Fist mercenaries, 2 temporary mage mercenaries, 6 temporary laborers.

[Territory Officials]: 1 Steward, 1 Business Manager, 1 Village Chief

[Territory Resources]: ...

[Territory Facilities]: ...

[Economic Indicators]: 2, Trade Company 1 (various goods)

[Military Strength]: Army 24 people (including 3 temporary guards, not counted as temporary subjects.)

Includes 1 Commander (Lord), 1 Holy Knight, 2 Holy Knight Squires, 4 Flame Fist mercenaries (temporary), 2 mage mercenaries (temporary), 11 militiamen...

Weapons and Equipment: various

Training Level: Lord (Level 3 Hunter and Level 1 Mage) Junior, Holy Knight (Level 7) Intermediate, Holy Knight Squires (Level 0) Junior, 4 Flame Fist mercenaries (Level 1 Warrior) Junior, 2 mage mercenaries (1 Level 3 Abjuration Specialist Mage, 1 Level 2 Evocation Specialist Mage)...

Defense Capability: 16

Combat Power: 6

[Diplomatic Relations]: None

[Magic and Technology]:

Number of Mages: 1

Magic Items: ... (lists all magic items owned by the host, quantity and quality)

Magic Inventions: 1 (Flame Arrow)

Technological Inventions and Applications: 0

[Special Events and Missions]:

I. Follow-up mission for land transfer registration at Gorebest Government Secretary's Office: ...