Return to Morante
Here you go: the fourth chapter of the week!
Please note that this chapter is still unedited.
Lorist left Silowas for The Northlands along with the Dinas. The young aunt of the Dina sisters, Dilianna, had already bee Lorist's concubine. As for Arriotoli, the elder Dina sister, she was prideful, maintaining her relationship with Lorist as lovers while also training hard to bee the first female knight of the Dina house.
As for her sister, the second mistress of the Dina house, she had expanded her horizons after meeting Lorist. As she enjoyed Lorist's treatment and hospitality, she grew intimate with him and even flirted with him often, sometimes seeming envious of what her aunt was doing as well. She did express that she did not mind being Lorist's concubine, much to her elder sister's displeasure. It seemed like it would not take long before she fell to Lorist's 'demonic grasps'.
Lorist had the Dinas move into Firmrock Castle, solving the problem of him having to spend his nights alone. Since Arriotoli wanted to bee a knight, Lorist helped her reorganize her training routine and content. Within a year and a half or so, she would definitely achieve her ambitions.
As for her brother, the heir of the Dina house, he already had a training plan prepared for him at the young age of eleven. Given the early death of the late Baron Dina when the boy was only two, and the subsequent passing of her mother from grief, the child grew to have a rather weak constitution as an indirect consequence of his parents' absence. Lorist decided that he would first work on mending the boy's physique before sending him off a year later to the Nico Academy, which would be launched by Telesti soon. He would continue his studies there for the next three years as he matures before having his battleforce awakened and beginning his knight training course.
Lorist felt substantially more relaxed upon returning to The Northlands. Even though the weird situation at the Andinaq kingdom did worry him, being isolated from the kingdom made him feel a kind of relief. He could finally decide the fate of his house on his own terms. The next course of action for him was to consider carefully the next action he would take.
Lorist did not wish to launch another military campaign right away. After all, the forces of the house had just been expanded and would still require a little more time to be up to proper shape for bat. Additionally, many household knights had taken a vacation to break through to the gold rank, not to mention the refugees recruited from the Andinaq kingdom would require time to be settled down. That was the reason for Lorist's decision to stay put for the next two years within the dominion. On one hand, he could observe the changing situation outside, on the other, he could use the opportunity to sneak in some of Furybear's agents into the four central duchies, given that the Norton house had almost no way of gaining information from there.
The 100 thousand plus refugees brought over from the Andinaq kingdom had departed for the western part of The Northlands where a new settlement was being prepared. It was called the Greatriver settlement. Like Salus and Redriver Valley, Greatriver would also have eight knight manors built there.
At the end of the 11th month, Count kenmays, Baron Felim and Baron Shazin once again came to Firmrock Castle. While the main reason was the distribution of dividends from the salt merchant mittee, the other was for them to spend winter at the castle together to improve the relationship of the four houses.
Count Kenmays looked at the three beauties from the Dina house with drool dripping down the side of his mouth, thinking that while his number of maidservants far surpassed that of Lorist, their quality was vastly inferior. He also managed to get Lorist to abide by his word to bring him to Morante. Baron Felim and Baron Shazin were both interested in making the trip as well, so Lorist decided that he would bring them there during the 5th month next year to expand their horizons.
During that time, Howard came crying to Lorist. The reason was that his fiancee Katrina, the 17-year-old daughter of Baron Felim, had failed her battleforce awakening, causing her to be in a rather sour mood during her visit to Firmrock Castle with her father. In the end, Howard had no choice but to seek Lorist for help on the matter.
Lorist laughed out loud and invited Baron Feilm and his daughter to his study. After giving Katrina a pulse reading, Lorist told them that the reason for her failed attempt was from a cold she had suffered when she was young, the effects of which still remained, with traces of 'cold' energy still within her blood. As long as she goes through some simple reconditioning, she would be fine. He also mentioned that if the baron did not mind, he should leave Katrina at Firmrock Castle and said that he was confident that she would be able to successfully awaken her battleforce in another half year. Filled with joy, Baron Felim placed his daughter in Lorist's care. Lorist drafted an eating routine and some herbal medicine prescriptions and left the rest of the matter to Howard.
The nobles lived lavish lives even at a time like winter, unlike the moners who mostly stayed in their houses, doing nothing but eating and sleeping. Thanks to a variety of magic beast furs, the forces of the Norton house were properly prepared to venture around in the cold weather. Lorist brought his three allies on a sled and traveled to the wastelands for a hunting trip. They ended up returning with a whole bunch of magic beasts, mostly carnivores that had took the initiative to attack their party, relinquishing the need to search for hunting targets on the snowfield.
By the time they returned to the dominion from the wastelands, it was already the 2nd month of the new year, and the rainy season was upon them. Following the rainy season was the winter harvests, so the three allies of the Nortons returned to their own dominions and would only return after overseeing their winter harvests. They would then head to Northsea and sail towards Morante to experience it for themselves.
During the 3rd month, Lorist received two pieces of good news: Irina, who was living at Maplewoods Bastide, gave birth to a son, whereas Telesti, who was staying at Nico Academy that was situated at the borders of Wildnorth Town and Bladedge Mountains, had given birth to another daughter. The latter had named the child Nico Freycia, bearing the family name of her mother, much to Lorist's displeasure.
In the 4th month, Howard sent over good news from Firmrock Castle, mentioning that his fiancee Katrina had successfully awakened her battleforce. Howard was pletely overjoyed and brought Katrina to Maplewoods Bastide with him to see the newborn child of Irina.
On the 24th day of the 5th month, the three allied families and the three Dina women all went to Northsea. It was on that day when Lorist started his journey there to meet up with them. After that, all of them boarded a brand new merchant vessel bearing the same name as the port city and sailed towards Morante.
Northsea was a brand new large-class, long-distance merchant vessel. The only difference between it and other mon ships of that class was that it was designed to transport people, with emphasis on providing a speedy and fortable journey instead of transporting more cargo. She had received the best features possessed by traditional merchant ships while also having a luxuriously decorated inner cabin. Lorist was prepared to have a few more similar ships built so that he could use them as ferries from Silowas to Northsea.
After boarding the Northsea, Lorist was successively bedded by the three Dinas. Dilianna wanted to give birth to Lorist's child as soon as possible so that she can have a decent standing in the house. Arriotoli on the other hand was rather irritated at the fact that Lorist's only concubine, Irina, had given birth to two of his sons that were both drafted into the family registry of the Nortons. There was no doubt that the mother and sons had rather high statuses in the house. Even if Lorist were to take an official wife, that concubine could rely on her two sons to maintain her status. Even though Arriotoli's wish was to bee the first female knight of the Dina house, that did not stop her from venting her frustrations on Lorist in bed.
As for Fennazali, the second Dina mistress, all she wished for was for her to be able to keep living her current life. She did not have any lofty ambitions, wanting only to live a good and fortable life, and being Lorist's woman was one of the easiest methods to achieve that. Thus, she laid with Lorist, albeit shyly, during her first time. As her aunt Dilianna was there to help her, she did not suffer much during her first experience and smoothly became Lorist's lover as she had wished.
Arriotoli did not have much thoughts about her younger sister's decisions. After one of their tiring rounds of bedsport, she warned Lorist not to treat her sister ill in any way. Lorist merely snickered and said, "Rather than looking out for your sister, you should worry about yourself. I haven't had enough yet."
The Dina mistress retorted stubbornly, "Hmph, bring it on!
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