Chương 405: 400. Paranoia

Kivamus shook his head.

"I say the previous baron of this village was not paranoid enough. And see where that got him. Either way, we simply can't afford to be taken by surprise if a large number of bandits or mercenaries attack us.

"In Nokozal's raid, we had insider information from Calubo about their presence and numbers. In Torhan's raid, it was Feroy who'd anticipated weeks ago that we'd be raided because we killed his men near Kirnos, and because Torhan is likely the son of a noble and will have an ego to match it. But what if it happens by surprise? What if another 30–40 bandits attack us when we aren't ready for them?"

"We're already sending out five hunting groups, each of four men—although that has stopped until the counter raid is over—and we'll need to send more groups in the future to feed our growing population. We'll also have to provide a regular escort to Trevalo of about 8 to 10 men, apart from the two guards we've already given to Pydaso.

Feroy, Hyola, and some other guards will have to be sent to spread rumors in the north so we can get more slaves to move here, and later we'll also have to send the so-called liberation squads, so we can bring those slaves safely here."

"You see where I'm going with this?" he asked. The majordomo remained quiet, but the captain nodded.

"I agree with you. Doing all that simultaneously will keep 40 to 50 men out of Tiranat, at least, which means at our current strength of well-trained guards, we'd be simply wiped out if another raid happened with 30 or 40 bandits. That's why I supported the decision to reach the strength of 100 guards here, including women." Duvas exhaled.

"That's because you don't have to worry about how we're going to pay them!" Hudan snorted.

"Well, that's your task, isn't it? I'm doing my job and you have to do yours." Duvas frowned at the captain.

"It's not like I'm sitting on a secret hoard of gold coins which I'm refusing to use. Lord Kivamus includes you in nearly every important meeting, including those about our finances, so you know exactly how much in the red we are." Kivamus saw that the captain was going to retort, so he interrupted to prevent a public bickering between them.

"Leave that to me." He glanced around and confirmed that other than the four guards walking in the usual box formation, there was nobody else nearby.

"We're already earning a good amount by the medicine and the paper. Once the coal trading route to Ulriga is set up, we can double our previous revenue, as long as we can produce enough coal. For that we'll need more men, which is why it's vital that we keep bringing more escaped slaves here. That is also what's going to help us keep increasing our guard's numbers until we can take on Velonox's mercenary group, or anyone else who wants to attack us." He looked back at the majordomo.

"Coming back to your question, it is very much possible that I'm not being paranoid enough even now. We've all heard about the Binpaazi raids at the eastern border of the kingdom. It is possible that it'll continue just like that for months or years, and they only intend to harass us without any intention of taking it further—a full scale war isn't cheap for any side. But it is also just as possible that they'll suddenly decide to launch a full-scale invasion to capture the Tolasi hills.

Those enormous iron deposits are just sitting there for the taking. We simply can't know about it until the war starts—it might as well be tomorrow for all we know."

"Even if Girnalica and their mercenaries stay out of that war, you can guess what is going to happen to this village if a small section of the Binpaazi army decides that they need some free coal to keep their soldiers warm in the winter. That's why we have to do everything we can to make sure we can resist any attack on us—from anyone. We can only hope we get enough time for it, but we can't afford to be casual about it. My plan is to make Tiranat strong enough that even Binpaaz can't touch it.

Same for those damned mercenaries living in the southern forests. Scorpions are only going to be a start for that. That is why we have to keep any information about them hidden until we can mount them on all the watchtowers within a day or two. After that we can still be razed to the ground by Binpaaz, but it would be a painful victory for them, assuming they don't send a whole army here." Kivamus smiled.

"The good thing is that now that the sawmills are finally working, all the construction projects will get speeded up. That means if feasible, we can prepone the plan to make a new village wall encircling the older one, since it's possible we'll run out of empty space in the village sooner than we thought.

We are already using the south for planting vegetable gardens at a large scale—we need them within the walls to withstand another siege like Torhan's—and we will also have to continue building more longhouses to house the refugees—depending on how successful the slave liberation operation gets. As the village grows we will also need to make better housing soon, since many talented craftsmen like Isuha will refuse to move here otherwise.

With that much longer wall, we can make many more watchtowers, and fit one or two scorpions on each of them. We cannot stop making our village safer anytime soon..." This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. He shrugged.

"And believe me, it won't end well for us if the rumor gets out that we have something like scorpions here—which are powerful enough to pierce a knight wearing plate armor, while also being mobile enough that if you put it on the back of a wagon, it becomes a mobile siege engine ready to sow chaos in their enemies' ranks. That is not possible with a huge ballista or trebuchet which they keep in Fort Aragosa and wherever Binpaaz keeps their own siege engines.

Those are unwieldy and need a small army to move and install them. But a scorpion is light enough to be mounted on a wagon, where a pair of operators can sit with a hoard of spare bolts. Any army will salivate to have this, since with just a pair of horses pulling it, their smallest detachments of only a dozen men can take it anywhere with them and wreak havoc on any target which doesn't have a stone wall." Hudan nodded.

"I agree with everything. News hasn't even gotten out about us hiding slaves from everyone here, but when it inevitably does, we might even get into conflict with the nobles of this kingdom itself. At that point it won't be just greedy nobles like Zoricus coming after us. The Count or even the Duke himself will send everyone they have to get rid of us or to make us change our ways. So there is no way forward for us other than to keep making Tiranat stronger."

"Exactly," Kivamus grinned.

"I'm glad you see my point." Duvas sighed.

"Sometimes I wonder if everything you're doing here is only going to make us a bigger target in the future. Some would say it was better when we were just a poor, isolated village which nobody cared about." Hudan chuckled.

"Take it from me, Sir Duvas, it's always better to have the power and not need it than not to have the power when you need it. Tiranat is safer when it is stronger—in every single case. Even then, it's not like we're going to become Fort Aragosa in the future. So you can rest assured that we're not going to become a major target for either of our neighbouring countries." Kivamus laughed.

"We aren't a fort for now, Hudan. For now." Hudan just grinned in response, while Duvas shook his head in surrender. They kept walking, and soon they passed the longhouse block under construction as well as the new well which had been finished recently. With all the trees surrounding the village, at least there was no shortage of charcoal to clean that water before using it for drinking. Kivamus looked at the captain again.

"How's the mock training for the counter raid going?"

"Oh, better than I thought." The captain grinned.

"The guards are certainly enthusiastic about it after I told them the target. Everyone wants to do their best to be selected for going on the counter raid instead of staying back in the village, since that would allow them to take revenge against those who dared to attack our home—or burned their homes like in Tesyb's case. Your idea about making a temporary palisade in the empty area in the east was brilliant.

It only took a day to plant those stakes into the ground, but now we can have proper defensive and offensive teams. We are only using blunt spears and swords for the mock attacks, but like you'd suggested, the guards who are hit in a vital area now call out a successful hit and lay down on the ground as if they're dead to make it more realistic." Hudan added, "The remaining members of the team have to adapt on the fly about how to win the mock battle with their remaining men.

By now it's like the east of the manor has become a temporary battleground, or at least a better training ground. Nowadays even after I'm done training the guards, many of them stay there and plan how they'll attack or defend in the next mock raid, depending on which team they're in." Kivamus nodded with satisfaction.

"Good. This will help them to not feel out of their element when they attack that compound. I also think we should keep that stockade in the future when we add more training facilities. This is not the last time we are going to raid an enemy compound—whether it is of people keeping slaves in the north, or of mercenaries in the south—so getting some realistic practice can only help us. Anyway, we only have half a week to get the guards ready. Feroy should return within a day or two.

Then we'll have to send the raiding team within a couple of days." Hudan grinned.

"Don't worry, milord. This time I'm confident that it is going to go well. Thirty of our well-trained swordsmen who have done mock raids will make for a hell of an opponent for anyone. Torhan's remaining bandits will be just like a rabble in front of us."

"I'll pray that it goes well," Duvas smiled. Kivamus nodded as they reached the walls of the manor. He just hoped there were no fatalities in the raid, since the losuvil powder would take care of anything less than an amputation. He also hoped they would find a good amount of gold in that compound. Even getting a few hundred gold would give them a leg up in the future, where they had to pay 400 gold to the mercenaries, and then the taxes in the autumn.

Trevalo was also waiting for his loan to be paid back, while they had already given 90 gold to Levalo so he could pay that smoked fish merchant, along with a little extra as interest for being late on the repayment. Only time would tell if everything went according to plan, and whether it would even survive first contact with the enemy.