- Fantasy Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence
- FLDI Chapter 97
At dawn.
As the morning light shone once again, bathing the land in the Goddess of Life’s light, Thor used his opportunity to meet Marquis Lehmann.
As a baron of the northern province, each baron was granted one audience with Marquis Lehmann per year.
Only once.
After much thought, Thor decided to use this opportunity.
In the marquis’s estate.
Thor once again met Marquis Lehmann, the kingdom’s most legendary figure of the past three decades.
Having risen from a lowly viscount’s family, he had become an idol for countless noble heirs.
“My lord!”
Thor gave a knight’s salute.
“No need for such formalities!”
“Tell me, Baron Thor, what brings you here?”
Marquis Lehmann looked at Thor with curiosity, his tone inquisitive.
“Marquis, it is like this,” Thor began. “I have heard about the orc tribes attacking the northern region. As a noble of the kingdom, Eagle Ridge is willing to contribute to the kingdom’s cause by participating in the eradication of those cursed orcs.”
Thor laid out his plan.
As mentioned before, he was here to request participation in the cleansing operations.
The orc tribes were both a crisis and an opportunity for him.
In this situation, he certainly wouldn’t let the chance slip away.
“Oh? You’re planning to join the cleansing operation?” Marquis Lehmann looked a bit surprised.
While he had been eager to involve many noble lords, only a few strong ones had been willing to participate. Most were hesitant.
Thor wasn’t weak, but in Lehmann’s view, he still lagged behind some of the stronger nobles. Participating in the operation carried significant risks.
“Yes, Marquis,” Thor nodded.
“Very well!” Lehmann said. “Young noble, you are courageous. I look forward to your performance.”
“Francky, prepare an official order for Baron Thor,” Marquis Lehmann instructed, smiling, as he gestured to a nearby knight attendant.
“Yes!” the knight responded promptly.
Thor then took his leave, following the knight out of the marquis’s presence to handle the official paperwork for his assignment.
“The Dresrosa family…” Marquis Lehmann chuckled softly before returning to his thoughts. For him, this was a minor matter, not something that needed much attention.
His focus remained on how to solve the current crisis. Despite sending additional reinforcements to the northern region, the orc attacks had not been quelled.
Even his elite Flying Eagle Knight Regiment had suffered significant losses, which caused him considerable distress.
His family wasn’t one of those ancient, long-established dynasties. Not long ago, his family had only been a viscount family, and their rapid rise hadn’t given him much time to accumulate wealth. Every bit of his forces was extremely precious.
Each loss was difficult to replace.
But there was little he could do. Unless an orc war broke out or the kingdom’s Dragon Knight Regiment faced a major defeat, the kingdom wouldn’t provide greater support.
He would have to hold the line.
After all, managing the northern province was an obligation he had agreed to in exchange for being granted the territory.
As Lehmann’s thoughts lingered on the northern battlefield, elsewhere, Thor soon obtained his official order.
The document, stamped with both the seal of Marquis Lehmann and the Northern Province authorities, gave him the right to proceed with the cleansing operations in the northern region.
Even without the document, Thor could have led his forces to join the orc-cleansing efforts. However, with this official order, the merit points he earned would be doubled—one set of points for the mission itself, and another for killing the orcs.
Just like before, if he had had such an order during the previous battle, wiping out the minotaur tribe would have earned him twice the merit points.
Of course, back then, he hadn’t known, nor had he been able to act.
Now that he was aware, he made sure to secure the official mission.
With the order in hand, Thor quickly directed Reyn to purchase the necessary supplies and additional slaves.
This trip to Loren City wasn’t only about receiving his noble title; it was also a chance to stock up on resources.
The Maine Valley had become relatively stable, and it was time to expand and develop. Population growth was a top priority.
The current population was far from sufficient. Thor needed more people.
Perhaps by luck, the destruction of many territories had driven weapon prices up, but slave prices had dropped slightly. Even the monopoly Habs Trading Company had lowered their prices.
As a result, Thor spent fewer than two hundred gold coins to purchase two thousand slaves, including a considerable number of female slaves.
Other supplies had also become more affordable.
Thor left Habs Trading Company with a smile on his face.
At dawn, as the morning sun shone down, Thor and his large entourage set off.
When he had come, there had only been twenty people. Now, there were thousands, along with dozens of carriages.
Even though the Maine Valley could now sustain itself in terms of food production, he still needed to purchase large quantities of daily necessities, especially now that the population had grown by another two thousand.
Ten days later, Thor and his retinue returned to the castle.
With Thor’s return, Eagle Ridge burst into celebration.
Thor had officially become a baron, which meant they were now residents of a baron’s territory.
This was especially significant for the freemen.
Although Thor had granted them the status of freemen, that had only applied within Eagle Ridge. Outside of it, there was always a risk they could be sold back into slavery.
But now things were different.
Thor was a baron, which meant that under the kingdom’s laws, freemen in a baron’s territory were recognized as true freemen.
In theory, no one could sell them back into slavery—except for themselves.
This distinction was incredibly important.
And for the knights, it was even more significant.
A knight under a pioneer lord wasn’t considered a true knight. But a knight under a noble lord—now that was a genuine knight, with all the status that came with it.
The difference was substantial.
“Baron!”
Outside the territory, Pellos greeted Thor with a group of people, his excitement hard to conceal.
When he had first been assigned to the pioneer territory to assist young Lord Thor, he had been filled with despair, feeling as though his life had taken a dark turn.
Pioneer lords had almost no prospects and constantly faced danger.
But no one could have anticipated what had happened in Thor’s territory.
He had witnessed one miracle after another.
Now, less than a year later, young Lord Thor—this fledgling eagle of the Dresrosa family—had already become a baron.
In just one year.
It was no longer a miracle—it was a divine feat.
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