From Londoner To Lord-Chapter 228 - 225. Binpaaz And Girnalica - Part II

Duvas nodded. "Of course, Fort Aragosa is fully controlled by the Duke, or rather, your brothers now. Like I said earlier, they are quite satisfied letting such small raids go unpunished, since it only weakens Cinran, and later on, they can just claim that they got the news too late to respond in time, which is plausible enough that the Count can't even complain against them further up the hierarchy, to the king in Dorastiz. These raids on the farms also reduce the grain harvested in the domain of Count Cinran, which would also lead to an increase in food prices, like it has in the past few years, and it would, in turn, diminish the power of Count Cinran, while Ulriga would remain just as strong as ever."

Kivamus grimaced thinking about this cutthroat Medieval politics, where a superior was satisfied letting his people be attacked by an enemy, just to weaken their political enemies. "What about in the previous war? Did Reslinor even try to attack or raid inside Binpaaz?"

"I was never a fighting man," Duvas shrugged, "so I don't know too many details about it, while Hudan and Feroy must have been teenagers at the time of the previous war, so even they wouldn't know much about it."

Kivamus looked at both of the men who were in their thirties, and both of them gave nods.

The old majordomo continued, "However, I can still tell you some basics about why the country of Binpaaz is considered such a difficult enemy to defeat. The reason is their mighty Fort Tusgarr which defends the only entrance into Binpaaz in this region of Cilaria. Unlike Fort Aragosa - which was built to defend Ulriga and is located in the middle of vast plains, as well as fort Nertas - which defends Girnalica from the other two countries and is also located in flatlands, Fort Tusgarr of Binpaaz was built in a relatively narrow gap between two mountain ranges - The Kinsari Mountain Range in the north which separates Reslinor from Binpaaz, and the Nomarian mountain range in the South which separates Girnalica from Binpaaz."

Duvas added, "Fort Tusgaar has tall and mighty stone walls extending from one mountain to the other, with the fort in the middle of it, which makes this entrance into Binpaaz virtually impenetrable. Even in the previous war when Reslinor and Girnalica had made a temporary alliance against Binpaaz, their combined forces couldn't breach Fort Tusgarr or its walls, which is why the inner regions of Binpaaz must have escaped from the war completely undamaged, unlike the other two countries whose farms near the Tolasi Hills were burnt and trampled over many times by the maneuvering armies. That's probably the reason Binpaaz now feels confident enough to raid into Reslinor, while Southern Reslinor is dealing with a minor famine in recent years with the food prices reaching astronomical prices."

Kivamus really wanted a much better map at this moment, but the mental image he had from the sketch Gorsazo had made would have to do for now. However, it was still not difficult to see why Binpaaz would be so bold and adventurous to send their knights to raid into Reslinor without any serious fear of retaliation.

"Coming back to your question about Perika and why that region wasn't conquered by any neighbouring country," the majordomo continued, "this is the first time I am hearing that name. So that mine probably wasn't too big or famous enough to be known in the north of the kingdom where I lived at the time. Either way, after every country saw how huge the iron reserves were in the Tolasi hills, a small iron mine like that would be easily ignored in favour of getting access to the Tolasi Hills." He added, "Feroy did tell us that Kirnos used to import iron ore from Perika until two decades ago before they shipped it to Ulriga for smelting, which meant the duke was satisfied with the arrangement at that time without feeling the need to conquer those wastelands, but once the war ended, the iron demand fell very sharply, and there was probably no use for spending gold to buy any more iron from Perika, and certainly not to conquer that region."

Kivamus gave a slow nod, while thinking about the situation. As of now sending a caravan to Perika, or buying iron ore from there was simply out of their capabilities, if that place had even survived by now. However, it was good to know that they might get a relatively close source of iron ore in the future, even if those deposits weren't supposed to be very big.

Leaving the future problems for later, he thought of trying to change the downcast mood which had descended in the manor hall after they had realised that Tiranat would most likely be standing alone in case of an invasion by Girnalica without getting any help from Cinran - who would have problems of their own - or Ulriga - where his brothers would be quite happy to see him dead and his village in ruins.

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Looking at the ex-mercenary, he praised, "Regardless of whether Perika still stands to this day or not, you have done exceptionally well on this trip. At this rate you might very well do better as a merchant than as a guard in the manor!"

Hudan guffawed at that suggestion, while Duvas gave a small smile as well. Feroy had also started laughing, and that laughter turned out to be infectious and made everyone in the manor hall burst out laughing.

"I'm just fine working as a guard, you know?" Feroy replied with a shrug after everyone had calmed down, "although I don't mind going out on trips once in a while to act as a merchant for the benefit of Tiranat. Only a few times in my life have I had a place to call home, so I will do my best to make sure Tiranat remains safe from all its enemies, and as prosperous as I can help to make it, whether by acting as a guard or as a merchant."

"That's plenty good, Feroy," Kivamus smirked, "that's plenty good indeed. I still think you will be our best choice for leading any other trading caravans we send in the future."

"I'll gladly do that," the ex-mercenary replied, "even if I have to deal with greedy nobles like the Lords of Kirnos. If anything, it was fun to negotiate with young master Lanidas!"

Kivamus grinned remembering the way Feroy had made Lanidas pay through his nose for the coal. "I think we will need to wait for a few weeks before sending you there again. By that time rumors about Tiranat might have spread further among those people, and you might even be able to bring some immigrants with you."

Feroy nodded. "I agree. Most of the people there were already looking gaunt with hunger, with the baron increasing the taxes on everything - including the fish caught from the ocean. With the grain prices already very high there and the merchants having only a small stock of wheat anyway, catching fresh fish was usually the best way to feed your family in Kirnos, but now even that is not easy. That means at least some of those people might already be looking for greener pastures."

"Well, let's hope we are able to get more workers after the end of winter," Kivamus said. "Now you must be hungry, and ale is waiting for you and the other guards who went on that trip. Go on and have something to eat and rest well tonight."

Feroy nodded and stood up, and exited the manor hall with Hudan following him outside.

The temple bell rang for five times right at that moment, marking the end of the workday for the labourers. With this being the middle of winter, the days didn't last long, and by this time, the sun would be close to setting, if it hadn't already. Kivamus wished that he could create some better lighting here - preferably electricity based - which would allow workers to work longer hours, but there wasn't anything he could do about it at this time.

Thinking of the sketch he had finished earlier today, he looked at the majordomo. "How is it going with the production of sawdust briquette? Do we need to put in more workers to gather sawdust?" The most up‑to‑date version is on M4VLEMP4YR.

"Not at all," Duvas replied. "Those two workers we had assigned to the wood press machine work during all hours of the daytime, and even then they can hardly use half of the sawdust and wood shavings which the kids bring in. There is already a small pile of that gathering next to the machine by now."

"We might consider making a second wood press machine to make more sawdust briquettes in the future, but I don't think it is needed for now. We are already saving a good amount of coal from this, and I have something else in mind to use that sawdust in - specifically paper." Kivamus added, "I already have the blueprint ready for that to show to..."

Before he continued, the outer door and a servant announced the arrival of Darora.

"Speak of the devil," Kivamus muttered with a snort, as the young carpenter entered the hall. Gesturing him to take a seat near him, he continued, "We were just talking about you."

Darora grinned. "Then you have the new machine design ready for me? I can't wait to get started on something new!"

Kivamus smiled at the man's enthusiasm, and nodded as he stood up and walked towards the shelf near the long table. "I have way too many things which I want to get built and have already drawn, but making paper is a priority for us right now, and that's what I've called you for. Let me show you."

Duvas had also walked close to the long dining table in curiosity, as Kivamus picked out the latest parchment he had drawn on and spread it over the table in the light of a few tallow candles, as well as the roaring fireplace.

"I agree that if we can really make paper here," the majordomo began, "it would save us a lot of gold which we would need to use to buy parchment for you, not to mention our only paper register which I use for tracking our finances is getting full now, but I still don't understand why we can't just make parchment here. That would do the work just as well, and we have no shortage of animal skins these days. Just a dozen or two new parchments made every month would be enough for my usage of writing, as well as for your sketching blueprints. So do we even need to make paper here?"