The newly established bank in Sardinson County had brought great convenience to the merchants doing business there, effectively halving the risks they used to face on the trade routes. This development was warmly welcomed by the merchants. In the past, although they could travel with various promissory notes, the lack of a local bank meant they had to exchange those notes elsewhere. While this was still manageable for large transactions, promissory notes became inconvenient for smaller ones. Worse still, if a trade partner insisted on cash, it could cause even more trouble.
Now that there was a bank, these problems were swiftly resolved. The merchants were so pleased that they even brought gifts on opening day to celebrate. Of course, the fact that the bank's owner was the Earl of Williams was likely the main reason behind their generosity.
Felix had also long heard rumors about bandits roaming near Sardinson. Initially, he didn't pay them much mind. After all, banditry was common in this era, and such bandits often turned out to be soldiers disguised under the orders of other nobles. Moreover, the area where these bandits operated was still quite far from Sardinson, so Felix decided to wait and observe, merely sending scouts to gather more intelligence.
But soon, the information returned by those scouts showed this was a rather formidable bandit group—around fifty strong. They were entrenched on a mountain path several hundred kilometers from Sardinson and specialized in attacking merchant convoys. While they were not especially brutal, robbing without killing, smaller convoys risked being taken captive and sold into slavery.
What's more, their targets were merchants traveling to and from Sardinson—an obvious indication that they were acting with purpose.
Even more troubling, their tactics did not resemble those of ordinary bandits, nor did they seem like knightly raids. Rather, their operations bore the marks of mercenaries.
This led to serious suspicion that some hidden hand was behind the scenes.
Although mercenaries occasionally disguised themselves as bandits, such behavior was rare and always kept secret. After all, their livelihood came from commissions. Once branded as bandits, they'd not only be hunted but would also lose all future clients. So if a group of mercenaries was conducting large-scale, sustained attacks like this, it could only mean one of two things: either they'd truly turned rogue—or they had been formally hired to do so.
Either way, the signs all pointed to a deliberate effort to disrupt Sardinson. If every merchant convoy heading there risked being robbed, the weaker ones would eventually avoid the route altogether—undermining the county's commerce.
So, upon receiving this intelligence, Felix quickly summoned the Knights' Order and held a council to plan a bandit suppression mission.
Sardinson's Knight Order didn't have a formal commander. Instead, the knights organized themselves into 12-person teams according to rotating service schedules. With their squires and support cavalry included, they formed ten squads in total. Each squad elected a leader based on merit and strength.
Before Sardinson developed, the county had been extremely poor. Even the old earl couldn't afford to feed all the knights year-round. Though knights had fiefs, when called into service, it wasn't reasonable to expect them to feed themselves. And as for the cavalry—not being knights—their expenses were borne entirely by the lord. Back then, cavalry numbers were minimal. Each month, two knight squads were assigned: one to protect the castle and estates, and the other—with less than a hundred cavalry—patrolled the county. The rest remained on their fiefs, waiting for summons.
But all that changed after Felix took office. With the county's development, security had to be strengthened, and idle manpower couldn't be wasted. Now, all 120 knights had responsibilities. While one squad still rotated monthly for castle duty, estate security was now handled by two dedicated squads, and the patrol force had expanded to three. Of the remaining five squads, some assisted Felix in military drills, some escorted his merchant convoys, and others delivered goods or intelligence to the capital.
In short, life in the Knight Order was no longer leisurely. But no one complained—none wanted to rot on their fiefs.
For knights, the chance to rise through the ranks was everything. To become true nobles, they needed to earn enough merit to satisfy their liege. With no wars at present, loyal service was their only path.
Besides, the current earl was generous. In addition to their fiefs, the knights received monthly wages and bonuses, which often surpassed the annual income from their lands. Naturally, morale was high.
Since most were busy—many stationed outside the county—Felix couldn't gather the full Order for the meeting. Typically, only the squad leaders of the ten teams attended such strategy sessions.
This time, only five leaders came—those from squads currently handling county security. As duties became more specialized, rotations were less frequent. Felix was already considering extending the rotation cycle to six months or a year, to avoid overlap and make transitions smoother. He had already gauged everyone's opinion beforehand, and most supported the idea. The new schedule would likely begin with the next rotation.
Among the five attending knights, Felix had the highest hopes for Kingsley and Bilus. The former was always outstanding and diligent, while the latter excelled in interrogation and intelligence gathering—having carried out several covert missions for Felix, including a recent visit to Baron Clifft's estate. These two were undoubtedly Felix's most trusted subordinates: competent and loyal. Barring surprises, they were likely to become the commander and deputy of the Knight Order.
"I called you here today," Felix began, "to discuss the bandit group recently active nearby."
The knights had already heard of the bandits, and upon hearing Felix's words, their spirits lifted—they realized the earl was preparing to wipe them out.
Eradicating bandits could be a prestigious accomplishment. Eagerly, the knights rushed to volunteer, practically thumping their chests with promises to wipe out every last one.
But Felix didn't issue orders right away. Instead, he handed out the intelligence reports. "These people are likely mercenaries. It's possible they're being directed by someone else. So your mission isn't just to eliminate them—you must also uncover who's behind them."
At that, the other three knights immediately looked toward Kingsley and Bilus.
When it came to investigations and interrogations, those two were the experts.
As expected, Felix appointed them to lead the mission. Each would take five knights, forming a squad with their squires and twenty soldiers.
Notably, these twenty soldiers weren't ordinary troops—they were trained under Felix's special operations program. While they couldn't match real special forces, they were certainly superior to most regular soldiers.
Given that the bandits were entrenched in the mountains—terrain unsuitable for cavalry—and that ordinary troops might be outmatched by mercenaries, Felix decided it was time to test his elite unit in real combat.
Kingsley and Bilus, as Felix's confidants, were aware of this secret force. They had helped train them in riding, swordsmanship, and archery. But this was their first time working directly with the unit, and they were quite curious about their strength.
Felix had considered leading the mission himself. But with spring planting season approaching, he had countless duties to oversee in Sardinson. If he left, all that would fall on Weiwei. And with her now heavily pregnant, there was no way he'd burden her with such a workload. Thus, he reluctantly delegated the task to Kingsley and Bilus.
Soon, the bandit-suppression team set off, disguised as a merchant convoy. Their departure left no security gap, as other knights filled their positions. Even with dozens away, Sardinson's defenses remained intact.
Still, Felix was already planning to expand the Knight Order. While Sardinson was secure, Slot County remained empty. It wouldn't stay undeveloped forever, and proper defenses would be needed there too.
It wasn't entirely accurate to say Slot County had nothing. After Felix took over, some freemen who had moved away began to return. Their lands had always been in Slot. Although they had left, no one had bought the land or the houses they abandoned, since there had been no one left to manage the county. The king had sent tax collectors, but no administrators. As a result, those properties had simply been left to deteriorate. Within two or three years, most of the vacant houses had collapsed, and the fields had become overgrown with weeds. But legally, the properties still belonged to the original owners.
When these freemen had left, Sardinson had not yet begun to develop. Most had gone to more prosperous noble territories, but life there was not as good as they'd hoped. While nobles welcomed newcomers, they rarely provided land. The freemen couldn't take their land with them or sell it, meaning they had no money to buy new plots. As outsiders, many couldn't even rent land and had to survive on odd jobs. Had Slot not been abandoned due to its unmanageable taxes, many would have never left in the first place.
Later, when news spread that Sardinson was accepting freemen, those originally from Slot made their way there and finally began to see their lives improve. When the announcement came that Felix had become Slot's new lord, some freemen who hadn't yet settled permanently in Sardinson returned to their original homeland.
Naturally, these returning freemen were nervous. First, when they had left, they hadn't informed a lord—mainly because there hadn't been one—so technically their departure was illegal. Second, abandoning their lands and homes could be seen as relinquishing ownership, which meant the new lord had every right to reclaim and reassign them.
Indeed, some did find their land gone—mainly because the construction team building the new town had claimed certain plots. Felix had designated these areas for development, which unfortunately overlapped with the lands and homes of some freemen.
But those whose land had been taken weren't left destitute.
Aside from the original serfs living by the coast, there were no other residents in Slot. After taking over, Felix sent several stewards to manage the territory. The returning freemen, seeing this, promptly reported to them. Some, troubled by the loss of their property, timidly asked whether they could lease land from the earl, as their plots had been taken.
None of them expected to reclaim the land already cleared and prepared for construction. All they hoped for was to rent new plots for farming and housing. They had also heard of the freeman migration benefits in Sardinson and figured that since Slot now belonged to the same lord, they might also qualify for free residential land. That alone was enough to rekindle their hope.
Naturally, the stewards didn't dare make decisions on their own. They reported the matter to Felix. After discussing it with his wife, Felix decided to offer compensation. Freemen would receive new homesteads per the migration benefits, and if they could present land deeds, they'd be assigned new plots of equal size and quality. In addition, existing farmland in Slot could be leased under a "land reclamation" tax policy—meaning the first year was tax-free, with reduced taxes in the following years.
This was a practical consideration. Slot's land had been abandoned for so long that even if it were cleared, the first few years of harvests wouldn't be good. Rather than squeezing a few coins from the struggling farmers, Felix saw more value in earning their loyalty.
Those freemen who returned and still had intact houses could choose to exchange them for new homesteads if they wanted to relocate to the new villages. They could also sell their original land to Felix in return for new plots elsewhere. Doing so allowed them to benefit from tax reductions and government assistance, such as help repairing homes. Otherwise, they would still receive some benefits—just of a lesser grade.
This condition served a practical purpose: consolidating the freemen for easier governance. Their original lands were scattered across the county, which made management difficult. Grouping them into new villages with elected headmen would simplify administration. The reclaimed land would eventually become part of the expanding new town.
News of this policy delighted the returning freemen. They had no objections to the terms and enthusiastically dug up their land certificates, registered with the stewards, and eagerly asked to have their lands surveyed—since measurement was required before they could exchange their properties.
Housing locations didn't matter to them. After all, the earl had promised equal quality and size, and they trusted him not to cheat them. After all, Earl Williams wasn't like other nobles.
The stewards, however, were overwhelmed. There were only a few of them, but the freemen returned in droves. Once word spread, entire families came back from other regions daily. The stewards had to juggle registrations, land measurements, new home assignments, and more.
Technically, land surveys were the job of land officers, but those officials were currently swamped measuring and approving plots in Sardinson. Few could be spared for Slot, so the local stewards had no choice but to accompany intern surveyors' on-site visits. After a few weeks of this, they were noticeably thinner, but the work got done.
The returning freemen were settled near the coast. The serfs lived in fishing villages along the beach, and less than a kilometer inland lay the main road from Prinsia to Sardinson—now a paved road for ease of travel. On the other side of the road was newly parceled farmland, and about another kilometer inland, new villages for the freemen had been established.
So far, two villages have reached full capacity, each housing around a hundred families. A third was already in the works and would soon be filled.
The newly resettled freemen eagerly rushed into their fields to battle the overgrown weeds. They borrowed oxen and tools from the stewards, and if they moved quickly, they could still catch this year's spring planting. Even if the first year's harvest wouldn't be ideal, they owed no land tax. As long as there were no natural disasters, they could grow enough to feed their families. As a result, every household worked the fields enthusiastically, never once complaining about the hardship.
They also didn't fear starvation while waiting for crops to grow. Construction on the new town was underway in the northeast of Slot, while a new dock was being built along the southern shore. The salt fields near the serfs' fishing village would soon resume production with the warming weather. All of this required labor and offered wages. Any able-bodied freeman could earn daily or monthly pay during idle farming periods. Even the elderly, women, and children could help sun-dry fish or work at roadside inns and taverns serving merchants. Though the pay was low, it came with meals—no one would go hungry.
As Slot's population slowly recovered, so too did the need for security. But with the Knight Order fully assigned, Felix couldn't spare any men. Hence his plan to expand the Order—at least enough to form a new squad to safeguard Slot.
He hadn't forgotten that the former lord of this land—demoted from earl to baron after offending a powerful noble—still resided in Slot. Though that baron had remained quiet, some of his previous behavior suggested he wasn't entirely trustworthy. If Slot began to thrive but had no defensive force, who could say whether the baron—separated only by a forest—might not send raiders to plunder the villages? Such incidents were hardly unheard of among nobles, and Felix had to be prepared.
News that Felix intended to knight more men quickly spread within the Knight Order. The existing knights were calm, but the knight squires were stirred. To become a knight, they not only had to graduate from training but also find a lord willing to accept their service.
Naturally, the ideal patron would be the head of House Williams. But Felix already had a full complement of knights. While technically he could appoint more, without enough land to grant them fiefs, these new knights would only hold honorary titles—lacking the recognition of true knights.
Thus, the squires had only a few paths: inherit their father's title and fief, wait for a childless knight to retire and return his fief, or leave Sardinson and seek another noble to serve.
In the past, the last option was the most common. Many ambitious young squires left for the capital—like some of Felix's old friends—to seek glory under more powerful lords. After all, Sardinson had been a poor backwater.
But now, with Sardinson thriving, it had become the top choice. No one wanted to leave—even if it meant remaining a squire indefinitely. Nowhere else offered such good treatment.
And now, the earl was finally expanding the Order. Even if the new knights were sent to Slot, they would receive fiefs. That alone was enough to make many hearts race with excitement.