After getting a large round of healing, with me supplying most of my mana pool to the effort as well, left me with a knee that only ached when I bent or unbent it. Felt very stiff, making me limp at the same time.

Yathanae had said there would most likely be a small camp nearby for the wing of harpy raiders. In total there would most likely be a detachment of 64 soldiers, and we had killed ten of them and wounded some more. On the other hand, I had lost a handful of civilians and almost the mother of my unborn child. They would definitely have to pay for that, though it would be unlikely to actually happen.

According to Yathanae, they would be nesting somewhere it would be near impossible to get to. In the meantime, since they had the air superiority, they would be able to strike anywhere, and we did not have nearly enough muskets to arm everyone.

So the arrangement I had made with Caspar and Hrothgar was that all platoons went out two and two. Every group of pickers and herders would be protected by two platoons. I would be taking two of them with me to repeat the interrupted tour. One of the muskets platoons, while the other stayed at the Hold, and the one from yesterday that had seen combat. It would make the trip take a lot longer, but it was too dangerous not to take them.

Another thing I decided was to place the fort closer to the Hall than originally intended. I had hoped to make it halfway between the entrance to the dwarven underground kingdom and the Hall. However, it would be a bad idea to do it that way.

As I was getting ready to head out, with a couple of extra mancers in addition to the soldiers, I looked around for Emma and Yathanae. Nowhere to be found. Closing my eyes I concentrated on the link I had created between the two of us and found it was up in my room.

Opening the door to my chambers, I found not just Emma and Yathanae, but also Lily. Yathanae was sitting on the bed stroking Lily’s back, while she was curled up around Emma’s cat form. They all looked up at me. Lily had a haunted look in her eyes.

I gave what I felt was a comforting smile and said, “I just wanted to say we’re leaving now. I’ll probably be gone two or three days, maybe four, depending on what happens.”

“Do you really have to go there?” Lily asked.

“I feel like I have to. I want to meet the neighbours, and maybe we can strike a deal with them,” I said.

“We don’t have anything to sell them,” she countered.

“Not really, but if I don’t open up negotiations, we’ll never know what they want.”

“What about circumventing the High Lord’s trading post in the Linn family’s Hold? Couldn’t you get in trouble for that?” she asked.

“Actually, there’s no law that I’ve to use that trading post. The only law regarding importing and export goods is that the King gets his usual tax, so we can actually get around having to pay the Church and the High Lord,” I explained.

“Won’t that make them angry with us?”

“Probably, but I agreed to follow the letter of the law,” I said while adding on a mental, ‘For now.’

Lily frowned at that. “Are you sure it’s smart to keep making them angry?”

“Probably not, but if I roll over, they’ll keep coming back for more. Sometimes you’ve to stand up to bullies for them to stop. We have a huge debt that we need to repay somehow, and we don’t do that if we keep handing over everything we earn,” I said.

When I said my goodbyes, Emma started struggling to get out of Lily’s grip. Shaking my head, I said in elvish, “Emma, please stay. Lily needs you, and if you get the chance, transform into your real shape and use Yathanae as a translator, I think the two of you need to talk. Well, all three of you.”

She meowed insistently with a negative intonation. I gave a wry smile, “Please do it for me, I need to know that you’ll keep her and my child safe. I know a lot is riding on me being safe as well, but please do it for me this time. She needs you right now.”

Emma turned her head to look away from me but settled into Lily’s arms nonetheless. I had clearly been dismissed. She behaved much as cats did back on Earth, the same haughty attitude when she dismissed people.

I was smiling the entire way to the stable. Sure it was horrible that Lily had been in mortal danger, but it seemed to make her more receptive to non-traditional ideas. Hell, if she could work up a friendship with the elf and the catwoman, she might be open to me sleeping with them. Or even joining in herself. That thought brought with it a set of uncomfortably tight pants.

It had been a day and a half since we had left the Hall. Not that it had taken that long to get to the dwarven outpost. We had stopped at the lake where we had been attacked the day before and looked around for a spot for the fort. It was far enough away that we could build a solid fort and training areas without interrupting the daily life of the rest of the Hold too much.

At the same time, it meant that we had forces stationed closer to where raiders would be coming from, and we could better protect the herders and pickers when they were out working in the northern area.

However, that was not what had my focus, instead, I was focused on what I saw in front of me. It looked like a giant double door carved into the side of the mountain. Large enough that two wagons could drive side-by-side. To the sides of the unadorned stone door, and above it, there were several arrows slits. Kiril warned me that we were probably being tracked by at least a dozen crossbows, the favoured weapon by the dwarves.

“What’s the custom?” I asked Linus.

“Ride up, announce yourself and your intentions,” was his very helpful reply.

“And it’s me doing it?”

“Yes, the dwarves only deal with the highest ranking person, anything else would be a slight to their sensibilities,” he said with a shrug.

“Dwarven pride, a universal thing it seems,” I muttered to myself as I rode up to the stone door. It had a good four or five metres of height. Stopping in front of the doors I loudly announced myself, “I am Lord Karth, the new Lord of Wolf Ridge Hold. I come to greet my new neighbours, and possibly enter into trade negotiations.”

The door opened slowly, but no one stepped out. Looking back on my entourage that had followed me, I saw Linus motion for me to ride inside. We entered what looked like a big empty warehouse, with loading ramps built in different heights, probably to accommodate different sized carts. That was all I managed to take in before the door started to shut and left us in complete darkness.

After the doors had closed, a very faint source of light lit up, and it was moving closer. I figured being mounted on my horse would be bad form, so I unmounted before the source of light reached us.

When it was next to us, it flared up a bit, and I saw it was almost like an old kerosene lantern, a good half metre tall. It was held by a very pale hand, but that was all I could see of the person who held it. I almost considered changing my eyes to get night vision, but with Ethan right next to me, I reckoned it would be a bad idea.

The lantern was placed down, and the flame grew a bit bigger, revealing all of the dwarf who had carried it. And the dwarf looked nothing like I had expected. He, or was it a she, was short. Much shorter than I had expected. Less than a metre tall. I had expected a bushy beard, but what I got was a dwarf completely devoid of hair. No hair, no beard, and no eyebrows.

The bare arms looked quite muscular, but the skin was pale, almost completely white as if it had never seen the light of day. The body was very slender, not the stocky I had expected. The legs were very short, most of the height was in the torso.

The head was a bit smaller than I would have expected for the body size. Except for the ears. The ears were twice as large as mine, making them almost as big as the rest of the head, and they were plucked with something that could be cotton. What the dwarf’s eyes looked like I could not say, because they were covered by something that looked like very thick glasses, with dark coloured lenses, almost like shades.

“Welcome,” the dwarf whispered barely audibly and sat down. Indicating I should do the same.

“Why are we whispering?” I asked, also in a whisper.

“I’m not whispering, I’m shouting at the top of my lungs. Please don’t shout so loudly,” the dwarf retorted, still whispering. He or she seemed to speak almost fluent human.

“Are you sure?” I asked, making my voice as low as possible. I thought there was no way he or she could hear it with its ears stuffed.

“Yes,” was the reply and once again indicated I should sit down. I did so. The dwarf looked me up and down. “Welcome to Outpost Nine, Lord Karth of Wolf Ridge. I’m Overseer One One Seven of Outpost Nine of the Holy Lands Under the Great Thagh Darom.”

“I am honoured,” I said. “But what’s your name?”

“I just told you, I’m Overseer One One Seven,” the dwarf answered with a frown.

“My apologies, I’m not from around here.”

“All humans should know that dwarves’ names reflect their position and seniority. The lower the number, the more seniority,” Overseer 117 grouched in his whispered shouting.

“When I said I’m not from around here, I meant not from this world,” I responded. “So please forgive any slights I might end up making.”

That made the Overseer frown a lot more. “So the rumours are true, the Betrayer Gods have finally gone mad.”

I could hear almost angry rustling from where I knew Ethan was mounted, but I was surprised he did not say anything. I shrugged my shoulders, “I’m new here, don’t know about that. However, I’ve been summoned from another world.”

“Well, you can see yourself back to your own world then, the End Times are not here yet,” the dwarf whispered with a distasteful sniff.

“I wish that I could, but I’ve not been offered that chance.”

“So what do you want here?”

“I came here, hoping to open up trade with you,” I replied.

“Go to Outpost Three, Twelve or Fourteen. All trade with humans takes place there,” the dwarf said and started to rise.

“I was hoping for more direct trade. Why travel outside my own Hold, when I got my neighbours right in the backyard?” I quickly said.

“What do you’ve to offer?”

“We’re going to start producing a lot of cider from the winter apples,” I offered.

“Insolence, are you aware of how much trouble a drunk dwarf can make underground? You’re a moron. Alcohol is forbidden,” the dwarf said and stormed off. Before I could say anything else the door started opening, signifying the audience was over.

Sighing I mounted my horse and made my way outside, the stone doors slamming shut behind us. Ethan clapped his hands sarcastically. “Very well done, Milord.”

“Watch it,” I grumbled. How the fuck was I supposed to know that the dwarves were nothing like the stereotypical dwarves. I mean they should welcome alcohol, have a big bushy beard, be obnoxiously loud, and speak with a Scottish accent. However, none of that held true.

“Milord, why didn’t you ask for advice?” Linus said worriedly. “You offended the Overseer a lot. Just be glad he’s only around the middle of the seniority ranking, or you could’ve started a diplomatic incident.”

“Fine, I fucked up. I thought I knew what a dwarf was, but clearly I did not,” I said. Lesson learnt. Before I could say anything else, a crossbow bolt slammed into the tree in front of me. The bodyguards immediately reacted and formed up around me, and my immediate instinct should have been to ride away, but in my shock, I just stared at it for a couple of seconds. Because of that, I noticed that a piece of parchment was tied to the bolt.

Riding forward, a bit cautiously, I grabbed the piece of parchment off the bolt. Unfurling it, I saw some kind of runes, that made no sense to me at first. It almost looked like something with claws had made it. It started ringing in my ear for a split second, and then I could read the note attached.

It said: “Bring apples to trade. One cask of cider per wagon, hidden. Only come every ninth day at midnight. Next time is in three days. Overseer 238.”.

Giving a slight smile, I put the note away in one of my saddlebags. My smile faded when Ethan asked, “What did it say?”

“Basically a threat to stay away,” I fibbed with a straight face. His eyes narrowed. Clearly he was not trusting me, just as I was not trusting him. “Let’s get back to the Hold, it’s time to leave for the meeting at the High Lords anyway.”

“Fine,” Ethan said. “We tolerate the dwarves blasphemy because we need the iron from the depth of the earth. However, don’t think for a second it’s true what he said. Our Gods betrayed no one. We, and by extension the Gods, were betrayed by the elves when they enslaved the human race at the beginning of time.”

“That sounds like a story for another time, right now we need to get moving, and keep an eye out for the harpies,” I said. I was not really interested in hearing more of about humanity's warped theology.

We left for the High Hold a day later than had been advised. However, since we had no goods to sell, we did not have to bring any wagons, which meant that we would still arrive the day before the meeting.

I had to confiscate the horses from the senior squad leaders to scrounge up enough horses for one of the musket platoons to be mounted. We had a total of 36 horses I owned, but we left with 38. The musket platoon took up 27 of those. My bodyguards were another 5, leaving just four horses remaining. One for me, one for my page Nina and Saori to share, one for Linus, and one for Yathanae and Nathalie to share. That was the horses I owned.

Then there was the 37th horse, which belonged to Vernon. It was being used to bring Vernon with us, bound and with a hood over his head. Hugo was reluctantly coming with us as well, on the Church’s horse. He had been protesting that a Recorder should not leave the Hold, but I insisted, seeing as I would need his testimony and his records.

Lily had calmed down significantly and it seemed that a connection between the three women had been struck. So she was not entirely happy that I took them with me, and left her alone in the Hold. However, it would pretty much be what it was like when I had to leave for the front anyway. I had set some construction projects in motion and left instructions for her how to proceed.

The ride to the High Hold had been uneventful, luckily. However, I did not expect troubles until I was leaving it. It seemed that every time I left the High Hold, I was ambushed.

When I rode up to the High Lord’s estate it was only a couple of hours before dinner time, and the guards seemed very unhappy to see me. Some of the guards were those that I had been a little rough with the last time I had been at the estate. I just gave them a cheery smile, though I did not really feel like it.

The man in charge said with a frown, “Your men will be quartered in the barracks. We’ll take the prisoner.”

“No. I need three rooms next to each other. One for me, one for my prisoner and bodyguards, and one for my servants,” I said.

“The High Lord—”

“Did not pay me the respect afforded a Lord the last time. I know from conversations with my wife that the room I was given was meant for a visiting merchant, not a Lord,” I interrupted him. “I can live with being slighted, don’t need the luxuries of a suite. However, I’ll have my bodyguards and servants nearby. And you’ll definitely not be taking control of my prisoner.”

“This is highly—” he started to protest.

“Irregular, but not unheard of. So do us both a favour and just do it,” I said. I had been asking Linus about procedures and how far I could push the envelope. I wanted to behave, unlike the last time I was here. At least until I brought my prisoner in for Judgement. Then the shit would hit the fan.

The head guard looked like he had sucked on a lemon but finally nodded. He showed us into the mansion, while one of the other guards took care of our horses and the rest of the soldiers. I was led down the same familiar corridors and actually given the same room as last time.

The room next to mine was much smaller and given to Nina, Saori, Nathalie and Yathanae, while the one across the hall was the same size as mine. I gave it to Linus, Vernon and my bodyguards. It would be a little cramped, but two of the bodyguards would be guarding the hallway at all time anyway, while Kiril would be protecting me when I left my room.

When it was time for the evening meal, a servant of the High Lord came to inform me. As was proper, I would need to have my page with me. Linus as a freeman staying here would be allowed to sit at one of the tables and get something to eat. Of course, I was not sure that Linus would support me if things hit the fan, so I brought my bodyguard as well.

There was no way I was drinking alcohol when I needed to keep a cool head. Unlike the last time I had been here, though that was the anger at having my choice taken away from me, and not alcohol that had made me act rashly. Which meant Saori would be attending me as well as Nina. If I had my way they would get to eat as well, but they would be getting their food later to eat in their room.

Stepping into the hall for the second time, I felt just as much attention on me as the last time I had stepped into the room. There was still the high table, and the High Lord and Cardinal was seated there, as well as a bunch of other people, which I did not recognize.

The table immediately in front of the high table had been replaced by a series of tables with chairs on both sides. I recognized some of the Lords, but they also had some younger people sitting with them, which looked to be their sons. There were even a few women, most likely the wives. The Lords were easy to spot because they had a page hovering nearby. I was the only one to bring a serf and a bodyguard.

Then you had the tables further away, where some of the High Lord’s guards were sitting, and a lot of other people. Including Linus. At the tables for the lords, there was a single person I did recognize by name, and that was Theo. He was sitting at a half-full table, and as far as I could see there were only two Lords at the table.

One of them looked like an older gruffer version of Theo, most likely his father Lord Erthal, while the other was the oldest Lord in the room. The colour of his page’s uniform led me to believe that this was Lord Linn.

Besides the two Lords and Theo, there were more than a handful of young men. Young men being relative. Theo was the youngest person at the table, while the rest looked to be upwards of my age, maybe one or two older than me. Most of them looked to be older brothers or cousins to Theo, while the last two was a man almost as young as Theo, and one who looked to be in his forties and looked to be brothers. The last member at the table was a surprise though, it was a young woman in her teens, and seemed to be a relative of Lord Linn.

The room was completely silent as I stopped in front of the High Lord and bowed to him. A bow I held for thirty seconds, but the High Lord kept ignoring me. Feeling a bit irritated, I stood back up and walked away. I could hear the conversation pick up again and more than a few looks were shot in my direction.

“Good evening, Lord Erthal and Lord Linn, if I’m not mistaken,” I said as I walked up to the table Theo sat at. The table had to be two meters wide, meaning there was plenty of space at the end of the table for both of them to sit next to each other.

“You’re not mistaken, Lord Karth,” the older of the two Lords said, while the other took a big bite of whatever fowl was being served.

“I’d like to apologize for the spectacle I made of myself the last time I was here,” I said with a crooked smile.

Lord Erthal finished chewing and said, “It was quite the scandalous behaviour, and you seem to still be making trouble.”

“I don’t mind paying respect, but respect is a two-way street, I don’t like when people play petty power games,” I said with a shrug. Well, not unless I was the one doing it.

“Words may reach more ears than intended,” Lord Linn said, indicating the servers there were walking around.

“I figured as much, but I’m an uncivilized person from another world. I try to respect your ways, however, they’re very much different from mine. Also, I did not ask to be brought here,” I responded. “Do you mind if I take a seat with you? The only person of nobility I’ve actually talked with is Theo here.”

The two lords exchanged a glance, Lord Linn giving a small, almost imperceptible nod. Lord Erthal shooed the man on his left away from his seat. “Please be our guest, Lord Karth. I want to thank you for the help you gave my youngest in dealing with those scoundrels.”

“You’re quite welcome Lord Erthal, but I should be thanking you as well. Without Theo and his men, there’s a good chance I would not have been able to oust the mercenaries from my Hold,” I said as I sat down.

As soon as I sat down a server came over with a cup and two pitchers. She placed the cup in front of me and asked, “Light or dark ale, Milord?”

“Neither thank you,” I said and gestured for Saori. She grabbed the cup and had it filled with water in a matter of seconds. However, she kept it for almost thirty seconds, before placing it back on the table. That meant it was without contaminants. Besides being able to summon water, I had learned that she could analyze the water and see if there was anything foreign in it. My own little poison detector.

Lord Erthal had been talking in the meantime. “The villagers at Minnecroft were grateful when Theo informed them of your help. It’s the first time in my lifetime, I’ve heard them talk about their neighbours in a positive way. They’re still not happy about losing half their lake and a lot of the ground they used for planting crops.”

“Where I’m from we’ve people who long for the old days as well. Unfortunately, the decision to do that was taken many years ago. And I just got here,” I replied.

“It was a decision made even before I was born,” Lord Linn said. “You’re missing out on a great dark ale. It’s made in the kingdom to the west. Quite expensive to import, but some of the best ale ever made.”

“I might try one later, however, I think it’s better if I remain clear-headed this time around,” I replied with a smile.

“Might be a wise choice,” he replied.

Another server arrived with a covered plate for me. She removed the dome and revealed the same meal as the others had. Two birds, a piece of bread, and a mix of apples, pears, and peaches. The birds were the size of pigeons. Taking a tentative bite I found that it had a bit of a gamey taste to it. Somewhere between duck and turkey. Definitely not pigeon.

The oldest of the two brothers I suspected was Lord Linn’s children asked me, “Lord Karth, we’ve all heard about your wedding feast, and the deal forced on you. Quite unfair terms is the general consensus. Have you considered how you’re going to raise the squadron of soldiers required?”

The older Lord Linn looked disinterested in the conversation and concentrated on his meal. However, I was pretty sure that he was the one, and not his son, who really wanted the answer, because he looked too disinterested.

Before I could answer, one of Theo’s brothers or cousins said, “If he had paid the respect the High Lord and Cardinal was due, he could have gotten out of that.”

Lord Erthal cleared his throat, and the young man sent a fearful glance at the Lord. He then looked at me and said, “My apologies, Lord Karth.”

“None taken,” I said with a fake smile. He was probably not wrong, did not mean I had to like being talked about like I was not there. “There’s some truth to those words. The day after, one of the Cardinal’s men approached, but I was angry and felt betrayed, so I did not listen to the offer. However, to answer the original question, I’ve already armed eighteen platoons, and we’re busy training at the moment.”

“Eighteen platoons?” the young woman gasped before quickly looking down at her plate. I saw a lot of Lord Erthal’s sons or nephews frown in distaste, while Lord Linn’s childrens’ frowns were more like cringes. Theo was the only one who seemed to direct his displeasure elsewhere. Maybe he had a crush on the girl or something.

“Indeed,” I answered. “Unfortunately, due to limited funds, very few of them are armed with muskets. I’m in the process of making a lot of bows though.”

“That’s a lot of men, how did you do that so quickly?” Lord Linn’s younger son asked.

“Unfortunately, my situation and the Hold’s situation did not leave a lot of options, so all the rankers and squad leaders are serfs that I’m training up. The senior squad leaders and commanders are all from the Unifiers,” I said.

“It’s illegal to arm serfs,” the rude Erthal family member stated with an angry tone.

“Actually, it’s not,” I said between two bites of the fowl. It was quite good.

“But—” he started.

Lord Linn interrupted him, “It’s not illegal, though not traditional. However, desperate times lead to desperate measures. You won’t win many friends or allies with that decision.”

“It was the only option available to me, and I’m glad I did it. We’ve harpy raiders harassing us at the moment,” I said.

“That’s disturbing news. I need to send a rider,” Lord Linn’s eldest son said and rose up. He gave a quick bow to the High Lord, which the High Lord immediately responded to. Fucking dickhead.

“In the future, I can send a messenger if my men notice any incursions into the northern pass by Outpost Nine,” I offered to Lord Linn.

“We would appreciate that, and we’ll do the same,” he offered in return. From there the conversation turned into minor subjects of little import, though I gained some insight into the two Lords and their Holds.