The Exiled Lord: My Maid is a Battle Goddess

Chapter 374: A New Crisis

Including the smaller individual purchases, the nobles ultimately ordered a total of 2,200 bars of soap.

The orders were expected to generate roughly four thousand gold coins in revenue.

The entire stockpile in Nightfall Domain, along with all projected production for the foreseeable future, was completely sold out.

Four thousand gold coins might not sound nearly as impressive as the profits from Vigor Elixir.

That was only because soap production was still limited.

In reality, the profit margin on soap was astonishing.

It was practically a business with no meaningful production cost.

As the soap workshops expanded and manufacturing techniques improved, the profits would only continue to grow.

Phield carefully recorded every order before putting the ledger away.

"Baron Phield, gold is either our servant or our master. There is no third option."

A calm, cool voice spoke from behind him.

Turning around, Phield saw a young noble standing a short distance away.

The flower bud shaped hilt of the man’s sword, together with the white tulip crest embroidered on his clothing, immediately revealed his identity.

He belonged to the Tulip family, one of the great noble houses in the Empire’s southern regions.

Rumor had it that the family had suffered devastating losses during the Empire’s transfer of power.

"An interesting point of view."

Phield waved his hand casually.

"But I’d much rather become the master of other people’s money."

"I’m Larson."

The young noble smiled politely.

"I’ve heard about your family’s performance during this campaign. It was truly astonishing."

"Pleasure to meet you. I’m Phield Ross, known within my family as the Merciful One."

"...Merciful?"

Larson pondered the title for a moment before asking gently,

"Would you mind telling me how your family managed to annihilate so many enemies? Were you the commander during that battle?"

Criminals always return to the scene of the crime.

The thought flashed through Phield’s mind in an instant.

His expression immediately became passionate.

Drawing himself up excitedly, he mimed pulling out a sword.

"Of course I was!"

"The moment our family received Her Majesty’s secret orders, I immediately led three thousand knights on an overnight march. When I saw the rebels attacking the fortress, I charged down from the hillside behind them. In a single assault, we completely threw the rebels into chaos."

"Oh, right. I even crossed swords with their commander. Perhaps I should demonstrate a few sword techniques for you."

Phield enthusiastically recounted his own heroic exploits.

He even rolled up his sleeves, looking ready to perform on the spot.

Larson’s eyelids twitched repeatedly.

After forcing out a few perfunctory responses, he excused himself under the pretense of needing the restroom and quickly disappeared from Phield’s sight.

"What a waste of time."

After leaving the banquet grounds, Larson wiped the saliva from his face with a handkerchief.

"What a foolish, vain idiot."

"Three thousand knights? Please."

"You interfered with our plans, stole away the Divine Chosen of Destruction..."

"And you even dared take the woman I wanted."

"No matter what, I’ll make you pay the highest price."

"And the Ross family won’t escape either."

"Next time, I won’t give any of you a chance to catch your breath."

Larson’s gaze grew colder and colder as plans for revenge quietly formed in his mind.

Meanwhile, Phield had already become wary.

Silently, he added Larson’s name to his mental blacklist.

After returning to the fortress, Phield told everyone the results of the negotiations.

"...I don’t know. It still feels frustrating."

Ashina had been ready to jump for joy.

Instead, she saw her lord sink silently into his chair, staring blankly at the ceiling with obvious disappointment.

"What happened, my lord? We gained territory exactly as planned. Weren’t we aiming to secure the fortress from the beginning?"

Ashina scratched her head in confusion.

To her, obtaining such a magnificent fortress was an incredible triumph.

This border fortress surpassed more than ninety percent of all wolfkin cities.

Isn’t this practically the same as capturing the wolfkin capital? she thought.

"I just feel like we could have gotten even more."

Phield sighed helplessly.

"Our strength simply isn’t enough. Borrowing the prestige of my family was enough to bluff them for a while, but in the end, we lacked real leverage."

Everything they had gained this time came from intimidating the coalition with the Ross family’s nonexistent army.

If he had commanded a larger force...

Or if he had even a single third tier Divine Chosen openly serving him...

The rewards would have been far greater.

"Oh, come on."

Gherlos had already recovered her spirits.

She hugged her stuffed doll tightly, her eyes shining brightly.

"Our Phield has already done wonderfully. If you’re still unhappy, you can always tie me up and bully me as much as you like..."

"Cough. That’s enough."

Meanwhile, Firomina, the Divine Chosen of Destruction, happily joined the commotion, hugging Phield while rubbing herself against him.

Phield could only cover his face helplessly.

Everyone around him who was actually capable tended to worship him a little too much.

Whenever he tried discussing serious matters, everything felt strangely weightless.

He desperately lacked someone willing to offer unpleasant but honest advice.

"Talking about that now won’t change anything."

Phield jumped to his feet, his spirits reignited.

"We need to move quickly. I have a feeling the challenges ahead will only become more difficult."

"Have we finished counting this campaign’s gains?"

"Not yet."

Ashina immediately brightened.

"We thoroughly emptied the three border territories. Plenty of people are still transporting supplies back. Most of it consists of household goods, furniture, and construction materials."

"As for currency, we’ve recovered roughly one hundred thousand gold coins. Including the gold bars from Bull Castle, we now have about six hundred thousand gold coins that can be mobilized immediately."

The moment the topic turned to looting, Ashina even began humming happily.

"Excellent."

Phield nodded approvingly.

"As long as the Imperial Army hasn’t officially taken over those cities, strip them clean. Let’s leave them nothing but empty ground."

He couldn’t even be bothered pretending to be noble in front of his own Divine Chosen.

After thinking for a moment, he summoned Ben, commander of the First Army.

"Ben, dispatch our warriors."

"Travel to every intact city nearby and purchase grain and slaves on a large scale. Buy as many as possible."

"Human and demi-human slaves take priority. If there are dwarves, elves, or any other races available, buy them as well."

"I’ll allocate one hundred thousand gold coins to begin with."

"If escorts become a problem, hire adventurers and mercenaries."

Now that Nightfall Domain possessed a secure gateway, the territory could support a much larger population.

"The price of people is going to skyrocket very soon."

The flames of war continued spreading across the Empire.

Rick Province would soon begin rebuilding.

Everywhere would be desperate for manpower.

He had to seize as much population as possible before everyone else did.

The same applied to grain.

The more, the better.

Phield then wrote a letter to Lady Sinta of the Imperial Army.

She had promised that bounties would be awarded for every rebel Divine Chosen eliminated.

He intended to collect the rewards first before handing the bodies over to the noble coalition.

Leaving Ashina behind to garrison the fortress and complete the population census, Phield departed for Starnight City.

He brought with him the unconscious Rosalia and the two first tier Divine Chosen.

The moment they entered the outskirts of Starnight City, they spotted Kai leading more than a dozen light cavalry patrols around the territory.

"My lord!"

The instant Kai saw Phield, he spurred his horse forward, practically tumbling from the saddle before kneeling respectfully.

"At ease."

Phield smiled.

"You’ve all worked hard these past few days. Guarding such a vast territory with so few men couldn’t have been easy."

"The wolfkin are willing to offer our hearts to you, my lord."

Kai answered with absolute seriousness.

"Oh, one more thing, my lord."

His expression suddenly became grave.

"We’ve discovered that the number of undead has increased dramatically."

"There are far more of them than before."