Chapter 837: An Adopted Son’s Rise

Henwell next visits Lodar, his adopted son.

Several years have passed. Lodar is now an Iron Knight and leads one of western Lumir's more prominent powers.

After the Calamity War broke out, Lodar and his Hurricane Legion were the first to march against the spreading Subterranean River Bandits.

He blocked their advance in time, stopping them from spreading any farther.

His legion alone held off attacks by more than forty thousand Subterranean River Bandits.

Only after he had held out for half a month did Count Pajaje, better known as Scar Tiger, arrive with a legion to reinforce him.

Scar Tiger, at least, had some courage. Or perhaps he simply understood that his ally's Hurricane Legion could not be allowed to fall.

Western Lumir's other powers all had their own agendas. Dilio, their leader, simply hid from the fighting.

None of them wanted to face the Subterranean River Bandits in the open or deplete their own troops.

Fortunately, the powers stationed in Kriye City were no idiots.

They knew this was no time to think only of protecting their own interests.

Warbands from the church and the empire moved to provide support first. Then a legion from Livos territory prepared to intervene.

Only when Dilio saw everyone else getting involved did he reluctantly decide to send troops.

He has lost his ambition to contend for supremacy. All he wants now is to rule as an emperor in his own quiet corner.

His nerve and courage may be gone, but his political instincts remain.

He knew that once the powers in Kriye City intervened, inviting them in would be easy. Getting them to leave would be another matter.

Any of them could then refuse to withdraw, claiming they had to protect the people of western Lumir.

After that battle, Lodar was only made a titular viscount.

It was an obvious sign that western Lumir's various powers resented him for taking the lead.

Others, however, saw no reason to resent a talented man or worry about having too many capable men at their side.

After Count Obian, Marshal of Livos territory, openly approached Lodar with an offer, the Western Federation promptly made him an attractive offer of its own.

Obilian of Lumir offered even more generous terms, hoping to recruit the talented young man.

Then Scott, a field officer with Peace Haven's Military Intelligence Office in Kriye City, began approaching Lodar personally.

At that, the Western Lumir Federation could no longer stand by. Dilio summoned Lodar himself and made him a landed viscount with a hereditary title.

Lodar then took his Hurricane Legion across western Lumir as a mobile force, responding to crises wherever they arose.

It was during that period that he advanced to Iron Knight.

His standing immediately rose, despite the current surge in extraordinary properties and the many new professionals it has produced.

Battle Knight is relatively accessible. Many gifted people can reach it in two or three years.

The Grand Knight rank, however, still takes time to attain. Grand Knights remain rare, high-level combatants.

Iron Knight is a much greater hurdle. Accumulated experience and power are not enough; it takes luck and talent too.

Even in the Western Federation, Iron Knights remain among the strongest combatants.

Whatever his reasons, Dilio had to pay a real price to secure Lodar's loyalty.

At the end of last year, Lodar was promoted to count and granted a large territory.

Even then, Dilio showed his pettiness. He granted Lodar land in the northwest corner but required him to keep fighting as a mobile force in the southeast.

The arrangement was clearly meant to restrict Lodar's growth. His northwestern territory would also face the Lightchaser threat from the Scorching Sand Sea.

Even the Fury Spirits that would later spread from the Great Wasteland could reach it.

Dilio believed that without a secure territorial base, the talented young man would remain under his control.

What he had never counted on was reinforcements arriving from the Abundant Continent.

Their arrival freed the Western Federation to deploy several legions on the territory it had acquired from Lumir.

Those legions happened to form a shield for Lodar's land.

The Western Federation's new territory had little productive capacity. Its population was sparse, and its industries had yet to be established.

Lodar's territory therefore became the Western Federation's production and supply base, and grew at remarkable speed.

Lodar secured large quantities of equipment through the Peace Haven trading contacts he had made while in the Qili Guild.

He built his territory's production system entirely on Peace Haven's model.

No one suspects Lodar is one of Peace Haven's men. Every power is busy strengthening its own position.

By all appearances, Peace Haven had made an enemy of Lodar when it destroyed the Qili Guild.

But which of today's partners have no old grudges? They still sit down to discuss cooperation.

As the leader of a small faction, you can do as you please and let emotion overrule reason.

Once your territory is large enough, though, carrying on that way is asking to die.

No one is surprised, then, that Lodar has set aside old grievances and begun cooperating with Peace Haven.

It is, after all, what benefits him most.

If Lodar insisted on having nothing to do with Peace Haven, that would look suspicious.

Nor is he the only one copying Peace Haven's production methods, military training, and tactics.

Every country is using Peace Haven as a model to improve its military and administrative systems.

There is nothing suspicious about that either.

Looking ahead, Peace Haven will continue supplying technology to Lodar's territory in response to the Western Federation's call.

This will turn Lodar's territory into an important production base for the western front, and one of the fastest-growing regions during the Calamity War.

Dilio now fears losing Lodar to another power, especially after seeing the strength of the Abundant Continent's expeditionary army.

He believes it is only a matter of time. Not everyone can turn down the empire and the church as Henwell has.

Dilio therefore plans to take five thousand troops from Lodar and assign them to the mobile coalition army.

The proposal meets fierce opposition from within western Lumir.

Is he serious?

The Hurricane Legion is already one of western Lumir's most effective fighting forces.

If a third of its strength is taken away, who will stop the Subterranean River Bandits as their breakout attempts become more frequent?

More importantly, Riverwest City has an expeditionary garrison to protect it. The other lords and nobles have no such protection for their cities and castles.

Right now, the Hurricane Legion is the shield of the country's powerful nobles. It is willing to fight, and capable of it.

A few days ago, Prince Kevin personally ordered Dilio to draw six thousand men from his own best guard troops and send them to the mobile coalition army.

Henwell has come to discuss Peace Haven's next construction projects in Lodar's territory.

He also wants Lodar to know that Obian is Henwell's biological father.

Their territories adjoin each other. In the coming war, they must cooperate rather than undermine their own side.

Lodar is dumbstruck by the revelation.

He never imagined that the Marshal of Livos territory was Henwell's biological father, and therefore his own grandfather through adoption.

He must immediately revise some deployments and cancel plans to divert danger eastward.