Chapter 8：Dilemma

The two knights and their dozens of soldiers were not afraid of the wild beasts that prowl at night, so they rode all night back to Baron Lorient's castle.

The baroness fainted on hearing the bad news, and it took the maidservants half a day to revive her. The baron's second son, Olika, was also stunned and didn't know what to do.

In aristocratic families, the eldest son inherits the title, and as the second son, he had never been involved in family affairs. Of course, this is not a major problem. With a loyal butler, the Baron has no need to worry about the affairs of the realm, even if he lives a life of luxury every day.

But now the Barony of Lorient and the Barony of Stuart are at war. No matter what the butler or the knight says, Olyka himself must make the decision.

On the other hand, Olika was the second son of a baron. He had received a systematic aristocratic upbringing, and after the initial panic, he took responsibility.

The next day he gathered everyone together: the baroness and his adult siblings, the steward, the three knights, the two apprentice magicians trained by Baron Lorient, two lords and a few squires.

Gentlemen, this is what happened. What do you suggest?' Olika asked after telling them what had happened.

The group looked at each other, unable to think of anything.

Sir Olika, I will follow your orders,' said one of the knights.

We will do the same,' two others said immediately.

The three knights could not really be blamed for 'retreating'. Baron Lorient was dead, and without an object of loyalty, would they not run away and wait to be taken prisoner?

Normally, even if a nobleman joins a battle, he will not advance unless he is a professional fighter like Baron Lorient, who is battle-ready.

Even so, Baron Lorient can be said to have been very cautious. The two protective spells of Mage Armour and Protective Arrows on his body can ensure that he will not be hit by arrows more than ten times.

But he had the misfortune of meeting Christine, a genius who was a fourth-level mage at a young age. If he had prepared in advance and buffed himself with 'Mage Armour' and 'Resistance to Elemental Damage - Fire', he might have been seriously injured, but not necessarily killed.

But in reality there are no ifs, so Baron Lorient died.

One of Orica's younger brothers blurted out, 'Since we can't beat them, we might as well surrender...'.

Before he could finish, the Baroness covered his mouth. It was tactless to talk about surrendering at a time like this, but when you think about it, the aristocracy can't really expect much from their children other than the eldest son.

Take him outside," the Baroness said to her servant, so that he wouldn't cause any more trouble while they were here.

Olika thought for a moment and asked, 'How many soldiers do we have left? Can we defend the castle?

A knight replied, 'Mr Olika, there are still more than 20 cavalry, 10 regular soldiers and 40 militia in the castle (the fleeing knights brought back some soldiers), and 20 militia can be gathered from each town and village. Defending the castle is no problem if the enemy mage does not intervene.

Olika looked at the two mage apprentices, who immediately bowed their heads.

According to the knight's description, the enemy mage can use a third-level 'Fireball' scroll, and even a fourth-level mage is not something these two apprentices can handle.

The standard for a baron's land is to have at least five villages and one town, whether it is run directly or sub-contracted to a lord or knight. There is no hard and fast rule on whether or not to build a castle. In fact, many newly ennobled barons with limited financial resources are in no hurry, taking their time over generations to build it slowly.

The Barony of Lorient had been divided between three knights over the centuries. Two of them had one village each, the third had two villages, and the three knights had one village each. The Baron himself directly administered four villages and one town.

The two knights present said nothing.

Unlike the knights, they had much greater autonomy, and although they were obliged to respond to the Baron's summons, there was a limit to this. The two families had already sent fifty soldiers between them, and if they were asked to contribute more, even the Baron would have to make an extra effort.

Of course, if Baron Lorient were still around, there would be no need, but Olika had not yet lost face.

As for the few squires, their fiefdoms only consisted of a single manor, and after each of them had contributed ten militiamen, there were no more troops to spare, even if they wanted to contribute more.

Olika obviously did not understand the situation and simply told the knights: 'Since they cannot break into the castle, just gather the soldiers and hold out.

Yes, my lord.

With nothing more to discuss, Olika organised the gathering of the soldiers, the stockpiling of food and the inspection of the castle's defences.

After the men had left, the Baroness said: 'Olika, I want to write to Count Rainer and ask him to intervene. It will cost something, of course. What do you think?

Mother, if it's worth paying to get through this crisis, then it's worth paying,' Olika agreed without hesitation. Even if it was a desperate measure, it was a solution.

Because of intermarriage among the nobility, many people were related to each other. The Baroness and the Count of Rennes were considered distant relatives, so she immediately wrote a letter and had a servant take it to Rennes.

As for Christine, the large group of soldiers could not march quickly. During the day, they could only occupy the village of Languidic in the Barony of Lorient, and it would be three days before they could march to the castle of Lorient to await the return of the knight Abel and his 100 soldiers.

The village of Languidic offered no resistance, nor were they in a position to do so.

The village normally had around 200 households, and these less than 1,000 people included the elderly, women and children. Even if they were desperate enough to fight, they could not possibly hope to defeat 300 heavily armed soldiers. Besides, what did the nobles care about the common people in a battle?

The Barony of Stewart worshipped the Dragon God, so the bodies of soldiers who died in battle were collected and buried by the Dragon God's priest. The Barony of Lorient worshipped the God of Order, so the village chief of Longedick was sent to collect the bodies of soldiers killed in battle.

The families of the dead were naturally in mourning, while the families of the surviving soldiers breathed a long sigh of relief and began to pray and thank God for blessing their families.

As for the dead soldiers from other villages, the village head sent someone to tell them to come and collect the bodies themselves.

People from other villages also brought news that Olika, the second son of the Baron of Lorient, had called the militia to defend the castle. But as there were no knights to occupy the other villages, he had to go himself.

Three days later, Knight Abel returned with his soldiers, so Christine left 50 soldiers to defend the village of Languidic and marched with the main force towards the castle of Lorient.