Black Iron's Glory

During the beginning of the 7th month, a group of new people arrived in town, including a one-armed noble slated to take over as the new mayor of the city of Whitestag. According to Rodan, Viscount Felidos Kor Finadi was an old friend of Maria’s. He was also a war hero of the kingdom.

It was back during the the second conflict between Aueras and Nasri, near the concluding battle at Nabilyke Mountain. The noble military officer named Felidos Kor Finadi served as the colonel of the 7th Cavalry Brigade of the royal army that was stationed at the rear lines to guard the strategic location, Kabis Mountain Range, so that the Nasri troops’ route for retreat would be cut off.

To escape with their lives, the Nasri army had to invest all their reserve forces in a desperate swarming attack at Kabis Mountain Range, causing countless corpses of the troops to be littered all over the place. Everywhere, agonized cries of the injured and fallen could be heard. Colonel Felidor Kor Finadi’s brigade on the other hand also used up all their gunpowder and suffered major casualties.

However, they still held their position on the last line of defense. Having run out of gunpowder, they resorted to using stones or blades and chased the enemy away every single time they attempted to encroach upon their territory. In the end, the Nasri troops that lost all morale and no longer dared to charge in expended lots of manpower to bombard the cavalry brigade with a Monfida mountain-use cannon, intent on chipping away their fighting spirit and forcing them into a retreat.

Amidst the endless bombardment, Felidos Kor Findai suffered serious injuries and lost his left arm from an explosion. However, he merely called his aide to wrap up the severed stump on his body as he endured the pain to continue commanding his troops. Thanks to his directions, the remaining soldiers managed to hold on at the defense line and obtain ultimate victory.

Following that, the 110 thousand troops of Nasri were completely defeated and they surrendered. Of Felidos’ brigade of 2400 men, only 374 survived, each one of them injured in some manner. However, that victory caused the Nasri ambassador to come and request peace at the cost of ceding three prefectures to Aueras, allowing the kingdom to become the continent’s hegemon.

Colonel Felidos Kor Finadi was given the title of viscount by Stellin X to commemorate his glorious efforts. He was henceforth known as the hero of the Battle of Kabis.

Rodan believed that Felidos was the run-of-the-mill iron-blooded military man who was an expert at running sudden cavalry attack operations on heavily defended areas. His only weakness was his stubborn, hot-headed view on foreign policy. He often spread propaganda about the unification of the eastern part of the continent during many a noble party, pressing for Eastern Freia to be under the rule of the Stellin royal family.

Felidos wasn’t the least bit surprised for being appointed the new mayor of Whitestag. He was now the most powerful man in the city and even the admiral from the navy had to bow and greet to him. But after he took over, the first thing he did was to upgrade the town hall into the city hall. The justice, finance and security departments were all singularly taken over by him.

Additionally, he rallied the garrison clan and told them good and bad news. The good news was that the garrison clan would be expanded into the keepers of Whitestag, but the bad news was that keepers would be posted at the stone outpost far away from Whitestag to rebuild the abandoned base. That would be where they would be permanently stationed in the future. As for the safety of the city, it would be taken charge by the expanded constabulary. The navy’s forces could also help should there be an emergency.

After dealing with those two matters, Felidos immediately started to investigate Normanley Real Estate. He carefully looked through the model of the whole sector and the blueprints for the buildings and analyzed the constructs of the first phase carefully. He also had some questions about the price and facilities of some buildings he seemed to have a problem with.

Whiel Rodan and the other shareholders still didn’t understand where the problem was, Felidas concluded his investigation and smiled with satisfaction.

He told them straightforwardly that he received an anonymous tip that the cooperation effort between Normanley Real Estate and the navy showed signs of problematic ties. The navy had spent 300 thousand crowns to purchase all the property developed by the company and it was said to be a transaction made against public interest. In the report included the price the property in the eastern sector of the slums were sold, which was officiated with a seal of the town hall.

But upon further investigation, Felidas realized that the facts didn’t line up with what the tip suggested. Instead, the tip had distorted certain aspects of the truth. The sector developed by the company had fine planning, up-to-date facilities and convenience of traffic. It also properly considered the placement of shop lots and build small parks and plazas for between residential areas. It was a thoroughly planned neighborhood.

Felidos praised that property of that caliber and quality could only be purchased at the royal capital for at least triple the price it was sold in Whitestag, and that comparing the price the slum sector was bought at with the price it was sold after it was developed was a huge joke. The navy had gotten a great deal by purchasing a residential district with nearly 500 suites for only 300 thousand crowns. He praised the shareholders of Normanley Real Estate for doing the nation a great service and prayed for their continued successful venture.

Everyone wore bright smiles on their face. Felidos’s words were practically a seal of approval for their development project. In the future, if anyone dared to bring up the transaction as a means to cause trouble, that would mean that they were offending not only Maria and the navy, but the viscount as well.

Rodan used that opportunity to introduce Claude to Felidos as the boy Lady Maria heavily favored and took to be her herbalism disciple. He also didn’t fail to bring up how the formation of the company was mainly thanks to Claude, and emphasized the talent he showed in designing and planning the sector.

It was a shame that Felidos wasn’t too interested in that. He merely smiled and politely answered the butler. However, his interest did pique at hearing about Claude graduating from the physical stream with first place. Patting his shoulder, he said that Claude was a perfect candidate for a soldier and said that he believed he should serve in the military early. A good man should join the army and contribute to the kingdom. He seemed really intent on personally escorting Claude to the camp.

Claude could only smile awkwardly and tell him that it wasn’t appropriate for him to enlist that soon due to having to take care of his family. But he promised that he would definitely jump to serve the kingdom should conflict break out and head to the battlefield. Those words seemed to calm down the excited viscount. Though, he felt like it was a little bit of a shame that Claude would be held back from enlisting due to his father’s untimely death following the incidents that occurred after losing his position.

Thankfully, Rodan noticed that something was amiss and found an excuse to separate Claude from Felidos. Claude suspected that the viscount might write him a recommendation letter to some field force unit on the spot if he was allowed to linger. After all, he would only stand to improve his reputation if the candidate he recommended proved himself in the military. Felidos, who had long left service, believed that the number-one physical student in town was fit to bear his recommendation.

With the matter put waway, Felidos’s inspection of the company and his approval of the whole project soon hit the headlines in Whitestag Dawn.

With Felidas’s assurance, Rodan soon signed an agreement with Viscount Wenisk of the navy to continue development on the western sector of the slums. The materials, laborers and funds would all be provided by the navy.

“In the coming three to four years, we won’t have to worry about not having any jobs,” Rodan proclaimed gladly. During his meeting with Wenisk, the viscount revealed that the navy planned to complete setting up the naval base in Whitestag within two years. For the following three years, they would start to make a man made canal to connect Balinga with Sharkmouth Bay. Currently, they were still surveying the terrain.

If the development of the slums across the next two years by the company was satisfactory, the navy didn’t mind giving them a part in the canal project. Viscount Wenisk offered to be the guarantor and recommender of Normanley Real Estate.

“Can we take the jobs for overhauling the docks as well?” Tomas asked a little greedily.

“Viscount Wenisk didn’t bring that matter up,” Rodan said with a shake of his head, “Basically, the navy will use their laborers for the construction of the internal part of their base. The shipyards and workshops won’t be relegated to outsiders. The kingdom’s laborers might be transferred to Whitestag temporarily and that’s the reason our company successfully managed to get the contract to work on the western sector of the slums.

“It is crucial that we accelerate our pace of construction. Claude, you have to start planning the western sector as well. Once the designs are passed, then we can send part of our workforce to start preliminary work there to occupy it. That way, even if the laborers the navy transfers over here arrives, they won’t have a part in our work.”

“Understood.”

Another noteworthy occurrence during that month was that he received a letter from Maria. The humongous profits Normanley Real Estate brought her almost made her go a little mad. She wrote that she had never expected to earn 70 thousand crowns in such a short time.

She said that she had never ever owned such a large amount of money in her life. When she received word from Rodan, she rushed to the national bank to check and found that 70 thousand crowns had indeed been transferred to his account. She went home immediately and rolled around in bed nonstop in excitement as she planned what she would buy next. Even as her two disobedient children came over to ask for money, she simply tossed them some dozen crowns, causing them to suspect that she had gone insane or snapped.

Maria only calmed herself after three days. She thanked Claude for all he had done and said that she had instructed Claude to pay off the debt of 500 crowns his brother owed Sir Fux. Two copies of the proof of repayment from the city hall would be sent to Claude shortly.

At the same time, she also wrote that she believed Claude to own an incredibly sharp mind and said that him joining the military would be a waste of the kingdom’s talent. So, she would be willing to ask Stellin X for a pass for Claude to exempt Claude of military duty. However, the kingdom saw it as every man’s duty to serve in the military and that view was reflected in its policies, so Maria couldn’t promise that he’d necessarily get it. She said that she could only try.

Lastly, she added that she would be coming to Whitestag during the 9th month and stay for around half a month. She hoped that she would be able to bring him good news by then.

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