Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 413 - 412: The First Day in Hosman City

With the conclusion of the battles within the southern borders, the post-war efforts gradually began.

The Hosman Prisoner of War Camp remains the largest post-war camp, where tens of thousands of prisoners from the Allied Army await their fate. However, housing so many people in the camp is a huge waste, so once the issue of manpower for the escort teams was resolved, Gawain ordered the prisoners to be sent in batches to the Kant territory and Cecil territory—the Noble Coalition Army boasted tens of thousands, but in reality, the majority were farmers and hunters recruited from the fields, who were useless in battle but excellent at farming and working. Moreover, they held no loyalty to their former masters, so once sent to the construction zones, they could be turned into labor with minimal training.

Meanwhile, a team composed of two hundred soldiers, more than ten administrative officials, and a few ”guides” advanced into the Hosman Territory.

The guides were several of Hosman’s former subordinates who survived the bombardment at Broken Stone Ridge (and they might have been the only survivors among the troops Hosman took out). Under their guidance, the ”Post-War Reconstruction Work Group” composed of soldiers and administrative officials reached the castle of Count Hosman. The remaining soldiers and the Earl’s retainers in the castle had already heard of the crushing defeat of the Noble Coalition Army and the Cecil Clan’s takeover of the southern borders—they couldn’t help but know, given that a huge prisoner camp was just outside the territory’s border—these people had nervously waited inside the castle for over ten days, and upon the appearance of the Cecil Clan, they opened the castle gates almost without resistance, and even tied Hosman’s two children onto a carriage and sent them to the Cecil Administrative Official.

According to Gawain’s orders, the children and family of aristocrats, as well as the old knights granted titles, were all sent as prisoners to the Cecil Homeland, while the work group directly took over the Earl’s castle, beginning to reorganize the castle’s order, issuing decrees, and preparing to establish a Grade 2 Bureau of Affairs.

The young administrative officer Daidalos sat in the study that once belonged to Count Hosman, accompanied by several of his colleagues—they had moved the originally ostentatious and heavy wooden carvings and tin flower racks into the warehouse, then placed a large table and several chairs in the study, turning it into a temporary office. They similarly modified several nearby rooms, and in these renovated rooms, officials from Cecil were meticulously planning the new order of this land.

Watching his colleagues bent over their work, surveying the lavish murals and bookshelves still remaining in the study, Daidalos inevitably felt a sense of poignancy.

He was a Hosman man—or at least he once was.

He was the son of a merchant from the Hosman Territory and a scholar’s apprentice respected by historians. He had been an object of envy among his peers, and the hope of his family to ascend into high society and connect with nobility. Were it not for his teacher offending Count Hosman while researching the genealogy of southern aristocrats, and his impulsive decision to plead for his mentor at the castle, his fate might have been completely different today.

Yet he must be grateful for that unfortunate experience—although when it occurred, he thought it was the worst time of his life—those experiences led him to leave the Hosman Territory and become a down-and-out copyist in Tanzan Town, then, driven by the reward of two Gold Coins, board a merchant ship bound for Cecil, becoming one of the earliest administrative apprentices in Cecil territory, which was then impoverished.

From apprentice to clerk, then from clerk to deputy assistant, then from assistant to an official in the Bureau of Affairs... The rapid development in the territory during its formative period was accompanied by swift growth in its management team. The shortage of manpower and his capabilities allowed the young Daidalos to achieve these enviable promotions within a year, and ultimately, he returned to the Hosman Territory, from a banished scholar’s apprentice to an official responsible for receiving the territory and establishing a Grade 2 Bureau of Affairs.

The past year seemed like living in a dream, and now it was the deepest part of the dream.

But returning in glory does not mean he could indulge himself. Daidalos was well aware of this—the legal system of Cecil and the strict regulations of the Bureau of Affairs were exceptionally rigorous. This new governmental organ was not established to plunder territorial wealth, but genuinely to maintain order and protect citizen rights. The visionary leader seemed to have anticipated the problem of corruption when establishing the Bureau of Affairs, setting intricate cross-oversight and evaluation systems at every management level. Though Daidalos knew that no system could entirely eliminate corruption, he was happy to abide by those regulations—they ensured Cecil’s strength, its victory, and ultimately allowed his team of officials to sit here, controlling land once belonging to an Earl.

After searching the entire castle and finding Count Hosman’s former advisor and butler, the soldiers quickly found the documents recording the territory’s affairs—calling them documents was rather generous, as they were embarrassingly rudimentary, primarily compiling land deeds and rough descriptions of various regions into several large books. They paled in comparison to the neatly categorized, detailed, and easily accessible archives of the Cecil Bureau of Affairs, but they were better than nothing.

Based on those rudimentary documents, coupled with the intelligence gathered while entering the territory, plans for acquiring all the aristocratic manors and fields within the territory were swiftly formulated. Once population and land statistics were completed, steps would be taken for land distribution and population resettlement, ensuring basic order throughout the process... The work group had numerous tasks, but they all had pre-established plans before departure, and with the experience from Kant territory, Daidalos did not feel overly pressured.

After drafting a new document, Daidalos raised his head, stretching his somewhat stiff neck. Coincidentally, the office door was pushed open, and two soldiers led in a tall, slender, black-haired man.

—These soldiers were not only the work group’s guards and the ”bandit suppression force” after receiving the territory, but they also served as the administration execution personnel before the official operation of the Grade 2 Bureau of Affairs. Thanks to the ongoing education efforts in Cecil territory, each soldier in the Combat Corps possesses basic literacy skills. While not yet reaching the standard of clerks and apprentices, in this era, ordinary Cecil soldiers are already superior to many aristocratic officials elsewhere—most of the latter are illiterate.

”What’s the matter with this man?” Daidalos curiously asked, looking at the man brought in by the soldiers, confirming he had never seen him before.

”We found him in a cellar. He seemed to be planning to escape the castle through a tunnel but got caught by us,” a soldier reported. ”He said his name is Glen, a fur merchant in the territory. He was captured by the leader for failing to pay taxes and intended to escape amidst the chaos upon hearing of the leader’s defeat.”

”Glen...” Daidalos lifted his head, looking at the black-haired, aquiline-nosed man before him. The man responded with a smile that appeared both fearful and humble, bowing slightly as he spoke in a tone meant to elicit the least hostility, ”Sir, I’m just an honest merchant... I was originally heading to Cecil for business, but you know, Count Hosman harbors animosity towards the Cecil Clan. Merchants intending to do business in the southeast often find themselves exploited and detained under various pretexts by him, so I...”

”Glen Wolf, intelligence advisor to Count Hosman, low-level stealth user, thirty-two years old, male, slender, black-haired with an aquiline nose. In earlier years, he was a mildly renowned mercenary in the Hosman Region, nearly beaten to death over a disputed exploration task. However, while recuperating at home, he discovered a knight’s sword sealed within the wall, which served as his entry point to Count Hosman’s castle...” Daidalos casually pulled a card from a pile of documents, murmuring as he read from it and lifted his eyes towards Glen, ”The evening of Count Hosman’s defeat, your dinner was potato stew with lamb, accompanied by two glasses of Carna Wine, correct?”

Glen’s smile froze on his face, his eyes widening with disbelief.

As a head of intelligence, he was all too aware of the implication of the card randomly drawn by the other party.

”Mr. Glen, Cecil is everywhere, please remember this,” Daidalos said slowly, putting the card containing Glen Wolf’s detailed intelligence back into the folder and looking into Glen’s eyes, ”You shouldn’t have lied from the start; it won’t help reduce your labor sentence.”

Cold sweat began to seep from Glen Wolf as he instinctively echoed a particular word from the other party’s speech: ”...Labor?”

”Yes, labor. By order of Duke Gawain Cecil, all offspring, relatives, retainer knights, and vassal Transcendents of defeated aristocrats must undergo labor reform. Mr. Glen, through this great labor, you will come to realize the honor of being a Cecil Citizen.”

Two soldiers stepped forward, enclosing Glen Wolf between them.

”Consider yourself fortunate, Mr. Glen. Duke Gawain Cecil is benevolent and just, and Cecil’s laws are clear and firm. The law, while punishing you, also protects you. You only need to labor, unlike those who resist stubbornly, filling the shell craters,” Daidalos said, producing a pre-printed document, filling in key information, signing it, and then handing it to one of the soldiers. ”First to the prisoner of war camp, then to the northern banks Development Zone, where manpower is needed. This is his identification and transfer document.”

”Wait... wait a moment!” Glen Wolf’s delayed reaction finally kicked in, realizing Cecil’s unique conduct was completely contrary to his expectations. None of the plans he’d devised during his capture had been put to use, leaving him quite unwilling. Moreover, he had no idea what ”labor reform” entailed. Faced with this unfamiliar concept, he instinctively felt uneasy, ”I am willing to pledge allegiance to Duke Cecil—I have many assets, all hidden at my rural estate; I can bring them all out, sir, I can buy my freedom, I’m familiar with the ransom rules... Sir, I have an idea... no no no, I have a suggestion...”

”You will certainly pledge allegiance to Duke Cecil, of that I am most certain, but that will be after you complete labor reform,” Daidalos interrupted Glen Wolf, his face bearing a formulaic smile as he spoke, retrieving the previous document from the soldier’s hand, ”However, in response to your bold idea, Cecil has a complete set of laws—attempts to bribe Administrative Office officials to evade labor reform suggest extending the labor sentence by two months.”

Glen Wolf was instantly dumbfounded, watching as the document was returned to the soldier after being amended with additional entries.

”Mr. Glen, I wish you a successful reform, and may you soon become a proud Cecil Citizen. Farewell.”

After the soldiers escorted the former ”intelligence advisor” away, Daidalos couldn’t help but chuckle and shook his head, speaking to his colleague beside him, ”How could they ever imagine that within their Magic Web technicians and merchants roaming their lands, the Intelligence Agency has operatives?”

”And to think he was the head of intelligence,” an Administrative Official beside him shook his head in agreement, ”even a random goose caught from our side is more capable than a man like him.”

”Why a goose?”

”I don’t know, that’s what the leader said—he claimed the head of the Intelligence Agency is just marginally better than a goose.”

”?”