CHAPTER 77: CHAPTER 77: RANSOM

When Ryan walked up to Knight Watt, he looked down at the young man, now sprawled in the mud after being thrown from his horse. His gaze was calm—too calm—and it only served to further enrage the knight.

"I’m a noble too!" Watt growled.

"You’re a noble too?" Ryan chuckled, then turned his gaze toward the line of kneeling slave-soldiers behind Watt, his expression saying everything that needed to be said.

The unspoken humiliation made Watt tremble with fury.

"You’re not from Shenma Territory. Who are you really?"

He was shaken by the sheer strength of the sudden army that had appeared. No way this force belonged to Baron Hatton—Hatton simply didn’t have the means.

"You have two neighbors," Ryan replied. "Have you forgotten already?"

Watt’s angry expression froze, turning to shock.

"Y-you’re... the Baron of the Frozen Territory?"

Knight Watt was stunned. That infamously poor and frigid land, rumored to be the most barren in the entire Empire, how could it possibly field a military force this powerful?

Every one of those mounted soldiers had clearly trained as squire-level combatants—people who had abandoned farmwork to pursue the path of the extraordinary. That was something only the mighty noble houses could afford to maintain.

"Enough talk. Tie him up and send him to Baron Hatton," Ryan ordered, turning his horse without another word.

When Ryan’s formidable force returned to Shenma, Baron Hatton was visibly tense. But upon seeing Knight Watt bound tightly, he broke into roaring laughter.

"Little Watt, you actually thought you could challenge me, Baron Hatton?" he sneered. "You’re just like your deadbeat father—brainless. You wear the title of noble, but you lack even a trace of a noble’s wit."

He shook his head and sighed dramatically.

"This is the difference between us. We’re both nobles, yes, but clearly you don’t have the mind to be one. You don’t even deserve the title of fief lord."

Watt’s eyes blazed with fury, but Ryan only shook his head silently. Hatton’s insults were sharper than any sword.

"He’s yours now," Ryan said casually. "I imagine Baron Roch, who Knight Watt serves, won’t be stingy with his ransom."

With that, he turned and left. This entire skirmish had been effortless for him.

A few dozen miles from Shenma lay Crow Territory, domain of Baron Roch. The news of Watt’s capture reached him swiftly.

He was dining elegantly on a loaf of snowy-white bread in his fortress when a panicked voice interrupted.

"My lord! Bad news! Your fief knight, Sir Watt, has been captured by Baron Hatton! They’re demanding 20,000 gold coins for his ransom!"

Baron Roch’s elegant posture collapsed in irritation.

"All this yelling—can’t you see I’m eating? Take him out and beat him to death."

Cries for mercy followed moments later, but Roch ignored them.

His steward approached respectfully.

"My lord, shall we pay the ransom?"

Roch gave a cold chuckle.

"Twenty thousand? That gluttonous fool Hatton certainly has an appetite. If I don’t pay, what’s he going to do—march an army into my land?"

"And that idiot Watt... just a distant relation to the Meyers family. Never once has he paid me tribute. And now he expects me to bail him out?"

"If he were a direct heir, maybe. But a nobody like him, daring to disrespect me—he can rot."

He sneered again.

"Actually... maybe it’s a good time to pay our old friend Hatton a visit. If his father were still alive, he’d be spinning in his grave, hah!"

The steward’s face twitched in fear. He knew well that Baron Roch’s forces were no joke—three hundred well-armed troops, fifty of them cavalry. Within the baronial circle, that made him a major power—only a viscount could suppress him outright.

"Let’s seize this moment. Take Hatton’s iron mines and farmland. We’ll have all we need for winter."

Roch’s eyes gleamed with ambition. With the regional governor and prefect ignoring noble skirmishes, now was the time to expand his influence.

Back at Baron Hatton’s castle, Ryan had just returned from the Frozen Territory. Before any word from Baron Roch arrived, a large, belligerent woman barged into the hall, shrieking furiously.

"Hatton! Release my Watt immediately!"

"Zara, this is no place for your tantrums!"

Hatton’s face was twisted in anger. This woman—Zara Meyers, Watt’s mother—was from the southern Grand Duchy of Meyers, and had come in person to demand her son’s release.

"My Watt is a noble! You can’t imprison him like a common criminal. He’s a free man, a noble of the Empire!"

"Also, you will address me by name! I am Zara Meyers, of the southern Grand Duchy! You’re just a country baron—you dare shout at me?"

Ryan stepped into the room, puzzled.

"If I recall correctly, the Empire’s new fief-lord system doesn’t officially start until the Feast of Divine Grace this year. So technically, there are no true fief-lords yet, are there?"

He glanced at Hatton, then turned to Zara.

"Is this... rotund lady your guest?"

Zara’s face twisted with rage at the word "rotund," but froze briefly when her eyes landed on Ryan’s handsome, youthful face. Then she exploded again.

"And who are you, to insult a noblewoman of the Grand Duchy?"

"The Meyers family has many noblewomen," Ryan said with a dismissive wave. "You’re not exactly special."

"And for the record, I’m a noble too. In a setting like this, you should respectfully address me as Baron."

"As for Watt—he was captured in a legitimate battle. By noble tradition, you can ransom him, yes—but only if you pay the proper amount."

"Twenty thousand gold coins. If you can pay that, you can have him back."

"Twenty thousand?!" Zara squawked, sounding like an angry hen.

"This is extortion!"

"Exactly," Ryan replied. "And by your reaction, I take it you don’t think your son is worth that much."

"Luckily, we’re not asking you for the ransom. We’re asking Baron Roch, the man Watt swore fealty to."

Finally, the furious "barrel-shaped lady" was driven off, and Baron Hatton’s face was flushed red, barely able to contain his emotions.

He looked at Ryan, admiration flickering in his eyes.

"Ryan, how on earth did you get that madwoman to faint like that?"