Gasi

"Additionally, his four wives are also pregnant again," added Jinolio. Even though that was Lundmorde's personal matter, he couldn't help but let it ou.

Charade and Lorist both shared the same shocked look. It was far too surprising.

At that moment, Lorist felt the urge to swear in frustration. Lundmorde must be the reincarnation of some breeder pig or something! thought Lorist with a grossed out look. He asked Jinolio, "Didn't he already have 17 children when he was sent to Morante?"

Jinolio on the other hand looked really envious. "That's right, Your Grace. Back then, the seven wives of Knight Lundmorde birth him seventeen children and each one of them were raised without complications. He's really a legendary figure in the dominion and is even called the hero father. Everyone looks up to him enviously for having seven wives to wait on him. His eldest son Barack is seventeen already and is studying at Dawn Academy."

"They're all rough and fierce women. What's there to be envious of?" mused Charade with dissatisfaction. He had two sons and one daughter and even though his wife didn't pale in comparison to each of Lundmorde's wives when it came to bearing children, the total number of children in their families was far too different! Charade's eldest son was also spoiled too much by his wife and became a standard, run-of-the-mill noble youth and preferred academics to martial arts and loved to laze around all day. Even though he was only 20, he already had three concubines. It was too bad that Charade was pressured by his wife and blademaster grandfather-in-law to not take concubines.

Charade's second son and daughter were closer in age, however, with there being only a year and a half's gap between their births. As a result, his wife paid most of her attention in raising her daughter and took a laid back approach to raise her second son. As a result, that boy was spoiled by Engelich to become a lawless brute who could beat up his brother six years his senior easily. He even awakened his battleforce at the age of fourteen. Engelich was so glad that he had a successor and intended to teach all his skills to his beloved and talented great grandson.

While Charade was far too busy with the house's affairs to take care of his children's upbringing, he had an issue with his grandfather-in-law's methods. Wouldn't he only end up teaching a cowardly turtle? Even though Engelich was a rank 1 blademaster, he only hid within his home without serving the house at all. Reidy and Shuss on the other hand already made it to the level of rank 2 blademasters, yet Engelich didn't show the slightest progress at all. During the last time when the Union sent blademasters to hunt down the injured Lorist, Engelich showed up and retreated right after he sustained an injury. After that, he refused to leave home, claiming that he was recovering from his wounds.

So, Charade only managed to send his second son to Nico Academy after much trouble and got Lorist to promise him to let his son serve as his attendant when he was sixteen. If Lorist fancied the boy, he would make him his disciple. The eldest son was already beyond salvation and Charade was content with letting him live out life in luxury.

Perhaps, he was betting House Charade's glory on that second son of his and didn't care about his grandfather-in-law. Let's see if Engelich would dare to fight a swordsaint like Lorist over a disciple. Given how meek the old guy acted before Lorist, it would already be amazing if he could hold a simple conversation.

That was why Charade was envious of Lundmorde. It wasn't that his wife didn't bless him with children. But he couldn't compare in terms of the sheer number from seven wives! If Charade had seven wives, his family would no doubt with merry. Even if he didn't have twenty plus children, he'd at least have ten or so. It wasn't like he couldn't afford to raise them anyway.

"Seventeen plus five and four more within their mother's bellies... It seems that Lundmorde will soon be a father of 26 people... Looks like he has been leading quite a good life at the kingdom of Jekhano, for him to be able to impregnate his four wives there," joked Lorist.

Back then, Lundmorde had offended a merchant noble in Morante during his days as an informant and was forcefully conscripted and sent to the battlefield. He managed to save the crown prince of Jekhano by sheer coincidence during battle and left with the prince's cohort. His four wives went to seek him out when they heard the news and eventually reunited with him. That tear-jerking tale could even be written into a romantic play.

As a result, Lundmorde was declared a traitor of the Union and would be decapitated within half an hour should he end up captured. It was a crime so heavy that he wouldn't even be given a chance to explain himself. Given that the Union's territory was so big back then, he also no longer had a way to return to The Northlands and had no choice but to continue his life as a doctor with his four wives in Jekhano.

It was only until House Norton defeated the Union and turned the tide in the midsouthern part of the continent that Tarkel sent someone to contact Lundmorde and tell him that it was safe to head back to The Northlands. Only then did the knight bring his four pregnant wives and five children that were born in the past six years on the journey back to the dominion.

"Your Grace, don't forget that he has three more wives in the dominion. Given how long they had been separated, I'm sure that they'll demand him to treat them fairly as well. Lundmorde might not just end at 26 children. It won't take long before they get pregnant as well. And I'm sure that won't stop in the next few years either. They'd get pregnant right after they give birth too," said Charade.

"Your Grace, I really pity Knight Lundmorde. It must be tough to raise such a big family," said Jinolio with concern.

"That's right. The poor sod only had one small silver as spending money back then and had to do extra healing work out on the streets to barely maintain his standard of living. He's the most miserable of all the knights as all seven of his wives demand to be treated the same. Each time he buys one of them ornaments or dresses, the others wanted one too. He also has to get birthday presents for all seven of them and not a single one of them seem willing to let go." Charade shared the same opinion.

"I think Knight Lundmorde will also be made a baron this time around, right? Did you pick a good land for him?" asked Lorist.

"I did," Charade said with a nod, "Lundmorde's barony is located within Delamock near Sanderson Mountain Range. It's about one square kilometer in area and includes a forest, a small lake, an already completed castle and a small silver mine. According to our mining regulations, we'll lead part of the mining operations and Lundmorde will get a third of its profits, which is around two thousand gold Fordes. Including the other sources of income in his dominion, he'll earn around three thousand gold Fordes annually. That should be more than enough for him to live like a noble."

Lorist rapped his fingers on his desk and wrote a few lines on a piece of paper and handed it to Jinolio. "Take this to Bowrey to claim ten thousand gold Fordes from him out of my own pocket. Charade, bring Jinolio with you to visit Lundmorde's family and present him with this sum of money. Tell him that it's a personal gift from me, his lord.

"Sorry, Charade, for having to use up more or your time. I believe that Lundmorde will be too busy tending to his huge family and wouldn't have time to visit me, his lord. So, I'll have to trouble you to make this trip. This sum of money should be enough for his family to spend new year's with a blast and leave him enough to manage his new barony with. He won't have to go around borrowing money for that and he should be able to keep his seven wives content as well."

Charade chuckled. "Your Grace, it's long overdue. Lundmorde's misery is your fault after all. Your Grace was the one who wanted him to take all seven of them as wives. I'm sure Lundmorde will be grateful for the gift. He shouldn't have saved up much during his time in Jekhano during the past six years either and got nine more children instead."

Lorist laughed heartily. "He deserved it. It's his own fault for not keeping his pants on and starting a harem in the female brigade. He should've known what was coming for him. Also, don't make it sound like you're so pitiful or something. You're actually quite fortunate yourself. Otherwise, how could you have one child after another? Let Lundmorde take a break all the way till the fourth month of the next year before getting him to report to Kedan. I think he should be quite qualified to be chief inspector in the police force and the house currently lacks people like that."

Lundmorde practically got a brilliant job offered to him just like that. Chief inspector was one of the tallest positions in the police hierarchy that was in charge of patrolling an area. For instance, Felicitas had seven towns, each with its own patrolling unit. Apart from maintaining security, solving cases and maintaining town hygiene and traffic, he would also have to cooperate with the administration and plan patrol routes and shifts. The chief inspector would oversee all affairs in the seven towns of an area like Felicitas.

If Lundmorde took up tat position, his yearly salary and bonuses should amount to around 300 gold Fordes, which was a few times more than what he would earn by serving as a mobile doctor. And when he returned to the dominion, the 100 gold Fordes allowance for undertaking the dangerous mission of being undercover would be no more. That was the salary his wives and children relied on when he was in Jekhano, apart from the small bonus he earned as a knight.

More importantly, becoming chief inspector meant that Lundmorde won't just be a lazy noble and would instead have further promotion prospects. He wouldn't have to stay a baron for life.

"Your Grace, I represent Lundmorde and the alumni of Dawn Academy to give our highest praises!" Charade bowed deeply to Lorist. Back then, it was Charade who invited Lundmorde, who was being pressured by his herbalism professor, to come along and join the 36 students on the northbound journey. Apart from the seven who left halfway for Auguslo and the one who got killed along the journey, the remaining 28 became the core members of the Norton forces. Currently, only Lundmorde's standing was worse than most and the only thing he could be proud of was his seventeen, or actually, 26, children as of now.

After Charade and Jinolio left, Lorist pondered alone in his study. He can't even compare to other humans... How can he father one child after another? Even though I have seven women including my concubines, I don't have nearly as many children as he does... When Sylvia, Fennazali and Daisy also wanted to become mothers, I had to try so hard to fulfill their wish. Yet, Lundmorde's able to impregnate all seven of his wives without trouble...

Lundmorde had become a legend in the household when he returned, especially after he brought back five more children and four pregnant wives. Some household knights and officials even held banquets for him to ask him whether he used some kind of herbalist concoction to improve his potency and they wouldn't mind paying a high price for it. Sylvia even asked Lorist to ask Lundmorde whether that medicine or a special technique like that really existed.

That aside, the days passed as usual. After the 10th month, Lorist brought his whole family to Cherry Blossom Ridge. He couldn't bear to stay at Northsea any longer as the sea breeze was so cold that it chilled bone. It was as if winter came a month earlier. Since Sylvia didn't want to Ragebear, where construction was rife, they chose to go to Cherry Blossom Ridge instead. That was the manor Lorist gave Sylvia back then and the scenery was magnificent.

During the middle of the 12th month, Lorist returned with his family to the dominion lord's residence in Ragebear and prepared to host the year end celebration. The whole city was in a festive mood and filled to the brim with people. The cloudy skies and snowy weather didn't stop the citizens from celebrating. Apart from snow sculptures covering both sides of the streets, there were many open-air performances and shows in the city and laughter and cheering could be heard all over.

This was the celebration held after Duke of The Northlands and kingdom swordsaint Norton Lorist returned from a three-year battle in Falik Plains victorious. The house spent lots of money so that the people could celebrate with them, not to mention the fact that there would be a large entitlement ceremony as well, making the scale of this celebration far bigger and impressive than those before.

This time around, those who were promoted count included the two supervisors, Spiel and Kedan. Those being promoted to viscount included the first 16 knights led by Charade, Reidy, Shuss, Camorra, Hector, Kriston, Balk, Ciroba and Tarkel.

There were 46 newly entitled barons. One notable one was Shadekampf who had served as Lorist's attendant from the very beginning, proving that House Norton rewarded talented people regardless of background. The next one was Howard, and it was surprising that he was given a barony, given how he was already made a viscount by Duke Felim. Even though he only got it because he married the duke's daughter, the marriage also came with the title of viscount and a viscounty near Boblige in Southern.

It was definitely a celebrating that would stay in people's minds for long to come. The grand entitlement ceremony brought one cheer after another and represented the rise in might of House Norton and the bright future it had ahead of it.