Bloodshed and Gain

A blade that was being swung made a parabolic arc until it met the soft leather-covered torso of the target it was aimed at. At contact, it ripped deeply through that bit of skin and ate away at the soft flesh underneath.

The crimson blood spurted out softly, drenching the blade and armor in a sinister red flood that trickled down to the soil beneath.

It also fell on the boots of the one that was wielding the said blade.

Some of it even had spurted further and stained Nero's cheek and own armor at the moment of penetration.

But with the grime and dirt all over his body and armor, it was hard to see anything remotely red among the colors. Only the blade that glinted a cold steel color reflected that sinister red glimmer.

And this would be not the last that would flow into the dirt underneath him.

When the person in front of him finally collapsed and breathed the last of his life, Nero quickly turned to block another person's ax with his shield.

The cracking sound indicating that his shield splinted a little let Nero frown slightly but his blade was already on its way straight into the heart of his enemy after getting it out of the previous person.

A clean thrust pierced yet again and another life was forfeited.

Pulling his blade out with pressing a leg against the person still hanging on it, he made himself ready again and looked around.

When his eyes barely perceived enough of his surroundings there was an arrow approaching him from his peripheral vision. Only by reflex he quickly raised his shield and the arrow got stuck in the wood of his shield.

Not letting that archer get another aim at him, he twisted his wrist to angle his shield and ggrab the small handax still clinging to the rim of his shield from the other guy that attacked him.

With a small step forward, he gained enough momentum to throw it straight at the archer that got the ax embedded in the skull. Such a poor fool.

Picking his sword back up that he stuck into the dirt beneath him for that throw he watched his surroundings again.

The grunts of soldiers and clashes of blades slowly dimmed down in his surroundings. Only some pained wails still came from some wounded. The forested area slowly came to become a graveyard and nothing more.

He even got to see how another archer who tried to shoot him ended up dead with an arrow in his throat the moment he locked onto him.

Moving his head to the one that killed the archer he could see a green-haired elf girl lowering her bow and nodding at him.

Nero smiled at her and nodded as well. And after the battle came to a final end, he wiped away the blood and grime from his blade and finally sheathed it in its scabbard on his waist.

"Alright! Well done, men!", shouted Nero and talked to his own soldiers now. "As always, gather everything valuable and burn the corpses! The wounded should get treated!"

His orders were simple since everyone that followed Nero for the past 4 years understood how to work under him.

Some methods were very bizarre to some of them and the tactics used genuinely frightening at times. But with that Nero gained loyal soldiers and his leadership soon became well known throughout the Teyrn(Duchy) of Highever.

So much so that Nero was now leading a good solid 5000 men army compromised of soldiers and even farmers. Of course, everyone, even the farmers, was trained regularly by him and paid good money every month without a delay. That created a small elite and loyal mercenary army with nearly the best equipment possible.

Its main focus was to keep Highever under control of any threats and the men of his father away from exhaustion. From time to time they even took jobs outside of Highever for reasonable prices. But never outside of Ferelden. The reason being that it should be kept mobile enough to react to threats nearly instantly.

After all, the lands of Ferelden may be large, but in the end, it still takes about a month straight traveling from Highever to Ostagar on foot. There were no vehicles invented yet and the terain was rather hard to travel.

Especially the peasants and civilians started to love the young second lord of Highever for his devotion and care that he showed them by protecting settlements from bandits and other vermin.

Besides that fact, most people in his small army consisted of said peasant people and they were thankful to get an opportunity to live a life besides what was offered to them.

They did not necessarily have to work on the farmland and the pay was higher than most other noble's. So they gladly risked their lives for a steady good pay in return that would give their families at home security - that being a bonus while keeping them safe actively by increasing control in Highever

Of course, that created a shortage of hands in agriculture but Nero also solved that problem by introducing certain tools to make that aspect of life a lot easier. Heavy plows made out of full metal instead of wood increased their durability and sharpening plows was easy by blacksmiths.

Nero actually wondered how people still used damn hoes in that field of work. They did not even reach the level of hardwood plows in this world, which was a sad fact.

But Nero did not complain. The more he introduced into this world, the more he would reap from it. And the introduction of fertilizer alone massively increased the yield of grain and other fruits. Not to mention the tactic of letting fields recover and not always use the same fields for harvest.

Well, let's just say Nero had to shake his head in disbelief how low technology was.

Coming back to benefits, even the merchants soon started to have favorable opinions of him because he kept the trading roads safe with outposts and even established a direct connection to the south with a big main street that leads down to Lothringen.

Normally one had either to go around lake Callenhad or through Denerim to reach the north of Ferelden. At least if one did not want to have massive problems in the transport of goods. And those roads were not of that high quality since the crown rarely invested so much just in a mere road.

With this one road alone the travel from north to south was basically halved. So half a month was now only needed to transport goods. It was especially good for all the farmers in the bannern below Highever's territory that were responsible for most of the food for the kingdom.

It was a true blessing solved with Nero's investment that also involved increasing all other paths leading to Highever to a certain point. And in return, it brought a lot of trade into the city of Highever. What, you ask what city? Clearly, the city surrounding the Highever castle was the one we are talking about.

In all that spending and investing, some may ask where he got all the coin for those massive changes? It was simply answered by the golden beer that was now circulating in nearly every tavern or the fine wines mostly brought by Orlesian nobility.

Don't even mention the alcohol loving dwarves.

There was alcohol in this world, but never was it that good of quality that it could compete against the finest Wine, Rum, Vodka, or fermented Beer. Highever would become the german equivalent of standards and Nero actually introduced the yearly Oktoberfest for a merry and joyous time.

Of course, it was all to increase his income. Why else would such a tradition succeed so easily?

The alcohol industry soon boomed thanks to the high quality of liquor coming from Highever. And it brought to the Cousland's riches that nearly bloated the treasury to a near explosion. Far outshining the crowns.

Nero's Father, Teyrn Bryce Cousland, appointed Nero half of the income since it was his idea that succeeded so much. The other half would once again be split and 25% of it would be invested in the lands a.k.a the roads.

The rest, the Teyrn would keep for the family. And by no means was that a small amount.

This industry alone brought about 15 times the normal yearly amount they had gotten. Then the agriculture also increased income by 5 times. And that was with their Vassal Amaranthine not included.

Nero knew most processes in producing the liquor since he had designed many machines that were used in such industry in his old life and now in this life. He also had to get into the material of how things were produced and could use that knowledge now. He never thought his basic understanding of things would become so useful.

He struggled at first how to realize certain things with the barely high enough technology level at this age but he just had to look at some already local producers and reverse-engineer some of it until he improved the techniques.

That took a whole year but it paid off all the effort put into it. Hell, just a year for such a thing is an amazing feat.

For some reason, people also noticed that Nero did not want to improve the Arling of Amaranthine since it was not under their direct jurisdiction. And the people of Amaranthine benefitted only little from his improvements.

They were of course slowly getting discontent and complaining to Arl Howe. Some even suspected the Arl had somehow displeased the Teyrn. Arl Howe of course was not pleased himself and confronted his father.

But Nero told his father to keep Howe under a tighter leash and even told him of certain unruly behavior of his old friend.

Nero's father could not believe such accusations and that was the very first time they had a fight over something. With a deep sigh, he could only accept his son's attitude against his old friend. That being said, Teyrn Bryce had to move and improve Amaranthine a little bit.

Nero only shrugged at his father's decision. Of course, it was hard to convince his father otherwise. At least, he got an army of his own now with the coin and it was one that only received his orders.

He planned to do this from the very start. There is no way he would let feudalism limit his options and make him dependable on the Bannern and other Vassals under his father's rule.

Especially that Howe. He did not forget that this snake was too ambitious for its own good. Should he go the same path that he did in the game, he would get rid of him. And by all means, he would want that. There was already some evidence of his little shenanigans.

But first things first. He had to get the people on his side first and he slowly spread discontent. Soon the people under Howe would want another leader and Nero would gladly take the Arling of Amaranthine.

It would come into his hands sooner or later anyway.

While a small smile appeared on his face a soldier approached the now resting Nero and saluted.

"My lord, we have finished cleaning the bandit camp and disposing of the corpses to prevent diseases. Is there something else we should do?", asked the man with white hair. He was an old man but Nero knew this man since he was 6.

"No, that will be enough. Also old man. You don't need to call me lord. Just use my name. After all, we know each other long enough now, Ser Wallace.", smiled Nero and looked at him.

Wallace laughed lightly. "Kid, you will still stay my lord even if you order me to do that request. It would also not be good when the soldiers get the feeling that no importance on order is placed."

"I know, but no one is around us.", shrugged Nero.

"Is that really true?", asked Wallace and glanced over to Syllia that stood at the side with Nero.

Nero only sighed at this man's antics. "Well, how are the other vice-commanders doing? And are there any news from our singing birds in Orlais?"

Wallace nodded. "The other lads are reporting in that they are mostly done and everything is going according to your orders. Our...little singing birds are struggling to actively establish a reliable spy network...It seems Orlais is a hard nut to crack in that regard."

"I already thought so. Orlais has a lot more experience than Ferelden in regard to intelligence networking. But no one was caught yet?", smiled Nero and asked about the more important matter.

"No, everyone is still having time singing their songs.", answered Wallace.

"Very good.", said Nero and started thinking.

"Uhm, my lord. When is it you are going to give someone else this post? I don't really like handling the spies. I don't think I am that suited for it..."

Just then Nero started to laugh lightly. "Sorry old man. You will have to keep up with it for now. That is until I find someone that is suitable for it. After all, you are only a placeholder for military and intelligence. I did not intend for you to have so much stress on your shoulders. You were only supposed to be our little martial instructor. Sadly we can't really find anyone yet. And you did a good job until now. Don't lower your value that much. Say, you did mention your grandson once."

That question got a complicated glimmer in his eyes. "I don't think he is ready yet. The lad barely made it a knight."

"But he would learn from you directly after all. And from me, if that is what you are after. How about you train him into my right hand?", smirked Nero now. Nero had established his supreme combat skills more often than not by now.

And he knew this man in front of him was very loyal. A true knight through and through. That made him wonder how the old Kyng(King) could let him go like that. Well, experience somehow was not valued that much.

The old man smirked at that remark. "It would be an honor. Ser Nero Cousland."

Nero waved with a sigh. "Who would have thought winning that grand tourney would give me the title of the youngest knight yet...It's just bothersome. Nothing more."

Just when Wallace wanted to say something else a screech was heard from above.

"Hmm, looks like Luna found something.", commented Nero when looking up.