Dynasties Online Chapter 87 The Nathian Safe Haven

"Knowledge is power."

Petyr Balish from game of thrones.

….

[Your third and final Dynasty History Event, 'Railius' teenage days,' has been created. Would you like to enter it.]

[Y/N]

Despite spending only 4 hours of real-life time in the game, Railius felt exhausted from his last event because, unlike the first, where he just made a few plans then sat back and let it all play out, not entering combat himself much this time he had personally had to deal with everything or struggle to survive being pulled one way or another.

Because his noble house was so young and military-focused, he had not managed to set up any reliable civilian branch or civil service to help him manage things or negotiate, meaning that he had to do all the bargaining on his own as all the managers would serve the new Marquis of Nalora.

Seeing also that he had plenty of time till the servers started nearly 3 days later, he decided to get some good sleep and put as many of his university affairs in order as possible before the servers opened up so he could put his all into the game.

Pressing no, Reginald quickly left the virtual to sleep. So exhausted was he that he slept soundlessly for a whole 12 hours, and it was the afternoon of the next day before he awoke feeling very hungry but refreshed.

Wolfing down a quick lunch, which consisted of a ham sandwich and a few sausage rolls, he quickly went to a lecture that he had at 4 PM, having slept through both a lecture and a seminar that he was meant to go to earlier in the day unable to get out of the comfort of his bed.

After returning to on-campus accommodation, he made a quick dinner before going to the university assignments that he could do quickly, spending the entire night on them before sleeping.

The next day was the 2nd of February, the last day he had to finish his Dynasty History Events before the servers opened the following days and failing them, losing the dynasty he had spent so much time and effort to set up perfectly.

Plunging back into the virtual world at 10 o'clock, Reginald entered the game and quickly chose to enter his final dynasty event when the familiar system notification appeared again. Closing his eyes, he prepared to be teleported into the game again, only for another system notification to take him by surprise.

[Loading the player's final Dynasty History Event 'Railius' teenage days.' Before loading, please choose where in The Kingdom of Nathia you want for your dynasty's safe haven to be.]

After this unexpected system notification, a large map of the entire Kingdom of Nathia appeared before him. It's a shame that he had no way of saving this image as it was unlikely that he would get a more detailed map than the one the system gave him at this time, and having something like this would be invaluable to his cause.

What was some of the most valuable loot a pirate could get his hands on when scourges of the sea like Blackbeard roamed the great oceans of the world? Sugar? Doubloons? No, what was more valuable was maps! Maps of sea trading routes or of the various enemy forts and safe harbours where you could wait for a fat merchant ship to loot before sailing to a safe port and selling your ill-gotten gains.

If Reginald had a map like this at hand, then at any time, he could see which noble was where and how long it would take them to get from one place to the other, which routes they were likely to take if a civil war took place just the thought of having this information made the young player salivate with greed.

He looked at the sprawling map and the various terrain types, from rolling hills to high-peaked mountains to spawling forests and fast-flowing rivers and streams. All sorts of geographical phenomena could be seen in the Kingdom of Nathia, but what surprised Reginald the most was the number of duchies and powerful nobles within this kingdom.

"One, two, three, five, ten, no twenty-odd duchies."

Reginald counted out loud to himself before being taken aback by the number.

'Wait a minute. There are 20 odd bloody dukes, and amongst those, there are 2 grand dukes. No wonder the kingdom is so powerful. Even England or France, at its height of power in the medieval age, struggled to have so many, and that was not all dotted around them were many marquises and even a few independent counts!'

Reginald thought to himself, and each of those dukes likely had many counts under their command, and this was just one kingdom, albeit a powerful one. Just how many landed nobles were there in dynasties online?

After being stunned for a few minutes, Reginald quickly drew his attention back to the map. He needed to choose where he set up his haven carefully because it would affect him heavily in the future as it would define what he did in the early game, which would be crucial in securing his dynasty's survival in the early game.

After getting his unique unit, Reginald understood just how important money was in this game, so his first priority should be to set up multiple revenue streams so that he could afford to feed and look after his soldiers and their families.

Inadvertently, without even realising it, he had identified the first problem that his dynasty would face in the next dynasty event as, ironically, his success had created a myriad of issues for him to deal with.

The Friend System did not expect Railius to survive, let alone have so many men left over from the event. Even if he somehow survived, the system expected him to barely have 20-100 soldiers left, yet now he had 600 with him guaranteed and with all the connections House Aurellion has made, at least 800 of the 1000 men stuck in their territory led by Vice Commander Darius would join them leaving Railius having to feed 1000 men and their families with no territory to his name!

Even if 500 of those men are fed by Duke Ancel, he is only responsible for sustaining them as it would take 5 years until he paid any money to Railius to keep those men by his side.

This meant that Railius somehow needed to feed and settle 1000 people and their families in Nathia while still looking after them without having any real sort of land or easy source of income to do it with for 5 years.

What is worse, while he was an ex-noble, and so had a bit of money due to the quick nature of his departure and the abandonment of their convoy, the majority of his noble houses' assets were left in Chavaria, meaning he did not have much to work with, and much of what he and his men could carry on their persons or horses would be spent in the month-long trip through the Beastman United States to Nathia.

Blissfully unaware of the managerial nightmare that awaited him, Reginald finally decided where he wanted to base himself.

"The Duchy of Detarnor huh."

Reginald said, looking at the vital large stone bridge that connected the north and south of The Kingdom of Nathia and was likely used as a crossing by many traders and businesses.

This would be a vital place for trade to pass through from the noble domains situated in the south to the royal capital of Narthonia in the north, and so was a perfect place to set up a base as not only was it in the middle of the kingdom and so unlikely to be affected by any external conflicts but it was at least 3 weeks away from the Chavarian-Nathia border in the north where the only mountain pass through was closed by Nartook Fortress.

Thinking that this was too good to be true, he clicked on it, making a window pop up with a description of the duchy, a brief history and its current state and finally found the problem he would face if he decided to set up there.

….

The Duchy of Detarnor:

History: One of the oldest and proudest of Nathia's noble family, House Rikutus, has ruled over the duchy since the kingdom's founding 1000 years ago. Their territory sits between the royal capital and the kingdom's south and is a vital place where many traders and businessmen pass to facilitate trade between the north and south.

The duchies' army is strong, and gold flows through the vital trade link; however, recently, the Dukes of Detarnor, once one of the most loyal noble houses within the kingdom, have fallen into depravity.

With the lure of money, the rot of corruption has infested itself into the territory, its corroding claws even reaching up to the upper nobility. Bribes and other criminal activities have become the norm as bigger merchants and companies pay large sums to the upper elite to monopolise this vital trade route.

Being situated next to a small river, the land is fertile, allowing for the growing of many crops and a vital source of military supplies for the kingdom's armies, increasing their already extensive influence over the ancient nation and its affairs.

Many rumours have emerged of abuses of power done by the nobility within the duke's territory; however, with the current Duke of Detarnor Ridorfin Rikutus's immense influence in the royal court, all complaints have been suppressed and rebellions crushed.

The duke is known for his great weight and for hosting many parties, spending lavishly and enjoying all the pleasures and depravities the world had to offer, but also for his cunning intellect. Many who had underestimated him had found themselves on the chopping block, not knowing how they got there.

….

'Well, that may be somewhat problematic….'

Railius thought that while dealing with corrupt officials was not hard, it was also not easy as you had to tread a fine line, for if you were caught, your opponents would use your corruption to deal with you. Who knew how many schemes he would have to deal with in that den of decay as you must remember that it was because of corrupt nobles like these with high pride that his noble house was exiled in the first place.

Unfortunately, there was no better place for him to set up his safe haven than there, as the trading route was far too lucrative an opportunity to pass up. He would just have to be careful, so he picked it, and a system notification appeared.

[Are you sure you want to set up your safe haven in the Duchy of Detarnor]

[Y/N]

Picking the yes option, Reginald was surprised to have to wait 10 minutes for the event to load some more before entering it, closing his eyes as the clouds enveloped him, and he was taken back into the game.

Opening his eyes, he saw that he was in his familiar large tent, the same one that he had lived in the previous dynasty history event, but unlike the forest that had surrounded their camp, now there was an open grass field with birds chirping overhead.

Jordis, his trusty servant, came into the grand tent, having survived the second event with Oswan riding with him and Leon to fight Duke Ancel's troops. Because there was an agreement between his lord and the duke, neither side had fought seriously and tried to keep casualties to a minimum. Hence, it was pretty easy for the skilled vice commander of the Pelican Guards to keep him safe. As for Jordis' younger brother, he had waited with a few men for the battle to end before joining them shortly before Railius left the land of The Free Brothers.

"My lord, the Grand Commander has called you for training."

Jordis said, bowing respectfully to his lord, but despite Jordis' reverent attitude and respect, Railius felt his heart grow cold, wanting to run away or hide under the nearest blanket he could. Shivering slightly, the young player remembered the last time he had undergone training with the devil-like taskmaster in his manor and swore to himself that he would never go through that again as a familiar notification appeared in front of him, but unlike the others that Railius had seen, this one seemed to be daunting.

[Dynasty History Main Quest Received 'A Young Lords Training.']

[Player has created the player-made quest 'Escape the devilish training.]

'Wait! What the hell is happening? Why did a bloody player-made quest appear?'

'He is worse than our own militaries drill sergeant! Who the hell trains someone to dodge arrows by making them run around a courtyard being shot by fake arrows, and each one caused a bruise to boot!'

'It's like running from a guy chasing you with a bloody paintball gun!'

Railius thought in a panic, a tsunami of fear overtaking him. It seemed strange that he could easily politically manoeuvre his way through the world and confidently talk with some of the most powerful people in the world of DO but would be this scared of some simple training it showed just how much the previous training had seared his soul.

Seeing that his young lord seemed stiff and the sweat begin to pour down his face in small streams, Jordis only sighed, feeling sorry for what his lord had to go through. Ever since House Aurellion had escaped, his lord had tried to use every possible excuse to get out of training. It even got to the point where he had to be dragged there by Leon.

"My lord, please!"

Jordis said, gesturing outside the tent and towards a field where Leon stood waiting for them.

Seeing no way to get out of the training, Railius reluctantly followed Jordis towards what could only be a few hours of pain.