Chapter 38 — A Real Headache

Gao Yang Cecil had returned safely, bringing with him documents signed by the king and word of the royal family's support.

Viscount Andrew, who had waited nearly three months in Tamsin Town, felt he had made the right decision: the founding hero of seven hundred years ago had not disappointed him. He was not merely the brute warrior Andrew had feared at first, but a man who combined cunning with strategy.

What he had not expected was that the founding hero would choose the Dark Mountains as the starting point for reviving his family.

As a minor noble holding sway over the southern frontier, Viscount Andrew was naturally no stranger to the Dark Mountains. In fact, the old Cecil domain and the Leslie domain both lay on the northern side of the range, and on clear days one had only to look up to see that magnificent natural barrier. The mountains blocked the unhealthy air blowing in from the ruined wastes of Gondor, and at the same time, because of their abundance of monsters and the constant stream of strange tales, they made many a man's face pale at the mere mention of them; even the most reckless of hunters seldom went into the Dark Mountains to make a living—even after the southern lords had opened the hunting rights within the range.

The old Cecil domain had lain a little to the west of the northern part of the Dark Mountains; to the northeast was Tamsin Town; and the "New Cecil domain" Gao Yang had chosen lay southeast of Tamsin Town. The three roughly formed a triangle—except that the "New Cecil domain" was the closest of the three to the Dark Mountains, its southern edge even reaching directly into the depths of the range.

One tributary of the Whitewater River, which flowed past Tamsin Town, emptied into the "New Cecil domain." In terms of transport, that new home was actually a fine place: supplies from Tamsin Town could be obtained with ease, and if the domain grew in the future, trade costs would be much reduced.

That is, provided Gao Yang and his people could truly gain a foothold in that barren land.

In Viscount Andrew's castle, this gaunt and meticulous nobleman looked deeply worried. "Forgive my bluntness, Your Grace, but the first foothold you have chosen is not... quite suitable. There is plenty of land there, true, but it lies too close to the Dark Mountains, and it lacks the protection of civilized society. The beasts in the mountains are a great threat, and every year in the Month of Mist, foul winds blow over the range from the ruined wastes of Gondor. Strong soldiers may be fine, but the poor commoners and serfs cannot withstand it..."

"You have seen the map; you know that although the lands I could choose from are vast, their circumstances are all much the same," Gao Yang said dismissively. "Among the ring of lands pressed right up against the Dark Mountains, the tract I picked is already the best. The foul winds can be warded off with medicine and magic, and I will find my own way to deal with the matter of defense. So long as we can last through the first year, we can begin mining ore from the Dark Mountains, and the domain will have its foothold."

He could hardly come right out and say that he had chosen such a place because a national treasure vault of seven hundred years ago lay buried in those mountains.

At the very least, this matter could not be known to outsiders until he had opened the vault himself and gotten everything into his hands—and even then, only to a limited circle. Total secrecy was impossible; those supplies would have to be used, and once they were brought out for construction, even a fool could guess the truth.

All he could ensure was that, before those things were all put to use, as few people knew as possible.

Seeing Gao Song's firm resolve, Viscount Andrew of course had no way to say much more. He only offered a reminder: "This is all your decision, and I will naturally support it as best I can—but please remember the bargain we first struck."

Gao Yi gave a faint smile. "Rest easy; the Cecil family has never welched on a debt. If you are truly uneasy, shall I leave you one or two of these antiques on my person as security?"

Rebecca, who had been sitting across the table reporting her experiences in the royal capital to Aunt Hedy, immediately looked up, her eyes shining as she stared in Gao Song's direction: the Xuanmai Sect thought the same way she did! Did that not mean she had inherited the family tradition?

Hedy rapped Rebecca lightly on the forehead. "Stop gawking and go on. At the banquet the king held, you spent the whole time doing nothing but eating?!"

"I was drinking too—I'm of age now, I can have a little..."

Looking at this addle-brained girl, Hedy's face was one of despair. "My heavens..."

As for Viscount Andrew, he of course could not accept Gao Song's "kind offer," and hastily waved his hands. "No need, no need. I trust the credit of the Cecil family and the word of the founding hero... Then when do you plan to set out?"

"The sooner the better," Gao Yan said with a nod. "We leave once the supplies are ready. The support the king promised will take at least a month, so I must first get my people firmly on their feet in the new home."

For those who had escaped with their lives from the disaster at the old Cecil domain, three long months of recuperation were over; the lord's return from the royal capital meant they must at once make ready to greet their new life.

Even if the vast majority of them knew what sort of thing that new life would be.

Sir Philip and Sir Byron were sent out, taking men to purchase in Tamsin Town the necessary supplies and the materials indispensable for building the new domain—grain, tools, tents, medicines, and a great many necessities they would never have thought of.

The items to be prepared piled up like a mountain. Even Hedy, who had long assisted in managing the domain's affairs, and Byron, an old retainer of the Cecil family, did not know where to begin; no one knew what it took to build a domain from scratch. In this respect, only Gao Yang could be of some help. In the great age of exploration seven hundred years ago, the forebears of Ans knew how to build a home from nothing, and Gao Yang's memories of what the exploration period required were precious experience.

Of course, given the seven-hundred-year gap, Gao Yang's experience and knowledge might not be entirely applicable, but the basic principles were much the same.

No matter how tools might develop and change, the problems a settler faced in the wilderness remained the same—nothing more than food, clothing, shelter, and transport, medicine and defense.

As for funds, Viscount Andrew had earlier returned the gold and silver property of the Cecil family, and together with the money Philip had preserved, it was not ample, but just barely enough to prepare the initial supplies.

The refugees from the Cecil domain went about the town everywhere, buying supplies and hiring carts, which naturally drew the attention of the locals. They had all heard the news that the founding hero had come back to life, and recently they had heard that the young lady of Cecil had returned from the royal capital, so naturally they understood that these "outsiders" who had lodged in the town for three months were at last about to leave.

As for whether these "outsiders" went or stayed, most of the lower classes of Tamsin Town did not much care, but the fact that the "outsiders" were buying a great many things before their departure had earned the town's merchant guilds a tidy profit, and so their complaints about their own lord dwindled at once. Before this, the lord had requisitioned a good many shanties for the outsiders to live in, and those penniless refugees could not be squeezed for even a few coppers, which had genuinely made no small number of business folk deeply resentful of them...