I’d entered Koturah the day after Orone’s wife and son had been killed, and now I was sitting in one of the Bof family manor’s meeting rooms with Kien and a few other important figures.
At the very bottom of the table, a spirited young woman named Tigris Harmon sat. She wore perfectly fitting clothing with a standing collar, and her long hair was tied back in a ponytail. I estimated she was about thirty.
The question was why a young woman was head of her family and held a title like lord-of-estates. From what I could gather, the previous head of the Harmon family had been unable to produce a male heir. Ordinarily, a successor would enter the family by marrying the head’s daughter, but Tigris had stubbornly insisted that she’d go to the Knight Academy and assume the role herself. Thus, a woman had become head of the family.
As a lord-of-estates, she was a powerful figure, with many knight families serving under her. Her territory was so far from the provincial capital that her role was like that of a margrave.
Distance was an important consideration for effective government, with regions farther from a nation’s center being harder to control. A central government would struggle to keep watch over numerous, scattered small territories, which could lead to those remote territories doing whatever they pleased. An intricate system of bureaucratic processes might ensure order, but that brand of politics was of little interest to knights. Their preferred solution was to entrust a dependable figure to oversee the more remote territories. This was the common way for a regional ruler to become a margrave.
There wasn’t a specific rule against a woman becoming a knight, but it was exceedingly rare that they became a lord-of-estates. In ordinary circumstances, there’d be countless complaints, and the woman about to assume the position would suddenly have a plethora of suitors offering to marry her and assume the title themselves.
Women who served as knights were respected as long as they earned their knighthood first, but since the kingdom was governed by women, there was a powerful desire to keep knights under the control of men. For a woman to obtain a military leadership role and maintain it regardless was no small feat.
Based on what I’d heard, Tigris had silenced the naysayers with displays of competence. Although Mestina—a city famous for its gold mines—was suffering a reduction in its gold exports, she’d compensated by encouraging new industries, ensuring that her territory continued operating smoothly. Her own people had therefore developed strong trust in her.
“It took us two full weeks to capture Bof Province,” I said. “We still have to deal with the Noza family.”
Two weeks. All the while, we’d been impatiently awaiting a ship that would bring news from the Albio Republic. A successful voyage hadn’t proved possible within fourteen days this time.
“Do you have a plan, Sir Yuri?” Kien Rube asked.
Liao wasn’t with us. He’d already taken command of forces heading out to hold back the Noza family.
“It’ll be harder this time. We attacked the Bof family immediately after killing Orone Bof, leaving the province’s rulers without any time to react. That won’t work on the Noza family. We’ve already given them enough time to assemble forces to defend against us. Sir Kien, I imagine their soldiers have already assembled at the border with your territory.”
“Indeed. After dispatching an eagle, I learned that the enemy has around three thousand soldiers in position. Though there aren’t any large settlements close to the border.”
The border between Rube Province and Noza Province lay in the far north where villages were sparsely distributed throughout icy fjords. Although the villages were connected by roads, the land there wasn’t productive enough to allow them to develop into towns or cities. Though forts could’ve been built there for the sake of defending the region, they’d have been expensive to maintain and useless except in times of war. For that reason, none had been built.
“It appears that the people have evacuated from the villages closest to the border, and felled trees have been used to create abatis and fortify the fields,” Kien added.
“Dimitri, tell me about their border with us.”
A fief belonging to the Daz family, which Dimitri was head of, lay at the border between Ho Province and Noza Province.
“The enemy has constructed makeshift defenses at Noza Province’s southern border too, but there are few soldiers deployed there—no more than five hundred men, it seems. It’s likely that they intend to withdraw to Oregano the moment any fighting begins.”
Oregano—the capital of Noza Province—was a considerable distance from the border with Ho Province. There weren’t any sizable towns in between. Heartless as it sounded, the enemy would be wise to abandon whatever settlements lay in that region.
It occurred to me that Lilly’s family home was located just a little north of Oregano. Her father couldn’t provide an army since he was merely a custodian, but he’d still have to defend his land.
“We could also enter through the mountains via Yutan Pass,” I suggested. “That’s the broadest road, though it could prove difficult because it’s easily defended.”
Yutan Pass was an important trade route linking Sibiak to Oregano. It detoured some way north so as to stick to the low ground between mountains, but it was better maintained than any other mountain pass. The problem was that the narrowness of the route was highly advantageous to the defending side. After the initial battle for control of the pass, we’d also struggle to establish supply lines. A supply line’s length wasn’t its only limiting factor—any danger encountered along the route also had an obvious impact.