The Bond Forged by the Sun
In front of the Wintervalt Grand Duchy Castle warehouse, the fervor of the territory's residents welcoming back the duke's party after subjugating the King Slime was red-hot.
"Heave-ho! Carry it carefully! Make sure it's sealed tight so nothing leaks!"
"This cart's packed full too!"
Dozens of laborers swarmed like ants, hauling the spoils of war—slime mucus and magic stones—into the warehouse. Kailan couldn't hide his fresh amazement at their incredible work speed.
"Were there always this many laborers in the North? It feels like they've doubled since before."
Rian Count beamed from ear to ear as he replied to Kailan's words.
"This is all thanks to the policies Your Highness devised! Word has spread across the entire empire—not just generous daily wages, but honest workers can buy their own homes at bargain prices. Laborers pour in from every corner every day."
Hmm. Yeah, that'd definitely make you wanna work.
"The lime mortar issue is completely resolved with this expedition! We'll even be able to build sturdier structures. Now we just need timber and a bit of iron, and we're perfect!"
Hand over the timber and iron, huh? What a cheeky bastard.
But at this point, even if he ordered the residents to frantically chop down northern trees, there was no time or space to dry them properly.
"As expected, that arrogant noble should have his head chopped off for fraud to secure the materials…!"
"That wouldn't be any fun."
Kailan shook his head at Cedric's words. Everyone has something as precious as their life. For knights, it might be their mission to guard the Northern Wall; for merchants, a lifetime of accumulated wealth.
Kill Guenther as a merchant first. It wouldn't be too late to take his actual life after that.
As Rian Count looked up at him with a worried expression, Kailan flashed a grin.
"Don't worry. If you want, I can dig up iron and timber all at once."
"Iron and timber at the same time, Your Highness?"
Kailan pulled out a northern map and pointed to one spot. It was a pitch-black forest in the northwest.
If the slime cave they'd subjugated today had been an unexplored zone, this place was different. It was a habitat known to the North, yet impossible to bulldoze with brute force—a dwelling of moving tree monsters.
"Our target is the Howling Floodwood in the northwest. Our knight order and the Wintervalt Direct Guild will subjugate it."
"Gasp…! Your Highness!"
"That place is still far too dangerous for northern adventurers!"
Knight Captain Cedric and Guild Master Walter shouted in unison.
"That forest crawls with Treants! Their bark has such vicious hardness that only knights' aura can pierce it."
Walter urgently backed Cedric up.
"Exactly! They're no different from living steel trees. Sending novices in to log that forest would be a massacre!"
Despite the vassals' fierce opposition, Kailan wore his usual impassive expression. The Howling Floodwood housed threats that could turn even seasoned northern veteran knights pale.
But they were difficult foes, not strong ones. Treants were tough, sure, but slow-moving. Veteran adventurers—not to mention the North's knights—could handle them easily.
"There's a way to cut them down easily without knights' aura. Rian Count, once we subjugate that forest, construction materials won't be an issue, right?"
"Y-yes, Treant corpses are indeed as hard and light as steel."
Carve out the magic stone, and they became sturdy building materials that didn't even need drying.
"But how do we process trees even knights struggle to fell into construction materials?"
"Didn't I say I had an easy way to cut them?"
"Even ordinary laborers can process them?"
Kailan nodded and ordered Cedric and Walter to prepare for departure by tomorrow morning. Giving them a full day to rest—Kailan thought himself a remarkably merciful lord.
That night. In the duke's office at the Wintervalt Grand Duchy Castle.
As Kailan skimmed documents to prepare for the expedition, someone cautiously opened the office door and entered.
"Your Highness…."
The bewitching woman he missed the moment they parted. The one Kailan loved. It was Eleanor.
"Eleanor. You're still up?"
Kailan set down his pen and greeted her with a soft smile.
Eleanor approached slowly and gently took his hand.
"I heard you're heading to the Floodwood tomorrow. You must still be weary from the expedition…."
"Haha. The monster duke doesn't get tired."
It wasn't bravado. Even the rare mental fatigue vanished at the sight of her face.
"It's your new city development project. What kind of husband would I be if I couldn't even procure materials? Oh, and just in case—don't even think about coming along this time."
Kailan put on a stern face for show.
"I didn't show it, but do you know how much I worried during the slime subjugation? I felt ten years shaved off my life fearing you might get hurt."
The monster duke, who never revealed weaknesses to anyone, whined to his wife with a rainbow of expressions.
Waves rippled in Eleanor's eyes at his tender tone.
"If you've come to say you'll join the subjugation, get back to the bedroom right now!"
"Your Highness… I don't always visit your office just to talk business."
With a soft rustle, Eleanor slipped carefully into Kailan's embrace. Like someone confirming her husband's presence, she buried her face in his chest and looked up.
Haa… My wife, but she's insanely lovable.
Kailan lightly kissed the top of her head and stroked her soft platinum hair.
"Don't worry too much. We'll secure building materials ourselves and cull nearby monsters—it's killing two birds with one stone."
"Heehee…."
Eleanor whispered into Kailan's ear in an overwhelmed voice.
"I can't tell you how fortunate I am to be born with solar mana."
"Truly. Thanks to you, this subjugation will be a huge help too…."
It was then.
Eleanor raised a white finger to gently cover Kailan's lips.
"Thanks to this mana… I could meet Your Highness. I can't tell you how fortunate that makes me."
Affection dripped from her sky-clear eyes. No man in the North could stay composed under such a straight pitch from his beloved.
Instead of words, Kailan pulled her waist in tight. Office or not, it didn't matter. The moment their lips met deeply on her red ones, the room's temperature rose noticeably.
The next morning. The northern knight order and adventurers stepped into the Howling Floodwood.
As if their footsteps were the signal, eerie sounds began echoing from the forest.
Wooddrak! Creak-groan!
Unpleasant friction noises came from all directions. Treants disguised as ordinary trees uprooted en masse, shrieking grotesquely as they advanced.
This was why it was called the Howling Floodwood. Slow and clumsy in movement, but enough to terrify southern adventurers unfamiliar with Treants.
"Eek! Bro, we really have to take all those down!?"
A few southern adventurers trembled and backed away.
Surprisingly calm ones existed too.
"The northern duke who cleaved that monster slime in one stroke is here. We just follow the guild master's orders."
"Bro… you've gone full northern now!?"
As the shivering adventurers wished, Kailan issued commands. Soon, Cedric and Walter bellowed at their subordinates, veins bulging in their necks.
"All units! Form defensive lines! Watch out not to get skewered by their branches!"
The sight of steel-hard giant trees surging like waves was akin to a natural disaster.
Yet Kailan smiled leisurely, thinking only of his wife.
Right. Normally, even aura-clad blades would struggle against these pains in the ass.
In the original novel, this was a disastrous forest impossible to conquer until Eleanor arrived in the North. No need to explain why before Eleanor.
The steel trees' sole weakness was solar mana.
"All units! Use the issued magic stones on your weapons."
At Kailan's order, northern knights and adventurers pulled out small, brilliantly glowing magic stones and began enchanting.
Small magic stones Eleanor had painstakingly compressed her mana into for the subjugation team with her delicate hands.
The moment they touched blades and axes to the stones—
Fwaaah!
All their weapons blazed like miniature suns.
"Th-this is…!"
"Her Highness the princess's mana! Start logging!!"
Kailan led by example, swinging his greatsword wreathed in golden aura.
Schwack!
Dozens of Treants shattered and scattered under the northern duke's single strike. Morale soared sky-high at the momentum-reversing preemptive blow.
"Kieeeek!!"
It wasn't just Kailan shining. Knights who'd occasionally faced Treants at the wall sliced through steel trees with shwick-shwick, staring in greater shock at their glowing weapons.
"Gasp…!"
"It-it cuts! These monster steel trees so easily!!"
The northern knights' eyes bulged.
"Hahaha!! They slice like butter!"
Adventurers excitedly swung axes too. Before the invincible buff bestowed by the princess, the ferocious Treants were mere premium building materials.
"Mow them down!! With Her Highness's miracle upon us, we're invincible!!"
The Howling Floodwood echoed not with Treants, but adventurers' mad cheers.
Kailan swung Frost Fang, cleaving steel trees ten at a time in chunks, smiling contentedly at the mountain-piling construction materials.
Yeah, chop 'em all down. This is all money and buildings!
The clueless merchant guild's antics were unwittingly bringing even greater wealth to the North.