Swiss Arms

Swiss Arms

Chapter 124

-VB-

Leon of Fluelaberg

"So what is it like living in Fluelaberg?"

He blinked and looked to his left.

Next to him was one of the sergeants of the Tyrolian army. "Living in Fluelaberg?" he asked. "Why are you asking?"

"A lot of us are curious, you know," the sergeant shrugged. "That place used to have nothing. Just a place some peddlers and merchants might cross over to get from Italy to Swabia. Certainly not the most profitable place until your baron* came along and changed it all."

"So tell us about it, man!" the sergeant chuckled. "What's it like living in Fluelaberg?" he asked and a few other soldiers around them, all of them from Tyrol, nodded. The ones that came along with Leon just lightly laughed at the curiosity they were seeing directed at them.

Because, to be honest, Leon didn't know if he warranted that curiosity.

The baron certainly did, though.

"It's … different," Leon began as they all continued to march down the valley. "The first thing you notice is how smoky it can get."

"Smoky?"

"Yeah. There's a lot of artisans in the small valley, so there's a lot of chimneys. On top of that, there's also a lot of people during winter, so everyone's burning fire. The entire valley used to be forested but now there's no more wood. The baron's done something about that ages ago, though. Something about a hot spring he dug deep below the valley? That and mirrors are good at heating things up."

"... Mirrors?"

"Oh yeah. Mirrors are a thing. When the price of firewood started going up really quickly, the baron just made a bunch of mirrors. They reflect sunlight and make things heat up. The mirrors are quite small though, and doesn't work when it's cloudy. Also doesn't work at night when we need the heat the most, but at least we don't have to burn precious firewood during the day." What else was there…? "Oh, you can't shit anywhere. If you do, then you get fined. You have to go to a specific place to shit."

"Like for the night soil, right?"

"Yeah. The baron set up relief stalls everywhere, and there are new people who go around collecting it all. So it doesn't smell."

That caught a few people's attention. "No way," the sergeant spat. "Even towns smell. How does a city like yours don't?"

"Because the shit's removed every night and anyone who gets caught pissing and shitting in the street gets stripped naked, stockaded, and then get their ass slapped red in public?"

The sergeant reeled back. "Oh. Well, damn. Didn't realize your baron took it that far," he chuckled. "Is he that into being clean?"

"I mean…" Leon hummed. The baron has been becoming more and more about cleanliness in the streets since the birth of the little baron. "There's less newborn deaths. Far less than what I'm used to."

That brought up quite a few people short.

Including one guy who looked very interested.

"Truly?"

"Yeah. I think in the past year, something like a hundred babies got born. Only two deaths."

That sent an almost physical shockwave throughout the area centered around him.

The soldier who looked most interested pushed through the marching crowd until he was standing next to Leon. "If I get my wife to Fluelaberg, then could I also get the same help? Whatever is making newborn deaths so low?"

Leon, taken aback by the aggressive questioning, leaned back. "Uh, yeah. Should be able to. Assuming you can make the journey. That ain't gonna be easy for any shortly expecting mother."

The big soldier - because he was big - bit his lips. "She's been pregnant for quarter of a year now."

"Then let's hope that this war comes to a quick end. From my experience, that's usually how a war involving the baron goes. He gets involved and the war comes to a very bloody and a very abrupt end."

-VB-

Albert II of Carinthia

Now that he had a chance to look at the count's army, he couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy.

"It seems that the count supplies his troops with some amount of equipment," Albert noted as he looked around.

His right hand man, Baron Joseph von Helfert, hummed for a moment. "Most of those are castle-forged steel, milord. For all thousand of the soldiers. And even more complicated crossbows, quality and uniform cloak, and weapons for his 'rangers.'"

"I know," he sighed.

This meant that, at a minimum, the Count of Fluelaberg-Rheintal was ten times richer than he was despite having titles that were, by size, almost fifty times smaller. He would have suspected that the count had a backer if both Henry and Isabella hadn't come out and told him bluntly that all of it had been built-up by the count himself in a mass development frenzy. He knew more than most and knew that he had information that could hurt - inconvenience - the count. Like the existence of a mine that, on the surface, produced small amount of gemstones when it produced much more in actuality.

But those were small compared to the industries the count built up. The porcelain and dye industries remained his biggest money makers, and what a wonderful source of money those were if a mere count of no more than half a decade could equip and entire army with quality steel.

He wanted that.

But he also knew better than to act inappropriately like how Wittelsbach dukes have done. Perhaps in the future he would simply talk to the count about discounts to his products as his allies. It would be profitable to sell Fluelaberg's porcelain and dye to the Hungarians.

… Well, he could have had that conversation right now if the count hadn't insisted on being the vanguard.

"Where did the count say he'll strike first?"

"Anyone and anything that gets in his way, I believe those were his exact words, milord," the baron replied. "As for a target, he believed that we needed to secure the market town of Holzkirchen in order to properly put Munich to siege. Barring that, to keep our supply line secure."

"Holzkirchen, eh?" he muttered. He's never visited the town or even heard of it until he saw it on the map. He supposed that was what happened when he didn't put much thought into the strategem of how the war was going to be conducted until it was staring at him in the face.

But then again, he had a very dependable ally who could do all of that and more. All he had to do was be here as his and his brother's sake, let the count kick everyone in the rear, and then take home a new piece of land.

Work smart, not hard, yes?

-VB-

A/N: Leon is a mere miner/manager. He doesn't know the intricacies of how noble titles are transferred and superceded, only that he knows what titles are above which title. As far as he and many other residents/citizens of the Fluelaberg Barony are concerned, he is still their baron, not the Count that he is now. Doesn't help that Hans is not the type to go around telling people that they needed to refer to him as a count. It'll take them some time to get used to it.