Come to another world and become a lord

The Kingdom of Atman, the former northern administrative district of the Sima Empire, has always been the northern gate of the former Sima Empire to block the nomads. In order to prevent the nomads from invading from the south, the Empire established a kingdom in its land as a special military zone and named it Atman. When the empire fell apart, it quickly invaded a large area of ​​land in the center of the former empire with its own strong military strength, becoming one of the eight strongest pillars in the Central Plains after the disappearance of the empire. However, its dangerous geographical location made the kingdom surrounded by dangers. In addition to the most powerful old rival in the north, the nomadic empire, other surrounding kingdoms were also eyeing it and waiting for an opportunity to move. In order to solve the crisis in the north, the current King Philip spent 4 years to build the northern fortress Rickburg, and then personally conferred the title of Baron Rickburg, which is now Carl Flandal.

Now, in the office on the second floor of Reikburg, Alia was standing in front of the map of the Atman Kingdom. She was wearing a red dress and holding a stick made of tree branches. She began to popularize some knowledge about the kingdom to her lord, Baron Carl of Reikburg, while Carl sat in a chair and listened carefully:

"In order to deal with foreign enemies and ensure security, the kingdom divided the four regions into dukes: east, west, south and north. The dukes of the four regions guarded the national gates and had great power and vast territories. However, they were also required by the king not to interfere with each other, not to marry, not to form alliances, and not to intervene in the affairs of other regions. Such rules were to ensure that the four dukes could form a balance and check each other, so that no one would dominate and threaten the royal power."

Like a teacher, Alia pointed her pointer to the north of the map and continued:

"This situation should continue until..."

Until a large-scale invasion of nomads 50 years ago, the Duke of the North, Aidong of the Takri family, was ambushed during the battle. Aidong himself and his children were all killed in the battle, and the Takri family became extinct overnight. Carl knew this story from the host's previous memory after he traveled to this world. This is what the people of the North have always sung. All the brave Takri family, both men and women, rushed to the battlefield. For the safety of the North, they fought bloody battles until the last person fell. Since then, there has been no more dukes in the North, and a power vacuum has emerged.

"So there are only three dukes left in the four borders of the kingdom. As the three most powerful lords in the kingdom except the king, you must know who they are~" Alia's voice came again, and the tone became more and more like a teacher teaching children to read.

Carl rubbed his nose, pretended to be studious and said:

"Let me guess, our Prime Minister Aaron should also be one of the four great dukes."

"That's right. Aaron's Wilson family is the largest family in the West, and Aaron is the current Duke of the West. Of course, because of this identity, he has no right to interfere in the affairs of the North." Alia seemed very satisfied with Carl's answer and continued with interest.

At this point, Karl suddenly understood that according to the kingdom's regulations, as a Duke of the Fourth Territory, he could not interfere in anything in the other three territories. He led his army here only to defend against the Khan's southward advance. If the Khan withdrew his troops, he would have no reason to stay in the North and would not dare to interfere in the North. Not to mention arresting and trying Morton, even staying for a few more days would probably arouse King Philip's suspicion.

Then he said to Alia as if he had suddenly realized something:

"So this is what you mean when you say Aaron can't touch Morton, because if he does anything that is detrimental to the earl, the king will immediately get involved."

Alia nodded and said:

"Not only that, after losing the Duke, the North was mainly controlled by five earls, and Morton was one of them. Although these people usually fight among themselves, once outsiders interfere in the affairs of the North, they will unite again. If Aaron dares to touch Morton, he will offend the five earls, and the king will also stand on the side of the North. To be honest, Morton is now our enemy, and Aaron can do nothing. No one can save us except the king himself."

The king? The question is, is Philip willing to save me? I have been an unimportant person from the beginning to the end, maybe he has almost forgotten me. Carl thought.

"So the best way to protect yourself is to find a count to rely on." He said half to himself.

"That's difficult~" Arya shook her head and said, "You are not a member of the Northern nobles, and you can't fit in their circle. You are a baron appointed by the king himself, and you are an outsider to them. As for attaching yourself to a certain earl and swearing allegiance to him, that is even more impossible. As I said before, you are a baron appointed by the king himself, and a direct vassal of the king. Even if you are willing to pledge allegiance to someone else, the question is whether that person dares to accept it?"

"It seems that having a bad relationship with Earl Morton is not a wise choice!" Carl sighed.

"So why did you mess with him?" Alia replied bluntly.

"It's obvious that he has been targeting me all along, okay~" Karl replied unconvinced, "Why is he targeting me like this?"

"Hmm~ Let me think about it?" Alia replied thoughtfully, "I went to ask him for soldiers and food, threatened him with a knife, and then used Myrna to trick him at the dinner table, evading a lot of debts and getting a free tent."

"Hmm...it seems like we really provoked him first." Carl fell into deep thought, "So why did you threaten him with a knife?"

"Didn't you say that breaking the cup was a signal?" Alia retorted rudely.

"Actually, it was just a joke, and...the cup was knocked over accidentally."

Carl explained, but in return he received a look of contempt from Alia. Indeed, Morton had reason to hate himself, but thinking carefully, the situation was urgent and there was no extra choice. If it happened again, he would probably do the same thing.

After looking at Carl for a while, Alia sighed helplessly and said:

"All we can do now is to make ourselves stronger, strong enough to make Morton afraid to act rashly."

Carl nodded in agreement, and then said:

"When it comes to becoming stronger, we must first resolve the control of the four surrounding villages, including Porter Village. From a territorial point of view, they are all within the sphere of influence of Rick Territory."

Alia sighed again and replied:

"In theory, that's true. But don't forget that when the king conferred the title on you, he only gave you Rickburg itself, without specifying the surrounding lands and villages. So legally speaking, these four villages now belong to the king's direct fiefdom."

"But even so, His Majesty is now far away in the capital, 108,000 miles away from here. It is impossible for all the produce of these four villages to be transported so far. Moreover, if there is no food supply from these four villages, only the local produce of Rickburg will be gone in a few days. Your Majesty should understand this."

"Well, Aaron can only mention this matter to His Majesty. But one thing is right. Before that, we need to send people to each village in advance to establish control relationships to prevent others from getting there first." Especially Morton, Carl complained in his heart. He didn't believe that this guy would not do something bad in this matter.

The other three villages were not in big trouble. After all, those villagers were saved by Karl, and his prestige among them was already sky-high. Moreover, after the battle in the outer city, these three villages lost a lot of manpower, and almost all the men with fighting ability died. Now they were in urgent need of Karl's protection. It was precisely because of these heavy casualties that the three villages actually vacated a lot of vacant land, which was used by Karl to reward the orphans who died in the battle and to divide the Fire Rose sisters.

The only possible problem is the village of Porter where Carl was born. He himself is not welcome in the village. If he returns as a lord, how will the village chief feel? Will anyone be dissatisfied?