Swiss Arms 187 (Patreon)

Swiss Arms

Chapter 187

-VB-

Hans

1311

The harvest season, Christmas, and New Years came and went with barely any event of note. 

And with it went the last of my peace.

Some of it had to do with my son.

“But why not?!” my son, Louis, whined as he stared up at me while clawing at my pants. Well, he tried to but with the loosely woven winter mitts on his hands, a scarf around his neck, a beanie on his head, and flower patterned wool coat and pants, he looked adorable.

I glanced up and saw Isabella. 

She looked ready to smother him in her arms, and if it wasn’t for his reactive magic, then she might have done so already. But alas, Louis was at that age where he stopped wanting to be cuddled and “be like papa.”

Instead of being in the city, we were at the Fluela Pass Outpost, a stone tower and soldier barracks surrounded by a simple if sturdy wooden wall. We were here because with how cold it was and how little trade traffic there was at this time of the year, it was the perfect place for me to start training Louis in magic. 

The soldiers who’d been here as garrison had been given leave to go and get their replacements from the city, which would take them at least six hours to reach the city and for another six hours for their replacements to arrive. 

That was twelve hours that we could use to train, rest, and enjoy our time here. 

The problem was that my son was a little boy, and he did not like the idea of meditation. 

“Because a lot of people don’t think magic is good,” I replied patiently. “They will get mad at you for having me.”

“B-But why?!” he whined. 

My wife only giggled at his reaction. 

I sighed. “Sometimes, it’s because they don’t know.”

“But I do know! You know, papa!” 

“But not everyone knows. And when people don’t know, they get scared,” I explained as I knelt down to his eye level. Or as close to it as I can get. “Do you remember the turtle you saw? You were scared.”

“I-I wasn’t scared!” he stuttered. 

Isabella looked ready to squee. 

“You weren’t?”

“N-No! I was … I was …” he mumbled toward the end. “It was new.”

“New. Yes. And sometimes, new is good. Sometimes, new can hurt. And sometimes, new can leave you very hurt. So people don’t want new because every time there is a new thing, they have to be ready to get hurt. And if they have to be ready to get hurt…”

He looked down. “They get upset.”

“They get upset. And magic is like that.”

He pouted. 

I pinched his cheeks, and he squawked at me. 

“That’s why we’re up here. We get to play with magic far away from people so that they don’t have to get scared.”

“... Okay.”

And we practiced magic. It was basic training for him, which involved intentional control of mana rather than the instinctive and impulsive bursts of it that he’s been doing so far. I determined at the end of the day that while this kind of training trip was not feasible for long term training (that would have to take place in my underground gym), we enjoyed the outing enough that I intended to make it a monthly thing at the very least. 

---

And while that managed one problem, the next one was harder to deal with: the new territories.

Right after New Years, I sent out trusted agents from Fluelaberg to the new territories bearing my signatures and emblems. Some of them were new magistrates or vogts. Others were men-at-arms and rangers who earned knighthood (and thus lands). A few were tax collectors. 

But all of them were given the task of pacifying my new territories according to my instructions. 

Not all of them survived what should have been safe assignments.

I frowned as I listened to the report from Bremgarten, one of the cities that he had burned during his campaign across territories that were now his. 

Bremgarten had been the city that he personally despoiled, chasing out all of the inhabitants and setting it on fire. 

And now, the ranger he sent there was dead. 

It reminded me of Bruneck and what happened there. 

Was I going to have to burn that city and all of the surrounding villages, too? As much as I would prefer to be like the people, the people here in question were those who had committed multiple crimes against me and my people over just a single year. They got their first burning because they looted one of my convoys as bandits. And now, they killed one of my own.

I had tried to limit the damages last time while setting up an example. 

It seemed that the example wasn’t set.

And from the halls of Fluelaberg Castle, I made a decree that hurt to make. 

So in front of half a hundred witnesses including the court scribes and important members of the county and a few from the wider Compact itself, I made the decision.

“By the decree of Count Hans von Fluelaberg, the city of Bremgarten is now designated as a city in rebellion for the crime of killing a representative of the count. This city had already been shown mercy once and spurned it. This continued act of rebellion makes it very clear that the city and its people are uncontrollable and irreverent of the simple code of conduct that binds our society together. All adult men and women are no longer residents or citizens of the County of Fluelaberg. They are to be brought to heel. Any who resist will not be granted mercy. Any who refuse reasonable demands of Fluelaberg’s soldiers will not be granted mercy. Any vassal, citizen, or mercenary that aids my policing action and contributes meaningfully will be granted land taken from the city. The city itself will be torn down, brick by brick, until there is nothing left of its foundation.”

And so, a mere seven months after the end of the Gorizia-Habsburg War, my soldiers went out to fight once more. But this time, I did not lead them and instead had the ranger captains do so. 

Once the court was over for the day, I gathered the captains and gave them strict instructions. 

They were to burn, loot, and pillage. 

The city was to be removed. 

I meant what I said when any who resist were to be shown no mercy. 

A city filled with people incapable of basic social minimums couldn’t be allowed to survive. 

And so, the ranger captains left Fluelaberg with a thousand veterans of the Gorizia-Habsburg War. Yes, unlike the GH War, people looked down on a single city that had already been burned before. They saw this as an easy opportunity to get themselves some generational wealth. So even though some of them already got rich from the GH War, they set off again to fight. 

Upon hearing my decree, Bremgarten’s former comrades turned on them. They tried in vain to bring down the city’s walls but didn’t succeed in doing so until my ranger captains arrived with the two thousand. 

When they were done with their grizzly work, three-fifths of the city’s three thousand residents were dead. 

Luzern, in particular, contributed meaningfully, so I gave them the market rights that Bremgarten previously held as well as a tenth of the lands that Bremgarten once held. The rest were distributed among the volunteer soldiers who fought who wanted land instead of cash payout. 

---

What followed was Bremgarten’s utter destruction. 

As promised, my soldiers - and the former residents of the city who had surrendered and survived - tore down the city, block by block. Buildings that survived the first burning were torched again. Any who resisted were executed. Any who refused to tear down the city were executed. 

By June, the city was gone, not even its cobblestone streets remained. 

And the Death of Bremgarten as it got called set an irrefutable example. 

I, Count Hans von Fluelaberg, was not above “extinction” should a vassal disregard mercy time and time again. 

Previously recalcitrant vassals began to obey me, even if there were still more acceptable resistances here and there in different forms. But none of them did what Bremgarten did by killing any of my representatives. 

I think that’s roughly when me and my people began to be known more internationally for our martial prowess, because that’s also when the trickle of Italian city-state emissaries began to arrive at the doorsteps of my territory in Chiavenna to inquire about hiring my soldiers as mercenaries. 

But that’s a story for another time. 

What was more important was the fact that people finally saw that my agricultural reforms worked and began to implement it not just in Landwasser Valley where Davos was in but also in places as far as Neu-Toggenburg and Rheintal. The latter was a really good development because it was the best farmland I directly controlled. 

And with more food, more people began to arrive in my lands. 

Which was a problem because I knew that allowing my city to grow explosively would mean it would suffer in the future (coughBlack Plaguecough), but my fief still had to grow, so I put them to work where I needed manpower. Those without skills became city guards and soldiers. Those with skills joined companies that needed them. 

Those that caused problems? 

While slavery was a strictly banned practice in the empire, prison labor was not. 

Unlike in other places, the mines were not the place that prisoners were sent to work. The mines in and around Fluelaberg operated under a strict system where the miners benefited heavily from their work, so they were vehemently against introducing what was essentially free labor. 

So instead of the mines, the prisoners were sent to work as farmhands and put to work doing the heaviest, most straining jobs. 

Those who learned and behaved got released from work early. 

Those who didn’t learn stayed the full duration. 

Those who rebelled? Prisoners who got violent repeatedly, tried to kill, or actually killed someone on the job did not receive a court trial. They were summarily executed on the spot by the supervisor on duty or the guards. Those were, thankfully, very few. 

And while chaos broke out in spurts throughout the Compact as it struggled with its growth spurt, there were improvements as well.

“Already?” I asked in surprise when Alvia came up to me with the results of the gemcraft guild’s work. She was now nearing thirty with a child of her own as well as a husband, but her study in gemcraft and work never stopped. And now, she showed me the result of her work. 

A brilliant ruby sparkled. It was barely bigger than pinkie nail and rather flat, but the silver necklace it was set into benefitted from its brilliant red sparkle. 

It was better than any jewelry of the era that I’ve seen. The ruby shined and sparkled with more light, with more clarity and brilliance than anything I’ve ever made. 

“... It’s great.”

“It’s my wedding gift to you, my lord.”

I looked at her in surprise. “Alvia, it’s been years since my wedding.”

“I know,” she nodded. “But I was not ready at the time. Now, I am. Thank you for accepting my belated wedding gift.”

I chuckled. “Fine, fine,” I said as I took the ruby. “If that’s what you insist.”

She smiled. 

“Then my work in this city is done.”

“?”

“I will be moving to Davos soon. To help my aging father.”

… Right. Kraft was in his fifties now. 

“And you’ll set up a gem shop there?”

She smiled. “That is the plan.”

“Good luck, then.”

She gave me a bow and left my castle. 

I didn’t know at the time, but she would go on to become a very influential figure in Davos and would continue to be a voice who would support me from her home.

-VB-

A/N: next chapter will be about how other members of the Compact are dealing with the fact that they, combined, are smaller than Fluelaberg by itself.