Freeday, 10th of Maia, 470th Year of the Fifth Era

Josias had spent the past several days accompanying his father and the other Halak lords in their various sessions in dealing with the management, restructuring, as well as division of spoils in the aftermath of the conquest of Palmerton. It was a relatively bloodless take over and in doing so, the Kingdom of Hutangali had obtained a force of roughly four hundred men from the number of former bandits that had been absorbed into King Tagam's army. Though their loyalty was still in question, the sheer number of soldiers that they had obtained was still a great boon to the Singalion clan.

Palmerton's strategic location upon a chokehold to the Northern lands of the Bontarmata Republic of Newlandia also served as a great boon for King Tagam. With the fort-village under his control, the king was now able to properly exercise influence over much of the overland trade to the north. He now also had the means to maintain better security of the roads especially now that most of the bandits were no longer an active threat to the caravans.

However, just because the bandits were now under the service of the king it didn't mean that there was no justice to be enacted upon them. All this was most prevalent when it came to the bandits who had committed various crimes, most notably the forcible taking of the village women as concubines and the forced labour of the Halak men.

A thorough investigation had been commenced in order to assess how much damage had been done to the people of the area after the year-long tyranny of the Bandit King George. Most of the village women who were taken as concubines were mostly unwedded and the number of bandits who had practiced such concubinage numbered to almost a hundred or so men.

Many of the women who had already given birth to these Malaok children had agreed to be formally married to their former captors so long as their families were paid an indemnity and a hefty dowry. The concubines who had been married prior to their enslavement were all freed and returned to their husbands should they still be alive but a hefty indemnity was still a mandatory required payment.

This indemnity, if unable to be paid by simple money, could also be paid off by manual labour or military service in the form of land patrols under the banner of the Singalion clan. Most of the indentured Halak labourers had been freed and let go to return to their villages and as a sign of apology from the king, their taxes would be waived off for the next two years.

Next was the problem of proper integration of the former bandits into Halak society. On this end, King Tagam had looked to fully utilising the expertise of the foreign missionaries which would be placed under the supervision of Reverend Hazelby as well as Lasta who was charged with educating the many former female slaves. The former bandits who were then to be formally married to Halak women were also compelled by royal decree of the King to integrate themselves into Halak society.

Referring to Halak culture and people as 'savagery' had been made a transgression by King Tagam and failure to uphold the superiority of Halak culture would be seen as grounds for the bandits to be reduced to slaves. The terms were harsh, but Josias could see why integrating the former marauders into Halak society would be a priority considering they still had the Tanohisari clans to worry about in the upcoming Newlander-Wisnajayan war. Though King Tagam had stressed his desire to remain neutral throughout such conflict, he could never be too sure.

To further reduce the chances of the former bandits to coalesce into a separate power faction, much like how the clans of the Hutangali elders had done, Lord Sohasurahan and the Lord of the Simarhosa clan had devised a plan to counteract this. They had plans to relocate and redistribute some of the younger former bandits equally throughout the northern parts of the realm which was under their control and to put them into integrated fighting bands with other native warriors. It was hoped that this would properly spread out their numbers as well as instill upon the younger warriors a sense of camaraderie.

Much of these strategies were advised upon by Josias' father and the Gorian Lords who had done similar things in integrating the many villages they had conquered during the Haumarara wars. With all that put in place, the king's position in Hutangali would be stronger than ever before.

On the matter of the spoils of war, as per the previous agreement, the Gorian warriors were afforded the right of the lion's share of the loot. However, due to his own personal concern over the suffering the Halak people had been put through under the boot heel of the bandit king George, Lord Parulian had decided to only take a little bit more than what was necessary to cover for the expenses of the expedition as well as for resupplying.

King Tagam had thanked Josias' father for his most compassionate act. Lord Parulian could only smirk and remind the King of Hutangali of his other promise to which King Tagam could only laugh sheepishly and nod. Josias didn't quite understand what exactly they were on about, but he found it safe to assume that it would benefit Goria in some way.

When it came to the infrastructure system started by the Bandit King George, king Tagam had decided to continue the construction and maintenance of the dirt roads between Palmerton and the surviving village. With support from the manpower of the former bandits who still had their indemnities to pay, the king even had plans to connect the road system with the rest of Hutangali.

All of this infrastructure would at the end of the day be a benefit not only to the Singalion clan but also to the Halaklands as a whole. Safer roads meant safer travel from Hutangali to the rest of the Halak realms overland. If not the entirety of the realms, at least to the christian kingdoms of the Northwest of which Goria was a part of.

In regards to the more clandestine operations operated by the late bandit king, King Tagam had ordered for a general search on all letters and documentations within the chambers of the great hall and the many barracks. The king had planned to use anything he could find that would help incriminate as many of his enemies as possible.

Mercantile letters penned by Povorian merchants, the various letters sent 'discreetly' by representatives of the Hutangali elders, letters of slave purchase with other merchants and even some connected to the more established mercantile associations within the Newlander Republic. All of those things had its uses to the King. Though he failed to find anything too incriminating on the foreign powers, it was clear from what they had found that the instability of the Halaklands was indeed seen as a boon by the majority of the foreign traders who looked to establish a monopoly within the realms.

However, what was currently the most important to King Tagam and his immediate plans were of course the letters incriminating the Elders of Hutangali. There was enough solid evidence there to ruin the reputations of many of his vassal lords. Proof of contact with the bandits without the express permission of the king was bad enough, but proof that many of the slaves had been some form of political prisoners that were causing trouble within their respective clans? That was damning evidence.

With all that prepared, King Tagam didn't even think he needed to start open conflict with his elders. All he needed to do was strip them of their powers using the letters as a basis and officially name the heads of the other junior branches of said clans as the newly recognised paramount leaders of their clan. King Tagam had doubted that any real loyalty existed among the clans, but even if they did, such an act of division would most definitely precipitate internal conflicts within their clans thus granting the Singalion clan and its allies much needed further breathing room.

Because of these considerable successes, Josias couldn't fault King Tagam for announcing that tonight would be a feast in celebration of their victory over the bandits. All the warriors of the Halak had been invited to join the feast and so too were many of the former bandit officials.

The food for tonight's banquet had been prepared from the fish of the nearby streams as well as the slain water buffalo meat from the late bandit king's personal farmstead. Not to mention the copious amounts of pig meat to be served as well. Josias couldn't help but have his mouth water at the thought of such good food being served after a brutal week of warring and reorganising.

***

Night Time had already arrived as the great dark blue horizon encapsulated the night sky with beautiful stars as if pearls were shining and shimmering from afar. The courtyard of the Great hall had been lighted up by various lanterns and torches as carpets had been spread out for most of the warriors to eat on. The main feast however was held mainly within the Great Hall of Palmerton where everyone had sat themselves upon the carpets with the lords being granted cushions to sit upon.

After the food had been set up by the former slave-girls who were now servants charged with the caretaking of Palmerton's Great Hall, the feast was ready to be commenced in earnest. The atmosphere was festive, though because Palmerton was built primarily as a Bontarmata foreigner settlement, it lacked the traditional music that Josias was accustomed to hearing in feasts like these. Though regardless of all that, he was still thankful for the good food.

Stolen novel; please report.

King Tagam had chosen Reverend Hazelby to lead the prayers to which he did so in both Archioric and in the Halak tongue so that the former bandits could also understand. After the prayers had concluded, everyone had started digging into the food and enjoyed each other's company in conversation.

Josias had welcomed Gregory and Lasta to sit with the rest of the young warriors who were around their age. The betrothed couple looked very lively in their interactions with the Gorian warriors, though it was apparent from their faces that they were being pushed to the brink with all the work the King had unloaded onto them due to the transition of power. Luckily for them, there was plenty of food, and most importantly, plenty of booze to drink.

Lord Mardomu and Lord Hasudungan had come down from the bandit king's former chambers with two crates of fine drink. Everyone in the hall cheered as they had brought down bottles upon bottles of fine liquor. Even the former bandits had cheered. Forget the gold and the supplies. This was the true spoils of victory.

"Now listen here boys, you lot are only going to be afforded two bottles of this fine wine, am I understood?" Lord Mardomu said as he placed the bottles down "No more refills or extras after this so you boys best savour every last drop, yea?"

"Understood, completely, father!" Johannes said as he gave Lord Mardomu a salute to which his father only snorted and thwacked the back of his head. Everyone laughed before they had opened the wine bottles and poured the drink into their cups.

"Well, at least my brother decided to leave some things behind for me to enjoy." Gregory had said to himself before he took a sip from his cup. "Ahhh… that's the good stuff-!! Ow!! What was that for?"

"Don't sour everyone's mood by bringing up your brother…" Lasta said curtly as she elbowed her fiance.

"Right, sorry about that. It's just really still a surreal experience for me." Gregory nodded his head while scratching the back of his head and taking a sip from his cup.

"Oh wait, there's a grain of rice on your face, Gregory. Honestly you eat like a baby…"

"Really? Where-...?!"

Without prior warning, Lasta had chosen to clean the rice grain off of Gregory's face with her mouth, licking him in the process. Gregory was caught by surprise, but he appeared to have laughed it off. The only people with shocked expressions were the Gorian warriors who had witnessed Lasta's brazenness.

"Alamak, dionsop do! Dear God in Heaven above, woman! And here I thought us Gorians were lax!" Josias exclaimed as he jerked his head back while holding onto Hesekiel who was sitting next to him in exaggerated embarrassment. Hesekiel only gave a silent and stern side eye to the couple while furrowing his brows before taking another sip from his cup.

"Calm down, my friends, hahahaha! A little peck from my own fiance isn't the most shameful thing in the world…" Gregory laughed but the young Gorians could only shake their head at the couple's nonchalant attitude.

"I don't know how you all do it up here in the north, but down in Goria, we still have some form of shame…" Johannes said to the former bandit sitting next to him.

"Honestly, with what you people saw happen in this very hall a few days ago, I'm still surprised something as innocent as this would trouble you all."

Instantly, everyone there groaned as Gregory had mentioned the debauched scene that they had witnessed transpire here.

"Egad, man! We were trying our best to not remember that!" Josias said. "We only have two bottles of wine at our disposal here, and now that you made me remember that awful scene again, I don't think this is going to cut it for us."

"Pffft… I honestly didn't expect you lot to be such prudes. I'd have thought strapping young warriors like you would be knee deep in women back home."

"Brother Gregory, while we appreciate the much deserved compliment, we are devout christian men. To suggest that we'd engage in such obscene activities outside of marriage is absolutely scandalous! Well, at least I am. I don't know about these other fuckers though, you'd have to ask them. Especially Mateus. He's probably the most veteran of us when it comes to things like that."

"Oy! What's that supposed to mean?" Mateus asked offendedly before pointing towards Sadrach. "If we're going to start being honest here, then you should point your finger to your pretty boy lae!"

Though he was being pointed at, Sadrach couldn't help but ignore it and shake his head as he could only take a sip from his cup. "Polygamy, rape, orgies, and sex parties… The North truly is wild. Was I born in the wrong part of the Halaklands?"

"Oy, watch your mouth, lae! Say anything more to break my sister's heart and we're going to have to square up." Johannes held up a curled fist towards his sister's fiancee.

"But, honestly, if that's how it is in the north, more power to you, kak Lasta! I truly admire the bravery!" Josias raised his cup towards Lasta.

"Oh please don't mistake my acts for something that all Northern girls are like. I'm sure you've met my cousin Victoria. She's as prim and proper as they get…" Lasta said with a slide chuckle "I must've spent too much time with the Bontarmata that I've dropped a few inhibitions."

"That makes sense. I know my fiance would murder me were I to try and pull off anything like that." Josias said before putting his arm around Hesekiel who only continued to side eye him. "My cousin Hese's girl though? Yea now that I think about it, kak Lasta reminds me a lot of Safira."

"Oy, that's my younger sister you're talking about!" Sadrach protested Josias' comments but Josias merely raised an eyebrow before Sadrach sighed and took a sip from his wine cup. "...Yeah, you're not wrong…"

Everyone around the table laughed. Well everyone except Hesekiel who only gave an annoyed snort.

"I've only just started to realise this, but is it this common for you Halak folk to be so… interconnected?" Gregory asked the question "I mean, just from what I gathered, everyone seems to be everyone's cousin around here."

Gregory pointed towards Josias "So, Lord Josias is the son of Lord Parulian." He then continued to point at each of the other people around him "And Lords Johannes and Hesekiel are the sons of Lords Mardomu and Sudung respectively. While Mateus is the son of Lord Ronggur… Lords Hesekiel and Josias are cousins, but so is Josias with Sadrach…"

"Hese's mom is my father's younger sister while Sadrach's dad is my mother's older brother." Josias explained.

"Right…"

"Sadrach's sister is betrothed to Hesekiel, while Sadrach's fiance is Johannes' younger sister. Johannes' fiance is my clan kinsman cousin and the younger sister of Reverend Timotheus over there. Their father is my father's younger brother. Also Johannes' father is my fiance's uncle. Oh, and Johannes' mother is the younger sister of Uncle Hasudungan so he's cousins with Hesekiel too."

"Dear God in heaven above, I have a headache… Wait so the only one not really connected to anyone else here is Lord Mateus?"

"Me?" Mateus asked while pointing to himself before laughing. "Pfft. My mother is the younger sister to Lord Mardomu which makes Johannes my cousin and Sadrach my cousin in-law. Also, my mother's older sister married the Archbishop so Josias' fiance is also my cousin."

"Jesus Christ!" Gregory took a full chug from his cup as his expression showed that his mind had almost broke "Is this even normal?"

"Hahahaha! It's actually fairly standard as far as Halak families go…" Lasta chimed in as she pinched her fiance's exasperated face. "Aren't you people also close to your cousins and families?"

"Yes, but not to this extent! I barely even remember how many siblings my parents have let alone my cousins."

"Genealogy and familial ties is of great importance to Halak society, brother Gregory." Josias said "It's why all Halak folks from peasant to noble can trace their ancestry back to the Ancient Halak King, the progenitor of the Halak people! Technically speaking, it's also why we don't have a true distinction between 'peasant' or 'noble'. Depending on the social function, all Halak people are kings. The head of each village is a bloody king in their own right."

"...So what my brother did wasn't technically wrong?"

"Oh, no, what your brother did was completely wrong."

"But how so? In effect he was the leader of his own village, so should he not then be considered a true king?"

"Of course not. Your brother missed the most important prerequisite to earn a legitimate kingship."

"And what would that be?"

"He wasn't Halak. Simple as that. But don't worry. With your marriage to Kak Lasta and the fact that you're to be adopted by the Simarhosa, for all intents and purposes as far as the eyes of the adat (tradition) are concerned, you and all of your children thereafter will be considered pureblooded Halaks."

"...Eh, is that what the ceremony I am to attend is all about?"

"...Alright, brother, don't you worry yourself about all that complicated stuff and just let the elders sort it out for you." Josias finally nodded as he poured in the rest of the first wine bottle into Gregory's cup. "You'll have plenty of decades to be taught our customs. With your wife's love and preservation, you'll learn all there is to know about being Halak."

"...I sure hope so…"

And with that, the night continued on as Josias continued to enjoy himself teasing the new official couple. The next day the army was to depart back to Hutangali and from there, they would prepare to travel back home to Goria before finally setting out to the Gotilon Festival. Much adventures were still to be had ahead of him, and Josias couldn't help but be excited for all of it.

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