Chapter 714: Volume Twenty: Wolf in the Mediterranean - Twenty: Harbor of Refuge
```
Compared to the tumult on the competition stage, the role Komer was playing now was much more relaxed. After finalizing the deal about Kapok Castle, Crystal Castle, and their associated mountain forests and pastures with Baski, the land title of the Flanders Valley was delivered into Komer’s hands. The blank land title, stamped with the seal of King Enrique’s Clan of the Iberian Kingdom, simply required the inscription of any person’s name to become the official Lord of the Flanders Region. Of course, if one wished to be ennobled as a noble of the Iberian Kingdom, a substantial additional fee would likely be necessary.
Kapok Castle and Crystal Castle were less than twenty miles away from Athens City, connected by a spacious and beautiful white stone avenue. Along the way, there were castles and manors belonging to the Spartan aristocrats and it would take less than half an hour by a horse-drawn carriage to reach them. The two castles, standing less than a mile apart, gazed at each other across the distance; a clear stream flowed down from the mountains behind them, and a small bridge linked the two buildings. Before the castles lay beautiful pastures. Such a prime location made many Spartans eager to obtain it. If not for Marquis of Solomon’s good reputation in Athens and the expectation to purchase them at a cheap price from the Barbarossa Family, Komer might never have gotten his hands on the castles.
After a cursory inspection, Komer abandoned the idea of dwelling in these castles. Although Marquis of Solomon had already moved out, the castles still retained many traces of his style. Komer was not averse to the Rococo magnificence but could not accept the statues and paintings that retained too much personal style.
The business with the Odysseus Family was finally settled with the support of the Sphinx Family. The five hundred sets of armor required a large amount of Bin Iron as raw material, and the tight deadline plunged Kamado into a frenzy of activity as soon as he returned to Athens. Knowing that the Odysseus Family had landed such a large business order, many came to visit Komer, the great purchasing merchant from the North. The Caucasus had become one of the most important trading partners in the Southern Mediterranean Region, with a significant influx of iron ore, crude iron, and smokeless coal enriching the area with gold shields. And now, buyers from the Caucasus were visiting the Southern Mediterranean Region for supplies, which was indeed welcome news.
Especially when Komer hinted at the further intent to purchase a considerable amount of high-grade weapons, as well as daily necessities like fabrics and dyes, for the Caucasus Prefecture, the merchants of Athens were eager to connect with such a major buyer. Even if they couldn’t close a deal this time, maintaining the relationship was key, as the remote and desolate Caucasus’s needs for the wealthy and prosperous Southern Mediterranean were only going to increase—an endless business opportunity.
"This is the detailed map of the Flanders Region that you requested, Dark Lord," Komer was utterly captivated by the Flanders map delivered by the Great Mysterium Sect.
The Flanders Valley was located between the Cantabrian Mountains and the Pyrenees Mountain Range in the northern part of the Iberian Kingdom. While the Pyrenees were majestic and towering, the Cantabrian Mountains appeared much more fragmented and low-lying, among them the Gdansk Fortress guarding the Gdansk Pass, which has always been one of the most important fortresses of the Iberian Kingdom.
As long as this place was held, the Barbarians could not break through the Cantabrian Mountains into the Flanders Valley—this was the long-standing belief of the Iberians. However, they obviously underestimated the perseverance of the Barbarians. After the Barbarians risked crossing through the Buworo Canyon to the far west of the Cantabrian Mountains, the Gdansk Fortress fell into the tragic state of being attacked from both sides. Two months later, the fortress was lost, announcing the Flanders Region as an undefended area. The inhabitants of the Flanders Region, even without time to decide to retreat, were trapped in the valley by the swarming Barbarians.
However, the Barbarians were not as brutishly terrifying as imagined; they simply looted anything edible and valuable, without excessively violating the terrified Iberian citizens, unless they showed hostility. Soon after the Barbarians vacated the Flanders Region, the residents still fled south. The Gdansk Fortress was thoroughly dismantled by the Barbarians, leaving only low ruins. Clearly, the Barbarians weren’t planning to let this fortress pose a threat to them again, even though they weren’t interested in the low-yield Flanders Valley, it did not mean they would allow the Iberians to rebuild a fortress that could threaten their attacks from other directions on the Iberian Kingdom.
The Iberians had no choice but to retreat to the more rugged Pyreness, where one fortress after another was rebuilt on the mountain passes to protect the plains of Central Iberia behind the Pyreness from the scourge of the Barbarians. However, in the northeast region of Iberia where it bordered the Kingdom of Shimaina, the flat terrain became a prime breakthrough point for the Barbarians.