Swiss Arms Chapter 136

Swiss Arms

Chapter 136

-VB-

Hans von Fluelaberg

"HAP!" I grunted out as I finished my 1,000th practice strike of the day with my "normal" sized sword instead of my usual broad "slab" sword.

For everyone else, this was a very long sword that the locals didn't have a na for yet.

But in the Far East, this would have been called an odachi.

If I rembered correctly, then an odachi was close to a yard long in length but could be up to two yards long, if not more. It was also supposed to be curved. The sword I held in my hand right now was long, standing at around a yard and a half, which made it half yard longer than my slab sword. It was also slightly curved.

What it was not, however, was an odachi. I didn't make it to be one.

The purpose of this blade was more ceremonial than practical. One could say that this sword would be the family heirloom, not my shoddy slab sword and roughly, if technically well made, plate armors. It was beautiful in its simplicity. It was powerful in the killing power it held without weighing more than a cow.

I walked over to the sword racks, sheathed the odachi, and set it down on the rack. Then I ignored all of the glances sent my way as I left the training ground.

I noticed a lot of people in the castle's training ground. Most of them were rangers and people looking to beco career soldiers, and the latter group put a lot of effort to show off that they were capable soldiers to whenever I walked by. I didn't want to have a large army, despite the near yearly conflicts that I and the Compact have been part of.

For all I knew, Milan might attack next year for "intruding into their territory" or so bullshit like that.

Who knows?! I might even be fighting the new emperor because they don't like commoners who rose to beco a noble!

There were as many excuses as there were stars in the sky, which wasn't helped by the fact that the Compact was a collection of literal peasants whose representation in the Compact's legislative body had more value than its nobles and clergy put together.

Speaking of which, the current "core" mbers of the Compact was thus:

Chief Kraft of Davos.

Mayor Thomas of Schiers.

Chief Otto of Klosters.

Representative John of Langweis (readmitted after they kicked out the heretics and oppositional mbers of the village to St. Peters).

Representative Beatrice of Maienfeld.

Representative-Deputy Mayor Yorn of Castels.

Representative Erik of Toggenburg.

Prince-Bishop Gion of Chur.

Representative-Monk Leon of Disentis.

Representative-Priest Mathis of St. Gallens.

Count Hartmann of Werdenberg.

And , Count Hans von Fluelaberg of Fluelaberg-Rheintal.

No, I did not get 2 votes for having two separate territories.

Of course, this was solely based on the votes each mber held, but politics wasn't so straightforward. For example, there were political power blocs within the Compact.

The Bishop Votes included St. Gallens, Chur, and Disentis. They liked to vote together on all non-economic matters.

The Economic Vote was Davos, Schiers, Klosters, Mianefeld, Castles, and Fluelaberg-Rhiental () because the smaller mber-villages of the Compact more or less depended on the trade flow coming in and out of Fluelaberg too much to risk upsetting .

Speaking of the Economic Vote, it didn't need to be stated that I was more or less the driving force behind the Compact's economy. Dyes, porcelain, steel, rough and cut gemstones, fertilizers, and more flowed out of Fluelaberg each week in quantities that would have been difficult for surrounding lands to absorb had we not been placed right between one of the Salt Roads and Venice. Even still, rchants and peddlers from far out as Lubeck, Zaragoza, Paris, and Constantinople visited us.

As for just how economically powerful my city in the mountain was compared to the rest of the Compact… it was close to overwhelming.

Langweis -