Knight and Wand

Chapter 173 News from Rolandal

The musicians' accompaniment became light and cheerful, and the atmosphere in the hall relaxed.

The dancers were dancing softly in the hall, the nobles were walking around and talking to each other, and the banquet to celebrate Elif becoming earl and to entertain the king and the lords had entered the "buffer banquet" stage.

The servants arranged a variety of exquisite desserts on the neat long table for everyone to enjoy.

The wine-carrying attendants moved among the nobles, offering them the treasures of Farolis and the finest wines collected in Aches.

Leon and other vassals of the Thorn Flower came to the lord and his wife one by one to congratulate them.

As for Count Rahman, who was furious in Selva a while ago and angrily planned to skin his son-in-law alive, he now looked very smug and boasted to everyone about how wise he was in marrying his daughter off.

The old earl patted Elif on the shoulder and laughed heartily, as if he had lost his memory.

Leon joined the crowd in congratulating his boss, but as the crowd surrounding Elifer gradually became crowded, he quietly withdrew and began to enjoy the banquet with his friends.

Apart from a few traditional allies of the Farolis family, the ones who were most excited and happy about the rise of the Thornflower family were of course his colleagues.

I don't know what kind of political negotiations Elipher and the king reached in private to obtain the legal basis for ruling the new territory so quickly and smoothly. As for the vassals of the House of Thornflower, once the king and other nobles leave, the celebration of the House of Farolis may have just begun.

So many knights loyal to the Thorn Flower family risked their lives just for this day. Glory, land, wealth, everything will rise.

Even without mentioning the small half of the Nightmare Forest that was still being developed, there was no telling how much land and fiefdom there was to be divided among everyone in the vast Glade County.

Coming to the long table with desserts, Leon picked up a glass of wine from the waiter's tray and took a sip, intending to fill his stomach with pastries before dinner, but he saw Knight Balf suddenly come over and raise his glass to greet him.

"Congratulations in advance. I'm afraid that in a few days, everyone will have to call you Baron Leon."

Hearing this, Leon said politely: "Isn't it the same for you? Baron Balfe, it sounds so nice."

The two men then clinked their glasses and laughed at each other's titles that they had not yet obtained. As the most trusted confidant of the Lord of Thorn Flowers for many years, the promotion of this scarred knight would naturally not be missed by Elifer.

"Come to think of it, the war isn't over yet, so why did His Majesty the King confer a title on Lord Elliver so quickly? I don't know much about the situation in the south. Has the former Earl of Glade County given up on taking back this county?" Leon asked Balf, who led the Thorn Flower Army.

"The former earl? No, there was no earl in Glade County. We have long since defeated the coalition of Kantadar nobles that returned here." Balfe shook his head.

He held up the wine glass and explained to the young man in front of him who had resisted the harassment of the Wolf Family in the rear during the family's southern expedition: "The county under our feet was never a complete earldom before we captured it. This is also an important reason why we chose this place as our target. The scattered Glade County is much easier to deal with than the neighboring Sassen County.

This Acherburg was previously ruled by the former Baron of Achers and the local city council. As for the towns and villages throughout the county, they were also the territories of various local barons and small lords for many years. "

As he spoke, Balf glanced at Count Trosa, who was talking to the king in the distance, and grinned, "More than half a month ago, we fought a great battle with the Kantardars in the east of Glade County. Lord Elliver was the main force, and a small group of reinforcements from Mamor supported and attacked from behind. We won a great victory in that battle!"

Listening to Balfe's slow narration, Leon finally understood the current situation in the south.

Not long ago, the coalition forces of two thousand Glade lords, who received the bad news, returned in a hurry and tried to retake the lost territory in the rear, but they were soon ambushed and defeated by the Farolis family and General Trosa who had anticipated it.

Compared with the exhausted enemy who hurriedly returned from the southeast of Mamor, the Orland army occupying Glade and the west of Mamor was geographically fighting at home.

After more Orland troops arrived, the kingdom's vanguard expanded its occupied area east of Glade County along the edge of the Nightmare Forest until it was geographically connected to the western part of Mamor County.

At this moment, after passing the most dangerous stage of gambling, the situation has become unprecedentedly perfect for the Thorn Flower Family and the Kingdom.

Supplies shipped from the country continued to flow south through the nearby forest road.

The expanded occupied area now allows the kingdom's troops to even pass through the eastern fortress of the Thorn Flower Territory and directly transport resources and troops to Glade County along the eastern edge of the Nightmare Forest.

As long as the main force of the Orland Kingdom is not defeated by the Kantadar people, the rule of the Thornflower Family over Glade County will be as solid as a rock.

However, when the two talked about the resistance of the Kantardars to the Kingdom's army heading south, Balf was a little confused and expressed his doubts: "The original army of Glade County was a tired army that had fought with us in Mamor before. We had the upper hand, and we also had two reinforcements dispatched by General Trosa. It was not surprising that we won easily."

The scarred knight took a sip of wine and continued, puzzled, "But in the past month, the armies of the kingdom's various families have taken over most of the territory south of the forest. Even if the Kantardars are slow, they should have reacted. However, so far, we have not seen the enemy form a decent army to counterattack northward."

"Has the kingdom not encountered any decent resistance since its move south?" Leon asked curiously.

It would be fine if the county lord, who was close to the edge of the Nightmare Forest, could not withstand the sudden attack from the Orlando army that crossed the thousand-year-old forbidden area.

But after more than a month of war, it is impossible that there were no refugees or defeated soldiers retreating further south. With such a shocking commotion, why hasn't the Kingdom of Kantadar summoned its army until now to resist such a large-scale invasion from the Northern Kingdom?

"The enemy is indeed slower than a turtle now, but it's a good thing for us anyway. Now that His Majesty's army has arrived, with nearly 40,000 troops gathered, we may be able to take advantage of the situation and swallow up the four northern territories of Kantardar in one go." Having said this, Balf paused and asked Leon, "By the way, I remember that you guys are all Serrians, right?"

"That's right." Leon nodded.

"Then there is a rumor that I don't know if it is good news or not. You may be interested."

Balf thought for a moment and continued, "According to the confessions of the Glade noble prisoners we captured earlier, King Aviut of Kantardar seems to have withdrawn from the territory of Serrian. Perhaps the invasion to the east was unsuccessful. In any case, the holy city of your hometown may have been recaptured by the Serrian army."

Azerien and Lohak, who were standing by, couldn't help but cast surprised glances when they heard this.

The Kantardars withdrew from the Kingdom of Serrian?!
Although Leon was not a true Serrian, he could not help but feel overjoyed.

If this information is true, then I don't have to find a way to bypass the Kantardar army to fulfill my promise to Miss Lola and repay her for saving my life, right?
If Serrian recovered the Holy Land City, then he would lead the guards back home as a powerful baron of Orland, and then apply to the church to go on a pilgrimage to the catacombs of the Great Temple in the name of a Holy Sun believer. The church would surely not stop him. "Sir Balf, are you telling the truth?" Azerien put down his glass, came up, and asked the scarred knight.

He was even more excited than Lohak, who didn't know that Leon could possibly resurrect the dead.

"I can't guarantee the authenticity of this. Judging from the tone of those noble prisoners, it seems that they also heard it from other people."

Balf shook his head truthfully. He remembered that those northern nobles of Kantadar had been cursing King Aviut in prison. According to their angry words, before the Eastern Expedition, King Kantadar promised to conquer Rolandar and then rush to the north to guard against Orland's reinforcements. However, there has been no trace of King Aviut in the past six months.

"Are those prisoners still in Glade County?" Lockhart couldn't help but interrupt.

"Those who haven't paid the ransom are locked up in the prison in Acherburg. After the banquet is over in the next two days, I can take you to ask them, but I don't think I can get any useful information. These northern nobles of Kantadar don't know much about the East." Balf replied.

Leon and the other two nodded, feeling encouraged in their hearts. It didn't matter if they didn't understand. With this news as hope, whether they sent people there or went deep into the eastern part of Kantadar themselves, they had to find out the situation in Serian.

The three of them made an appointment with Balfe to go to the dungeon to interrogate the prisoners of war. Leon suddenly felt that the originally leisurely banquet had become extremely long and tiring.

Fortunately, since no leading noble brought a female companion, except for Elif's family and a few women like Ines, most of the distinguished guests gathered in Acheron were men, so after the "buffer banquet" was over, there would be no dance party, but the "dinner" would immediately follow.

Leon estimated that this banquet would last much shorter than an ordinary court banquet. After all, the lords who came to the banquet had to return to the army to consolidate their victory.

Putting down the empty wine glass, he looked around aimlessly at the nobles of the kingdom, wondering how he should find out the current situation of the distant holy city.

Suddenly seeing the pure white palace dress in his field of vision, Leon suddenly remembered that he almost forgot another important thing that was equally important to him.

The princess
He looked at Ines not far away and quickly considered his words.

How should I strike up a conversation and test the other person's attitude?

Hesitantly, Leon turned and looked carefully at the two people beside the princess.

The tall and majestic scarred woman should be the other party's attendant. Judging from her neat men's clothing, she must be a female knight with a title, otherwise she would definitely wear a palace skirt for this occasion.

The other one is the fat white noble boy I noticed before.

Since the day he entered the city, this fat guy, who might have an extraordinary background and the title of earl, has always been by Ines' side.

He followed the welcoming team and was inseparable from today's ceremony and banquet. This fat little boy who is a count might be the person Princess Ines is fiancée?

Leon speculated so and looked around. He saw many young nobles going up to greet Ines and the fat man.

Some young nobles and knights could not hide their admiration for the little princess.

The beautiful and noble daughter of the king naturally has great appeal to young nobles and knights.

But apart from the elders of each family, no young person stopped to have a long conversation with Ines after the polite greetings.

Could it be that he was concerned about the man accompanying the princess?

Leon frowned. If he rashly approached and started a conversation, would he annoy the fat guy?
Although he wanted to test the third princess's impression of Olivia.

But he really didn't want to get into any bloody trouble.
Ines maintained an elegant smile and nodded to the nobles who came to greet her. Suddenly, she asked Ackerman, who was looking reluctant, "Does it make you feel uncomfortable to walk with me?"

Ackerman gave a bitter smile and felt a chill on his back. He didn't need to look back to feel Aorad's cold gaze.

"Please spare me, Your Highness. If I were this close to you, that Roman barbarian's gaze would have pierced my back."

"My father is here, how dare he come to trouble you? Can't you muster even a fraction of the courage to play with the servant behind your father's back?" Ines glanced at the punching bag beside her who was about to suffer psychological trauma from being beaten by the son of Duke Roman.

"Oh, that's right. With His Majesty watching over me, I have nothing to fear."

Ackerman blinked his eyes and turned to Ines with a wry smile: "So, I guess he doesn't dare to bother you, so there's no need for me to stop him. Otherwise, let me go and eat something by myself. I'm starving after standing for so long."

The girl gently waved her folding fan, her eyebrows slightly furrowed, almost unable to hold back her smiling face. She cursed in a low voice in a bad mood: "Go ahead, go ahead. You'd better die here, you fat ball."

"Okay, Your Highness. I will obey your order." Ackerman rubbed his ten fingers that were as thick as sausages, not caring about the princess's resentment. Anyway, she had been accustomed to her father's scolding and teachings since she was a child. If he was beaten with a small stick, she would stay, but if he was beaten with a big stick, she would leave. In comparison, the little princess was considered to be kind and would not really hit herself.

With a big belly that looked like she was pregnant, Ackerman walked excitedly towards the table where desserts were piled.

He had gone to the kitchen to inquire beforehand and heard that the chef of the Thorn Flower family had learned to cook several local delicacies of Kantardal. These could not be tasted in West, so he had to taste them now.
Ines put away her folding fan and ignored the "horrible hungry beast" that was growing rounder and bigger. She brought Agatha to the Earllivers and congratulated them.

After chatting and chatting with the upstart of the kingdom, she recalled her unexpected discovery in Selva and asked Earl Elliver, "Your Excellency, we passed through the Territory of the Thorn Flower. I have heard many rumors that you have a griffin knight under your command. I wonder if he participated in your enthronement ceremony?"

"Griffin Knight, Your Highness, are you talking about Leon?"

Elifer nodded, raised his eyes, and found his trusted general who was in the corner far away.

"The young man with black hair and black eyes over there is the Griffin Knight you mentioned."

(End of this chapter)