Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords.

Chapter 164 Make more friends and fewer enemies
After watching Levi and the seven clergymen of the Ice and Snow Church leave, Fujiro looked at Sikai next to him and said, "Knight Sikai, I want to discuss something with you about Duke Flinna."

"I guess you have guessed where the adults are going."

"If it's about the magic crystal mine, then I do have some guesses." Sikai pressed the sword at his waist.

"I'm sorry for keeping it a secret from you until today, but this matter is of great importance. No one except the two of us knows where the adults really went."

Fujiro sighed, pushed open the wooden door, and extended his hand to invite Sikai in.

The two of them were not subordinate to each other. In terms of status, the relationship between them was obviously closer to the great knight who had once been the guard of Duke Florina.

"As long as it's related to the magic crystal mine, then you can never be too careful." Sikai shook his head. "In fact, I just guessed that Lady Florina was most likely leaving because of the magic crystal mine, but I'm not sure why she left."

The two walked into the cabin hand in hand, sat down again and discussed the matter.

"To be honest, when I first learned about Duke Florina's speculation, I was also very surprised. I even thought it was unbelievable."

Fujiro touched his jade ring, a look of nostalgia on his face.

That was the voice stone that Duke Florina had an officer hand over to him.

This is a very common magical item that allows the user to leave their own words on it.

It is convenient to pass it on to others and convey what you want to say.

Duke Florina left his own guesses and orders on it.

"Your Excellency the Duke believes that this wilderness coalition army had a premeditated plan, rather than simply heading south to plunder."

Fujiro didn't keep anyone in suspense and said it straight out.

"How is this possible?" Sikai said in disbelief. "If they are not going south to plunder, what is the point of making such a big fuss?"

It's freezing and snowy now. Starting a war at this time of year is definitely a huge challenge for logistics.

The Thorn Legion has Bailiu City behind it, so it’s okay.

But let alone this makeshift group, there were many goblin and ogre auxiliary soldiers who froze to death or starved to death every day.

If we continue to delay, they might collapse on their own.

But they still don't care and are still in no hurry to attack.

So Sikai couldn't understand, if it wasn't for the purpose of plundering southward, was it necessary to waste time here like this?
"The Duke speculates that there are other people behind them, and their purpose is to attract our attention."

"This..." Sikai was stunned, and then he muttered to himself with sudden realization, "Yes, yes, no wonder these wilderness natives are equipped with equipment no worse than a ragtag army, and they have no sense of urgency to go south to plunder. Instead, they are leisurely setting up defensive fortifications, preparing to fight a protracted war with us."

"In other words, their real purpose is the magic crystal mine?!" A flash of lightning flashed through Sikai's mind, and he was shocked.

If you look at it this way, everything can be connected.

Generally speaking, large tribes would go south to plunder secretly, for fear of being discovered. As soon as they had looted enough supplies, they would immediately escape into the depths of the wilderness.

However, this coalition made its purpose clear from the very beginning, and everyone knew it.

Obviously unreasonable.

It was obvious that they wanted to let Bailiu City know that they were planning to plunder the border villages or even attack Bailiu City.

"Who knows." Fujiro said, "Duke Florina had this guess, so she led the cavalry to quietly go north to check the situation."

"If all this is wrong, then that would be great."

"If the facts are as the Duke thinks, then this wilderness coalition will only be the appetizer..."

"That's also the reason why the Duke temporarily called in more reinforcements than he had previously mentioned."

The two looked at each other, both with deep heaviness and helplessness in their eyes.

It was precisely at this time when we were preparing for and going south to go to war that something like this happened. If we were not careful and suffered too many losses in the wilderness, it would obviously be detrimental to the military activities going south.

"No wonder these wilderness natives are so elite. If Lord Li hadn't turned the tide alone, our current situation might not be so relaxed." Sikai said.

"Yes, he is extremely strong." Fujiro was filled with emotion.

"How can there be such unreasonable people in the world?" Sikai sighed.

"Fortunately, this lord is on our side." The two of them sighed in unison as soon as they opened their mouths.

They looked at each other, both of them were relieved.

Lord Li was wearing heavy armor. Standing in the crowd, he was like a meat grinder. Any creature standing in front of him would become a pile of minced meat.

I think the Minotaurs have the most say in this matter.

One person fought against hundreds of fully armed people, and the berserk Minotaur had no temper.

To be honest, Sikai once went to the royal capital to see the swordsman who was known as the number one swordsman in Debe. He easily defeated him with just one sword.

From then on, there was a towering mountain in his heart, but after witnessing the horror of Lord Li at this moment, he suddenly realized that the insurmountable mountain was actually just like that.

Perhaps in terms of martial arts alone, this lord may not be able to beat the other, but once the fight starts, it is difficult to determine the winner.

After all, no matter how advanced one's swordsmanship is, it cannot make up for too much of a gap in strength.

Just like an ant cannot kill an elephant even if it learns to fight.

This Lord Li is too terrifying in both strength and speed.

They both remained silent, sipping their hot tea.

……

"Sir, I heard that you have slain a dragon. Is this true?"

On the way back to the Gaoyabao base, Maisha took off her hood, revealing her face completely, and asked curiously.

"Most people think that I am making up something that doesn't exist, but in fact, they can find out the truth by just asking around, but they often prefer to believe their own conjectures." Levi just said ambiguously.

He also took the opportunity to carefully examine the priestess girl.

The practice of divine arts has given this group of ice and snow priests a strong resistance to the cold.

Even though the weather was freezing cold, they were still wearing thin clothes.

Maisha was wearing a blue and white hooded clergy robe and a unique ice crystal pendant of the Ice and Snow Church around her neck. She was about 1.7 meters tall, which was considered very tall. She had long golden hair, a beautiful face, and a heroic look between her eyebrows that showed she would not give up easily.

This kind of people tend to respond to soft words rather than hard ones.

Because the lord is this kind of person, I can see it at a glance.

Maisha nodded thoughtfully.

"Master Fukin, I'm actually curious, are there many spellcasters like you, Debe?"

Levi asked the white-bearded old man who was daydreaming beside him.

Although he knew of the existence of spellcasters over the past three years, he had only seen some spells on the streets that could be considered mere magic tricks.

When he arrived in the wilderness, the first person he met who could barely be called a spellcaster was Sam, the wilderness shaman. "Your Excellency should know about the magic tide, right?" Fukin asked first.

Levi nodded. This was no secret. Anyone with a little status knew it.

"If you had asked me this more than a decade ago, I would have said very little. But today, with the resurgence of magic power, I can only say that it is unpredictable." Fu Jin sighed: "More than a decade ago, I was still an apprentice who was unable to condense magic seeds, and there were only a handful of spellcasters in the Ice and Snow Church."

"But now, I have become an intermediate magician. Although I can't tell you the exact number of spellcasters the Ice and Snow Church has, I can say that it is definitely more than before."

"Is that so?" Levi couldn't help but think of Sophia.

Logically speaking, if the concentration of magic power is too low, no matter how advanced the Transfiguration technique is, it is impossible to transform. However, the fact that Sophia can transform into a human speaks for itself.

This means that the current concentration of magic power has definitely reached the highest level in hundreds of years.

He became more determined to trick a few spellcasters into joining Gaoya Castle.

And now, Maisha Levi feels that there is a great opportunity.

This kind of girl who has not experienced the dangers of society is the easiest to deceive... No, it is the easiest to deceive Gaoya Castle!

At Levi's request, the surrounding areas of Gaoyabao's garrison were covered with haystacks and watered, and frozen into a natural ice wall with four high edges. It might not be able to stop the attack of a large army, but it was enough to stop a sneak attack and give the people of Gaoyabao enough time to respond.

"Sir, you are back."

Guarding the gate were two Feder archers, about two feet tall and wearing black armor.

"Well, what are you doing in there? Why is there so much noise?"

Levi frowned. As they approached the Gaoyabao garrison, they could hear various shouting sounds coming from inside.

Gaoyabao is a well-known and powerful army, but its actions are totally unorganized and undisciplined. It is outrageous!
The two Fede archers looked at each other and spoke in unison.

"Captain Zat brought all the Penta warriors here to entertain them, and also brought out wine to entertain them, saying it was your order."

The two of them sold out their own leader without any hesitation.

The main reason is that in their minds, Captain Zat is a person who is prone to doing trouble, and maybe this so-called hospitality is just his own decision.

But since a higher-ranking official can crush a person, they dare not say much. But when they see their real leader, they immediately report him without hesitation.

"I see."

Levi nodded and stroked his chin.

He didn't expect that this fool Zat could actually fool all the Penta warriors.

Frankly speaking, speaking in all conscience, it is impossible for the Lord to say that he has no thoughts about this group of Pandaren warriors.

This has nothing to do with the feeling of nostalgia or collecting habit of suddenly seeing familiar things from the previous life in another world.

They are a group of natural born monks, each of them is a born brave warrior.

They control the power that comes from the mind - Qi.

This kind of power is different from fighting spirit, holy light, and magic.

Its power depends entirely on the power of one's own mind. Simply put, this thing is a bit evil.

Whether it is powerful or not is purely a matter of my imagination.

If they achieve enlightenment and spiritual transformation one day, these monks will become top-notch warriors.

Of course, nothing happens out of nowhere; everything has its traces. The so-called spiritual transformation is also the result of the long-term spiritual practice of these panda people, which has accumulated to the minimum level required for transformation.

Putting these aside, most Pandaren are kind, peace-loving, lazy but very loyal.

It can be said that this group of burly men can be regarded as an enhanced version of the Minotaur.

It is excellent both as a subject and as a warrior.

If they could trick a group of them into joining Gaoya Castle, it would obviously take Gaoya Castle's strength to the next level.

Although there is a high probability that this group of Pandas will have no chance, it does not prevent the lord from building relationships with them and then loving them as well.

He also went to build relationships with the young boys who had not yet left the mountains, and then tricked them into joining Gaoya Castle.

Anyway, the lord is always thinking ahead, and although it seems that he has ideas about this group of Panta warriors, in fact, he is planning to follow the clues and take down their entire tribe.

Implement the stealing strategy.

By then, even Florina wouldn't be able to accuse him of poaching.

After all, this is a matter of mutual consent. The new warriors of the tribe are willing to come to Highcliff Castle, and there is nothing I can do. I can't stop them.

However, this task cannot be accomplished in a short period of time, and Levi is just taking this step in advance.

Anyway, the lord's code of conduct is to make more friends and fewer enemies.

When we walked into the camp, we saw a bunch of bonfires on the open ground, with sizzling lamb legs roasting on them. The fat and big-bellied Penta warriors and the orc barbarians were sitting casually on the ground, chatting animatedly.

"Boss, you're here?"

Zat saw the lord coming in with his hands behind his back and hurried to greet him.

"This is Panda, the leader of the Penta team."

"Panda, this is our boss at High Cliff Castle."

Zat introduced them to each other.

Upon seeing this panda warrior who had three blades and a half and was even stronger than Zat, the lord's eyes lit up and he quickly stepped forward and held his big furry hands with both hands.

"So you are Pan Shuai. I have heard of you for a long time."

The more the lord looked at it, the more he liked it. He kept touching it all over. Look at the waistline, look at the arms that are thicker than pillars, one punch from him can definitely kill a Minotaur.

He is simply a natural born warrior!

Panda was a little embarrassed and calmly pulled his hand out of the human's hand. However, he was stunned by the movement. He felt like he was clamped by a pair of pliers and couldn't pull his hand out at all.

It didn't believe it and added a little more strength, but the result was still the same as before.

This time it was even more embarrassed, and it was too embarrassed to continue struggling to break free.
"Your reputation has spread far and wide, even the young men in our clan have heard of it. Your deeds are worthy of praise from everyone."

Panda was a down-to-earth man, and he naively believed that these stories that had spread so widely were basically true.

I never thought there was such a thing as false advertising.

But strictly speaking, it can be considered false advertising.

For example, everyone claims that he likes to chop people in half, but in fact he also likes vertical chopping and cucumber-smashing moves.

Although the efficiency is not as high as the former, the shocking feeling it gives people is absolutely terrifyingly high.

(End of this chapter)