Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords.

Chapter 216: The Lord Who Became the Most Popular with Noble Girls
The group of squire knights were very excited to see the Lord of Highcliff Castle in person, but it was hard for them to confuse the legendary Lion Hunting Knight with extremely explosive means and extraordinary bravery with the extremely handsome young man in front of them.

The endless praise from the squire knights made the lord smile from ear to ear, but his performance on the martial arts field made his face fall instantly, and he could not hide his disappointment.

To sum it up in a simple sentence, the infantry were beaten black and blue by the orc barbarians, the cavalry were treated like dogs by the werewolf cavalry and centaurs, and the archery was crushed in all aspects by the Fed archers.

In less than a meal's time, he went from being full of fighting spirit at the beginning to being dejected, without any trace of pride left in his heart.

"Brother-in-law, these illegitimate children of nobles from big places think highly of themselves. They are incapable of doing big things, and unwilling to do small things. They have a lot of fantasies in their heads, thinking that they can have a place in High Cliff Castle with their own bravery, but in the end, they can hardly even deal with our reserve forces one-on-one."

Mir looked at the dejected trainee knights and shook his head.

Seeing the signs, Mil suddenly felt worried about Debe's current lower-level troops.

"After all, you have received an authentic aristocratic education. It's normal for you to be a little arrogant. Talents come from experience."

The lord didn't care much about it. He was very lenient towards his admirers, patting them on the shoulder and giving them a few words of encouragement.

Unfortunately, one of the characteristics of the young boy is that he is thin-skinned. He felt that he had boasted too much before, but in the end he was hit hard and felt that it was nothing. He was too embarrassed to stay here any longer, so he said hello to the lord and left with his face covered.

I believe that when they return to White Flow City, these trainee knights will use their personal experiences to spread the word about the might of High Cliff Castle.

Soon, a grand memorial service was held in Gaoya Castle.

On a high slope only a few miles away from Gaoya Fort, there is a broad and endless view. Tombstones are erected here, engraved with the names, achievements, and eras of the deceased.

In fact, burial in this world is the custom of the Holy Light Church, while the Ice and Snow Church practices ice burial.

The teaching of the Holy Light Church is: Death is not the end, being forgotten is.

A tombstone is never a formality; it is a historical heritage.

Since there were no clergy from the Holy Light Church present, the memorial service had to be presided over by the Lord, a paladin who had a slight connection with the Holy Light.

Fortunately, Levi had watched many videos commemorating martyrs in his previous life, so he was familiar with the general process, and finally combined it with the customs of this world.

This was a process that was neither ancient nor modern. Fortunately, the people in Gaoya Castle were all ignorant and there was no one who adhered to dogma to rebuke the lord.

"Sir, we are leaving."

Gus came to bid farewell to Levi with several centaurs and dozens of vassals riding on horse-drawn carriages.

Its tribe was located deep in the wilderness, and when it joined the Wilderness Alliance it merely brought the clan warriors out.

This time, it plans to move the entire tribe to High Cliff Castle.

Having decided to join Highcliff Castle, Gus naturally had no other extra thoughts.

"Go early and come back early." Levi glanced at the tall centaur leader in front of him and punched him.

Gaoya Castle is a newly developed frontier territory. Its population and output cannot compare with those old noble territories. The addition of the Centaur Clan will enable Gaoya Castle to improve rapidly in all aspects.

As for the population ratio between humans and alien races?
Levi wasn't too worried about this.

At present, Gaoya Castle has about 5,000 real subjects, excluding the slaves.

Among them, there are nearly three thousand Fed civilians and one thousand from the Evil Fang tribe.

The alien leaders were only jackals and orcs, and together they numbered only a little over a thousand.

Even if Gus brought all of his people here, humans in Highcliff Castle would still make up the majority.

Currently, compared with the population, the legionary strength of Gaoyabao is a bit stretched.

Compared to a population of more than 5,000, the legion only has about 700 active soldiers.

Among the Centaurs, almost all the young and strong are archers, who can greatly supplement the military strength of Gaoya Fort.

The number of permanent soldiers reaches about one thousand, which barely meets the number ratio of a small Debe legion.

If Gus's journey goes smoothly, he will be able to return in half a month at most and bring back nearly a thousand men, women and children.

However, this incident reminded Levi of the wild savages in the Cass Mountains.

It is indeed difficult to trick the civilians of Debe into coming to Highcliff Castle, but these savages who are struggling to make ends meet can be tricked into coming to Highcliff Castle to become its subjects.

However, it is unknown how long this cold winter will last, and the current supplies in Gaoya Castle are barely sufficient and are not suitable for further increasing the population.

We will have to wait until after next year's harvest to decide this matter.

Gaoyabao began to develop in an orderly manner.

The city wall on the hill has been completed, and the lord has begun planning to build a thick city wall at the foot of the hill.

The population of Gaoya Fort is increasing, and will become more and more regularized in the future. He intends to use the hill as the inner fort of Gaoya Fort, which will also be a strong military base.

The area at the foot of the hill was gradually planned into a city and divided into territorial areas.

This is a huge project. He only discussed some issues on the drawings with the Fed craftsmen, and the actual construction will not start until next year.

However, in this regard, the lord felt that the wilderness was not entirely useless. Here was an endless plain, so building city walls was naturally much simpler than in Derby.

During this period, the lord brought a supply team to inspect the iron mines in the Cass Mountains.

When he arrived here, the middle-aged swordsman Jos was in the warm wooden house, warming himself by the fireplace and reading a book to amuse himself.

Mining is boring, and it is basically the slaves captured by High Cliff Castle who are sweating here. He only needs to lead the guards to prevent any blind people from attacking here.

So it is inevitable that I will read books to pass the time.

"Sir, why are you here?"

He obviously didn't expect the lord to come at this time, and quickly put the book behind his butt.

Li Wei was a sharp-eyed man. He happened to catch a glimpse of the word "Abin" in the title of the book. He did not expect that this middle-aged uncle had the same hobby as him. He immediately felt like he had met a soulmate.

"It just so happens that I'm delivering supplies here this time, so I'll come along to see you."

Levi brushed off the snow and wind on his body and sat down on the chair.

He came alone with a convoy transporting daily necessities. He did not bring Zat and the others with him, nor did he notify them in advance. It was normal that Jos did not know about it.

Joss quickly poured the lord a cup of hot tea, feeling a little uneasy.

After all, he was caught deserting his post by his biggest boss, which made it hard for him to remain calm.

"This time, in addition to visiting the guards stationed here and checking the output of the iron ore, I also want you to return to Highcliff Castle to celebrate the winter solstice."

"Britishtina and Mir miss you a lot."

Levi waved his hand, signaling Jos not to be too restrained.

Although Joss has no blood relationship with Tina and the others, this middle-aged swordsman has watched them grow up, and their relationship is actually no different from that of a real uncle.

Not to mention, the uncle who forced Beristina to marry the chief of a tribe in the Kaas Mountains was said to have been pushed off the cliff by this ordinary middle-aged man.

In fact, most people in Fed knew what was going on, except for the silly girl Beristina, who was kept in the dark.

She was so happy that she danced with joy. She thought that this uncle was punished by God and she didn't have to marry an old man.

In order to avoid being discovered by others that she was happy that her uncle was dead, she even hid in her quilt at night and laughed secretly.

This kind of stupid thing was discovered because someone got drunk and insisted on talking to the lord.

"Time flies. I didn't expect that the winter solstice is only a few days away. I remember that we were in a life-and-death situation. I didn't expect that now we don't have to worry about safety, but can live comfortably in a warm wooden house and do whatever we want."

Jos's face was filled with reminiscence and emotion.

“And all of this is brought by you.”

He stood up, bowed seriously and then sat down.

"To be precise, you made the right choice."

Levi picked up the teacup and took a sip of hot tea. He had a different opinion.

It is true that he was the one who brought all of this to fruition, but if the group of Fed people had chosen other pioneer lords instead of him in the beginning, then there would not have been any of the subsequent events.

"Yes."

The two of them drank tea in silence. The howling wind outside blew up snowflakes and hit the door. They listened to the crackling sound of the burning firewood and felt the warmth. They cherished these rare peaceful days more and more.

On the one hand, one of the purposes of the lord coming to inform Joss to return to Gaoya Castle to celebrate the festival was to check on the situation of the iron mine.

In the open-pit mine, many wild people including ogres, goblins, and lizardmen were wearing woolen clothes and thick gloves, wielding iron pickaxes, and digging the iron ore in front of them.

There is no sign of suffering from hard labor on their faces, only serious work.

The lord is not a black-hearted capitalist. He basically ensures that these slaves are well fed and well clothed.

But at the same time, they also have to work, and the food they eat is just enough to ensure they are full, and the clothes they wear are also low-quality clothes bought by Lolina.

But even so, these slaves were moved to tears of gratitude.

Originally, when the cold winter came, all things in the wilderness withered. If nothing unexpected happened, most of them would either starve to death or freeze to death this winter. But now, as long as they work, they can basically survive.

Therefore, the guards on duty here have it easy. They don’t even need to actively urge these slaves, they will work spontaneously.

After all, their workload is linked to things like food.

There were even cases where wild people who had drifted here quietly joined in and tried to make a living.

It can be seen that in the wilderness, most people find it difficult to even get enough to eat, and they have real strength but nowhere to use it.

After finally greeting the excited garrison guards, the lord patted his butt and left.

There is almost nothing to see here in the mine. Thanks to the enthusiasm of the slaves, the mineral output is far higher than the smelting speed of High Cliff Fort.

There are already several warehouses filled with them. It is already the end of November, and there are only three or four months left until next spring.

I don’t know whether the blacksmiths of Gaoyabao can work overtime to ensure that all the members of Gaoyabao are 100% armored when they march south.

Especially with the addition of the Centaurs, these strong men have an average of more than three blades, so it is an absolutely huge project to put armor on all of them.

Ever since seeing this powerful fighting race that combines both man and horse, the idea of ​​creating a heavy cavalry squad has taken root in the lord's mind.

If all members of this unit were wearing heavy armor and charging with lances, they would definitely terrify the enemy and become the god of death who reaps lives on the battlefield.

The winter solstice soon arrived. Whole cattle and sheep were put on the grill, most of which went into Sophia's stomach. Barrels of wine were corked and poured into the mouths of the warriors of High Cliff Castle.

The bonfires throughout Highcliff Castle never went out from early morning until the next day.

Laughter and joy filled the entire sky above High Cliff Castle. Even the slaves were given a day off, and each was given a glass of fruit wine and meat.

They raised their glasses as if they were proud and drank the fruit wine together with their companions.

Full of expectations for the future.

Although they were just slaves in Gaoya Castle and had to work every day, they no longer had to worry about food and clothing, and their lives were much better than before.

Happiness is short-lived. After the winter solstice, Gaoyabao fell into a quiet and busy state again. Dozens of days later, at the end of December, a caravan arrived at Gaoyabao and broke the tranquility here.

At that time, Levi was winter fishing in the Running River. Bu Ji was sitting on his head holding a milk can, sucking on a hollow wheat straw with his little mouth, sucking hard.

"My lord, Miss Miriel and Knight Skye are here." Sam was worried that he had no reason to get close to the lord. When he was strolling around, he met the Mithril Chamber of Commerce who came to Highcliff Castle. He acted as their guide without hesitation.

The caravan stopped at the foot of the hill. The guards and grooms were busy unloading supplies from the fully loaded carriages. Only Miriel and Skye were walking towards the lord.

When Miriel saw Highcliff Castle, her face was filled with disbelief.

This was her third time in this emerging frontier territory. If the terrain had not been similar to the previous ones and the annoying lord was still here, she would have almost thought that she had taken the wrong path.

The hill, which originally had only dilapidated wooden houses, was surrounded by walls, making it impossible to see what was inside. Teams of elite soldiers patrolled on the walls.

At the foot of the hill, countless earthen houses are lined up, with all kinds of wild people walking around in them. In the distance, there are also large earthen houses emitting thick smoke, as if they are smelting something.

"Levi, Highcliff Castle has changed so much!" She couldn't help but exclaim.

"That's a good thing, actually. After a few battles, we'll inevitably gain some supplies and people. If we have nowhere to use them, we can only use them to develop Gaoya Fort."

Levi said perfunctorily, staring intently at the fishing rod in front of him.

But soon, Buji, who had finished drinking the milk, held the empty bottle and flew to the lord as if to seek credit.

"Our little Buji is a real drinker." Li Wei happily took out a handkerchief and wiped the milk stains off her mouth.

"Boo-chi!"

The little creature hung the small bottle with a thin string tied to it back around its waist, and then flew over a hole in the ice that the lord had smashed for fishing.

She just waved her hand, a ray of blue light fell, and the lord's fishing rod instantly felt a "huge" pulling force.

Levi was not surprised. He flicked it gently and a fat silver-scale fish weighing at least ten pounds kept jumping on the ice.

"So cute." Miriel's attention was also attracted.

"What kind of monster is this? I've never seen one before."

Although this little thing looks like a smaller version of an elf, it cannot speak and has a pair of wings on its back, proving its identity as a magical beast.

"This is a real descendant of a god." Levi rubbed Bu Ji's little head and said seriously.

"The gimmick of the God of War identity didn't fool anyone, and you want to create a descendant of a god to deceive those ignorant believers of Debe and build an army with firm faith?"

Miriel felt that she must have guessed the other person's thoughts correctly.

Descendants of gods? You must be kidding. It has been at least a thousand years since the gods appeared. How could their descendants survive until now?

Not to mention that those believers in the gods also claim that they are the descendants of the gods. Only the Lord of High Cliff Castle could think of using a slightly peculiar magical beast to act as the descendant of the gods.

Levi had never heard of such an unethical method. He kept it in mind but retorted: "With my current reputation, there are countless apprentice knights who are eager to join Highcliff Castle. There is no need to waste time doing something thankless."

"That's true." Miriel nodded.

Today, this Lion Hunting Knight has become famous in the North and has become a topic of conversation among the people of the North after dinner. He can be considered a hot figure in the North.

"These are the supplies that Duke Flinna asked me to bring to you." Miriel pointed to the dozens of carriages carrying goods in the distance, and then continued, "The Mithril Chamber of Commerce hopes to establish a chamber of commerce in High Cliff Castle, which will be managed by me. I wonder if you, Levi, can agree?"

"It is my honor. I very much welcome the Mithril Chamber of Commerce to establish a chamber of commerce in Highcliff Castle."

Levi didn't hesitate at all and extended his hand, "I hope we can have a pleasant cooperation."

The two shook hands.

Although I didn't expect the Mithril Chamber of Commerce to set up a store in High Cliff Castle, this is beneficial to High Cliff Castle and will greatly promote its development.

The Lord will naturally not refuse.

"Good day, Lord Li."

It was only then that Skye had the chance to say hello.

"I didn't expect you to come too, Skye."

"Sir, actually I came here for other purposes." Sikai blinked his eyes with a teasing expression.

The few of them exchanged a few more pleasantries, and finally Levi led Skye back to High Cliff Castle and instructed Mil to take Miriel to choose a location for the construction of the Chamber of Commerce.

Currently, he has planned the hill as a military stronghold, and outsiders are strictly prohibited from entering or leaving, so the Chamber of Commerce was located at the foot of the hill, a location with good scenery.

"Tell me, why did you come here this time?"

In the cabin, Christina poured tea for the two of them and sat aside, listening quietly.

"Ahem, sir, I think it's better for us to discuss this matter in private." Skye glanced at Bairistina next to him and said meaningfully.

"Tina is the person I trust the most. Is there anything you can't tell me? Just tell me."

The lord waved his hand at this.

"This?" Sikai looked at Levi with a serious face, hesitated for a moment, and finally gritted his teeth, took out several letters from his arms and placed them on the table.

Sir, this was your own decision, no wonder I sold you out.

Sikai said silently in his heart.

"What is this?" Levi asked curiously.

"Sir, this is a letter written to you by a noble lady from Bailiu City, asking me to bring it to you." Sikai said helplessly.

"Wozhi, why didn't you say so earlier!"

The lord was deeply regretful. He could clearly feel that the temperature around him seemed to have dropped a few degrees.

But who is he? He is the Lord of Highcliff Castle, so his status must be unquestionable.

"What kind of letters are these from noble daughters?" Levi asked calmly.

"As you expected, they are basically some minor nobles, and most of them are barons." Sikai told the truth.

Levi's enthusiasm was instantly reduced by half. They were just a group of barons. Their territories were too small and most of their troops were militia. Their combat effectiveness was worrying.

It didn't help him at all.

"Forget it, just help me throw it away." He waved his hand lacking interest.

Unexpectedly, at this time, Bai Ruisi Tina spoke up. She smiled and said, "Levi, since you don't want to deal with these letters, let me help you."

"Okay." Levi nodded.

After receiving the letter, Christina Bai suppressed her inner excitement, and left the room holding the letter. Her back looked obviously happier.

After confirming that Christina Beth had left, Levi quickly locked the door and sat down in front of Skye. The two looked at each other, and everything was said without words.

"Sir, these are letters written by two earls." Sikai took out two more letters from the other side.

"Is there a countess?" Levi asked as he took the letter.

"Ahem..." Sikai almost spit out the tea he had just drunk, and said helplessly, "Sir, this is a letter written by two extremely powerful male earls from Bailiu City."

"I know them quite well. I came here because they asked me to deliver a letter. I also brought other people's letters with me."

Levi was a little uninterested after hearing this. It was really hard for him to get interested in the letters written by the two old men.

As he watched, Skye introduced the two earls.

"Among them, Earl Andor Tilly is in his prime. He doesn't have any daughters. He probably wrote to you to make friends with him in advance and show his goodwill."

"And Count Luke Fuss is already old, with several daughters and a son. I guess he is most likely to want to marry you. With the help of a son-in-law with strong military strength like you, his son will be able to better secure his position as count."

"And you are a foreigner compared to the North. Although you are militarily strong, you cannot make plans there."

What Skye said was quite pertinent.

"It's just that I have become a popular figure in Bailiu City and attracted some investment from people with unique vision."

Levi shook his head and put the letter back on the table. Apart from the exaggerated praise at the beginning, the actual text was only a few short lines, and the content was exactly the same as what Sikai said.

It can be seen that Sikai knows these two people very well.

He touched his chin, which had not been shaved for a few days and had stubble on it, and asked curiously, "Sikai, what does the third daughter of Earl Luke look like?"

(End of this chapter)