Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords.

Chapter 257: Martial Arts Competition
"You better watch your mouth!"

Penny scolded, then pointed at the noble knights around her:
"These are vassals from the south, all of them loyal and respectful to my father. Each one is willing to sacrifice his life for the Iseli family."

"If anything happens to me, my sister will make all your loyal knights get what they want!" Onaya completely scoffed at this. If she was really loyal to the old duke, why did she oppose the old duke letting Leah inherit the title, which eventually led to the current situation.

The southern nobles around him fell silent and did not refute.

This is the fact now, otherwise they would not have called Onaya over.

"Lady Onaya, we are not discussing titles or anything with you. We asked you to come here because we want you to write a letter to your sister."

The slightly fat Panto stood up. His plump face made him look very kind, but his tone was very calm: "Don't rush to refuse."

"Because this letter is beneficial to both of us."

"What do you want me to write?"

Onaya asked calmly.

"Judgment of the duel!"

"We demand that the winner of this war be decided by a duel." Panto said in a loud voice.

Hearing this, Onaya almost couldn't help laughing out loud. She just looked at the southern nobles around her and said, "Why do you think my sister, who is sure to win, would play such a boring trick with you?"

"Madam Onaya, believe me, she will." Panto looked at Onaya deeply, then looked at the bright moon outside the tall floor-to-ceiling window next to him.

"The Three Gods of Justice are fair. They will not allow the righteous to be humiliated or the innocent to be wronged. They will stand on the side of justice and interfere with the outcome of the competition."

After finishing speaking, Panto clasped his hands together devoutly towards the Milan Cathedral, then looked at Onaya and said, "If we lose, it will prove that we are all wrong. We will release you and declare that Leah is the true heir of the South Territory. If your sister loses, they only need to withdraw their troops."

"Duke Florina will take over the White Castle without losing a single soldier, and will also ensure that your inheritance rights are completely secured."

“Anyone in power will not let go of this opportunity.”

Hearing this, Onaya frowned.

Judgment by combat is an ancient custom of Debe, or of the whole Middle Ages.

People believed that the gods of justice would stand on the side of justice and intervene in the outcome of the competition.

Therefore, the victorious party in the duel is considered to be just and innocent and should not be subject to any accusation or punishment.

It would be a grave blasphemy to dare to punish the victor in a trial by combat.

In that era when gods could appear at any time, judging by combat became a way of judging justice recognized by everyone in the Middle Ages.

Because the gods really can interfere with the direction of the competition.

The two countries would even use combat to decide whether going to war was just.

But as the gods disappeared, duels have lost their former glory and have become an ancient custom. Now, knight duels are all the rage.

Onaya didn't expect the other party to come up with this method to save the current situation.

But after thinking about it, I realized that the other party's request is indeed beneficial to both parties.

This would completely confirm Leah's status as the heir. If anyone dared to object, it would be a complete blasphemy against the three gods of justice. Even the king could not bear the guilt of blasphemy.

"Penny, is this your decision too?"

Onaya looked up at Penny who was sitting on the Duke's throne.

"That's right." Penny said devoutly, "I believe that the Earth Mother Goddess will not allow any of her believers to suffer unfair treatment."

Just as these southern nobles thought, Onaya also believed that the Ice and Snow Goddess would not let her, the offspring of the North, be treated unfairly, otherwise she would not have allowed Leah to escape from Colen and arrive in the North safely.

"I will write it, but whether my sister will agree to it in the end is not something I can decide."

She said coldly.

The Red Viper Olorun watched all this quietly in the hall, his eyes flickering.

He was half responsible for the rapid fall of Cologne, as the western wall he was responsible for fell too quickly, causing the total collapse of the defense line and forcing him to retreat to White Castle.

But this cannot be entirely blamed on him. No one expected that there would be a monster-like person on the opposite side.

With one swing of the sword, his brothers were cut down like weeds on the roadside.

He was frightened by this and took his men to escape in the chaos.

He did not tell these nobles about this because it would make them realize that most of the responsibility for the collapse of the defense line lay on him.

Now when he heard them mention trial by combat, the devil-like figure from that morning popped up in his mind again.

He couldn't help but shudder. If the other party participated in the duel, they would have no chance of winning.

These damned southern nobles simply don’t understand that against such a powerful enemy, the outcome cannot be decided by some damn god.

He is an orphan living in a slum, so he does not believe in any god and is an apostate.

Therefore, I can see everything more clearly and am not blinded by foolish beliefs.

At this point, he finally realized that the Southern Territory was a sailing ship that was about to sink into the sea. No matter what he wanted to do, it was best to make plans early.

Apart from the losses and escapees, he was fortunate enough to have gathered two thousand mercenaries in the end.

Now, he has a plan.

It's just that the time is not right yet.

Not long after, a letter was sent from the White Castle, which was blocked by the Northern Expeditionary Army. After being passed through layers of delivery, it arrived at a tent outside the city of Cologne.

……

This tent looks unremarkable from the outside, its only feature is that it is large enough, but inside it are all the leaders of the Northern Army's expedition to the South.

If there was a great magician with extremely high magical skills at this moment, and cast a spell like the Atlas Colossus, the giant who was a hundred blades tall would be stepped on with one foot.

It was enough to resolve Colen's predicament and cause the entire Northern Army to collapse on its own.

But in fact, it's just a thought. In the era when magic is flourishing, only legendary magicians can cast spells of this level.

That is what only half-baked magicians can use nowadays.

When she was young, Florina learned swordsmanship in the royal court, and later she even worked as an adventurer for a period of time. Therefore, she was not as picky about food as those noble ladies who would not eat anything but exquisite food.

Although the beef on the plate was a little overcooked, she still ate it with gusto. However, the sudden letter interrupted her time to enjoy the food. She took out a white handkerchief and wiped her rosy mouth slowly. She slowly removed the wax paste and smoothed the rolled parchment in her hand bit by bit.

But when she saw the first sentence, she couldn't help but frown.

The other nobles also put down their knives and forks and looked at their own lords.

They all knew that the letter came from White Castle, but they were curious about what the content was that caused Lady Florina's expression to change so much.

After a careful look, Florina's face had regained its calm, and she even showed a slight smile.

This made the nobles smile, and Count Ando took the initiative to ask, "Lady Florina, what does this letter say?"

Florina asked the maid beside her to pass it on, and soon everyone had a look at it. Finally, it was the turn of the lord who was concentrating on chewing a sheep's hoof.

He wiped the grease off his hands and opened them to take a look.

"Wow, a duel? I'm wondering if the goblins have eaten all of these people's brains."

He immediately whistled, unable to hide the disdainful smile on his face.

As if taking the lead, whistles were heard one after another in the tent. They were all nobles who had learned the most strict etiquette, but at this moment they looked like a group of hooligans molesting women on the street.

“I like this approach.”

The panda chief took a fierce bite, and his sharp teeth instantly tore off a large piece of the thigh bone in his hand.

At present, except for Lord Li beside him, it has never been afraid of anyone in a one-on-one fight.

"Perhaps they are the fighting beasts in the cage making their last struggle." Leah couldn't help but cheer and jump for joy, her face full of smiles.

It was as if she had seen her mother reunited with her.

It's no wonder they're so excited.

In the past, gods might interfere with the competition, but now victory or defeat is entirely determined by personal prowess.

Not to mention those far away, in this tent, apart from Florina, Count Andao's fighting spirit is extremely high, and he is also a well-known master ranked among the top in the North.

There is also Count Montvit from Wolf Island. Legend has it that he can even deal with five or six mountain monsters by himself.

Although they didn't like the panda man because he was half-orc, his strength was unquestionable.

Not to mention……

Their collective eyes were fixed on someone who had finished reading the letter and then lowered his head to concentrate on chewing a sheep's hoof.

If we talk about the most recognized person in terms of strength, then everyone present would definitely name the Lord of High Cliff Castle first.

Going all the way south, not to mention the opponent's previous achievements, even the current ones are enough to shock the world.

The famous magic of the priests of the Church of the Earth is to summon stone giants. These creatures from the elemental plane are more than ten blades tall and are made entirely of huge stones. Their defense is as sharp as their attack power.

They are complete meat grinders on the battlefield and can even determine the outcome of a small battle. Only magic can deal with these guys.

In the end, he was chopped and chopped alive by someone, and turned into pieces on the ground.

Afterwards, when they learned that they were able to capture Cologne so quickly thanks to the Lord of Highcliff Castle, they all went to the west wall, looked at the shattered city gate and battering ram, and after confirming with the soldiers who had seen with their own eyes how the city gate was broken, they all remained silent like the marble sculptures in White River City in the north.

Afterwards, he left without saying a word, but only ordered his soldiers to be respectful to the lion hunting knight and not to anger him.

There is no doubt that the opponent's strength has absolutely reached an unimaginable height.

They even suspected that the Lord of Highcliff Castle was a giant in human skin, otherwise it would be completely inexplicable how such terrifying power could be hidden in such a thin body.

This is unreasonable.

It is definitely something to be thankful for having such a strong man on our side.

They all came to a conclusion in their hearts, which was - "The people of the Southern Territory are courting their own death. Even if the decision is made by a duel, the Northern Territory's southern expeditionary army will win!"

While the nobles were excitedly discussing the decision of tomorrow's duel, Leah quietly patted someone's thigh with her little hand, "Levi, do you think Penny and the others really want to resolve these issues through duel?"

She naturally hoped that the other party really wanted to decide the outcome by a duel, so with Levi, she would not be able to lose.

This blind self-confidence comes entirely from witnessing the incredible deeds done by the other party with one's own eyes.

But he was also afraid that this was just a cover-up by Penny and others to conceal their ultimate goal.

"When the other party proposes to resolve the issue through a duel, it's better for them to do so." Levi wiped his mouth, and after a satisfying glass of frozen sour plum juice, he continued, "They have no choice. Now they either have to be driven into the city by us or have a duel."

"But no matter which one it is, they are destined to be losers, and victory will only belong to us."

At this point, Levi looked towards the south, frowning a little: "To be honest, the reason we were able to win so easily is entirely because Damon was trapped at the southern border."

"We all saw that demon with our own eyes. It's hard for me to imagine how huge these demons are. They were able to hold back more than 100,000 main forces from the southern border, and no one has come to help them yet."

To be honest, he and Florina both thought that no matter what kind of demon it was, even if the undead came, they had to defeat Colen first.

Complete the established strategic goals first and then consider other things.

This behavior may be recorded in history books by scholars in the future and denounced as selfish and self-serving people who ignore the racial crisis.

But he and Florina are obviously very similar in one point, that is, compared with the immediate interests, they don't care about the so-called evaluation.

A forced melon is not sweet? If it were the lord, he would have to force ten or eight melons, no matter whether they are sweet or not, as long as they can quench your thirst.

The same is true for the devil. If we stop fighting and fight the devil together, the result will be full of uncertainty after the devil is defeated.

Instead, we should take advantage of the enemy's weak defense and capture Cologne first. Then, we will have room to turn around whether we advance or retreat.

"I don't know how Aunt Florina will solve this problem." Leah also looked worried.

Just as Florina said before, at worst she would just withdraw her troops and retreat back to the North. These demons would have to at least conquer the South, West, East, and the Royal Court before they could reach the North.

Therefore, Leah was a little worried that the other side would take over the southern border and get everything they wanted, and might withdraw their troops.

At that time, these demons will still be resisted by the southern border as a bridgehead.

"Don't think too much. Our king obviously won't watch this happen." Levi comforted him, and his brows relaxed a lot.

He was obviously worrying too much. If the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up.

Gaoya Castle is now just a rural village with a thousand warriors. It is not his turn to worry about demons, undead and the like.

(End of this chapter)