Unknown Knight

This Nordic team was the same one that captured Talboliya, and was eventually rewarded with a title and stationed in Talboliya for their merits.

Their leader is called Airen, who is said to be an illegitimate son of Idenyar. He has been gathering intelligence and organizing his own forces in various parts of the Calradia continent under the guise of a bounty hunter.

When James mentioned Aileyon, Axe looked at Bandak. Among the old men present, only he and Axe knew this Aileyon. Axe had met this Aileyon in his first battle near the village of Biglen.

I didn't expect him to have such a complicated background. In addition, he captured and occupied Tarbolia and was the son of Idenyal. Aix had obviously classified him as an enemy.

James went on to say that because the Nords did not trust him, they were always on guard against him and kept a close watch on him. Until not long ago, the Nords gradually relaxed their vigilance against him, and he took the opportunity to go out and secretly escaped.

As he had been imprisoned in the Tarbolia Fortress for a long time, he knew nothing about the outside world. It was only not until recently that he heard that Aix was sealed off near the village of Aslum, and then he fled here in search of him.

But he was lucky, as he met Bandak, a merchant returning from his journey, and they came to Tangquan Fortress together.

After listening to James's story, everyone couldn't help but sigh and lament that he was so lucky. If it were someone else, he might have been sold as a ship slave, exhausted to death, and thrown into the sea to feed the fish.

But Axe was still not satisfied. Whenever he met a possible person, he would ask them about the news of Jamila and her daughter. So he asked James earnestly:

"Have you ever seen Old John and Jamila, father and daughter?"

"Uh."

James opened his mouth, but subconsciously turned his head to look at Bandak beside him, but Bandak held James' arm with his hand.

Axe saw that James seemed to be hesitating, then he lowered his head, looked at the wine glass in his hand, and said in a whisper:

"I'm sorry, sir, I didn't see them, father and daughter. They are both good people, maybe they are fine."

Aix felt disappointed and couldn't help but sigh, but he also saw Bandak's little move just now, so he asked Bandak again:

"Master, you guys are not hiding anything from me, right?"

"No, no, sir, you see James is drunk today and can't even stand steadily. How about we stop here today?"

Axel thought about it and it was true. It was getting late today and the food on the table was almost finished, so they ended the banquet and everyone went back to rest.

That night, Aix slept alone in bed. Tsundere didn't accompany him, saying that he went to the hot spring club with Sofia. He didn't know what was wrong, and he tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep.

Suddenly, there was a loud sound of a pottery jar being smashed outside. The guard outside the door did not respond. Axe thought it was the wild cat that broke the jar, but the sound was not like that. It sounded more like someone smashing it to the ground. He was hesitating whether to get up and check, but he heard someone knocking on his door. James said outside the door:

"My Lord, are you asleep?"

"Oh not yet, James? It's so late and you're still awake? We can talk about it tomorrow."

James outside the door was silent for a while, as if hesitating, and then continued after a while:

"Sir, I have important information. Can I report it to you in person?"

There was no choice but for Axel to get up and open the door. When he pushed it open, a smell of alcohol hit him in the face, and James was standing at the door.

Thinking that he might be too excited to sleep, Axe thought that he couldn't sleep anyway, so he just let him into the house to chat for a while. However, he saw that James seemed to be drunk. He knelt down in front of him and said to him in a crying voice:

"My lord, I am incompetent and I lied to you."

Ikes thought he was really drunk, so he supported him and said:

"Okay, I know. If you have anything to say, get up and talk."

"No, sir, I lied. I actually saw Yamila and her daughter, but..."

When he heard about Yamila and her daughter, Aix unconsciously exerted force on his hand, shook James and said:

“Just what!”

"It's just that Yamila is in Talboria, being guarded by that bastard Airen."

When Aix heard this, he immediately got angry and stood up. He was about to walk out, but James grabbed his thigh and said:

"Sir, please don't be impulsive. Miss Yamila is already pregnant!"

This news was like a bolt from the blue. Aix felt as if a nerve on his head suddenly popped, his eyelids trembled, a breath rushed from his lungs to his body, his vision went dark, he stumbled, and almost fainted.

James quickly stood up and supported him. A dark figure rushed over. It was Bandak who had followed James outside. Obviously, he was also an insider. Aix pushed James away, held Bandak with both hands and said:

"Master, what's going on? Tell me!"

Bandak lowered his head and dared not look at Aix. What he did was wrong, but knowing Aix's temper, he thought that what he did might not be wrong from some perspectives. However, he also knew that there is no wall that is impenetrable. Now he could not hide it anymore, and it was time to tell Aix the truth.

“Sir, you can’t blame James for this. He was captured by the Nords and had no choice. If it weren’t for Yamila’s help not long ago, he might not have been able to escape.

In the territory, only three of us, James, Cress and I, knew about this. It was only after I returned to the territory last year and communicated with Miss Cress that I learned the whole story.

That day when Talboliya was breached, we led the improvised militia to resist against the city walls, but there were too many enemies, and they were all young, strong, experienced and powerful pirates.

Their attack was fierce, and with the advantage of numbers, they attacked in turns. Soon we could not resist them, and the first one to break into the city was Ailen.

Old John had difficulty walking, so he led dozens of militiamen who were either older or disabled to retreat to the manor house. They used bows and crossbows to block the enemy's attack from the manor house, in order to cover the retreat of the people who were crowded in the warehouse.

Originally, Yamila had a chance to escape, but out of consideration for Old John, she chose to go back to check, but was caught by Airen.

Airen, this despicable villain, used Yamila's safety to coerce and bribe old John to surrender, and easily occupied the lord's mansion.

After I and several other chiefs fled into the Black Forest with the surviving subjects, we also tried to sneak back to Talboliya to rescue old John and his daughter. However, we did not expect that Airen was very methodical in commanding his army. The entire territory was sealed off like an iron barrel by him and no one was allowed to enter.

It was only after I arrived at Tangquan Fortress and had a conversation with Miss Cress that I learned some of the inside story.

It turned out that on the night the city was broken, Miss Cress took advantage of the chaos and sneaked back to Talboliya, intending to take Jamila and the other two away. However, old John was seriously injured and unconscious at the time, and Jamila insisted on staying to take care of him, refusing to obey her, so she had to flee Talboliya alone.

I also heard about what happened later from James. That damn hypocrite Aileyen used the injured old John to force Jamila to submit. Jamila had no choice but to give herself to him.

During this period, Yamila used her status to take care of the people in the territory who were captured as slaves, and when they were out together, she let James run away.

My lord, I know I shouldn't hide anything from you, but you must know that there are nearly three thousand people in the territory who need your protection, and their well-being is dependent on you.

If you take risks now without hesitation, what will happen to these people if something goes wrong? What will happen to this foundation that everyone has worked so hard to build?"

It's not that Aix is ​​unaware of the risks involved in rescuing Yamila and her daughter, but as Bandak said, he is not alone now, and there are nearly three thousand subjects standing behind him.

If anything went wrong on his part, there was no doubt that his territory would be like a piece of fat meat, and would be eaten up by the surrounding aristocratic forces who coveted it. The people in the territory, who had just enjoyed a few days of good life, would fall back into the darkness of the Middle Ages.

He stood there unable to take another step, shaking with anger, and gnashed his teeth as he said:

"Aileen, I cannot stand with you!"