Unknown Knight

That night, in the City Lord’s Mansion of Kudan City.

Aix stared at Voldratboye opposite him. The lord of Kudan city had wandering eyes under Aix's gaze and did not dare to look at Aix.

The reason why this instigator who provoked the war between the Kingdom of Vigia and the Khergit Khanate not long ago felt so guilty about Aix was all because of Manid who came to ask for help yesterday.

At that time, under the order of Aix, Manid took the elderly, the weak, women and children on horseback and hurried to Kudan City to ask for help from Voldratboye. However, the city lord did not hear any request for help. All he saw were the 300 excellent grassland horses in front of the city gate. Without any hesitation, he let Manid and his party enter the city.

When asked about Manide's purpose and Aix's current situation, he actually went against his conscience and made excuses for all sorts of reasons, unwilling to send a single soldier to rescue.

You have to know that in the recent war between the Kingdom of Vaegir and the Khergit Khanate, if it were not for Aix who promoted the reconciliation between the Kingdom of Vaegir and the Kingdom of Nord, how could King Yarogerk have the time to concentrate on dealing with the Khergits? The city of Kudan might have been captured by the Khergits. It is not an exaggeration to say that Aix saved their whole family's life.

But as the saying goes: one loses conscience when seeking wealth, and forgets past kindness when sad. When Voldratboye saw the 300 prairie horses driven into the city by Manid, the city lord was so obsessed with money that he wanted to take advantage of the situation.

He knew how powerful the Kugits were in field battles, and thought that they, who were almost all cavalry, would definitely wipe out Aix and his men. Even if Aix and his men held on, as long as he did not send troops to support them, they would be wiped out by the Kugits sooner or later. And by then, these horses would be... It was a beautiful thought, and he almost drooled.

If that's the case, can he still send reinforcements? Reinforcements? It's impossible to send reinforcements in this lifetime. As for the reason, no matter how Manide asked, Voldratboye was unwilling to tell him.

In this way, Aix waited until yesterday afternoon when another wave of Kugits caught up, but no reinforcements from Voldratboye arrived. He had no choice but to send Zhang Ping to inform Manid and implement the second plan, which was to form a formation by the water and hold their ground, waiting for Manid to rent a boat and come to pick them up by water at night.

Sure enough, Manide did not disappoint him. In the second half of the night, he finally arrived with five rented boats to pick them up, allowing Aix and his group to escape.

In fact, when Aix chose to form a formation with his back to the river and hold his ground, he also had a backup plan, which was to let his brothers who could swim swim to the other side with ropes at night. Although the Kudan River was wide, the main part of this section of the river was only about 70 meters wide. The ropes brought by the caravan were almost enough. If not, they could just connect clothes, sacks, and leather together, which would definitely be enough. Unexpectedly, they later seized some lassos from the Kugit people, so they had more than enough length.

Moreover, horses can swim, so his original plan was to let the brothers who could not swim lie on the horses and pull the ropes to cross the river little by little. Although there was still a risk of drowning, this would allow most people to swim across the river.

This was another time that Aix escaped from the hands of death. This incident also made him realize more deeply that matters of life and death should not be left to other people's hands. Only by relying on oneself and becoming strong can one survive in this dark and chaotic world.

The reason why Aix looked at Voldratboye so aggressively at the banquet, as if he was about to explode at any time, was not only because he did not help him, but more excessively, because this guy actually detained the horses that Manid brought into the city, under the pretext of helping to keep them.

Aix looked at this shameless man and wanted to draw his sword and chop him down, but now he was in his territory and had to endure it. He could only calm down and said to him:

"Sir Voldrat, I heard from my subordinates that you were helping to look after the horses that were driven into the city yesterday?"

"Oh, yes, yes, I just have some unfortunate news to apologize, Mr. Aix. The groom told me this morning that your horses may have been sick. More than fifty of them died last night. I am so sorry."

"Bang!" Axe slammed the wine glass onto the table, stood up and roared:

"What! Lord Voldrat, do you know how much a horse is worth?"

"I'm so sorry, Lord Aix. My subordinates didn't do their job well. I have punished them. But your horses may have been exhausted after a long journey, so they contracted a disease and died. It's a pity! What a pity."

Voldratboye said with an innocent and regretful look on his face, without blushing or beating his heart, and vowed to continue being shameless to the end.

Aix took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and then continued after a brief pause:

"My subordinates have been staying in the city the whole time, and have not seen anyone transporting the dead horses out of the city. More than fifty horses is not a small number, and they must still be in your stable.

I have a doctor who specializes in treating horses here. He told me that sick horses must be treated in time, otherwise more will die. My horse doctor will also examine the bodies of the dead horses to find out the cause of their illness so that they can be treated in time. Please lead the way now, and let's go to the scene to understand the situation together."

"This, this, there is no need for you to go there in person, just let the people below check it out."

Voldratboye wanted to shirk responsibility, but Aix would not give him any chance to quibble. He said with a vicious look on his face:

"How can that be? Lord Voldrat, you don't know that these horses were snatched by more than 200 of us who killed nearly 300 Kugit people. Each one of them was earned with blood and sweat.

Even in the war that ended some time ago, your army didn't kill so many Kugits! If we just lost so many horses, our swords wouldn't agree. The Kugits still think they haven't killed enough!"

Voldratboye's eyelids trembled at these words, and he said with a forced smile:

"Oh, I don't think there are that many horses left. The grooms must have been careless and didn't count them clearly. Someone, go check again and tell Lord Aix how many horses died."

Aix just thought his words were nonsense, but it was not a good idea for him to go to the stable himself, so he asked Manide to take Niza and Ran Hu with him, and whispered a few words to Zhang Ping, asking him to take thirty people and guard outside the stable.

Less than half a quarter of an hour after they sat back down, the people sent by Voldratboye came back to report that they had checked again and confirmed that the number of dead horses was not fifty, but thirty.

Aix didn't say much when he heard it, he drew his sword and was about to go out, Voldratboye stopped him and slapped the man who reported it, asking him how many horses there were. The man said twenty horses, but Aix still refused, so Voldratboye slapped the man again, and this time ten horses died.

Aix thought about it and decided that after all, he was still in the city, so ten horses would be fine, just consider it as accommodation fee for Voldrat. He didn't care about it anymore and sat down at the table again.

At the banquet, no matter how the old man Voldrat urged people to drink, Axe just responded in a lukewarm manner, completely out of courtesy. There was no intention of further communication, and the meal was quite boring.

Aix was just hesitating whether to say goodbye and go back, when he suddenly smelled a strong fragrance coming from behind him. Before he could turn around to see what was going on, he heard the person chuckle and say:

"Hehe, my dear father, why didn't you inform me earlier that such a distinguished guest was coming?"

"Hi, hi, hi, my daughter. Your father is just about to call you. Come and meet His Excellency Count Aix. Your Excellency Aix, this is my daughter, the pride of Kudan City, the most beautiful girl in the Snow Country - Katia."

After hearing this, Aix had to stand up and carefully look at Katia, who was known as the most beautiful woman in the Snow Country. To be honest, this title was a bit exaggerated. Miss Katia was at most above average in appearance. Apart from being very fair, there was nothing particularly outstanding about her. She had slightly high cheekbones and thin lips. She was charming but also mean, and she didn't look like someone who would do well.

Reaching out and lightly shaking the hand that Miss Katia extended to him, Axe did not kiss her hand. Miss Katia only raised her eyebrows slightly, and did not seem to mind. Instead, she sat down next to Axe, raised her glass and said to Axe:

"Thanks to your mediation not long ago, we were able to reach a reconciliation with the Nords, which also laid the foundation for our eventual victory over the Khergits. Please accept my respect for you."

"I, the Earl, have not played any significant role. If I had played any role, so many horses would not have died this time."

Aix pointedly brought out the awkwardness, and the embarrassed Voldratboye just laughed and lowered his head to drink.

"Hahahaha, sir, please don't be angry. We will punish those grooms who failed to do their job. You know that the city has been besieged for several months and the entire Kudan City has suffered heavy losses. It is normal for the grooms to be careless in their work. Please don't be offended, sir."

Hearing her say this, Aix couldn't say anything on the surface, so he just clinked glasses with her, but in his heart he was complaining: "So you're going to get back at me, your benefactor? You are a family of ungrateful bastards."

Seeing that Axe was indifferent and seemed to have no interest in her, Miss Katia became competitive. As a conceited woman who thought she was a beauty, she had never been ignored by a man before, and she could not tolerate this.

So she first used all kinds of flattering words to persuade Ax to drink, forcing Ax to drink. Later, she used provocation, relying on the fact that she was a weak woman, and used moral blackmail to make Ax continue drinking.

But Miss Katia, who prided herself on her great alcohol tolerance, never expected that this time she would hit a wall. Even though she drank one glass and Aix drank two, Aix was not drunk by her like the other men. Instead, she could not resist the alcohol and got drunk to the point of vomiting all over her body and the ground, and was carried away by a group of maids.

The banquet had to end in such an awkward atmosphere. Aix politely declined Voldratboye's suggestion that he stay overnight at the city lord's mansion, and went back to the hotel to sleep. It is better to have as little contact with such an unprincipled person as possible. The more contact there is, the greater the risk of falling into the trap.

The next day, when Aix and his party were preparing to leave, Voldrat showed up again. First, a guy who looked like a butler brought a hundred fully armed Vigia soldiers to block the city gate and prevent them from leaving. Then, Voldrat Boyer claimed to be sick and refused to see guests, leaving Aix and his party stranded in the city.

This move made Aix so angry that he laughed, and he asked the butler how to settle it. As a result, the butler took out a thick account book and began to read it to Aix item by item.

It basically records the various expenses and losses since Manid's troops entered the city. There are more than fifty items recorded in great detail, such as how many floor tiles in the city were crushed by horse hooves, how many pieces of wall paint were rubbed off in the horse stable, how many stone horse troughs were damaged, how many iron nails of the city gate were knocked off, how many pieces of ground were polluted by the horse's feces, etc. There are many kinds of items.

The key is that there are a lot of outrageous clauses, such as compensation for three pregnant women who had miscarriages caused by the neighing of horses, compensation for two elderly people with asthma who died from the stench of horse manure, compensation for the mental and physical damage caused by the restless grassland horses that climbed the city lord's fine horse, compensation for the soldiers who scared a child out of his wits because of their bloody bodies and faces, and so on. There are no less than a dozen such ridiculous payments, which have made Aix unable to handle anything.

After the steward calculated, Aix had to pay a total of more than one thousand silver coins for that day. He also said that the city lord Voldratboye knew that he had limited cash, so he converted it into horses and gave him a 40% discount, so a total of fifty horses would be required.

Aix watched the steward's performance coldly, and without saying a word, he drew his sword and put it on the guy's neck, telling him sternly that he had seriously offended him, and even if he cut his throat now, Voldratboye would not do anything to him, so he asked him to think about it carefully.

The butler, who was sweating profusely, struggled for a long time like he had constipation, and spit out the number of thirty horses. Aix's long sword stabbed him lightly, and blood immediately oozed out of his neck. Frightened, he quickly changed the number and said twenty horses.

Aix looked at the sky and was afraid that he would miss the journey, so he asked Manide to lead his men to pick out twenty horses and give them to the steward, who then allowed the city gate to be opened and people to pass through.

After everyone had left the city gate, Aix waved to the steward on his horse, and when he came over, he grabbed him by the collar, pulled him closer and said:

“Go back and tell your master Voldratboye that the Kugits will definitely attack Kudan City again next year at the latest. By then, the Kugits will definitely not make the same mistake again, and King Yarogerk will not be able to save him.

I can also assure him that he will never get a grain of food from Swadia, nor any other form of help. By that time, I will watch him with my eyes wide open, his city destroyed and his family ruined!"