Forced to become a delicate companion of a paranoid lord

Ever since the Ortiz family in the east took the lead in refusing to pay heavy taxes two years ago, Donava, a peripheral city in Gelesis County in the eastern part of the Heisedon Empire, has become the first line of defense to block the imperial expeditionary force.

At the beginning, the emperor did not take such rebellion very seriously. After all, the Ortiz family had long been in decline, and the head of the family in this generation was a woman.

He thought that the rebellion would be quelled soon and his punitive army would be able to bring the rebels' heads back to the imperial capital within a month.

To everyone's surprise, the empire's expeditionary force heading to the Ortiz family's territory was ultimately blocked outside Donava's defensive magic circle.

Not only that, before the emperor's punitive army arrived at Donawa, all the lords of all the territories, large and small, east of Donawa swore allegiance to the head of the Ortiz family.

An unexpected rebellion in the east thus began.

Since the terrain near Donawa is relatively complex, there are many natural barriers, and it is located at the intersection of many important roads, if the city gates of Donawa cannot be opened, the empire's 30,000-strong expeditionary force will have to wait here.

From the friendly negotiations at the beginning to the subsequent fighting, the two armies confronted each other for more than a year, and the empire's magicians still failed to analyze Donava's defensive barrier.

The defensive array that the Empire's magicians racked their brains to no avail was actually just an upgrade of the Empire's original strongest defensive array.

But just by making a few changes, the originally indestructible defensive barrier can be turned into another kind of magic array that cannot be broken with existing analysis.

The defensive arrays of various cities outside the imperial capital have one thing in common: in the hands of the emperor, they have complete methods of analysis and breaking.

Because the magician who established the entire empire's defense system is the brother of the current emperor, the former glory of the empire, the princess of His Highness Ilias, and the great magician Florence, whose identity is a mystery.

The original intention of Princess Florence to create the large-scale defensive magic circle was to reduce casualties in important cities during the Red Moon.

But except for the imperial capital and several other important cities adjacent to the imperial capital, other cities were controlled by major lords. Therefore, in order to prevent the lords from using defensive magic circles to rebel against the royal family, the then Crown Princess recorded all the analyses and methods of breaking the magic circles and handed them over to the previous Emperor.

His Majesty Edgar Ficheld, the current emperor who inherited the magic book on the analysis of defensive arrays from the previous emperor, never thought that in less than thirty years, someone would be able to upgrade the already indestructible defensive array.

Not only did he upgrade the barrier's defensive capabilities, he also changed the original analysis, making it impossible for the Ninth Prince of the Empire, whom he sent to Donava, to break the defensive formation based on the analysis in the magic book.

The Queen's sixth child, the Emperor's youngest son in the true sense, the ninth prince of the Empire, Amos Fichold, is a genius magician.

Before the age of 16, he traveled around the continent with his uncle and never appeared in public. However, at the age of 17, he entered the Lar Continent Magic Academy with the first place. His huge magic power and excellent magical talent made him the most popular student in the magic academy.

Everyone thought that he would become Master Mason's last disciple, but for some reason, Master Mason, who was the principal of the magic academy and was close to the level of a holy magician, did not step out of his magic tower. He did not seem to be very interested in this talented young man.

However, Master Mason has always had a strange temper. Although he is the principal of the magic academy, he hardly cares about anything. The last time he left the magic tower was more than ten years ago, so it is normal that he did not accept this student as his disciple at the first time. Maybe he was just too fascinated by studying some new magic and did not check the letters sent to the magic tower.

The imperial expeditionary force stationed outside the city of Donawa near the forest had already ceased hostilities with the rebels for a month. As they had been unable to capture Donawa for a long time and military supplies had been reduced, the ordinary soldiers were somewhat resentful.

In the barracks, you have to be careful about your words and actions and you can't discuss things casually. When it's time to take a break, go to the nearest town, go to a busy and dim tavern, and say whatever you want.

As long as no one is mentioned by name, who in such a place would regard the words of a drunkard as treason?

That night, the tavern in Stola was still full. The tavern did not have the lighting crystals commonly seen in big cities. Instead, there were short and thick candles in the lamp holders hanging on the wall. The people in the tavern drank in the dim but atmospheric light until their faces turned red. Some of the guys who could not control their words and actions when they were drunk started complaining to their companions after a few drinks.

They thought that their voices were not too loud and would not attract anyone's attention in the noisy bar...

The dark-skinned veteran held the wine barrel and spoke to his companions with blurry eyes.

"I really don't know what the point of us staying here is. There are so many magicians here, and they usually look down on us, but in the end they can't even open a defensive magic circle..."

"Who knows, I received a letter from the caravan, my mother is sick. Captain, I want to go home." The thin young soldier in the corner lowered his head and looked at his hands under the table. The glass in front of him still contained the same glass of wine as at the beginning. The others had already drunk several glasses, but he still had half left.

The six or seven people at the table suddenly fell silent. After a while, the old soldier ordered another bucket of wine for a few people and shouted, "Drink more! It's my treat today, drink as much as you can! Have a good dream tonight, boys!"

The young soldier put the necklace he was holding in his hand back around his neck, carefully tucked it into his collar, and then clasped his hands together and prayed silently.

In any case, he couldn't return to his hometown now, so he could only find some spiritual comfort through prayer.

Goddess of Light, your faithful followers offer you the most pious prayers, asking you to grant my mother health and cleanliness, and to dispel the dark shadow covering her soul...

The brown-haired companion sitting on the left side of the young soldier saw him praying, and he also took a stance and muttered something.

"Goddess of Light, if you can hear my prayers, please make all the lords and masters sober up. Reducing taxes is definitely a much easier solution than attacking other people's hometowns. By the way, ask the commander to pay our military salaries. If we don't get the money, my brothers and sisters will starve to death."

"Hey, you ask for so much. If the goddess could really hear you, she might think you are too greedy." The slightly fat soldier cut the meat from the roasted lamb leg and placed it in front of the two people who had finished praying. He patted the brown-haired soldier on the shoulder and teased.

"Greed? It's all natural, but I don't think the goddess can hear our prayers. Life is getting harder and harder. When I was young, every family in the village could afford white bread. Now, let alone white bread, there's almost no black bread to eat."

"It's the same in my hometown. Many people became slaves because they couldn't pay enough taxes. Slaves don't have to pay taxes, but they still can't get enough to eat."

"Damn it! I actually admire that family head. A woman is more courageous than a man. She refused to pay heavy taxes for the sake of her people. This is the first time I have seen such a thing in my life!"

"Who knows if that woman is really for the sake of ruling the people or if she wants to be an independent king? Can we believe this rumor? I also heard that the barbecue made by the Paraso people is particularly delicious!"

"What the hell? The Palasso people's barbecue is delicious? You are dreaming."

"I heard it from a vendor passing by the camp, I don't know if it's true or not."

"Speaking of the Parasau people, I heard another piece of news. Our empire sold Hutt Island to the Parasau people."

"Fuck, yours is even more outrageous. Hutt Island is a treasure island. Let's not even talk about whether the people of Parasol can afford it. Patriarch Rodrigo is not old enough to be confused."

"Listen to me. It is said that...something bad happened on Hutt Island, and all the people there died..."

"Wow! You're getting more and more ridiculous. You're making it up very well. Let me hear some more."

"Fuck you, I heard from somewhere else that the Second Prince personally led a team to the Far North Territory and brought back 10,000 carts of magic crystals!"

"Bullshit! The people of Paraso brought 10,000 carts of things back to the Snow Plains from the Empire. I heard that those things were the dowry of the Imperial Rose. What's going on? Is the Second Prince going to get his brother's dowry back?"

"Stop talking nonsense. Even food and drink can't stop you from talking." The dark-skinned old soldier noticed that someone was looking at them from the corner. He quickly stuffed the remaining meat on the table into the mouths of several soldiers and stood up to pay the bill.

As they passed a table, the man looking at their table raised his head and smiled gently at the veteran.

When the veteran soldier saw the short platinum hair hidden under the man's hood, he reflexively wanted to kneel down and salute, but the young man with dark green eyes casually raised his hand to stop him.

The man with the same green eyes as the second prince of the empire said softly: "I don't mean to bother you, please feel free to do as you please, I just come here to drink."