Why did the lord rebel

Chapter 81
Xia Houyan took out a spare robe from the package on the horse's back and put it on Aaron Cousins.

Although Knight Commander Cousins ​​was strong enough, after all, the weather was getting colder. Xia Houyan was really afraid that the Lily Knight who had been "abused" in Moon God Village would have pneumonia or something.

Of course, the lord can't imagine how well this guy lived in the thief's stockade...

Then, Knight Commander Cousins ​​put on a robe and told what happened to Katarina's team along the way:
After their migration team set off from Eagle's End nearly three months ago, they followed the original route and headed south along the west coast of the Haven Continent.

Unlike Xia Houyan and the others who frequently encountered dangers on the road, Katarina's team had a smooth journey.

This inevitably made everyone in the team relax their vigilance. As a result, after entering the wasteland, they were suddenly caught off guard by the sinister environment——

First, a sudden sandstorm unique to the western coast of the wasteland blocked their progress. Then, Katarina's team was involved in the war between two gangs of bandits!

The two gangs of thieves who fought bloody at the foot of the Nu Tao Mountains are called "Moon God Village" and "Xuefeng Village" respectively.

However, what is different from Rocky's description is that in fact, this battle between the two gangs of bandits was not an encounter, but a siege battle!
Due to being on the scene and then staying in Moon God Fortress for a period of time, Cousins ​​couldn't be more clear about the situation at the time:
"Moon God Village" is a group of foreign thieves who have only established a firm foothold in the Nutao Mountains in the last six months, while "Xuefeng Village" is a long-standing and deep-rooted local snake that has been stationed in the southern wasteland.

Just like all conflicts between outsiders and locals: Xuefeng Village can't tolerate Moon God Village, and in the soul-shattering land where resources are scarce and "business" is difficult to do, he will share a piece of the pie with himself!

So, after doing several large-scale robbery businesses in the fall and earning a lot of money, Xuefeng Village decided to send out a lot of troops, wanting to uproot Moon God Village and completely remove this piece of throat from his field of vision. Clear it out!

Coincidentally, when the siege team of Xuefeng Village dispatched troops, the migration team led by Katarina also happened to be near the Moon God Village, at the foot of the Nuts Mountains, and was about to turn east and rush to the other side of the wasteland. Frost Maple Ridge on the side!

As a result, the siege team that originally intended to attack the Moon God Fortress collided with the migration team of the Igor family.

You must know that even the medieval Crusaders on the earth may have been fooled by the Venetians, turned their guns pointed at Jerusalem, and turned their heads to sack Constantinople!
The thieves of Xuefeng Village, who have been living by killing and looting, are of course even less likely to focus on the original target of attacking the Moon God Village and turn a blind eye to the fat meat in front of the Igor Migration Team!
So, the bandits in Blood Front Village attacked the team led by Katarina without hesitation!
And the guards of the Igor family, under the command of Miss Katarina and Knight Commander Cousins, fought a heroic counterattack!
Different from the eastern team that was helpless in the face of the terrifying corpse tide, this migration team was commanded by Cousins, a senior knight commander who was familiar with the battle formation, and because of the large amount of baggage, the guard force under his command was stronger, and even more powerful. There was a hired temporary guard accompanying him, so he started a bloody battle with the bandits of Xuefeng Village!
So the actual situation is actually not that the Igor family was involved in the team battle between the two bandits, but that they encountered one of them first and started to fight!
Of course, the unexpected battle that took place in front of his own house could not escape the eyes of the thieves in Moon God Village.

But to everyone's surprise, Moon God Village did not sit on the mountain to watch the tiger fight like an old and insidious strategist, but quickly assembled troops and dispatched a cavalry team to join within half an hour of the start of the battle. The battle group, and then quickly put in an infantry reserve force of hundreds of people!

The actions of the Moon Godzhai troops also made the Igor family overjoyed, and the thieves of Xuefengzhai jumped and cursed——

They, who are also bandits, actually did not commit any crimes against the commoners of the Igor family and their luggage.

As a result, under the combined force of the Moon God Village troops and Igor's guards, the bandits in Xuefeng Village were completely defeated, lost their helmets and disarmed, and suffered countless casualties!
Their stupid behavior and painful experience also vividly illustrate an unbreakable strategic principle:

Manpower is sometimes poor, so never go to war with the third force under the eyes of the enemy!
But the more surprising thing is yet to come:

Just as Katarina brought Knight Commander Cousins ​​to express her gratitude to the "righteous people" who lent a helping hand in a timely manner in accordance with the noble etiquette, the leader of the Moon God Village suddenly attacked. They are kidnapped!
During the battle with the Xuefengzhai thieves, the Igor Migration Team, which had suffered heavy damage, basically did not make any effective resistance, so they were bound and became prisoners of the Moon God Village.

This also made Katerina and Cousins ​​feel sadly aware that they obviously did not escape bad luck, but just became the prey of others' mantises catching cicadas and orioles...

But what puzzled Katerina and Cousins ​​was that the behavior of the Luna Village thief seemed to be different from other wasteland robbers:
They neither decapitated ordinary civilians who had no value for ransom, nor tortured or raped the captured prisoners and female relatives, but held them cordially and cordially. Get up, the whole process, not even a heavier whipping appeared!
Even when receiving the baggage of the Igor Migration Team, the bandits in Moon God Village did not loot and riot like ordinary bandits!
They spread all the supplies on the ground in an orderly manner, a clerical-looking thief carefully registered them, and together with the corpses of their comrades gathered up, they were loaded and transported back to the cottage!
In the meantime, there is no Moon God Village thief who would steal even a single gold coin out of selfish desires!
What happened in front of them made everyone in the Igor family have an illusion:
It seems that they were not captured by some barbaric robbers in the wasteland, but a regular army led by a noble with noble sentiments!
To be honest, troops that treat prisoners so kindly, can restrain their desire to plunder, and are so disciplined, even in the empire, can almost only be found in the eastern theater under Rosario's "Blood of Blood";

With the style of these bandits, they can almost already disdain the military appearance and discipline of the vast majority of the regular army of the Empire!

What's even more outrageous is that after arriving at the Moon God Village, all the other survivors of the Igor family were locked in the dungeon, but only Miss Katarina (and a certain Lily Knight who was very good at speaking) was placed under house arrest. special treatment!
Cousins ​​also saw with his own eyes that the owner of Moon God Village personally delivered meals to Katarina every night and talked with her in the room for a long time, as if he regarded Katarina as a guest!
All this made Cousins ​​feel that there must be something strange about this stockade!

——In other words, the leader of this stockade is definitely not ordinary!
"Lord Lord!" Cousins, who was wearing a robe, faced Xiahou Yan with a suspicious face, and persuaded him earnestly, "According to my observation, this group of bandits in Moon God Village is completely different from other bandits!—You Thinking about it, no one has harmed the people of our family, and they have given special treatment to Miss Katerina, obviously they don't want to do everything and leave room for negotiation!"

"There is room for negotiation?" Alice frowned. "Bandits are bandits, don't they just want more ransom from us?"

"And what do I think, according to what you said," Clement said, the more he pondered, the more inappropriate it became, he picked up his arms covered with iron plates and said, "This village owner of Moon God Village is both delivering meals and kneeling. After talking for a long time, it seems that you have taken a fancy to that Miss Katerina?"

The lord did not speak, but his face froze.

"Uh...this..." Cousins ​​looked at the tin can and said embarrassedly, "It's not unreasonable for you to say that..."

"What?!" Now it was Alice's turn to turn pale, "Is the lord of the Moon God Village really coveting our Miss Katerina?"

"I see... it seems to be a little bit like that..." Allen Cousins ​​muttered, and hurriedly grabbed the sleeve of Lord Lord, "So, Lord Lord, the fighting power of Moon God Village. It should not be underestimated, it is not something we can match at all; you should hurry up and find a way to contact these gangsters, break up the money and pay the ransom... I am afraid that after a few more days, Miss Katerina may not be able to handle it. Living in a soft and hard bubble, I really followed others..."

"Mother Xipi! Malbei!" Xia Houyan, who had been silent for a long time, finally scolded, "A bandit leader, also a toad who wants to eat swan meat, wants to marry Katerina, and be my cheap brother-in-law?! Lao Tzu It should have smashed the whimsical head of this turtle grandson with a crowbar!"

"Uh..." Cousins ​​said dryly, "There seems to be something wrong with your statement about the 'grandson of the turtle'..."

"What's the problem?" Xia Houyan looked at Cousins ​​with anger.

"Actually... it might be more appropriate to call you 'grandaughter of the turtle'..." Cousins ​​said cautiously.

The three of the Igor family were stunned.

……

Moon God Village, a confinement room with exquisite decoration.

Except for the iron gate and the tic-tac-toe steel wire on the window, which still exudes an unnervingly cold air, the interior furnishings simply don't match the style of this barren wasteland: roses trimmed with lace The curtains, the elegant but not extravagant bedspread, plus the velvet cushions inlaid with the curved armchairs that matched the desk, all made this room look more like some noble girl's boudoir—

——Actually, according to the facts, there is nothing wrong with saying that.

Because the person detained in this "confinement room" is the eldest lady of the Igor family, Katerina Igor.

This 24-year-old young female aristocrat, perhaps because of the fatigue of the journey, or perhaps because of the unfortunate situation in the cage, there is a lingering, faint tiredness between her brows-tired, but It was not sad, because Katerina Igor's face was still the same as before, with the natural tenderness, kindness and peace, as if it could make everyone who talked with her feel at ease.

Yes, Katarina is beautiful, so beautiful that every year, a large number of noble children rush to Eagle's End to propose to her, and then they are not discouraged after being declined, and try again in the next year - but, she is unique. The gentle temperament of her, but it seems like an overly strong brilliance, covering all the other qualities of this noble lady.

Caterina Igor, like a living, extraordinarily soft statue of the Virgin, can calm people's anger, impatience and malice with only her words, deeds, and actions.

At this moment, Katerina was sitting at the table, tilting her head, rustling something on a piece of paper with a quill; her long black hair, the signature of the Igor family, also hung down on the paper , trembling slightly with her writing.

Not all noble ladies of the empire were educated at school, but Katerina clearly read books—the squiggly letters she sketched with a quill pen were no less impressive even by the standards of imperial official documents.

"Wake up early in the morning and write a letter if you don't do anything else?" A slightly cold female voice asked behind her, at the door of the confinement room.

"Yeah..." Katerina didn't look back, and continued to write intently, with a slight smile on her lips, "...I'm writing a letter to my brother."

"You can't send it. We won't let you send letters to the outside world." The female voice said coldly.

"I don't send it." Katerina smiled, looking at the writing on the letter and winking slyly, "When I go out one day, I will show him the letter and let him know that his sister still thinks of him. - That's what I did when he went to school in the academy!"

The female voice didn't answer, replaced by an unwilling sigh.

"Squeak", the iron fence door opened.

A young woman wearing a strong leather armor with a neat figure, with half-long brown hair and a strange lavender pupil, walked into Katarina's confinement room with her silver teeth clenched.

"Hello, Zhaizhu." Katerina turned her head and gave the woman a gentle smile.

The person who came was Karen Lepage, the real owner of the Moon God Village——

A female warrior who is in her youth!
If it wasn't from the Moon God Village, who would have imagined that the master of this cottage was actually a heroic heroine?

"Caterina Igor!" The female village owner Karen Lepage raised her eyebrows and said angrily, "Don't you understand? As long as you don't have my consent, it is impossible for you to leave our Moon God Village, It's even more impossible to see that little brother of yours!"

"Oh..." Katerina didn't seem to care at all, still smiling, "Then I'll wait for your agreement..."

"Katrina!" Karen couldn't stand it any longer, took two steps forward, pressed her teeth on the shoulders of the noblewoman, "Why! Why did you just refuse to accept my proposal? In this wasteland, you need enough In terms of military strength, I need a lord that is justifiable and recognized by the empire, this is the best of both worlds..."

"Karen..." Katerina looked at the female village owner with a hint of apology, "But you and I are both women..."

"Take it as a political marriage! Isn't this what your imperial aristocrats love to do? For the development of your territory and your own treasury, marry your daughter and sister to a stranger you don't know..." Karen He stretched out his hand and slapped it hard on the desk, and then, as if summoning great courage, he blushed and whispered, "Also, what's wrong with you marrying me... It's not like women can't like women... "

Katerina's eyes became more complicated and sympathetic.

"Karen..." She stretched out her hand and patted on the forearm of the female village owner, which was tied with a bracer, "...we are impossible, you are beautiful, you are very skilled, and you are also an excellent village. Lord, but... but you know, I wouldn't marry myself to a girl who is also a daughter, this... this is not something I would do - you and I are different people."

Seeing that Karen Lepage remained silent, Caterina pursed her lips and said softly:
"Also, even if you marry me, whether as a man or a woman, it can't bring you the lordship you want, or lead you into the circle of imperial nobles... I told you, I Not the heir to the Igor family, my brother is..."

When Karen heard the word "brother", she had a look of disgust.

She had obviously heard Katerina mention her brother so many times these days that her ears were getting calluses.

Seeing Karen Lepage's annoyed look, Caterina Igor suddenly became playful and smiled slyly:
"Karen, there's actually a good way - why don't you just marry my brother?"

(End of this chapter)