Warlords of the witcher world

Chapter 5 An Unexpected Fief

The king's place is easy to find, and the place with the golden and red banner is the place of King Demawi.

But even so, they still had to cross the vast battlefield, and the longer they walked on the battlefield, the more deaths they saw.

In some places, the dead bodies of men and horses were entangled, or worse, merged in flames, and the sight was horribly hideous.

The smell of rust was everywhere, and Herme saw several "lakes" of blood. God knows how much blood was shed here, and how many people died.

Herme endured the discomfort and walked under the golden and red mountain-shaped coat of arms on the black flag.

King Demawi was there, surrounded by the knights of Aedirn as if surrounded by steel.

No one stopped them, and those Nilfgaardians who were being escorted said they were here to offer captives for the king, and no one would spoil the king's favorite scene.

King Demavi is over 40 years old this year. The golden and red mountain-shaped patterns on the black background on the small shield decorate the king's chest, and he also wears a gorgeous cloak. The muscles on both sides of his cheeks are a little loose, so even the emperor's fine clothes can hardly show him. How majestic.

As a monarch, Demawi appears a little lazy and lacks majesty, but his eyes flashing with sly light from time to time undoubtedly tell those who are interested, don't be confused by this appearance.

Selchik was also standing beside the king. His gauntlets were dark gold, which was very conspicuous. Several scratches could be seen on the white knight's armor, as well as the blood. Fight desperately on the battlefield.

Selchik was talking with a bald warlock at this time, and Herme knew that the man was Abbott, the court warlock of Aedirn, who should have been guarding the king before, and then Selchik turned his head.

Seeing Herme and his people, Selchik's eyes flashed with surprise. He thought that something happened to Herme and others, but then he returned to calm.

"Salute to you, Your Majesty the King."

Herme knelt before the monarch's war horse, looking particularly respectful,

"I am Herme Botterdan. I was ordered by Lord Selchik to cross the Yaruga River three days ago to fight. Now I have brought prisoners for His Majesty."

"Oh? Really? That would be wonderful."

The king was obviously in a good mood, "You are the first group of people in the entire northern coalition to bring back so many prisoners, knight, then let me see your prisoners."

Without Herme's order, his subordinates pushed the Nilfgaardian over, and the leader was naturally that high official.

This high official no longer had the arrogance he had before, and his mood was extremely low. In the words of the soldiers, "this is what a defeated general looks like."

Especially when facing King Demawi's scrutiny, his head was lowered to the bottom.

And after staring at the captive for a while, the king's expression suddenly became exciting, it was a look of joy and complacency,

"Marshal Erde, Marshal Erde, I really didn't expect that the prisoner brought to me by this knight is actually you, who has made so many contributions to the expansion of the empire. It seems that Nilfgaard The military is not as strong as you have previously claimed."

"It's a pity to meet under such circumstances. Your Majesty the King. If our positions can be reversed, I think I will be happier. But I believe that the empire will be able to do it in the future. The northerners will eventually beg for mercy in front of the empire."

Facing Demawi's sarcasm, the Marshal acted neither humble nor overbearing, and even choked on him.

"It's this time and I'm still eloquent here, but it's a pity that the future you said has nothing to do with you. Come on, detain this man in black and call the interrogator. We have to know about this Nilfgaardian. Everything worked out."

At the king's order, two knights of Aedirn immediately took charge of the captured Marshal, and took him down very unceremoniously.

At the moment when he was being escorted and turned around, Herme saw that Marshal Ode's face was much darker, and his mood was much lower.

It can be seen that the neither humbleness nor arrogance just now is just an act, in order to maintain their ridiculous "civilized pride" of the Nilfgaardians.

"Knight, you have done a good job, and the kingdom will remember your achievements."

After the Nilfgaardian was taken down, King Demawi looked at the knight who brought him this important prisoner, his eyes were full of satisfaction.

This prisoner fell into the hands of the Aedirians, which undoubtedly allowed the kingdom to take the limelight in this battle, so the king was also happy to see the knight who had given him the prisoner.

His meritorious deeds deserve great rewards, and King Demawi is willing to reward them, and he still offers a large price.

"I will give you the title and territory of a baron. After today, you will no longer be an ordinary knight. You will be a nobleman, a nobleman with a territory and a castle."

"Thank you very much, Your Majesty the King."

Hemei hurriedly knelt down and thanked, what De Mawei threw out was not a big reward, how many people would be jealous of what he got this time.

"However, Your Majesty, I would like to ask you to give some rewards to my subordinates. If they hadn't bravely crossed the Yaruga River with me, we would not have captured such an important prisoner."

Herme's words made his subordinates feel grateful. This officer has not forgotten them, and he still remembers to fight for their interests.

The reason why Hemei did this was very simple, no matter what time it was, it was good to have a reputation of taking care of his subordinates.

"It's good that you remember your men, Selchik."

Demavy called to his white knight, "Draw some money from my coffers, and let these brave lads have a good time, and let my generosity spread throughout the North."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Then Herme stepped back from the king respectfully. He had obtained everything he wanted. The kings have been very busy, and it was time to leave.

Herme returned to the camp with his subordinates. At the moment, the camp was empty, except for some civilian men who had nothing to do.

Everyone else is busy taking prisoners on the battlefield, busy getting rich, and they don't need it, they're already rich.

The Adenites locked up the Nilfgaardian captives. These captives could also be exchanged for ransom, and then returned to rest in the tent. After sleeping in the wild for so long, the bed was still comfortable.

Hours passed before the rest of the soldiers returned to camp tired and excited about their fortunes, while Herme and his men were fast asleep and ready for the evening's celebrations--as is customary in victories.

That night, beside the bloody battlefield, the Union Army of the North held a grand ceremony.

First of all, people mourned the dead in this battle, and the king and the warlocks also talked about the names of the 14 warlocks who died on Mount Sodden that will be engraved on the huge stone there in recognition of their great contribution.

But Herme knew that one of them was actually not dead, that is, the famous Triss Merigold, but it was true that she was burned to the ground.

Herme wasn't interested in saying hello to such a reputation, or that sentence, these things were too far away from him.

And as someone who knew what those sorceresses had done, Herme felt terrified when he thought of these women, which caused him to think about whether to get himself a magic-blocking gold amulet to wear on his body.

The survivors were extremely excited that they survived this bloody battle. They stuffed wine and meat into their stomachs as much as possible, as if they hadn't eaten for a long time.

Even the kings let go of their restraint, raised their glasses to each other, and talked about victory and the future. King Demavi laughed the loudest among them. The capture of a Nilfgaardian marshal made him a lot of money in front of the kings. face.

There were some people who didn't like such a scene of wanton debauchery, and returned to their tents after eating, and Herme was one of them.

At the banquet, he mainly looked at the five northern kings, Vizmir of Redania, Foltest of Temeria, Demavi of Aedirn, Henselt of Kaedwen and Mivi of Rivia.

Seeing the kings in these novels and games appear in front of him, Herme felt very delicate.

But after watching it for a while, he also lost interest, so he just left.

On the way back to the tent, people kept saying hello to Herme. As the achievements resounded throughout the camp, more people knew him, and his subordinates cheered him excitedly.

Because of Herme's request to the king, each of them got a sum of gold and silver enough to squander for a long time, which is undoubtedly the best thing for the soldiers.

Now if someone speaks ill of Herme, these soldiers who used to complain about him all the time will come out to defend his reputation as soon as possible. I have to say that the form is really changeable.

But when Herme came to his tent, he found that several soldiers headed by Jerry were already waiting there.

Seeing Hermi's arrival, they immediately bowed respectfully.

"What's the matter, my friends, why don't you go and have fun, why are you waiting for me here?"

These people were obviously questioned, and they looked at each other, looking a little embarrassed.

And Herme was not in a hurry, waiting for them to speak, and guessed in their hearts what they wanted to say, but after all, they had to say that by themselves.

"Lord Baron." It was still Jerry who spoke, "We hope to join you and pledge our allegiance to you."

Herme didn't speak, and let them continue talking.

"You are about to become a baron. Although I don't know where your territory is, many brothers still hope to join you...Of course, for a better future...we are just elected representatives...please accept us Your allegiance, my lord baron."

With Herme's current achievements and reputation, it is normal for someone to seek refuge. After all, if one fails, he can change from a commoner to a knight.

The soldiers led by Herme are even closer to the water, so how can they not seize this opportunity?

"It's nice of you to be candid, Jerry. Of course, I accept your allegiance, and I welcome anyone to come and serve under my command."

This can be said to be like someone sending pillows when you want to sleep. Herme is just short of people right now, and these experienced veterans are undoubtedly suitable subordinates.

After that, everyone in Jerry shouted "Thank you, thank you very much", and Herme managed to get them to retreat and walked into the tent.

Sitting on his camp bed, looking at the roof of the tent, a sense of accomplishment welled up in Herme's heart.

All the choices he made in the past few days were correct, and he was able to change from a property knight to a baron, which is really amazing.

With such a sense of satisfaction, Herme fell asleep without knowing it. That night he had a beautiful dream, an extremely wonderful dream. In the dream, he became the ruler of the entire north.

While Herme was in a sweet dream, in the king's tent, King Demavi, who had finished the banquet, was worried about what to give Herme.

Before outsiders, King Demavi always looked a little lazy, and his lack of majesty was hard to make people wary.

Few remember that the king had escaped assassination by Temerian agents when he was a minor, and Demawi always looked like an incompetent in the eyes of the public.

But if he was only what he appeared on the surface, Aden would have lost the hegemony of the northern kings long ago.

Just like now, when everyone thought that the king would go to sing with his mistress for another night, he was looking at the documents piled up during the day.

With the victory of the battle, all kinds of information poured in like a flood dam, which needed to be processed.

De Mawei is sure that the northern kings who were drinking and having fun with him also processed his information after returning.

Before the arrival of the army in black, the kings of the north had been fighting with each other for so many years, and they knew each other well, and they all knew that there was something on the other side that looked like it on the surface, so Mi Wei didn't bother to do some superficial work and was too lazy to do it. camouflage.

And now, he is having a headache for the land given to Herme.

Although it is extremely happy to promise the title, but when it comes to giving it, it is really a headache.

Aden is a country with a long history and strong national power. The two often mean one thing, that is, the existing land in the country has already been divided up by various nobles.

Dividing the kingship is a difficult decision. In this era, the kings in the north are trying to strengthen their own power and strengthen their control over the whole country.

Under such circumstances, dividing the royal territory has become a difficult matter to be tolerated.

And although no one would talk about the increase of powerful nobles, everyone regarded it as a stupid thing.

The king regarded this as undermining the centralization of power, and the old nobles did not want newcomers from the noble class, so there were fewer and fewer nobles above knights.

But King Demavi doesn't intend to swallow the territory promised to Herme. If it is said that this will affect the stability of the army, if it is said that he will have a reputation for breaking his promise, so he mainly has a headache for Herme. block territory.

But his troubles were resolved with a letter brought by Selchik.

"Selchik, you came at a good time."

King Demawi took the letter in his ring-laden hand.

"This information let me know how to arrange the lonely hero. That place must be very suitable for him to show his skills."

"Hackland? Well, but why are you so sure, Your Majesty, as if you are sure that he will accept this place?"

Of course Selchik knew where the letter came from, so he asked.

"I'm sure he won't refuse."

Demavi said confidently. At the same time, he began to draft the edict, writing with a quill pen in his fat fingers.

"I believe that our hero is a person who dares to take risks. What he will get in Harkland will be many times more than in Aden."

"But he needs to fight for it."

Selchik did not hesitate to point out what the king was up to.

"Hey, you really don't want to be secretive, this is not conducive to your future activities in the palace."

King Demavi smiled maliciously, "This is the so-called way of a monarch, I just want to give him more compensation."

The next day, after Herme got up early in the morning, he got the news of his new territory from the king's envoy who came to deliver the message.

"Hackland, the king wants me to go to Hackland? Is there a way to that place in the north?"

Hackland, Herme still knew the name, it was a grassland where countless nomads were active.

These nomads invaded the West almost a hundred years after the end of the Witcher story, and the Nilfgaardian Empire at that time drove out these steppe invaders at great cost.

But now it is so far away from that time, how could Hackland be mentioned?
"The Kingdom discovered the way to Harkland almost half a year ago, the way directly across the Blue Mountains."

It was Selchik who came to convey the order, and he explained the cause and effect of all this.

"After the people of the kingdom passed by, they found that many northerners had already lived there. We kept asking and found out that they came here one after another across the Blue Mountains a hundred years ago."

"Your Majesty used a lot of resources to expand the influence here. With the influence of the kingdom, some local people attached to the kingdom, and we were able to establish a stronghold there. Now the stronghold has just been completed and can be used as a baron for you. Commander, His Majesty the King also promised that you can expand on your own over there, and give you the title of Commander of Harkland, giving you full control over the affairs of Harkland..."

"This is really... unimaginable, Hakland, such a distant land..."

When Selchik spoke, Herme murmured in a low voice, his tone was full of surprises, and his territory unexpectedly jumped out of the witcher's story.

Seeing Herme like this, Selchik subconsciously believed that the knight was intimidated by Hackland, and this emotion was normal, which made him feel ashamed.

There is a reason why Selchik is called the White Knight. He is called the Flower of the Knight of Aedirn not only because of his strength, but also his noble character.

So he then said the choice of "speaking if you can't say it" ordered by the king,

"Knight Herme, if you don't want to, then His Majesty the King has prepared another piece of land in Aedirn for you..."

"No no no."

Herme quickly interrupted him, "I am willing, I am very willing, the choice given by His Majesty the King is really great, I am very grateful to His Majesty the King."

Hearing his words, Selchik was taken aback for a moment, and then looked at the knight with strange eyes, "Are you sure?"

"Very sure!"

Herme said hurriedly, as if the knight would regret it in the next second.

"Okay then, the corresponding documents will be sent later, and the king will title you, so I'll go first."

Selchik shook his head while walking, Herme's reaction... I really didn't expect it, I really didn't expect it.

For the first time, he felt that the knight was unpredictable, so he jumped into the fire pit on his own initiative.

(End of this chapter)