my pokemon player.

"Divine beast? Are you referring to the sea god worshipped by the Sea God Temple?"

"Because my father hates those charlatans in the Sea God Temple."

"So my brothers all kept their distance from the Sea God Temple in order to please our father."

“Although I don’t know whether they have cooperated with the Sea God Temple in secret, but even if they do, they won’t get the help of the Sea God.”

"After all, even the Sea God Temple has a hard time communicating with the Sea God. They are just using His name to expand their influence."

Freya explained seriously that Ryan couldn't do it anymore.

“No, I mean are they very strong?

"You've said more than once that they are good-for-nothings, and now you're saying I'm no match for them."

"Do you think I'm worse than your brothers?" Ryan asked puzzledly.

If Freya's expression had not been particularly sincere when she spoke, Ryan would even think that Freya was deliberately making excuses not to cooperate with him.

Freya seemed to have noticed Ryan's displeasure and said quickly:
"I just said that your strength and potential are far superior to theirs, but the Flame Lion Family stands behind them."

"You may not know much about the strength of our Flame Lion Family. Let me give you a brief introduction first."

"Our Yanshi family is the nominal ruler of the Southeast Province. Logically speaking, the entire Southeast Province is our family's territory."

"However, due to the influence of the noble feudal system and the decline of the royal family, our actual control is limited to the central area of ​​the southeastern province and some towns in the north."

Ryan couldn't help but interrupt him when he heard this: "The central area you mentioned, don't you mean the golden plains that occupy one-third of the southeastern province?"

"Yes, is there a problem?" Freya said as a matter of course.

Ryan's mouth twitched slightly: "In other words, you are dividing the Southeast Province into three regions: North, Central and South."

"The Flame Lion Family has occupied the central region. Together with the towns in the northern region, your Flame Lion Family has almost occupied nearly two-thirds of the territory in the southeastern province."

"Can this be called limited? Are you being so Versailles to me?"

Freya wondered, "What does Versailles mean?"

"It's just dialect slang, that's not the point."

Ryan evaded Freya and changed the subject:

"Since your Flame Lion family's territory is so large, why don't you just occupy the rest of the area, saving us little nobles from the hassle."

Freya replied, "On the one hand, it is because doing so will easily arouse the anger and resistance of the nobles, and may even cause the royal family to be wary."

Ryan frowned: "Your power is so strong, are you still afraid of us little nobles?"

"As for the royal family, they are busy with their own affairs, so they don't have time to care about you."

Freya shook her head. "The royal family has declined, but there are still four major families. They have always regarded the four foreign marquises as thorns in their eyes."

"They look down on us, but they are also afraid that we will expand our power and replace them, so if they have the chance, they will definitely target us."

"And maybe you didn't hear what I just said. I said the scope of control, not the scope of territory."

"In fact, the only territories that truly belong to our Flame Lion family are Lion City and some surrounding towns."

"The remaining territories are controlled by the six major Iron Guard families, as well as other families that are loyal to our Flame Lion family."

"They will obey the orders of the Flame Lion Family, but they will not allow our Flame Lion Family to expand its power."

When Ryan heard this, he couldn't help but glance at Baron Grey next to him.

Gray naturally noticed Ryan's gaze, and he said with a wry smile:

"You don't have to worry about me, Viscount Ryan. In fact, what Miss Freya said is something that all of our families know."

"When the master is weak, the ministers are strong; when the master is strong, the ministers are weak. This is an unchanging truth."

"Even though our families are closely connected, we don't want the Flame Lion Family to become too powerful."

"Of course, our six major Iron Guard families will not lag behind. After all, our center of interest is the Flame Lion family."

"It's just that other families may not think so. They are only loyal to the Flame Lion Family because of its strength. They don't have any sense of belonging to the Flame Lion Family."

Ryan nodded when he heard this, and then asked:

"Although those families don't want the Flame Lion Family to expand its power, as long as you are strong enough, they won't dare to disobey your orders, right?"

"You are right. This involves another reason. The previous patriarchs of our Flame Lion Family were all mediocre, which led to the gradual decline of our Flame Lion Family."

Freya said bluntly: "Fortunately, my father is a man of great talent and strategy, which prevented the Flame Lion family from ending up like the royal family."

"However, my father also makes mistakes. He made wrong judgments and choices at a critical moment, which caused our family to lose the possibility of completely ruling the Southeast Province."

Ryan understood and said, "In that case, I have to thank the Marquis for leaving me a stage where I can display my abilities."

Freya could of course hear the mockery in Ryan's words. She snorted coldly and said:
"You should thank him, otherwise you wouldn't even be qualified to meet me."

"Yes, yes, yes. Being able to meet Miss Freya is the blessing I earned in my previous life." Ryan said with a smile.

Freya couldn't tell whether Ryan was praising her or being sarcastic, so she could only change the subject:

"Okay, let's get back to the point. Although the Flame Lion family's sphere of influence is large, it has nothing to do with you. Our territories do not border each other."

"The biggest threat you will face is the army brought by my brothers. Not to mention those small nobles who nominally surrendered, the army of our Flame Lion family and the six iron guards alone is not something you can resist."

"Our Flame Lion Family has over a thousand Flame Lion Knights, and the Iron Guard Family also has a considerable number of knights. Among them, the number of knights from the Fierce Wolf Family has even surpassed our Flame Lion Knights."

"Totaling all the knights, the number of knights we can directly command in battle is close to 5,000, not counting the knights' retainers and auxiliary soldiers."

After that, Freya looked at Ryan expectantly, trying to find an expression of surprise on Ryan's face.

But Ryan's expression did not change at all. Instead, he subconsciously asked Freya:
"Five thousand knights, is that a lot?"

"Not much?" Freya asked back.

If Ryan's eyes hadn't been clear, she would have suspected that he was frightened silly.

"Well, you're right, there are indeed a lot of them."

Ryan also reacted at this time. The reason why he felt that the number of knights was small was because he was influenced by the ancient flower-growing families in his previous life who had tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops.

But then he thought again, the knights of the Pokémon world cannot be compared with the army of the ancient flower growers.

First of all, the number of troops in the wars of the ancient flower-growing families must have been exaggerated. In many cases, they claimed to have an army of hundreds of thousands just to intimidate their opponents. In fact, the number of troops mobilized was not that large, and it also included civilians and auxiliary soldiers, which were not considered regular soldiers.

Secondly, the population density of ancient flower-growing countries was high and could support a large-scale army.

The Pokémon world is vast and sparsely populated, so naturally there won't be many armies.

Finally, the knights in the Pokémon world are not ordinary soldiers, but more like heavy knights in full armor from the past.

Even in the unified dynasty of the Flower-Growing Clan in the previous life, there would not be many of these heavy cavalrymen.

Not to mention the Western world in the Middle Ages, when the entire Great Ying Empire had only a few thousand knights.

Although thanks to the productivity provided by Pokémon, the knights in the Pokémon world are not as expensive as the heavy knights in ancient times in the previous life, but ordinary nobles cannot afford to support many knights.

Back in the heyday of Firefly Town, there were only more than twenty knights.

Therefore, the number of nearly 5,000 knights is really not small. Don’t forget that the Flame Lion Family is only the ruler of the Southeast Province.

In addition to the Southeast Province, the Kingdom of Arad also has three provinces and the royal capital area.

Although other provinces were not as wealthy as the southeastern provinces and could not afford to support so many knights, they still had tens of thousands of knights in total.

The fact that a kingdom can have so many knights can only be attributed to the extremely favorable natural environment of the Pokémon world and the magical abilities of Pokémon.

Humans rely on plundering and oppressing Pokémon's survival resources, which is how they can support a large number of knights.

But where there is oppression, there is resistance. In recent years, beast tides have become more and more frequent, resulting in heavy casualties among civilians and a sharp drop in food production.

It is ironic that even though humans have fertile land and the help of Pokémon, they still cannot get enough food.

Thinking of this, Ryan sighed helplessly.

Freya thought Ryan was hit hard, and immediately spoke to comfort him:
"You don't have to be too depressed, Viscount Ryan. My brothers can't mobilize all the knights. At most, they can lead the families that support them and the Flame Lion Knights sent by my father."

Before Ryan could speak, she changed the subject:
"But even so, with your current strength, it will be difficult to resist their attack."

"I know you have two Scourge Beasts, but Scourge Beasts can only influence the war when the strength of both sides is not much different."

"We are afraid of the Scourge Beasts only because of their flexibility and destructive power. It's not that we can't target them. The Scourge Beasts also have weaknesses."

"For example, your Dragonite is afraid of cold environments and ice-attribute monsters. Although there are fewer ice-attribute monsters in the southeastern province, my brothers can spend money to hire troops from other regions."

"I heard that the Northwest Province suffered a disaster recently. The Marquis of Winter City is very short of money. Most of the knights under his command can subdue ice-attributed monsters. Do you think he will accept the offer?"

"So even if you have conquered the Scourge Beast and have outstanding military capabilities, the best outcome would be a stalemate and a deep quagmire of war. This is also my father's goal."

"But we can afford to delay, but you can't. Our family backgrounds are not on the same level."

"Who can guarantee that you won't sell me out in exchange for time for your own development?"

Ryan was not angry in the face of Freya's suspicion.

He and Freya had only been in contact for less than two days, so it was normal that she didn't believe him.

What's more, judging from the apparent strength, there is indeed a big gap between Ryan and Freya's brothers.

Therefore, Ryan said calmly: "I can understand your caution. If it were me, I would not easily trust an outsider who I just met."

"But I don't want to lose this opportunity for cooperation, so."

Having said this, Ryan suddenly stopped, then stared at Freya and said:
"Ms. Freya, do you think I would threaten you with your cooperation with the Grey Family?"

"You won't do that. With your intelligence, you would never do something that would harm others and benefit yourself." Freya said firmly.

Ryan smiled and nodded: "Hahahahaha, Miss Freya knows me very well. I really wouldn't do that."

"I will only use my actions to prove to you that I am qualified to cooperate with you."

Hearing this, Freya asked curiously, "Oh? How do you want to prove it?"

Ryan said seriously: "I will use Guanhai City to prove it."

"Guanhai City? What are you talking about? Wait, you want to attack Guanhai City?" Freya couldn't help but widen her eyes.

Ryan nodded slightly: "That's right, as long as I occupy Guanhai City, I can prove the strength of my subordinates and have a stable rear."

"Ms. Freya should be very clear about the economic strength of Guanhai City. With Guanhai City as a backing, even if I am dragged into the quagmire of war, I can still fight with your brothers."

Freya certainly knew the economic strength of Guanhai City. This city was the largest city in the Southeast Province and was known as one of the two pearls of the Southeast Province.

If we say that the Lion City of their Yanshi family became the pearl of the Southeast Province because of its military strength and political status.

Guanhai City relies entirely on its economic strength and its unique port.

If Ryan could really capture Guanhai City and take this pearl into his hands, Freya's brothers would be lucky if they were not dragged down by him, let alone dragging him down.

But how could Ryan occupy Guanhai City? Because he is handsome?
The two presidents of Guanhai City don’t have daughters of marriageable age!

"Ahem, Viscount Ryan, have you ever heard about my father leading the noble coalition to fight against the merchant alliance?"

Freya coughed twice and gently admonished Ryan:
"They didn't occupy Guanhai City at that time. Do you want to reconsider it?"

Ryan responded: "The Marquis did not occupy Guanhai City at that time because he was restricted by many factors."

"For example, the territories are not adjacent to each other, the army has lost its will to fight, and the nobles are eager to divide up the benefits, etc."

"I am not restricted by these factors, why can't I occupy Guanhai City?"

[Why do you have to tell me that you are not strong enough? ]

[What is the strength of the noble coalition? What is your strength? 】

Freya was muttering in her heart in frustration, but on the surface she tried to persuade him gently:

"You will not be affected by external factors, but there is still a certain gap in strength between you and the noble coalition. I advise you..."

"Ms. Freya wants to say that my strength is weaker than that of Guanhai City and ask me not to fight against the strong with the weak, right?"

Freya was interrupted by Ryan before she finished speaking, and Ryan also spoke out Freya's inner thoughts.

Without waiting for Freya to reply, Ryan continued:
"But have you ever thought that it is precisely because of the gap in strength between Guanhai City and me that I will occupy Guanhai City to prove to you the strength of my subordinates."

"Otherwise, even if I occupy more small towns, you will not recognize my strength."

"So no matter what you say, I'm determined to take Guanhai City. Yeah. Even the Sea God can't protect Guanhai City. I said it!" (End of this chapter)