Knight and Wand

Chapter 152: Gift of Gold and Secret Alliance

Reining his warhorse, Leon waited on horseback for his "heroic spirit" to return, not worrying at all that Canis would tell the truth to Baron Grey Wolf.

In the distance, Canis finally said goodbye to his father, slowly caught up with his father, and came to the side of his current "master".

Climbing on his beloved horse, the young master of the Wolf family followed Leon and ran towards the camp in front of Wacht Castle.

Of course, he would not tell his father his true condition.

Not only is revenge unfinished, but his own existence is also subject to Leon's wishes.

It's because he knows.
If he told his father that he would die and become a spirit, and be controlled by Leon, the vassal of the thorn flower, it would be completely detrimental to him.

The Lord of the Gray Wolves would never hand over the inheritance rights of his family to an undead controlled by others, even if he was his father's favorite eldest son.

In the face of such a huge family business, even the affection between father and son has to take a back seat.

Besides, he is far more than just a so-called brother who covets the position of the head of the family.

Even if his father was willing to raise little Logan and let him inherit the baronship in his place, the variables involved were difficult to predict.

He was no longer a living person and could no longer give birth to offspring. Logan was the only bloodline left from his lifetime, and it would take at least ten years for Logan to grow up.

If the news that he died and turned into a "wizard puppet" leaked out, his only offspring would probably die sooner or later due to a small accident designed by some "brothers".

By then, even if the father found out the mastermind behind the murder, he would not necessarily avenge his grandson and the dead eldest son, but would deal with his other living sons.

All because of.
As the eldest son, I am already dead!

A feeling of resentment came over him, and Canis gritted his teeth, his hatred for Mette increasing.

He turned his head to look at the young knight in front of him.

Some of the key points were thought of by him himself, while others were warnings and reminders given by the knight named Leon.

This young guy is so insightful about the filthiness of the aristocratic family. He is indeed a cunning "wizard".

Canis temporarily put aside his strong prejudice against wizards, and took advantage of the clarity of mind when he emerged to silently plan for the future.

Now that he has been given a second chance to "live", he will not give up everything that belongs to him. The throne of the Wolf Lord must be his, even if he is already dead!

And at this point, to be honest, even his own son Logan would have to take a back seat.

Thinking about how to secure his inheritance rights in the face of death, Canis looked at Leon's back on horseback.

This Knight of Thorns is very mysterious.
As a witness to the miracle of resurrection from the dead, Canis knew how incredible it was to be able to pull himself out of the terrifying underworld that was beyond cognition.

Although he was very reluctant to admit it, the young master of the Wolf family could not imagine that there was another reason for such a miracle other than being favored by the gods.
But no matter what, in order to continue his glorious life that ended early before it even began, no matter how reluctant he was, he had to rely on this guy who controlled his existence.

In the years to come, Leon cannot die. How long this Knight of Thorns can live will determine how long his second life can last.

"Don't forget what you promised." Canis urged the horse to go, and couldn't help but remind the other party again.

Hearing this, Leon turned his head and promised: “As long as you help me honestly, one day, when I have the same level of magic power as Mette and Hilgard, you will be able to act independently to a certain extent.

Look at the bright side. Of course I am happy to help you inherit the Wolf family safely. You and I are now in the same boat. Although we are not in the same boat, we are in the same boat. In the future, I will be happy to have a Wolf Lord Baron as my own."

Upon hearing this, Canis raised his head and said, "Of course, you should feel honored to have the loyalty of the future Wolf Lord."

Regardless of his personal wishes, at least in actual actions, even if he is unwilling, Canis can only show necessary "loyalty" to the guy who has decided his new life.

".An honor? Well, it's my honor, Lord Canis." Looking at Canis's unconvinced arrogance, Leon sighed and said perfunctorily.

Even the Lord of the Thorn Flower in the ancient County of Kossos didn't have such airs. You, the son of a baron, are so arrogant. I would have thought you were the son of a king.

Besides, there is a real prince under his command who is loyal to him. If Corvis's homeland were placed in the Western Continent, it would not be a small country. It is said that the area of ​​Vilania is about the same as that of Cantadar. I don't know who should feel honored to work in the same company as him.
Leon shook his head and thought of his fiancée, who was the legitimate daughter of the previous King of Orland. If he told others fearlessly, he would still have the right to claim the throne of Orland.

You are just a young master of the Wolf Territory. Do you think it is unfair for you to work for your buddies?

Thinking of this, Leon's nostrils couldn't help but rise higher than the guy next to him.

Oh, low profile, low profile.
As for their small circle, it seems that there are only him and Lohak, and they seem to be ordinary people from grassroots backgrounds.

In front of the military camp of Wachter Castle, the soldiers of the Thorn Flower welcomed the return of their lord.

Elifer returned to the castle first, while Leon left his title temporarily and stayed in the barracks outside to reunite with his companions and his own army.

Seeing Leon returning, Olivia, Lohak and others who came out of the camp to greet him felt a little relieved.

"What happened over there? How come I heard you guys were attending the meeting peacefully but then a fight broke out? Was it the Gunnar family who did it?" Lohak couldn't help but wonder as he looked at the strange charred damage on his companion's armor.

He looked not far away and found that the young master of the Wolf family had also followed Leon back to the military camp in Farolis.

"It wasn't the Wolf family, it was the guy who assassinated Canis who made the noise."

It was not convenient to put Canis back into the card in front of everyone, so Leon ignored the young master of the Wolf family who was wandering outside and could not integrate into his team. While telling everyone about the previous accident, he led everyone back to the military tent.

After informing everyone of the brief course of the meeting and the truce order between the two families arbitrated by General Trosa, they briefly listened to and arranged the trivial matters of the military stationing. As if by tacit agreement, everyone quickly got up and left, leaving only Leon and Olivia in the meeting tent.

Leon opened the cloth wrapping and put the unrecognizable winged helmet on the table with some embarrassment: "I'm sorry, it's only been a month and I've already broken the helmet you gave me."

He now truly regretted using the precious gift given by his lover as ordinary equipment.

You should make a pair of identical helmets for everyday use, carefully put away your lover's gift, and only wear it on ceremonial occasions.

He had no choice. On the one hand, he liked the gift too much. On the other hand, the helmet was made by the master of the Armor Forging Guild of Farolis. It was of very good quality. Even after the Battle of Longka, it did not suffer any damage. That was why he did not expect it to be worn out so soon.

After all, when I attended the arbitration meeting, I didn't expect such a fierce battle to break out.

Moreover, strictly speaking, it was I who released the "explosion" magic in a desperate situation and accidentally blew up the winged helmet, so I really can't blame anyone else.

Olivia looked at the twisted and deformed blackened helmet on the table in surprise. She was not distressed about the object, but was worried about the terrible damage that was cracked and twisted from the top of the head. "How did it get damaged like this? Did you encounter such a serious danger?"

The girl stood up nervously and walked over, lifted Leon's hair, carefully touched his head and checked the wound.

"Are there any injuries?"

“That’s not the case.” Leon narrowed his eyes, enjoying Olivia’s gentle caress.

Olivia breathed a sigh of relief when she found no injuries on the other person's head, and then she complained in a low voice: "I should have gone with you. Next time if there is danger, you are not allowed to leave me alone." If her father had not stopped her before, the girl would have almost rushed over out of worry when she discovered the chaos in the Stag Flag camp.

"If you were here, we could have easily taken down Mette, but it's a good thing you're not here. With your skills, it would have taken no time to take down the warlock and his magic. Count Trosa would have definitely noticed it, and we would have been in big trouble then."

Leon shook his head. He couldn't let Olivia fall into the sight of Count Stag.

Mette, the traitor who was suspected of colluding with a foreign secret party, escaped. His Majesty the King and the nobles are hunting him down. The Northern Kingdom is not without capable people, so he does not need to interfere in events that have little to do with him.

Olivia sighed when she heard this, she wanted to be with Leon all the time, but she was helpless in a situation like this with the high-ranking officials of the kingdom present.

She has been working very hard to practice controlling the so-called magic power in her body, but the progress is still far from zero. She doesn't know when she will be able to cover up the characteristic eye color.

"Lord Elliver is holding a dinner party tonight. Do you want to come?" Leon asked.

"I'd better stay in the camp with my father." After thinking about it, Olivia decided not to join in the fun.

"It's okay if you don't go. When we get back to Selva, we can hold a celebration party for our family." Leon nodded.

In the evening, Leon took off his plate armor which was covered with burn marks due to the out-of-control Molten Sword Magic, and together with Lohak, he entered Wacht Castle for the banquet wearing only casual clothes.

As the 3,000 troops led by the White Wolf retreated, the Thorn Flower family felt as if they had won a victory. Baron Elliver ordered the warehouses in Wacht Castle to be opened, and used good wine and meat to reward all the Faroris troops that were summoned here.

In fact, the Farolis family did win many battles, but most of the battlefields were not within the territory of Orland.

Dinner was held.

Sitting on the lord's throne, Elliver told the knights and retainers guarding the rear about the great victory of the army marching south in the conquest of Glade County.

He praised the contributions of the front and rear, and made a heroic promise that he would use the huge wealth gained after occupying Achesburg to reward every soldier who lived up to the family's trust, and all vassals would receive worthy rewards.

Having swallowed up the entire Glade County, the territory ruled by Thorn Flower has now increased several times.

As long as the rule is consolidated, the focus of the Farolis family's operations will shift from the barony in Kossos to the County of Glade, and completely transform it into the Earldom of the Thorn Flower Family.

Having obtained such a large piece of land, Elipher would naturally not be stingy in distributing fiefs to his retainers, which is why so many knights followed him loyally.

Generous and sincere, this is not the motto of the Thorn Flower family, but it is Elif's own motto.

The identities of many people will change accordingly. Soldiers and attendants who fight bravely and outstandingly in the army will have the opportunity to become knights.

And the original knights also have the opportunity to become greater lords.

Leon swallowed the delicious meal with wine, and thought to himself that he must be more than one vassal of Farolis who would become a baron.

However, there are also differences between barons.

The time Leon had spent as king and subject since he became the Knight of the Thorn Flower made him believe that Elif would never ignore his decisive contribution.

Of course, when the feudal lord of his own family distributed fiefs on a large scale, it was obviously not just to take advantage of others.

Those soldiers who were given fiefs would defend the Farolis family they were loyal to even more desperately than before.

After all, the motivation for using money to protect the boss's land is completely different from that for defending one's own territory.

The enfeoffment of lords can also alleviate the governance pressure caused by the lack of talent.

Without a complete and huge bureaucratic talent and system, it is impossible for one person to monopolize the occupied land.

"Look at our griffins and wild horses, eating so heroically. No wonder they were able to defeat Gunnar's wolf cubs in Longka." Elifer raised the golden wine glass and looked at the two young vassals who were eating voraciously beside him.

The knights laughed in a friendly manner at the scene, and no one paid too much attention to etiquette. This was a military banquet for the Knights of the Order of Merit, and etiquette was not so important.

At the long table, Leon, who was busy pressing lamb legs with Lohak with his mouth full of oil, raised his head.

Lohak has always had a big appetite, and whenever Leon uses the Boiling Heart to strengthen his body and squeeze out his own magic potential, he has to eat a lot to fill his stomach. His appetite is terrifying.

"Excuse me, sir. I'm really hungry after all the activities today." Leon picked up the napkin to wipe his mouth, straightened up and responded.

Elifer waved his hand in a good mood and said, "No need to worry about etiquette. This banquet is to celebrate the glory and wealth you have brought to the thorn flower."

Speaking of wealth, Baron Thornflower suddenly asked, "Leon, since the young wolf of the Gunnar family is intimidated by you and wants to follow you for a period of time to repay you for saving his life, then he is no longer a prisoner of war. Isn't the ransom you agreed with the Wolf Family..."

"Then the Wolf family will definitely not pay the ransom." Leon nodded and replied.

The so-called following is naturally an excuse. It is impossible to really let Canis go back, and the Wolf family will definitely not deliver the 5,000 gold coins.

Fortunately, he had obtained two hundred gold crowns from the Wolf family in the beginning, and he did not intend to return the money.

"Gunnar is still as petty as ever. We haven't even asked him for compensation for invading our territory, and you saved his son, but this guy didn't even express any gratitude." Elifer put down the golden cup, shook his head and laughed.

Now that the young master of the Wolf family has unexpectedly put down his airs and taken the initiative to follow his vassal, the Thorn Flower family naturally cannot be so shameless as to use the other party's life to threaten money.

After a brief thought, the Thorn Flower Baron waved his hand without any regret: "The enemy can be stingy, but how can Thorn Flower be stingy to you soldiers who guard the territory? It's just a mere 5,000 gold crowns, I will reward you."

The huge sum of five thousand gold coins was recovered. Leon blinked in surprise and almost blurted out that the boss was very generous.

All the knights present also took a deep breath, this was a huge sum of money.

But despite envy, no one is jealous.

Whether it was the rumor that two hundred men defeated one thousand enemies, or that they opened up a road to the south for the family, such contributions made the reward of five thousand gold coins pale in comparison.

"Thank you for your generosity, my Lord!"

Leon stood up and saluted without refusing. After all, the culture of this country does not encourage humility. If he really said that he could not accept the reward, the lord might actually believe him and praise his noble character, and possibly take the money back.

The banquet in which the emperor and his ministers enjoyed themselves to the fullest was over.

Elifer had just arrived at the main castle room arranged by Marcelo and was ready to rest.

The knight on night watch suddenly came to report.

"Sir, a secret envoy from the Wolf family came to see you. He said he brought a handwritten letter from Baron Gunnar."

(End of this chapter)