Knight and Wand

Chapter 179 Joint Governance
Behind the carriage loaded with furniture, sundries and valuables was the caravan carrying Ms. Elena and her companions and the servants.

The Royal Guard Cavalry led by Azerien and Lohak, with dozens of Selva warriors transferred from the barracks guarding both sides of the team.

It was the first time for Lina and her children to experience such a grand move. When they learned that they were going to settle in a beautiful large castle, they were all extremely excited as if they were going on a trip.

The young boys and girls who survived at that time did not have many memories of Selva. Their parents died in that nightmare. To the orphans who survived the disaster, the gentle and kind Master Leon, Olivia, Sister Elena and others were their relatives today. As long as they were with them, it didn't matter where they moved to.

Leon stood in front of Selva's house, watching the team go away, but he did not set off with them. After all, there was still an oversized member of the family who had not returned yet.

He took the little griffin away without saying goodbye. Deathclaw must have been very anxious because he couldn't see the child.

Feeling his trouser leg being pulled by some naughty kid, Leon lowered his head and looked helplessly at the naughty and active little Goethe.

This fat little chick has been eating and drinking well for more than two months since it hatched. It has grown from the size of a palm to more than 60 centimeters in length.

During the time that Corvis was taken to Glade County, Olivia and the women in the family took care of it, and the little fat bird did not starve at all.

"You bit me again, you stinky boy! I haven't come to you to settle the score for the few pairs of pants I've had bitten."

Leon stretched out his claws, picked up the little griffin, which already looked quite like its mother, and ignoring its chirping, turned around and went back into the house.

Corvis closed the door to prevent the energetic little Goethe from sneaking out again.

The closed doors blocked out much of the noise from the streets of Selva.

The hall of the mansion, which had been increasingly crowded, suddenly became deserted and quiet, seeming a bit desolate.

"Everyone has left. It's so quiet."

Olivia lay on the long table with her chin in her hands, looking at the empty hall and sighing.

Now, apart from Brian who lives in the barracks and commands the troops, there are only Leon, Corvis, Olivia, and Treia who volunteered to stay and help with cooking at home.

Even the cook, Aunt Milia, and her husband followed the team.

"Once we call the Deathclaw, we'll go to Avalon and things will get lively again." Leon rubbed little Goethe enough before putting the struggling little guy back on the ground.

To be honest, he felt a little regretful. If he had known that Elifer was going to give the town of Lindenburg to himself, he would have named it "Caliban" or "Oduruk" no matter what.

Instead of giving their main city such an unlucky name as "Avalon".

He didn't want to be stabbed in the back by his rebellious son or daughter one day in the future, and then lie dead in the Mage Tower.

Hmm? Wait a minute, when I think about it, the first two seem more unlucky.

At least Avalon wasn't blown to pieces like the first two.

“Lord Leon, Miss Olivia, if there is nothing else, I will go to prepare lunch in advance, but my cooking skills are not as good as Madam Milia, please forgive me.”

Theresia felt that it was almost time, so she stood up and suggested preparing food for everyone.

"Just anything will do, we're not that particular. Just remember to get more meat." Leon, who loves meat, nodded.

Seeing Theresa busy herself in the kitchen, Corvis sensed something and stood up to leave the space for Leon and Olivia.

"My Lord, I'm going to the backyard to play with little Goethe. Call me if you need anything." After saying that, he picked up the griffin cub and left the house.

With only two people left, the atmosphere in the hall became even more desolate.

Leon sat at the table, resting his chin on his head, staring at Olivia, and the memory of that day's separation came to his mind again.
The sunlight coming through the side window made the room half bright and half dark, making people sleepy.

Olivia yawned, rested her head on her arms, turned her head to look at Leon and whispered: "Do you want to practice sword together? Or practice weighted long-distance running with me?"

"There is plenty of time to practice martial arts, but it is rare to have free time." Leon smiled and asked meaningfully: "Dear, have you forgotten something?"

"?"

The girl lay on the table and blinked, not knowing what her lover was referring to.

Leon stood up and walked behind the girl to block her retreat in advance. Then, he supported his hands on both sides of her, lowered his head to Olivia's ear, and whispered a few shameless love words.

The girl's cheeks instantly looked like ripe apples.

She turned her head and buried her face in her arms.

After a while, Olivia complained quietly.

"Bad boy. I promise you, but don't get your clothes dirty."

Leon was overjoyed when he heard the girl's whispered agreement.

"Wuhu~!!"

With one hand, Leon picked up the light Olivia, and with a wicked smile, he rushed up the stairs like a rich landlord who was robbing a woman.

reboot?

He gave up without thinking for a second.

It doesn't matter if my life is shortened. Anyway, I have learned the authentic Lorelit magic. I will ask Laura for advice in the future. I am sure there will be a way to prolong my life.

The shameless and wonderful life lasted for two days.

It’s a pity that although Leon is not a serious person, he still has no habit of writing a diary, otherwise 40,000 Filo characters might not be enough to express the "romance" in it.

During this time he also received a reply from Larian.

After discussing and considering with his partner, the Ranger Knight finally gave up the idea of ​​continuing to the Holy Kingdom and gladly accepted the employment to become the Lord's advisor in charge of local affairs in Kantadar in the Barony.

However, the specific staff work will be discussed at a subsequent meeting in Avalon.

It was the third day after Azerien and his companions moved out of Selva, and Leon finally saw the returning Deathclaw.

After visiting little Goethe and before leaving, Leon quickly used gestures and gesticulations to convey their intention of moving.

This clever giant beast quickly understood the intention of its human friends to "move", so it rose from the ground and circled over everyone's heads.

At first, when Leon saw the Deathclaw take off, he thought it was annoyed by his chattering, but when he saw it did not leave the sky and was still waiting for everyone to take action, he quickly called for Treya to get the horses and asked Corvis to notify Larian to set off.

The Deathclaw was very patient. It kept following Leon's movements, waiting for its human friends on the ground to bring its cubs onto the carriage. It was even considerate enough to rise high into the air to avoid scaring the horses and vehicles on the ground.

Larian rode on a warhorse, and his servant drove a carriage carrying Miss Margarina, and they arrived at the east intersection of the village early to wait.

The group gathered and set out on the journey to Avalon.

Accompanied by the griffins in the sky, the group rode non-stop through the forest road and arrived at the forest valley in just half a day.

The team passed through the fields, the horses' hooves stepped over the ancient bridge over the river, and pedestrians carrying farm tools and going home after work avoided the slowly moving carriages. Leon's team entered the town area under construction.

Olivia looked around on horseback with a look of amazement.

"Leon, this place has changed a lot." She remembered that the last time she came, the river valley outside the fortress was still an empty countryside.

Now there are continuous houses and buildings, large tracts of farmland, bustling with people, and a large military camp not far away.

Larian, his servant and Margarina in the team looked up and were surprised by the tall fortress in front of them.

A rough estimate of the castle showed that although it was only about half the size of the Sea Cliff Fort in Falcon, Western Port, it was still a magnificent fortress rarely seen in the world.

Such a huge castle is extremely rare even in the hands of many great lords who own counties, let alone an emerging noble who only had a village territory not long ago.

Margarina was in the carriage, looking at the young baron in front of her with confusion.

As the eldest daughter of the Salein family, she knew that even her father would find it difficult to spend a huge fortune to build a fortress of such a scale.

Is this the fiefdom that the other party obtained after being conferred the title of Baron?
Although it was very rude, Margarina couldn't help but wonder, maybe Baron Leon was the illegitimate son of his master, Count Thornflower?

No, even the eldest son would receive such treatment.

Entering the city gate, the neat roads inside the fortress, the beautiful and tall buildings, and the carefully arranged infrastructure opened the eyes of Larian, his servant, and Margarina.

I thought it was a rural frontier land in the forest, but it turned out to be a beautiful and vibrant town. Magrena couldn't help but look forward to her future life here.

The air around was fresh, and as we walked into the city, we did not see any of the filth that was common in other towns.

In comparison, apart from the noise and complexity, in terms of living environment and scenery, even the royal city of Kantadar seemed so unsightly.
When they arrived at the square main castle in the northeastern high city area, Azerien and Lohak, who had received the news, were already waiting at the bottom of the stairs to greet them.

"Leon, you are finally here."

"There's nothing we can do about it. That big guy just came back."

Leon dismounted from his horse along with everyone else, raised his hand and pointed at the black dot circling in the sky.

He looked back at Larian who was helping Miss Margarina get off the car, and then asked Azerien and the others, "Is there any vacant house in the city? Find one that is close for Lord Larian to live in. This knight has accepted my recruitment and is now one of ours."

"Yes, I'll take them to rest." Lohak volunteered to step forward and lead Larian and his party to their accommodation.

Leon looked up at the towering tower of the main castle and said to Corvis, "Take little Goethe to the top of the tower and call the Deathclaw to land. This way it should know where to find us next time."

Avalon was much bigger than Selva's mansion. If he didn't discuss a location with the griffin, and it couldn't find its cubs in the future, it would look for them everywhere in Avalon, which would probably scare a lot of the people.

But thinking of this, Leon's heart moved, he looked back at the fortress, then turned around and looked at the higher point behind the fountain square in the northwest, at the isolated mountain on which Fort Avalon rested.

The book said that the Lorelites raised griffins in mountaintop nests or towers, so wouldn't my current environment be just right?

Should we try to get the Deathclaws to settle down? We can afford to keep them now anyway.

After thinking it over and keeping this idea in mind for the time being, Leon led everyone into the main castle.

Although he had been here many times, he didn't know much about the interior of the main castle, so he followed Azerien, who had moved in earlier, and toured everyone's new home room by room and floor by floor.

"It's strange that there is no place to put the throne in the hall of this main castle. The sculpture shaped like the Holy Sun symbol is also difficult to move for the time being. I temporarily arranged for everyone to clean up the banquet hall on the upper floor and put your lord's chair in it. It can also serve as a hall." Azerien introduced the interior of the main castle.

The antechamber, banquet hall, meeting room, reception room, office area, vacant rooms in the towers of the four corners of the fortress, and the "lord's residence" on the upper floors.

But Leon knew that the most spacious room on the top floor was naturally not the lord's bedroom. It was originally the residence of Garron, the ancestor of the Thorn Flower family and the captain of the guard of Lady Aphrodite.

The reason why there is no lord's throne here is because the owner of the Bauhinia Fortress, Lady Aphrodite, actually lives in the Mage Tower rather than the main castle where daily affairs are managed.

After informing everyone of the location of their respective rooms, Azerian saw Olivia overlooking the city of Avalon on the observation balcony, so he pulled Leon quietly to the side.

"I haven't arranged Olivia's room yet. You can do whatever you want."

Leon raised his eyebrows and gave him a thumbs up, brother really understands my heart.

As night fell, after having dinner with everyone in the main castle, Leon, Azerien and others came to the conference room to discuss the current important territory affairs.

The first thing, of course, is to determine the responsibilities of everyone around him in managing the now huge territory.

The need to establish a simple administrative system that works is a top priority.

Including Avalon and Selva, Leon himself had four towns and fourteen villages under his rule.

Lohak consists of a town, a fort and two villages.

There are five villages in Azerien.

There are more than 10,000 people living in the territory, and the scale is different. If they still want to do it themselves as before, Leon and others will probably have to spend all their time running back and forth, dealing with various trivial matters.

Although Leon had no relevant experience in building a bureaucratic system, Azerien had been exposed to the bureaucratic structure of the Holy City. In addition, Ms. Veresa and Miss Sally were present and could give suggestions based on their past understanding of the family territory.

The chief administrative officer, the chief secretary, the chief financial officer, the chief stable officer, the medical officer, the internal cook, the police officer, the forest patrol officer, the tax officer, the scribe, the accountant, as well as the court officials who were currently judged by several of his knights and were not so urgent but would definitely be needed in the future, and even the educational officials who would be needed in the future when there was spare capacity.

First determine the positions within the structure, then call the mayors and village officials from all over the country to Avalon for a meeting.
"Lord Leon, excuse me for asking. Do you plan to incorporate the territories of Lord Azerien and Lord Lohak into your bureaucratic system and manage them together as we did in Selva in the past?" Lady Veresa asked, suppressing her strangeness.

Hearing what Veresa said, Leon and the other two were all stunned.

Yeah, this seems a bit strange indeed.
They were used to living together, which led them to subconsciously discuss all the territories together.

But now they are no longer three small villages. No matter from which angle you look at it, the Lord of Avalon does not have the status and legal authority to rule over the territories of the other two Knights of the Thorn Flower.

"I have no objection." Lohak scratched his head and said nonchalantly.

In Lohak's opinion, his life, family members and everything he has now all come from Leon's kindness to him. Even if he has to give away everything he has now, he can give it all without hesitation. Except for his sister, of course.

"I have no objection either." Azerien shook his head. His idea was simple. Feelings and friendship were important factors, but at the same time, Azerien could see the future and hope he could have by following Leon.

Leon frowned and thought about it, then understood what Ms. Veresa meant.

He raised his head and smiled at Azerien and Lohak, "Of course we don't mind, but if we don't have a suitable name, and we always stay together like this without mentioning outsiders, what will your future generations think? Although it's too early to talk about this now, we can take this opportunity to think about this issue in advance."

"Then how about I just swear allegiance to you, Leon, and become your knight? You have become such a big baron." Lohak suddenly had an idea and felt that he had come up with a good idea.

Azerien couldn't help but laugh at his amusement and held his forehead.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

Leon was helpless at his brother's amazing wisdom: "You and I are both vassals of Earl Elliver. We have just accepted the new fiefdom, and you are betraying your master. Don't you want the title anymore?"

"Oh, okay, that's right." Lohark shrugged, realizing he had said something stupid.

There was a slight silence in the room, and Leon took some hot water to moisten his throat.

Looking aimlessly to the side, Leon's heart moved slightly when he saw Olivia, who was wearing the same white shirt and blue skirt as Altria and listening obediently in the seat beside her.

Almost at the same time, he recalled Princess Ines' invitation to him that day.

An idea came to Leon's mind after a long time.

"How about we set up a 'Knight Order'?"

(End of this chapter)