Knight and Wand

Chapter 222 Assembly (Editor's introduction in the afternoon, please vote for me)

After coming out of the Mage Tower, Leon took advantage of the fact that the dwarves had not left yet and found the captain of the Furnace Guard, Hem, alone, adding weight to his previous request for help.

"Please tell the current King Heraen when you go back this time. If you are willing to help Avalon fight this disaster, as long as you can help me reach Rolandar, I may be able to help you find the final whereabouts of those missing tribesmen." Leon made a proposal that he hoped would be of sufficient weight.

Hem was surprised, but then he quickly pretended to be confused and said, "What did you say? I have found my tribesmen."

Leon waved his hand and said frankly: “There are only you and me in this room, let’s all be honest. I mean those Heraen compatriots of your generation.

If I'm guessing correctly, the tribesmen you found in this era are probably the survivors in the same situation as you, or even the descendants of the survivors, right?"

Hem could not help but remain silent. He pulled his beard and asked, "So Lord Leon, you knew the truth about my compatriots disappearing from the world?"

Leon admitted: "A little bit."

"Then why didn't you tell us at the beginning?" Hem's voice sounded somewhat dissatisfied.

"Because I can't be sure if this is true until you come back this time." Leon spread his hands.

Hem stared, then said helplessly: "Well, since you already know the inside story, I won't beat around the bush, Lord Leon, let's be frank. The people of my time have actually sent people to search all over the continent and overseas.

I have been to the sky, to the underground, and even to the horrible forbidden places that you can't imagine, just to find the traces of the "ancestors".

As a result, we have found nothing for hundreds of years. When we met them this time, the tribesmen of that time even regarded us as the hope of finding their 'ancestors'.

Oh, that's too high of an estimate. We are just an ordinary mining team."

The old furnace guard said, looking directly at Leon and said in a deep voice: "Excuse me, sir, you are just an ordinary Feru lord in this era. How can I believe that you can find my people who disappeared without a trace?"

Indeed, there was no convincing evidence. Leon had also thought about taking Hem to meet Laura in person and let her meet the leaders of the tribes back then. After all, it was the wizard lady who proposed this proposal, and he didn't know how to find the Heraen ancestors who had already opened up.

But in fact, these ancient dwarves were just ordinary people back then. They had never met the King of Magic in person more than a thousand years ago. Moreover, even if someone had seen Laura in her lifetime, a weak spirit now would not be enough to make them believe that the person in the Mage Tower was really the Lord of that year.

Leon ultimately felt that the disadvantages outweighed the advantages of rashly exposing Laura's existence to outsiders who could not be trusted. After a detailed discussion with the young teacher, he still planned to keep some reservations about the Heraen people.

"It's indeed difficult for you to believe me, but I can tell you some important information right now." Leon continued frankly, "The Helan people of today are aimlessly searching for their lost kin in the world, but of course it will be in vain, because your ancient compatriots have long since left this world and headed for other distant realms in the void where they can survive."

"How is this possible?" Hearing the other party utter such absurd words, Hem frowned.
Isn't that the same as the ancient Isulan people with pointed ears in the ancient legend? But how could my own people have the great ark that could cross the void as described in the ancient legend?

"Our tribe's creation technology is no problem, but leaving this world? We, the Helan people, cannot master the powerful magic of the Lorelit and Isuran people. Going to the void is harder than ascending to the sky. Besides, if that is true, why didn't King Ulfgard leave any records of the tribe's migration? Not even a single word left?"

The more Hem spoke, the more anxious he became. When he had talked about his ancestors with the current King of Steelforge, he had secretly wondered whether his people had encountered some unimaginable disaster that caused them to be almost extinct.

But now, rather than the worst guess, he secretly wanted to believe what Lord Feru said.

"Of course they wouldn't leave any message behind. Your people left to get away from the constant 'threats' in this world. Since you were born in the era when the King of Dharma was still alive, you should have heard of those 'ancient beings' that were spying on this land. If your people still left traces after escaping, how could you hide from 'them'?
Perhaps, until your King Ulfgard gathered all the tribesmen from the whole continent to set off, most of your people were probably still kept in the dark." Leon explained to Hem based on what Laura told him.

The dwarf pondered and shook his head, not seeming to believe it so easily: "This is still your one-sided statement, Lord Leon. You said that they were trying to escape the demonic disasters that have occurred in the world for thousands of years, so they didn't leave any news. Then how do you know all this?"

"I can't tell you everything, everyone has secrets to keep"

Leon tapped the table with his knuckles and said, "But I can tell you the location of the 'realm gate' that your people used to transfer when they evacuated this world. However, the facilities there are likely to have self-destructed and become inoperable."

After saying that, he spread out the map of the ancient continent that he had taken from the Mage Tower, raised his hand and pointed to the northern part of what is now known as the "Boneyard Wasteland", and pointed out a blank location in the mountains.

"Deep underground here, there is an underground city secretly built by King Ulfgard. Of course, even if you find a map of Heraen from a thousand years ago, it won't be marked there. But this place is also one of the largest geocentric nodes in the north of the continent. With the guidance of prospecting instruments, it shouldn't be difficult for you to dig out the entrance to the ruins."

The reason why she could understand the secret facilities of the ancient dwarf king so clearly was because, according to Laura, the "gate" that shuttled through the realm was originally built by her and the last few mages in the court of the king of magic to help the king of ancient Helan.
After Hem noted the location and left with a doubtful look in his eyes, Leon also put his attention back on the military affairs at hand.

I don't know what method Laura will use to find the departed ancient dwarves if she is sent to Rolandar in the future. Can she restart the "gate" that has been self-destructed? But since my own Queen of France said there is a way, it must be true.

The rest depends on how deep the dwarves' desire to find their ancestors is and whether they are willing to try to believe in themselves.

A few days passed quickly, and the two purchasing teams of Ms. Martha and Azerien returned to Avalon one after another.

Although the armor and weapons ordered from several surrounding towns that export arms will not arrive so quickly, it will not take long.

It was the time of the southern expedition. When fighting broke out, any armor and weapons were consumables. The craftsmen and merchants in the counties of the southern territory of Orland were very efficient in transporting additional weapons to the front line.

The only problem was that horses were difficult to buy. The price of military horses on the market had skyrocketed. The team of Azerien, Martha and Lohak had not found a suitable horse dealer in the Greyshirt Valley.

According to Leon's current understanding, the war horses on the markets across the Kingdom of Orland, apart from those raised in small-scale private horse farms, mainly come from three major sources.

They are the "Roman horses" raised on the pastures in the eastern part of the kingdom, the "Cronian horses" raised on the royal pastures in the kingdom, and the "Uria horses" imported from the west of Kantadar in the Farayel territory every year.

In Grayshan Valley Collar, the latter two are naturally easier to buy.

Although Cronia horses are of excellent quality, they were very expensive before the war. After the war started, they were mainly supplied to the king's army. The market price was ridiculously high and was not at all in Leon's consideration.

As for Uliama, he heard that since the war began, the offensive of the Great Westerly coalition had basically halted the western trade between the two countries. This was also the main reason why horse prices were soaring in the Orland market.

Faced with the current difficulties, Leon can only shelve the plan of purchasing military horses for the time being.

Everyone was about to go to the war, and there was no time for him to send people to more distant counties to look for conscientious horse merchants.

He also wanted to seize some war horses in Kantadar in the south. Of course, this was ninety-nine percent of a pipe dream.

By this point in the war, strategic resources like horses that could be divided up and plundered had already been snatched up by various armies, so it was no longer his turn to arrive late and seize them.

After all the men were gathered, Leon summoned the knights who were training in Selva and reorganized them. Before setting off, he gathered all the soldiers in the camp outside the city and held a swearing-in ceremony. The soldiers also had a meal together to boost morale.

The next day, the Knights set out for the family army assembly point in Glade County.

When they set out, Lion wanted to lead the team in front of the Deathclaw so that he could use the aerial vision instead of the scouts, but he was stopped by Azerien.

"There's no danger on the way to Gladeshire. You might as well take a horse and let the Deathclaw fly in the sky to accompany you." Azerien suggested. Lion was a little confused: "If you don't want to disturb the war horses, you can arrange the horses to march at the end of the team. Anyway, I and the griffin are watching the front of the team."

"That's not the question." Azerien pondered for a moment, then asked, "Leon, have you ever had any personal grudges with Young Master Feodor?"

"Of course not. He and I haven't even spoken a few words to each other, so where does the personal grudge come from?" Leon was surprised by his partner's question.

"But I noticed that Fyodor seems to have a special attitude towards you. We might as well keep a low profile when we go to the gathering place, so that he won't see us and have any wild thoughts." Azerien replied.

Leon blinked, not knowing what he meant. He did not have a deep impression of Elif's eldest son. He just thought he was a very well-behaved, elegant and noble young man, and he had never had any conflicts with him.

Seeing his companion’s puzzled look, Azerien had to explain his discovery: “A while ago, when you took Olivia to investigate the news of Rolandar, I went to Archers City to discuss the matter of the ancient mines with Lord Elliver.

Before leaving, Fyodor invited me to a private dinner. During the conversation, he praised you highly and boasted about you to the utmost, but I felt that he was implicitly testing my opinion of you.
At first I was afraid it was an illusion, so I simply said a few words of envy and jealousy, and pretended to complain that my status is now lower than yours, my power is far less than yours, and the authority of the territory is still controlled by you with the Knights' Order."

"What's the result?" Leon asked curiously.

Azerien spread his hands: "After he comforted me for a few words, he became more enthusiastic towards me, and he was trying to win me over, both overtly and covertly."

"Isn't it a good thing that Feodor wants to make friends with you? Unless he has Pirieno's hobbies." Leon shrugged.

Azerien couldn't help but choke, his eyebrows twitching, and he raised his hand and punched the other man in the waist: "I'm talking to you about serious business, be serious, I've almost forgotten that old guy with great difficulty."

"Sorry, sorry, I understand what you mean." Leon raised his hand to beg for mercy, and after a wry smile, he said seriously, "You mean, Fyodor wants to divide the relationship between you and me?"

"I can't be sure, but his praise of you at the banquet was not sincere, and he was particularly friendly to me after I had slandered you."

Azerien continued to analyze: "I have observed the people around him. In the mansion, from the servants to the knights and guards, their etiquette and behavior are meticulous, and there is order and respect. It is more serious than the atmosphere around Lord Elliver. I just walked in, and I guessed that he is a person who attaches great importance to order and rules.

But after I disrespected you, not only did he not correct my attitude, he even secretly encouraged me to go along with it. This doesn't match the impression he gave me. I can only guess that he has other purposes, or at least he has a deep prejudice against you."

Leon listened, secretly admiring his brother's sensitive mind, so he asked, "So you think that if I arrive at the assembly point on a majestic griffin, the scene will be more exciting to him?"

"Well, Feodor will definitely be present on this trip. If you arrive riding on a griffin, he will probably see you as showing off your superiority, which will increase his prejudice against you."

Azerien gently reminded him, "The Holy Sun warms the world, but it can also be dazzling to those who look directly at its brilliance. The wise say that jealousy is born in the human heart without any awareness. The more dazzling you are, the more you will burn Feodor's heart.

Leon, not all monarchs are as sincere and open-minded as Lord Elliver. The more casual and comfortable you are with the feudal lords, the more likely some people will think you are arrogant and spoiled."

Leon sighed, scratched his head, and said from the bottom of his heart that it was not wrong to say that he did not want to observe the rules of hierarchy. A modern earthling would not want to bow and scrape to others every day.

In addition, Elifer himself was easy-going and never fussy about details in informal occasions, so he got used to it. Now that he thought about it, if Azerien was not wrong, then in Feodor's eyes, he might be a bit like "Nian Gengyao".

Leon did not insist on it, and accepted Azerien's suggestion, letting the griffin fly freely around, while he changed to the black warhorse.

He does like to show off, but he won't die if he stops pretending. Now that he has received a lot of favors from Elifer and has no intention of being a traitor, there is no need to inflame the young master of the family's meaningless fear over such a small matter.

Setting out from Avalon in the morning, the Knights arrived at the assembly point designated by Earl Elliver in the afternoon.

Leon and others were not the first to arrive. More than a thousand soldiers and a considerable number of civilian laborers had already gathered here.

The Deathclaws were soaring in the sky, with Leon leading twenty or so heavy cavalrymen behind him. Since Corvis was not there, Azerien volunteered to serve as the standard-bearer, holding the sword-winged flag of the Knights of Avalon, showing the identity of the team.

Before arriving, a hundred soldiers took their equipment from the baggage wagons, put on chain mail tunics, iron helmets and greaves, and followed in formation with their weapons on their shoulders.

Arriving at the assembly point, Leon couldn't help but sigh at his brother's foresight. Not to mention how much attention it would attract if he came in riding a griffin, perhaps Elliver wanted to train his sons to know military affairs. The ones in charge of counting the troops this time were Feodor, the young master of Thorn Flower, and Knight David, the second son of the feudal lord.

Everyone dismounted to accept the arrangements and dispatches. Leon was very enthusiastic when he saw the young Knight David coming towards him. However, Baron Feodor did not show any abnormality in his attitude and was equally polite.

If it weren't for Azerien's previous reminder, Leon really wouldn't have realized that Feodor was dissatisfied with him.

However, there were too many important things to do at the moment, and Leon had no time to worry about the other party's opinion. He chose a camp a little further away to house the troops, so as to prevent the griffin companions from disturbing the horses of other soldiers in the army. Then Leon went to report to Count Elliver.

After resting in the military camp for a night, they waited for the last batch of soldiers to arrive the next day. More than 2,000 soldiers and nearly 1,000 civilian laborers were finally assembled. Elipher immediately convened a military meeting in the big tent to reorganize his troops.

There are a total of eight barons of the Thorn Flower family, and the composition of their troops is different.

There were as many as Leon himself, who, not counting him and the griffin, brought twenty heavy cavalry, fifty spearmen, and fifty crossbowmen.

Baron Balfe brought ten heavy cavalry, one hundred spearmen, and one hundred longbowmen.

Baron Ledo brought five heavy cavalry and one hundred Duwana halberdiers.
Some of them, such as Baron Sambu and Baron Aguilia, could only provide two or three heavy cavalry and fifty infantry.

Of course, the small troops brought by each lord cannot simply be gathered together and fight on their own.

All the warriors brought by the vassals were divided up. First, except for the barons who led the troops, most of the knights and attendants were placed under the unified command of Elif's cavalry company.

For the other infantry units, companies of about 100 men will remain unchanged, and units of dozens of men with less than 100 men will be combined with other units as much as possible, but the direct commanders will still be their respective lords.

At this point, the entire army was organized into roughly twenty-two companies, divided into three parts, led by Earl Elliver, and Balf and Leon, who held the title of "Knight of the Square Banner".

As the commander-in-chief, Count Elliver naturally led the main force of 1,300 people.

Baron Balfe led Baron Krosh, Baron Taigas, and Baron Samb, a total of 470 people.

The troops of the other three barons are under the command of Leon.

At the meeting, Leon did not feel too much pressure when he heard that he was appointed as one of the commanders just like Balf. With his experience in Longca, he was not completely ignorant about marching and fighting. Moreover, there were not many soldiers under his command. Including his own soldiers, there were only 350 soldiers in total.

Moreover, among the three barons assigned to his command, Ledo and Marcelo were old acquaintances who had fought side by side, and only Baron Aguilia was just a nodding acquaintance.

It's quite late, please remember to refresh if you read before 1 o'clock. I have just revised it and attached K words. In addition, I will be on the editor's guide in the afternoon. Please vote for me

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(End of this chapter)