Knight and Wand

Chapter 238: Military Achievements and Glory
The servants kept clearing the empty plates and bowls on the table, and one portion of food after another was swept away in front of Leon.

The boiler in the kitchen was turned on at full blast, and I almost thought that the knights were going to hold an impromptu banquet at the house.

After showing off enough food to fill a table full of strong men, Leon collapsed comfortably in the chair, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and burped in an ungraceful manner.

Anyway, he is surrounded by brothers, so he doesn't care about chivalrous etiquette.

The two people standing by had seen Leon eating a lot after special training in Selva before, but the amount he ate today was so horrible that even Lohac, who had a huge appetite, was a little scared.

He gestured with his hands to measure the approximate volume of what Leon had just eaten, and couldn't help but reach out and touch his belly which had no movement at all.

"Holy Prophet, I really want to know where all the food you eat goes? Even if you fill your stomach and intestines, there is no room for so much food, right?"

"Leon is a magician. Maybe everything he eats is digested into some kind of magical energy?" Azerien held his chin and guessed randomly.

He has always liked reading. In the past, he had borrowed the Feru language magic book that was said to be written by Ms. Lola. A while ago, he even took the time to learn some Lorelit language from Corvis. Although he did not have a talent for mastering magic, he also read some ancient books with simpler words and sentences in the tower.

"Maybe." Leon responded. He estimated that, at least based on the magical knowledge he had now, whether it was an ordinary person or a spellcaster, or an animal or a monster, they could all consume more or less "magic elements" from various foods in this world, or nutrients that could help them produce magic elements.

This should be the reason why he needed to eat a lot every time he ran out of magic energy and was on the verge of death, although he had not seen any mention of the theory of replenishing magic energy through such excessive eating in the magic book.

Could it be more advanced "life science" content?
"Tsk tsk, so wizards poop less than ordinary people?" Lohak pressed Leon's belly curiously.

Leon opened his arm unhappily: “We just finished eating, can we not talk about such disgusting topics.”

After saying that, he shook his head, stretched out his right hand to the back of his head to pull up his long hair, and asked the two to help him cut it short with a dagger.

With a click, his hair returned to medium-short length. Leon picked up the cut hair and threw it into the brazier to burn it.

After patting the broken hair on his head, he finally felt a lot refreshed.

After having a good meal and a good drink, although the injury on his chest was still obviously painful, Leon didn't want to lie down again. After sleeping for so many days, his legs and feet really wanted to move.

"Where is the Deathclaw housed? Is it far from here? I want to visit it."

"Not far, just across the block where you're resting," Lohak replied.

Leon immediately stood up and put on his coat. He saw that Azerien had specially put a short cloak on him and draped it over his broken arm, so he did not refuse.

Walking out of the house where many injured knights were recuperating, we came to the streets of the small town filled with soldiers on martial law. As we chatted, we strolled past the main avenue of the town and the ground shook slightly.

Leon looked up and saw a group of soldiers from the Kingdom of Orland escorting three "barbarian giants" about five meters tall and covered with scars, walking out of the city.

The wild giants had been stripped of their armor and weapons, and had thick iron chains and nooses on their limbs and necks. Each of them was guarded by several Knights of the Order of Orland.

Although the word "giant" is in their name, they are not much similar to humans. They have no hair, thick limbs, their bodies are covered with thorny hard skin, and they only have four fingers. Their nails are as sharp as claws. Their faces are more like beasts than humans, and they have sharp teeth in their mouths.

Their intelligence level is even lower, and they cannot be classified as humans at all. Instead, they are similar to wild goblins. Even the "mud troll" that Larian once hunted can be said to be a close relative of the wild giants.

In fact, even the name "barbarian giants" is only used in some extreme western regions such as Orland, Cantadar, and Uriah. In the legend of Serrian, there is still a long tradition of calling them "ogres" because if left alone, humans are also on their menu.

Of course, these monsters that once fed on humans now seem to have been disciplined to rarely include humans in their hunting range, at least they will not actively attack human settlements.

Otherwise, they would have been killed by the knights just like the quagmire trolls.

From this perspective, to some extent, the giants are smarter than other monsters. At least they have learned how to coexist with humans. Now, many of them serve as mercenaries for the human army in exchange for food to fill their stomachs.

Apparently, these three surviving giants were once "employed" by the Kantadar army, but after being captured by the Orland army, they would soon put on different battle uniforms and fight for the Northern Army. Anyway, for the dull and barbaric brains of the giants, as long as there is enough food, it doesn't matter which side of the humans they help "fight".

Behind the team escorting the giant prisoners, there was a convoy carrying spoils of war. Leon saw the huge tusks on the team's carriages and judged that they should belong to Uriah's war elephants. He had seen that kind of giant beast of the Southern Army when he was scouting in the sky before.

Unlike the wild giants who would surrender voluntarily, once the Uriah war elephants were frightened, they would be difficult to pacify. Moreover, even if they were captured, the Orlanders did not know how to tame these war elephants and could only kill them and take their tusks.

Looking at the cart dragging away six pairs of huge tusks, some broken and some intact, Leon couldn't help but feel that he had indeed missed a great battle. He had seen some land-based subspecies of dragon beasts in his own king's army, but unfortunately, he was not able to witness with his own eyes the tactical application of the Northern and Southern armies against the war beasts.

However, no matter whether it is a wild giant or a war elephant, a scorpion-tailed lion, a griffin, or even a powerful dragon beast, ferocious war beasts can play a decisive role in small and medium-sized battles, but in the two major kingdoms of the north and the south, on the battlefield with nearly 100,000 elite troops, the collision of tens of thousands of knights, and the rare monster units whose numbers are measured in "individuals" are still unable to influence the overall situation of the war.

The kings and lords of this land have learned how to deal with the ferocious monsters through thousands of years of struggle.
After the kingdom's army transporting the spoils passed through the avenue, the three continued to walk towards the camp across the street, and happened to meet a knight from the Thorn Flower family.

".May the gods protect you, Lord Pendragon. I'm glad to see that you are alright. I'm sure Lord Elliver will be very happy to hear the news." The knight saw Leon, the leader, and greeted him immediately. Then he bowed to the other two and said, "Greetings to you, Baron Felux and Sir Flarel."

The three returned the greeting to their colleague. Leon looked back at the other party's back as he waved and left. Then he turned around and looked at Lohak in surprise: "Baron Felux?"

Lohak scratched his face and said, "I wanted to tell you later. Lord Elliver was really generous. He gave me a higher title during the celebration."

Azerien glanced at him, shook his head and explained to Leon: "He has made great contributions in the war. In the previous battle, I couldn't catch up with him even after chasing him from behind. He rushed into the enemy camp like a madman and killed five Kantadar knights in a row, including a Kantadar baron. He also killed a centurion of Uriah. When I saw him last, his armor was stained with blood and his body was covered with broken limbs and flesh. He looked more like a demon than when he was possessed by a demon. Even his halberd and sword were broken. Now, everyone calls him the 'Red Knight' of Avalon."

"Hey, so awesome!?"

Leon looked at Lohak in surprise, he knew that his brother was getting stronger and stronger, but he didn't expect that he had grown to this point.

Lohak touched the wounds hidden under his clothes and said nothing more. He just smiled at Leon and said, "You are like that. I was so angry that I just wanted to settle the old and new grudges with those bastards. Thinking about it afterwards, I almost got caught. If the army behind hadn't won the battle and rushed up, I might have died of exhaustion in the enemy camp."

"You know you're being reckless?" Azerien sighed in complaint, and then said to Leon, "He was really angry. After you were brought back, this kid secretly wiped his tears by your bed every night. During the day, he yelled at me fiercely that he wanted revenge and wanted to rush to the Southern Army camp alone."

"Ah! Ah! When did I ever wipe my tears? Why are you talking nonsense?"

Lohak didn't expect that he would be seen looking so sad, and his face turned red with shame.

Leon felt warm in his heart, but then he thought about the funny look of this tall and strong man secretly dropping the little pearl, and he couldn't help laughing out loud.

"Silly boy, I'm not dead yet. Wait until I'm really buried before you cry."

"No, I didn't cry!" Hearing this, Lohak's expression became even more embarrassed.

After Leon smiled, he raised his right hand and rubbed the big man’s hair. Fortunately, he was not short, otherwise he would have to ask the other party to bow his head and bend over like Laura.

He turned serious and said, "Remember, don't do this recklessly in the future. Do you want Elena to lose you, the last of her family? You have to make sure you can survive even if you want revenge. Even if I really die in the battle, if you dare to follow me, I will definitely beat you up from below!"

".Oh." Looking at Leon's serious eyes, Lohak had to nod obediently: ".Remember." As the three of them were talking, they finally arrived at the yard where the griffins were placed. Hawke, Zabron and several other Avalon knights were guarding inside.

In the courtyard, there was a large, half-opened tent, and in the corner was a pile of bloody horse bones that seemed to have just been gnawed clean and not yet taken away.

The Deathclaw curled up on a nest of thick straw and slept soundly in the shade of the tent that sheltered him from the wind and rain.

Looking at the ointment applied all over the griffin's body, its wings fixed at a specific angle by a giant bracket, and the wounds exposed under its fallen feathers, Leon felt distressed.

The big guy went to the battlefield for the sake of his friendship, and this time he really suffered a lot.

Even though it wasn't a fatal wound like the one caused by being pierced by the rune crossbow, the deep and shallow wounds all over his body were definitely more painful than before.

Lion remembered that Balfe had taught him not to have too many feelings for his warhorse, otherwise one day he would be heartbroken when his old friend who had been with him for many years died on the battlefield.

But Deathclaw is not his "mount" after all, but a close friend who shares weal and woe with him. No matter what, he cannot ignore the damage the other party has suffered for him.

As soon as Leon approached, the griffin opened its eagle eyes and not only smelled a familiar scent, but also, after getting closer, their consciousnesses were re-established through the contract magic.

The giant beast let out a low growl and wanted to stand up in delight when he saw his companion approaching.

Leon hurried forward, squatted down and soothed the big guy's head: "Big Fatty, lie down and don't stand up."

Being able to understand his friend's feelings, Deathclaw leaned forward to rub Leon's head and narrowed his eyes.

Sitting on the straw, Lion stroked the feathers on the griffin's neck that had been plucked into a mess by the enemy with one hand, and turned back to Lohak and Azerien and said, "If there is something going on in the army, you should go and do it first. I want to stay with Deathclaw for a while."

"Our troops are being watched by Sir Filippo and his men. It will take two days for the army to return. Lord Elliver and his men are distributing the spoils to each family. There is nothing serious to worry about." Azerien shook his head.

"You are our most important thing now. Let's take a break together." Lohak simply sat down on the haystack with him.

Leon knew that they were worried about him, so he didn't insist. He turned around, leaned against the side of the griffin's neck, took a long breath, half-lying down and looking at the sky, his mind relaxing.

The Death Claw narrowed its eyes and moved its wings, trying to cover Leon, but the pain and the limitations of the brace forced it to use its forearm claws to gently rest on the other person.

Patting the huge beast claws in front of him, Leon chatted lazily with Azerien and Lohak. Not long after, he slowly fell asleep.
He didn't know how long he had napped against the griffin before he was gently woken up by Lohak again.

".Wake up, the Earl is here."

When he opened his eyes, Leon saw his lord walking quickly towards the gate with several followers.

With the help of the two people beside him, Leon stood up, patted the straw behind his butt, and hurried out of the Deathclaw's tent to greet them.

".I heard you woke up, so I came to see you."

Elifer smiled gently and said, "You are still so energetic despite being so badly injured. It turns out that death cannot take you away. You are as tenacious as your griffin."

"It was just luck. I thought I was dead." Leon paused and gave Lord Feng a bitter smile: "I'm sorry, sir, the sword you gave me was damaged in the battle."

Hearing this, Elifer smiled and waved his hands: "Ha, what is there to apologize for? You stained my sword with the blood of a great knight. This is an extraordinary honor for both the weapon and me. I am so happy."

That was the Peacock Knight Valencis who had slain the previous throne dragon. Even though he was already old and frail, his reputation as a hero that shook the world could not be shaken.

According to Baron Kailan, he saw with his own eyes that the Peacock Knight was not only seriously injured, but was almost stabbed in the throat by Leon's sword. This was not just some people bragging after drinking and defeating a certain legendary knight.

There are even broken Peacock Knight helmets and swords as evidence of this battle.

The family's own Griffin Knight has brought immeasurable fame to the Farolis family in the kingdom.

The Lord of the Thorn Flower glanced at the other's left arm covered by the cloak, and said in a deep voice: "Don't worry, child, as long as the warlocks in the north have a way, I will ask them to help you reattach your arm no matter how much it costs.

It's a pity that you missed the celebration banquet, but I have given Azerien the new territory documents granted to you and the five thousand gold crown as a reward.

What else do you need? From what he said, your knights seem to be short of war horses?"

Leon was stunned by the Lord's eager attitude, and nodded: "Yes, it is really difficult for me to buy a military horse at a suitable price in the Grey Shirt Valley."

"How much do you want?"

"Uh, eighty."

"Eighty horses? How can that be enough? Isn't your knight order fully staffed with 500 men?"

"I'll give you three hundred of the best Uriah war horses." Elifer raised his right hand, then changed to his left hand and patted Leon's right shoulder.

This. Leon was somewhat intimidated by the Lord's magnanimity.

What he lacked was "war horses".

But if the master did not make a mistake, he actually said "war horse".

These two words in the Feru language do not refer to horses of the same grade.

Leon smiled so happily that his cheeks were a little stiff. Is this the reward for his outstanding military achievements?

It was so cool. Not only did I not have to spend any money on the expensive horses, but the price actually tripled or quadrupled.
The king and his ministers had a very pleasant conversation.

That night, I also had dinner with everyone.

The next day.

After finishing his breakfast, Leon planned to continue visiting Deathclaw.

But he met an envoy sent by Ledwin III, who invited him to meet the king.

Leon was stunned for a moment, and seemed to vaguely understand why Feng Jun was so affectionate yesterday, even to the point of being a little corny.

(End of this chapter)