Knight and Wand

Chapter 251 Heading to Deyatuk (Happy New Year, please give me a monthly ticket)
In the Lord's Hall of Avalon.

After Leon met with the knight from Deyatuk County and communicated with the envoy sent by the Border Marquis, he realized that things were not as he thought.

".Tell me, how many troops are coming from the Holy Court Kingdom?"

Leon confirmed again.

"An elite army of more than a thousand men." The Marquis's envoy answered truthfully.

Leon frowned, something was beyond his expectations.

It was not that there was any conflict between the knights-errant and the lord of Deyatuk, but facing a strange foreign army of such a scale, no lord would easily agree to let them pass through.

Thanks to the fact that in this era, national borders cannot be controlled as strictly as in the past and modern times, this army of a thousand people actually passed through the "Galsom Territory" all the way until they arrived at the eastern part of Deyatuk County in the "King's Territory of Kronia", where they were blocked by the border marquis's pass fortress.

However, according to what Larian and Corvis said, no matter how many rangers who came to respond to the oath passed on the message, even if the servants were included, there would probably be only dozens of people who could come in the end.

Even if these thousands of people searched the entire continent, they would not be able to find so many chivalrous knights.

The envoy from Deyatuk could not help wondering: "Baron, don't they have anything to do with you?"

"No, I did invite some rangers from Dineshion to Avalon, and they were not lying about that." Lion waved his hand quickly.

"But among them, only a few are knights-errant. The army is mainly composed of foreigners who call themselves the 'Knights of Ilaril'." Deyatuk's messenger reminded.

Hearing this name, Leon remained calm, but he was muttering in his heart.

The Knights of Ilaril?
The military organization named after the Holy Prophet comes from Dinesin. Could it be that it is a military force sent by the Holy Sun Church?

But I have had no contact with the Holy Sun Church so far, so how could I suddenly get support from the church?

Could it be that among the rangers from the Holy Kingdom, there was a kind-hearted knight who used his personal connections to contact the church and specially helped Avalon to invite an additional reinforcement?

With too many questions in mind, Leon had to arrange for the Border Marquis's envoy to go down and rest, and then immediately asked Olivia to summon Larian for questioning.

However, Larian hurried back to the main castle and faced Leon's questions. Although he knew several rangers whose names were reported by the Marquis's envoy, he was at a loss when faced with the so-called Knights of Ilaril and had no idea about this organization.

"Sir, how about I follow the envoy and go to Deyatuk County to take a look?" Larian asked.

Leon stroked his chin and thought about it carefully. After thinking for a while, he looked up and said, "You can't handle this matter alone. You are not a noble of Orland. It will be troublesome to negotiate with the border marquis. I will go with you."

At the moment, he could not confirm the origin and reality of the army, so he did not dare to make any guarantees to the Marquis's envoy.

Moreover, even if he gave a verbal guarantee, the border marquis might not necessarily give him the favor and allow the army to pass through the royal territory. If something unexpected happened in the royal territory, the consequences would be too serious.

He must go there in person to negotiate with the Border Marquis face to face, and by the way, find out what the origins of the knight order named after Lola are.

However, recalling the location of Deyatuk County, Leon frowned slightly.

Deathclaw was still injured and couldn't fly. Corvis had just left for Magya yesterday.
But if you take the route the messenger came from, heading north from Avalon Castle, passing through the "Kosos County" and "River Valley County" of the Greyshank Valley Territory, then entering the Crown Territory of Kronia from the western pass of the Galak Mountains, then passing through the "Blue Creek County" and "Dimart County" south of the Crown Territory, and finally arriving at "Deyatuk County".
It was a long and winding journey, which wasted too much time.

Count Elliver has accepted the request for help from the eastern part of Kantadar, and is waiting for the army of the Thornflower family to be repaired before gathering and setting off. Leon feels that he does not have much time to waste on the road.

He stood up and took Olivia and Larian to the conference room to unfold the map. After a moment of thought, he decided not to waste time taking a detour through the country.

Now, I can completely take the original road to the northern border of the Kingdom of Kantadar.

Starting from Glade County and heading east, passing through the occupied area of ​​​​Mamor County by the Orland nobles, and directly reaching the border of Deyatuk, this can save almost more than half of the journey.

Since Aurland declared war on the south, most of northern Kantadar has been captured by Aurland.

On the map, only the small section of road east of the Mamor-occupied area to Deyatuk is still within the rule of Count Mamor of Kantadar. However, that section of road is located in a remote border suburb, and one does not have to worry about bandits if one brings some guards with him. By heading east along the Galak Mountains, one can cross that area in a day or two, so the danger is not that great.

Having planned the travel route, Leon didn't want to delay and planned to set off immediately tomorrow to prevent the knights-errant he had invited from encountering any accidents in Deyatukwan.

You know, the messenger had been delayed for quite a while by taking the domestic route to Avalon.

As for the entourage, of course, there was Olivia who protected herself, and Larian who was responsible for picking up the fellow rangers of the Holy Kingdom.

Then bring some guards.
Larian looked at the path on the map and couldn't help but suggest, "Sir, let me ask Lord Greenthorne if they are willing to go with us."

Leon, who was considering it, thought it was a good suggestion.

Greenthorne and his companions were all well-known chivalrous heroes in Orland. With the testimony of these local heroes, when he communicated with the Marquis, his words would carry more weight when he vouched for the foreign knights-errant.

Moreover, with this group of highly skilled Knights of the Order of Arms traveling with them, there is no need to worry about safety issues.

He nodded and asked Larian to ask his fellow rangers what they wanted.

Leon put away the map and sent someone to tell the messenger to have a good night's sleep and set off together the next day.

At the banquet that night, Greenthorne and others readily agreed to go together to meet the rangers' requests.

The knights, who had rested for a while in Avalon with good food and drink, had long wanted to go out and stretch their legs. However, the zombie monsters around Avalon had already been cleared out, and there were no harmful beasts to be conquered, which really frustrated these heroes who were waiting to conquer the undead.

The next morning, after giving some instructions to Azerien and the others, Leon put on his armor, mounted his black horse, and set out on a journey to Deyatuk County with the well-fed and well-drinking knights.

Besides him, there were only ten people accompanying him on this trip.

Olivia, Larian, seven Orland Rangers, and the knights under the border marquis.

They are all warriors with extraordinary physical strength. They ride on top-quality mounts with amazing endurance, and they are extremely efficient once on the road.

Before nightfall that day, they left Glade County, which was ruled by the Thorn Flower Family, and entered Mammore County.

The sun sets in the west.

In the countryside of Mamor, the knights rode their horses lightly and walked on a rugged path.

Leon looked around at his surroundings and suddenly felt more and more familiar.

The memory of his escape eleven months ago instantly came to his mind. He looked at the terrain in the distance and suddenly understood something.

The war horses and dire wolves had plenty of power, and when everyone reached the end of their vision, they finally saw an abandoned village with scattered huts.

Leon remembered that this was the village where he, Azerien, and Lohak had picked up the pitchfork and sackcloth sandals.

But now the barren fields are overgrown with weeds, and the old houses are dilapidated and crumbling.

Looking at this village which was still deserted even though it had been incorporated into Orland's rule, Leon sighed.

This place is even more desolate than when he first saw it. He didn't expect that after almost a year, the villagers who fled here still showed no signs of returning here to live again.

Of course, having a few shabby houses to shelter from the wind and rain is always more comfortable than sleeping in the wilderness.

Everyone dismounted and began to look for a suitable house to camp in the village.

Leon's eyes almost immediately turned to the wooden house that left a deep impression on him. He walked straight there and pushed the door open.

There was no smell of rotting corpse as one might have imagined. After all, in such a leaky environment, all smells had long since dissipated through the windows after nearly a year.

But traces of the disaster can still be discerned in the house.

The bodies of the father and daughter had long since turned into scattered dry bones.

Olivia looked at Leon who was standing in the room without saying a word, and followed him into the wooden house in confusion.

Looking around at the two corroded corpses, the girl used her extraordinary thinking ability to instantly reconstruct everything that had happened in the room based on the position and shape of the corpses.

Olivia frowned and pursed her lips, slightly moved, and couldn't help feeling angry about this atrocity that was exactly the same as what Selva had experienced.

"Please help me get two mats from my bag." Leon turned around.

The girl had to try her best to calm down, turned around and quickly took out two pieces of coarse cloth.

Leon wrapped the skeletons in the house with cloth, and together with Olivia, he dug a grave in an open space near the village and buried the two bodies.

It was a piece of cake to bury the poor father and daughter. Leon and Olivia returned to the knights' team, and they lit a bonfire in the courtyard of a farm in the village.

While everyone was preparing dinner for the camping trip, Larian, who had gone to the river to fetch water, came back with a look of vigilance on his face.

"Sir, I saw some fallen trees in the woods that were caused by a giant beast. I followed the track for a distance along the river and found a giant bear's paw print. With that size, this may be the activity area of ​​the 'Mountain Bear'. We have to be careful at night."

Leon was stunned.

Of course he was no stranger to the Dinocampus. He was chased by the giant beast and jumped into the river in panic, and was washed into the cursed land by the rapids.

But Leon couldn't help but look up to the northwest.

Looking back, the forest area where the Dinocampus bear roams is quite far away from the village, and it would take an ordinary person several days to walk there.

How did its trace appear here?
However, Leon was not too worried.

The Ore bear is indeed dangerous.

But those who were accompanying him at the moment were all first-class powerful knights, and they were also professional rangers in dealing with monsters. Even without mentioning Olivia, there was also Greenthorne in the team who had hunted larger water monsters.

Now that he has the Neti card and the magic spear Gungnir, his military strength is much stronger than before.

If that violent giant bear dares to come after me again, it will be in trouble.

Of course, to be on the safe side, everyone arranged to take turns to keep watch that night in groups of two to prevent any accidents.

The next day, when the sun was high in the sky, the monster night attack that they were wary of did not happen, so the team packed up their bags and continued to march non-stop towards the northeast.

Most of the territory of Mamor County has been annexed by the Northern Kingdom. Leon led the knights and swaggered into the avenue marked on the map.

No foolish and stupid bandit would dare to attack a dozen knights of the Order of Arms who were still wearing their armor and riding on horseback.

Near noon, Leon and others saw some passers-by on the road.

In the distance, beneath the high river fort, the outline of a city also appeared.

Reddingburg.

It was once the residence of Lord Doson, the Viper Baron of Mamor County and the territory of the Casoles family.

Now this is one of the territories of the Gunnar family of Kossos County, Baron Grey Wolf.

Although the Thorn Flower Family and the Wolf Family had a deep feud and had fought a bloody battle with each other not long ago, Leon did not deliberately take a detour.

One is that I am in a hurry and don’t want to waste time.

Second, he still had the “Portable Young Master of the Wolf Family” in his pocket.

If there really is trouble, he is not afraid of the Gunnar family causing trouble. At worst, he can find a place, summon Canis, and ask him to help deal with it.

When they entered the town, they were not harassed by the guards. Even though the relationship between the two families was not good, the soldiers did not dare to rashly confront so many nobles.

Not to mention Leon and Olivia, Greenthorne and the others are also genuine knights carrying emblem rings.

A knight-errant is also a proper noble knight. After all, he is a chivalrous knight who travels around the world to help the weak and fight for justice. This kind of chivalrous career cannot be achieved without a sufficient financial foundation.

Rangers do not take unfair jobs, but if they only rely on the sporadic bounties for righteous deeds in this era, the rangers would probably have starved to death on the road. Whether it is travel expenses or repairing weapons and armor, it is a huge expense.

They have aristocratic status and their own economic sources, such as income from fiefdoms, family trade, or even some ancient wealthy families who simply have too much money to spend.

Even if some warriors were not nobles when they first embarked on the path of chivalry, those who have survived to this day are already nobles.

Of course, these days, a knight who has martial arts, money, and such idealistic behavior is still rarer than a flying dragon in the mountains.

The group bought some more bread, bacon and drinks in the market to replenish their energy for the journey, and then found a clean tavern, planning to take a short rest before continuing on their journey.

As they were dining and chatting, the rumbling sound of iron hooves approached outside the tavern, and then the riders could be heard reining in their horses, and everyone couldn't help but stop talking.

The clanking sound of approaching greaves' footsteps was obviously coming here.

The door was pushed open, and an old knight wearing plate armor and a robe on his shoulders walked in.

The noisy tavern hall suddenly fell silent.

Leon glanced at the old knight's face and found that he was an acquaintance.

Isn't this the old man who was sent by the Wolf Family to negotiate the redemption of Canis after the Battle of Longka?
I think his name was "Heinkel".

Seeing the old knight from the Wolf family, his eyes swept across the tavern hall and looked directly at his two tables.

Leon raised his eyebrows slightly.

The visitor is evil?
That shouldn’t be the case. We are just passing by. Why are the Lang family so eager to pick a fight with us?

Seeing the knights at the two tables, Heinkel's eyes seemed to relax.

He walked over quickly, touched his chest first, and bowed slightly to Leon, who was now a baron and whom he met again. "Greetings, sorry for the inconvenience, Lord Pendragon."

Then he quickly looked at the knights-errant standing beside him.

“I heard from the guards that the Excellencies were passing by here, so I hurried here.

Please help Ledinburgh. The Gunnar family has a request for help from the rangers. If you succeed, you will be rewarded handsomely.

(End of this chapter)