Knight and Wand

Chapter 273 Troubled Times
After the Battle of Usato, the morale of the elite members of the Thorn Flower Family, who had been resting for nearly two months, was high.

These war-hardened veterans of Farolis once again followed Count Elliver into battle.

Two thousand soldiers returned to the territory of Mamor County, where the Thorn Flower Family had conquered last year as the vanguard for the kingdom.

After marching for several days, they arrived at the assembly point of the Orland army in the central part of Mamor. However, when passing through the camp, Elliver saw that many troops belonging to the Greyshirt Valley Lords had visibly low morale.

Knowing that during this period, the Grayshank Valley army had directly faced the invasion of the undead and had probably suffered a heavy setback, Elliver felt mixed emotions.

From an emotional point of view, he felt a sense of pleasure when he saw the "royal party" forces that had oppressed the Thorn Flower family in the past suffer heavy losses in this disaster.

After all, he had fought bravely on the front lines and tried his best to show his allegiance to the royal party, but in the end he was still excluded from the distribution of benefits by the nobles of Greyshirt Valley and failed to get any share of the results of the war in Mamor County.

And now, the promised land of war merit that was stolen has become the most dangerous frontier in the fight against the undead scourge.

Elifu shook his head, not remembering how many times this year he had lamented the fickleness of fate.
He came all the way to the southeast area of ​​the camp, and after seeing the more elite king's army and Farayel's troops whose flags were relatively unfamiliar, he finally saw the kingdom's soldiers who still had a strong morale.

It is not surprising that the morale of the king's personal troops from the Territory of Kronia is high.

As for the Lord of Falair, the western princes who had just joined the battlefield and had not seen a major war for more than ten years might not have witnessed the horror of the undead army.

However, seeing that the soldiers in Faraye's army were wearing armor at the same rate as the king's army, Elifer was indeed envious of the military equipment in which even ordinary soldiers could each have a breastplate.

Recalling the prosperity of the western cities he had seen when he was a young student, the Lord of the Thorn Flower could only secretly envy the wealth of these businessmen, and only hoped that this battle with Redwin would allow those stingy people to lay a few golden eggs.

Withdrawing his gaze, Elliver led his army to set up camp in the reserved countryside near the river. Without taking a rest, he immediately headed towards the camp of Wester, planning to find his father-in-law, Count Rahman, to learn about the current battle situation before meeting the king.

Whether he can convince Ledwin III to allow him to go south to support Leon depends on the current war situation.

If Mamor's forces were too stretched, Elipher had no intention of wasting his time and energy to irritate the old dragon.

I have just got the opportunity to join the king's faction, and I have finally reached a political consensus with Leadwin. Even if it is just a show, I have to consider the king's attitude.

Leading his trusted men, he rode his horse around the central army camp on the high slope. Before he reached the camp of Duwana County, he saw a group of lords who seemed to have just been dismissed from the military meeting and were walking out of the king's camp in batches.

Elipher reined in his horse, dismounted and looked for the fierce figure of his wife's father, who was still strong and fierce.

However, when he took a glance at the not-so-good-looking gloomy expressions of the Greyshirt Valley royalists, some speculations emerged in Earl Elliver's mind.

Could it be that Ledwin III is using the Plague of the Undead to put the Greyshirt Valley army at the front and legitimately weaken the power of the Royalist Alliance?

This is a great opportunity.

Now, the royal lords in the counties of Grayshank Valley and Mamor County must go all out to fight against the invasion of the undead.

Even though those Greyshirt Valley royalist forces who were in league with Duke Roman realized that Redwin was more or less using their troops as cannon fodder.

But with General Trosa's Buck Family army leading the sacrifice, what excuses can these people find to retreat?
Elliver felt that if the undead scourge could be completely eliminated in the future, General Trosa would be able to rely on the power of Ostania and Kronia, and unite with West to completely suppress and control the entire Greyshirt Valley for Ledwin III.

In addition, in the territory of Kantadar that has been seized, there are new lords supported by countless kings including himself, as well as the new king of Kantadar who is a puppet.

Ledwin III did possess a powerful force that surpassed the nobles in the eastern part of the kingdom.

When Eliphius thought about this, he couldn't help but think that the old dragon's luck was as good as his own.

He looked towards the south thoughtfully.

In fact, no matter he or Ledwin, the countless opportunities they have now are almost all brought by the little griffin flapping its wings.
Who could have imagined that a year ago, a fugitive civilian boy would now turn the fate of the northern and southern kingdoms, countless princes, nobles and the common people upside down.

Is he really just the son of a Serian hunter?
Elifer shook his head.

Although he pretended to be stupid occasionally, he was not really stupid. He hadn't noticed the problem earlier, but how could he be kept in the dark by that kid's tricks time and time again?

If all the previous events could be explained by coincidence and chance encounters.

But in just a few months, this child grew from an ordinary teenager into a man strong and sturdy enough to seriously injure the southern dragon-slaying knight Valensis. His talent could no longer be described as a miracle. The world had never heard of a martial artist who improved at such a terrifying speed. In less than a year, he had reached a level that many heroes on the continent could not reach even after decades of hard training.

However, although he had long been suspicious, he had always deliberately not delved into the other party's secrets due to the numerous extraordinary experiences that the child had experienced.

Through the Nightmare Forest
Griffin Companion
Dispel the cursed land
Bauhinia Castle
The conspiracy of the foreign empire.
The Wolf Family's Young Master's Follower.
The Heraen dwarves disappeared for hundreds of years.
The last prince of the East Continent Kingdom
Magic with many tricks.
Elifer couldn't imagine how much there was about this child that he didn't know.

But feeling the other party's sincere help to him all along, he didn't want to expose it now, nor did he want to expose it in the future.

Just think of it as a gift from the gods. Elifer couldn't help but recall the ancient myths he read in an ancient book that recorded stories when he was young.

It is said that the gods once gave mortals a treasure box called Pandora, but while it brought blessings, it also prohibited people from opening it.

Closing it is a blessing, opening it may be a disaster.

Elifer believed in his intuition. Since the child had no ill will towards the family, it would be better for him to pretend that he knew nothing.

Especially now.
His eyes finally found Count Rahman, and Elifer hurried forward to greet him.

Seeing that his increasingly pleasing son-in-law had arrived with his troops, the Count of War Dog laughed and hugged him with extra enthusiasm.

The old earl seemed to have completely forgotten how many years ago, he was annoyed by the poor boy from the lost family and how he despised him for kidnapping his precious eldest daughter.

"Ha, Elifer, you came too late. Didn't you see those old guys with such ridiculous looks on their faces that they couldn't express their suffering?" Count Rahman laughed loudly as if no one was around.

More than a decade ago, he was a real "Wang Dang".

In the past, he followed Duke Wester and stood in the camp of His Majesty Velen to fight against these former "Eastern rebels" with swords. Now he is even less afraid of his gloating laughter being heard by the so-called "royal party" of the new dynasty.

Elifer already had a grudge against those old guys his father-in-law mentioned, so he would not stop them from laughing at him.

He even felt that if Ledwin III could hear his father-in-law's laughter, it would increase his favorability in the eyes of the old dragon.

Obviously, what Redwin wanted to see most was the remnants of his previous dynasty and the powerful Eastern Alliance fighting each other without reconciliation.

But after laughing, Elliver quickly got to the point and asked Rahman about the current situation in Mamor County.

The Count of War Dog told his son-in-law: "His Majesty Ledwin left 10,000 troops in Usato to control the Kantadar Royal Court, and only brought about 7,000 to 8,000 people here.

However, he also recruited 20,000 soldiers from Kronia and Ostania. After joining forces with the Greyshirt Valley army under the old man Trosa, His Majesty Ledwin now has about 33,000 people.

We in West County have left half of our troops in Magya County to guard the occupied land and prevent a counterattack by the Kantadars. Counting the troops from Xiwan County gathered by me, the Duke, and little Princess Ines, there are a total of 5,000 people here.

Before you, the 10,000 troops from the cities of Falayer also arrived, and after you, the 5,000 northern reinforcements from Blayden are still on the way."

Elifer listened silently. Not counting himself, the Kingdom's army of Mamor County would have gathered more than 53,000 people. It seemed that the 2,000 more and the less would not be too much.

As long as he could explain clearly to Ledwin the favorable situation on Leon's side, he estimated that the old dragon would not stop his two thousand men from going to the south for support.

".However, the warlocks in the north arrived faster than Earl North. All the warlocks came out of the warlock fortress. Ledwin issued an imperial edict to recruit them all. More than a dozen high-level warlocks, hundreds of warlock apprentices, and thousands of society servants are now stationed outside the army."

At this point, Rahman snorted coldly: "His Majesty asked them to atone for their sins by assisting the army in defeating the undead, saying that as long as they work hard, he will no longer pursue the crime of the association sorcerers colluding with the Atias people to assassinate the nobles.

Your Majesty is really able to let it go easily, but I haven't found them yet, and I want an explanation for Adelina's matter."

"Please rest assured, Lord Rahman, I will never let go of the assassin who intends to murder Adelina." Upon hearing this, Elifer solemnly promised his father-in-law.

"Well, let's talk about this later. Now we have to bury those skeletons that appeared from nowhere back into the soil." The Count of War Dog suppressed his anger and felt a headache when he thought of the horrific scenes he saw on the front line.

An army of tens of thousands of people is large enough to cover the sky and the sun, with no end in sight.

But only by actually seeing the hundreds of thousands of violent corpses swarming all over the mountains and plains under the dark clouds can one truly understand the suffocating feeling of powerlessness.

Besides, this is only a part of the undead.

Rahman couldn't imagine how many undead souls there were after the hundreds of thousands of corpses raging in Mamor County.

"I heard from His Majesty Ledwin that the battle in Deyatuk County is fierce. The army of corpse ghosts completely blocked the mountain pass of Dragon Claw Fortress not long ago. Fortunately, the high walls of Dragon Claw are indestructible. The 10,000 troops of the Border Marquis and the 10,000 reinforcements led by Garsom are now resisting the invasion of the undead.

Now, in the entire kingdom, only the army led by Loman has not come. I'm afraid that bastard Osdor has no intention of coming to help, relying on the remoteness of the country. " Rahman snorted.

“The people he sent said that a large army of barbarians from the Hektova Wasteland had invaded the border, and the Roman army was in a bitter battle and unable to come to the rescue.

What a fool this old man is. In such a remote place like Hectorva, how can a bunch of barbarians who can barely find a few pieces of clothing hold back the 40,000 troops led by Roman?

Then during the civil war, why didn't we see any barbarians invading and holding back his army?
After more than a decade, did all the barbarians in the wilderness suddenly apply Seralil's aphrodisiac cream?

This old guy was reluctant to send a thousand men to deal with the situation. He really didn't give Ledwin any face at all." Rahman was so excited that he even forgot to greet the king.

At this moment, a pleasant voice suddenly interrupted.

"Lord Rahman, you really can't blame Lord Osdor this time." Ines, followed by Agatha and Count Ackerman, walked towards the two counts who were talking.

The old warhound of the West cursed his former enemies as "old guys" and "immortals" in a loud voice, and the girl could hear it even from eight feet away.

Ines guessed that if her father was not younger than the other, the old earl would probably call her father the same in his heart.

Rahman's voice choked for a moment, then he coughed twice and stopped talking, then turned back to look at the little princess: "Your Highness."

The frail little girl in front of him had already won the respect of the princes of West.

Her extraordinary military skills and offensive strategies saved the Territory of West from countless unnecessary casualties.

Compared to Ledwin III, Rahman had a better impression of the little princess.

Unfortunately.
The old war dog sighed inwardly, it was a pity that she was a girl.

If he were a prince.
"Good day, Her Highness Ines. I didn't expect to meet you here again." Elifer bowed respectfully.

He had heard of the Third Princess who had made a name for herself in the Magya War, but he was still surprised that she had come to the forefront of Mamor County.

You know, the situation here is much more dangerous than the war against the Kantadars.

"Good day, Lord Elliver." Ines, wearing armor, smiled and returned the greeting.

She raised her eyebrows, as if she could see through the Earl of Thornflower's inner surprise from the other party's greeting. The girl smiled and said, "Why? Lord Elliver, do you think that a weak girl like me cannot fight side by side with all the brave knights?"

Elifer quickly denied: "You misunderstood. I have seen young and beautiful girls like you who are very brave and courageous. Of course, I would not underestimate your ability."

".Same as me? Oh, I remember now."

Ines instantly recalled the blonde girl whom she had met in Selva not long ago.

The girls on the territory of the Thornflower family are young and extremely brave. It seems that only the girl of the same age who Agatha herself admits to be powerful fits this description.

Ines put aside her memories for the moment and continued to clarify to Count Rahman: "What Lord Osdor's envoy said is true. My brother came to my father on a dragon not long ago and personally confirmed the Duke's predicament.

Outside the eastern border, the barbarians of the Hektova Wasteland united at some point, and their force was unprecedentedly fierce and massive. The entire territory of Loman mobilized more than 60,000 troops to resist them at the border. "

"I see. I spoke out of turn. Please forgive me, Your Highness." Rahman nodded awkwardly in apology.

Although it is well known that the current crown prince has close ties with Lord Roman, he would not go to the extent of helping the Osdor family deceive his father.

Elifer, who was standing by, frowned even more when he heard what Princess Ines said.

Barbarians invading the border?
What kind of critical situation could force Lord Loman to expand his army to 60,000, but he couldn't even produce a few thousand troops to deal with the kingdom's forced conscription order to deal with the undead disaster?
Disasters continue to plague the north and south. This year, the mainland has been plagued by many disasters.

Elifer sighed, then asked Ines, "Your Highness, is His Majesty still in the tent? I have something important to ask you."

"Well, father has just dissolved the meeting and he must be resting in the camp now." Ines nodded.

Elifer thanked them, said goodbye to the little princess and Rahman in a hurry, and was about to rush to the camp.

Just as he turned around, he heard Ines ask curiously behind him: "My Lord Earl is so anxious, is there something urgent?"

Elipher stopped walking, thinking that there was nothing to hide, and turned back to the girl and said:
“One of my capable generals recently united the remaining lords in the eastern part of Kantardar and led tens of thousands of troops to launch a counterattack against the undead.

The southern battlefield is short of troops now. If your majesty allows, I would like to go south to provide support immediately. If the southern defense line can be stabilized, it will echo your majesty's army from a distance, which will also reduce the pressure on the battlefield in Mamor County."

An Orland nobleman commanded the eastern lords of Kantardar?

Ines was stunned when she heard this.

You know, not far to the southeast of here, the Mammor family, which has now been submerged in the tide of undead corpses, refused to surrender to the Grayshirt Valley army and accept the alliance until their death.

Who has the ability to make the Kantardars put aside their hostility and willingly gather under the banner of the Orlanders?
In a trance, I don't know why
A figure suddenly popped up in her head.

"Are you talking about Baron Leon?"

(End of this chapter)