Knight and Wand

Chapter 56 Can’t afford it

Taking only Doson's body, General Trosa's mighty army set out again.

The green deer-head flag, surrounded by knights, gradually faded away in the distance.

At the entrance of the village, little Lina kept waving goodbye to the departing knights.

Old Brian held the poor girl's hand and watched the Deer Head Flag fly away. His tense heart finally relaxed.

He looked at Leon who was following Baron Elliver in front of him, and couldn't help but feel lucky that no accident happened.

These three young men from other places attracted the attention of all the bigwigs, especially Trosa.

However, what he didn't expect was that the so-called crossing the nightmare forest that he had never believed in was actually true.
"Sir, what is the identity of that general?" Leon realized at this moment that he still didn't know who the old noble was until the other party left with his troops.

"Trosa Forrest." Baron Elliver introduced him to Leon, "Earl of the Stag of Eldosk and Leysen County, the famous 'Kingmaker'."

"Kingmaker?"

"Yes, this is an honorable title bestowed by the king. Our current Majesty, Redwin III, overthrew the tyrant of the previous generation and ascended the throne with the support of this old earl." Elliver explained.

After saying that, the baron patted the young man's arm and said, "We can slowly learn the history of the kingdom later. Now follow me. I have something to tell you. If you want to become a qualified knight, you still need to do a lot."

"I'm willing to follow your advice." Leon nodded.

I followed the current feudal lord to his temporary residence in the village.

"Please sit down first." As soon as Elifer entered the room, he called the servants to help him take off his armor.

"Do you need me to call Lohak and Azerien?" Leon asked the Baron who obviously had something to say.

The two companions were not around at the moment, because after the coronation was completed, the baron asked Lohak to carry Azerien back to rest.

Baron Elliver stretched his stiff body, turned around and sat down with ease, and shook his head to Leon: "No need, let the injured child rest well, and I can see that the two of them follow your lead. Although Azerien is the son of a noble, you are the leader among the three. It is enough to tell you the important things, so that I can save myself the trouble."

"I don't deserve that. You are our monarch now, and I am not a leader."

Leon felt a little embarrassed, and was almost thinking of flattering someone like "There is no other sun in the world".

After all, this isn't just chatting with ordinary friends.

Although, along the way, both partners have indeed been following all the decisions they have made.

But if they were to admit this fact in front of the current feudal lord, would it seem that the three of them were forming their own clique?
"Don't think too much. I won't doubt your loyalty because of such a small matter, haha. Or rather, I don't think you are too loyal to me at the moment." Baron Thornflower waved his hand and gave the young man a surprising smile.

"Sir, you have bestowed such a favor on us, and we are not ungrateful."

Leon's expression remained unchanged, but he was sweating a little in his heart.

Big brother, what do you mean by testing the newcomer's attitude right away?

"I'm not questioning your character."

Elifer did not give Leon time to think about it, and continued leisurely: "But loyalty that can be bought with benefits is not loyalty, at least not in my eyes. If I could buy your loyalty with just three knight titles and three manors, I would not have given you fiefs from the beginning.

It's so easy to make you 'loyal', if someone offers you a price several dozen times higher in the future, it will be easy for you to betray me, right? "

"So what do you think loyalty is?"

Leon asked at the right time, he was finally familiar with the rhythm of the conversation.

It’s a bit like drinking with the company boss in the previous life.

Some big leaders like to expound on life philosophy with their subordinates when they get in a high position, but speaking from the heart can indeed help to bring people closer together.

Instead of answering, Earl asked, "If I gave you a higher title and unimaginable wealth and asked you to kill Azerien and Lohak, would you do it?"

Leon shook his head as a matter of course, of course not.

Not to mention his life-and-death companion, even if it was an innocent passerby who had done nothing to provoke him, he would not use the other person's life to exchange for his own interests.

If this kind of decision required the safety of someone important to him, it might be difficult for him to give a definite answer.

But if it was just pure inducement, no matter what kind of reward was promised, it would not shake his principles in the slightest.

"You see, this is true loyalty." Baron Elliver smiled and said, "And I believe that their answers will be exactly the same as yours.

I am not so foolish as to think that simply granting them a knighthood and a fiefdom would make those two children more loyal to me than they are to you."

Hearing such sincere words, Leon felt relieved. The Baron of Thorn Flower in front of him was unexpectedly straightforward.

The baron waved his hand and said, "Well, as your feudal lords, we will have plenty of opportunities to fight side by side and win each other's loyalty in the future. Let's stop talking here.

Let's talk about the more important matter for you right now. What do you want to do with the war horses in Selva Village? Keep them for yourself? Or sell them?"

Leon answered without hesitation: "If you need it, you can take it."

Elifer laughed and shook his head: "Do you think I am the kind of lord who would steal the spoils of war from my vassal?

I think you haven't considered the cost of owning these spoils, right?
Do you think you can raise a warhorse just by feeding it grass?"

"You mean we can't afford to raise those horses?" Leon finally understood what Lord Feng meant.

Elifer nodded and said, "I sent knights to help you check it out. They are the best Uriah war horses, and the three horses in the blacksmith's backyard are even more expensive.

There are nineteen war horses in total. The annual food and service will cost you at least two hundred gold crowns. Let me calculate it for you." The baron explained the expenses of raising horses to the naive child in detail. While speaking, he also felt the pain, because the boy only had a dozen horses.

But the Baron's own stable has a bunch of money-burning ancestors, and they spend much more than this amount every year.
Leon couldn't help but frown as he listened to the baron mentioning the expenses one by one.

He took back his words in his heart.

Raising horses is not the same as raising a car. It's more like raising a chariot. However, there are only nineteen war horses, and it costs more than two hundred gold coins a year.

The small treasury that the three of them had placed under Olivia's bed was used entirely to raise horses, and was only enough to last less than a year and a half.

Unless they sold their Kantadar noble armor and noble swords to subsidize the expenses of raising horses, they would probably have about four hundred or so gold coins.

As for the remaining weapons and armor of ordinary servants and mercenaries, although there are many of them, all the soldiers' equipment added together can only be sold for a few hundred gold coins, which is enough to last for a year, which is a drop in the bucket.

This is the case when they completely ignore other daily expenses and spend all their money on raising horses.

"Excuse me, sir. If we add up the annual income from Selva, Longka and Pleton that you gave us, can we not afford to support these war horses?" Leon asked without giving up.

“Well, if the agricultural production of Selva Village is restored as soon as possible, together with the two fiefs, the expenses of these three manors combined will not be a problem, but don’t you consider other expenses?

If you raise war horses, you will always need soldiers to ride them, and their salaries, as well as your attendants, servants, cooks, butlers, accountants, blacksmiths, and heralds, will not be small every year even if you do not plan to build your own castle.

Don't forget, we are still at war with the south. If His Majesty the King suddenly imposes taxes, or the royal family suddenly gets the urge to collect random gifts, you won't be able to make up the money even if you squeeze all the peasants in the manor dry."

As he spoke, the Baron smiled bitterly and couldn't help but recall the scene many years ago when the Thorn Flower Family chose the wrong side and fell into poverty.

Leon rubbed his forehead helplessly and finally gave up the unrealistic idea.

If I want to use the money to do more things as soon as possible, I can only keep some of these war horses.

In the end, including the three noble war horses, Leon kept a total of nine horses, and the rest were purchased by Baron Elliver at market price.

Only when you manage the household do you know how expensive firewood and rice are. Even before he took office, Leon felt what it meant to be money-spinning after just a quick calculation.

“Considering the dire situation here now, when I return this time, I will send all the young and strong Selva serving in the border fortress back home. This is the last thing I can do to help you.

From now on, you are the real masters of this land. I will no longer interfere in any affairs of your territory. Learn how to be a qualified lord, young man. "

Baron Elliver sincerely hoped that these three young men could grow into talents under his command as soon as possible: "Don't worry, before I leave, I will leave a senior knight to guide you for a while. He will tell you how to govern the territory and how to fulfill your due obligations to me and the kingdom. You can ask him if you have any questions."

"I will never let you down." Having said this, Leon realized that the conversation was over, so he stood up and bowed sincerely.

Whether in this era or in the previous life, it is a blessing to meet such a leader who appreciates you and is sincere.

At this moment, he also understood why a lord like Liu Bei was particularly respected and followed by his subordinates.

Seeing Feng Jun nod and signaling that he could leave, Leon was about to turn around when he suddenly thought of something.

Reaching out to open the leather bag on his belt, Leon pushed aside the debris with his fingers and touched the parchment that was already at the bottom.

"My lord, it's been so long that I almost forgot. When I 'picked up' your family sword, I also found a small roll of strange map. I wonder if it is also yours."

Leon handed the meaningless parchment to the baron.

"Oh? What is that?" Elifer took it and opened it to take a look.

After unfolding the two palm-sized paper rolls and seeing the extremely familiar outline, he was slightly stunned, and his eyes flashed with some complicated emotions.

"Yes, this is also a thing of the Thorn Flower Family." The Baron sighed and took the candlestick from the table next to him.

He placed the parchment on the candle flame.

Leon's eyes instantly became as sharp as Tu Meichan's.

Masaka?
Are there any secrets on this map that will only appear after fire?

结果
Just when he thought he was about to witness some special treasure map encryption method.

The parchment just burned plainly without any encryption.

The candle flame directly burned the map into ashes.

"This unrealistic hope should have ended long ago."

Baron Elliver murmured to Leon, "Forget about this ghost thing that has devoured generations of people. It is a hollow lie and not worth mentioning."

Leon looked at Lord Feng, whose expression was gloomy, and nodded in confusion.

Anyway, he never expected that the meaningless parchment could be of any help to him.

Turning around and leaving the house where Baron Elliver was staying, Leon walked down the stairs with a thump, ready to find his companions to discuss the territory and spoils.

"Boy, are you free? Oh no, now I should call you Sir Leon."

Leon turned his head and saw the burly man in armor, whom General Trosa called the sorcerer consultant, who seemed to have been waiting for him downstairs for a long time.

"Didn't you go with General Trosa?" Leon asked in confusion.

"It's okay. I can catch up with the general's troops at any time. Now let me see the crossbow arrow you mentioned."

Sorry, I played with AI and worked on the character settings after get off work today. You should be able to see it on the details page on your mobile phone, but it’s late today, so I can only update 3500 words at a time. But I will definitely make up for it with another or words tomorrow.



(End of this chapter)