Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords.

Chapter 438 Sophia Awakens
The biting north wind, carrying dense snowflakes, lashed against the thick gray walls of Gaoyabao, howling like a mournful wail.

The world was a vast expanse of white, with the view blocked by a thick white curtain, and the once visible wilderness and mountains had vanished without a trace.

The castle towers and crenellations were covered with a thick layer of snow, like a heavy white hood.

Even the surface of the rushing river was frozen over, covered with a soft blanket of snow, and snow hares hopped across it, quickly disappearing into the snow.

Inside the High Cliff Fortress, the fireplace burned fiercely, trying to dispel the bone-chilling cold.

Wrapped in a thick wool blanket, Tang Jin sat in a high-backed chair near the fireplace, attempting to decipher an ancient book.

"I don't know when Li Wei will be back. By the time he returns, my study should be almost ready, so he will have a place to read."

Although the Frost Giants appeared out of nowhere and headed south, fortunately, High Cliff Fortress was not on their route, so the Turtle Elder still had some leisure time.

To be precise, Elder Turtle wasn't one to worry unnecessarily. Having witnessed too many grand scenes, he always believed that if the sky were to fall, there would be tall people to hold it up, and it wasn't his place to meddle as an old man.

"I just got back and you want me to read? Elder, you're treating me like a beast of burden." The lord, who had appeared behind him like a ghost and originally wanted to scare the turtle elder, realized that his whereabouts had already been discovered and lost interest. He grabbed a peach from the table and started eating it.

He had only been back for a short time when the people of Gaoyabao and the guards of the vassal tribes on duty saw that it was their lord and none of them uttered a sound.

“Li Wei, although you have already achieved great success, you still like to do these things that children like to play with.” The turtle elder’s eyes gleamed with wisdom as he chuckled, “I don’t even need to guess, I know it must be you behind this.”

“This is called being old in years but young at heart,” Li Wei said, repeating something that the others didn’t understand.

However, everyone was already used to their lord always spouting some seemingly profound but actually incomprehensible words.

There were quite a few people in the hall. When they saw their lord return, they all stood up to pay their respects, but the lord waved them off and sat down in the main seat.

No one sits here, but even after so long, it hasn't gathered any dust. The mahogany armchair, crafted by a master craftsman and retrieved from the Southern Territory, is polished to a shine, clearly indicating that it has been meticulously cleaned every day.

"Darling, you're back so quickly. You must have been through wind and rain on the way. Drink some hot milk to warm yourself up." Tina was there too, and she poured a cup of hot milk from the kettle and handed it to him.

Lady Gaoyabao wore a snow-white long dress, her hair casually piled up behind her, with only a few strands hanging down from her ears, complementing the blue pearl pendants dangling from her ears. She looked like she had shed her girlishness and had the air of a mature noblewoman, which made her even more attractive.

"Hmm." Li Wei nodded, and the two rabbit-woman maids beside him quickly took off his outer garment, revealing his muscular physique wearing only a close-fitting short shirt.

Tina didn't show favoritism and poured a glass for Sersne, who had already transformed into a human, as well.

The Black Dragon Queen neither refused nor thanked her; she simply scooped up the steaming sweet milk with her slender fingers and slowly sipped it.

"How's the war going on the Persian Gulf Empire?" The turtle elder also came over, but being old, he didn't like sweets and preferred tea instead, so he poured himself a cup.

"Let me start from there, grinding away bit by bit," the lord said.

People around stopped what they were doing and gathered around. Everyone knew that their lord was a master storyteller, so whenever he was in the mood to tell a story, no one would be absent.

So the lord embellished the story a little and then recounted everything that had happened in the Persian Gulf.

He naturally possessed the demeanor of a storyteller, and given the truly dramatic events of this trip, he immediately captivated everyone's attention from the moment he began to speak.

From the Persian Gulf Vanguard Army's victory at Sturgeon Harbor, to Sersney's dragon breath that annihilated a legendary enemy, all the way to his final sword strike that cleaved the heavens, creating an abyss over ten miles away, even the Turtle Elder was captivated by the spectacle.

When Chief Medusa suddenly led her people to abandon darkness and embrace light, all for the sake of a prophecy about a future husband, all the girls felt as if an invisible hand had suddenly gripped their hearts, and their breath caught in their throats. They felt that this story, which only existed in fairy tales, was very romantic, but at the same time, they had a bad feeling, because the lord had left them in suspense.

The plot progresses to the point where the enemy's bizarre magical weapons cause the expeditionary force to suffer heavy losses. When the expeditionary force arrives at Whale Harbor with high vigilance, they find it to be an empty city. Everyone has already quietly found a place to sit down and listen.

When the conversation turned to the enemy's combination of feints and real attacks, and how their true objective was to first eliminate the Taylorist mages outside, leaving the expeditionary force in a bleak situation, the only sound left in the hall was the crackling of burning firewood.

So the lord then recounted in the most exaggerated tone how he had turned the tide and saved the Tyresh mages from dire straits.

Everyone was amazed. The rabbit-girls covered their mouths, their beautiful eyes glistening with tears as they looked at the lord.

Just when everyone thought the story was over, Li Wei simply smiled and, in the most calm and unflappable tone, revealed the fact that the important city walls of Wirtz, a city in the southern province, had been occupied by a million demons, the main force of the entire Persian Gulf Empire had been destroyed, and the army of the Sith Kingdom was also besieged inside.

Li Wei was quite satisfied with the astonished crowd in the hall. Just when everyone thought there was more to hear, the lord waved his hand and said, "We'll talk about the rest of the story later. Let's all go."

The highest level of storytelling is leaving room for what's to come, and Your Excellency is certainly a master of this.

His actions naturally piqued everyone's interest, but also left everyone feeling like a resentful woman, yet forced to leave.

Looking at Tina and the other girls, the lord didn't wait for them to ask before smiling and saying, "Tina, I was afraid you'd be lonely in High Cliff Fortress, so I found you another little sister. Aren't I a thoughtful husband?"

"Is it the Medusa clan chief?" Tina sighed, as if she had already guessed.

"I didn't want to either, but she insisted on coming with me, and I couldn't just push her away to someone else." The lord, who had been speaking with righteous indignation, suddenly chuckled, "Then I thought about it again, a legendary powerhouse plus a Medusa clan joining High Cliff Fortress for free, isn't that like a pie falling from the sky..."

"So you agreed?" Tina stared at the lord with her beautiful big eyes.

"Yes, that's how it is." The lord, for his part, was completely unfazed.

Tina wasn't actually angry.

Because she had long been prepared for Li Wei to have countless women, since this Lord of High Cliff Fortress was simply too outstanding, she didn't care about any of that as long as Li Wei still loved her.

Not to mention, this time it was the other party who took the initiative to become Li Wei's wife.

“Alright.” Tina wiped the milk stains from the lord’s mouth. “Anyway, as long as you don’t do something absurd like His Majesty Harland building the Garden of a Thousand Flowers, I won’t interfere in that regard.”

“Of course.” Li Wei nodded and took Tina’s small hand in his. “You know me. I’m not a promiscuous person.” Tina’s hand was still being held by him. She felt the warmth from his palm. Her beautiful eyes held a hint of reproach and helpless smile as she gently squeezed his fingers.

"Heh, youth is truly wonderful. This old man has lived so long, seen countless heroes and valiant men, countless people chasing power, authority, and wealth." Just then, Elder Tang Jin, the turtle-man who had been nestled by the warm fireplace, leisurely sipping his hot tea, spoke slowly, his aged voice carrying a knowing, mocking tone:

"Li Wei is truly one of a kind, pursuing a life free from promiscuity yet always attracting powerful and unique partners."

A suppressed chuckle suddenly rippled through the hall.

The lord, with skin as thick as a city wall, not only didn't take it to heart, but instead raised his eyebrows smugly: "What does this prove? It proves that I, your lord, am exceptionally charming."

So the maids covered their eyes and peeked, while the barbarians touched their bulging muscles and grimaced.

With a leader like that, not a single orc girl in their tribe would be interested in him. They would have to use their connections to arrange a marriage, and even then, probably only those skinny, weak orcs would be interested.

"Alright, enough chit-chat." Li Wei tapped the table with his finger, and the entire hall immediately fell silent. Everyone sat up straight, quietly waiting for the important event to come.

"Where are those frost giants now? Have they caused any damage along the way?"

The lord asked two questions in a row.

Tang Jin's relaxed expression vanished instantly. He put down the hot tea in his hand, and the tortoise shell made a slight rubbing sound as he sat up straight.

He slowly pulled out a leather scroll, which had been treated with special oils to make it waterproof and moisture-proof, from his wide robe sleeves and carefully spread it out on the table.

The flickering firelight illuminated the topographical map drawn on the scroll, which had several markings drawn with charcoal pencil.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on them,” Tang Jin’s voice became steady, with a hint of solemnity. He pointed with his withered finger to a thick line on the map that meandered southward and was marked: “They are moving south along the Giant’s Back Mountain Range. They are not fast, but they are unusually determined, like moving icebergs.”

Judging by the time, we should have already crossed this mountain range and entered the tundra region by now.

"In other words, at this rate, they will reach a small town called Laru on the northern border in just four days."

"As for destruction?" The turtle elder sighed. "The very existence of these top-tier ice magic creatures is a form of destruction."

Tang Jin pointed to the snowflakes fluttering in the wind outside the window: "Since their appearance, the snow in the wilderness has never stopped, falling day and night. If it weren't for sending people to clear the snow every day, Gaoyabao would probably have been buried by the snow long ago."

Li Wei leaned back in the mahogany chair, his fingertips unconsciously tapping the smooth armrest, making a soft, tinkling sound.

The firelight danced in his deep eyes, reflecting the light of contemplation.

Frost giant.

As lower-ranking giants, these creatures claimed to be the bastard sons of the Titans, and thus naturally inherited the Titans' unparalleled melee combat abilities, while also possessing extremely profound talents in frost magic.

The strongest among them, the Thunder Giant, is the pinnacle, capable of rivaling dragons in magic and battling against the Golden Behemoth, making it an undisputed top-tier magical creature.

For ordinary people, they are the embodiment of calamity, a moving natural disaster, and an invincible deity.

But for the lord... it's nothing special.

He defeated and subdued a dragon stronger than the Frost Giant, and killed countless Balrogs, which were on the same level as the Frost Giant.

He has slain gods in the trial world and killed demon lords in the material world.

Therefore, it wouldn't be surprising for Livi to kill another group of frost giants.

If it weren't for the fact that he wasn't in High Cliff Fortress and that these guys could affect the weather, the lord wouldn't have taken them seriously at all.

Compared to that, Li Wei was more concerned about what had happened in Gonda.

Whether it was due to a power shift caused by political struggles or other reasons, the impact on Gaoyabao was significant.

After all, the expeditionary force was still fighting on the front lines, and the appearance of the demons made the situation even more unpredictable. Now, problems had arisen in the rear, and if things were not handled properly, the entire expeditionary force would be in a dilemma.

"What did Flina say?" Li Wei continued to ask.

"Duke Frina has already dispatched troops to Laru Town to evacuate the residents," Tina interjected. "However, with so many frost giants, even Duke Frina doesn't have a good solution and is writing to every duke and royal family for help."

"After all, so many frost giants are no longer just a matter for one duchy; the entire Debe should be responsible for them, and they are also waiting for you, Darling."

"They should have arrived in Laru town a long time ago, just waiting for us to get there."

"Without realizing it, Darling, you have become the backbone of everyone." Tina said, holding the lord's warm hand. "When you were here, no one noticed, but as soon as you left, everyone panicked."

"...That's good, it proves I'm doing a good job as the head of the household." The lord said with a smile.

The matter of dealing with the frost giants should be done sooner rather than later; delaying is irresponsible to all life in the wilderness.

It's so cold now that even the inhabitants of Gaoyabao are wrapped in three layers of clothing and unwilling to go out, and countless creatures have frozen to death in the wilderness.

However, just as the lord was about to get up and head to the town called Laru, a high-pitched dragon roar pierced through the clouds, stirring up a flurry of falling snowflakes that drifted through the window.

Even though almost a year has passed, everyone still recognizes that voice.

"It's Sophia, she's awake?" Tina, who was very close to Sophia, said happily.

(End of this chapter)