Throne of the North.

Chapter 66 Prestige
Ryan sat where Grand Duke Moriarty had sat before. The animal skin of the chair had been stripped off, leaving only the cold seat.

Looking at the scattered people, Ryan nodded at them.

"Why don't you leave together?"

"Leave? Where to? Exnel is our home, the Crucible City, and our last fortress."

A middle-aged man started laughing. A bottle of wine appeared in his hand, which he drank from it in big gulps.

"My people followed the Mage Academy to the depths of the glacier, but I don't want to go on."

"My grandfather came to the south from the far north, and my father brought me across the cold winter to the Crucible City. But when he came to me, he didn't want to escape anymore."

"I am not a noble, and the title of Viscount is inherited by my brother, so I don't feel any burden in making this choice."

Ryan looked at the others.

"I don't want to live on the glacier. My father died there. I don't want to go there."

"The Crucible is our home."

“They didn’t want to take me.”

There are many reasons to stay, some are calm, some are helpless, and some are regretful.

"The Viscount has asked us to come here, but I don't know what it is."

Ryan looked at these people.
"No matter what happened in the past, you will probably all be my people from now on, so I plan to give you some things to do."

"Those soldiers are all converted from serfs. I want you to be their leaders and lead them to the city walls to fight against the cult."

"Sigh~"

Almost everyone's eyes widened when they heard Ryan's words.

"It's impossible for us to go to the battlefield with those mud-legged people."

Some people's eyes were filled with fear. It was absolutely impossible for them to go to the battlefield, never in this lifetime. If it was a war between other nobles, it would be fine, but for those cultists, their minds had been corroded by the abyss. They were monsters.

The war between nobles was more disciplined. Even if you lost, you only had to pay a ransom. But now, if you are not careful, you will die.

"Of course you can refuse, but if the Crucible City is breached, I think your ending will not be much better, right?"

"Or maybe you can catch up with the wizards if you give chase now."

"My Lord Viscount, what can we gain if we go to the battlefield?"

Ryan looked at the person asking the question and answered:

"I will grant you asylum and regard you as my people in the name of the deer spirit. And because of your knowledge and etiquette, I will allow you to obtain a piece of land and build your own house."

"I will be your lord, and you will be my people."

"Viscount Wittman has knocked us down from nobles to commoners in one fell swoop."

Ryan looked at these people and smiled indifferently.

"What else do you have besides your noble blood and your insignificant and useless wealth?"

"You cannot become knights, and you cannot go very far on the path of magic. The only difference between you and common people is your birth."

"Whether you are commoners or not is not up to me to decide. If you are truly qualified to be nobles, then no one has the right to deprive you of your glory."

"You know, your ancestors became nobles because of their achievements, which made your bloodline noble."

"In the depths of winter, you lost your territory, your wealth, and your people, and came to the Crucible City."

"Now I want you to pick up the glory that belongs to the nobility, starting with the war." Ryan stood up and left, his voice echoing in this magnificent parliament hall.

"You can refuse, but if I don't regret it, you better not regret it either."

Ryan walked out of the parliament hall, turned over and mounted his warhorse, galloping across this noble land. The black hoof prints on the clean ground were extremely dazzling.

"Uu~!"

Ryan pulled the reins, and his arrival made all eyes fall on him, but no one dared to breathe loudly.

Because at this moment, Ryan was standing in front of the city gate, and behind him were two hundred neatly-lined, fully-armed knights.

Long before the mages left simultaneously, Ryan opened the plane door and asked Harrington to return to the frozen land to bring back all the soldiers. He did not go back in person because the plane door would be closed after he returned, and it would be disastrous if he appeared outside the city when he opened it again.

Two hundred majestic and silent knights appeared in the Crucible City, shocking and delighting everyone.

Ryan drew out his knight's sword, and the mithril armor flashed brightly in the sun. He didn't say any nonsense, but just raised the sword and bathed in the sun.

"Must win!!!"

With a loud shout, the two hundred armored knights behind him raised their lances high and shouted in unison.

"Must win!!!"

A blood-red shadow of a stag appeared above the army of only two hundred people, making a faint but heart-shaking deer cry.

The spirit of the stag! Countless eyes looked at the shadow of the stag, breathing rapidly. Some people grew up listening to those countless stories, and some hoped that the stag would appear to save the people of Exnel. At this moment, these people began to gradually agree with the soldiers.

And as if influenced by them, the sound of thunder and waves began to rise in the Crucible City.

"Must win!!!"

Ryan rode on a warhorse and led two hundred soldiers to charge and trample on the streets of the Crucible City. His voice was loud and fell into the ears of every citizen of the Crucible City.

"Winter has taken away our past, and the devil's followers are coming to occupy our land. They plunder our food, eat our flesh, and sacrifice our souls."

"I, Ryan Clayton, will never allow such a thing to happen in my territory!"

"We swear by our family's honor that no one can take our land and food. If the devil wants to kill us, then the long swords in our hands will also kill the devil of the abyss!"

"I will protect my loyal people and defend my land!"

"I swear by the spirit of the stag that I will fight the invaders outside the city to the death!!!"

"I swear by the spirit of the stag that I will lead all my people to the land of survival!"

"Roar!!!"

As Ryan roared, a huge shadow of a stag appeared above his head. The lifelike stag seemed to bring everyone back to more than a hundred years ago, to the prosperous, free and easy continent of Exnel that was full of stories and wine.

Many old men knelt on the ground with tears in their eyes, calling for the protection of the stag.

At this moment, Ryan's reputation reached its peak. He returned to the north wall and climbed up the wall. Wherever he passed, all the soldiers lowered their heads to show their awe and loyalty.

Ryan held up his knight's sword and looked at the cultists outside the city who were charging from afar and attacking the city once again.

"Soldiers, kill our enemies!"

"Must win!!!"

The soldiers, who were originally just slaves, were like chickens with blood injected at this moment. They kept shouting and throwing stones down. After throwing all the stones, they held on to forks, wooden hammers and other farm tools tightly and kept stabbing at the cultists who were climbing up.

(End of this chapter)