Throne of the North.

Chapter 764 Grand Duke Leta's unease, Gerald's dissatisfaction

Ryan still has a lot of resources at his disposal.

These items came from the Hot Springs Province, originally gifts from the emperor, and most of them were eventually given to Ryan by the nobles of the Hot Springs Province due to time constraints.

Ryan is now doing the same thing. Among the war resources, food can be stored for a long time, but many of the magical potions that help in the war cannot be stored for long periods of time.

It's not a problem with potions, but rather that magicians don't have enough crystal bottles to store them, let alone more precious gems and agates.

Stored in silver cans, which are also volatile, they were perfect for being delivered to the Kingdom of Andara to train new high-ranking knights.

Regarding the reconstruction of the Paladin, Ryan will naturally not use the Buck Legion as a model. He will provide various conveniences, including these war resources, but he will not personally take charge. In the end, what this extraordinary legion of the Andara Kingdom will become depends on the Andara Kingdom itself.

Ryan's purpose was simply to completely bind himself to the Kingdom of Andara.

After staying in the Kingdom of Andara for a few days and seeing the massive construction in the royal city, knowing that the king and the royal family had begun to rebuild the Temple Knights with all their might, Ryan set off and left.

The king was still very reluctant to part with him, and he hoped that Ryan could stay longer so that the resources from the Frozen Territory could be delivered more quickly.

Ryan naturally refused, saying the orc purge was not yet over, and then headed to Dawn City.

The place has been completely transformed. Merchants from all over the world have gathered here, and trade goods from all directions have piled up here, making it a lively place. At the same time, it is also the center of the Dawn Cult, with tens of thousands of Dawn Cult members devoutly preaching in the city.

Ryan is the master of this city, having taken it from the Dawn Church years ago. Therefore, merchants from various trade guilds who enter and leave this trading city inevitably have to give him money. In addition, the fact that Priest Sven called him "Godfather" made the Dawn Cult members accept that the city was not in Priest Sven's hands. In their view, Ryan, the Imperial Baron, was also part of the Dawn Cult.

The power of faith is truly terrifying. The help provided by Archbishop Adriana was impeccable, and later, the words of the Sven priest were also regarded as truth by the believers.

Ryan felt that this path to 'truth' was much simpler than that of the magicians who pursued truth.

The City of Dawn is not controlled by Ryan, nor by the Sven priests, but by Queen Leta.

The king does not want this woman, whose status in the Kingdom of Andara is now rather awkward, to appear in the royal city.

Queen Letta was happy to stay there, ignoring the disapproving looks of the nobles. Since she was there, all the gatherings of those noblewomen would inevitably be held there, as she held the highest position in that circle of women in the kingdom.

Moreover, because of their interests, the women also gathered here, so Queen Letta was not alone.

"What was the meaning behind those women you sent over before?"

Ryan's arrival displeased the queen, who was subsequently overthrown by Ryan.

"Those maids? They have nothing to do with me; they were sent by the Marquis of Hot Springs."

"The Marquis of Hot Springs of the Empire? Why don't you take him back to Rhinoceros Horn Mountain?"

Ryan did not answer the question. Avril was about to give birth on Rhinoceros Horn Mountain, and sending her to Dawn City was the best way to avoid trouble.

Queen Letta quickly ran out of energy to dwell on this matter, and she paused on certain things that she was supposed to say. She clenched her teeth and then burst out of her throat amidst Ryan's laughter.

The next morning, the sun shone brightly. Ryan opened the window and felt the warmth of the sun. Behind him, on the bed where there was no shadow, Queen Leta subconsciously tucked her long, white legs into the blankets.

"Can a legendary character really improve by that much?"

She murmured wearily until evening when a maid shook her, at which point she got up to wash and dress, and then spoke to Ryan about something.

“My brother is very dissatisfied with the army of the Andara Kingdom that you helped establish, which makes his Lich Army disliked by the nobles once again.”

Queen Leta, who rules Dawn City, is also very famous and powerful, so the Grand Duke Leta would naturally not give up this relationship.

Ryan wasn't surprised, but it was a little strange that Queen Letta was used as the middleman in this matter.

"What does Your Excellency want to do? Even without me, the Witch Ghost would not be recognized by the nobles and the masses of the kingdom. Even he himself has only changed the nobles' views because of the changes in the Kingdom of Andara over the years."

Ryan continued:

"Does your brother know that I'm helping the royal family rebuild the Knights of the Temple?"

"Okay, but can you really do it?"

Queen Letta was unaware of this; she simply embraced Ryan with a look of adoration.

"For many years, the old king had wanted to rebuild the Temple Knights, which he had destroyed, but he had never been able to. Over the years, the nobles of the Kingdom of Andara believed that the extraordinary legion would become history along with the old king."

She was ignorant of politics, but the letter from the Grand Duke of Letta told her that once the Knights of the Temple were rebuilt, the king's dependence on the Grand Duke's family would plummet.

Ryan embraced the woman in front of him, greedily inhaling the scent of her hair, but his gaze remained as calm as the ice on the river north of Rhinoceros Horn Mountain when he spoke to Queen Leta.

“You can write back to your brother. The military of the Kingdom of Andara is destined to be divided into three parts: the Kingdom Legion, the Royal Extraordinary Legion, and the Noble Army.”

“He should not have gained the king’s trust through military means; if he had, he would have been destined to be my enemy.”

"If the Grand Duke of Leta's family wants to become normal people in this land, they should start by addressing the issue of 'special products'."

"To be honest, in my opinion, as one of the few grand dukes in this land, and a grand duke with real power, your brother has actually done a pretty bad job. He inherited power at too young an age."

The two highest-ranking members of the Grand Duke Letta family are Grand Duke Letta and Queen Letta. Grand Duke Letta inherited the title when he was less than fifteen years old.

The most powerful legends in the Grand Duke Leta's extraordinary system have all transformed into witch-demon bloodlines, losing most of their human intelligence and having mutated souls.

In other words, no one could help him as someone who had been through similar experiences.

In fact, from this perspective, Grand Duke Leta has done a good job, making the Leta family a recognized part of the nobles of the Kingdom of Andara.

However, if Grand Duke Leta's ambitions are greater and he is not satisfied with this, he will inevitably clash with Ryan.

Because it is impossible for Ryan to relinquish military control over this land, and the Northern Military Council is the medium through which he exercises his power, while Grand Duke Leta wants to become the military commander of the Kingdom of Andara.

"The North has enormous wealth; he's too closed off. We can work together to uncover that wealth."

"If he's willing, I can write an invitation for him to see the changes in the empire; perhaps then he'll change his mind."

Ryan said this and began to try his delicious food.

I stayed in Dawn City for three days, but my main purpose... I didn't achieve my main purpose because I was dragged down by Queen Leta.

But on his way out, seeing the appearance of those Dawn Cult members, Ryan realized that his bard, Sven, had not strayed from the right path. "The power of faith, even without actively seeking it, is the most lucrative."

Ryan sighed. The first quarter had passed. The Sven priests had sent him hundreds of thousands of gold coins. After arriving in the Frozen Territory, Ryan sent them to the Kingdom of Coran to replenish Ryan's treasury there, thereby attracting more nobles to join him.

This wealth of hundreds of thousands of gold coins was the surplus that the Dawn Church never asked for, and even refused gifts from believers, reduced offerings on prayer days, and even kept a portion of it inside the church.

The number is enormous, but it also comes from the kingdoms of Andara, Sera, Coran, and Gerald, a vast territory that yielded this result.

It was only after seeing this financial report that Ryan realized that in the Kingdom of Coran, those clergy members of the Dawn Church actually had their own land and various inherent sources of income for their churches.

No wonder the conflict between the nobles of the Kingdom of Coran and the clergy of the Holy See exploded so easily; Ryan only had to do a little instigation to cause a war between the two sides.

This is difficult in other places, and it is also difficult for clergy to have the same authority as nobles.

In the entire continent of Norris, this is probably the only one of its kind. The Kingdom of Coran is too far from Dawn Mountain, which has made the clergy there increasingly unscrupulous.

In short, all those things now belong to the Dawn Cult. There are no longer any Dawn People or even believers of light on this land, only the Dawn Cult.

Where did those who refused go? The struggle between beliefs and ideologies can be quite brutal.

"If those lands were sold to nobles..."

Ryan pondered this possibility because, in his view, clergy had countless means to acquire power and wealth, and land... was the most dangerous among them.

This applies not only to the rulers of that land, but also to Ryan; he does not want the Dawn Cult to become landowners.

It's inconvenient to control.

"Perhaps, the king would be a good choice."

After weighing the pros and cons, Ryan still needs to think it over carefully.

Meanwhile, Ryan's carriage had already appeared in Gerald's noble territory.

The last time I officially came here was during the period of conflict and war between the two sides.

However, the conflict between the two sides has now disappeared, and they are now very close.

Moreover, the war has brought about change. The Earl of Golden Eyes once held greater dominance over this land, but now it is the Earl of Dark Eyes, Zelton Gerald, father of Clement Gerald.

As for Earl Gerald of Golden Eyes, he had aged considerably, and the events of the past few years had taken their toll on him.

The events of these past years have made the once young Earl Mo Tong even more mature.

Ryan's arrival here was naturally for the purpose of commanding the army to clear the orcs from the northern mountains and fields, and to promote the unification of Gerald's territory.

On this land, the two Earls Gerald were originally very close.

This bloodline originally had two direct descendants.

"The purge of the orcs is nearing its end. I wonder what the combined forces of the Gerald noble lords plan to do?"

Like several other kingdoms, the Gerald noble territory, which was already a level weaker, became even less competitive under the ancient romantic tradition of 'kings and knights'. After Ryan seized power, he gathered the armies of the Golden Eyes and the Dark Eyes together to form a Gerald army of only one thousand men.

And the entourage of the knights and their servants...

Later, when Ryan sent troops to provide support, that auxiliary army was disbanded. In Ryan's words, the battlefield had no place for cannon fodder who were only filled with fear and panic.

Under the pressure of the orc invasion, Gerald needs help and support from those around him, especially from the Kingdom of Coran, with whom he has a very strained relationship.

Therefore, they couldn't oppose Ryan's decision at all.

Thus, the joint army has continued to this day.

Ryan's arrival was due to the impending end of the war, with both sides considering reclaiming their knights.

"In my opinion, this army that belongs to Gerald should stay."

Ryan's words caused Count Dark Eyes to look deep in the eye, while Count Golden Eyes on the other side showed obvious anger.

At this moment, Earl Mo Tong realized that his uncle had really aged. In the past, he was the one who always showed his emotions on the surface, and his uncle always looked mature and confident.

So why is he so directly angry now, rejecting Baron Ryan's decision?
Both sides knew the reason.

Compared to Earl Golden Eyes, Ryan prefers Kemon, his child, the next Earl of the Demon Child, Kemon Gerald. During the previous war, Ryan always kept Kemon by his side, and Kemon's growth during that time was obvious.

Earl Golden Eyes looked coldly at Ryan and said:
"What does Baron Ryan mean by this? Is he trying to interfere in Gerald's family affairs?"

Although Earl Golden Eyes was furious, his noble bearing remained. Gerald's ancient and noble bloodline gave him the confidence and pride to face any nobleman.

To everyone's surprise, Ryan nodded when faced with this question.

"Yes."

Ryan looked at the Golden-Eyed Earl, and under the latter's shocked gaze, firmly replied again:
"Yes, Your Excellency Earl Melanie Gerald."

“I, Ryan, want to make Gerald stronger, in the name of getting involved in your family affairs.”

"I hope that this army, called Gerald's Army, will survive, and that Clement Gerald will become its general."

“I even hope that the two Earldoms of Gerald can become one.”

While the two earls were somewhat shocked and angry, Ryan laughed again and said, no longer so serious:
"Of course, I think that's difficult."

"Therefore, I only want to keep the army that is in charge of the two Earls Gerald and let Kermon lead it."

If you want to open a window, suggest tearing off the roof; this story works as well as ever.

In Gerald, a land where there is no other choice but to rely on Ryan, it is the most useful tool.

Of course, it wasn't actually these two counts who could decide on Ryan's proposal.

(End of this chapter)