Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 198: Counting the Loot and the Iron Sun Banner
After the brutal battle, there is a post-war carnival.

Most free militias join the battle without any bounty, and the spoils are their biggest gain.

So when they heard that the lord generously allowed the soldiers to take 30% of the spoils, the atmosphere on the battlefield suddenly reached a climax.

Countless soldiers cheered and praised the goddess's protection and the lord's generosity, and plunged into the cleanup of the battlefield.

At this time, no matter how tired or exhausted they are, they will not complain. Instead, their hearts are full of motivation.

After all, these are the spoils left behind by four monster legions!
Nearly ten thousand monsters were chased all the way, with thousands of casualties. Moreover, humans did not want prisoners, so all captured prisoners were executed on the spot.

This frightened the fleeing soldiers so much that they wished their parents had not given them two more legs. They threw away their armor and weapons, and even runes and props all over the ground.

The soldiers carefully searched every corpse, not even missing any place on them where treasures might be hidden. Whether it was the gold teeth in the monster's mouth, the precious gems in the corpse, or even the troll's flesh and bones, all were cleaned up.

After Commander Orstein's promotion and breakthrough, he was the first to come to Su Li. His aura was extremely violent and fierce, and he was as majestic as a lion ready to pounce at any time, awe-inspiring without even being angry.

When Su Li saw him, he smiled and said, "My powerful commander, congratulations on your successful breakthrough to the God-chosen level. The twin walls of the territory have officially taken shape."

Orstein puffed out his chest with pride, even his brown beard looking vibrant and strong. He then pounded his chest with a fist, saluted Su Li, and said solemnly, "Thank you, Lord, for your cultivation. Without your initial enlightenment and continued respect, I wouldn't be as strong as I am today. In the name of the Sun Goddess, I swear to dedicate my sword and my life to you. I will always stand by your side. No matter what enemy or challenge we face, I will spare no effort to protect your glory and territory."

His eyes were firm, his clenched fists and solemn expression were full of a knight's devotion to faith and pursuit of glory.

Su Li looked at Orlstein, a flicker of admiration in his eyes. This knight's greatest strength was his clear understanding of what he was pursuing. Therefore, this marshal was not only a powerful warrior, but also a trustworthy ally.

Su Li then calmly responded, "Marshal Orstein, your loyalty and courage are my most precious treasures. Our friendship is strong and needs no oath to prove it. Tell me about the spoils."

Orstein immediately waved to his armed attendants. At his signal, two armored attendants entered the wooden room carrying more than a dozen flags and threw these flags, which symbolized powerful monster legions, onto the filthy ground.

Orstein said excitedly, "My Lord, these are one of our greatest gains from this battle. There are 17 battle flags! Many of them are made of human skin, representing the evil crimes and arrogance of these monster legions."

"This is the perfect sacrifice we offer to the Sun Goddess. It will herald our victory and triumph, and demonstrate our contribution to protecting humanity."

Su Li was a little surprised and asked, "Are you going to tell the goddess now?"

He really didn't want to make an announcement or pray right away. He had a grand ambition in his mind. After completely defeating the Green Dragon's army and finishing this huge and glorious war, he would gather all the forces in the territory and hold a grand triumphal ceremony and a lavish sacrifice.

At that time, the territory will surely receive a great deal of divine grace and obtain an incomparably powerful holy relic from the Goddess of the Fiery Sun that is even powerful enough to change destiny.

So he didn't think about making a sacrifice after this battle.

At this moment, the territory's religious advisor, Ron, spoke up. "My Lord," he said, "the offering of battle flags does not conflict with the ritual. The Sun Goddess encourages humanity to form legions and penetrate the forests to eradicate evil. Therefore, if a territory can capture multiple battle flags, they can offer them to the goddess at the monastery. Her Majesty Violet will bestow the banner of the Church of the Sun Goddess based on the flag's wickedness and power."

"But usually, you need to sacrifice multiple battle flags to successfully obtain a lily battle flag. Of course, there is also a small chance of obtaining some special flags of the church."

In this battle, Ron, the once-mighty Chosen Knight, fought bloody battles, slaying over 40 monsters. His kills weren't numerous, but they were of exceptional quality. Most of them were trolls, wolves, and gnoll leaders. On the brink of life and death, he finally regained his championship-level feeling and memories, successfully returning to his champion state.

His words were now particularly confident and full of confidence. Su Li did not hesitate any longer and said to Rong En, "Then I will leave all these battle flags to you, Lord Rong En, to sacrifice."

While waiting for Rong En to sacrifice, Su Li asked Orstein with great interest, "Commander-in-Chief, what powerful divine arts did you obtain after you were promoted to the God's Chosen level?"

A hint of pride flashed in Orstein's eyes. He raised his right hand and said, "It's the Hammer of the Blazing Sun. In battle, I can summon a huge golden hammer of light to smash into my opponent."

Hearing this, Su Li's eyes lit up and he said, "That's very powerful. Your characteristics are always suitable for combat."

This feature may seem ordinary, but if it is enabled in the divine general state, it will have an earth-shattering effect.

During the fierce battle, the more than 30-meter-tall divine general suddenly raised his right hand to form a huge and blazing golden light hammer. Then the hammer, with brilliant golden light, drew a magnificent arc in the air and smashed towards the enemy with a momentum that could shake the sky and split the earth.

I'm afraid that the enemy who is hit will be smashed away instantly, and the light hammer may even carry the target and cause the battlefield behind it to collapse and shake.

This is not a hammer of the scorching sun, it is simply a mountain-splitting axe. With one strike, the sky and the earth will lose their color. It can collapse mountains and shatter the earth.

This is just a divine spell. If he is promoted to the legendary level in the future and gains powerful bloodline abilities, the effect will probably be even more amazing if he uses it in the state of a divine general.

Su Li now believes that some legendary figures can form an army by themselves with divine weapons, just like the proverb on the mainland, every dragon is an army.

After they talked for a while, Ron returned to the room smoothly, followed by four knights, each carrying a battle flag on their shoulders.

Ron said excitedly: "My Lord, our sacrifice was very successful this time. We harvested four battle flags."

He pointed at the first three identical banners and said, "You might recognize this banner. It's the most common lily banner in the church. It's slightly weaker than the Holy Lily Banner of the Demi-Griffin Knights. Their effects are similar, but it lacks the dazzling and powerful power of the Holy Lily Banner."

He then pointed to the last banner, which shone with the brilliance of golden sunlight, and said excitedly, "This is a special banner of the Church, called the Iron Blazing Sun. It is usually equipped by the Church's most affluent Knights of the Flaming Sun."

Su Li immediately turned his attention to the bright and dazzling flag. On the vermilion banner was embroidered the church's iconic flaming sun emblem, with sixteen beams of light radiating outwards, which was conspicuously decorated in the middle of the flag.

"What is its effect?" Su Li asked excitedly.

"The effect is to significantly increase the protective capabilities of a soldier's armor. It also imbues the armor with a powerful arcane magic. When a soldier's fine and gorgeous armor is penetrated for the first time on the battlefield, the power of the scorching sun within the armor is unleashed. Like the wrath of the sun god, it unleashes a devastating solar explosion upon the surrounding enemies, making them feel the most scorching judgment of Her Majesty, the Sun Goddess Violet."

Ok?
Su Li raised his eyebrows. This battle flag was interesting. It matched its name perfectly, "Steel Blazing Sun." It significantly improved the soldiers' defenses while also possessing the terrifying explosive properties of the blazing sun.

"How strong is the damage of this explosion?"

Ron patiently replied, "It's related to the equipment level. You know the characteristics of the Blazing Sun Knights. On the battlefield, they always wear shiny gilded black armor, with sun patterns on their flags and emblems, and then charge into the enemy camp with magnificent postures." "So, the more gorgeous and sophisticated the knights' armor, the wider the explosion range and the greater the power. Usually, a Blazing Sun explosion below the high-quality level will at most injure one or two nearby goblins and gnolls. The damage is almost zero."

"But when it comes to fine heavy armor, the effect changes dramatically. This level of equipment is already capable of killing surrounding armed attendants."

"By the time it reaches the Elite level, the range and power of this explosion are enough to be a significant aid to the Knights, and it can also cause severe damage to elite monsters, killing at least 4 to 7 soldiers below the Elite level."

"If a soldier is wearing perfect-grade Vibranium Rune Armor, it can even directly kill one or two elite soldiers. You have to know that Vibranium Rune Armor is actually very rare. It is extremely rare to have dozens of sets like our territory. In most kingdom knight territories, only the kingdom knight himself may have a set."

"As for the rare-grade armor, I haven't seen its effects yet. But I imagine the explosion has already dealt a heavy blow to the champion-level knight. I look forward to witnessing this stunning scene under your leadership, Lord."

Su Li nodded slightly. The effect of this flag was very clear. It required the army to arm themselves with the best equipment.

Su Li was wondering whether to give the equipment to the Hessian Guard Knights or to the Corona Knights in exchange for a favor?
After all, the Knights of the Corona are a branch of the Knights of the Flame Sun, and they must be eager to obtain such a battle flag.

Their Knights fought so many wars for the territory without asking for anything in return, and the number of casualties alone was enormous.

Although this is what their doctrine advocates, Su Li will not take it for granted and enjoy their help without any gratitude.

Friendships are always built up bit by bit through various details and rewards.

Only by truly respecting them and remembering their contributions will they truly and sincerely have a harmonious relationship with the territory.

In the future, when facing certain wars that they can participate in or not, they will stand firmly on Su Li's side.

So Su Li pondered for a moment, then said to Rong En, "Give this flag to Captain Constantine. Forget it, I'll wait for him to come over and I'll give it to him personally. He fought bravely and fearlessly, leading the charge against the Wyvern King. I should give him a gift as a souvenir of this battle."

And there is another great benefit in giving him this flag, which is that he can earn a lot of wealth from him. Of course, this does not mean that Su Li will sell the flag to him, but after giving it to him, his Corona Knights will definitely find ways to buy more Vibranium Rune Armor.

The wealth of Silver Spring Valley is immense, and they rarely interact with Hessen Town. After all, their Knights have their own nobles and merchants who support them. (Each Knights Order receives donations from more than one noble.) Within Silver Spring Valley's headquarters, caravans from Maleburg have warehouses and agents. Whenever the Corona Knights need something, these caravans can usually secure it from Maleburg, even for less-than-legal items.

Vibranium rune armor is a strategic material, and smuggling is strictly prohibited within the empire. Unless it's traded between nobles, any private trade or smuggling is a felony punishable by massacre. If a caravan contains vibranium, the entire group will be executed. This is far more dangerous than the salt merchants.

But in Maleburg, a special location that controls the throat of the border princes, not only will merchants take risks for wealth, but the Empire's Elector Council will also turn a blind eye and allow merchants to smuggle vibranium and rune armor to the pioneer lords.

So, if the Corona Knights were willing to invest heavily, they could potentially acquire one or two sets of armor from Maraiburg every month. Even at this price, even the wealthy Corona Knights wouldn't be able to afford it. Strategic materials like these, national treasures, smuggled on the black market, command exorbitant prices. These strategic materials are inherently valuable; a single set of Vibranium Rune Armor is equivalent to the output of 1 serfs without food or water for a year. Smuggled rune armor is worth at least 2 gold crowns.

Even if a wealthy knight order bought two or three sets, the treasury would become empty.

Therefore, the power that could create this type of rune armor definitely possessed an unparalleled strategic advantage. It could save a great deal of wealth, otherwise, just buying arms and armor would be enough to overwhelm a territory.

Just as Su Li was considering whether to sell a few sets of Vibranium Rune Armor to the Knights of the Corona, Hildur entered the room and said to Su Li, "My Lord, Captain Constantine is here. And he brought a lot of good things with him."

Su Li immediately said with a smile: "Please invite Captain Constantine in."

A moment later, the tall figure of Captain Constantine and the tall figure of Deputy Captain Freya walked into the room together.

Su Li asked with concern: "Are you not hurt?"

Constantine laughed heartily and said, "I only suffered a minor injury. Sandarion grazed me. But I don't think the Lord is asking about me, right?"

Freya crossed her arms, twisted her lips, looked at Constantine with a look of disgust, and said, "This is the first time I know you are such a gossip. You are not hurt, and I am even fine."

Su Li smiled and said, "I'm glad you're okay."

In this battle, he also saw Freya's performance in the air, which was very impressive.

It’s not that Su Li deliberately looked for a woman in such a tense and fierce battlefield, but when Su Li observed the Half-Griffin Knights, he saw the unparalleled power of her and the Half-Griffin Knights.

As the highest-ranking organized knightly order in the empire, the Demi-Griffin Knights demonstrated unparalleled prowess in this battle.

Especially when attacking cannon fodder troops such as gnolls and forest goblins, the huge rank gap makes them unstoppable and invincible.

Whenever the Demi-Griffin Knights launched a charge at the monsters, it was like a long sword breaking through bamboo and mercury pouring out of the ground. Every charge could allow them to penetrate hundreds of meters into the monster army and chop dozens or even hundreds of monsters into pieces.

This particular battle caught the monsters off guard, their formation in disarray. The Demi-Griffin Knights, along with other elite knights, charged from behind, demonstrating the might of the Imperial Knights to the fullest. With their lances, they razed thousands of monsters in a single blow. In their charge and pursuit, they slew far more monsters than the other soldiers on the front lines, who outnumbered them by six or seven times their number.

This is also very reasonable. There are only two gaps opened by the monsters, and not many of them climbed up the city wall. The number of them that can engage and fight with the infantry phalanx is very small.

Most of the losses were caused by the monsters' morale collapsing and being hunted down by the knights during their flight.

This is one of the Empire's greatest advantages. As long as the Empire wins the war, the Imperial Knights who pursue with all their might can inflict a devastating blow to the defeated legion.

Captain Constantine had reaped a rich harvest during the pursuit. After joking, he pulled out a batch of treasures from his arms and said, "This battle was truly exhilarating. Especially when the giants began to flee, we chased them with abandon. The thrill of hunting giants was simply incomparable."

Then he threw a golden crown to Su Li and said, "This is a ring I cut off from the finger of a giant when I was chasing it, but it looks like a king's crown. This is a souvenir I give to you to commemorate our great victory in this battle."

Su Li took the crown and took a look at it, then asked, "Isn't it the dwarf's infamous Crown of Vengeance?"

With a serious expression, Dogrin said, "My Lord, this joke is not funny at all. You must know that every appearance of the Crown of Vengeance brings bloody destruction and disaster."

(End of this chapter)