"Think about it. Nobles who establish their own territories, then defeat the orcs and kill the orc chieftain. Many knight novels are based on this, but they are all fake. Yours is the real deal."
"I think it won't be long before many knights come to you."
Suhlen was not interested in this. As for the knights who came to him, most of them were either powerful or the second son of a small noble family. Basically, they all wanted a piece of land. He had no intention of accepting these knights. After all, the knights in Northern City were not ranked.
Give them a piece of land? Suhlen would be an idiot if he did that.
"Alright, let's not talk about this. Come in and eat," Suhlen said with a wave of his hand.
"I'm also very interested in the food in Northern City."
Suhlen led Lancelot and the other nobles into the tent. The food was already prepared. Although they were in a military camp, the food prepared by Suhlen was quite good. The cooking skills of the military camp's chefs were also trained by the halfling Frodo. Although they were not as good as the halfling, they were much better than most human chefs.
Suhlen also prepared a barbecue. He hunted a gazelle in the wilderness and marinated its tender parts with spices. When it was time to eat, he directly barbecued it. Soon, the aroma of the meat filled the tent.
Finally, when the barbecue was served by the chefs, some green vegetables were placed on a silver plate as accompaniment. On the silver plate, the red meat was wrapped in a layer of sauce. The edges were slightly burnt, but the meat inside was fresh and tender. There was also a layer of cumin sprinkled on top. With a gentle bite, the sauce from the barbecue filled one's mouth.
It was slightly hot, but it tasted great.
"It's delicious. The chefs here are as good as His Majesty's. Also, what spices did you sprinkle on it?" Lancelot's eyes lit up as soon as he took a bite. He immediately discovered the key. Cumin was a spice that was naturally very compatible with barbecue.
"This is cumin, a spice that can only be found in the Northern Wasteland. It's very rare," Suhlen said with a smile.
"It's delicious. This spice is amazing." The other nobles exclaimed in admiration. Several nobles grimaced in pain from the heat, but their swallowing speed did not slow down at all.
"I'm going to sell this spice to the public. If you like it, you can buy it in the Northern Town. I'll give you a 20% discount," Suhlen said with a smile.
"I'll ask the servants to buy some from the Northern Town," Lancelot said.
After lunch, everyone finally got down to business. To put it bluntly, it was about the distribution of merits. Suhlen did not intend to take these merits. He did not intend to become a part of the Kingdom of Florence, so these merits were prepared to be used in exchange for benefits.
After a series of exchanges, Suhlen gained a lot of benefits from these nobles, and the nobles also divided up Suhlen's contributions. Both sides were very satisfied.
After the discussion, the nobles from the northern provinces left one after another. However, Lancelot didn't intend to get up. Seeing this, Suhlen waved his hand and signaled his servants to leave.
"Marquis Lancelot, is there anything else?" Suhlen tilted his body to make himself more comfortable in the chair.
Lancelot finished the rum in his hand and put down the glass. "Sir Suhlen, you don't want to join the Kingdom of Florence, right?"
"Why do you say that?" Suhlen raised his eyebrows.
"You gave all the merits to those nobles. It's obvious that you don't care about the reward from His Majesty," Lancelot said with a shrug.
"So what?" Suhlen said lazily.
"With the strength of the Northern Town, the Kingdom of Florence will agree to it," Lancelot said without any hesitation.
"But I have a better way."
"What way?" Suhlen asked. He didn't want to make the relationship with the Kingdom of Florence too tense.
"You should know that we suffered a great loss in this orc invasion. Even Marquis Winter died in battle. This is a huge blow to the Kingdom of Florence."
"The death of a legendary powerhouse is indeed a serious matter, but the surrounding countries aren't having it easy either." Suhlen nodded. The surrounding countries were also troubled by the orcs' invasion. This time, the orcs didn't just invade Florence. The surrounding countries were involved, and the situation was even worse.
"It's not a foreign matter, but a domestic matter." Lancelot shook his head.
"Let me explain it to you." Seeing that Suhlen was a little confused, Lancelot picked up the glass and poured some wine. He shook it and said, "You should also know that there have always been a few factions in the Kingdom of Florence."
"I don't know much about this." Suhlen shrugged. After all, he wasn't in a high position in the Kingdom of Florence, so he didn't have access to the news of the highest level. In addition, he was busy expanding his territory after coming to the northern wilderness. His information channel couldn't be compared to the old nobles at all. Most of the time, he learned from the news brought by the caravans. The news brought by the caravans was at least two to three months ago, or even half a year ago.
"Uh, okay, I'll just say it." Lancelot smiled awkwardly. "You should know that the Florentine royal family wasn't the Henry family in the beginning, right?"
Suhlen nodded. The earliest royal family of the Kingdom of Florence was the Roman royal family, then it became the Nord royal family, and finally the current Henry family. It could be said that it had changed three times. These families were basically inextricably linked by blood, which was one of the reasons why Florence had so many heirs.
"There were originally two legendary powerhouses who were loyal to the royal family. One was Marquis Winter, and the other was Marquis Brook. The Kingdom of Florence had five legendary powerhouses, and the other three were loyal to the other three marquis families. Originally, this was nothing. The royal family with two legendary powerhouses had an advantage against any marquis family. Besides, the three marquis families were also very filthy."
"This allowed the royal family to hold the power of the kingdom, but now the death of Marquis Winter has broken this balance. The royal family and the other three marquis families are back to the same starting line. What do you think the consequences will be?" Lancelot said helplessly. Although he was also a marquis, he didn't have a corresponding territory. Besides, as a trusted aide of King Hunter, once the Hunter family was replaced by another marquis, he could only retire to the countryside.
"The throne is rotated. It's my turn this year?" Suhlen understood.
"You can say that."
Of course, the royal family of the Kingdom of Florence wouldn't be wiped out. Otherwise, the Roman royal family and the Nord royal family would have been long gone, and there wouldn't be three marquis families now. The nobles of Florence were used to this kind of thing.
"Then why are you looking for me? You want me to be loyal to the royal family? "Suhlen frowned.
"I also want to, but will you agree?"
"Of course not."
"That's why we came up with another plan," Lancelot said.
"What's the plan?" Su Lun was interested.
"The Henry royal family will form a political alliance with Northern City. Northern City will support the Henry family as the royal family, and the Henry family will recognize your position. At the same time, they won't restrict caravans from trading in Northern City," Lancelot said seriously.
"Political alliance? If the other marquis families make a move, will I have to start a war with them? "Suhlen asked.
"How is that possible?" Lancelot rolled his eyes. "The royal family of the Kingdom of Florence won't start a war. It's more of a political reason. After all, the royal family still has a legendary figure. If they really start a war, Florence will be finished. The surrounding countries won't miss such a good opportunity."
"You just need to declare your support for the Henry royal family. There won't be a war."
"I see. Then I can consider it." Suhlen didn't say anything definite.
"Okay, but please give us an answer as soon as possible," Lancelot said.
"By the way, Mr. Suhlen, you're not married yet, right?" Lancelot suddenly thought of something and asked.
Suhlen shook his head. "No."
"That's great," Lancelot said excitedly. "Princess Sophia of the royal family just came of age this year. She's very beautiful and has a noble status. If you agree, I can talk to King Henry and let Princess Sophia marry you."
Suhlen couldn't help but roll his eyes. He was directly trying to pimp out Lancelot.
"No." Suhlen was still very wary of political means like a marriage alliance.
"Don't be in a hurry to reject. Why don't you two meet first?" Lancelot continued.
Suhlen didn't agree. In the end, the marriage alliance was put on hold. However, judging from Lancelot's expression, he didn't seem to have given up.
After the two finished their discussion, they left separately. They had only reached an agreement about the political alliance. Since Henry's royal family wanted to borrow Suhlen's power, Suhlen naturally wouldn't let it go. He wouldn't agree without enough benefits.
After Lancelot and Suhlen's discussion, Lancelot returned to the barracks and immediately took out a fist-sized crystal ball. This crystal ball was an expensive sound transmission tool. Using this crystal ball, one could directly contact the capital. Now, he was discussing with the royal family about Suhlen.
After all, although Lancelot was the king's favorite, many of his conditions had to be agreed by the king. A crystal ball was worth about 10,000 Kinnar, and it could only be used for a limited number of times. Only these big nobles had the money to use it.
After staying here for two days, Suhlen and Lancelot finally discussed various things. Suhlen also agreed to form a political alliance with Henry's royal family. Of course, they had to pay a lot. For example, they had to pay taxes, the caravans of North Town City would be treated the same as them when trading in Florence. For example, the Kingdom of Florence couldn't stop North Town City from recruiting refugees in the kingdom.
After the two sides finished their discussion, they still needed to sign a formal agreement. The agreement needed the king to sign and stamp it. It would take some time. Suhlen didn't continue to wait here. He led his army back to North Town City.
PS: The last chapter updated the main character's latest attributes.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
