After accepting Viscount Andrew's invitation, Gwen and his entourage were temporarily accommodated in a guest room in the castle. At Gwen's special request, the two soldiers, maids Betty and Amber were given clean and tidy rooms.
Anyway, Viscount Andrew's castle was very big.
After dismissing the waiter, Heti could not help but ask, "Ancestor, do you think Viscount Andrew is reliable?"
Although they were "neighbors" of neighboring territories, Heti was well aware of the nobles' ethos, which was neither integrity nor glory. Although they usually emphasized these two points, they lacked exactly these two points, especially in the barren and barbaric Southern Territory, which was far from the political center, the nobles' way of life was even more unbearable. Now that the Cecil family had completely fallen to the bottom, Heti really did not have the confidence to gain any advantage in the confrontation with the other nobles, except for the sudden appearance of the ancestor, who was a bonus.
"Reliable? I've never thought about this at all. "Gwen's answer surprised Heti." A few hours ago, I didn't know what Viscount Andrew looked like. "
Rebecca was shocked. "Ah? Then why did you talk to him so much... "
"Because it's necessary." Gwen looked at Rebecca. "It's not an exaggeration to say that we are now at the end of the road. Not to mention that we have to feed the people in distress, look at your own pocket. Do you still have money for the next meal? So we have to seek help. Viscount Andrew is just a last resort. Besides him, can you find anyone else in the Southern Territory that you know? And speaking of how reliable he is... I don't know him, nor his family. I even heard about his territory from you two days ago. How do I know if he's reliable or not? "
Rebecca couldn't quite wrap her head around it. "Then why do you think he'll definitely help?"
The one who answered was not Gwen, but Amber, who had been leaning on the table and stuffing grapes into her mouth. The half-elf rubbed her mouth and rolled her eyes at Rebecca. "Stupid, because he doesn't want to lose money."
"You don't want to lose money?"
"When Knight Philip brought the refugees to Tanzania Town, Viscount Andrew had already made a decision," Amber said slowly. "He could have closed the gate and waited for the refugees to retreat or starve to death outside. Don't talk about the law of mutual aid. In this remote area, the kingdom's laws are not as effective as the merchants' gold coins. Since Mr. Viscount accepted the refugees, it means that he wants to get compensation from the Cecil family. He has this idea, and he believes that the Cecil family has the ability to repay the debt. You see, the deal was established at that time, and today... we just expanded the scope of the deal and made it clear. "
Rebecca stared at Amber, dumbfounded. "You … How do you know these things? Is the threshold for becoming a Rogue so high these days? "
Amber bared his teeth. "Is this very profound? I don't understand the logic and a lot of rules of you nobles, but at least I know the principle that a thief doesn't leave empty-handed. When it comes to benefits, is there any difference between you nobles and a thief who doesn't want to leave empty-handed? "
Rebecca was furious. She pulled out her staff and summoned a head-sized fireball. "If you don't watch your mouth, I'll really hit your face with a fireball!"
Amber seemed to know that the young lady would not play for real. He smiled and provoked her. "If you have the ability, make a Frostbolt ~ ~"
As soon as her voice fell, she felt a chill in her ear. A Frostbolt flew past the tip of her ear and froze the wall behind her. Heti, who was not far away, maintained a posture of raising a finger and said indifferently, "The Frostbolt you wanted."
A drop of cold sweat slid down Amber's face. The Frostbolt was so close to her skin that it created a sense of terror that even exceeded the Frostbolt itself. She couldn't help but wonder how high the mastery of magic was to be able to achieve such precision.
Rebecca, on the other hand, twitched the corner of her mouth. Aunt Heidi's offensive spells were as ineffective as always. She just moved around …
Gwen clapped his hands and ended the short farce. "Alright, we're all on the same side. Behave yourselves."
The words of the old ancestor were still effective. Whether they were willing or not, Heti and Rebecca put away their staffs to show their obedience. Although Amber was annoying, she knew the principle of not going too far (mainly because the Frostbolt's deterrence was really great). She pursed her lips and didn't say anything else.
At this moment, there was a knock on the door. After getting Gwen's permission, the little handmaiden Betty opened the door and came in.
"Master, Madam Heti, Miss Rebecca." Betty greeted them one by one and skipped Amber directly. "Knight Philip is here."
"Oh, I was waiting for him." Gwen nodded and then noticed the pan in Betty's hand. "Wait … Why are you still holding it?"
Betty blinked and thought for a moment. "Because … I'm not home yet. I'm afraid I'll lose it if I leave it here."
Gwen facepalmed. "You … Alright, do as you please."
A moment later, Knight Philip, who led the refugees led by Cecil to break out of the encirclement, came into the room.
To Gwen's surprise, this was a rather young warrior. He looked to be in his early twenties, with short pale blonde hair, deep eye sockets, and a high nose bridge. Although his overall facial features were not very good, as a warrior, his valiant temperament and tall figure were enough to make him stand out among the ordinary people. Since it was a normal day, the other party did not wear any armor. Instead, he was dressed in casual clothes with a long sword hanging from his waist. On his exposed arms and neck, there were still bandages that had yet to be removed.
He did break out of the encirclement with injuries.
"My Lord, Madam." Knight Philip immediately saluted Rebecca and Heti after entering the room. "I'm glad to see you are safe and sound."
"Knight Philip, get up." Rebecca quickly helped him up. "It's all thanks to you that we can protect the soldiers and civilians."
She noticed the bandages on his body. "These injuries …"
"When I broke out of the encirclement, but they're much better now." Philip hurriedly said. "Viscount Andrew arranged a priest and apothecary for me. But … "
The young knight had a troubled expression on his face. There was also shame and annoyance on his face.
"You mean the gold and silver that you brought out of the castle, right?" Heti took the initiative to say. "Don't worry about it. Those things were originally meant to be used in emergencies. When we let you take them away, we said that they were all at your disposal."
"Please don't worry. In fact, the gold and silver that was taken away by Viscount Andrew was only a part of it." Philip's face looked better. He then lowered his voice and said, "Before entering the city, I gave some of the property to a few trusted soldiers for safekeeping, and buried some outside the city. At that time, I was worried that if Viscount Andrew was too greedy, he would at least leave some money to feed everyone, or let the soldiers fend for themselves … "
Gawain nodded slightly. This was a young man with both courage and brains. The fact that he was able to lead a dozen soldiers to protect a large group of civilians who had no combat ability to break out of an encirclement was proof of his bravery. Before entering the territory of another noble, knowing that he could not contend against the nobles, he was able to think of ways to protect the property given to him by his master as much as possible. He even thought of arranging for his soldiers to fend for themselves.
So he showed a look of approval. "Well done. How many people survived? "
Philip actually saw Gwen in the room from the beginning. After all, the latter's size was really eye-catching. Now that he heard the question, he finally had the opportunity to ask, "Are you …"
"It seems that Viscount Andrew has already told you." Heti nodded. "This is the ancestor of the Cecil family, the Grand Duke of Ansu, Li …"
Before she could finish, Gwen hurriedly interrupted, "Okay, okay, don't mention the name of the chuunibyou. It gives me goosebumps …"
Before he could finish, Philip had already knelt in front of Gwen on one knee. "Duke Gwen! I … I heard the news, but I really didn't expect it to be true! You are the role model of all Knight. Since I was young, I … "
"Okay, okay, why are you still not done?" Gwen hurriedly pulled Philip up again. As an outsider who had occupied another person's body, he was really embarrassed at the moment. "First, tell me how many people survived?"
Philip struggled to control his excitement, and his face sank. "There were a total of more than a thousand people who broke out that day. Later, after deducting those who were attacked by monsters, those who fell behind due to serious injuries, and those who died of diseases, there were less than nine hundred people who made it to Tanzania Town alive …"
"How many?"
"Eight hundred and seventy-three people. Except for me, sixteen of them were official soldiers, thirty were militia, and the rest were civilians."
Rebecca's body shook a little.
"This is the last number of survivors of Cecil's territory …" Heti muttered to herself. "I didn't expect …"
Gwen patted Heti on the shoulder. "Do you know how many people we had when we just ran out of Gondor's hinterland seven hundred years ago?"
Heti looked at Gwen. "At that time …"
"Tens of thousands of people." Gwen sighed. "So today's situation is really a headache."
Heti was speechless.
At the same time, in Viscount Andrew's office, the viscount was writing a secret letter.
The secret letter was written directly to the king.
Because of the existence of Gondor's wasteland, Ansu had regarded the Southern Territory as the most important barrier area in the kingdom when the country was founded. Even though the Southern Territory had been peaceful for a long time now, some of the rules that had lasted for hundreds of years still continued in this area. For example, every noble in the Southern Territory, big or small, was a direct vassal of the Ansu royal family. They all had the right to speak directly to the king and had the obligation to report directly to the king.
"Your Majesty the King, your direct vassal sends his regards.
"You should have known about the disaster that happened to Cecil's territory in the Southern Territory in the last letter, and now there are new changes here. This is bizarre and unprecedented, but I have personally confirmed that it is true.
"The ancestor of the Cecil family, the founding duke of Ansu, the head of the Seven Generals, Gwen Cecil, has recently returned to the world.
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