"My Lord, that Count Churjwick definitely knows the ins and outs of the Norton Family. He seems to be very afraid of you. But what I don't understand is that the little prince of the Fulondor Duchy, the Great Swordsman, and the dead Gold Knight don't seem to know about it. After you killed that Gold Knight, didn't you taunt them and ask them if they wanted to take revenge and send another person? I saw that Count Dalek of the Sabaji Duchy trying to stand up, but he was held down by Count Churjwick, not allowing him to move … "
The one who said this was Schwald. They were now on their way back to the hotel. After Laurist killed that Gold Knight called Henriman in one move, Schwald realized that everyone in the banquet was dumbfounded. Even Grand Duke Fisabulon, who was watching the show from his seat of honor, was staring at the corpse on the ground in disbelief with his pair of dead fish eyes.
One move, brushing past. His Adam's apple was crushed. Just how sharp of a movement technique, sharp eyesight, and lightning-fast movements were needed to cause a 3-star Gold-ranked Knight to lose his life without being able to dodge? Not to mention Baron Filim and Baron Shahin, even if they had the confidence to defeat that Henriman, they would need at least a few hundred moves. They might even have to pay the price of their own flesh and blood …
There were three other Great Swordsmen present. Grand Duke Fisabulon was shocked, Great Swordsman Riemard was terrified, and Great Swordsman Seuss was full of admiration. Having sparred with Laurist often, he could see it clearly. When that Gold Knight called Henriman charged at him like a mad tiger, Laurist took a small step forward. It was this small step that caused that Gold Knight to panic, because he lost the target of his sword. He didn't even have the chance to change the direction of his sword. He could only watch as his sword brushed past Laurist's body. He could only watch as Laurist's right hand touched his Adam's apple, as if he was the one who delivered himself. Crack …
Great Swordmaster Seuss looked at Lollister's silhouette and sighed. A Great Swordmaster who had reached this stage was almost at the peak of the Peak. Laurist was only thirty-four years old. Anyone who managed to advance to the Gold rank at this age would be considered a genius in the cultivation of Combat Aura. However, this lord of his was a complete monster. He was almost at the pinnacle of Combat Aura, and he would definitely become a Sword Saint in the future. A Sword Saint.
Joost clamped down hard on his horse, allowing it to catch up with Laurist. "My lord, did you notice during the banquet? When Count Churjwick was talking about the war between the four central duchies and His Highness, he always portrayed the four central duchies as the weak party that had no choice but to retaliate. He did not act like those fools in the Flendorian Duchy, as if he was making a statement. I think Schwald is right. That Count Churjwick must know our family very well."
"Hehe, you noticed it too? How about this, when we return to the hotel, bring a few guards and invite him over. I still have some things I want to ask him, "Laurist said.
After killing the Gold Knight Henriman, Laurist even smiled and asked Prince Doak if he wanted to send more people for revenge. The prince was so scared that he peed his pants and shook his head vigorously. Laurist felt that there was no point in continuing, so he bid farewell to Duke Fisablen. Duke Fisablen also knew that Laurist had already sent people to book an inn at the South City Gate for them to stay, so Duke Fisablen did not ask them to stay. He only sent Laurist and his party out of the Rose Palace.
Not far from the South City Gate, there was an inn called Anna's Home. It had a total of five floors. The first floor was a tavern, and the upper four floors were inns. It was a very famous place in the capital of Wendeli.
Unfortunately, this inn called Anna's Home wasn't famous for its facilities and services, but for its tragic story. During the reign of Christen Empire V, Wendeli was still a newly developed livestock trading city. The former location of this inn used to be a run-down grocery store. The owner had a mute daughter. She was a very gentle and kind girl. She often adopted stray cats and dogs, and even gave clothes and food to the orphans.
Later, Anna grew up and married a very hardworking young man. The couple lived a happy life by relying on the grocery store. Because of the couple's kindness, they took in more than a dozen stray children. This was a bit too much for them, so they took out their parents' life savings and built a two-story building. They sold alcohol on the ground floor and built an inn on top. Because of their hard work and honesty, the inn's business was very good. Anna also had more capital to adopt the orphans and cats.
Because of the good business, the couple decided to expand. They spent money to build this five-story building as an inn. Because of this five-story building, they were targeted by greedy nobles. The nobles sent people to arrest Anna's husband and put him in prison. They charged him with several inexplicable crimes such as smuggling and harboring. Finally, they sent someone to threaten Anna to buy the five-story building for a gold coin from an old man of the empire.
Anna had no choice but to accept the price. She sold the building, which was worth nearly a thousand gold coins, to an old man of the empire. All she wanted was to save her husband. She didn't expect that her husband's tortured body would be thrown out of prison. Anna went crazy. She sat in front of the mayor's mansion for three days and three nights with her husband's body in her arms. Finally, she crashed into the flagpole and died.
At that time, there were thousands of people surrounding the square of the mayor's mansion. Anna was surrounded by food sent by kind-hearted people, but she didn't drink or eat. No one could persuade her. All the merchants and citizens of Wendeli united and demanded that the mayor give Anna an explanation. The mayor was afraid and hid in the mayor's mansion like a turtle. Just when the caretaker was careless, Anna stood up and crashed into the flagpole. Her head was broken and she died.
This was the only civil riot recorded in the history of the Christen Empire. The angry citizens and merchants burned down the mayor's mansion and hanged the fat mayor. When the news reached the imperial capital, the furious Christen V ordered a thorough investigation. The funny thing was that the first noble envoy was bribed by the other nobles and pushed all the blame onto the dead city lord. But the merchants and citizens of Wendeli didn't buy it. They continued the strike and even organized the Wendeli Self-Defense Force.
The first noble envoy angrily ordered the nobles of Winston province to send private troops to suppress the civil unrest. However, many nobles refused this request. They believed that the fault of this matter did not lie with the rioting people, but with the few greedy nobles. In the end, news of the confrontation between the two sides and the incident spread to the imperial capital. Furious, Chrison V ordered the Royal Knights to be dispatched and appointed the commander of the Royal Knights as the final executive officer of the incident.
When the Royal Knights arrived in Wendeli, the self-defense force opened the gate and surrendered. They presented a letter of request, describing the whole incident and demanding that the nobles be severely punished.
The Royal Knights, who stood on the side of the royal family, used this incident to massacre the nobles in Winston Province. At that time, almost two-thirds of the nobles in Winston Province were implicated in this incident and were stripped of their territories and titles. The instigator of the crime had their families exterminated, and the first noble envoy was hung on the gallows.
In the history of the Christen Empire, the riot in Wendeli was actually a battle between the royal family and the nobles of the territory. The royal family couldn't interfere with the rule of the territory nobles, but they also wouldn't allow the territory nobles to extend their hands into the royal family's territory. At that time, Wendeli and a few other major cities were under the direct rule of the royal family. The business activities of the nobles in these cities could be exempted from taxes because of their status as nobles. When the nobles occupied the businesses of the merchants and citizens, it was equivalent to touching the royal family's cheese. Christen V used this incident to carry out a major investigation of the major cities and got rid of the business activities of countless nobles in these cities. This was also the reason why Christen V's reign lasted for thirty-seven years and was known as the Golden Age.
Anna's current hotel was managed by the descendants of the poor couple's relatives. Even during the Iberian Kingdom established by the 2nd Prince, no nobles were willing to take over this hotel. For the nobles, this building was an unlucky place, so Anna's family's customers were basically small caravans and mercenaries. The nobles avoided this place like the plague. Going in and out of this place was considered a loss of status or something.
In recent years, Anna's home's business had been bleak and could only barely keep up. Lollister didn't mind it at all. When he arrived at Wendeli, he booked the entire hotel as his residence.
"My lord, Knight Tagger and Brother Redi have been waiting for a long time." Schwald came in to report.
"Oh, tell them to come immediately." Lollister wiped his face with his hand: "Right, tell the servants to bring me a bathtub and hot water. I want to soak in it."
Tagger and Redi arrived at Wendeli two months earlier than Lollister. One was to set up an intelligence station for Volibell, and the other was to see if Duke Fisablon had any ill intentions when he organized the tournament.
"How did it go?"
Redi took a step forward: "My lord, the three underground organizations in Wendeli have merged into one. Their backer is gone, and the new leader has sworn his loyalty to Volibell."
Lollister sniffled: "The smell of blood on you is a little heavy."
Redi shrugged, a gesture he learned from Lollister: "There's nothing I can do about it. There are too many people who don't know what's good for them. I can only send them back to Sigva's paradise."
Lollister turned to look at Tagger.
Tagger reported: "My lord, the backer of the Greenica gang is Viscount Vesinka, a noble of the southern province. He is also the leader of the Queen's faction, and is highly trusted by the Queen. Five days ago, Lord Redi fell off his horse and injured his skull. The Queen believes that it was her father's doing, and the father and daughter are currently at odds. Without Viscount Vesinka, the Greenica gang believes that they can conquer the world by themselves. Lord Redi went to persuade them last night, but the results were not good. There are less than seven or eight leaders of the Greenica gang still alive. The other thirty-four were all killed by Lord Redi. "
"Did Duke Fisablon make any special moves?"
"No, we've done a thorough investigation over the past month, and we didn't discover any special movements from the Fisablon Family. The Grand Duke should be very interested in hosting this Knight Tournament. He spent nearly 50,000 gold coins to flatten the original slums in King's City and built four large wooden square arenas there. It was estimated that the Knight Tournament would be held there. Our intelligence investigators have already infiltrated the four arenas with a group of servants. Everything there is under our surveillance. If there are any abnormal changes, they will be discovered and reported to us. "
"Well done. How did the Queen and the nobles react to Duke Fisablon's actions? "
"Aside from the Queen who had a huge argument with the Grand Duke and took more than 10,000 Gold Fords from the Grand Duke, the rest of the nobles obediently cooperated with the Grand Duke to organize the Knights Tournament. They didn't have the money, but they sent their stewards to help the Grand Duke. Some nobles even went out to search for or purchase supplies under the Grand Duke's orders."
"Has the intelligence station in the capital of Wenderbree been arranged?"
"Three have been arranged. They don't know each other, so we can compare the information we receive in the future. However, we still have a problem. We can't arrange a messenger hawk station in the city because it will be easily discovered or cause trouble. It will also attract the greedy nobles. I am worried that they will forcefully buy our messenger hawks. The best way is to arrange a messenger hawk station outside the city. The dead Viscount Viscount Vesinka had a manor outside the northern part of the city. It can be a very suitable messenger hawk station, but we can't get it without exposing our identities … "Tagger replied.
Messenger hawks were a plan to use falcons to deliver long-distance letters. After a few years of hard work, they finally obtained a batch of good messenger falcons. They were named messenger hawks. If they were to set up a messenger hawk station in the capital of Wenderbri, it would only take a day for the news to reach Laurist in the faraway North Sea City. If they were to send letters on horseback, they would have to wait ten days.
"Are there no nobles in the capital who are loyal to the Norton Family?"
"Sir, we haven't found any. The nobles here are a bunch of stubborn fellows. They don't care about what happens outside and only keep their eyes on their own land. Their impression of the Norton Family is still stuck at the moment we captured the second prince a few years ago. It can be said that they are afraid, but it can also be said that they don't trust us. They avoid us as much as they can. "
"Forget it, I will think of another way. What are your plans for the next step? "Laurist asked.
"According to the original plan, we will go to the Principality of Merlein after we are done here," Tagger said.
There was a knock on the door. It was a servant from the inn bringing in a bathtub and hot water. Redi took the bathtub and placed it in the room, helping to pour hot and cold water.
Laurist stripped off his clothes in front of Tagger and Redi and jumped into the bathtub, splashing water on his face. Redi took out a clean linen towel and wiped Laurist's back.
"Enough, Redi. Just a simple wipe will do." Laurist took the towel and covered his face. "Tagger, I saw a few nobles from the four central duchies when I was attending Duke Fisablun's welcoming banquet. I'm very interested in their intentions and origins. Go and investigate them in the next few days. After the Knight's Conference, go to the four central duchies and arrange an intelligence network there before going to the Principality of Merlein.
I have a feeling that the four central duchies will be our family's roadblock in the future. We need to be prepared and understand them as soon as possible. Oh right, I have already asked Jost to invite Count Churjwick of the Handra Duchy. He seems to understand our family very well. If he comes, Tagger, you will act as his attendant and observe what kind of person he is. I hope he will be wise enough not to reject my request … "
"Yes, sir. As you wish."
… …
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
