PS: In the latest chapter, to ensure the original effect, I used a short translation. Many readers have accused me of plagiarism. In that case, I'll delete the translation. In the future, I'll try my best to avoid creating unnecessary controversy by using translations. I apologize to everyone.
I didn't do it right. In the future, I'll try my best not to use translations to avoid creating trouble for readers.
I'll admit my mistake, but I won't tolerate intentional provocation. If I encounter such a situation, I'll delete the post.
The Knights charged on horseback. Among the weak Orcs, there were only some inferior Horned Beasts and Chaos War Hounds who used Pikes and Bows. These scum were easily eliminated by the Knights.
Laing kept his War Hammer and asked Ulles, "Are there Orcs here?"
"Every spring, these d * mn beasts will come out of Arden Forest." Holy Grail Knight Ulles was helpless as he said, "As you know, even the bravest Knights can't travel freely in the forest."
Arden Forest was the largest forest in Brittany. There were powerful Orc tribes in the forest. Every year, the Knight King's Kingdom would organize Knights to clear them out.
"Have you tried sending a large army to clear them out? Perhaps … the Knights can dismount and fight," Laing asked.
"It's a small matter that the Knights are unwilling to dismount. They swore to the Lady that as long as the Lady needs them, they'll give up their lives." Ulles nodded and said, "But our opponents are very cunning. If too many Knights enter Arden Forest, they'll avoid us and refuse to fight us. Then, they'll walk out of the forest and attack the defenseless villages. Or they'll lure us deep into the forest and ambush us. After suffering heavy losses, we've given up on the idea of going deep into the forest to eliminate them."
"Hmm, that's the only way." Laing felt helpless. It wasn't only in Brittany, but also in Nord and the Empire. The Orcs could retreat deep into the forest and various caves. They could be defeated, but it was difficult to eliminate them.
Going too deep into the forest would expose the supply lines and weak marching paths to the Orcs.
After another five days of trekking, the army finally arrived at the capital of the Knight King's Kingdom, Culona.
Culona was built on the banks of the Sunnes River. The city was known as one of the greatest wonders of the Old World. It was originally one of the largest cities of the High Elves in the Old World. The flags of the twelve Duchies that made up the Knight King's Kingdom were hung all over the city. The city walls were made of huge white stones and looked very majestic from afar.
The city wall was twenty-five meters high, enough for ten soldiers to walk side by side. Each gate was engraved with the story of the first Knight of the Holy Grail. Then, countless square houses with pointed roofs stretched to the top of a hill. On the hill was a huge castle. The pointed cylindrical castle, which inherited the architectural style of the elves, rose dozens of meters from the ground. There was even a waterfall flowing down from the top of the castle in the hill behind the castle. It was said that the waterfall was a gift from the Lake Fairy.
After Brittany was founded hundreds of years ago, Arthur didn't choose Bastogne Castle, where he was born, as the capital of the kingdom. Instead, he chose Culona in the north of the kingdom. There was a reason for this. The roads here extended in all directions, and the land was fertile.
Lopes rode his horse to Laing's side and said with a smile, "I've heard that Brittany's Lion's Ring racetrack is the largest and best in the Old World. This time, I have to go and see it for myself."
"Hehe, the Lion's Ring racetrack? When I was young, I participated in the Knighthood Tournament there! " Holy Grail Knight Ulles smiled and said, "That place is the sacred ground of Brittany's knights!"
"I'd like to hear more about it!" Laing was interested.
Therefore, Ulles spoke in detail and proudly about the racetrack that made all Brittanians proud from the bottom of their hearts. It was also the largest and best racetrack in the old world. It was a huge stone oval building with rows of seats arranged according to class. The racetrack, which was even more magnificent than the main castle, was confirmed to have existed before Brittany was founded. It was abandoned by the elves and transformed by the kingdom.
"That Knighthood Tournament must have been very exciting, right?" Al- Frey asked excitedly.
"It was indeed very exciting. I made it all the way to the top four." Ulles stroked his beard as if he was thinking of his youth. He smiled from the bottom of his heart.
"Top four? If Sir Ulles could only make it to the top four, then we might have been eliminated long ago! "A young ranger knight laughed.
"It can't be helped. I swear in the name of the lady that I did my best at that time, but I still lost to a great knight. François defeated me in the semi-finals, then defeated Theodoric in the finals and won the championship of that Knighthood Tournament. That was 48 years ago. As you know, the tournament is held once every five years." Ulles was still smiling. As a Holy Grail Knight, he had a good temper and had already let bygones be bygones.
"François, who is he?" Al- Frey continued to ask.
"Ha ha ha … You'll have to ask Ulles and Miss Suria about this." Laing smiled and said, "This Mr. François is now a Sanctum Grand Knight and a Holy Grail Knight. His full name is François de Aintree."
"Could it be?!" Al- Frey opened his mouth wide and looked at the brother and sister.
The female knight showed a beautiful smile but did not speak. Julius calmly replied, "He is my father, the current Duke Winford."
"… I'm sorry." Al- Frey hurriedly apologized, but the Aintree siblings said that it was okay. On the contrary, they were proud of their father.
"Speaking of which, can I also participate in the tournament?" Laing suddenly became interested. He had heard about the rewards of the tournament. It was said that they were very generous, and the Lake Goddess Witch, the Chosen One of the Lake Fairies, would personally give the champion the prize.
"Sir Laing, participating in the tournament is bullying, ha ha ha …" Ulles laughed and said, "The tournament stipulates that the age of the participants cannot be more than 24 years old, and the kingdom's knights or Holy Grail Knights are not welcome to join. Don't look at me, this is set by the lady."
"Hey, how can it be like this? I was thinking about what kind of generous rewards the champion could get!" Laing complained with dissatisfaction.
"Then maybe you can ask Julius to tell you that he was the champion of the last tournament." Ulles had a smile on his face the whole time. He had already inspired the enthusiasm of the knights through his words.
"Her Highness Morgiana told me not to tell anyone except the Holy Grail Knights." Julius shook his head in front of everyone's expectant eyes and said, "If you are really interested, I can tell you in private, but not now."
"Okay, okay, I respect your privacy. I won't ask." Laing smiled bitterly and shook his head. The rewards were not very important. He could not participate in the tournament anyway.
The group entered Culona, and Laing was arranged to stay in a high-class guest hotel built by the Church of the Goddess of Mercy. The newly promoted Holy Grail Knight was given an independent courtyard. He would wait here for a while, and the Knight King would choose an auspicious day to hold the knighthood ceremony for him.
Lopes and Al- Frey also stayed in the hotel in the city. The army was disbanded, and everyone returned to their duchies. The knights and the Knights of the Kingdom were rewarded with a large amount of gold.
Then, the knights stingily took out a small portion of the gold and exchanged it for silver coins, divided them into small bags, and handed them to the serfs. Many of the serfs were overjoyed when they saw the bags in their hands. They thanked the knights again and again. A bag full of silver coins was obviously a gift from the knights. This money would make their lives much better this year.
Laing saw this scene. If the Empire's generals dared to give this amount of money to the conscripts, the serfs would have smashed it in their faces and sued them in the court of the Empire. A bag of silver coins was more like a small gift or an extra reward for the soldiers who fought bravely in the war.
But if it were not for the Holy Grail Knights and the fact that they went to war in foreign lands, the serfs would have received even less. Even with this amount of money, it would have been difficult for them to keep it all, because the damaged equipment and weapons needed to be repaired and replaced.
But overall, the serfs had gained a lot from this war. This bag of silver coins was as much as their normal annual income. The serfs had also plundered a lot of spoils of war. Every serf who participated in the conscription would also receive a piece of bacon, a bottle of inferior cider, and a basket of black bread. Many serfs were beaming with joy. They were so eager for war that every time they were conscripted, all the serfs would try their best to participate.
This might be their only chance to change their fate.
If the infantrymen could be appreciated by the knights, they could be promoted to sergeants or rangers. These people would enjoy shelter from the wind and rain in barracks and food rations. Although it could not be compared to the knights' castles and delicacies, it was at least one of the best among the commoners. The rangers would receive double the salary, and it was said that they could even eat meat once a week!
But the knights were a little stingy today. Only five lucky ones were promoted to sergeants, and a small bag of gold coins was handed to them. These lucky ones would be able to move into the castle and find a new home. They would then use this bag of gold coins to buy a new set of armor, sword, and shield (or other weapons) for themselves, so that they could better serve their knights.
After watching the series of ceremonies, Laing could only helplessly shake his head when he saw the envious eyes of the other serfs and the ecstatic faces of the new sergeants. He then asked the siblings with a bitter smile, "What about you two? Will you leave too? "
"Suria and I will go with you until you reach your fief." Julius said something that touched Laing's heart. "You're new here, so there might be a lot of things you don't know. We'll help you."
"Thank you very much." Laing knew that this might be because they were willing to invest in him, but he would still remember their willingness to help him.
After a long journey, they finally reached their destination. That night, Laing rested in the guest hotel of the Church of the Goddess of Mercy.
The night in Culona was quiet. Laing walked alone in the garden of the hotel with Emilia following behind him.
"Speaking of which, Emilia, it's strange that the Goddess of Mercy would place the headquarters of the Church of Mercy in Culona." Laing could see patches of roses covered in dew. The bright red roses were blooming proudly with the other flowers in the garden.
It was strange. It was only the middle of March, and the roses shouldn't be blooming at this time.
This was a gift from the Goddess of Mercy. Flowers would bloom in her church and temple no matter the season.
"There's nothing strange about this, Mr. Laing. The Lady of the Lake and the Goddess of Mercy are allies, and … the serfs are forbidden to worship the Lady of the Lake," Emilia said softly behind Laing.
"Pfft …" Laing laughed. Indeed, the nobles of Brittany believed that the serfs had no right to worship the Lady of the Lake. Since Shalia was an ally of the Lady of the Lake and could gather a lot of faith here, it was not strange that she would set up her headquarters here.
His little maid always hit the nail on the head when she looked at problems.
But he didn't say much and continued to walk deeper into the garden.
A new country, a new environment. Everything in front of him was so complicated. He had a lot to think about and deal with.
He didn't know if the current Knight King was trusted by the Lady of the Lake, and he didn't know how the nobles of Brittany treated him. If he just wanted to be a Knight of the Holy Grail, then none of this mattered. His identity meant that the nobles wouldn't do anything to him.
In fact, Laing had always been depressed about one thing. This world was different from the world he came from, and it was also different from the world his father came from. In this world's medieval background, the various punishments were very vague. For example, in the case of the Aesthete Association, the nobles didn't want Edmund to be punished. So, when Edmund was convicted of such a serious crime, the Parliament of Marlinburg only punished him by removing him from the House of Lords and changing his name. This was too light.
However, Marlinburg had its own autonomy. Even though Schultz was the Grand Duke of Marlinburg, he couldn't directly convict Edmund.
So, Edmund was inexplicably protected.
However, when this young noble was corrupted and accidentally exposed himself at the banquet, the nobles of Marlin Castle decided to kill Edmund in order to distance themselves from him. They didn't even need to go through the procedure.
Laing was in the same situation now. As a Knight of the Holy Grail, the king had no right to punish him. As long as he didn't do anything reckless, the king and the nobles would turn a blind eye to many things.
Brittany, the home of knights. In this place, serfs were still serfs no matter how hard they worked, and knights were still knights no matter how poor they were. There was an insurmountable gap between the two.
Had a serf ever become a noble in history?
Yes!
From the first Knight King Arthur to the present, in hundreds of years of history, serfs were promoted to nobles only five times.
Yes, only five times.
So, Laing had to be careful with every step he took.
He was the only one who knew what he wanted.
After turning a corner, a man with waist-length golden curly hair flashed in a fiery red rose bush. He wasn't surprised to see Laing. "Mr. Laing?"
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