PS: What an exciting match! Claus's final move! That was great!
The candlelight made a crackling sound in the conference hall. Laing was thinking about what this important news meant.
"In other words, in a year or two at most, Duke Louis will completely give up worldly affairs, entrust the position of Duke to Sir Laun, and go to the Fairy Lake to guard the holy land of the ladies?" Laing was the first to realize this signal.
There was an unwritten agreement among the Dukes of the Knight King Kingdom. A Grail Knight could rule his own territory as the lord, but if one of his claimed successors completed the Grail trial and was confirmed to inherit his title, then this Grail Knight would put down everything and go to the Fairy Lake to guard the holy land.
Normally, a legendary master could live for 130-150 years, and a legendary Grail Knight who drank the Grail Water could live for 170-200 years. A saint-level grand knight's lifespan alone was close to 400 years, and after drinking the Grail Water, he could live for more than 600 years.
Therefore, one could imagine how many people of the previous generation were hidden among the Grail Knights at the Fairy Lake, and how many old antiques had witnessed the changes of several eras and hundreds of years.
Of course, being a Grail Knight did not mean that they could retire for the rest of their lives. These Brittany's most elite knights had never faced fewer battles than normal knights. The shadows and darkness from every corner of the kingdom needed them to deal with.
"That's right, so at this time, Louis will definitely be willing to stand on our side." François said seriously, "Richard is not even a Grail Knight. His kingship is destined to be fragile and short."
"Hmm …" Laing could understand what Duke Winford meant.
To put it bluntly, in the eyes of Duke Red Dragon and Duke Winford, they lacked respect for Richard because he was not even a Grail Knight.
Thinking of this, Laing suddenly remembered something. He first raised his hand and motioned for everyone to wait, and then took out a gold coin from his space ring. "Wait … Laun, Laun Leo Cornwall, I've seen him before!"
"This is … the Lion's Oath gold coin. How did you get it?" When François saw the gold coin in Laing's hand, even Duke Winford, who was always calm, was surprised.
"When I was in the Kingdom of Nords, I fought against the Doomsday Bull, Tawus, on Skarville Mountain …" Laing told the two dukes about his experience. He calmly told them everything that had happened. "In the end, when I was splitting the spoils with Lord Laing, he gave me this gold coin."
"As expected of the Lady's Chosen One champion!" François nodded quickly. "Then this matter will be easy to handle. Since Louis is biased towards us, and you have this gold coin, he has no reason not to support us."
"That's three votes," Berchemund said in a muffled voice.
"I'm acquainted with the Sea God's Archbishop Aldrich in Marienburg. Perhaps we can try to gain the support of Duke Bordero?" Laing continued. He took out a badge with a mermaid carving on it.
"This is a symbol of the Sea God's Church's friendship." The voice of the Chosen One champion of the Lake Fairy was calm, but the power of this young man in his twenties made the two dukes raise their eyebrows.
"Then that's four votes." François couldn't help but exclaim, "That's enough. The number of people opposed has exceeded one-third. I've been thinking about how to convince Bodrick. Since you have a friendship with the Sea God's Church, Laing, it should be much easier to win his support."
Duke Bordero had always been a special existence among the Brittany dukes.
Normally, Brittany knights believed in the Lake Fairy because the fairy brought them the power of faith and the code of knighthood. In Brittany, becoming a Knight of the Holy Grail was the lifelong dream of all knights.
However, Duke Bordero was an exception. The title of Duke Bordero had existed before Brittany was founded. It was said that the surname Bordero came from the sea. The first Duke Bordero, Marcus, was a descendant of the Sea God Mannen.
This might not be nonsense. When the Bordero family fought on the sea, the sea always protected and blessed them. When Duke Bordero raised his family's heirloom, the "Sea God's Trident," even on land, the Sea God Mannen would respond to his call. Huge waves would appear from the air and drown the land.
Therefore, the first religion of the Bordero family was the Sea God Mannen, and the second religion was the Lake Fairy.
In the mortal world, there was no prohibition against worshipping two gods at the same time. The Lake Fairy had never said anything about it. However, the behavior of the Bordero family still made most of the dukes unhappy. After all, in the eyes of most knights, the Lake Fairy should be the first religion of the knights, even though Bordero might have done much better than these knights who liked to gossip.
The current Duke Bordero, Grand Commander of the Sea God Knights, Bodrick, was brave and tenacious. His strength had reached the peak of the legendary level. The Duke who was proficient in both sword and spear was rarely matched in Brittany. Moreover, this great knight was extremely good at internal affairs. Although his dukedom occupied a relatively small area in Brittany, the richness of his territory was second only to the northernmost Duchy of Connet and the southernmost Duchy of Vanford. The Sea God Knights commanded more than 80% of the entire kingdom's navy, and they had excellent knights who were not inferior to the other dukes.
The only regret was that Bodrick, who was now over 80 years old, had not yet embarked on the path of the Holy Grail to pursue the Holy Grail that all knights dreamed of.
"With four votes, His Majesty definitely won't be able to declare this battle as a loss or a draw, because too many people are against it." After seeing the golden mermaid coin, François knew that the outcome was set. Duke Vanford suddenly laughed. "It seems that Richard can only accept the fact that the army of knights has won."
"This is the truth!" Berchemund muttered. Obviously, the Red Dragon Duke was very dissatisfied with the king's attitude of wanting to suppress this matter.
If the king did not intend to suppress this matter, he would not have held back until now, and the ten dukes would not have rushed to the capital. All this showed that the king himself was not satisfied with this result. Otherwise, the king's reward and envoys would have already come to Laing.
Holding a glass of red wine, François gently swirled the bright red wine. Duke Vanford seemed to be thinking. "Then, let me think, what will Richard do?"
"First, he can't punish you privately, Laing. Otherwise, it will alarm the Knights of the Holy Grail and Madam."
"Then, due to the opposition of four or more dukes, he was unable to declare the War of Knighthood as a failure in the Duke's Council. Especially after such heavy losses, His Majesty the King also needed victory to maintain his prestige."
"Finally, no one wants to see the army of Vanford and Bastogne return with honor. We have seized the Orcs' 200 years of accumulation. Our army is well-preserved, and the small losses can't be compared to the army that has experienced blood and fire. The young men have been trained, the serfs have gained a lot, and the soldiers who have participated in the war won't be afraid of the beasts in the forest."
Bohemond sighed as well. "After receiving so many benefits, no one will be willing to give us the glory of victory and the credit of destroying the Ten Thousand Demons Cliff."
"So, Richard needs a model, a model of victory, and this model can't be Laing …" Duke Vanford's face was full of wisdom. He squinted his eyes and smiled meaningfully. "Then, since the glory can't be given to the living, it can be given to the dead."
"The dead can't be blamed, and the dead can't be blamed. Adelaide's stupidity led to the destruction of his army, which is not worthy of praise. But Angus, who fought to the end and never betrayed Madam and King, is not worthy of praise."
At this point, the shrewd people like Laing and Berchemund had completely understood. Most of the Royal Knights around them also understood.
"Then, Angus will be the hero, and Richard needs Angus to be the hero." Laing stroked his chin as he understood. "That's why things turned out this way. Marquis Angus sacrificed himself so that we could successfully attack the Demon Rock. He led the Knights to delay the Orc army and successfully gave us the opportunity to attack the Demon Rock."
"Everything was planned. It was Marquis Angci's sacrifice to turn defeat into victory after Adred's army was wiped out. Then, without a doubt, the greatest credit for destroying the Thousand Demons Cliff belongs to him."
"That's right." Berchemund and François looked at Laing.
Their intentions were clear. It was time for Laing to make a choice. Would this young Knight of the Holy Grail obtain all the glory of the Knight's War and become the hero of the Royal Kingdom?
Or would he be willing to take a step back?
No matter what, the two Dukes would do their best to fight for him.
At the same time, Ryan began to think about the pros and cons of this decision. If possible, he would like to accumulate enough fame to become the main character of this War of Knights and become the hero who led the kingdom to turn the tide of the battle.
However, the Chosen of God champion of the Lake Fairy was deeply aware that some things were far from as simple as they seemed on the surface. As a living person, a living saint, Leon could not compete with a dead person for credit. Doing so would be tantamount to offending the other great nobles of the Knight Kingdom. It would also affect his reputation, even though he was the one who had turned the tide.
At the same time, if he insisted on fighting for the throne and announcing the truth, he would have to bear the consequences. The Dukes would be unable to come to an agreement because of him, and the entire kingdom would be divided because of this. There were already many conflicts between the Dukes, and this wasn't something Leon wanted to see. Countless dangers and darkness were approaching, and he couldn't allow the kingdom to fall into a dangerous situation because of his own selfishness.
That wouldn't be beneficial to his future.
Moreover, Marquis Angci didn't betray his faith in the Lake Nymph. If he didn't lead the Knight's Army to delay the Orc's Elite and Main Force, Laing wouldn't have the chance to attack the Demons Cliff. Objectively speaking, Marquis Angci had contributed greatly to this Pyrrhic victory. If Laing were to flip the table, he would make the Lake Nymph unhappy.
Laing had his answer. The Knight of the Holy Grail sighed and changed his sitting position as he said, "It seems that we have to hold a state funeral for this young Marquis."
"He should be awarded a First-Class Holy Grail Medal. As for you … we'll fight for a Second-Class Iris Flower Medal for you." François heaved a sigh of relief.
He liked and appreciated this young man even more.
This young man had many outstanding qualities that other Knights didn't have. He carried forward the virtues of a Knight. More importantly, he had an outstanding talent, which was his political maturity. He knew what he wanted, what he could gain, and what he had to sacrifice.
Only such an outstanding young man was worthy of the title of Lady's Chosen One. He was powerful, decisive, and had an unfathomable background. He was also outstanding in internal affairs.
François knew that his daughter Suria had a lot of interactions with Laing. The Duke had always turned a blind eye to it. Compared to those arrogant young Knights who were addicted to luxury and martial arts, he was satisfied with his vassal.
Hmm … he was satisfied in various ways.
Perhaps he could change his attitude in the future.
"Then how much money is His Majesty going to pay to make our Lord Laing shut up?" Berchemund also smiled.
"Then it definitely can't be a small number. Otherwise, I wouldn't have agreed!" Feeling a little regretful in his heart, Ryan forced a smile and said, "We can't fight the Ten Thousand Demons Cliff for nothing, right?"
"Don't worry, Laing." François's face became serious. Duke Winford and Duke Red Dragon looked at each other and nodded.
"If he wants us to keep quiet about this, Richard will have to pay a price and reward."
"We don't want anything. It's all yours."
"This is your reward for bringing back the army and destroying the Thousand Demons Cliff. You deserve everything."
"Yes!" Laing nodded heavily.
The Round Table Meeting ended.
The next day, they went to Culona. This was Laing's second visit to the capital of Brittany.
After crossing the Sunnes River, one of the greatest urban wonders of the old world appeared in front of Laing again. After the group entered the city, François and Berchemund immediately went to the palace. The Dukes would decide the outcome of this mixed Knight's War and have a final discussion.
Laing stayed in the Culona branch of the Knights of the Holy Grail, waiting for the results to be announced.
The simple room was clean and tidy, and the living conditions were very good. There were paintings on the wall, carpets on the floor, and transparent glass windows turned the sunlight outside into seven colors, shining into the room. Leon let out a sigh of relief. He pulled a chair over and sat down, enjoying this moment of tranquility.
Knock, knock, knock. Less than five minutes later, someone knocked on his door.
Who could it be at this time?
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