Early November, Brittany, Baron Jean's territory, in the prayer room on the third floor of Laing's Baron Castle.
As the renovations had yet to be completed, only two floors of the Lady of the Lake's tower had been completed. It was still a long way from the Lady of the Lake's requirement of at least five floors. The craftsmen estimated that the tower would only be completed at this time next year.
Laing did not blame these craftsmen. Most of the craftsmen that Laing had hired came from Montfort and Bordero. In order to help him maintain and renovate the castle, the great merchant Ismail had hired the best craftsmen in Brittany, even if they were not the best craftsmen in Brittany. Ismail's policy was to repair the castle first before building the new tower. This was because, in the eyes of the great merchant, a new tower would require a lot of manpower and energy. On the other hand, the old Baron Castle already had the outline and stone walls. What was needed was internal renovation, replanning the area, and repairing some areas that had been in disrepair and damaged for a long time.
Considering that Laing did not have a place to stay, Ismail's consideration was to complete the renovation of the Baron Castle as soon as possible before building the tower.
The prayer room on the third floor had always been a restricted area for the castle's servants, especially after Laing returned to his territory. Laing had stipulated that no one other than Olica was allowed to enter the prayer room. Usually, the prayer room was always locked from the inside.
In the prayer room, the original structure remained unchanged. Only the Lady of the Lake and Laing were sitting opposite each other. At this time, the Lady of the Lake was not in her usual state. Her originally rosy face was slightly pale. The hand that had always held the Holy Grail was now holding Laing's right hand. The Holy Grail had also been placed aside.
Laing's situation was not very good either. The Holy Grail Knight's spirit was slightly sluggish, but he still continued to transfer his psionic energy to the Lady of the Lake.
Normally, when gods existed in the subspace, the emotional fluctuations of their followers would form energy, and the energy would gather to form gods. If gods wanted to interfere with the mortal world, they would have to spend a lot of divine power to enter the main material plane and find a suitable carrier. This made it difficult for gods to interfere with the matters of the main material plane. There were many things that mortals had tried their best for, and many things that mortals could only rely on themselves.
However, Laing's existence was equivalent to opening a back door between the subspace and the mortal world. The Lake Fairy could travel between the subspace and the mortal world unhindered. As her strength increased, Laing's increasingly powerful soul could ensure that the Lake Fairy could unleash her divine power to her heart's content.
"As expected, Mu Xilong's walls cannot be breached under the protection of magic and seals." After a long while, the Lake Fairy's face grew paler and paler. She signaled to Laing that it was done.
The Lady of the Lake still could not break through Muxilon's walls even after the flood had engulfed the Dukedom of Connaught for an entire day. Hence, the Lady of the Lake decided to stop after her divine power was greatly depleted. She put her hand away and said, "Alright, Laing, my champion. That's all for now."
"Alright!" Laing also put his hand away. His psionic power was also greatly depleted. In the prayer room, the man and the goddess both looked a little tired. The Lady of the Lake extended her arm to Laing and gestured for him to sit beside her. She sighed deeply and said, "This way, the Blood Red Duke and his allies will not be able to initiate a war in the short term. At least we've bought more time."
"Thank you, my lady." Laing was about to put his hand away when the Lady of the Lake immediately grabbed his arm and leaned on him. The goddess's voice was filled with exhaustion. "My champion, I need to rest for a while."
"Alright, I think I need to rest for a while too. I have to say, my lady, you really don't hold back when you use my psionic power." Laing joked. He also felt very tired.
"You're my champion. If I don't use yours, whose should I use?" The Lady of the Lake joked with Laing. With Laing's power, the Blood Red Duke and his so-called black knight allies would not be able to do much for the time being. They had to restore the army and the production in their territory as soon as possible. Although the undead no longer needed food and sleep, it still required a lot of weapons and magic to build an undead army. The vampires also needed enough human blood to satisfy their thirst for blood. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Grail Knights would collectively move out to retrieve the remains of the Grail Knights and send them back to the Grail Cathedral in Colona for burial.
This matter had nothing to do with Laing anymore. The Lady of the Lake made it clear that Laing did not need to do anything. Morgiana and her Grail Knights would take care of this matter.
Laing had an idea in his mind, but he did not show it on his face.
He had an idea, and that was to use the incident with the black Holy Grail knight to try to control and command the Holy Grail knights. If he could strengthen his connection with the Holy Grail knights, he would be able to do more things in the future.
He had already laid down a good foundation in Brittany, but it was still not solid enough.
The Lady of the Lake seemed to have seen through his thoughts. She said softly, "It's not time yet, my champion. It's not time yet …"
"My lady, I plan to equip the army with cannons." Leon also knew that some things couldn't be rushed. He had been in the limelight during this year's Knight's War, which caused many conservative nobles to be dissatisfied with him. This was especially so after the wood elves and dwarves openly appeared in his territory. Some dukes were quite dissatisfied with this. For example, Duke Montfort, who guarded the Axe Pass, had a lot of complaints. This duke hated all races apart from humans, and his territory didn't accept any other living creatures apart from humans to settle down.
"I have never banned the knights from using cannons at any time, my champion." The Lady of the Lake immediately understood what Laing meant. The Lady of the Lake smiled and shook her head. "My champion, if you can get the technology of cannons from the dwarves, that would be the best. But you have to remember that the descendants of Charlemagne and the dwarves have an agreement. They will keep the secret of gunpowder together. The dwarves are a bunch of stubborn people. You should think about how to make the dwarves willingly make cannons for you."
"I have a way, my lady. As long as you allow me to use them." Laing nodded. With the Lady of the Lake's approval, this matter was much easier to handle.
The champion vaguely felt that the Lady of the Lake was actually a very flexible goddess who knew how to weigh the pros and cons. The Eight Virtues of Knights that she left behind were overly interpreted by the knights as rigid dogma. A firm belief was beneficial in resisting the corruption of Chaos. The corruption of Chaos among the Brittany was much lower than that of the Empire, but it also made the knights more conservative and arrogant. Everything had its pros and cons.
"When your tower is built, it will be my permanent residence. My champion, close your eyes. I have a gift for you." The Lady of the Lake gestured for Laing to close his eyes.
When Laing closed his eyes, he felt a soft touch on his face. It was like a dragonfly skimming the surface of the water.
What is this?!
"Hahahaha!" The Lady of the Lake's laughter was still echoing in the room, but other than the light and the fragrance of iris flowers on her body, there was no trace of the goddess in the prayer room.
Laing opened his mouth, but he did not know what to say. After a while, he felt very tired. So, he left the prayer room and returned to his master bedroom. He took a shower and went to sleep.
Laing, whose spirit had been drained, rested for more than a day. After all, he was the king's son. Gray Knight's geno prototype recovered quickly. The Baron could not rest all the time. There were many things that required his attention in the territory.
In early November, Brittany welcomed the first snowfall of winter.
Early in the morning, Ryan woke up. The Holy Grail Knight made a bucket of hot water and then took a comfortable bath. He even hung his two legs on the edge of the wooden bucket with Olica by his side serving him.
"You are awake so early, my big knight." Wizard Garland was lying on the bed in the master bedroom. She was leaning against a soft pillow. Her face was red. She had clearly been well nourished the night before. "Why don't you rest a bit?"
It was snowing heavily outside the window. That year's weather was a bit unusual. Normally, the first snowfall would not be this heavy.
"Today, I am going to check out the workshop. I heard from Katzenberg that the dwarf craftsman brought seven or eight people to the workshop. He asked for the entire workshop to be refurbished. He also asked for a lot of people to help him. I just came back to do something else. Now that I am the leader, I should go and check it out. I can talk to him." Laing stood up from the bucket. Olica took out a towel to dry him. Then, he put on his clothes. "Do you want to come with me?"
"Well, dear, when I saw the tower, I thought you had already prepared it for me. I didn't expect …" Veronica lifted the quilt. Although the witch did not say it explicitly, Ryan, who knew her well, knew that the witch wanted to go to the workshop with him. "Let's talk on the way."
"Okay."
After changing their clothes, they called Gasparton, the tax officer, and Katzenberg, the steward, and walked along the lower reaches of the Shinon River with several sergeants. Along the way, the ground was covered with snow, and the entire baronial territory was covered in white. The cold wind blew across the field. Most of the serfs locked their doors, and only a few serfs were still working.
On the way, Laing happened to meet the half-elf Astaire, who was with two Eternal Guardians and a few woodland guards. The half-elves and wood elves were all wearing fur coats. When they saw Laing, they were stunned for a moment. Astaire immediately greeted him. "Sir Laing? You are back? "
"Yes, I am. What is it, Astaire? Where are you going? "Laing asked.
"Ah, I am taking them to the blacksmith workshop by the river to get weapons. Winter is coming. The Dryads have fallen into a deep sleep. Our king has also stepped into the flames and turned into ashes. He will not return until next spring." Astaire's expression was not very good. He explained, "So during winter, we can only guard the forest ourselves. We need enough weapons."
The king of the wood elves, Ao Laing, and his wife, Aleil, stepped into the flames every winter and died. They would be revived in the spring of the next year. Summer was when their magic power was at its strongest.
"Perfect, I am also going to the blacksmith workshop. Let's move together." Laing nodded and signaled everyone to move together.
The wood elves' Eternal Guardians were a bit unwilling. They first looked at the soldiers behind Laing, Gasparton, and Kasenberg with disdain. Then they looked at Laing and Veronica with reverence before finally agreeing. One of the Eternal Guardians said in elven language, "Hello, sir Laing. I am the captain of the Eternal Guardians, Anas from the Eternal Forest. Winter is coming and we urgently need more iron, ore, and food. But your subordinates cannot meet our needs. The dwarven blacksmith has also rejected our order. I hope you can help us."
"Dear Anas, I have just returned to the territory and am not very clear about the current situation." Laing shook his head, "I believe that according to our original agreement, our output here can meet your requirements. Is there a new order from Aislin or is it a temporary request?"
The Eternal Guardians did not say anything. Astaire revealed a bitter smile and said to Laing, "Laing, we have encountered some trouble. The Vaal Anvil Forest has been invaded by the Shadow Devils and our iron production has been seriously affected. We are completely relying on you for ore, so we need some ready-made weapons."
"I understand. How about this, let's talk as we walk." Laing signaled everyone to talk as they walked.
So they walked along the dried up river and talked as they walked. Veronica held Laing's hand the entire time and didn't say a word. She looked like a flower vase.
Interestingly, the tax official Gasparton was very cordial towards the Wood Elves. The Eternal Guardian tried to communicate with him in his broken Gothic language, and Gasparton would answer all of his questions. Butler Katzenberg, on the other hand, didn't have a good expression towards the Wood Elves.
It was no wonder that the wood elves' appearance and trade brought Laing great benefits. The elves' exquisite handicrafts and necklaces were highly sought after by human nobles. Because of that, the wood elves' trading post brought Laing a lot of tax revenue. Gasparton estimated that the barony's tax revenue would exceed a thousand crowns this year.
However, Kasenberg did not think so. The relationship between the wood elves and the humans was not good. The serfs feared and were wary of the pointy-eared elves and caused some trouble. When the elves had disputes with the humans, they were handled by Kasenberg. Due to the wood elves' special status in Laing's territory, these disputes were not easy to deal with, so Kasenberg did not treat them well.
On the way, they talked about the existing problems. Along the Shinon River, Ryan and the others arrived at the workshop presided over by the dwarf blacksmith, Deron Fienson. The black walls and roof were now covered with snow, and black smoke came out of the chimney from time to time.
"Eh?" Laing narrowed his eyes. He noticed a large human hammering iron in the workshop.
Brother?
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