Riding and Slashing

Chapter 12: Cunning is a Virtue

Apart from this exquisite statue of the goddess, the House of Nobles really looks the same as the private houses of the nobles next to it...

There wasn't even a stable outside the door.

Li Ang tied Alice to the stone horse stake at the door by himself, and stepped up the steps.A young attendant crossing the sword to guard the door took a look at Li Ang, walked up to him slowly, and smiled politely but not warmly at him: "Sir, this is the House of Nobles."

Generally speaking, people who come to places like the Court of Nobles alone are either downcast nobles, or they come to climb up with their relatives.So that smile looks pretty perfunctory.

"Leon Griffin, here to register the fiefdom."

Li Ang took out a sealed scroll from the dirty saddle bag, thought for a while and took it back, took out a crumpled piece of parchment and handed it over.

The attendant seemed a little surprised, raised his eyebrows, took the parchment, and glanced at Li Ang again while looking at the parchment.

"Please follow me, Your Excellency Li Ang."

After returning the parchment to Li Ang, the smile on the attendant's face seemed a little more sincere, but there was a hint of doubt in his eyes.

Those who can serve as attendants at the gate of the Noble House are usually well-trained knight retinues, the kind who are qualified to carry the swallowtail flag.

In fact, they are all young masters of noble families—most of them are bastards or side offspring who cannot inherit the family business, and they are learning a lesson called "humility" here.

So, most of the time, they just have that faint polite smile on their faces.

However, this kind of humility is only for other nobles.

Of course, it also includes pioneering lords-those who dare to register as pioneering lords are either nephews of great nobles or chaebols with powerful soldiers, usually very powerful guys.

But a guy like Li Ang who came here alone, who doesn't look rich or expensive, but intends to register as a pioneer lord, is very rare—either a tired megalomaniac intends to die in a barren land, Either the family has strength but pretends to be low-key.

No matter which one, in the eyes of these guards, they belonged to the object of 'don't offend and avoid contact'.

The attendants led Li Ang to the second floor of the Noble Court, and knocked on a wooden door carved with complicated patterns.

A peaceful voice "Come in!" came from the door.

The attendant pushed open the door, leaned forward to salute very politely, and stretched out his hand to signal: "Sir, please come inside."

This is an unassuming room, except for the tall bookshelf by the wall, there is only a mahogany table case and two armchairs facing each other.

On the chair facing the door sat a thin old man with gray hair.

"Sit down, sir."

The old man didn't raise his head, and was concentrating on pouring wax on the seal of a parchment scroll.

Li Ang sat down quietly, put the certificate with the fierce lion crest on the table and waited.

Watching the old man take off the ring, he used the face of the ring to print a coat of arms with two lions on the wax paint.

Seeing this, the guard outside the door consciously came in and took the parchment with both hands: "Is this a reply letter, Lord Earl?"

"Correct."

The old man waved the guards away, put on the ring again, fiddled with the baronial certificate on the table, but did not open it, and looked at Li Ang with interest.

"I'm Oden. Young man, are you planning to become a pioneer lord?"

Li Ang was stunned.

Auden...

He had heard of this name—in fact, it was one of the few noble names that Li Ang could clearly remember.

Earl Alden Fletcher rose from the Jatu Grassland in the northeast of the kingdom as a pioneer 30 years ago.

He built the precipitous Fort of Brave Shield on the edge of the Jatu Grassland, using this as the foundation to expand the Sarleon Kingdom for hundreds of miles, and blocked many attacks from the Jatu army and the Misty Mountain barbarians.

One of them, even with a lone army of less than 500 people, it defended the siege of Jiatu's thousands of troops, and the record was brilliant.

It is precisely because of the existence of Fort Valor that Jatu's grassland peoples cannot enter the territory of the Sarleon Kingdom to plunder on a large scale.

This has been the benchmark for all pioneering lords for 30 years.

His name is well-known even in the fog cage city thousands of miles away.

Li Ang thought that such a general with outstanding military exploits should have a fierce and strong image, but he didn't expect to be so thin and small, and his face was kind and even kind.

But why did such a famous general become the administrator of the House of Nobles?
"Young man, I used to be a smug warrior like you, but it is actually very difficult to open up a new territory...very difficult."

As if seeing the doubt in Li Ang's eyes, Auden smiled slightly: "I have experienced it, and I know the difficulties - of course, I have also received due rewards. However, when a person gets old, he always Something is going to be different..."

"what do you mean……?"

Li Ang was even more confused. He felt that something was wrong.

Auden smiled deeper, crossed his hands on the table, stared at Li Ang with piercing eyes, and spoke directly: "The reply letter I just sent is to my son-in-law Lehman."

Wild Lion Knight Lehman?Fieldsway's opponent in the final!He is Auden's son-in-law? !
Li Ang stood up in surprise.

"Please sit down, young man, don't be so impatient... Lehman wrote to me about the unexpected situation you encountered. In fact, he admired your martial arts quite a lot."

What's the meaning?Li Ang felt even more uneasy.

"I originally wanted Lehman to establish a good relationship with the Duke of Alma. This is related to his future. I think you understand. But Lehman and I are both people who respect the rules. Since the result has been like this, then we will give You congratulate. But..."

A 'but'... made Li Ang's heart hang again just after he put it back in his stomach.

Auden showed a mocking and strange smile, and then said: "But considering the bad character of Alma's family, I think you probably need a little extra help?"

As an outstanding swordsman, Li Ang's observation skills are very good, and will never be inferior to the veteran in front of him.

From Auden's strange smile just now, he saw a trace of complicated emotions.

"You have conflicts with Duke Alma?" Li Ang keenly sensed the hidden information in Auden's words.

Auden was stunned, and looked at Li Ang fixedly.

After a few seconds, he shook his head and sighed: "No wonder Lehman said you are a cunning guy... Yes! Alma and I have a little disagreement. As you can see, I don't like staying in this place with the clerk. as a companion... But Alma recommended me to the king, and I am not easy to refuse the king's trust and invitation."

That's right, unless it is to scare people and recruit them to do things for him, otherwise there is no need for Auden to say such a lot of nonsense.

It seems that Auden, a famous general who was supposed to lead the battle, was choked up by Alma with the administrative affairs of the House of Nobles.

"Thank you for your compliment. For a pioneer lord, cunning is a virtue—what can I do to help you?"

Li Ang started to get straight to the point.

Auden also nodded, looked at Li Ang and exclaimed: "Cunning is indeed a virtue..."

"You have two choices... Become a pioneer lord and go to the border to establish your own territory, but it must be near the Long River Forest. Or, become a knight under my command and garrison my brave shield castle. In return, I will give you a village As a knight leader."

Becoming a pioneer lord may be more promising in the future, but everything has to start from scratch.Moreover, Long River Forest is not far from Fort Yongshield, and the surrounding area is very dangerous... Auden probably wanted to register his fief as Long River Forest—no matter how much territory was expanded outside the registered fiefdom, it would not be recognized.

And becoming a knight under Auden's command is the lowest level of formal noble status, but the future depends on how far Auden Fletcher's family can go.But in this way, he can get the protection of Earl Oden and directly own a knight collar.

Really hard choice.

(End of this chapter)