Embers of Embers

Chapter 87 The Beginning of the Prologue Story
791 in the Inlveg calendar.
The light rain fell from the sky, washing the chaotic earth, and washing away the blood stains on the armor one by one. The knights raised their heads and let the rain soak into the armor as much as possible to cool down the hot body. A touch of heat rose above their armor.
The battle has come to an end. The enemy's formation was broken up by the knights. Most of them used old weapons. They could only bring out a few sparks when cutting on the fine armor. Only a few enemies had armor, but They both had skilled knights against each other, unable to shake the tide of battle.
Earl Stuart slowly pulled the sword blade away from the enemy's body. His movements were extremely slow. As the sword blade left, a large amount of blood gushed out from under the broken body.He struggled with the knight for a long time. At the last moment, Earl Stuart seized the opportunity, knocked him unconscious with the hilt of his sword, and then sealed his throat with a sword.
He was already old, and he couldn't breathe after a while. He held the cross sword blade and raised his head slightly, enjoying the coolness falling from the sky.
"Ah...how many days is this?"
The eyes under the helmet could only feel the heat. He turned around, and the battlefield was still burning with corpses. Some knights fell down forever, and some knights barely stood up.
The earl took off his helmet and scanned the ground with his tired eyes. He tried to cheer everyone up and raised the sword in his hand. The knights responded to him, but the sword withered and looked a little desolate.
It all started a few days ago. The fishermen here saw a large number of ships passing through the White Tide Strait and landing in Inverg. They were not fishermen and wore heavy armor.
This matter was quickly reported to the nearby lord, Earl Stuart. The old Earl felt that something was not good. After the White Tide Strait was Gallonalo. If it was the opponent's army, he should have received it in advance. News, but now there is nothing.
The Earl of Stuart, grateful for his vigilance, immediately raised an army, and the next day enemies from Nalo in Gaul surrounded his castle.
They are trying to capture this place. As long as they occupy the Stuart Territory, the local resources will be enough for their follow-up troops to rest and recuperate. They even say that they will use this as a base to continue advancing into the interior of Inverge.
Because of this, Earl Stuart made a bold decision. He did not listen to others, but stayed here.
He is now a nail, nailing Gaul Naluo's army to the Stuart Territory. If they attack other territories, it will bring a huge marching burden, and the attack will fail. The Earl of Stuart I have persisted without retreating until today.
They only sent their cronies to other territories on horseback, conveying the news one by one until the Platinum Palace in old Dunling, and he had been waiting for support from other territories for many days of persistence.
The knights once again defeated the enemy and pushed them out of the gap in the city wall. Then more people rushed up to reinforce the damaged gap.
Earl Stuart was so old that he felt tired. He sat casually on the steps while his attendants ran over cautiously in the shadows.
That was a child who looked a little cowardly. He didn't even dare to look at the old man. He skillfully removed the armor from his body. Earl Stuart took a long breath and felt that his whole soul was released. come out.
"How's it going today, Navis."
Navis quickly removed the last piece of armor, stacked them together, and replied while working fluently.
"It's getting worse and worse. We have been besieged for four days. Although the supplies are sufficient, everyone is panicked, and..."
Seeing Navis's hesitation, Earl Stuart laughed, and the wrinkles of the years were twisted together like a dead tree.
He likes this attendant for a simple reason. He is a simple person. He will tell him all the bad and good news directly. He never lies or betrays. Although he comes from a farmer's family, he has a noble soul.
"Because I'm old?"
He faced his old age with a smile. There was nothing to be embarrassed about, it was just that the hero was getting old.
Once upon a time, Earl Stuart was also a peerless knight who could wield a hammer and a sword with one hand. He was simply a meat grinder on the battlefield. After every battle, his armor would be stained red with blood. Those people called him Stuart. Red Knight.
But now the Red Knight is old, and even wielding his sword feels tired. His people also feel that he is old, and think that this tall city wall can no longer protect them.
Navis hesitated, then nodded.
The count still smiled, but that smile gradually became lonely and helpless, and then the pain spread on his face, and he coughed violently. Hold him in pain until he passes out.
When Earl Stuart woke up again, he saw a familiar room. Dark red curtains hung on the four corners of the bed. The room was empty except for Navis, who was sitting on the chair outside the door. He lowered his head slightly. , as if falling asleep.
The old man struggled to get up from the bed, but every move brought huge pain. He roared uncontrollably, waking up the attendants outside the door, so Navis ran in with a panic look on his face.
"What's wrong with me?"
A hand supported Navis, and the Earl's voice was a little weak.
"The doctor said you are sick."
Navis helped the Earl back to the bed, and his old body sank into the soft mattress. He had just woken up, but he still felt tired, not only physically, but also mentally.
"How long have I slept."
"day and a half."
"How's the battle going?"
"..."
Navis was silent and did not answer. There were faint sounds of people crying. The Earl moved his sight outside the window. This was his room, the highest point of the entire castle, enough to overlook everything, but now there was a burning fire in his sight. And the smoke, that was the castle barracks where now the banner of Gaulnaro was planted.
The earl had no unnecessary emotions, and he asked again as if it was expected.
"What happened?"
"Yes...it's Lord Madel. He took over the city defense after you were unconscious. During last night's battle, he led the knights to rush out, and then...then he didn't come back."
"Really...that's really the case."
A smile appeared on the Earl's sick face. Madel was his nephew. Earl Stuart never married and did not have many relatives. Madel was his only bloodline, so he always accompanied the Earl. Because he knew very well that as long as the count died, everything here belonged to him.
"Do you think he's dead?"
Navis did not speak. The Earl knew very well what was going on. On the first day of the defense, some knights objected to this. They had excellent war horses and could easily break out of the siege of the Gallic Nalots, but this proposal was rejected. The earl suppressed, and he ordered the knights to hold on to the castle, because they had horses and armor, but the civilians did not.
"This is a defection and he will be crucified on the pillar of shame."
The earl said lightly, but at this moment Navis couldn't help it, he said.
"Sir, evacuate. It is only a matter of time before the castle falls, and we have no knights left to fight."
Those knights followed the Knights of Mardel and left together. That was the last force in the castle. Now only a group of civilians are left here.
But the count shook his head.
"If there are no more knights, then those Gaulonaluo have already invaded the castle, then why are we still alive now?"
"Yes...it's the civilians, everyone used the remaining weapons to temporarily hold the inner fort."
"So you see, don't we still have knights?"
The earl's eyes were shining, and he was clearly in a desperate situation, but he could still laugh. Navis had been the earl's attendant for a long time, but today it seemed like he had really gotten to know the earl for the first time.
"Go on, Navis. There is a parchment in the bottom compartment of the drawer. Please bring it over."
Although the attendant didn't understand, he still obeyed the count's instructions. He took out an ancient parchment with names written one after another in ink.
The count coughed painfully a few more times, but still took the parchment, picked up the pen on the bed table, and slowly unfolded it.
"Navis, where does your full name come from?"
Navis didn't understand, but he still said it.
"Navis Dodd."
The Earl nodded, then wrote something on the parchment, and finally put it away and handed it to Navis.
"I'm sorry, this is all I can do. I hope your father can forgive me."
Navis took the parchment in confusion, but as if seeing something frightening, his body couldn't help but tremble.
"Uncle... Lord Earl, this is not allowed. How can I... I am just a child of a farmer."
"But the children of farmers will not always be farmers, right? Even Stuart's ancestors were farmers. Maybe they are not as good at farming as your father."
Earl Michael Stuart reluctantly climbed out of the bed. His figure was shaky, but he still stabilized. Navis seemed to be frightened by all this. For a while, he didn't even go to help him, just mouthing Keep mumbling.
"But I...but I'm just a farmer..."
"But none of this is important..."
"Then...why?" Navis looked at Michelle in fear. He didn't understand that there were too many things in this world that he didn't understand.
"There are many reasons...for example, those civilians need a hope, a symbol, a guide who can make them follow calmly even if they die. Of course, if you survive, I don't want to let that bastard Madel Dan took advantage."
"Navis, kneel down!"
Ling Lie's voice interrupted Navis's wild imagination. At some point, Michelle had picked up the saber hanging on the wall. The blade was covered with scratches from days of fighting, like holding a sword. He was as old as an old man, with his back hunched over like a wounded lion.
Navis hesitated for a moment, but in the end he slowly knelt down and tried to calm himself down as much as possible. His cowardly face gradually became resolute, and his escaping eyes finally met Michelle's, so the old man Smile at him.
"They need a Red Knight, not a Stuart."
The sharp sword blade gently rested on his shoulder. Michelle was too old. He could not even hold the sword, leaving small wounds. Navis could feel the pain, but he was like a sculpture. Nothing moved.
"You inherit my will, and I will give you glory."
He smiled and performed this ancient awarding ceremony.
"Swear to me, child."
……
After Earl Stuart was sent into the castle, the door finally opened again, and the civilians looked into the deep darkness with anticipation.
In the past few days, rumors were spreading. Some said that the count was dead, while others said that the count had escaped from the secret passage. After Marder led the knights to escape, the panic became even more intense.
But now the door was opened, and the red knight in armor walked out of it. He seemed a little different from before, but soon everyone found the reason. The red knight who dominated the battlefield once again grasped the warhammer and sword.
"But we have no knights left."
Someone told him that now there are only civilians left here.
"Then can anyone still take up arms?"
asked the Red Knight, and countless hands raised their weapons.
"Don't you see there are many knights?"
He replied with a smile.
"But we are just farmers, butchers, blacksmiths..."
The man said again.
The red knight was silent for a while, then raised his sword and gently placed it on the man's shoulder. He looked further away and shouted to everyone.
"Kneel down and swear to me."
Thousands of oaths were heard in the dark room, and the old man closed his eyes with satisfaction.
……
In the year 791 of the Invergo calendar, the Gallic Naro people launched an undeclared war and aggressively attacked the southern part of Invergo. However, when they attacked the Stuart Territory, they encountered the stubborn resistance of Michael Stuart, which prevented the Gallicans from attacking. The Lunaro continued to push inland and bought critical time for troop movements.
Michael Stuart finally died of illness in the castle, and his son Nevis Stuart awarded all the civilians in the castle as knights after his death, and then resisted again for two days until reinforcements arrived. .
A few days later, Ying Erweg officially declared war on Gallonalo, and the glorious war that lasted for hundreds of years officially broke out. Navis Stuart rushed to the southern theater with the knights he awarded.
During the long war, the troops were dispersed and reorganized. The Stuart knights who were once civilians infiltrated the entire Yin Erweg aristocratic class. Relying on the connections granted by the war, they formed a group headed by the Stuart family. A huge aristocratic group.
In the year 876 of the Inverg calendar, the improved steam engine appeared, setting off the second industrial revolution, and the Glorious War ushered in a turning point.
In the 907th year of the Inrwig Calendar, the century-long Glorious War ended with Inrwig's victory.
In the year 925 of the Inverg calendar, Old Dunling welcomed a stranger named Lorenzo Holmes.
In the year 931 of the Inverg calendar, the story begins.
　The new volume will probably be based on the scandal of the magically modified version of Bohemia and some stories that lead to madness. I would like to ask you all to recommend, subscribe, and vote for this book. The popularity of this book is slowly starting to pick up.
(End of this chapter)