my armed maid

Chapter 74 71: General Staff of the City Lord’s Mansion

The so-called victory ceremony is actually a military parade held in the city.

The troops would line up and parade outside and inside the city, enjoying the admiration and welcome from the people of Linfeng City.

As the main force resisting the invasion of the prairie people, every soldier is a hero who protects his home and country. This is the honor they deserve.

After the parade outside the city, the Linfeng Legion and the city guards dispersed, leaving only the knights to follow the army carriage into the upper city and arrive at the gate of the city lord's palace.

The city lord Ivan has been waiting here for the knights for a long time. Next to him are Evelin and various dignitaries from the city lord's palace.

"Lord City Lord."

The leader of the Knights, Ryan, dismounted and knelt down on one knee towards Ivan. "The Knights have fulfilled their mission. We swept away the barbarians and completely defeated our enemies!"

The people in the uptown area who were watching immediately responded with grand cheers.

"Okay... you did a good job." Ivan took a deep breath and began to deliver a speech to the people in accordance with the usual procedures of the ceremony.

Basically, the war is over. Under the wise leadership of the City Lord's Mansion, we have achieved complete victory. The enemies have been completely eliminated. No enemies will come to harm us again. You can rest assured.

While speaking, Ivan's expression became slightly stiff.

A month ago, people were dissatisfied with his negative policies and triggered a "suicide march". It was here that he was criticized and his reputation was greatly affected.

This made him very uneasy, fearing that he would be looked down upon by the masses again.

Fortunately, Linfeng City finally won. In the face of the grand joy, although people did not want to see the current city lord, they did not make things difficult for him anymore.

After the speech, there was still a symbolic round of applause.

Immediately afterwards, Evelin stepped forward to speak. During the war, she took over Linfeng City as the acting city lord, promptly maintained public security in the city, and took in many refugees.

At the same time, in the early days of the war, her beautiful story about taking the lead and rushing to the front line to fight was also widely circulated among the people, and the practical deeds she did were remembered by the people.

Although she has only been in office for a month, she is already quite famous. This time she appeared, she immediately received much warmer cheers and applause than Ivan.

The content of Evelin's speech was also very pragmatic, such as promising to the people that she would rebuild the villages outside the city, set up a monument to the war, reduce taxes, revitalize production, etc.

When her speech came to an end, the crowd of onlookers suddenly became commotion.

"Look, look, what is that!"

"Someone is flying over!"

"What a strange outfit. He is actually wearing a mask. Wait, could this be..."

"White Raven!"

Under people's shocked gaze, the white raven came out of the sky.

She circled twice in an elegant posture, then descended from the sky and hovered over the city lord's palace.

After a brief shock, the onlookers who witnessed the arrival of the white raven immediately responded with a wave of cheers greater than before.

People believe in heroes and like heroes because they are the embodiment of people's illusory will. They can place all their unspeakable feelings on specific people and things.

This war brought great suffering to the people of Linfeng, and during the most difficult period of the war, it was the white raven that gave people hope for victory.

She almost single-handedly turned the tide of the war and saved Linfeng City - under the influence of various rumors in the market, many people had this understanding of White Raven.

Whether her achievements were exaggerated or not, people want to believe it is true.

Mysterious, powerful, and not overbearing, she leaves silently every time she comes to help. Her story satisfies all the people's fantasies about a hero.

So far, the "White Raven" has become a flag, a symbol and a legend of Linfeng City.

And when this legend appeared in front of the crowd at this moment, how could it not make them ecstatic and extremely excited?
"White Raven!"

"White Raven!"

"White Raven!"

People began to shout spontaneously and quickly integrated into waves of rhythmic support. Its huge momentum even interrupted Evelin's last closing words.

"It's really welcome..."

Evelin shook her head helplessly, then looked up at the sky, looking at the figure of the white raven with a happy smile.

"Now you understand, Yuna. As long as we don't give up, even if we lose everything for a time, we can rebuild hope on the ruins.

"You are not fighting alone. You are loved by everyone."

……

Because of the arrival of the white raven, the celebration ceremony came to an end in a warm atmosphere.

The fun with the people was over. Nolen got off the carriage and walked into the city lord's palace together with the generals of the Knights.

Next, the city lord's palace will conduct a military merit review and award medals to the generals who made outstanding contributions in the war.

A total of one to two hundred people were invited to the auditorium. They were either generals in the army, dignitaries of the city lord's palace, and representatives of other forces. They were all important figures in Linfeng City.

Nolen, Evelin and Ryan, sat in the box on the second floor of the auditorium and watched Ivan preside over the award ceremony in front of the stage.

Those who had made contributions in the war were awarded medals and money, while the more powerful ones were given land and allowed to develop resources and establish new gathering places outside the city.

During the war, the villages and various resources outside the city were burned, killed, and looted by the grassland people, and were in a state of ruin waiting to be revitalized. Therefore, this move would also help Linfeng City rebuild its power outside the city.

"It would be great if Yuna could come to attend the ceremony."

Evelin lamented, "Her contribution is so great that she is enough to receive the Bauhinia Medal from the Roland Empire, which is the highest honor in the empire!"

The battle between the grassland people and Linfeng City was not only a national war that took place in the border areas, but also an unyielding struggle by the people of the Roland Empire against foreign invaders in order to defend the territorial integrity of the country and their own right to survival.

From this perspective, those who have made outstanding contributions in this war of resistance are the heroes of the imperial people, the role models of the imperial soldiers, and the role models of the imperial knights, and are worthy of the highest level of rewards from the empire.

"White Raven will not participate in such a tacky investiture ceremony."

Nolen smiled, "It should be an unsung hero, a transcendent existence, for which any worldly honor is just a mere burden."

After going through wars, with White Raven's reputation in the military and popularity among the people, why do they need such vanity to prove their status? This only makes the existence of this ideal seem vulgar.

Great, needless to say.

"Hey, that sounds so nice." Evelin curled her lips, "Then why did you come to participate in the tacky investiture ceremony, genius and proud alchemist?"

"Because I am a layman."

Nolen admitted openly, "The path I want to take is different from hers. If I don't go out to find food to feed her, how will the white raven have the strength to spread its wings and fly?"

Whether it is Valkyrie equipment or other alchemy weapons, just having a design drawing is not enough, it also requires a lot of manpower and material resources to support it. If he does not have enough social status, he will not be able to master enough alchemical resources and upgrade the White Raven's equipment.

"Technological progress" is the core competitiveness. Once progress stops, the undefeated White Raven will encounter Waterloo sooner or later.

The same goes for Yuna. As a transcendent, if she wants to quickly improve her cultivation in the future, she will also need a large amount of cultivation material support, which is another huge expense.

These resources will not appear out of thin air. In the end, someone has to step forward and struggle in this world just to earn some money to "support their family."

Alas, it’s difficult.

Life is not easy, so Nolen performs as an entertainer.

"It's cheap and good."

Evelin rolled her eyes at him and sighed, “Have you ever thought that this is unfair to Yuna.

“She lost her important family members, her physical integrity, and her freedom in life during the war.

“And when the war ended, as one of Linfeng City’s biggest contributors, he now lost even the chance to win honors.

"But for her, what will happen if the war is over? People cannot be resurrected after death, broken limbs cannot be reattached, and the days of being bound will last a lifetime, and nothing can be restored.

"Obviously she has become the white raven that everyone admires, but she still lost everything... If there is anything else, you are the only one left."

Her expression quietly turned a little sad, and she said softly,

"I don't know what happened between you and what your relationship is now, but since she will continue to follow you in the future, I hope you can treat her well.

"Linfeng City owes her a lot, and so do I. May you be a light in her broken world and lead her out of the painful shadow of the past."

Nolen was stunned. At this moment, Ryan stood up and nodded to him: "It's our turn to play."

At this time, the awarding ceremony below has come to an end. Ivan read out their names and prepared to award them.

Nolen came back to his senses, put himself in order, and walked to the ceremony stage with Ryan.

As the two walked to the stage together, everyone in the auditorium focused their attention on them——

As the strongest man in Linfeng City, of course everyone knows who Ryan is. As the supreme commander of the army, it is expected that he will receive the Bauhinia Medal after the victory of the war.

Therefore, most people focused on this unfamiliar young man.

Since he is on stage with Ryan, it means that this young man will also receive the same level of honor as the old general...

The Bauhinia is the national flower of the Roland Empire, and the Bauhinia Medal is one of the highest-level medals in the Roland Empire. It is also an honor that many people will never receive in their lifetime.

Usually only heroes who contributed to the expansion of the empire's territory during its foreign conquests, and heroes who saved their country from danger when defending their homeland would have the opportunity to receive this medal.

And such a significant medal is actually going to be awarded to a young man who looks less than 20 years old?
Of course, no one in the audience raised any questions. They were all high-ranking officials in Linfeng City, and they had roughly known the young man’s details even before the awarding ceremony——

He was the genius alchemist who helped Linfeng's army create a new type of magic cannon.

Without the support of the new magic cannon, Linfeng City would have been in a great predicament when the prairie people attacked the city, and it was very likely that it would even be destroyed.

Without the support of the new magic cannon, the Knights would not have been able to crush the prairie troops with firepower, eliminate the enemy so quickly, and end the war.

It can be said that the advent of the new magic cannon was a turning point in the war. Since then, Linfeng City has turned from defense to offense, completely suppressing the firepower of the grassland people.

The person who invented this new type of magic cannon was the little-known young alchemist in front of him.

Until now, no one can explain clearly how he managed to produce five new magic cannons in one day. Such a rapid "explosion of troops" can almost be called a miracle in the history of city defense warfare.

And if laymen can't understand how powerful the new magic cannon is, what a terrifying achievement it is to build five new magic cannons in one day...

does not matter.

Just say the words "white raven" to a layman and he will understand.

Because Nolen participated in combat meetings in the army and attended on behalf of the White Raven, he was also considered to be the spokesperson of the mysterious "White Raven".

It goes without saying how brilliant the White Raven's performance in this war was.

Now that she did not appear at the medal ceremony, does this mean that this young man attended with her share of military exploits?

Rather than awarding the Medal of Bauhinia to a young alchemist, it would be better to award it to the entire "White Raven Camp."

This argument was quickly accepted by everyone, and no one objected to the investiture ceremony.

They generously gave warm applause to the new star of Linfeng City. During the applause, Ivan first awarded Ryan a medal, and then looked at Nolen and said gently:

"Nolen Vishes, you gave the army the greatest support at the most critical moment of Linfeng City, and protected Linfeng City through the night before dawn. Your alchemy is unparalleled, and the invention you invented The weapon is our sharpest blade.

"It is precisely because of you that Linfeng City can successfully repel foreign enemies and the sacred territory of the Roland Empire can be preserved. Your impact on this war is immeasurable. Therefore, with the recommendation of Acting City Lord Evelin and Knight Commander Ryan Down--

"The Lord's Palace of Linfeng City will ask the Roland Empire to award you the Bauhinia Medal. Your achievements will be remembered by the empire, and your name will be praised by everyone."

With that said, Ivan put a redbud medal on Nolen's chest, and the applause in the auditorium rang out again.

This Bauhinia Medal is not the real thing, but serves as a temporary substitute in today's award ceremony.

The real Bauhinia Medal will be awarded in the imperial capital after receiving a request from the Lord's Palace of Linfeng City, and the recipient will come to the imperial capital in person to accept the imperial award.

Or let the envoy carry the emperor's token to come to Fengcheng to confer honors on the emperor's behalf.

As for whether the emperor will respond to the local city lord's request for honors, I can only say that as long as it is not too outrageous, he will basically approve it.

The Bauhinia Medal is just an honor and does not represent real power. It is not the only high-standard medal, and the conditions for obtaining it are not too harsh.

For example, Ryan fought on the battlefield for the empire in his early years, and this is already the second Bauhinia Medal he has received.

Different from ordinary civil wars in the empire, this war was a national war between the Roland people and the Lebus people, and it was also a war to defend the imperial territory from foreign barbarians. This significance is enough for the empire to award this medal to its heroes.

It was also because of the confidence in his heart that the City Lord's Mansion rushed to today's medal ceremony to announce the winner of the Bauhinia Medal to everyone in advance.

Of course, just a false name is not enough. Since Linfeng City intends to recruit Nolen as one of its own, it will definitely provide benefits with real power.

As the applause died down, Ivan took another token from the tray held by the attendant, handed it to Nolen and said:
"... In view of your outstanding performance in the war, I entrust you in the name of the Lord of Linfeng City and hope that you can serve as the general staff of the Lord's Mansion."

The atmosphere in the auditorium became quiet at this moment. Nolen took the token with a smile, nodded and said, "It's a great honor."

"very good."

Ivan nodded, "Nolen Vishes, from today on, you are the general staff officer of the City Lord's Mansion."

　Thanks to DECO28 for the tip

　　
　
(End of this chapter)