Second Card Draw

"All right, Lady, stop dangling bait in front of me. If your connections were truly so effective, you wouldn't need to form an alliance with my family."

Starting out with a countship sounded tempting.

But there would be plenty of problems, chief among them being the likelihood of getting cuckolded.

Quite a few Noble Ladies of this era had chaotic private lives. It depended on the balance of power between husband and wife. If the husband was strong and the wife weak, then naturally she would not dare behave too outrageously.

Of course, there were also couples who truly got along, but they were few and far between.

To many people of this age, wearing a green hat was hardly a big deal. Each simply did as they pleased.

You kept your lovers, and I found my mistress. It was a political marriage, after all.

As long as the child was Lothar's, the title of Count of Augsburg would fall to the Habsburg family.

If Count Werner had been negotiating with this Countess, he would probably have agreed gladly.

Setting the green hat aside for the moment.

Whether they were lesser vassals or soldiers, everyone in the territory owed allegiance to the Countess. He would also provoke a powerful count backed by Lionheart.

That would greatly restrict his development.

Besides, in the traditional Catholic world, expansion was already likely to provoke panic among one's neighboring powers.

Historically, Lionheart had successively acquired the two great duchies of Saxony and Bavaria and had even attempted to lay claim to the imperial throne. A group of vassal lords formed the Anti-Lionheart League, and the two sides fought for a full two years. Although Lionheart won, he was later exiled by the emperor and ultimately lost in the game of power.

Lothar had never underestimated the movers and shakers of this world just because he possessed a card-drawing system. He could not forget that witches who wielded supernatural power existed in this world.

Where there were witches, there had to be other supernatural powers to keep them in check. He simply did not know about them yet.

Having thought it through, Lothar immediately firmed his resolve. "Lady, please forgive me, but I cannot agree to your request."

The Countess snorted coldly. "Knight, are you questioning the foundations of the Calf family?"

Lothar shook his head. "My apologies, Lady. I meant no offense. I merely believe that an elected emperor, if he lacks strength of his own, may not be able to sit securely on the throne."

"Furthermore, Lionheart of the Welf family is the most powerful vassal lord within the empire. He is the strongest contender for the imperial throne."

Lionheart possessed immense influence in both Bavaria and Saxony. His power within the empire was fully enough to rival that of the emperor.

The Countess smiled faintly. "But don't you think that is precisely why he is even less likely to ascend the throne?"

"Young knight of the Habsburg family, no one wants an overbearing superior."

Lothar fell silent. The Countess did have a point, but the more that was true, the more he felt that remaining within the Greater Germania Empire would only constrain his development.

Even if he went through untold hardship to obtain an empty imperial title, he would still have to face countless domestic forces of resistance. What a headache.

He would be better off going to the Holy Land to build up his strength, then one day returning with an army of thousands.

"My apologies, Lady. Your beauty is like the stars in the sky, but I bear the great mission of defending the Holy Land. My lifelong pursuit is to fight the infidels for the glory of the Heavenly Father, so I can only decline your kind offer."

"Very well."

The Countess seemed somewhat dispirited. Naturally, she knew Lothar's words were merely pleasantries, and her attitude immediately turned cold.

"Then tell me, how should I reward your brave assistance, Knight Lothar?"

Without hesitation, Lothar said, "Two warhorses and some coin will do. As you know, the County of Argau is a barren place, and my father's support for me is limited."

"This is a great undertaking. I am willing to sponsor you."

The Countess nodded slightly.

"You may choose the warhorses from among the mounts left behind by those Magyars. They should have been your spoils of war in the first place. In addition, I will give you another hundred Solidus gold coins of decent quality."

The price of an ordinary warhorse was roughly equivalent to ten Solidus gold coins.

Solidus gold coins were minted by the Eastern Empire. Their purchasing power had once been very stable, but as the Eastern Empire declined, the quality of the coins worsened as well.

However, the most recently issued batch contained ample gold. It was said to be over ninety percent pure.

It was not just gold coins. Dinar silver coins also faced the problem of increasingly poor quality.

A hundred Solidus gold coins of decent quality was indeed no small fortune.

Still, it was only a fair reward. After all, the mounts left behind by the Defeated Magyars alone were worth more than that.

Not to mention the losses the caravan might have suffered if Lothar had not appeared.

But it would not be entirely fair to say that she had cheated Lothar.

After all, Lothar had only killed six Magyar cavalrymen. Even if all the spoils were sold, they would not be worth a hundred Solidus gold coins.

"Thank you for your generosity, Lady."

Lothar bowed to the Countess, with not the slightest sign of dissatisfaction on his face.

The Countess snorted. "Dismissed, you ungrateful barbarian."

With that, she flicked her sleeve and left.

Lothar merely smiled, unconcerned.

His attendant, who had been looking at him as though he were a fool, placed the heavy purse into Lothar's hands.

He turned and left happily. Not only had his mood remained unaffected, it had become especially pleasant. First, he had gained a sizable fortune today and completed a milestone.

Second, he had finally confirmed his own strength.

He really was formidable!

He decided that once they reached their next lodging, he would use the card draw he had earned for completing the milestone!

That night.

They entered a Small Town within Tyrol and settled into an inn.

As before, Lothar and Prajna shared a room.

The moment he entered, Lothar impatiently said, "Prajna, today I'm planning to summon a new comrade for you. Perhaps even an old acquaintance of yours."

In the background setting, although Prajna had an indifferent temperament, she had quite a few familiar retainers in the Hell faction to which she belonged. If he could summon enough retainers from the same faction,

they could form bonds that would provide an all-around boost to the retainers' attributes.

Prajna said nothing. She merely looked at Lothar calmly, as if she were looking at a fool.

Lothar smiled, drew a cross before himself, and prayed, "Heavenly Father above, please bless me with a five-star or six-star draw."

Then he chose to draw.

A crisp system notification sounded: Congratulations, you have obtained a one-star defensive retainer: Reserve Knight.

Lothar's face immediately darkened.

In the game, one-star retainers were the sort no one would deliberately cultivate unless they had no choice during the beginner phase. Even players without the means to assemble an all-five-star and six-star superteam would at least make do with a three-star or four-star lineup.

The only purpose of one-star retainers was to pollute the card pool.

Thus, not only were their attributes abysmal, even their character art was slapdash. Their faces were often hidden by hair or helmets, and they had no proper names. It was cost-cutting at its most extreme.

He had set those odds himself, so he had no one else to blame.

He gritted his teeth, but could only accept reality.

Come forth, Reserve Knight.

A man clad in iron armor and wearing a face mask slowly materialized in the room. He was nowhere near as radiant as Prajna had been upon her first appearance, nor did he possess the aura of a god descending to earth.

Quality: Common (One Star)

Level: 1

Affinity: Distant

Strength: 10

Agility: 7

Vitality: 10

Endurance: 8

Spirit: 5

Skill: None.

Introduction: A Reserve Knight trained by the Teutonic Order State of Prussia, which had existed since the late Middle Ages. They underwent rigorous knightly training from childhood and were excellent warriors on the battlefield.

With a flash of white light, the Reserve Knight was summoned by Lothar.

Lothar looked him over from head to toe.

The Reserve Knight possessed far more presence than his character art suggested.

He wore a white surcoat adorned with the Black Cross Emblem, with full chainmail beneath it.

In one hand, he carried a kite shield bearing a white field, a yellow cross, and the heraldic emblem of a single-headed eagle. In the other, he tightly gripped a knight's sword. On his head was a Winged Helmet resembling a pair of bull horns.

Lothar knew that, historically, a Reserve Knight could not wear a Winged Helmet. It was an ornament, an honor, and a mark identifying a commander.

But the problem was that the game he had designed had never cared about historical accuracy.

That greatly pleased Lothar.

No matter how poor the Reserve Knight's quality was, this suit of armor was at least the real deal. Stripped off and sold, it could be exchanged for a village fief—far better than Prajna's black, form-fitting Motorcycle Suit.

Judging from his attributes alone, this one-star retainer was evenly matched with him. In other words, he himself was only comparable to a one-star retainer. No wonder Prajna did not think much of him.

"You are my Master, correct?"

The man's voice was unexpectedly magnetic. He removed his helmet, revealing a head of dazzling golden hair and the handsome, youthful face of a Germanic man.

"That's right."

Prajna frowned. "This is the companion you said you would summon for me? I have never worked alongside such a weak mortal."

Lothar said awkwardly, "Heh, the result was a little different from what I expected."

"General Prajna?"

A flicker of delight appeared on the one-star retainer's face. "This is truly incredible. I never imagined I would be able to fight alongside you."

Prajna gave him a cool glance and said expressionlessly, "You are not following me. You are following my lord."

Lothar asked, "What is your name, Reserve Knight?"

Upon hearing this, Hans hurriedly dropped to one knee and saluted. "My name is Hans. I come from the Teutonic Order State of East Prussia. It is an honor to become your retainer."

Hans.

How pitiful. Even his name was so perfunctory.

Lothar felt somewhat regretful. As for Hans's claim that he came from the "Teutonic Knights," it was merely something Lothar had fabricated in the game's background, borrowing the historical Teutonic Knights' shield emblem.

After all, he had wanted to save as much on art costs as possible for a one-star retainer.

Of course, this world also had Teutonic Knights, currently in the Holy Land. Their full name was the German Knights Hospitaller of Saint Mary of Jerusalem, but they were utterly incomparable to the two great orders of the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller.