Retainers and Divine Grace

Retainers and Divine Grace

"From today onward, you are Freemen of the Frozen Earth Territory. I pardon you from your status as slaves."

Ryan's words made the more than thirty bandits, who had been full of resistance, widen their eyes and stare at him in shock.

They had thought Deren's words were a trick. If they had not been unable to beat him, they never would have come here.

Once they saw that Ryan did not seem to be toying with them, the dozens of men dropped to their knees and continuously kowtowed, calling him a merciful lord.

After accepting their gratitude, Ryan bestowed one of the elk, weighing over one hundred and twenty jin, upon the eight Apprentice Knights serving as guards.

He then bestowed the smallest elk, which weighed less than a hundred jin, upon the more than one hundred and fifty villagers of Frozen Earth Village.

At this point, his prestige in Frozen Earth Village and throughout the Frozen Earth Territory reached its peak.

Yes, it really was that simple. Thinking of this, Ryan could not help inwardly criticizing the rigid hierarchy of this era.

After eating and drinking his fill, Ryan finally felt a noticeable increase in his strength.

"So, where exactly do you lead?"

Spirituality: 27

With only twenty-seven Spirituality remaining, Ryan, who had spent a hundred Spirituality, looked at the Space Gate before him, as large as a door. After taking a deep breath, he turned and left.

"Deren!"

"My lord!"

After summoning Old Beard and Deren, Ryan's gaze settled on Deren. He spoke with some gravity.

"Are you willing to become my Knight Retainer?"

Strictly speaking, Deren and the other seven Apprentice Knights were merely his guards, escorts assigned by the Clayton Earldom to accompany him to his own territory.

So if the Clayton Earldom took the matter seriously, Deren and the others were all soldiers of Ryan's father.

But if he became Ryan's Knight Retainer, then from that day onward, Deren would have nothing to do with Clayton.

"I..." Deren, who had spent the whole journey currying favor with Ryan, ultimately lowered his head in shame and struggle at this moment.

His family in the Clayton Earldom would certainly live better lives than they would here. He had seen clearly what the Frozen Earth Territory was like.

"If you are unwilling, go call Rosen over."

Ryan's voice was calm, but it made Deren's whole body go weak with trembling. He practically scrambled out of the room.

He knew that his position as Knight Commander would probably become Rosen's.

"Are you willing to become my Knight Retainer?"

"I am willing!"

Rosen was trembling as well, but from excitement and fervor.

A Knight Retainer was not actually a particularly noble status. It merely meant that Rosen was a soldier who belonged absolutely to Ryan.

Yet only Formal Knights were usually called Knight Retainers. Becoming one with the strength of an Apprentice Knight, Rosen felt there could not be many people like him in the entire Empire.

"Your subordinate shall spill his blood upon sword and shield. Your will shall be my direction; your gift shall be my Divine Grace!"

Rosen cut open his palm with the sword in his hand, then clenched it into a fist and pressed it tightly against his heart.

He was only a Knight Retainer, but at this moment, he was willing to uphold his duties as a Guardian Knight.

"Good."

Ryan looked at Deren, whose expression was complicated. "Take some men and guard this place. Without my orders, no one is permitted to enter the room."

"Yes, I obey your will." Deren's expression remained respectful. After all, since he had not become a Knight Retainer, his relationship with Ryan would not change in any way.

Besides, as long as Count Clayton, that Baron's father, did not take issue with it in the future, he would spend his days in the Frozen Earth Territory.

The reason he had refused earlier was only because of his family.

Both of his sons had great talent as knights. Perhaps they could become Formal Knights even earlier than he had, and have better futures in the warm South.

Ryan understood this as well, so he did not press Deren too hard. He did not even strip him of his title as Knight Captain of the Guard.

"Beard, come with me too."

After bringing Old Beard and Rosen into the room, both men stared at the Space Gate in shock.

"This gate can only remain open for a hundred hours. We need to hurry."

"Divine Grace!" Beard looked at Ryan fervently and immediately dropped to his knees.

"I swear in the name of a knight that I will never reveal Master Ryan's secret for all eternity."

At the side, Rosen imitated him in much the same way. Then the two of them retreated to the doorway and set up several precautions.

If anyone entered the room, they would know afterward that someone had come in.

Several meters outside the room, Deren looked at the tightly shut door and felt as though he had missed something.

"Let's go."

Ryan stepped through the Space Gate, with Beard and Rosen guarding him on his left and right.

In almost no more than the blink of an eye, the room vanished. In its place, a vast expanse of white appeared before the three of them.

If the Frozen Earth Territory still held traces of green, then the place where they now stood was an endless Snow Plains. Aside from deathly white, there was not a single other color.

Everything was blanketed beneath the boundless wind and snow, with no sign of life in sight.

Ryan turned around. The Space Gate had disappeared, but he could open it at any time within the hundred hours and return to the Frozen Earth Territory.

A faint, barely visible path lay beneath their feet. It seemed someone had passed through here not long ago.

"There are people here. That is good news." Rosen spoke, equally curious about where this place was.

"Let's go."

Without needing Ryan's signal, Rosen was already walking at the front with his longsword in hand. Clad in leather armor, he was freezing, yet he intended to keep the cold wind far from the Baron.

"Beard, tell me about Divine Grace."

On the Snow Plains, aside from the crunching of three pairs of feet on the snow, there was no other sound. The silence made Ryan feel somewhat stifled.

"Yes, young master."

After witnessing Ryan's methods, Beard became even more respectful, no longer displaying any overfamiliar behavior that only an elder could get away with.

He did not know much about Divine Grace either.

"The gods started a war across the Pan-Plane. They needed their believers to fight for them."

"In the middle and later stages of the war, the gods desperately needed victories, so they personally bestowed Divine Grace upon their believers. Using Divine Grace, those believers harvested faith for the gods."

"Once one god began using such a method, other gods had no choice but to do the same. Thus, the number of Grace Bearers in the Pan-Plane war grew."

"Later, the war between the gods ended, and the entire Northlands was covered by the Eternal Winter Wind and snow."

"The gods' war made world-ending flames pour from the sky. The deaths of gods plunged the earth into the Fierce Winter of Eternal Silence."

"But Grace Bearers did not vanish entirely with the disappearance of the gods. Every so often, news of Divine Grace could still be heard."

"Besides that..." Beard fell silent, or perhaps he was afraid and deeply shaken.

"There are rumors that after the Pan-Plane war between the gods ended, Divine Grace did not necessarily require a god to bestow it personally."

"Many gods died in the Pan-Plane war."