Barbarians Attack

Allen sat on a stone bench in the garden, looking at Yorkshire with undisguised disdain.

Yorkshire's mature, handsome face was full of flattery as he looked expectantly at his Lord.

Not far away, Sakre held two battered swords, making lazy motions with them while stretching his ears to eavesdrop.

"My Lord, could you spare a little more of your precious time and help us?" Yorkshire pulled a small glass bottle from his robes and offered it to Allen.

Allen unscrewed the cap, took a sniff, and sneered. "You think you can fool me with this piece of trash?"

"No, no. This is treasured wine I brought from Royal City. I haven't even taken a sip—I saved it all to offer to you."

Yorkshire, who had never given gifts before, had long since cast aside his former reserve. He felt there was nothing wrong with giving Allen a gift, because Allen was worth it.

Ever since arriving in Outpost County, especially after everything that had happened recently, Yorkshire's opinion of Allen had changed completely. He had willingly begun calling him Lord.

Allen pulled out a stack of papers from his robes, sighed, and placed them before Yorkshire.

Yorkshire received them as though they were priceless treasure, his flattery pouring forth in waves. Holding the papers, he could not help but sigh. Those people in Royal City had truly wasted decades of their lives. Baron Allen was a pearl buried in dust, yet he had been banished to a barren place like Outpost County.

Several administrative officials behind him immediately crowded over, their praises endless, though many of them could not even understand what they were looking at.

Not long ago, the general administration hall had been destroyed, and many documents had been lost. Yorkshire had gathered his officials in an attempt to reconstruct the previous civil records and all manner of miscellaneous files.

When Allen noticed this, he had been bored out of his mind and wanted to show off a little. He drew up a table, arranging the residents by the first letters of their names, creating a scientific framework for civil records much like the tables of later generations.

At first, Yorkshire and the others could not understand it, because their previous documents had no logic whatsoever. There would just be a person's name, followed by how much they earned and spent. They were as chaotic as could be.

Later, Allen made a ledger as an example and explained it in detail.

That left Yorkshire stunned. Sakre was stunned too.

They had never heard of such a concise, clear method of recordkeeping. On the Saint Cassis Continent, which was still much like the Middle Ages, even writing had not been standardized. It was easy to imagine how shocked they were by the tables Allen had created.

Yorkshire was not the only one who understood the importance of this system of tables and records. Sakre, who had received all manner of noble education since childhood, understood it as well.

What shocked them the most, however, were Allen's Arabic numerals and the calculation methods they found impossibly profound.

But their shock was useless. Allen had merely been bored out of his mind at the time, which was why he had shown off things like equations and first- and second-degree variables.

Feeling quite damn impressive, Allen got carried away, showing off and bragging about everything. When Yorkshire later clung to him and begged to learn, Allen regretted it.

Because Yorkshire and the others had seriously violated his noble right to enjoy the wonderful life of sleeping after every meal.

After tossing Yorkshire and the others a stack of papers to get rid of them, Allen picked up his wine and was about to leave when Wood came over again, shamelessly ingratiating himself.

Allen had no patience whatsoever for this old zealot, glaring at him as though every part of him was offensive.

Wood carefully pulled a children's book from his robes and humbly said, "Baron, I have already read your masterpiece."

Logically speaking, a clergyman like Wood should not have been reading a children's book based on the Holy See and the Supreme God. But although he was a bishop, only the gods knew how devout he truly was.

Besides, completely engrossed as he was, Wood had long forgotten who the Holy Father or Supreme God even were. His mind was filled with the majestic image of the Vajra Scarlet Ape beating every False God into submission. Perhaps the greatest wish of an old loser like him was for some reckless fool to descend from the heavens and teach those so-called authorities and important figures a lesson every day.

"And then? What about it?" Allen snapped irritably. "You looking to pick a fight? Don't pin random labels on me. Don't forget, we're in the same trench."

Allen knew that these zealots were experts at slapping labels on people. He had written the thing in his spare time only to make Dina happy, but the contents did contain veiled satire of the Holy See.

"No, no, how could that be? I only wanted to ask—what happened next to that fire-element magical beast, the incomparably powerful Vajra Scarlet Ape? The book said he encountered the high-level magical beast, the Man-faced Spider, and that the reincarnated Pope was captured by it too. What happened after that?"

"What happened? Oh, Old Sun—no, the Vajra Scarlet Ape, along with the reincarnated Pope, got stewed in one pot by the Man-faced Spider." After saying that, Allen left the dumbfounded Wood with a dashing back and went off to find something to pass the time.

It had to be said that Yorkshire learned and adapted incredibly quickly. In less than three days, Outpost County's resident records had been reorganized. These officials had even done something unprecedented: they drew inferences from one example and applied ledgers and tables in many other areas.

Wood, the bishop of the diocese, taught Dina theological knowledge halfheartedly each day. Even while distracted, his mind remained full of the imposing image of the Vajra Scarlet Ape wielding a refined steel dragon-slaying spear.

Allen found it amusing. He had not expected this old zealot to be a potential fan of fantasy literature.

Dina was even worse. Her mind had already been muddled enough to begin with, and even now she could not tell which ranked higher, the Pope or a cardinal. She also thought the Holy Father and Supreme God were two different deities.

Old Laixi had changed greatly in temperament as well. He was always boasting that he had effortlessly killed a Magus, utterly unconcerned with Allen's feelings as the human bomb. He no longer crept through the Old Castle like a ghost, but he still sat in the garden every day, muttering things no one else understood.

While Sakre humored his uncle's bragging, he secretly curled his lip. He had an inexplicable feeling and confidence that even if Magus Hels had not been tricked to death, he might not have been a match for his uncle. Though Sakre did not know exactly how powerful Old Laixi had become.

Allen noticed that the old man Leisi seemed to be getting younger and younger. Not only were the wrinkles on his face diminishing, but so long as one ignored that lecherous old face, one could sense an inexplicable aura and pressure around him.

Allen, who had dabbled in all kinds of miscellaneous magic books, recalled a term—magical pressure. The elemental power unconsciously emitted by high-level mages could affect mages of lower cultivation.

Allen knew that after eating the dragon egg, his Mental Power should have reached the level of a Magus. That meant this old butler, who spent all day chatting nonsense with his grandnephew, might already have reached Archmage level.

Besides Allen, Wood had also noticed something unusual about Old Laixi. Every time he saw the old butler, he kept an extremely low profile. After all, Wood, whose primary discipline was Holy Light magic, was at least a High Mage according to the Mage Association's rank standards.

Over the past few days, Allen had realized that Sakre truly had no more money for him to swindle, and he had become bored again. As a result, Old Laixi, still immensely pleased over tricking Magus Hels to death last time, forced Allen to resume reading and meditating, preparing to harm another unlucky peer next time.

Meanwhile, in the Royal City council hall of the Kingdom of Locke, hundreds of high-ranking officials each held a stack of papers, brows tightly furrowed as they read with their heads lowered.

King Manrosal lightly tapped his palm with his scepter, while Grand Duke Kerlai at his right remained silent with his head lowered.

"My ministers, do you believe these ingenious ideas can be widely implemented?" Manrosal raised the papers in his hand and continued, "Whether it is this method of recordkeeping or the policy flaws and measures Baron Allen has proposed for various aspects of the kingdom, all of you must study them carefully. Especially after you return, you must intensify your study of these symbols."

An elderly man in noble attire respectfully stepped before Manrosal. After glancing awkwardly at the Grand Duke, he said, "Several subordinates and I have studied this closely before. This method of recordkeeping and the training methods for basic infantry are indeed novel. However, whether they are ingenious ideas or mere fantasy cannot yet be determined. Furthermore, the details are far too vague..."

Seeing that the noble-born minister seemed to have more to say, Manrosal gave a soft acknowledgment and waited for him to continue.

"The main issue is one question: were these things truly conceived by Baron Allen?" The minister named Kota spoke with obvious distrust.

The King and Grand Duke said nothing.

Many ministers below began whispering among themselves, but their words all carried doubts about Allen.

Noticing that the Grand Duke remained silent, Kota continued, "Therefore, I believe the Royal City commendation order should not be issued yet. Everyone knows what kind of person—no, what kind of temperament—Baron Allen has. I think we should wait a few days for feedback from below before making a decision."

Thinking of how his chubby granddaughter had once confessed to Allen, only to be kicked into the moat, Kota became increasingly animated. He completely failed to notice that Grand Duke Claire's face was growing darker and darker as he continued criticizing Allen. "It is not that this old minister does not believe Baron Allen, but he has never studied any methods for enriching the nation and strengthening the army since childhood. I absolutely refuse to believe he came up with all this by himself. But if he were talking about how to prank people, or swindle and deceive..."

Before Kota could finish, Claire kicked him squarely in the face.

After kicking the white-haired Kota to the ground, the Grand Duke swept his gloomy gaze over the whispering officials below one by one. Gritting his teeth, he said, "I will bring that idiot Allen back to Royal City immediately. If this proves to be true, I will have that brat smash all your estates."

Manrosal, seated upon the throne, did not mind in the slightest. Recalling how Allen had turned the royal palace upside down as a child, a complicated smile appeared on his resolute face.

"Urgent report from the border city!" A warrior with signal flags strapped to his back rushed in. After saluting the kingdom, he shouted, "An urgent flame message from Lord Gatt, mage of the Second Legion stationed at the border city! Nearly a hundred barbarians from the Wasteland have broken through the border city's defenses and are heading straight for Outpost County!"

Everyone in the council hall was shocked. Kerlai walked over and asked suspiciously, "Nearly a hundred people? The Second Legion cannot stop even a hundred barbarians?"

The armored warrior replied, "Other than two mages and the logistical troops left behind, all cavalry and infantry of the Second Legion were transferred away by the Earth Dragon Legion commander under the pretext of military exercises. There is also a letter as proof that this was approved by Lord Kota, Minister of Military Affairs."

Kota, who had just risen to make a scene, turned deathly pale.

"Despicable!" Kerlai's face darkened like water, and he ignored Kota.

He knew Kota had been played by Xiulunte as well.

Kerlai had been keeping watch over everything that happened in Outpost County, including the conflict between his foolish younger son and Xiulunte. But he had not expected Xiulunte to be so underhanded.

Most of the Griffin Knights of the Earth Dragon Legion served as scouts. Xiulunte could not possibly have been unaware that nearly a hundred barbarians had emerged from the Wasteland. Yet he had emptied the Second Legion at this exact moment. It was obviously a scheme to kill with a borrowed blade.

But it was too late to say anything now. There were no armed forces at all north of Outpost County. The several dozen Faith Guardian Knights sent by the Holy See to protect the diocesan bishop could not possibly stand against nearly a hundred barbarians.

These barbarians were undoubtedly elite warriors of the barbarian tribes, and they were certainly coming for Dina.

Thinking of the tragic background of this maid at his younger son's side, Claire's face turned even grimmer.

"Xiulunte, if anything happens to my son or Dina, I will make you and the Earth Dragon Legion accompany them in death." Kerlai did not conceal his fury, voicing those words openly before everyone.

Among those present were many high-ranking officials who believed in the Supreme God, but all of them wisely remained silent. Sometimes, compared to absolute force right before one's eyes, the god they believed in was utterly useless.

Upon the throne, Mansosall threw the royal scepter into Kerlai's hands and said expressionlessly, "Go. Mobilize the First and Third Legions in the north, leaving only the Royal City Guards behind. Hopefully, you can make it in time. I still have old scores to settle with that brat Allen."

Kerlai accepted the scepter, gave his elder brother a grateful look, and hurried away.