Knight Secret Techniques

Because of the orc attacks, Viscount Dickens, the lord of Harvest City, was already feeling overwhelmed. As a Grand Knight, Viscount Dickens would rather take up his sword and hack down the orc squads that had entered Harvest City's territory than remain in the Lord's Mansion and periodically hear news of some castle or village being attacked by orcs.

Yesterday, Viscount Dickens received a werewolf corpse and a map from Hari Castle. After having someone translate it, he discovered that it was a map showing the assembly point of an orc squad. The orc squad would gather within the next few days and be transported out of the human world by flying beasts from the Orc Empire. In other words, this attack was nearly over. If Viscount Dickens did not act soon, the losses caused by this orc attack would cause him to lose face throughout the duchy and affect his standing there.

During the day, Viscount Dickens had already ordered a thousand-man army to ambush the location marked on the map. This time, he had deployed three Senior Knights, thirty other knights, and an elite thousand-man force. Such strength was already enough to fight a small-scale battle.

According to Knight Marshall's letter, this intelligence had been obtained after his adopted son, Master Abel, the master blacksmith, ambushed a lone Wolf Rider with a trap. Viscount Dickens was extremely interested in this newly emerged master blacksmith from Harvest City. As far as he knew, this master blacksmith had earned his title by forging magical weapons. Viscount Dickens had also been considering whether to ask this newly recognized master to make him a magical weapon.

"Lord Mayor, someone from Matthew Castle has come to report a death." The steward of the city came to deliver the news.

Viscount Dickens knew as soon as he heard this that another castle had run into trouble. He said to the steward, "Let him in."

A moment later, a disheveled servant entered. As soon as he came in, he said through sobs, "Lord Mayor, Lord Matthew and everyone in his family were killed in the orc attack."

The disappearance of a family was no small matter. Viscount Dickens knew the Matthew Family. It was a small family, merely one of the minor families in Harvest City, but it had been passed down for several hundred years. Its territory was not large either, extending only a hundred miles, making it the smallest lord's fief.

"Tell me exactly what happened." Viscount Dickens saw that the servant, whether from grief or inexperience, had not explained things clearly and was instead speaking in fits and starts.

There was nothing that could be done about it. Normally, if Lord Matthew needed to report something to Viscount Dickens, he would send Steward Ken or go to the Lord's Mansion himself.

Because of this attack, Steward Ken could not leave Matthew Castle and could only send a servant who was usually fairly articulate.

The servant understood what Viscount Dickens meant. He also remembered Steward Ken's instructions: once he reached the Lord's Mansion, he had to finish telling everything as quickly as possible. The lord would not have time to listen to him slowly.

"At dusk today, a group of Wolf Riders attacked the castle. The gates of Matthew Castle happened to be open, so the Wolf Riders charged inside. When they entered the castle and began killing people, Master Abel happened to pass by and stepped in to help. Together with his followers, he killed the entire group of Wolf Riders. Master Abel also restored order in the castle. Steward Ken sent me to report this to you." The servant finally managed to explain everything in one breath.

Viscount Dickens's eyes shifted. It was Master Abel again. All nobles would praise someone who rescued an aristocrat from danger, and such a person would earn their respect. Although he had failed to save Lord Matthew's life, he had preserved the castle intact. Judging by the orcs' habits, they would have slaughtered everyone inside before setting the castle ablaze.

Master Abel's actions definitely had to be rewarded. As for the map Master Abel had provided, they would also have to wait for the ambush's results. If the battle went well, the two achievements could be submitted together as a request for commendation to the duke. It would be difficult for the duke to reject it. No one dared reject rewards for such military accomplishments. Once the king rejected one, no one would fight for the duchy again. All the nobles, including the king, understood this. Thus, although the king had suppressed the nobles in recent years, he had never blocked the granting of titles for military achievements. Instead, he had promoted people according to the rules every time.

"I'll send some men to Matthew Castle. You can go back first," Viscount Dickens said indifferently.

After the servant left, Viscount Dickens thought of Master Abel again. He solidified his resolve regarding Master Abel: he absolutely had to build a good relationship with him. A master this young would certainly achieve extraordinary things in the future. If there was anything he needed help with, Viscount Dickens would do everything he could to assist him. The favors he showed now might prove immensely useful later.

In fact, if Abel had earned the title of master blacksmith in another duchy, that duchy would have offered at least a lord's title to win over a master who had grown up within its borders. However, the Duchy of Camai was somewhat special. Its king had an instinctive wariness toward nobles, and when it came to a dispensable title like Abel's, the king simply pretended not to know and ignored it.

At Hari Castle, after returning, Abel first played with Black Wind for a while. This young dire wolf had recently been eating extremely well and had put on quite a bit of weight. It ran around Abel's room energetically every day. Abel did not dare let it loose in the square, because the square had been filled with the territory's residents these days due to the orc attacks, and some of them were extremely hostile toward dire wolves.

Abel had dinner with Knight Marshall. They had not been able to dine together these past few days. Only after driving away the orcs today had Knight Marshall relaxed enough to sit down for a meal.

After they finished eating, Knight Marshall called Abel to the study. A maid poured them two cups of coffee. She added some spices to Knight Marshall's cup, then prepared to add some to Abel's as well, but Abel stopped her.

"Abel, there's something I need to discuss with you. The decision is yours." Knight Marshall inhaled the coffee's fragrance and closed his eyes in enjoyment, as if savoring the taste of the coffee and spices, while he spoke.

Abel could barely bear to watch Knight Marshall enjoy his spiced coffee. Spices had become fashionable among the nobles, who added them to everything. Fortunately, the dishes served at Hari Castle rarely contained spices. Otherwise, Abel was ready to start cooking for himself.

"Uncle Marshall, what is it?"

"Abel, you have now become a master blacksmith, and your forging skills have already surpassed my expectations. You know that I am a direct descendant of the Hari Family of Bagang City. I left the family after earning a knight's fief through my military achievements, but the family's Knight Secret Techniques were never closed to me. You are my heir, so you can also go to Bagang City to learn the family's Knight Secret Techniques. Of course, there are some secret techniques here that you can learn directly." Knight Marshall spoke to Abel with great solemnity.

Abel had already learned some secret techniques of the Bennett Family, but without reaching the level of a formal knight, he could not use them. If Abel had not already been a level-five Rookie Knight, Knight Marshall would not have told him about them.

The only Bennett secret technique Abel could currently use was the Knight Breathing Technique, a secret technique that absorbed the qi produced during training and accelerated the formation of his Qi Vein. He had learned three other secret techniques:

The first was the Knight Acceleration Technique, a secret technique that used the battle qi within the body to increase one's speed;

The second was the Knight Burst Technique. It instantly tripled one's strength, but left the user weak for the following hour;

The third was Solid Defense. This secret technique required a shield. By using battle qi to link the earth with the shield, it provided powerful defense against attacks from one direction.

"Uncle Marshall, which secret techniques do you know?" Abel was not afraid of learning too many secret techniques. Because of his mental strength, he learned all kinds of knowledge extremely quickly.

"I know two secret techniques. One is the Knight Charge Technique, and the other is the Knight Mount Acceleration Technique." Knight Marshall continued explaining, "Both of my secret techniques require a mount. This is where Knight Bennett and I differ. He believes the key to being a knight lies in balance and versatility, so he can master all kinds of weapons: greatswords, shields, bows, knight's lances, long axes, and nearly every weapon a knight should be able to use. I specialize only in horsemanship and have mastered the greatsword, bow, and knight's lance. I believe the reason people call knights 'knights' is that they fight while mounted. With a greatsword for close combat, a knight's lance for medium range, and a bow for long range, the weapons I have mastered are enough. That is also why I was able to earn enough military achievements during the war to receive a fief."

In truth, Knight Marshall did not mention that Knight Bennett's military achievements were not low either. However, the military achievements required for promotion to lord were simply too great. At the time, neither of them, as Junior Knights, had been capable of earning that many military achievements.