Legendary Knight: Thousand-Faced Knight (Please Follow-up Reads)

Legendary Knight [Thousand-Faced Knight] (Please Follow-up Reads)

Thousand-Faced Knight, Nameless.

Perhaps he was the most mysterious of all the Legendary Knights to have appeared in history.

No one knew his name, no one knew when he became Legendary, and no one had even seen what he looked like.

Yet his title, Thousand-Faced Knight,

had been branded so deeply into the hearts of countless people in later generations.

He was a nameless legend.

If Voice of the Deathbird had been founded by the Thousand-Faced Knight, then this organization was truly formidable.

"Fred, who do you think might want to get rid of me?" Levi asked.

Fred thought for a moment and said, "Most likely the Black Mountain Duke."

"But the Black Mountain Duke clearly had the chance to get rid of me six years ago," Levi said.

"That was different. Six years ago was during the Holy War, right after your father died. Getting rid of you at that time could easily have caused unnecessary trouble. But now, six years have passed. The Black Serpent Knight has become dust of history, and you, as his heir, have long vanished from everyone's sight. Now would be the perfect time to hire an assassin and eliminate you to prevent future trouble. It's just that the Black Mountain Duke probably never imagined that in only six years, you would grow from a child into a true Knight," Knight Fred said.

"Could Abraham from The Church have done it?" Levi asked.

"It's possible, but unlikely. If The Church truly wanted to make a move against you, there would be no need to go through so much trouble. After all, a duke has to worry about Kingdom law and the rules among nobles when killing another noble without cause, so he must conceal it. But for The Church, with the Heavenly Father above, they are the law. Besides, Abraham only recognizes money, not people. We already agreed to pay him, so he shouldn't go that far."

Knight Fred gave his analysis, and Levi felt it made some sense.

Looking at it now, the Black Mountain Duke was indeed the most likely suspect.

In the end, that group had occupied Tulip Territory and Storm Territory for so long, yet there was still one thorn in their side that occasionally made them uneasy.

That was him, the Son of the Black Serpent.

Though he appeared to be a wastrel, weak and incapable, there was still the possibility—just like in legendary tales—of thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, of a fallen noble rising again for revenge. As long as there was even the slightest possibility, he could become trouble for the Black Mountain Duke in the future.

And now that six years had passed since the Holy War, no one remembered the Black Serpent Knight anymore. No one cared about a minor baron's territory in such a remote region. At a time like this, why not simply hire an assassin and quietly dispose of him within his own territory, without anyone knowing?

"Heh, being a noble is pretty hard too. I've already done my best to show that I have no interest in power, kept as low-profile as possible, lived in my own world, and stayed out of worldly disputes. Yet there are always some important figures who insist on viewing me through the lens of power, treating me as an imaginary enemy, as a weed by the roadside that gets in their way and must be pulled out."

These important figures could turn clouds into rain with a flick of their hands. They schemed deeply, fought one another with intrigue, stood high above all others, and looked down on everyone.

And for an ordinary person like Levi, who was not good at power struggles, there was only one thing he could do:

Quietly grind proficiency until his strength was enough to change everything—then crush their heads and trample their dignity! "Young Master Levi, although you've advanced to Formal Knight, you're still far from being able to contend with the Black Mountain Duke. Forget the Black Mountain Duke, one of the Northern Seven Horsemen—even the Bloody Earl and the Silver Gauze Earl are Great Knights. Whether in personal strength or military force, they far surpass us. You mustn't act rashly," Knight Fred suddenly said as he looked at Levi's reddened eyes.

"Don't worry, Fred. I know what I'm doing. From now on, we'll live as usual. Half of the armor we forge each month will be kept for our own use. I want to first equip an elite squad of fifty men."

"If conditions allow, I want to buy warhorses and train the Militia under us into true Cavalry. A fully armed, well-trained, mobile cavalry force would also greatly increase our strength."

Levi laid out his plans for the future. Cavalry was essential.

In this age of cold weapons, cavalry was the absolute king. A Formal Knight might be able to handle ten well-trained ordinary soldiers alone, but he would never be able to face a ten-man cavalry unit.

Warhorses weighing several hundred kilograms, combined with heavy armor, lances, war hammers, and greatswords, created an utterly terrifying impact.

If Levi had a cavalry force of fifty men, he could crush more than two-thirds of the baron territories. If he had several hundred cavalrymen, he would not fear even an earl's territory. As for several thousand, Levi did not even dare think about it now.

During the Millennial Holy War, the Emerald King launched a counter-invasion war against the Tuva Empire. Even in the king's name, he had only managed to summon a little over twenty thousand cavalrymen from nobles across the land.

In short, although Knights were individually powerful in this world, what truly determined the course of large-scale wars was still the number of troops, their equipment, and especially cavalry.

Levi had originally had no intention of expanding and developing an army. At first, he only wanted to earn a little money to support his training.

But he realized he had been wrong. In this world, once he sat in this position, he had to be ready at all times for challenges from every direction.

He had to develop military strength in order to protect himself! And Levi's path was to focus on quality first—to build a fully armed cavalry force.

As for cavalry construction and weapons and equipment, with the territory's flourishing Forging industry as support, solving those problems was only a matter of time.

What gave Levi the greatest headache was the warhorses cavalry required.

As far as Levi knew, a top-quality, purebred Barded Highland Warhorse cost eighty Gold Coins.

If Levi wanted to outfit an entire fifty-man cavalry force, even ignoring weapons, equipment, and Full Horse Armor, the warhorses alone would cost several thousand Gold Coins.

And that was only the purchase price. A warhorse consumed dozens of pounds of fodder every day, and to ensure proper nutrition, it even had to be mixed with a considerable amount of grain fit for human consumption. For a small lord of this era, the things were money-burning machines.

But when he thought of the crises he might face in the future, Levi felt he still had to make it happen. He just had to plan for the long term.

In the end, it still came down to making money.

"I agree with Young Master's thoughts on cavalry. If we want to reclaim the Black Serpent Family's territory in the future, cavalry will be indispensable. But at this stage, the territory's finances simply cannot support a cavalry force. We'll take it slowly. Oh, there's one more thing I think I need to tell you," Knight Fred suddenly said. "I think I know who that Knight you traded with was."

"Who?"

"The Boar Knight."