The Lord's Rights and Obligations

The Old Witch remained in the castle, researching the corpses of the Children of the Forest infected with pus. Meanwhile, Yveta led his men to the castle stables.

Outside the stables, a group of knights waited by the side, expecting the attendants to bring out their warhorses.

Yveta counted and found Knight Tawil, accompanied by seven other knights. Behind them followed forty-five armed infantry and over two hundred peasant soldiers.

With only a little over a hundred guards inside the castle, this force was extremely important.

Yveta couldn't let them go to their deaths.

Yveta walked up to Knight Tawil, who arrogantly refused to look at him.

Yveta said, "Knight Tawil, have your servants feed your warhorses in the stables. We have a tough battle ahead. My men saw an army of an alien race in the forest. If you pursue them now, you'll only bring misfortune."

"My suggestion is that we wait for them to come to us."

"We will defend the castle."

"Have the farmers retreat into the castle, and have the farmers from your villages hide in their manors or seek refuge in our castle."

Knight Tawil sneered at Yveta. "You, a mere explorer, who are you to be giving orders here?"

"Your men saw an army in the forest? Just your word as explorers?"

"Pursuing stragglers brings the greatest victory, pursuing a routed enemy brings the greatest military merit. You people aren't knights; you don't understand these things."

"The ways of explorers don't work on the battlefield."

Yveta frowned. He indeed lacked experience. Someone with experience could easily persuade others by citing examples from past wars.

But now, his strange identity and young age made it impossible to win over a middle-aged knight.

Knight Tawil then spoke arrogantly to Yveta. "Get lost, explorer."

"I'm going to hunt down the bastards who killed Moro, my comrade. Moro and I grew up together, learned swordsmanship together. I can't accept... I can't accept that he died like this!"

Yveta found it troublesome.

He couldn't dissuade such an idiot.

Looking at Tawil's reddened eyes, Yveta made one last effort. "If you pursue them, you will surely die."

"The enemy has already regrouped in the forest..."

Knight Tawil suddenly drew his knight sword and swung it at Yveta.

Clang~

Black Wolf intercepted Knight Tawil's sword.

Black Wolf sensed that the opponent wasn't using his full strength; this strike was merely a deterrence.

However, it still angered Black Wolf. "Tawil, don't push it."

Yveta looked at the crossed greatsword and knight sword before him, showing no fear. "Tawil, are you going to draw your sword against your benefactors?"

Tawil's expression changed multiple times. He knew he still owed Yveta a favor.

If it weren't for Yveta, he would have fallen victim to the Children of the Forest's poison plot.

Tawil knew he was in the wrong. "Anyone who dares to stop me, I'll cut them down."

His attendant, Ra, brought the horses. Knight Tawil mounted one.

He rode his horse and left the area, his troops following him.

Yveta frowned and said to the troops, "Think about your families, everyone."

"I assure you, the Children of the Forest army outside has already regrouped. You going out there now is purely suicide."

"If the standing army dies outside, it can be said to be the glory of a warrior. But many of you are just farmers conscripted by feudal obligations."

"Your wives and children are waiting for you at home. Don't go out of the castle to die!"

Some of the peasant soldiers hesitated.

The lord of Ambrose could conscript serfs in his territory for ten days of war labor service annually.

In other words, these farmers could only be conscripted for ten days a year.

This was a result of Ambrose's serf system being too weak.

With Yveta's words, some of the already reluctant serfs faltered.

Many stopped in their tracks, not following the troops.

These serfs had never received war training and were actually unwilling to follow Tawil to pursue the enemy.

They simply had no way to resist the lord's feudal obligations.

Now, seeing Yveta, who seemed to be the actual controller of the Baron's Territory, speak like this, many of the bolder serfs genuinely wanted to not follow the troops.

Knight Tawil looked back and sneered. "Those who want to stay are nothing but cowards."

"All the spoils of war this time will be yours. The Children of the Forest took quite a lot of things when they fled."

Money moves hearts.

With his words, some of the peasant soldiers who had wanted to stay now wanted to follow him again.

Fifty-odd peasant soldiers remained.

This was fine.

This brought the number of soldiers within the castle close to two hundred.

Though their quality might not be very high.

The peasant soldiers' term of service was indeed only ten days, but if the Children of the Forest truly besieged the city, they wouldn't be able to leave the castle and return home.

These fifty-odd people were at least healthy, strong adult males.

Their presence in the castle was still very significant.

Yveta managed to persuade some soldiers to stay.

He instructed Leili and the butler Akalanda to assign suitable positions for these soldiers on the castle walls.

Then, he sent Black Wolf to check how many bows and arrows, how much armor, and how much food remained in the castle.

If the Children of the Forest were to besiege the city in the future, these would be life-saving supplies.

Yveta, with Branton, returned to the second floor of the castle and, calling the Old Witch, entered the former Baron's study.

In the study, Yveta sat on the wooden stool with a backrest that the Baron used to occupy and said, "Branton, do you think we can write to Ambrose, the Great Viscount, in the name of the Moro family, requesting his support?"

Branton immediately replied, "Of course, my lord."

The Old Witch spoke frankly. "We could before, after all, it was the Great Viscount's country. But not now."

"Because... you see, the Viscountcy seems to be divided into two factions now. They're too preoccupied to help themselves. I think that's precisely why the Children of the Forest dared to reappear."

Yveta frowned. "What level of professional is that Ancient Soul?"

"At most, Third Rank, same as me," the Old Witch said. "Because of the Thousand Year Fire, the Children of the Forest cannot unleash power beyond Third Rank in this place."

"Even if they are all Third Rank professionals, everyone excels in different areas, and their strength won't be the same."

Branton suddenly became curious. "Then what are you good at?"

The Old Witch spoke frankly, with a hint of pride. "I'm best at running away."

Branton's eyes widened. He looked at Yveta, then at the Old Witch. "This..."

Yveta sighed. "Since they can only exert Third Rank power at most, I don't have to worry too much."

The Old Witch said, "Your Majesty, do we really have to fight a tough battle against the Children of the Forest here? That should have been the responsibility of the nobles and the City Council of Viscount Ambrose's Independent State. What does it have to do with us!"

"Hearthstone Witch," Yveta looked at her very seriously. "Rights and obligations are equivalent."

"Those who enjoy rights must fulfill corresponding obligations."

"A lord who abandons his territory and his people will only be abandoned by his people."

"If I leave here now, the Baron's territory we worked so hard to obtain will be taken from us."

Hearing this, Branton immediately felt that Yveta was a royal with a strong sense of responsibility.

Indeed, entrusting the territory to such a person was not a mistake.

The Hearthstone Great Witch rolled her eyes, appearing not to have taken it to heart at all.

However, at that moment, she suddenly thought of Hearthstone Fortress and, for the first time, had the urge to return there.

She wanted to go back and see what it had become after so many years.

But she quickly stopped herself.

Witches like them were at home everywhere!

Yveta asked the Old Witch, "What exactly is the Thousand Year Fire? You've mentioned it before, and the Children of the Forest are also very afraid of the Thousand Year Fire."

The Old Witch replied, "The Thousand Year Fire... this involves Ambrose's past history."

"All I know are legends, but I can tell you about it."