True Submission

"My lord! I'm sorry, I fired a second arrow subconsciously!"

Vivian had already snapped out of her mysterious state. Seeing Quick and the others staring at her with strange expressions, she felt somewhat uneasy.

After all, she was a helpless serf girl only yesterday. Even with her newfound extraordinary power, Vivian felt a bit overwhelmed.

"You did very well, Vivian. Do you understand now why I appointed you as captain of the guards?" Nalant encouraged her with a gentle voice.

"My lord, I understand!" Vivian nodded and replied in a low voice.

"Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the side quest. Reward information: A Sprite will descend during the next meteor shower!" At this moment, a system notification echoed in Nalant's mind.

"Another Sprite is going to appear!" Nalant was overjoyed. One had to know that in other baronies, it was considered lucky to see one or two in a year, yet here, he would have Sprites appearing for two consecutive weeks. This was truly a land of fortune!

Suppressing his excitement, Nalant looked around. "What about you all?"

"My lord! We understand now, too." Beyond Vivian's precise archery, her status as a Title Knight left no room for doubt. Even Quick, who had just recovered from his shock, immediately stepped forward and knelt on one knee before Nalant. "My lord, Quick was wrong! Please punish me, my lord!"

A Title Knight!

Don't let her soft, delicate appearance fool you. Quick knew that once she mastered combat techniques, even five of him wouldn't be a match for Vivian.

At the same time, the fact that the Daughter of Misfortune possessed Battle Qi made Quick believe what his lord had said earlier. Perhaps this truly was a revelation from the God of Glory; otherwise, how could such a thing happen?

"Quick, I am not a foolish lord. I will not punish you for your loyalty and sense of responsibility! Get up!" Nalant nodded with satisfaction.

"Thank you, my lord! I swear to serve you until death!" At this moment, Quick was deeply moved, truly accepting this lord from the bottom of his heart.

Although he had been loyal in the past few days, it had been more of a mechanical, command-driven obedience.

But now, his lord had not only displayed wisdom and tolerance but had also received the favor of the God of Honor. As a subordinate, how could he not serve such a lord with all his heart?

"I swear to serve you until death!" It wasn't just Quick; the other ten guards assigned by the Count also truly accepted their lord, just as Quick had.

"Very good! Everyone get up! From this day forward, as long as you give your best, one day you will feel honored by this decision!" Nalant was very satisfied. Today, he hadn't just resolved the matter with Vivian; he had truly won over these guards.

"Yes, my lord!" Quick and the others responded excitedly, their eyes shining.

As the saying went, when one person attains the Tao, their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven. If one day Nalant truly became a hereditary baron or even a viscount, he would have the right to enfeoff vassals, and they would have the chance to earn military merit and become minor nobles themselves.

"Very good. However, as for today's events, the outside world must not know yet. Everyone must keep their mouths shut; not a single word is to be leaked. Do you understand?" In the next instant, Nalant's expression turned serious.

"Understood, my lord!"

"Excellent. Quick, distribute the longbows to the new guards now!" Nalant ordered, then looked at Vivian. "Vivian, as captain, their training from here on is up to you!"

After saying this, fearing Vivian wouldn't know how to instruct them, Nalant added, "You just need to lead them in continuous target practice and ensure no one is slacking off!"

Nalant only needed the ten serfs of the second squad to learn archery to deal with the Dark Creature invasion in a week's time.

As for other tactical skills, those would have to wait until the crisis passed. By then, Nalant still had plenty of training techniques in his mind from his past life's military training and the internet.

"Quick, has the inventory of the castle's armory been completed?"

Riding his horse along the dirt road of the Storm Territory, Nalant asked Quick.

"My lord, the inventory is complete. There are five usable longswords in the castle, and twelve longbows that can be pieced together. Per your orders, eleven of those longbows have been distributed to the second guard squad. However, there are only fifty or so arrows ready for immediate use, and over two hundred arrowheads require the purchase of proper shafts before they can be used."

"A little over a hundred... that's a bit low."

Like the masquerade masks, the castle had plenty of leftover weapons, but most were discarded or damaged products from the past; very few were usable.

Nalant wasn't in a hurry about the longswords, but he was short on arrows, whether for practice or for dealing with Dark Creatures.

Clearly, five arrows per person were nowhere near enough to handle a tough fight.

"It seems I'll have to go to the neighboring territory to purchase some. Pity my measly ten gold coins! I wonder how many days that will last."

"Little one, I hope you can be effective and bring me a surprise!"

Nalant suppressed the bitterness in his heart and focused his attention on the Purple Sprite in his hand.

With Vivian's appearance, Nalant no longer planned to sell the Purple Sprite. After all, this thing was incredibly precious; no noble would sell it for money unless absolutely forced to.

The function of the Purple Sprite was to improve the quality of crops on a piece of land.

If he were lucky enough to improve a fruit-bearing plant, it would become a magical fruit, which could increase a Title Knight's constitution and was highly sought after.

Even if it were slightly worse, if it could improve a plant that suited the Sprite's taste, that would also be excellent. The Tulip Family had become a wealthy count family precisely because they possessed the Tulip magical flower.

Of course, what kind of magical plant he would get depended on luck, as it required the Sprite to choose for itself.

If his luck were truly terrible and he ended up with some worthless magical plant, that wasn't impossible either.

"Eh, it's reacting!"

Just then, Nalant suddenly felt a joyful mental fluctuation from the Sprite, indicating that the little one had found a plant it liked.

"Go on, little one!" Nalant immediately tossed the Sprite forward. After being thrown, the Sprite hovered about ten centimeters above the ground and began to move.

"Follow it!" Nalant kicked his horse's flanks, immediately picking up speed.