"Huh-ha-"
The return of a large amount of cold air in early spring caused the temperature to drop sharply again. The sky was a gray-blue color that is common on cloudy days. The breath exhaled from the mouth and the heat emitted by the body due to exercise formed a light white mist that lingered around the neck and head—— Mira stopped breathing, and then placed the half-sword in her hand that had not yet been bladed at her waist. She calmly considered her aim and then used her steps to strike out towards her opponent with a straight stab at the middle of her waist.
"Look! Cang--" Sparks flew everywhere, and the blond lady easily parried the blow, and then the thick sword embryo, also without an edge, hit the Luoan girl's breastplate, leaving a clear line Visible dents and a loud "clang" sound.
"Shasha——" The girl took a few steps back. The not-so-small playground circled in the plains of Ecasta where they were standing was the training ground for the knights and sergeants of Avenella. In addition, In addition, since the northern nobles and commoner archers fought side by side more than a year ago, many people of commoner origin will also come here to learn swordsmanship. Edward, who already understands that the kingdom's noble class alone cannot defeat those enemies, is fighting against them. The profits earned by the Otolo Empire since the establishment of commercial trade have not been used for squandering and decoration like other typical nobles.
His Royal Highness's life is still very simple. He has invested money in building training grounds and building weapons and armor for training. Anyone who joins the army, whether an archer or a knight, can learn here and consult his seniors.
The effect of such behavior is extremely significant. Many Avenella civilians who originally only knew how to use longbows now know some basic blocking and counterattack skills, as well as what they should pay attention to and how to form the best alliance with their companions. A basic shield wall was established to enhance each other's survivability, and with this move, the barriers that had already begun to dissipate in the fight side by side were further removed.
The original Sivalier heavy cavalry was caught off guard by the Avenella people because they looked down on the coordinated infantry and chose to get rid of them. A stupid person will only ridicule those who make mistakes, while a smart person People will learn from it to avoid making the same mistakes themselves. As the confidants trained by Prince Edward, it is not an exaggeration to say that these knights and sergeants who fought alongside him are the most enlightened nobles of Avenella's generation, so they will never be like the nobles in the south. They eulogize the victories that have nothing to do with them and enjoy the results that actually do not belong to them. Instead, they learn cautiously. Even when facing the opponents they have defeated, they maintain respect and try to learn from them, even if they use them as negative teaching materials to remind themselves.
They felt the benefits of doing this almost immediately. As a group that far outnumbered them, most of these unknown civilians could not make any big sense. However, some subtle wisdom that has only been spread among the people for thousands of years has benefited the nobles a lot. Many of them began to speak the dialect of Avenella in order to learn, and as a means of communicating emotions and learning from each other, On weekdays, this playground is always crowded as a friendly competition venue——
It's just that the protagonists here today are not the usual men covered in sweat and smelly, but two equally beautiful girls. And the most eye-catching one is not the noble lady with a title, but our little Mila with the white hair on the other side.
——Her long hair has turned into short hair that reaches her ears. This is a bit regrettable in Ming Na's opinion. After all, Ming Na's inherent impression is that Mira has long flowing hair or a small ponytail. Now that she is taller than she is, she has changed to short hair. Although she cut it for her herself, watching her knock down three well-trained Avenella sergeants in a row, she is panting but still very heroic. Standing opposite, for some reason, Ming Na felt a little lost.
"One more hit left! Sir, don't be merciful just because she is your sister!" The soldiers who failed to block and were hit three times on the breastplate and then retreated were joking with the two of them, but they clearly noticed that Mira Ming Na, who had already exhausted a lot of her physical strength and could no longer keep up with her reaction, struck decisively, with a long thrust towards the white-haired girl's breastplate. However, Mira, who had experienced many things, did not act like Ming Na. Na was hit by surprise as expected. She seemed to have accumulated strength for this moment and took a big step. At the same time, she knelt down on one knee and lowered her body to avoid Ming Na's straight stab aimed at the breastplate and crossed the long sword. Hit the abdomen of her breastplate - "Cang!" But the blond girl is not an ordinary person. Before Mira started to learn swordsmanship, she already had some foundations and the several encounters within this year. There was a conflict. When Ming Na was attacked, she deflected the sword without any hesitation and put the blade across the neck of Mira, who was kneeling on one knee.
"Huha - Huha -" Under her short hair, her face became white again due to returning to the west coast where the light is not as intense as the grassland. There were bursts of redness on her face. Mira gasped for air for a while. She opened her mouth and said: "I...lost..." She said this, and then she lay down on her back on the grass.
"Physical strength is still a weak point." There was almost no blue in the cloudy sky, but this clear scene still made people feel physically and mentally comfortable. Minna sat down next to Mira, and when they saw that the competition between them was over, the nobles and commoners nearby also laughed and went to a place a little further away to continue their practice and competition. The blond lady said this and rubbed Mira's head, while the white-haired Luoan girl closed her eyes with peace of mind, and finally let out a long "um..." after finally catching her breath. I don't know if he is answering Ming Na or just because it feels very comfortable to be touched by her.
"Sword, are you still satisfied?" Minna asked. This was the reason why they came to this training ground about 20 days after Mira, Henry and others returned. The girl lost her in Absela Luan. Although she did not regret giving it to others, she still needed to make a new long sword.
The person who made her new weapon was one of the best blacksmiths in northern Avenella. In fact, he was not the only one who knew the steelmaking and forging techniques that the sage proposed when making her last long sword during the journey. , the barren west coast is constantly war-torn, so knowledge cannot be spread effectively. But after conducting trade activities with the merchants in Otolo, the blacksmiths here also learned similar methods. It's just one thing to know how to do it. They have high requirements for the quality of the iron ore, coupled with the skills of the blacksmiths. Together with the mysterious factors of luck, it is still not an easy task to make a long sword as good as before.
"It seems that she is not very satisfied." Ming Na easily understood Mira's silence and the little expression on her face, but no matter what, they could only make do with it now - there was some sound outside. Get up, people are shouting something.
"Edward seems to be back." Mingna stood up, then took Mira's hand to help her get up too: "I hope it's good news." She said this, and then the two of them went to the weapons rack to put the training tools together. He took off his breastplate and cotton armor and headed to the city lord's mansion.
…
…
More than half an hour later, everyone who heard the news Edward brought back was silent for a while, but even though the current situation was already very serious, Henry still had to clarify the affairs of the Otolo Empire with Edward in one fell swoop.
"Secret action force? Although my father did tell me that they would let Otolo's army come over, and I also guessed that the empire was making some small moves, but wasn't this a thorough intervention in the domestic affairs of its allies? "His Royal Highness the Prince looked a little indignant, and other people in the conference hall who had heard about it for the first time also had similar expressions. Several confidants, including Charles, realized that the situation had gotten out of hand and glared at each other. Se is thinking about who should bring up that matter.
"What on earth are Otolo thinking? It would not be good for them to trigger a split in Avenella. We are still in an alliance. What are we doing with these little moves?" Edward hugged the man who was obviously under great pressure. He held his head and kept mumbling, Ming Na on the side looked at him worriedly, and our Mr. Sage spoke again, with his usual calm and magnetic voice, pointing the direction for the confused people.
"Calm down, Your Highness the Prince." He said: "The tricks played by the Otolo Empire are, in the final analysis, inseparable from your father."
"Ashbern II, although he is impulsive and relatively mediocre in personal abilities, he is a man who has sat on the throne for more than thirty years. To the people, he may be a bad king, but If we talk about the matter, a person who has been able to sit on the throne for so many years without any major problems must have some observation skills and wisdom accumulated over the years." Henry looked like this in front of a prince. The king of Avenella evaluated today's weather as well.
"And the reason why he refused to accept His Highness the Prince's proposal and made all the wrong moves, including provoking Sivalier, ultimately lies in three words." The sage shrugged, and his tone remained the same. He said slowly.
"not give a damn about."
He said this, and the relevant people in the conference room were stunned for a moment after hearing this, and then fell into a long silence.
A series of Avenella nobles, headed by Edward and Charles, all understood that what Henry said was true. For two centuries, the Avenella nobles had been accustomed to treating people's lives as nothing, such as Edward and today's Things like this that they themselves try to consider for the sake of the people - sorry, it has never happened once. If you look at the southern nobles who are still stubbornly watching, you will understand. Unlike the northern regions like Wawasika, which are neglected or dominated by the more open-minded business-oriented Ashenil, the southern and central regions The older the intertwined nobles who are the center of power in Avenella are, the more profound their traditional aristocratic values are in their hearts.
The interests of the people, the interests of the kingdom, the interests of the territory? They don't care about these things, because they have been nobles since they were born, and they are noble beings who are superior to others. They do not need to fight for the interests of the people to gain their support. On the contrary, using the people to seek benefits for oneself is the correct way of thinking - and as the leader of a country, Ashberon II's thinking is naturally the ultimate embodiment of this way.
Whether it was seeking the throne of Sivalier that led to the invasion of Sivalier and almost losing the northern region or the entire kingdom, or still rejecting Edward's proposal despite the threat, despite possessing a certain amount of wisdom and thinking ability, Ashbern The reason why II still made such a move was simply because he was a traditional King of Avenella.
He only cares about his own interests and those of the royal Sulfaga family, and doesn't care about anything else.
"This is exactly why the Otolo people would choose to go beyond you, His Royal Highness, to negotiate with the king." Henry pointed out all this to the point and began to analyze the Otolo people's intentions: "You are a smart, "Young, and a prince who is quite extraordinary by royal standards, because you see the potential of people's war, you understand what is really good for the country, rather than just limiting yourself to your own interests."
"This is also a very important reason why I choose to help you." Henry shrugged: "But this is not what the Otolo people want to see, a strong and unified Avenella where nobles and civilians advance and retreat together. ?”
"You must know that there is only a mountain between us and them. If the Padrosi occupy the west coast and pass through the Grigli Gap, they can suppress the Otolo Empire. If Avenela becomes stronger, Otolo will have to What's the bet that we won't do the same thing?" The sage continued: "The biggest difference in the thinking of emperors and kings is that they will not limit themselves to their own small domestic interests but take a longer-term view. Otolo's As any emperor should do, His Majesty the Emperor did not intend to bet on the possibility of whether Avenella could maintain the alliance after it became stronger, so he took decisive action and tried to control everything by himself."
"Your father, in the past year since his alliance with Otolo, must have done a lot of things that dissatisfied the people of Avenella." He said: "I have seen a lot on the road, and I am partial to Otolo. It’s about the businessman Luo." Edward nodded: "Yes... as if what we signed was not an equal covenant but a subsidiary relationship."
Edward sighed. At this moment, he already understood what the sage meant - or maybe he had understood it for a long time, but he didn't want to admit it.
"Well, because in the eyes of your father, for a small country like Avenella to have a relationship with Otolo, the most important thing is to hold on tightly to avoid being thrown away by the other party. As for independence and equality - regardless of No matter what happens to the people and the country, he can still sit on his throne. This is the only thing he cares about."
"And this is exactly what the Otolo people like to see, a mediocre and unambitious leader who at best only wants to make small fuss on the west coast under the protection of the empire and is easy to operate. In contrast, he has Your Highness, the prince with your personal charm who knows how to lead the people, is quite dangerous to them."
"Is this the end of the matter..." The gloomy expression on Edward's face was clearly revealed. Charles and several other princes' confidants looked at each other but didn't know how to speak. They all knew in their hearts that peaceful negotiations were impossible, but that was the prince's biological father. As the most valued son of Ashbourne II, Edward and his relationship were very close. If not for this, He would not go south to try to convince his father even though he knew that he was likely to fail.
"..." Charles hesitated for a while, and finally turned his eyes to Henry.
"Your Highness," the sage said, even without the urging of Charles and others, he would still say such words.
This small country is now at the last moment before the outbreak. If Edward cannot make up his mind, then there is a huge doubt whether the country of Avenella will still exist in half a year.
Edward raised his head and looked at Henry, who had a calm expression.
"It's a tough multiple-choice question."
"The moment you were born into the royal family, you were destined to bear this responsibility and original sin. When the person standing in front of your country and people is your blood relative, you can only choose one of them."
He said that as of this point, it would be useless to say more, and the next thing could only be done by Edward himself.
"..." Silence echoed in the conference room.
"Alas..." After a long time, Edward let out a long sigh.
"...No wonder you choose to be a mercenary and wander around the world, sir," he turned to Henry and said this. The excellent but impetuous young prince from more than a year ago had disappeared at this moment. He closed his eyes and let out a breath before standing back up.
Before that, he was just a young man, but when he turned around, he was already a man upright.
Before that he was still a prince.
Turning around, he was already the king of the majestic United Kingdom of Avenella and Luoan.
——Edward Ewtling Shulfaga I.
"Gather everyone." Edward said word by word.
"War is coming." (To be continued.)
