In the evening, in the guest room of the Earl's Mansion in Longxia City, Ron was stroking his broadsword that had been cut with several holes.
At stood up from the chair, walked to Ron and took the broad sword with a steel mouth, and comforted: "Ron, don't be discouraged, it is not shameful at all to lose to Sir Leander. Even if it were me, I dare not say that I am sure of victory."
Visit the Longxia Legion this afternoon. The additional interaction was a knightly contest. Art was the host and guest. Of course, Flanders would not directly invite Art to compete, so Flanders invited Ron, the trainee knight of Art's bodyguard, to compete with a Centurion Guards officer named Leond from the Longxia Legion. Both of them were Lord Knights, and their ages were not much different, so it was considered fair.
However, the outcome of the contest was determined from the beginning. Sir Leander knocked Ron down with less than twenty moves. Later, upon hearing the introduction, Sir Leander's father was a swordsman who died in the Longxia Legion. Leander himself also served in the Longxia Legion for five years and experienced more than twenty bloody battles. Therefore, he did not show any sloppiness in wielding the sword in the competition, and his attack method was to directly hit the opponent's vital points.
Ron can be considered a veteran who has gone through many battles, so he still resisted Leonde's first round of attack and tried his best to take over twenty moves. It's just that both of them chose to use matching swords in the competition, so the broad sword in Ron's hand that had been with him for two years had already been cut with several deep gaps.
Ron raised his head, "Master, I am not discouraged by losing to Sir Leander. I really can't beat him. If it were on the battlefield, I couldn't stop Sir Leander's momentum at all."
Matt picked up the broadsword and looked at it for a few times. The blade of the broadsword had indeed been soaked in dark red blood. "Well, it's a bit of a pity. When I return to the valley, I will ask the weapons workshop to customize a stainless steel knight's sword for you. You are now a knight. It's long past time to change to a sword with a better steel mouth. "
Matt wiped the blade of the broadsword with his thumb, gave it back to Ron, and asked: "After seeing the Longxia Army today, what do you think is the difference between the Longxia Army and the Wells Army?"
Ron sheathed his sword, the regret on his face slowly disappeared, he straightened his expression and replied: "Deadly!"
"Huh? Deadly?" Art didn't understand what Ron wanted to express.
"Yes, it's the aura of death."
"Our Welsh Army can definitely be regarded as a brave and elite army, and that is the fact. However, the Longxia Army has a death aura besides its bravery, which is an aura that treats itself as alive as a dead person."
“Not to mention the death-like silence when I watched the Longxia Legion’s military formation training in the afternoon, this feeling was even stronger when I competed with Sir Leond in the end. During the competition, I was shocked and used the killing move of battlefield chopping. An ordinary person’s first reaction would definitely be to block or dodge, but Leond’s first reaction was to take advantage of the situation and attack my thin waist and abdomen. Weak, if I had the same kind of death energy, half of his shoulder would be cut off by me. However, my instinctive reaction was to immediately withdraw my sword and defend myself, and the blade was cut with a deep cut by the huge force. "
"Sir, I have killed many people, and I am not a person who is afraid of death, but I can't live like a dead person."
Matt agreed deeply after hearing Ron's words. In fact, from the moment Leond drew the sword, Art felt the murderous intent that transcended instinct. If Flanders hadn't repeatedly ordered to stop, Ron might not have lost a matching sword.
Bang～ Bang Bang～
Bang～ Bang Bang～
A knock on the door interrupted Art's words.
"Please come in!" Art said to the door.
The person coming was exactly what the two of them were talking about.
"Sir Leander, what do you want?" Art asked as he stood up.
Leonder bowed deeply to Art, "Baron Art, I came here specially to present my sword to Sir Ron."
“Me? Give me a sword as a gift?” Ron was confused.
"Yes, Sir Ron, you are the first person alive to receive my twenty moves. I broke your sword, so I should give you the knight sword I carry with me. I hope you can use this knight sword to compete with me again next time." Leander's tone was very calm, and there was no emotion in his words.
Ron was stunned for a moment, then became excited again. He walked up to Leander in a few steps, took the knight's sword with a badly worn cowhide scabbard and gently pulled it out. The hilt of the knight's sword was made of thin cowhide. The sheath rope has been wrapped around, and the cowhide sheath rope is bright red in color, obviously soaked in blood; there are several dents on the sword grid, which should be left by the enemy's weapons; the dark gray sword spine is slightly protruding, and the blade part should have been polished after the afternoon test.
"Sir Leander, are you really willing to give it to me?"
"Yes, Sir Ron."
"Does it have a name?"
Leander Suddenly there was a faint smile on his face, but he regained his composure instantly, "Sir Ron, a murderous sword should not have a name."
"Oh~" Ron thought that Leander would give his sword a loud name.
"Then how can I thank you?" Ron didn't think he could take advantage.
"Beat me with it next time."
Leonder said lightly and then turned his gaze to Art, "Baron Art, my Earl invites you to come to his office for a chat."
This is Leander's true intention.
"Please tell the earl that I will be here shortly."
Leonder saluted Art and Ron again before turning and leaving.
「罗恩，看来不用让工坊专门打制配剑了。」
............
暮色降临，隆夏城一派安宁祥和。
· In the official room on the second floor of the Earl's Mansion, when you push open two heavy oak doors, the first thing you see is a brown bear head with a wide mouth and long fangs hanging on the wall behind a long official desk. The official desk under the bear's head should be made of yew wood. The large official table only has an iron box, a set of quill pens and ink boxes, and a candlestick. There is a thick Bible in the middle of the table.
To the left of the official room is a red brick wall with a fireplace, and some wolf skins, bear skins, antlers and other items are hung on the wall; on the right side of the wall is an armor rack hung with shiny full-body plate armor. A row of weapon racks stands against the wall. On the weapon racks are short spears, long axes, crossbows, arrows and other weapons. Several chairs are placed under the right wall, which are obviously prepared for visitors. The floor of the office room was covered with a carved wool blanket.
Matt has never entered Flanders' bedroom, but he guessed that it should be regarded as a more luxurious room in the entire Earl's mansion.
The servant introduced Art into the room, sat down on a chair against the wall, and said, "Baron Art, the earl just went to the camp to deal with urgent matters. Please wait a moment." Then he poured half a glass of wine into the wooden cup next to the chair.
Yate sat on the armchair with his head straight and waited quietly.
This "wait" made Art wait in the office room for a full hour, during which no one came in to say hello to Art.
shall want to “put aside the test .
The door to the office was pushed open, and Flanders hurriedly walked into the office.
"Cousin Art, I've kept you waiting for a long time. I just went to the military camp to deal with a small matter." Flanders walked past Art quickly, came to the weapon rack, picked up a piece of linen cloth to wipe the sword, and wiped the sticky blood on his hands.
Att stood up and saluted Flanders, and saw that his chest and skirt were covered with splatters of blood.
"Cousin Flanders, what are you doing?"
Flanders threw the blood-stained linen onto the sword stand, pointed at the blood stains on the skirt and armor, and replied nonchalantly: "This? This is me. The blood of a little bastard in the army who incited the soldiers to mutiny because of a camp prostitute, and I personally cut off his head with a short knife. These guys start causing trouble for me as long as they are not fighting." Flanders' tone was as cold as if he had just stepped on an ant.
Matt was a little moved in his heart, but his face always remained absolutely calm, as if he had heard someone mention that he accidentally stepped on an ant.
Flender stared at Art's face for a full moment, then smiled and walked around the long table to sit behind his official desk.
"Art, are you satisfied with the sword that Anglid gave to Sir Ron?"
"Thanks to cousin Flanders for his good intentions. Ron was still depressed at first, but he was very excited after getting Sir Anglid's sword. I would like to express my most heartfelt thanks to you." Art has long known that this was Flanders's little way to win people's hearts.
"Cousin Flanders, I don't think you summoned me to see me late at night about a knight's sword, right?" Art spoke first.
Flender laughed, and then his expression immediately became serious: "Art, you already know the historical origins of the Hugues family, and you must also know my inheritance rights to the County of Burgundy, right?"
"Yes." Art nodded.
"Putting aside the past events for now, you should know that the Marquis of Ivrea only has one son, and my right of succession should be after the eldest son Robert, right?"
Ate just nodded silently.
"Then do you think Robert, the heir to the Count of Burgundy, is the legitimate son of the Marquis of Ivrea?"
"This~" Art didn't know how to answer this question. He didn't expect Flanders' topic to start from here.
Flender obviously did not intend to get an answer from Art. He said directly: "Robert is indeed the legitimate son of my cousin the Marquis."
Art was a little unable to react. The news he received was that the prince was not a legitimate son, and combined with the fact that the Marquis's wives were all infertile, Art also had reason to believe the rumors.
"I think you have also heard many remarks made by the heir apparent, and you may even believe it. But this rumor was carefully designed by me, and I spent a lot of money on it."
"The Marquis himself must know this, and you can't deceive the Marquis and the inner court, and this kind of rumor can't deceive a powerful person like Earl Baldwin." Art questioned.
Flender did not directly answer Art's question, "I think you should know that Viscount Pierre, the county governor of Tynets County, was once the chief of the palace guard. Aren't you curious why a personal guard who has followed the Marquis since he was twelve years old was sent to a remote and poor place like Tynets? Your marquis's direct fiefdom is more than that."
Art has really not thought about this problem. Now that I think about it, it is indeed a bit unusual.
"Because there was a scandal in the palace five years ago, a guard officer just selected by Pierre, the chief of the palace guard, climbed onto the Marquise's bed. Of course, the guard officer was secretly executed, and Pierre gradually became jealous and neglected by the Marquis because of his laxity in the service."
"Did you send that guard officer?" Art heard the clue.
"That guard was just my emergency measure, and I lost a brave subordinate because of it."
"Emergency measure?" Art was a little puzzled.
"There is a court physician in the court of Besançon, who was appointed by my father. Ever since Ivrea's wedding twelve years ago, the physician has been giving him and the successive marquises a special drug that is not fatal, but will make people infertile. If this continues, I can legitimately inherit the title of marquis, and I can afford to wait anyway."
"But five years ago, the doctor told me that the new Marchioness was pregnant with a child, and he was killed by Bernard who noticed the clue. I also tried to poison, but Bernard was too defensive, and I never succeeded."
"So you changed a strategy and immediately sent someone to seduce the Marchioness to make the Marquis suspicious of the child in the lady's belly?"
Flanders glanced at Art with a "You're very smart" smile, "The scandal and the Marquise's pregnancy were less than a month apart. I thought Ivrea would definitely kill the 'bastard', but my cousin actually didn't take action!" And that old guy Bernard also protected the little bastard to death. 》
“Especially when Ivrea proposed passing the throne at the court meeting two years ago. I originally planned to take back what belongs to me in a gentle way, but he drove me crazy.” There was a trace of sinisterness in Flanders’ eyes.
Matt felt a little ashamed when he heard this. He thought that Flanders, who had always been kind to others, had such a dark heart, "Then the Marquis started to be ill two years ago, right?"
"I wanted to kill him quickly, but the inner court guarded him too tightly. I had nothing to do with him being seriously ill and bedridden. But I didn't expect that he would invite me to Besonsang when he was ill, just to warn me not to have any wrong thoughts about the prince."
"How could I have any unreasonable thoughts, everything I want belongs to me, I just get back everything that was taken away from me."
After Flanders finished speaking, he paused for a moment to calm down his mood.
"Not many people know about these things, and even Baldwin is only aware of them. Art, today you also know these things that are enough to make you die a thousand times." A cold smile appeared on Flanders's face, and he looked straight at Art and stopped making any noise.
Matt kept struggling in his heart. He didn't expect that he would actually stand with the real villain.
"Count Flanders, what do you need me to do?" Art's answer was straightforward. Whether he was a villain or not was not a problem at all for him.