Chapter 161: Autumn Rains

After the Duke of Connacht, Louis, and the Duke of Lyonesse temporarily left, King Richard sat alone on his throne, pondering over everything.

Undoubtedly, his grandnephew, Anshi Desmond, had failed his trust and teachings, directly leading to the demise of the entire Knightly Army. For this war, his grandnephew bore significant responsibility.

Now, facing the aggressive dukes, the king had to find a substantial amount of money from the kingdom's treasury to compensate for the loss. In the short term, the king didn't know where to find such funds.

It seemed necessary to negotiate a loan with the Grand Duke of Marienburg, "Lender" Vandergruber Schultz. Just thinking about the money the royal treasury owed Marienburg made the aged king wince; last year, he calculated that Brettonia's short-term royal debts to Marienburg already amounted to over a hundred thousand gold coins, not including long-term debts.

Well, setting aside the issue of money for the moment, Richard had to face the question of who would bear the responsibility.

Firstly, he must set a tone that as the king, he absolutely could not bear this responsibility, or his throne would be at risk.

Regardless, Anshi was dead.

Adelard was also dead, and only Baron Ryan survived.

Thinking this, Richard felt a surge of anger. If only the situation could have been slightly different, for example, if Ryan had died and either Anshi or Adelard had survived, leading the remaining six thousand troops to victory, how wonderful that would have been.

Then, the nature of the war could have been completely transformed. He would have heavily promoted this tragic victory, shaping the commander of the army into a national hero, and proclaiming the destruction of Chaos Rock as ensuring the nation's safety for decades, creating a narrative of "victory is victory," "a legendary victory," to silence all dissent.

But the one who survived and ultimately achieved victory was the Lady of the Lake's chosen champion—Ryan Macado.

This young man was strong, but he was never one of "us," never.

Instead, he had rich factional colors: he was formerly a White Wolf Knight, his foster father was a White Wolf Knight, his godfather was the Duke of Griffon of the Empire, he was both the chosen champion of the Lady of the Lake and a vassal of the Duke of Quenelles, "Long Legs" Francois. From any perspective, he was not one of "us."

Meanwhile, the army he led also included troops from Bastonne.

But could Richard directly punish Ryan? Could he hold Ryan responsible for not rescuing the Knightly Army, for not rescuing Duke Anshi?

Actually, he couldn't, Richard's mature political wisdom told him not to, at least not now, because Ryan brought back victory.

At this juncture, he was the hero of the nation, and Richard could not publicly punish him without damaging his own prestige.

But from his standpoint, he also couldn't give this man, who wasn't part of his faction, too high a reward, or else it would be akin to encouraging knights to set up their own factions and disobey orders, further weakening royal authority.

This was almost like aiding the enemy. Within the kingdom, Duke Francois of Quenelles and Duke Berthelot of Bastonne had always been deeply opposed to him. This Knightly War had left the armies of these two duchies relatively unscathed and even tempered by fire and blood.

Given this dynamic, the king did not want them to benefit further.

But this circled back to the same point—Ryan was the one who demolished Chaos Rock and brought back victory.

It was almost a deadlock, a dead end no matter how it was approached.

The king knew he needed to find another angle.

As for not holding a triumph, that was a minor issue. Given such heavy losses, not holding a triumph could be justified from any perspective, and Ryan couldn't insist on it when all eight duchies that suffered complete annihilation would oppose it.

After some thought, the king had a plan.

Victory was still a victory, and this Knightly War was not a disastrous defeat but, rather, a glorious victory!

Since he didn't want to credit the living, then credit would go to the dead!

As for Ryan and his group, they would be put on hold to dampen their arrogance, then given enough reward to silence them.

Now, he had to wait for the arrival of the dukes. The king and the dukes needed to meet to discuss how to conclude this war.

...

In late September, as Ryan led the right flank army out of the forest, the autumn mood of the Kingdom of Brettonia grew stronger, with serfs numbly harvesting food.

Walking across the fields, the knights felt a sense of satisfaction, having protected the people of the lands through their efforts.

They were now victors.

Nothing was more glorious than protecting one's country.

There was once a saying that if the knights of Brettonia weren't focused on protecting their homeland and seldom initiated wars, and if the Grail Knights didn't need to guard the sacred lands of the Lady, perhaps the knights of Brettonia could have conquered the world.

Of course, this was an unreliable speculation, but it also showed how wary the Old World's humans were of the knights of the Kingdom.

The army marched along the road and then arrived at the Castle of Artua, which was only a day's journey from Couronne. Ryan received an order from the Knight King that the army would rest at the Castle of Artua, and only Ryan and a few leaders could directly go to Couronne to wait for further notice. Of course, they would rest collectively at the Castle of Artua tonight.

This command gave Ryan a sense of something unusual. Normally, an army indeed should not enter a city immediately after battling Chaos creatures and generally needed to rest for a while to observe aftereffects.

But Ryan still sensed something different.

As the army approached the Castle of Artua, the scene before Ryan's eyes made him widen them.

An army was already waiting for them.

No, not one army.

Two armies.

Under the towering Castle of Artua, two elite Kingdom Knight troops awaited their arrival.

On the left, the family banner of the Red Dragon fluttered in the wind, with golden tassels under the flag swaying in the autumn breeze.

Beneath the banner, Bastonne Kingdom Knights in full armor stood ready, their shields uniformly bearing the emblem of a red dragon on a yellow background, with dozens of Kingdom Knights forming a very neat lineup.

In shining gold and silver armor, they were magnificent.

The knight at the forefront, radiating the majesty of a dragon, had a resolute and weathered face, with space slightly distorting around him and faint red energy circulating.

Undoubtedly, he was the famous head of the Red Dragon family, the Duke of Bastonne, "Beast Slayer" Berthelot de Bastonne: "Salute to the victorious knights returning!"

"Salute!"

On the right, the pure white Pegasus family banner fluttered in the clouds, with the Pegasus Knight carrying the banner weaving through the golden autumn sunset.

Duke Francois of Quenelles, "Long Legs," stood in front of the Quenelles Kingdom Knights in silver and white armor, his face all smiles. Seeing Ryan and his group arrive, the duke himself even waved: "Good afternoon, soldiers, well fought."

"Father!" The Antre siblings called out in turn, surprised that the duke was waiting for them here!

"Father! I…" Gabriel also rushed to the Red Dragon Duke's side, who laughed heartily and patted him on the chest: "Not bad, you didn't disgrace the family."

Ryan was left standing alone, the Grail Knight smiling awkwardly.

He was used to it; ever since he came to this world, it had always been just him.

Sulyvahn immediately realized Ryan's awkward situation and turned to him softly: "Come join us, Lord Ryan, my father has something to say to us."

"Okay." Ryan shrugged, feeling a warmth in his heart seeing the knight's considerate gesture.

The Red Dragon Duke came forward to shake his hand: "Thank you, young man, I've heard about it from Gabriel. I won't say much else, as a fellow Grail Knight, I remember you."

"No problem, it's what I should do." Ryan could feel the terrifying aura emanating from Duke Berthelot.

The Red Dragon Duke was stronger than Duke Francois of Quenelles. Among the human powerhouses Ryan knew, only the Lady of the Lake and the Duke of Gryphon could match him.

This exemplar of knighthood, the great Grail Knight, had always been devoted to serving the Lady of the Lake. His dream was to become a Grail Knight to guard the Lady's sacred lands, but the Lady ordered him to accept the sovereignty of his ancestors' lands to govern the people, rather than becoming a Grail Knight to charge into battle.

Even so, the duke became a famous Beast Slayer, and besides, he was uninterested in governing his domain, always delegating this task to his stewards while leading his family knights to eradicate evil. His lance pierced through Apocalyptic Bulls and Green Skin warlords, and his sword killed Vampire Counts and Champions of Chaos.

The duke strictly followed the Lady's teachings, using his lance to only knock down human opponents without delivering a coup de grâce, earning respect from countless people, even his enemies admired his noble character. The duke was always committed to fighting evil within his domain, only returning to his castle to rest when his lands were safe.

"Hard work, Ryan, you did well," Francois approached Ryan, patting his shoulder: "It's not appropriate to discuss more here, let's enter the Castle of Artua and arrange accommodations and dinner for the troops, everyone is tired."

"Okay." A clerk immediately responded.

Arranging accommodations and meals for over four thousand troops was a difficult task, but this was not the knights' responsibility. Ryan followed the two dukes and their descendants directly to the heart of the Castle of Artua, where servants had already prepared a lavish dinner to reward the returning knights.

The group headed towards the inner courtyard of the castle, and Ryan noticed it was a very, very large three-story castle, built of thick stone blocks, with windows every ten steps or so, allowing soldiers to shoot from inside. The walls were equipped with cannons and large crossbows.

"Such tight defense, who is stationed in this castle now?" Ryan asked with interest.

Brettonia did have cannons.

Unlike the Empire across the Grey Mountains, if the Empire and the Dwarves had an Eternal Blood Pact, then Brettonia's relationship with the Dwarves was only average.

The Empire was reluctant to share secrets about gunpowder with the Kingdom of Knights, so the Kingdom mostly had to spend a lot of money to get outdated or discarded cannons from the Empire or Dwarves. These cannons were good for defending cities, but not so much for field battles.

"The Castle of Artua is currently managed by Baron Zieg. He rarely stays here; it's not his domain but directly governed by the king himself," Francois answered Ryan's question: "This used to be the domain of the Duke of Artua, but after the Dolta Tower incident, the Duke of Artua also participated in the civil war."

"The Duke of Artua died in battle? But it's impossible not to find even one heir, right?" Ryan noticed that even after over two hundred years, many places in the castle still bore the Artua family's crest.

Duke Berthelot sighed lightly: "Indeed, none could be found."

"Why?" Now it was the female knight Sulyvahn's turn to ask, as she was also interested in this matter.

"When the civil war ended, King Theofold accidentally discovered that the Duke of Artua and his family were becoming vampires, gradually turning into Midnight Nobility. Out of necessity, Theofold and the Lady of the Lake initiated a Knightly War, eradicating Duke Zilfroy of Artua and his family."

"By then, the entire domain of the Duke of Artua had been harassed by beastmen for decades, much of the land swallowed by forests, and many people turned to dust. After the war, it turned out that there were no suitable heirs for the Duke of Artua. The most qualified, Count Fogel, had already died in the civil war, so the Duke of Artua's domain was divided among the Duchy of Lyonesse, the Duchy of Angoulême, and the Duchy of Connacht. Obviously, since the Knight King at the time was the Duke of Lyonesse, the Duchy of Lyonesse received far more land than the other two duchies."

"I see." Ryan nodded.

Unknowingly, it began to rain outside the castle.

With autumn winds and night rains, dark clouds enveloped the castle, and fine autumn rain fell from the sky, adding the final touch to autumn's harvest. Sitting in the castle's banquet hall, everyone could smell the fragrance of the soil and the fresh air.

Among the sound of rain outside the window, everyone took their seats, enjoying a lavish dinner. Ryan naturally sat at the end of the long table, with Sulyvahn sitting beside him.

Francois first looked at Ryan, then at his daughter sitting next to him, smiling meaningfully: "Ryan, do you realize how much trouble you've caused with this Knightly War? Now, except for the Dukes of Parravon and Brionne, all the dukes of the kingdom are rushing to the capital, Couronne, to discuss rewards and punishments for you and your army."

"I know," Ryan smiled wryly, understanding that his decision not to support the annihilated Duke Anshi but to head straight for Chaos Rock was controversial because knights, as professional soldiers, are duty-bound to obey orders.

Although, from the result and long-term perspective, Ryan did nothing wrong.

"Good, as long as you're aware. Let's eat first, then we'll analyze this matter properly, see what we can gain and what costs we'll have to bear."

"I understand, my duke."

Any plot development can't satisfy everyone; having controversies and personal opinions is normal. I welcome discussions, but please avoid starting with unreasonable criticisms or immediately mentioning things like plot armor. I can only ensure the basic logic is sound; if everyone thought there were no issues... I wouldn't be writing web novels here, right?

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