Chapter 43 Negotiations

" Captain, you are here early. Where are others?"

The guards greeted the captain, looking at Halfdan and others with suspicion in their eyes. Their grips on their spears tightened when they saw the bloody look and armor. Furthermore, they also saw captain was in bad shape.

" Hold your horses. I need to talk with the castle lord."

The guards frowned at his words but as soon as the captain whispered into their ears, their expressions froze with confusion. The sheer amount of information was too much to bear but nonetheless, they signaled other guards to let them go.

" Wait!"

One of the guards stood in front of Halfan whilst holding his spear. He raised his eyes to match his eyes, handing something to him with his hand.

" This is my token. The castle guards might question you even if you have a royal degree. Also, don't make things difficult for us. We have enough chaos in our territory. Certainly, we don't want war."

His earnest words made the squad respect him because no single guard would dare to face Halfdan who was towering them with his immense physique.

" I understand."

The guards guided them to the castle where they saw a middle-aged aged waiting for them in front of the gate with his knights. Unlike other nobles, he didn't bring out his family as he wore his armor with a royal emblem on it.

" I heard you have a royal degree for us."

The lord received the degree, opening it to read the contents while his expression turned sour each minute. His hands gripped the degree tightly but he didn't dare to say out his displeasure except he took a deep breath.

" What would you do if I refused?"

Arthur closed his eyes while Halfdan opened his mouth with a calm face. His body excluded the radiance of the warrior, showing how serious he was in the first place.

" Our men will burn this place down and kill innocents in our way. Then we will head to the lord's castle and take control of it. Believe me, you have lost your chance to defend yourself when the river dried up."

The castle lord fell into silence, pondering for a minute before he gave back the degree to Halfdan. Then he pulled out his sword from his belt, plunging it to the ground.

" Our men don't surrender easily and the royal family will demand the head of the defeated lord to ease the situation afterward.

I want you to promise to keep my family and lord's family alive. If you do that, the people of this territory can be in peace."

Both castle lord and earl were necessary to keep the territory in harmony and if the king killed one of them, things would go bad for both sides.

" You have my words. I thought you would be fighting us with tooth and nail."

The castle lord laughed at his words, not hiding his strength a little bit. It was true that he could fight with them but without their biggest defensive line, he would waste the precious lives of his men. Besides, the royal family backed them up, so he had no choice unless he sacrificed his family and people for subjugation in the future.

" I am not foolish enough to go against the king. Besides, it will be difficult to defend our city with this terrain. You will probably limit our supplies and take over this city."

He was right in the head. Magnus would definitely cut their supply chain and make people surrender since no men can survive without food and water for a few days.

" I will open the front gate to you to show our sincerity but you must not harm any civilian."

Arthur gave an approving nod to Halfdan as both of them agreed with his promise.

Meanwhile near the hills.

" How is the situation?"

Tove used one eye binocular to check on the castle as he put jerky in his mouth.

" Not yet but everything seemed to be fine. Oh, they have reached the verdict. Good!"

Tove got up from the grass, dusting himself before he raised his bow.

" I see the red smoke. Fire the arrow."

Bo replied with a calm face.