Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords

This coronation ceremony and trial assembly lasted until the sun was low, painting the horizon a fiery red before it concluded.

Penny, defined as a usurper, and her son were directly stripped of their noble status and permanently imprisoned within White Castle until their deaths.

Such a trial can be said to have been decided after much consideration.

Although the other party was a usurper, she was, after all, the late Duke's own daughter and Lyria's aunt. Executing her directly with cruel torture would make Lyria appear too cruel, leaving a reputation as a tyrant in the history books.

In addition, her being alive could still be used to restrain Damon in the South, so this trial was a punishment that satisfied all parties.

Secondly, there was the matter of aid to the North and the South's return.

White Harbor would be handed over to them for management, and taxes would be exempted.

It seemed like they weren't asking for much, but anyone with eyes could see that the North, having control of White Harbor, had the initiative over the South in both military and commercial matters.

Therefore, even those neutral nobles at the time strongly opposed it, because Lyria and Damon were just fighting amongst themselves in the South, and whoever won wouldn't affect them much.

But handing over White Harbor was completely undermining the South's foundation.

Unfortunately, the two Grand Dukes were determined to do this, and no one could change it.

As for Montvert, the only one who actively brought troops to support Lyria, although his title did not change, he also received an enviable reward—all the islands near Wolf Island and the nearby ports were granted to him as his territory, and he was appointed Commander of the Cullen Garrison and Hand of the Duke.

After being ennobled, Montvert secretly found Levi and said with a bitter face that he was not very willing to serve as Commander of the Cullen Garrison and Hand of the Duke.

The reason, of course, was that if he did, he would not be able to live a good life with his wife and daughter.

This made Levi roll his eyes and despise him for showing off his love.

As for our lord, he had already returned to the Highcliff Fortress camp with a swagger.

Zat was meticulously brushing honey onto a bear paw in the Highcliff Fortress cafeteria. Only food could bring him rare peace of mind. Just as he was about to put it in his mouth, a hand snatched the bear paw from behind. His peace of mind was instantly shattered. He turned his head to curse using wilderness slang, but the words changed at the last moment: "Boss, is the meeting over?"

Levi strode over and sat down in the chair, trying to appear calm and collected as he grunted an 'Mm'.

"Zat, you bear thing, you're brushing too much honey on this. It's too greasy," the lord said after taking a big bite, giving a candid assessment.

Seeing the lord, who was saying it wasn't delicious but still tearing into the bear paw, Zat felt extremely aggrieved. But since a higher rank could crush someone to death, he could only snatch Sam's lamb leg next to him and bite into it fiercely.

The little old man looked around and finally realized that he had the lowest status, so he silently took a potato and dipped it in the mutton soup.

"My Lord, what's the word?" Leighton, being the shrewd person he was, knew that his lord was about to show off, so he took the lead.

Miel ordered the cook to make another stewed lamb leg and placed it on Sam's plate, patting him on the shoulder.

"Ahem," Levi put down the bear paw and cleared his throat twice.

The Highcliff Fortress leaders, who had been gorging themselves, immediately stopped and focused their attention on one person.

"First of all, from now on, I, Your Lordship, am a Marquis, an honorary marquis." The lord smiled slightly, afraid that these country bumpkins wouldn't know the value of it, so he reminded them: "There are no more than four living marquises in Deberre today."

The entire cafeteria was so quiet that a pin could drop. A moment later, a thunderous applause erupted.

Zat hadn't actually figured out how much four palms were, but he clapped more enthusiastically than anyone else.

"Quiet, quiet, it's just a marquis, you'd think I'd become a duke."

The lord stood up, pressed his hands down in the air twice, and smiled very modestly.

"Secondly, we have nominally become the South's honorary legion, with three thousand soldiers. We still maintain independence and self-governance, but military expenses, equipment, and supplies are provided by them!"

Wow!

Before the others could react to what was going on, not understanding why the latter was more worthy of celebration than the former, Leighton stood up with a shocked expression.

As Highcliff Fortress's strategist, he not only managed military affairs but also logistics. No one knew better than him that Highcliff Fortress's income was completely insufficient to cover its expenses. This lord must have taken out his wife's dowry to maintain Highcliff Fortress's daily expenses.

And the reason why the army could maintain its structure was that Highcliff Fortress had no such thing as military expenses.

Whether it was orcs or centaurs, they were only provided with food and not military pay.

But even so, it was the limit to maintain nearly a thousand full-time soldiers.

Highcliff Fortress's warriors were indeed a top-notch legion, but the disadvantage was that there were too few of them.

They were destined to only fight small-scale battles. Once they joined large-scale battles with hundreds of thousands of people, they would at most stir up a slightly larger wave.

But now there were no more worries. Leighton immediately thought that with this, Highcliff Fortress could at least expand its soldiers to five thousand. If they continued not to pay military salaries, they could expand even more.

And if they could maintain the current quality of the army, then they would be considered a regional power in Deberre.

"In simple terms, the South will give money to everyone in Highcliff Fortress based on the number of people," Leighton explained to these brutes in an easy-to-understand way.

Hearing this, everyone present understood. They didn't have more than one silver coin in their pockets and didn't understand what military expenses were.

But if you talked about money, they understood.

After all, they still understood the common sense that money could buy things.

"Hehe, then can I eat honey every day from now on?" Zat laughed happily, as if he already saw his future of achieving honey freedom.

Because in his opinion, the South gave money to them, which meant it gave it to Highcliff Fortress, so if Highcliff Fortress had money, wouldn't the quality of the food improve? Then he could eat more delicious food.

This guy didn't understand at all that even being a common soldier had such a thing as a salary.

In fact, it wasn't just him. Everyone present who was born in the wilderness had no concept of military expenses at all.

In their opinion, providing three meals a day was enough to risk their lives.

After all, that's how it was done in the wilderness. Some even had nothing to eat and had to go to war.

But there were also a few people who understood what was going on, such as Miel, Leighton, and Heather, but since someone didn't say anything, they naturally wouldn't be talkative and get scolded.

"I have a question."

Only one person timidly raised a clean little hand, with a pair of bright, star-like, cute eyes.

"Speak."

The lord looked over and saw that it was Sophia, the silver dragon girl, and snapped his fingers with a smile.

It could be said that he didn't expect all the supplies for the three thousand soldiers to be provided by Lyria. What was the difference between this and directly supporting him, Levi?

A true man would never eat food that was given to him out of pity!

But at this moment, he felt that maybe there could be more of this kind of food given out of pity. A sugar mama was really awesome!

In a good mood, he completely encouraged his subordinates to ask questions if they had any.

"I am also a member of Highcliff Fortress. Logically speaking, I should also have a share of this money." The silver dragon girl counted on her fingers, then raised her head and said courageously: "Levi, I want to keep my money myself."

Heather next to her smiled and quietly tugged at this money-obsessed silver dragon, trying to change her mind.

No one knew better than her how stingy Levi was. Even if this silver dragon climbed onto his bed, it was impossible to get money out of him.

Unfortunately, this girl, who was now blinded by money, completely ignored it.

"Sophia, I'm very happy that you can say that you are a member of Highcliff Fortress, but you are doubting me, Your Lordship, which makes me very unhappy." The lord put his hands on the table and said with heartache: "Do you think I would embezzle your little bit of money? I'm helping you save money!"

"You are still young, can you manage the money if it's on you?"

"If you spend it, how will you go back to Dragon Island to buy a dragon nest in the future? How will you slap the faces of your brothers and sisters? How will you become a dragon among dragons?"

"When you finish your work here with me, all this money will be given to you. Wouldn't it be great to hold a whole box of glittering gold coins and go back to blind their dragon eyes?"

The lord continued to bewitch her, but he was like a clumsy missionary preaching to monks.

"Really?" Sophia was a little dizzy from the barrage of words, and at the same time felt that she seemed to have heard these words somewhere before, but looking at the lord who was staring straight at her, she shrank her neck and could only ask weakly.

"Of course!" Levi said with a righteous face, like a Paladin who kept his promises: "You are still young, you can't handle this money, I'll save it for you. When you finish your work, you can take it whenever you want!"

"Okay." Sophia still chose to believe him and sat back down.

The lord was typical of the hypocritical type, clearly wanting to end this topic immediately, but still pretending to say.

"If anyone has any questions about this, feel free to speak your mind. We, Highcliff Fortress, don't engage in dictatorship and autocracy."

These lies could only deceive some greenhorns. If you really dared to say you had any, you would inevitably be given the cold shoulder afterward, so everyone was very obedient.

"No."

"No."

...

"Very good, then this matter is settled. I, Your Lordship, will save all the money for you and give it to you when you get married." After receiving the collective denial, the lord clapped his hands and happily put an end to the matter.

...

The following days became peaceful, and Highcliff Fortress began its day-to-day peaceful life of guarding the city, preparing to welcome the day of their return journey.

Although it was said that there were demons in the South, their boss didn't say anything, so they didn't take it seriously.

Now that the war was over, they naturally had to return.

Otherwise, staying here every day would either be idly guarding the gate or staying in the narrow camp, and it wouldn't be convenient to move around.

Moreover, because the food was provided by the South, the members of Highcliff Fortress had collectively gained weight, which made someone happy and worried at the same time.

He was happy that the nobles in charge of this matter at the beginning didn't dare to cut corners on the food, and worried that these big bellies had gained weight and lost some of the demeanor of a strong army.

However, Levi also knew that this was just his own worry. The orc warriors had not lost their combat effectiveness because of this, but had become introverted because there was no war.

The dog that bites doesn't bark is the same principle.

Everyone was looking forward to the day of returning to Highcliff Fortress, but this anticipation was interrupted a few days later by a group of uninvited guests.

It was a starless night, and the moon was also covered by the clouds in the sky.

The lord was, as usual, inspecting the city walls.

Don't think that he collects city taxes so diligently that he is a lazy pig.

In fact, collecting city taxes was just a hobby of his. He used to be taxed by others, but now that the positions were reversed, he naturally had to enjoy it to the fullest.

Since Highcliff Fortress was assigned the task of guarding the city walls, Levi would naturally carry it out well until Highcliff Fortress left.

Lest it be their turn to guard and a tragedy occurs due to negligence, adding a black history to Highcliff Fortress's elite soldiers and strong generals, which would be completely not worth the loss.

Staying here was only because he hadn't figured out the situation in the South, so he couldn't leave for the time being.

He didn't want the demons to surround Cullen again as soon as his butt left, and Flynna also had the same view.

"Boss, there's a situation!"

Zat was the first to notice the situation, patted Levi's arm, and pointed to the road far away from the city wall.

Without him saying, Levi had already noticed a team gradually emerging from the darkness in the distance, taking shape in the light of the fire.

The team stopped at the position where it was about to reach the line between light and darkness, and only the leading knight continued forward.

This was the agreed-upon safety line. Once this position was crossed rashly, Highcliff Fortress could even attack directly.

This knight was wearing a suit of bright silver plate armor, a pointed helmet with white feathers, and a Bauhinia emblem on his chest. This was the family crest of Ando.

He raised his head and revealed a resolute face in the firelight. This was a young knight with a high position. The long journey had left his face full of wind and frost.

He tried his best to twitch the corners of his mouth to show an amiable smile, but it seemed that he was not good at smiling, which seemed a bit far-fetched and hypocritical. He shouted loudly: "My Lord, I am an officer under Earl Ando. I have returned now, please let us enter the city."

"Wait a moment."

Although the city wall was very high and far away, Levi's sharp eyes could still see that this was the cavalry commander who had been following Earl Ando all the time.

Generally, when Ando was not around, the cavalry team was under his command.

According to rumors, this person seemed to be Ando's illegitimate son, which was why he was so young to take charge of a cavalry regiment.

Soon a small door opened, and the lord walked over with the Holy Sword hanging from his waist and his hands in his pockets, followed by dozens of orcs carrying torches.

"Where is Earl Ando?" Levi looked behind the other party, but didn't find Ando's figure.

Out of caution, he did not directly open the huge city gate to let them in, but opened a small tunnel, and as he came out, the tunnel was directly closed.

The other party's identity was indeed the cavalry team and commander under Ando, which Levi could confirm. He was not in a hurry to let them in, but was only doing so out of regulations.

Anyone wanting to enter the city must have their credentials carefully verified, especially a cavalry force as large as this one.