The promise of slow wear for the rest of your life

Everyone knows the power of the slave ring.

After the robbers took them, they all turned into quails, without their previous arrogance.

Even if the dragon that killed them all left, none of them dared to risk their lives and escape.

There are hundreds of people, including men, women, old and young.

The older ones looked at least 50 or [-] years old, and the younger ones looked at most ten years old.

Moreover, their living conditions do not seem to be affluent.

Although they don't look so pale and emaciated, most of them are disheveled.

These people were also wearing tattered clothes with patches, and they didn’t even have any decent shoes on their feet, they all wore straw sandals.

At this time, this group of ragged people already knew from the mouth of the knight commander that the person they wanted to rob was not only a dragon knight, but also a nobleman.

Knowing that a catastrophe was imminent, they didn't even dare to think about escaping, they all shrunk their heads and stood together obediently, looking pitiful instead.

Just looking at their appearance, it is better to say that they are just a group of desperate people than robbers.

After Arnold looked at this group of people, he set his sights on the remaining small group of robbers who were more well-dressed.

Compared with those people with ragged clothes, this small group of people is obviously a group of existences with more affluent lives.

Although they haven't reached the point where their intestines are fat and their brains are full, they are all strong and strong.

Moreover, all of this group of people have a fierce look on their faces, which makes it obvious at a glance that they have definitely seen the existence of blood on the back of their lives.

At this time, the knight commander Semied came to Anol's side and said in a low voice: "My lord, my subordinates have already asked about the origins of these bandits. Most of them are refugees who live in no fixed place. Only one A small number are real robbers."

"According to these robbers, they got the news that there will be a caravan full of food and cloth passing through here more than half a month ago."

"Then, they started planning robberies from then on. Afterwards, they spent nearly half a month gathering refugees who were wandering in nearby villages, towns and counties."

"As early as three days ago, they had ambushed in this mountain forest, just waiting for us to come to our door."

Anol thought about it when he heard the words; "The news that someone in the kingdom has become a dragon knight has passed it here?"

"Not yet. This area is the poorest place in the kingdom except Thorn Ridge, and the news is relatively closed."

After saying that, the knight commander hurriedly said again: "My lord, forgive me, this subordinate has no intention of offending."

"Forgive your innocence." Anol waved his hand indifferently.

"Can you ask clearly, where did they get the news that we will pass through here?"

The knight commander replied: "Ask clearly. It is said that they got the information from a thief whose whereabouts were unknown. The thief had sold them information several times before, and nothing was wrong. So, they believed it."

"According to them, the thief left after selling the news, and for more than half a month, none of their people saw the thief appearing again."

"If I had known that you were not only a nobleman, but also a dragon knight. They would never dare to come and rob you."

Arnold was not surprised by this.

Now that the clue was broken, Arnold didn't go any further.

The knight commander asked: "My lord, what are you going to do with these robbers wearing slave rings? If we let them go on the road with us, they will definitely slow down our progress."

The reason why the knight commander said this was because the excuse Anor used to say goodbye to the king before was that there were many people in his territory, waiting for him to bring back food to save his life.

It was precisely because of this that the king had no choice but to let him leave the capital so soon.

It was precisely because of this that they traveled this way for hundreds of days, and the accompanying soldiers did not dare to complain.

After all, for a lord with a surprisingly small number of subjects under his rule, the lives of the subjects are still very important.

Arnold had no intention of overturning what he said earlier, after hearing what he said, he pushed back and said, "Then we won't let them go on the road with us."

"You ask people to buy some dry food and water bags for them nearby, and then send two knights, eight attendants, and twenty infantry to follow us behind us and head to my territory."

Refugees and robbers do not exist without household registration, and neither belong to the jurisdiction of the nobles here.

So, they come and go freely.

But at the same time, even if they lost their freedom and became slaves, or even lost their lives, no one would care.

Dare to rob the nobles, Arnold did not kill them, it is an extrajudicial mercy.

As for letting them go, that must be absolutely impossible.

The knight commander knew this well, so he had no objection to his handling.

The robbers who became slaves also knew this well, so they never dared to have any objections.

The slaves with a total of more than [-] people set off early the next morning with the dry food and water bags bought overnight by the runners.

At the same time, Arnold set off with the remaining fifty soldiers and more than a dozen wildebeest carts full of food and cloth.

Traveling on two legs is ultimately inferior to the speed of chariots and horses.

Although the two teams set off at the same time, they quickly separated.

And this distance will only get bigger and bigger as time goes by.

This area deserves to be known as a place where bandits are rampant.

Arnold and his party soon encountered highway robbers again, and more than once.

Fortunately, these subsequent batches of robbers were not many in number.

In this way, Arnold didn't have to repeat the old tricks, causing Orgus to appear to deter him.

Moreover, he himself seldom took action, and mostly left the robbers to the accompanying soldiers to deal with, and called it "practicing hands".

He himself only rescued soldiers when they were in life-threatening danger.

Along the way, although not one of the 50 people who accompanied him was missing, almost everyone had at least two lives on their hands.

At the same time, their combat effectiveness has also increased several times with the life and death fights they have experienced.

And those robbers who dared to block the road and robbed most of them were killed or injured.

Those who survived by luck were also forced to wear slave rings and joined the hundreds of slaves following behind.

-

Thorn Ridge, also known as "The Thorn Wasteland".

As the name suggests, this is a barren land full of thorns and few people.

The land here is extremely barren.

The terrain is rolling with low hills.

And on those low hills, except for a few clusters of tenacious wild brambles and wild grass shrubs, and a very small number of low trees, few other plants can grow.

After setting foot on this land, looking away, the scenery that catches the eyes can only be described as deserted.

After drawing this conclusion based on what he saw with his own eyes, Arnold withdrew his gaze and lowered the car curtain.

For the next three days, Arnold and his party never encountered any robbers blocking the road.

Because, Thorn Ridge is a notoriously poor place, not only merchants would not patronize it, even robbers would not bother to occupy it.

On the fifth day, Arnold and his party were attacked by three ogres wandering on the way home.

The three ogres were huge, with rough skin and thick flesh.

It took a lot of effort for the accompanying soldiers to kill them.

After the war, of fifty soldiers, two were seriously injured and 17 were slightly injured.

Unavoidable that the two seriously injured patients slowed down the convoy's forward speed, Arnold gave up the only empty wildebeest carriage he was riding in, and let them lie down in it.

He himself rode on the wildebeest that belonged to the knight commander, tall, legs, long head and long horns.

After that, the convoy traveled all the way for half a month before finally arriving at the land where the Lord's Mansion is located.

During this period, although they were often attacked by ogres, fortunately, everyone already had quite a lot of combat experience.

Whenever a battle comes, although serious injuries are inevitable, no one has ever lost their life because of it.

All in all, it was a safe bet.

The area of ​​Thorn Ridge is very vast.

If the three counties that were recently merged are added together, then, from the map, the total area of ​​this area occupies a full one-fifth of the land of the Kelan Kingdom.

Now, this surprisingly large territory belongs directly to Arnold.

Before those three counties were merged into Thorn Ridge, there were only a few hundred people who belonged to the original owner.

Those hundreds of people scattered and lived in villages and towns near the Lord's Mansion.

Arnold learned from the original owner's memory that before that, the total number of villages and towns that the original owner needed to govern was only twelve.

There are about 30-50 households living in each village.

Even in the main city with the largest population, there are only a hundred households living there.

And the lord's mansion that now belonged to him, that superficial castle, was located in a dilapidated manor not far from the main city.

It is said that the manor used to have a name, it was called "The Thorn Manor", also known as "The Thorn Fort".

However, few people remember these now.

At this time, nearly two years have passed since the original owner left the territory.

Seeing that he had finally returned safely, and that he had returned with the title of Dragon Knight, the old butler Basil couldn't help crying with excitement.

Then, immediately after, the old housekeeper talked to him about the various changes in the territory during the time he left.

In order not to collapse the character design, Arnold could only listen patiently, and finally made his own conclusion.

According to the old housekeeper, in the past two years, in short, the changes in the territory have not changed.

The citizens are still living in poverty without enough food to eat, and he, the lord, is still in a state of abject poverty beyond his means.

The old butler said at the end, his face was full of guilt, and he almost shed tears again.

Seeing an old man weeping frequently, to be honest, Arnold couldn't bear it.

As a last resort, Arnold had to take the initiative to change the subject.

He looked out the door and said, "Where's Elliott? Why didn't you see him come out?" :) :)