After accepting the banquet from Viscount Andrew, Gawain and his party were temporarily accommodated in a guest room in the castle—at Gawain's special request, there were clean and tidy rooms available for the two soldiers, maids Betty and Amber.
Anyway, this Viscount Andrew's castle is very big.
After dismissing the waiter, Hetty couldn't help asking a question: "Ancestor, do you think Viscount Andrew can be trusted?"
Although they are "neighbors" with adjacent territories, Hetty is well versed in the ethos of the nobility, which is neither integrity nor honor-although they usually emphasize these two points the most, what they lack is precisely these, especially But in this barren and savage southern border area far away from the political center, the way of life of the nobles is even more unbearable. Now that the Cecil family has completely fallen to the bottom, apart from the sudden emergence of an old ancestor as a bonus, Hetty really has no confidence to take the lead in the confrontation with other nobles.
"Reliable? I haven't considered this question at all," Gawain's answer surprised Hetty, "I didn't know what Viscount Andrew looked like a few hours ago."
Rebecca next to him was startled: "Huh? Then you talked to him so much..."
"Because it's necessary," Gawain looked at Rebecca, "It's not an exaggeration to describe it as the end of the road—not to mention the need to feed those who are in distress, look at your own pockets, and what else is there for you?" Do you have money for the next meal? So we must seek help. That Viscount Andrew is just a choice—other than him, can you find anyone you know in the southern border? And speaking of how reliable he is ... I neither know him nor his family, and even the scope of his territory was heard from you two days ago, so how do I know if he is reliable?"
Rebecca felt a bit overwhelmed: "Then why do you think he will definitely help?"
It was not Gao Wen who answered, but Amber who had been lying on the table and stuffing grapes into his mouth. The half-elf rubbed his mouth and rolled his eyes at Rebecca: "Stupid, because he doesn't want to lose money. "
"Don't want to lose money?"
"When that knight Philip came to Tanzania with refugees, that Viscount Andrew had already made his decision," Amber said unhurriedly, "he can completely close the city gate and wait for those refugees Retire on their own or starve to death outside—don’t talk about the mutual aid law. In such a remote area, the kingdom’s laws are not as effective as the merchant’s gold coins. Since the viscount accepted the refugees, it means that he wants to come from Cecil. The family collects the compensation. He has this idea and believes that the Cecil family has the ability to repay the debt. You see, the transaction was established at that time, but today... just expanded the scope of the transaction and made it clear Just a moment."
Rebecca was dumbfounded at Amber: "You... how can you still understand these things? Is the threshold for thieves so high these days?"
Amber gritted her teeth: "Is this very profound? I don't understand the logic and a lot of rules of your nobles, but at least I understand the principle that thieves don't go empty-handed. When it comes to interests, you nobles and those who don't want to Is there any difference between the empty thief?"
Rebecca was furious immediately, pulled out her staff and summoned a fireball the size of a head: "You don't care about your mouth anymore, believe it or not, I will really hit your face with a fireball!"
Amber seemed to be determined that this immature lord lady would not play for real, and she provoked with a playful smile: "If you have the ability, you can shoot a Frost Arrow~~"
As soon as she finished speaking, she felt a chill in her ears, a Frost Arrow almost flew past her ear tip, and froze a piece of ice on the wall behind her, and Hetty who was not far away On the other hand, he maintained the posture of raising one finger, his expression indifferent: "The Frost Arrow you want."
A drop of cold sweat slid down Amber's face. The closeness of the Frostbolt to the skin just now produced a sense of horror that even surpassed the Frostbolt itself—she couldn't help but wonder how high the magic control skills were to be able to achieve such precision.
Rebecca twitched the corners of her mouth slightly: Aunt Hetty's offensive magic really failed to hit people as always, and the strokes moved...
Gao Wen clapped his hands and ended the short-lived farce: "Okay, let's count them as our own for the time being, so restrain yourself."
The old ancestor's words are still effective. Whether they like it or not, Hetty and Rebecca put away their staffs to express their obedience. The deterrent effect of the arrow is really great), Bian Pian Zui also stopped making a sound.
But at this moment, there was a knock on the door outside the room, and after getting Gawain's permission, the little maid Betty opened the door and walked in.
"Master, Mrs. Hetty, Miss Rebecca," Betty called one by one, skipping over Amber, "Knight Philip is here."
"Oh, I'm waiting for him," Gawain nodded, and then noticed the frying pan in Betty's hand, "Wait...why are you still holding it?"
Betty blinked, thought for a while and said: "Because... I haven't arrived home yet, so I put it around randomly, and I'm afraid of losing it."
Gao Wen covered his forehead: "You... well, you can do whatever you want."
After a while, the knight Philip who led the refugees led by Cecil to break out entered the room.
To Gao Wen's surprise, this was a rather young warrior: he looked to be in his early twenties, with short pale blond hair, deep eye sockets, and a straight nose. As a warrior, his heroic temperament and tall and straight figure are enough to make him stand out from ordinary people. Since it was normal time, the other party was not wearing armor, but a normal suit, with a long sword on his waist, and unremoved bandages could be vaguely seen on his exposed arms and neck.
He did break through with injuries.
"My lord, ma'am," Knight Philip immediately saluted Rebecca and Heidi after entering the house, "I'm glad to see that you are safe and sound."
"Knight Philip, get up," Rebecca quickly helped him up, "It's thanks to you that those soldiers and civilians can be saved."
She noticed the bandages on the opponent's body: "These injuries..."
"I suffered during the breakout, but it's much better," Philip said hastily, "Viscount Andrew arranged for me to have a priest and a pharmacist. But..."
The young knight showed a look of embarrassment, with shame and annoyance on his face.
"You mean the gold and silver that you were asked to take out of the castle," Hetty said proactively, "Don't take it to heart—those things are meant for emergencies, and we told you when we asked you to take them away. At your disposal."
"Please don't worry, the gold and silver confiscated by Viscount Andrew is only part of it." Philip's face brightened, and he said in a low voice, "Before entering the city, I divided part of the property and handed it over to several trusted soldiers for safekeeping." , and some were buried outside the city. I was worried that if Viscount Andrew was too greedy, at least part of the money would be left to feed everyone, or to allow the soldiers to fend for themselves... "
Gao Wen nodded slightly. This is a young man with both courage and brains. He was able to lead a mere dozen soldiers to guard a large group of civilians who had no fighting power to break through the siege, which showed his bravery. It was even more difficult to think of how to preserve the property entrusted to him by the master as much as possible when he knew that he could not compete with the nobles, and even thought of arranging for the soldiers to fend for themselves.
So he showed a look of approval: "Good job. How many people survived?"
In fact, Philip saw Gawain in the room from the very beginning - after all, the latter's size is really eye-catching. Hearing the other party's question at this moment, he finally had the opportunity to ask: "Could it be that you are..."
"It seems that Viscount Andrew has already told you," Hetty nodded, "This is the ancestor of the Cecil family, the founding Duke of Ansu, Li..."
Before the other party finished speaking, Gao Wen quickly interrupted: "Okay, okay, I don't need to talk about the name of the old middle school student, it sounds like goosebumps..."
Before he finished speaking, Philip knelt down on one knee in front of Gawain: "Duke Gawain! I... I heard the news, but I really didn't expect it to be true! You are a role model for all knights, I grew up…”
"Okay, okay, why isn't it over yet!" Gawain quickly pulled Philip up again. As an outsider who occupied someone else's body, he was really embarrassed like never before. "Tell me first, how many people survived?"
Philip finally managed to control his excitement, and his face sank following this topic: "There were only more than a thousand people who broke out that day, and after subtracting those who were attacked by monsters, fell behind due to serious injuries, and died of diseases, they finally survived. Less than 900 people have arrived in Tanzania Town... "
"How much is it?"
"Eight hundred and seventy-three people—among them, besides me, sixteen are regular soldiers, thirty are militiamen, and the rest are all civilians."
Rebecca swayed slightly.
"Is this the last number of survivors in Cecil Territory..." Hetty muttered to himself, "I really didn't expect..."
Gawain patted Heidi on the shoulder: "Do you know how many people there were when we first ran out of the hinterland of Gondor more than seven hundred years ago?"
Hetty looked at Gawain: "At that time..."
"There are tens of thousands of people," Gao Wen sighed, "so today's situation is really quite a headache."
Hetty: "..."
At the same time, in Viscount Andrew's office, the Viscount was writing a secret letter.
The secret letter was written directly to the king.
Due to the existence of the wasteland of Gondor, Ansu regarded the southern border as the kingdom's most important barrier area at the beginning of the founding of the country. Even though the southern region has been peaceful for a long time, some regulations that have lasted for hundreds of years still continue in this area, such as —Every noble, big or small, in the southern border is a direct vassal of the Ansu royal family. They all have the right to directly talk to the king, and also have the obligation to directly report affairs to the king.
"To Your Majesty the King, your immediate vassals send you greetings.
"You should have known about the catastrophe that happened to Cecil Territory in the south, and now there is a new incident here. This matter is unprecedented, but I have personally confirmed that it is true.
"The ancestor of the Cecil family, the founder of Ansu, Gawain Cecil, the head of the seven generals, has recently returned to the world.
"I saw with my own eyes a light descending on the wasteland of Cecil Territory, and all the invading monsters were wiped out by the light, and then there were giant dragons (about the dragon, I will give a detailed report separately), you I went to investigate in person, and together with Viscount Cecil, I saw the scene of the resurrection of the heroic spirit... "