"Ludega" towered like an ancient oak tree beside the ruins of Fort Maslafah, looking down at the noble heads displayed at the tip of the spear, the façade of the fortress resembling a disfigured face, and the surface of the ivy, which had been covered with cracks and peeling stucco. Only the roses in the courtyard were in full bloom, and the tips of the petals revealed a faint purple, and the fragrance was unusually strong.

"What the hell is our army doing?" An impatient voice came from the scent of flowers.

"Your Majesty, they are chasing and defeating the enemy." It was the Count of Mercia who answered.

"Defeat the enemy? How can this mountain country of less than 40,000 people have so many defeated enemies, can the 15,000-strong army only be a bandit? Edgar was displeased, but he knew he had to bear the main responsibility, he did not anticipate the logistical pressure of using troops here, and he was unwilling to accept Count Rodrigo's suggestion to impose the royal levy, and as a result, a large number of men and horses had to go to various places to collect their own supplies, and this authorization was almost equivalent to the freedom to rob.

"Your Majesty, are you withdrawing part of your army?" The Count suggested that he would prefer Rodrigo's army to withdraw early so that he could occupy more territory in the area.

"Let the armies return to the camp within two days, you know, one person chases the rabbit to see the rabbit, and a hundred people chase the rabbit to see the dragon." Edgar made a decision, it is not easy to lead a large army, ten people can still be concentric, a hundred people will be selfish, thousands of people will go together, God knows what will be recruited.

"Are they all back to camp?" The Count was still a little unsure, "What are they doing with their return?" ”

"If the Thanes wish to move their bones, let them do the work, we will not withdraw to the Offati and throw this kingdom to the Welsh lords, and your Chester was not taken by Ethelfrith from the ancestors of the Welsh? This is the front line of the Romans, and the remnants of the legion's fortresses and roads can be found everywhere, we just need to rebuild them, and this new frontier will serve as a crown domain, and we will pick the most loyal Seon to guard for this generation. ”

Edgar had no intention of handing over this mineral-rich Celtic paradise to anyone else, even in the areas near Shropshire, where the old Welsh families would be given land for their overseas territories, and they would even be grateful for it, and in previous lives, Madeira and the Canary Islands were famous for their abundance, and it was much better to be a plantation owner there than to be a country lord in the mountains.

To reopen the mine, in addition to the investment of new machinery, in this era it is first necessary to build a fortress, and a fortress to guard a silver mine can only be guarded by trustworthy people. Otherwise, it would become the private property of the local lords, such as the Ranimenech copper mine near Shropshire, which had been controlled by the Edric family, and Edgar had not been concerned about the exploits of the "wildling" Edric against the Normans, but they had become too wealthy over the years to satisfy them, and they were seeking to obtain a formal title.

England has never had a shortage of greedy lords, and the ambition to expand power is deep in everyone's heart, and the king has never cared about this, and is not afraid to appoint ambitious vassals. However, the Edric family was not the king's people, and they joined the Gwynnes in their army, and even refused to respond to Edwin, the Earl of Mercia, to join the cause of Prince Edgar at that time. Such a family could not make a good impression on the king in any way, and to make matters worse, the few Shropshire Sain, who responded to Edwin, assassinated the Earl when the war was unfavorable and tried to escape to Roxter.

In order to develop Boas, the king had to ensure that he could firmly control the area, Rodrigo, Earl of Pembroke in southern Wales, and Roger, Earl of Hereford, had a close relationship with the royal family, and received considerable estates in Wessex and Essex, but Robert of Carnarvon was different, this young Norman knight was under the protection of the Earl of Mercia, and his father were completely different people, William Mallett was originally a direct vassal of the king, suppressing the local Welsh on behalf of the royal family, and at the same time controlling the Strait of Menai in the west, Guard in the direction of Dublin. Now Gwynnes was the outer vassal of the Earl of Mercia, and the king had only nominal dominion over him.

William Mallett himself could not do anything about it, he had to rely on the support of the Mercians to gain a foothold in the region, and his sons mingled with Moka's illegitimate sons, and had long since ceased to regard themselves as vassals of the royal family.

"We'll be going to Derbyshire in the fall." Edgar finally said to Count Mercia, whose look of disappointment had been erased, "This time we have been able to acquire so many Flemish horses, and thanks to Count Eustace, we are going to hold a horse race in Derbyshire and give Baldwin a sword salute. ”

Baldwin, the youngest son of Eustace, Count of Boulogne, had remained at the court of the King of England since his last visit, and this time accompanied the king, and in the minds of this young Flemish man, his fate in this life was probably to be made the Earl of Lincoln, to run a territory in England, and his brothers would become the Earl of Boulogne and the Duke of Lower Lorraine—which would probably have satisfied their father. Eustace's bloody battle in Hastings was not rewarded, and the alliance with Edgar was exchanged for a duchy and a kingdom, and in the eyes of everyone, the Boulogne family was very lucky.

"It is our honor to receive Your Majesty." Count Mercia lowered his fat head, which made him feel a little tightness in his breastplate. The king's visit was never a simple procession, and it was not cheap to receive thousands of people, but this time the king was clearly determined to show off his majesty to the whole of Mercia, and the count decided to continue to please the king. As his cousin Robert said not long ago, in order to compete with Rodrigo as a Spaniard, he needs to win the king's trust, and only by becoming a favorite of the royal family can he expand his power in the kingdom and even control the entire kingdom one day, just like the old Count Godwin.

It was a month before the raid of the English was completely over, despite the king's orders, and during this month, Angus hid with the remnants of Owen in the gray mountains of the west, often falling asleep to the roar of waterfalls and the roar of stags, and since that battle he had not seen a master blacksmith, which meant that he, a boy not yet fifteen years old, had to take on the responsibility of guarding Gillick and Maeve. These days, the Welsh resisters are constantly fleeing, throwing down their weapons, trying to sneak through the blockade to their homes, but Angus does not dare to take risks, and with the guidance of his adoptive father, he lurks among the mountains and caves with the vigilance of a hunter, and Geelick soon becomes a savage, and Maeve is like a mountain spirit, able to skillfully skin and clean the prey with ears or gray feathers, and add mushrooms or wild berries to make a delicious meal.

"It's time to get out of here." Angus told the two men that the English must have been evacuated, that there were no more checkpoints on the other side of the pass, that there were fewer and fewer Welsh hiding in the mountains, and that Angus did not intend to stay here until the season of scarce prey, and that he needed to go back outside.

The three children seem to outsiders to be vulnerable prey, and the Welsh have learned a lesson from Angus, but no one outside will know this. Angus understood that they needed to find Master Kenneth, and he couldn't understand why the master blacksmith hadn't come to them yet, and in his dreams he had heard the old guard's cordial call countless times, but each time it would turn into a scream, followed by the raven's unpleasant song.

The grey mule died of exhaustion on the day he returned to Angus from the battlefield, and the road ahead was long and arduous, but Angus always held on to the glimmer of hope, and like any teenager, he always believed that somewhere in the world, someone could protect him like his parents.

Disillusioned beneath the city of Maslafah, in front of the ghostly ruins, Angus saw the nitrate head, the head of the master blacksmith, coldly facing him, and many years later, Angus remembered that that sunny afternoon was the end of his childhood.