Embers fly and dot the dusk.

As the stacks of wood burned, the black-haired wizard could feel the atmosphere of the entire camp change slightly.

Pain, sorrow, mourning... All the depressed mood was swept away, replaced by restlessness and indescribable frenzy.

The people gathered around the campfire even showed some kind of unusual excitement on their faces, which did not look like they were attending a funeral.

The source of everything is Brandon's "manifesto".

Everyone present, who has a little brain, is not particularly stupid, can hear two meanings from the "declaration": first, from today onwards, the empire will reward all the heroes in this Azorean elven war;

Secondly, the number of meritorious heroes will no longer be limited to nobles, and even to their origins!

In the past, the object of imperial entitlements and favors had to be at least a knight in the ancestor, that is, no matter what, you had to have a surname, a background and a family.

Even Isaac, who claimed to be a farmer, was surnamed Grantham, and no matter how poor his family was, he was a member of the family of the patriarch of Grantham Village, and his father was eligible to serve as a soldier under the Earl of Riverbend, and he had the opportunity to leave Lothair and join the Empire's legions in Broken Mountains

There is also an unwritten rule that the Empire does not directly reward the vassals of the dukes, and with very few exceptions, most of them give merit to the duchy, and the duke rewards his vassals.

The reason for this is to take into account the independence of the principalities, and to say that the Heavenly Dome Palace will not interfere with their power and sphere of influence, and the vassals of the vassals are not my vassals, which in the past, was more than just a sentence.

In the past, the Duchy had no say in the decisions of the Empire, not even the Duke himself, he could protest, he could reach a compromise with the Emperor, he could rebel against the Emperor, he could rebel, but in any case, he did not have the right to participate in the discussion.

Brandon's proclamation indicated that he would officially set foot in the internal affairs of the principalities, and infiltrate the authority of the Heavenly Dome Palace into the authority of the original Grand Dukes.

On the other hand, it also gave the Grand Dukes the power to get involved in the politics of the Heavenly Dome Palace, and appointed the Duke of Byrne as the royal wizard advisor, marking that the supreme power of the empire would no longer be a privilege only for the Saklans.

This was certainly not a whim of Brandon, although it was very much the result of negotiations with all the Grand Dukes after negotiating with Loren.

Because they have to face the fact that the empire has undergone a radical change after the invasion of the Azorean elves.

The first was the destruction of the "weakest" Ebolden, and the remaining wizards, nobles, and population were divided between Sackland and Byrne;

Lothair, who was almost wiped out, joined forces with the elves of the Ancient Wood Forest, but suffered heavy losses in population and military strength, and the next ten years will be spent on recuperation and recapture of the Deep Forest Fort;

Boi has not fully recovered from the last battle of the centaurs, and has paid a considerable price in the battle of the Azorean elves, and the next few years will be very difficult if he does not receive assistance;

Elems is very strong, but after all, it is a small country built in the hills and mountains, although the losses in the bloody battles are not as high as Saclando, but the proportion is too high, and the 100,000 Elems who followed Yuli Wirtz on the expedition are only in their early 40,000s.

Arles, who had been fishing for a long time, had the least losses of all, but it was his most trusted subordinates who could be brought out to fight by Noraneade, and now that the losses were so heavy that it would be another civil war to return to the principality.

Only Sackland and Byrne remained very strong after many major wars, which meant that if any agreement was reached, there was no room for opposition from the rest of the principalities.

Charlotte's abandonment of his ambitions against Sackland came at the cost of Byrne's right to get involved in imperial affairs, and Brandon had to compromise if he didn't want to confront Byrne after the Battle of the Azores and fight a civil war to counter-insurgency a few years later, but he didn't want to weaken the imperial power, hence the manifesto.

All principalities were rightfully given equal rights, but in reality only Byrne had the ability to use it, and the rest of the principalities had to even count on aid from Sachran and Byrne.

Brandon was rewarded by giving up his expansion and being willing to assist him in his fight against the Duchy of Byrne, which was the power of the old nobility of Sakland.

This is a compromise of mutual interests, but it is also due to the changes brought about by the invasion of the Azorean elves, and Saklan, who has an absolute geographical and military superiority, is overstretched by the enemy's multi-faceted attacks and almost perishes, and this fear prompts everyone to faintly want to build a more closely connected and united empire.

Immediately after the funeral, Brandon called the banquet to begin, and no one cared whether the outcome of the bold proclamation was good or bad.

..............................

"Going?"

Under the starry sky, Loren looked at the female elf standing outside the barracks door with a small bag of luggage on her back, and a young man standing next to her, looking like an entourage.

"Hmm. ”

The elf nodded, as if she had already guessed that Loren would come.

"So fast?"

"I don't like the banquets of your Empire, you like to drink too much. Leah smiled and shook her head, glancing at the lit and laughing banquet in the distance:

"Besides, didn't I say that... Leuven has given me the title of Duke so that I can lead the elves of Morningstar Forest to fight alongside the Lothairians, and now that the war is over, there is no need for me to stay any longer. ”

"I will take the remaining elves back to the Oldwood Forest, where I will re-establish the Morning Star Forest, and as for the position of the Lord of Lothair... I'll give it back to the Lothairians. ”

Speaking of this, the young elf seemed to suddenly remember, and patted the shoulder of the "retinue" beside him: "Oh, I almost forgot that this is the heir chosen by the Frid family, and he will be the Duke of Lothair after I leave." ”

Alas?

Loren, who didn't react for a while, remembered to look at the "entourage" beside the female elf.

"First meeting, Lord of Byrne. The young entourage trembled with excitement, and rushed directly in front of Loren with one arrow step, which startled Loren with excitement:

"Holy Cross, today is the craziest day of my life! I can't believe that I can meet a great man like you alone, I can't believe that I can talk to you... You have absolutely no idea how long I have been waiting for this moment, I haven't slept since yesterday!I have heard all the stories about you, all the adventures and great moves, I have hoped to be like you in my life ......"

"Blah blah blah bla Stop!"

Raising his hand to interrupt the retinue's nonsense, Loren first glanced at the female elf next to him who was desperately trying not to laugh, and then said slowly: "You... What's it called?"

"Carnfried, Earl of Riverbend Mannfried is my father, I am his eldest son, your dear friend Rwenfried is my cousin, you don't know how sad I was when he died, I have always wanted to be like him, the bravest knight of Lothair, so I especially want to ask you how I can be like you, how I can ......"

"First of all!"

The big-headed Loren hurriedly snapped: "The most important point, quiet." ”

"I—I don't know what you mean, what do you mean?" asked the young Karnfried quickly, looking eager for knowledge.

"Silence... It's gold. With a sigh, the black-haired wizard forced patience and said:

"If you want to be a brave knight, you must first look like a knight, you talk too much nonsense, you speak too fast, others don't know what you're talking about, your words have no weight, and a person who speaks without weight can't be a good ruler, let alone a knight. ”

"Uh... I—I never thought about it, I thought I could ...... it faster."

"Slow down, think clearly. ”

"Okay, but, but what should I ......do if I don't think about what to say?"

"Then silence, silence is golden. ”

"Uh... Okay, then I'm ...... now."

"Have you figured it out?!"

"No, I didn't expect to see you so soon, I, I thought I'd ...... anyway."

"So what to do?!"

"Uh... Silence?"

The young attendant hesitated.

Loren couldn't help but snap his fingers: "That's right! How about you go back for a while and learn how to keep silent, and then we'll have a good talk when you've figured out what you want to say to me?"

"Uh... Okay, okay! I try to do it. ”

"I believe in you!" Loren gave a decisive thumbs up.

The young attendant turned around in a daze, and left in the direction of the banquet, until his figure was completely far away, and he was out of sight, and the female elf, who had endured it for a long time, finally laughed out loud:

"Poof!poofha......ha

"If you want to laugh, just laugh, after all, it's been planned for a long time. Looking at the female elf who was so smiling that she couldn't even stand still, the black-haired wizard was very helpless.

"Well, now you know how people feel when they listen to your nonsense, right?"

"That's not nonsense, that's concise. ”

"You better tell Ain about that. ”

The elf snorted softly and glanced in the direction of the young attendant's departure, "Karn is quite stupid, but he is not stupid at all. ”

"So?"

"Just because he doesn't notice it now doesn't mean he won't, and it won't take long to realize that you're deliberately teasing him and tell him to fuck off. The elf looked at him: "Don't you think it's too polite, he's the dignified Duke of Lothair." ”

"And I am the Lord of the Heavens, the Wizard Advisor of the Heavenly Dome Palace, and the Patriarch of the Nine-Pointed Star Wizard Tower. The black-haired wizard raised his eyebrows, looking dismissive:

"For the sake of Rwenfried's face, I can be polite to him, but that's all there is to Lothair's revival in the next few years, and if he wants to revive in the next few years, he will have to count on the assistance of the Heavenly Dome and Byrne, and it is a matter of words for me to make him bow his head. ”

"What a majesty, my Lord of Byrne. Liya laughed and snorted, quite sarcastically: "Bullying the weak, bullying the small... I didn't expect you to be this kind of imperial person. ”

"That's right, this is called imperial politics. Loren shrugged: "Don't look at everyone who is amiable on the surface, in fact, they must compare, and it is the real daily life to pit each other." ”

"Sure enough... The days of being a duke were not for me at all. The female elf shook her head: "I still want to go back to the Morning Star Forest, that is where it belongs to me." ”

"Will you go back now?"

"Well, the remaining army is recovering the Deep Forest Castle, and when I arrive in Lothair, I will work with them to take back the Morning Star Forest, the Misty Moon Court, and all the settlements that belong to us. ”

"There's no room at all?"

Frowning slightly, Loren still wanted to fight for it.

"I'm not going to change my mind about what has already been decided. Looking at Loren's appearance of wanting to speak and stopping, the female elf looked horizontally: "If it's a matter of going to Byrne, then you better give up." ”

"I still want to try it. ”

"How many more times do you have to refuse you before you give up on this?" the female elf glared at him angrily.

"I don't know. Loren smiled: "How about three thousand times?"

“...... You're a very underwhelmed guy. ”

After a moment of silence, they smiled tacitly at each other.

"Take care, big liar. The female elf curled the corners of her mouth: "Remember to be kind to Ain, she sacrificed ten thousand times more for you than she imagined." ”

"I know. Loren bowed his head slightly, his eyes trembling slightly: "That's the debt that I can't pay off in my life, Ain, Ruwen, Charlotte... Including you, my dear friends, I owe you more than I give you. ”

"yes, so you're going to spend the rest of your life paying off your debts?"

"Hmm... It may not take half a lifetime, for example, I think I owe Lu Wen, and it will be paid off in a few years, and I will probably pick a time every year to go to Shenlin Fort to see him, and the time to get together may add up to a year or two. ”

"Where's Charlotte?"

"Ah, Charlotte is going to be a little more, considering that we don't look up and look down every day, it will probably cost me a quarter to a third of my life, right?"

"That's... What about me?"

The female elf paused, and her voice was faint like a fleeting night breeze.

The black-haired wizard paused slightly, and shook his head.

"Nope. ”

"No?"

"Yes, no, there is no limit, because I really can't imagine that you are the spirit of the ancient wood forest, time and appointment... I don't think it makes any sense to you. Loren chuckled, "Doing what you want, when you want, coming and going, is the decision that best suits the style of the war dancer Leah, isn't it?"

"If you want me to go to the Ancient Wood Forest, write a letter, and if you want to be a guest at the Red Blood Castle, then come anytime, anywhere, whatever you want. ”

"Oh, so arrogant?" the elf laughed, "Aren't you afraid of Charlotte's jealousy?"

A smile froze on his face, and Loren's eyes fell into deep thought for a terrible situation for a moment.

With the corners of her mouth curled proudly, the female elf pulled up her spear and beckoned to Loren:

"Take care. ”

In the next second, her figure had disappeared at the end of the road, like green leaves flying in midsummer, without a trace.