Upon returning to the Northland, the hapless young nobleman was thrown into the fortress's dungeon and became the first captive of the Northland.

A few days later, in the fortress command hall, Cook, Montpot and others were sitting at the table drinking together, and in front of them sat the Duke of Caldis, who had come to inspect the defense of the fortress.

Rossabar drank his wine and said, "I don't know what this kid is about, and I have to let Anthony protect him." ”

Cook sneered and said, "Whatever he comes from, anyway, I'm just grabbing and playing, just drag him out and hang him, so as not to waste our bread." ”

Montpot smiled and said, "This young nobleman must be unusual, but you can't just kill him." ”

Cook turned his head and asked, "What?" Do you have a better idea? ”

Mompot put down his wine glass and said with a smile: "Why waste the things that can be used." Why don't we talk to Varkas, and maybe we can get some gold. ”

Cook snorted and said coldly: "What is there to talk about with that group of barbarians, Navakas hates us to the core, how can he still give us gold coins." ”

As soon as Cook finished speaking, a loud horn suddenly sounded from the lookout of the tower, which was a warning call for the enemy. After hearing the sound of the horn, everyone immediately stood up from their positions and quickly came to the top of the city wall.

In the direction of the North Pass, a huge Tubisi team was frantically pouring out of the North Road, quickly assembling in front of the fortress wall. At the front of the enemy camp, several black Imperial Eagle Banners fluttered in the wind, the emblem of the Knights of the Whakas Headquarters.

Cook looked a little confused, he frowned and asked Caldis, "What is the situation, why did Warkas suddenly bring a large army to us?" It seems that they have lost the fortress, and this old man is not dead after all. ”

Caldis shook his head and replied, "No. If he wanted to attack our northern fortress, a shrewd man like Vacas would not have chosen such a day. It was freezing on this day, and it would be very difficult to supply the army, and it would be easy to be raided by Robites of Uto. ”

Roshabal asked in surprise, "Could it be for the prisoner I captured a few days ago?" ”

Caldis was stunned for a moment, his brows furrowed, and he stared at the dense army of Tubis under the city wall, and the whole person fell into deep thought.

After a while, Utores walked out of the army, and he shouted at Caldis and the others on the city tower: "May I ask the Duke of Caldis standing on the city tower?" ”。

Cook glanced at Caldis, and seeing that he didn't say a word, he tore open his throat and replied, "Yes, what do you want?" ”。

Utorres looked up at the city, pointed at Cook and said, "It's you Cook again, good boy." Our Lord has something to do with the Duke of Caldis, so I would like to ask him to go out of the city to speak. ”

After hearing this, Montpot immediately rebuked angrily: "Why? You say that if you go out of the city, you will go out of the city, if you have the ability, you will attack, where is there so much nonsense. ”

Utores was suddenly furious, and he stretched out his hand and pointed at the black-pressed army of Tubis behind him and said, "Do you think we don't dare? See how many of us there are, and don't think that you are safe in the fortress, because you will die when we attack the tower. ”

Cook sneered and said, "What kind of fart, if you come to attack, I guarantee that you will die as many as you come." ”

"You ......", Utores was particularly angry with this Cook, but for a moment he was so angry that he didn't know what to say.

At this time, Varkas rode out of the queue on a pure black war horse, he motioned for Utores to retreat, and then bowed to Caldis on the castle tower and said, "Dear Duke Caldis, I, Varcas, have always admired you very much, and I really want to make you a friend. Although I brought a large army here this time, it was not to fight you to the death, but there were some small things that I wanted to discuss with the Duke face-to-face. I also hope that the Duke can value peace, and why not solve the war that can be avoided in a peaceful way. ”

After listening to Wakas's words, Cook immediately turned his head and persuaded Caldis: "Cousin, this guy is cunning, you must not fall for him, don't go." ”

Caldis shook his head calmly, and he said to Cook: "Cook go, you can go down with me to see what kind of conspiracy he wants to play." ”

After speaking, Caldis instructed Montpot and said: "Montpott, you stay and stand by at any time, and once you find that the situation below is not right, you will immediately order an attack." ”

Mompot nodded slightly and said, "Okay, then you have to be careful." ”

As the fortress gate slowly opened, Caldis and Cook rushed out of the gate with a team of guards, stopping fifty meters away from the Warkas army.

Seeing that Caldis had already left the city, Warkas stepped forward alone and waited for Caldis in a position between the two armies. Without hesitation, Caldis turned over and dismounted, and also carried a long sword to meet him alone.

The two stood facing each other, neither of them speaking, staring at each other intently for five minutes.

In the end, Warkas spoke first: "I, Warkass, have not been defeated in the field for decades, but I didn't expect that I would be defeated in the battle of the Northern Fortress, which made me discredited now, all thanks to you." ”

Caldis replied coldly: "I have lost my country, my territories have fallen one after another, my people have fled in all directions, and the people are miserable, all of which are thanks to you. Everyone is with each other. ”

Vacas was stunned for a moment, he hesitated for a moment, then nodded again and again and smiled and said: "You are very smart and very courageous, I heard that your spear skills are very good, even the Gobini can not beat you, only a tie." It's really rare for Knight to have a young man as powerful as you. But you're still young, and a lot of things aren't as simple as you think. I want to remind you, don't think that if you win a fluke once, you won't take my empire seriously. It's good that the army of my empire didn't come to attack your northern country, but you still came to attack us. I warn you gravely that if you do not hand over that captive to me at once, I promise that we will slaughter your northern kingdom again. ”

After hearing this, Caldis had no expression on his face, and he said angrily: "Don't talk nonsense, if you have the ability, you can let the horse come, I will wait for you at the head of the fortress." ”

After saying that, Caldis immediately turned and left, and quickly returned to the fortress with Cook and the guards.

Then there was movement on the walls of the fortress, and tall catapults were pushed up the walls, and rows of giant crossbows were erected at the head of the city. In the face of an enemy army several times their size, the Knights of the Northern Kingdom did not show a trace of fear, on the contrary, they were highly motivated, and seemed to be full of confidence in the battle of the Northern Fortress.

Naturally, Warkas was furious, he had lost his reputation in the Northland Fortress, and he was eager to take the fortress and kill Caldis himself.

In the northern fortress, the Knight garrison consisted of 500 knights, 3,000 archers, 50 catapults, 200 giant crossbows, and countless arrows and boulders. On the side of the Tubis, Warkas dispatched almost half of the main army, mobilizing eight Imperial Knights, with a total of 16,000 Imperial Knights.

The disparity in the strength of the two sides is very obvious, and the northern kingdom seems to be becoming precarious. On the battlefield, however, many things are unpredictable.

On the first day of the war, the two sides attacked each other mainly with catapults and arrows. Casualties on both sides were smaller, with the Tubis losing 400 Black Knights and 30 Catapults. The Northland lost 30 archers, 11 catapults, 20 crossbows, and 0 knights.

The next day the Tubis began a massive siege of the city, and casualties began to rise sharply. The Tubis lost 3,900 Imperial knights, and all the catapults were destroyed. The Northland lost 180 archers, 3 catapults, 9 crossbows, and 20 knights.

On the third day of the battle, the Tubis lost more than 2,000 Imperial knights, while the North lost only 60 archers. After nightfall, another 2,000 archers from the north arrived to help, and more catapults, crossbows, and arrows arrived at the fortress.

The Northland made a careful defensive arrangement on the fortress, and brought all the great advantages of the Northland Fortress into full play, so that the imperial army of Warkas suffered huge losses.

In front of this impregnable fortress, Warkas was in a difficult situation, watching the imperial army die in front of the fortress in droves, Warkas deeply understood that the war should not go on blindly like this.

Before the outbreak of the war, Caldis was once asked why he insisted on going to war with the barbarians instead of releasing the captives to quell the scourge of the war.

Caldis replied: "There are many ways to reconcile, the worst of which is to show weakness to the barbarians, and the second is to use the captives as a blackmail for the benefit of the North. The best way is to fight the barbarians for a few days first, to frustrate their spirits, and preferably defeat them, and then make peace with the barbarians, so that the northern kingdom will have more chips in his hands. ”

On the fourth day, the barbarians again assembled in front of the fortress, but at the front of their army a white flag was raised.

Thus the war ended, and the two sides began a second conversation in front of the city walls.

Warkas was a little impatient, and he said sadly: "This war is not what I want, we are not here to retake the fortress. That captive means nothing to you, we just want him back, to bring him back to the Empire, is it necessary to make it like this? ”

Caldis smiled coldly and stood there silently, not saying a word. Varkas had no choice but to continue to ask, "Tell me, what do you want?" ”

Caldis said with a calm face and a little anger: "Everyone knows that you Warkas only have one daughter, Fiona. A young nobleman with an unassuming appearance is worthy of you Vakas personally leading eight Imperial Knights to ask for it, even at the cost of huge losses to provoke a war. Obviously, this person's identity is so noble, I don't need to tell you about the specifics, right? ”

Varkas was a little depressed when he heard this, he lowered his head in embarrassment, and said very embarrassedly: "Okay, if you have any requirements, as long as I can do it, I will try my best to satisfy you." ”

Caldis didn't say anything polite to him at all, and said directly: "Then you listen, my conditions are not so simple. First, you need to give us back the King's Sword of our Knight. ”

Vacas's body trembled slightly, and he reached out to unsuffle the king's sword at his waist. It was the victory of his own victory over the Knights, but now it seemed to him that none of this existed. After hesitating for a moment, Vacas nodded and said, "Okay, no problem, you continue." ”

Without hesitation, Caldis continued: "You have to go back and prepare well, and then bring 200,000 gold coins, 100,000 cattle and sheep, and 10,000 war horses, and then we will ransom the captive." ”

Vacas looked helpless when he heard this, and he smiled bitterly and said, "My appetite is really not small. Okay, that's fine. I will immediately let the army retreat, and I will arrange to come back when I return to the royal capital. ”

Caldis spoke again: "Don't worry, I have one last request. ”

After hearing this, Vacas was furious, pointed at Caldis and roared, "Caldis, don't go too far. ”

Caldis was not afraid, and he replied solemnly: "You must agree to this last request, otherwise you will not want to bring back this captive, even if all the people in my northern kingdom are killed in battle, we will never back down." ”

Caldis's words were very resolute, and he was dumbfounded when he heard it, and as his anger slowly subsided, he said impatiently: "Okay, you go on, see if I can do it." ”

Caldis immediately said: "You must also swear in the name of the god of war Shura, and promise not to invade our northern kingdom and Wutuo again in the future. You must not hinder the people of Knight who have come to us from all over the country to join us, and you must ensure their safety. In the future, if our merchant teams in the northern kingdom are to be able to enter and exit freely in various places, including the territory of your empire, you must ensure the safety of the caravans. ”

After hearing this, Vacas replied coldly: "Hmph, you think it's really good, do you think it's possible?" ”

Caldis replied earnestly, "Why can't it?" It's not all bad for your empire either. As for why you say that, you Vacas should know more than I do, so you don't need me to explain, right? ”

Warkas frowned and stared at Caldis, and after thinking for a long time, he raised his head and sighed: "Hey, today I, Warkas are controlled by others, this feeling is really uncomfortable. I can grant you all your requests, but you must also promise me one thing. ”

Caldis said casually: "Tell me, what's the matter?" ”

Varkas said seriously, "I hope you can sign an oath with our empire, and the requirements you just said can be written into the oath. Didn't you say you just wanted to settle in the Northland, and you shouldn't be interested in anything else. If what you say is true, you must agree to remain neutral with our Empire, and that we will not invade each other in the future, so that I will trust you. As long as you agree to sign this oath, I will fulfill all your requests. ”

Caldis turned around and left, making Wakass a little puzzled, and he didn't know what he meant at all.

After Caldis walked a few steps, he suddenly turned to Vacas and said, "No problem, you can go back and prepare now, I'll be waiting for you in the Northland Fortress." ”

After saying that, Caldis left directly and returned to the fortress with the guards.

Vacas stared at the back of Caldis leaving, he frowned, wondering why Caldis would agree to sign the oath, wasn't he afraid of being called a traitor by his own people?