At the urging of Count Culosius, his generals Mart and Farmer Kroll immediately set out from Japhin and headed for the fortress of Difend, the barrier of Jafinn.

Mart Wilder and Farmer Kroll hurried out of the south gate of Jarfenburg, along the gravel road beside the winding River Rif through Lucy's Woodland, and immediately turned west at the Diefend Bridge, where a fairly imposing fortress came into view.

The soldiers on the stone wall of the fortress spotted their commander, Matt Wilder, and quickly turned their heads and shouted into the fortress walls, "It's Commander Wilder, lower the drawbridge and open the iron gates!" ”

The originally heavy wooden gate creaked and slowly fell, it crossed the moat of the Difender Fortress, and then the iron gate behind the heavy wooden gate was quickly raised by the guards, who stood neatly armed on both sides of the fortress gate, they were dressed in uniform Arphenic heraldic chain mail jackets, and from a distance, these well-trained guards were as majestic and solemn as the stone carvings standing on both sides of the city gate.

Mart and Kroll galloped into the Fortress of Difender, and Mart skillfully jumped off his horse and threw his whip to the fortress guards standing next to him, and he whispered to the officers of the fortress who came immediately, "Call all the officers of the fortress to the council hall immediately." ”

Kroll also flipped off his ridiculous pack horse, he just stood there in a daze, looking a little panicked, Mart smiled at him, and then stopped another guard and told him to take the farmer's pack horse away and feed it, and then patted Kroll on the shoulder and motioned for the farmer to follow him into the main building of the fortress.

Mart and Kroll climbed the stone steps to the second floor of the main building of the Diefend Fortress, which roughly maintained the appearance of the old days when the Duke of Ella was still Count Walker's 'visit' to Baron Hawke, a rectangular wooden table spanned the second floor of the main building, behind the square table were two windows with Arfen heraldic curtains, a slightly luxurious wooden chair as the chairman, and the second wooden chair surrounded the rectangular wooden table one by one, encircling the rectangular wooden table, like the stars and the moon. Facing the wooden door of the entrance hall were two large windows, through which the small square of the Fortress of Diefend, with curtains woven with the coat of arms of the Aphin in Windston stone columns, Mart motioned for Kroll to sit next to the chairman, and the servant respectfully handed the wooden elf El Tora cup full of Eltora pulp. These cups come from the dexterous hands of the Elvenian Wood Elves and are transported here as trade goods. The former silver cups had all been removed and melted down at the Yafen mint to replenish the Yafen's vault.

There was soon a commotion in the main building of the fortress, it was the garrison officers of the Diefender Fortress who had been summoned by Mart, these uniformed warriors walked into the second floor of the main building of the Divifender Fortress in orderly steps, and after saluting their commander respectfully outside the entrance door, they sat down one by one on the wooden benches in front of the long table next to Kroll, and in a few moments the officers were seated.

The silent officers waited only for the words of their commander.

"Maybe you're standing in the fortress and you're almost idle. Has anyone been to Lakeside Village lately? Mart got straight to the point, then quickly digressed, "It seems that no one has been there." The feeling of peace has paralyzed you all. But it's time to move your muscles. ”

The officers in the second seat immediately sensed that their commander-in-chief had something to say, and for a moment began to speculate with each other, and the cafeteria on the second floor of the main building, which had been converted into a council chamber, continued to talk, "Ah, it seems that Your Excellency Wilder has given us a rather heavy task. Why did he bring a farmer to the fortress? ”

"I recognize this farmer, it seems to be the son of the old chief of the lakeside village, what is his name, Kroll or Rockel?" The officers buzzed with discussion, "Ah, this is not a good sign, something must have happened in the lakeside village?" ”

"It's a time of peace for His Royal Highness the Duke of Ella and the Lord, and if anything happens, maybe we'll have fun with the peasants!" There are still a few officers who are not impressed.

"This is not accurate, my cousin of the same generation wrote a few days ago that something seems to have happened in the Knight's Valley, and I heard that their scout cavalry has disappeared from Diaoyu Haizi." An officer took off his lock-up hood, revealing short, dark yellow ear-length hair, and his expensive lock-rack and lock-rack coat indicated his knighthood.

"Well, Mr. Seth, the letter from your cousin says that the situation in the Knight's Valley is two hundred and twenty miles from ours, not to mention the fishing sea, which is a remote and remote place. Outside of the Knight's Valley, this is the hinterland of the county, what can happen? The companion next to him patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile.

"Hey, anyway, let's listen to what Your Excellency Commander has to say, Your Excellency Wilder must have summoned everyone here in such a hurry, there must be something going on." The discussion of all the officers was undoubtedly speculation, and finally everyone looked at their commander in the main seat, "Alright, alright! Gentlemen, be quiet, and let us stop talking about it, and we should be quiet first. ”

Matt Wilder seemed to be very laid-back, he didn't say a word, except to listen quietly to the comments of his subordinates, he just drank the Eltola syrup without interrupting them. However, the officers knew that this was a habitual way for their commanders to calm their minds when they encountered a problem.

Mart didn't come back to his senses for a while, but was still thinking about how to safely transfer these helpless farmers from the lakeside village in his mind, he didn't notice the stares of his subordinates and the quiet council hall, just stared at the fruit wine in the wooden cup of El Tora, until the second Kroll patted Matt's back anxiously, then he came back to his senses, his face was a little pale, he glared at the farmer Kroll beside him, "Farmer Kroll, Thank you for coming to Yafenburg for providing information about the lakeside village and what you have seen on the north shore of Santa Kana Lake, just to assist the villagers of the lakeside village in evacuation, I have some doubts. ”

"You can't do that! Your Excellency has asked you to preside over important matters within the jurisdiction of Diefender Fortress! The lives of every village in our lakeside village are in the hands of you warriors! Kroll was dumbfounded, he didn't expect the commander appointed by the Earl of Yafen to say such a thing.

"What right does a farmer have to criticize the opinion of the commander-in-chief!" Kroll's words caused the displeasure of the officers, but the knight, Seth, remained silent, as if thinking about something.

Matt Wilders raised his hand to the officers, who stopped talking, but looked angrily at the farmer who dared to offend their commander, and did not answer Kroll's questioning.

"My brothers, I'm afraid we'll have to face a war in the near future." Matt Wilders said word by word, although he had his own thoughts, but at the moment when the words paused, he was constantly organizing his own language, "Beyond the Valley of the Knights is a vast no-man's land, where is the end of civilization, and it is also the origin of evil in the Book of Arcana, the warriors of the Valley of the Knights have never stopped guarding the gates of civilization for thousands of years, and the Valley of the Knights between the two mountains is like a solid shield against the invasion of evil guarding our south, Let us people in the civilized world of Yafenburg not feel the existence of barbarism at all, I just heard a certain gentleman here guess that something must be going on in the lakeside village, indeed, the situation there can be described as no longer controlled by us, the evil in the southern shadow land is like flowing water, it drills at the sight of a crack, a large number of evil creatures did not directly impact the south gate of Yafenburg, but made black ships out of the black wood of the shadow mountain, and landed from the north shore of Santa Kana Lake in a steady stream! And those who landed in our hinterland were predatory goblins, lizardmen wreaking havoc outside of Knight's Hollow, and minotaurs with a pair of spiky horns we'd never seen before! Yes! And cave trolls who are about as tall as the Minotaur! And there are a lot of them. The farmer next to me begged us to shelter his lakeside village, but one thing was that it was too close to the northern shore of Lake Santa Cana, and the first thing these monsters did when they landed must have been to loot supplies and build a solid defense. Our Earl is already asking for help from the Al Ain dynasty. Therefore, for the sake of today's plan, we should put 'keeping' first. ”

"Just because you speculate like this, you can give up the lives of a villager?" Farmer Kroll was so anxious that his face flushed, "Shameless! ”

"What a vassal farmer!" An enraged officer slammed the table in front of him and stood up, and an unsheathed sword was immediately pressed against Kroll's throat.

"Put down your sword." Matt Wilders said softly, and the angry officer reluctantly put away his sword and sat down, and then Matt Wilder put a hand on Kroll's shoulder and patted him heavily, "Take care of your mouth, and then listen to me slowly." The next time you interrupt me, your life will be gone. When I need to ask you, you give me an honest answer. Any answer you may have in mind my final decision, including whether or not to assist in the evacuation of the villagers. ”

"Commander, as far as our current garrison of Difender is concerned, there are only more than 200 people, if these large number of monsters that have landed on the north shore of Santa Kana Lake attack, we are afraid that we will only have the strength of the high wall defense of Yiping Fortress." An officer raised his hand and made a garrison suggestion.

"If it's really what you said, I'm afraid the other party won't give us the opportunity to defend the fortress." Mart waved his hand, then glanced at the dozen or so officers sitting around the long table, "Are there any new suggestions that can also achieve the purpose of defense?" ”

"We can reactivate the towers scattered outside the Fortress of Diefend, and recruit some mercenaries around the Fortress of Divind to defend those places." Another officer chimed in.

"It's necessary to do it. Recruit combat forces that can be mobilized within the realm. But even so, if the monsters attack, it won't buy us much time to wait for help. There are so many monsters that they don't need to break down the small fortifications one by one, they can divide their forces in the attack and defeat the garrison of our small fortifications at the same time. Since they can use such a clever landing trick, don't think that they will be so stupid as the monsters that are scattered along the lines of the Ella Mountains that were slaughtered by the Immortal Segal I. Mart didn't fully agree with the interjecting officer's proposal, but it was a necessary strategy, and nodded, "However, my father told me the story of the goblins that once roamed around Lucy's Glade, and no matter how shrewd they were, the end result was still tragic. ”

"Commander, I understand what you mean by 'guarding'. I also think that kind of 'keeping' is really possible. We are now short of troops, we can't fight these monsters on the shore, and if we only defend, then it will be tantamount to sending a clear message to the monsters - our combat effectiveness is insufficient, and we can only retreat in fortresses and fortifications. Although the young knight who had taken off his hat had just said nothing, and was as dull as a square piece of wood, his words now made Mart look at him differently.

"Well, what do you mean Seth. I'd love to hear your next thoughts. That's what I'm hesitating about. Matt Wilder looked at Knight Seth and smiled.