"On behalf of the Randall family, I thank you for taking care of Fatis, Lord Byron."

In the ballroom of the Earl of Craggs, Benoit and Byron sat together, toasting and congratulating each other.

The tournament ended without incident, and in the final, Alleyne and the Count of Berlands fought fiercely. Alleyne showed the audience the Vicchian's ferocious fighting style, while Count Berlands confronted them with his skilful Swadian horse fighting skills.

In the end, the Count of Berlands relied on his experience to defeat Ellen and win the tournament, winning the glory and prize money. Traditionally, after the battle, the Count of Berlands could dedicate the honor of the winner of the competition to a lady. Surprisingly, however, the Count of Berlands gave this honour to his mother, Lady Anne, for he had never given it to her before.

This act of filial piety raised the Count's prestige to a higher level, but it did nothing to solve his own singleness problem. The Earl of Berlands had no heirs since his wife, who had only been married for a year, died of illness, much to the dismay of his father.

As for the mood of the Count of Craggs, Benoit still understands very well. As Fatis's father, he was very enthusiastic about Byron.

"Fatis is my friend, my knight, and I have only done him a small favor."

Byron smiled, Count Craggs sent him a private letter before, hoping that he could persuade Phartis to participate in this competitive competition, and even more hoped that he could keep the true identity of the mysterious knight in this competitive competition.

Byron did so, and he helped Fatis and Benoit, earning them the respect of both of them, and Benoit the Elder felt that he owed him a favor.

"After the feast, I would like you to come to my family's estate, which is beautiful and has all the necessities. You will be the guest of honor of the Randall family, and I hope you will receive our best hospitality, it will be our honor. ”

Benoit Sr. cordially invited Byron to Randall's house, and Byron readily agreed.

"My pleasure, Your Excellency. I am the son of an exotic merchant who worked my way up from mercenary to mercenary. Many of the old nobles despised me, and the last time I went to Uxhall, the hospitality I received in the homes of some nobles was terrible. Today, Randall's head of the house has extended an invitation to me, and I can't think of a reason to refuse. But I don't dare to expect such a generous treatment, I'm a friend of Fatis, and I can use this status. ”

Benoit was pleased with Byron's answer, and had a good opinion of the baron to whom his son was loyal.

"I've talked to Fatis before, and I have only one son left with him, and I hope he will come back to inherit the Randall family's legacy. But he prefers to stay with you and praise you for your kindness and ambition. I thought about it for a moment, and he was right. You and he are both young, and the future is limitless. I'm relieved that Fatis will play under you, and if there's anything the Randall family can do to help, please ask. ”

Listening to old Benoit's words, Byron was a little moved. He could tell that the other party was not perfunctory or making promises, but that he really wanted to help Byron and his most important son.

Perhaps it was an old man's love for his son, or perhaps it was a shrewd investment by the old Count Benoit. Byron is not currently at odds with any of the important powers in the kingdom, and has a lot of potential for development. At this time, it was a wise move for the wealthy but never high-ranking Randall family to be a shareholder of Byron Investments.

The two then chatted for a while, and Alleyne and Fatis joined and sat down next to them. Fatis had now stepped out of the shadows, the sadness on his face had largely dissipated, and he even let out a very hearty laugh when he talked to his father.

In the banquet hall, people came and went, and male nobles chatted about war, territory, and the like. The ladies would gather and talk their intimate stories, and occasionally other young aristocratic men would come over to talk.

Of course, there are also some aristocratic ladies who are more outliers, such as Joanna, who is too cheerful, or Nerda, who is always by her family's side.

It was a beautiful young lady, the daughter of the Count of Craggs, of illustrious and beautiful family. Her long brown hair was wrapped around her shoulders, and her fair skin was like a blue moon. And unlike Ms. Joanna, Nerda's beauty is a soft beauty, gentle beauty, and the temperament of the whole person can be described as a lady.

Byron liked the way she looked, but unfortunately he really didn't have the ability to pursue her right now.

After about half an hour of the feast, the Count of Craggs stood up to give a speech, and all the guests at the banquet stood up and raised their glasses in salute to the Count.

"Thank you, thank you for coming to my banquet."

Count Craggs looked very pleased, and said a few words of welcome and thanks, and then raised a glass with everyone.

But after that, it's not so pleasant.

Count Crags took out a letter and had it read out in public. It was a report on the front, about the progress of King Haraus's army.

As expected, Vikia's army was menacing, but not determined. After Count Greyward and the army under the command of Count Hallengoth launched a flanking attack, inflicting heavy losses on the forward forces of Vecchia, showing his strength and determination to defend the territory, the bald king of Vecchia wisely asked the frontline troops to retreat, and after plundering northern Swadia for a while, he withdrew to the mainland. This is the end of this so-called war on Wikia.

However, when the kingdom's army came to the east, the situation got a little out of control.

Because of the long delay and the retreating tactics of the eastern nobles, Kugit's cavalry became more and more emboldened, and even grabbed the border of Dehrim's territory for a time, burning most of the towns and villages in eastern Swadia to rubble.

When the kingdom's armies arrived, they were greeted not by the locals, but by their resentment and anger. They refused to provide food and other necessary provisions to the army, believing that the kingdom's armies and lords could not protect them. Led by local celebrities, thousands of herders armed themselves with a variety of weapons to compete for farmland and pastures with the Kugit invaders and the kingdom's nobility.

In the absence of supplies, the kingdom's armies began to forcibly collect supplies in the area, which further deepened the tension between the two sides. The worst part was that many of the eastern nobles, seeing their territories in chaos, left the army with their armies and returned to their territories to quell the rebellion.

Finally, when Count Harungos and Swadia's army fought against the Kujits, the army was less than half as large as it had been when it had set out.

Although under the excellent command of the Count, they were able to defeat the cavalry army of the Kujits, slaughter thousands, capture five chiefs of the thousand households, and drive the Kugit eastward back to their steppes. However, the casualties on the kingdom's side were not small, with 500 infantry and more than 30 cavalry. It doesn't sound like much, but it has a big impact on morale. After this battle, more nobles ignored orders to withdraw their troops.

To make matters worse, although the Kugit army was gone, they robbed all the wealth along the way, burned down the villages, and left behind countless small bands of Koma bandits, and the local people were tormented.

When the kingdom army retreated, the looting of some tired small troops became the last straw that crushed the confidence of the people in the east in the kingdom.

Revolts soon spread to the east, and the local lords were no longer subject to King Haraus, in addition to nominally swearing allegiance to the king. In their opinion, all this was caused by the stupid decisions of King Haraus. They didn't care about the king's considerations and the need to win the war, they only saw the territory still in ruins, which was difficult for them to accept.

Some of the northern noble lords, represented by the Count of Sweden, also questioned the king and refused to continue to provide the king with troops and dinars, but still retained the oath of allegiance to the king, which was a tactful betrayal and independence.

For a moment, King Harauth lost control of half of the kingdom, and although he still had the largest army in the kingdom and several powerful earl allies, he was unable to put down the rebellion for a short time.

King Harlaus' influence waned, and the nobles of the kingdom made their own moves.

For example, Count Craggs, after having the current form explained, randomly began to appease the nobles in the field, and demanded that the nobles of Suno and the surrounding areas should show allegiance to him and the king. Of course, allegiance to him was somehow more important than to the king.

And for lords like Byron who are not under his jurisdiction, he also tries his best to unite and reach an agreement.

Perhaps, as the Count himself said, this was a helpless move in the present situation. But when the king's staunch supporter, Count Craggs, made this move to win hearts and expand his power, how much better could the rest of the kingdom be?

Byron knew that Swadia was in chaos.

But Byron also knew that this was also his chance, a chance to really make him rise!