"Your mission is done, we'll take over here, and you can leave Serendil with your men."

Before the Count of Prais had even dismounted from his horse, he had already expressed his intention with some arrogance.

Byron, who came to greet him, was stunned for a moment, and then asked with some doubts:

"So where should we go now? My lord. ”

The Count of Prais was in the prime of life, and his body was strong, and although he was wearing a full suit of armor, he could still get off his horse by himself, and then took a sip of the red wine from the hand of the attendant next to him, and then looked at Byron again.

"Your Excellency's order, you have fought well, and you will be given ten days to recuperate, and then assemble at the siege camp before Fort Gruenward."

Count Prais then gave Byron the letter from Count Greyward and gave him a pocket full of gold coins as a reward for completing the task.

Byron saluted the Count and took the bag. The pocket was not large, but it was heavy, and Byron was tired from holding it in one hand, so he handed it to the other soldiers beside him. The weight of the bag can be estimated to be about 1,000 dinars.

Later, Byron himself led the way and led the Count of Prais to the stone tower in the center of the town. During last year's battle, the town hall of Serindil was burned down, so the stone tower, which resembled a small fortress, became the centerpiece of the town.

Byron's attitude was very courteous, and Fatis on the side knew the proper etiquette in such situations. So Count Prais was in a good mood, and his attitude towards them improved a lot.

Originally, he planned to let Byron and them leave directly after he arrived, and he also wanted to laugh at the so-called results of these mercenaries.

But when he saw the equipment of the Rhodok soldiers piled up on a hill and the prisoners who filled ten rooms, he couldn't help but praise them. Of course, this was followed by a bunch of words telling Byron not to be complacent, and this kind of result was not enough to see in the whole battle.

Byron was also very humble enough to accept his suggestion, and was very cooperative in letting his troops make room for the Count and his men.

There is a reason why Byron treats Count Prais like this, because Count Prais's sister is Joanna, the first beauty in the social circle of the nobility of the Kingdom of Swadia, and she is at the age of marriage.

Byron had considered it before, even if it was a political marriage, he had to pick a good-looking one. And only he and his sister are left in the family of Count Prais, although he has the fiefdoms of the two towns of Yeruige and Cride, but it is not a castle city after all, and if he marries, it is estimated that the other party will not be too demanding.

For the lord who may be his eldest brother in the future, Byron of course has to leave a good impression on the other party.

And the other party can also be regarded as giving you a little face, Byron's capture, Prais said that all of them belong to the peony mercenaries. And what was taken by Byron in the town, he took it, as long as he left the food that the follow-up army might need. In order to supply the armies of the two castles, Thrindir built three large warehouses, enough to feed 5,000 men for a month.

However, on the issue of prisoners, there is a contradiction between the two sides.

Count Prais meant to hand over all the captives, especially the noble councillor, to him, so that the kingdom could exchange them for its own soldiers and knights captured by Rhodock.

The Count of Prais thought that this was Byron's duty as a mercenary of the kingdom, but Byron felt that it was simply a robbery.

He suggested that when the employment contract was signed, there was a matter of captives, and that the kingdom needed to ransom the captives from Byron with a corresponding amount. According to this agreement, the Count of Prais had to pay Byron a sufficient sum of money to obtain the captives.

In fact, before the arrival of the Count of Prais, King Haraus gave him 3,000 dinars to exchange prisoners with mercenaries.

However, Count Prais himself was not very wealthy among the counts, and 3,000 dinars was not a small number for him. If Byron could be persuaded to surrender the captives directly, then he could reasonably take the 3,000 dinars for himself.

He wanted Byron to back down in the name of honor, but it was clear that he did not intend to give up his due reward for the sake of honor.

Byron also specially reminded him that arrears of mercenary remuneration are taboo in trade. Even if it is a nobleman, it is not without examples of being retaliated against by mercenaries for defaulting on debts.

In desperation, the Count of Prais had no choice but to offer his willingness to pay.

"Well, I will pay you a certain honorarium on behalf of the marshal and the king. These Rhodoc soldiers count as 1,000 dinars, and that councillor counts as 1,000 dinars. I can also help you write a certificate that you have earned all this loot. I advise you to take it as soon as you see it, mercenary, after all, this is my own money! ”

Looking at the serious face of Count Prais, Byron estimated that the other party would not come up with more money. If you continue to entangle like this, it will not do you any good.

The previous councillor had claimed that his family would be able to put together 3,000 dinars to redeem him within a week, in the hope that Byron would treat him well and not hand him over to the greedy Swadian nobles.

But since the king and the marshal are asking for people, he can't do anything against them.

So he bowed respectfully and thanked the Count of Prais for his generosity.

"We'll take care of the rest, and you can go to the villages and towns to the north to rest. If you need horses, I know of a horse farm and my horses are provided there. ”

The Count of Prais blacked down 1,000 dinars, secretly rejoiced in his heart, and then waved his hand at Byron as if he was in pain, and told the servant next to him to take out 2,000 dinars from his purse and give it to Byron.

Byron didn't know that Count Prais had blackened the 1,000 dinars that was supposed to be given to him, so he accepted the money that the count's servant had given him, and began to think about how to use these ten days to improve his combat effectiveness.

If you want a horse, you can indeed buy it at the horse farm that the Count said. There were not many horses there, and there were only forty or fifty horses in the whole horse farm, but they were all trained horses that could be used for battle or hunting, and could be ridden directly by cavalry. However, in this way, the expenditure is definitely indispensable.

In addition, they had to find a place to house the wounded, who would not have recovered for a week or two, even with a skilled doctor like James in the area.

Finally, there is the issue of the source of troops.

After this battle, Byron's level was raised by one level again, and he also added his newly acquired attribute points to his charm. Although the upper limit of the army is still only more than 300, Byron still decided to keep the number of soldiers under his command at more than 500 to pave the way for his future.

With the help of heroes, the side effects of being overrun in a short period of time are still within the acceptable range. In addition, this is a time of war, and the loss of troops is too fast, and if they are not replenished in time, it will not only affect their combat effectiveness, but also hurt their morale.

However, if the army continues to expand, Byron will need to find a suitable source of troops. Although a large amount of equipment was captured to arm the soldiers, it was not easy to find a group of experienced soldiers in the area in ten days.