"Lord Ellene, the King will not wait for your reply forever, and it is the right thing for you to swear allegiance to him now."

In Pegand's chamber, a knight from Parabun waited impatiently for Aryon's reply. He had been sent by His Majesty King Haraus to persuade the knight of Elleen, whom Byron had entrusted with the task of now controlling the whole of Pegond and Thrindil, to be loyal to the king.

At first, he thought that this task was very simple, after all, everyone said that von Byron had died in battle, and the king had held a funeral for him, and this Wikibian was very eager for power, and how could he let go of the opportunity to climb up, so it should be a very simple thing for him to change the object of the oath, not to mention that the king also hinted that he could make him a baron, and he was more qualified to become a vassal of the king than Byron, a commoner.

But the truth is far from being as simple as he imagined. This matter has been delayed by Alleyn for at least a week, and every time I see him, I have different reasons to prevaricate, and this matter has not been determined until today, so he is naturally annoyed. Although Rhodok's environment is not bad for him to live in, he still wants to return to Parabun as soon as possible to live with his wife and children. He had been serving the King for two months this year, far more than was normally required, and the King had promised him that he would go home with a large bounty after Ellen took the oath, and that he did not wish to waste his time here.

"Unfortunately, Your Excellency, I still can't give you a clear answer today." Aren, who was sitting on the lord's bench, sighed, spread his hands, and said helplessly: "It's not that I want to deliberately delay your time, it's just that there are too many objections in Baron Byron's domain, and I need to take time to calm down." ”

The knight frowned, he was tired of hearing this excuse. He turned away, leaving behind a message: "I hope you will make up your mind quickly, the king will be impatient." ”

Alleyne is also helpless, he certainly has ambitions and aspires to become a noble lord with his own domain, just like his father. But things are far from being as simple as outsiders see, and Alleyne himself is not in an awkward situation.

Outside of the territory, he knew that the king was trying to win over him to Byron's fief and property, and ordered him to disband the standing army that Byron had painstakingly managed, and if he accepted the king's terms, his life would end here, King Haraus and his heirs could not trust him, and his ambition and desire for power could not be satisfied, and he might even be victimized by them like Byron, so it was not entirely in his personal interest to swear allegiance to the king.

And within the territory, he was no less frustrated. Byron entrusted his fiefdom to him but not to him, and Bandak was in charge of Pegangde's army of recruits, who were under his command. James gained a good reputation among the people, and the villages and towns regarded him as a guest, and his support was needed to secure power. Desaivi thanked Byron for helping her get revenge and pardoned their crimes, and the adapted robbers she led followed him in their loyalty to Byron. Kress didn't have a holiday with him, but this little girl who lurks in the shadows and will stab you at any point is more willing to work for Byron than to obey him, because Byron does not discriminate against her origin like other nobles. These people all had a lot of power in their territory, and they all made it clear to him, except for Kresss, that they didn't think Byron was dead, after all, it was too strange for him to think about it for a while.

The only objects that Alleyne could win over were the old engineer Artiman and the rogue aristocrat Rolf, the former who was busy with work and had not been in contact with Byron for a long time, and the latter who was mercenary but never worth trusting. As a serious aristocratic knight, Alleyne doesn't want to cooperate with a rogue like Rolf, not only does he lose his identity, but he also easily loses from a practical point of view. In that case, only Artiman would be left to support him, but the old engineer, though he could build good siege equipment, could not muster an army.

Of course, Ellen also has his own troops and cronies, they are the children of nobles from Vekia and mercenaries who are willing to follow him, the strength is elite but the number is insufficient, the king asked him to disband other troops other than his deployment, which he really can't do, if the other heroes are united, he can't bear it, even if he unites with Rolf, the chance of winning is not great, not to mention that both of them understand that if Ellen himself sits in the position of lord, Rolf's troops will definitely not be able to stay, So he can agree to ally with himself without cheating him, and his discipline is very small.

So he had been doing the ideological work of several other men all this time, persuading them to agree to follow him in allegiance to the king, and secretly promising them wealth and the position of consul, but with little success. Especially now that Byron is still alive and Fatis has survived the war, and rumors are spreading that they are returning south together, Alleyne doesn't know where this came from, but Kress's people must have pushed in it, otherwise even he wouldn't be thinking about the possibility of Byron surviving. What's more, the great wealth that had been plundered from Viruga was hidden somewhere, and it was a huge sum, even for the king. Alleyne wanted to get the money first, so he didn't have the power of the king to suppress the others, so as not to really find the money after tearing his face.

As a result, Alleyne's position was not as stable as it was when Byron went on the expedition.

Alleyn was not without means, but in the current situation, his instincts told him not to take sides immediately, both because of the complexity of the current situation, and because he realized that King Harauth and Prince Harauu did not have as much control over the south as Byron. Then if it is handled properly, he can rely on the favorable conditions at hand to negotiate with the royal family and strive for greater interests.

In case of... If Byron really came back, then he would not be considered a betrayal, Byron meant this when he left him in the first place, and the king could naturally understand his thoughts. He also considered going to Viruga to meet Prince Harauu, the prince's situation in Viruga at this time was similar to when he first arrived, I have to say that he really inherited the shortcomings of King Haraus, his arrogance made many people look at him unpleasantly, if someone went to pay a visit at this time, the prince must be very happy.

Alleyne was still sitting in his chair thinking, when there was a noise outside the door...