(Orn's story is too long to fit in the text, so I'll find an opportunity to release it in the form of a side story.) Here, Ernn has won from the family tear and won the title of earl. Also, ask for a recommendation~)

Sinloth sat bored at the dining table, fiddling with the buttons on his blouse, listening to the bells from the top of the castle. The baron knew that it was the bell for the pre-dinner prayer.

And this was only the first time, and all he had to do was wait for the bell to ring for the second prayer. In Sinloth's thinking, this move really made no sense. But look at the Lord's seat, the Madame Butterfly who closed her eyes and prayed. The baron couldn't say anything - what could he do with the witches like this?

It seems that the empire still has a long way to go if it wants to deal with the church. The authority of the king, it seems that in life, it is not enough to defeat the power of the lord for the time being.

"The poor shall be fed and filled, and they that seek the Lord shall praise him; Their hearts will have eternal life. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, from today to ever, and forever. Amen. May the Lord have mercy. ”

The priest stood in the hall and prayed aloud, facing the Counts, and after his usual closing remarks, the priest symbolically drew a cross in the air.

After the priest's long and monotonous prayers, dinner was finally served. Sinloth breathed a sigh of relief and rebuttoned the unfastened button. The prayer before the dinner almost drained his patience.

This is only the beginning of the nightmare, though.

"Those damned infidels! In the honor of my family, if Aijun hadn't been too far away from them, I would have given them a taste of the power of my sword! I want to see if the evil god they call will rain down thunder to punish me! ”

"That's right!"

"Because of our piety, the all-powerful Lord will bless us!"

Aristocrats want prestige, religion wants piety, and everyone loves money.

However, the Church is the state religion of the Empire, and these counts refuse to leave any excuse for their enemies. The baron suddenly felt bored, these counts were not as noble as he imagined.

The well-dressed gentleman, with a goblet and a glass of wine, spoke words that were difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood—this was the image of the nobles in the baron's mind. Unfortunately, this impression has been ruthlessly shattered by the cruel reality until now.

One of the earls roared loudly, and in order to strengthen his tone, he kept slapping the table, and the pots and pots on the long table danced. Perhaps it was too much force, and the cloudy soup in the soup basin was shaken and jumped onto his clothes. And the great earl only wiped things with his hand, and continued to shout loudly with the other counts.

The other counts were no better than him. They also spoke loudly, as if this was the only way to convince each other. When excited, they waved whatever they could wield, wooden spoons, dinner knives, fists and Sinloth, who had excellent eyesight, and even saw that the wooden spoon in the hands of one of the Earls had been accidentally broken by him, and many rough sawdust had fallen directly into the soup in front of him. And he didn't know it, still eating his food, and arguing with the other counts.

"Ma'am, I think I understand why you didn't let me attend their meeting at noon, and thank you for letting me sit next to you."

They can make a fuss like this when they have dinner, and I don't know what they will do when they have a meeting at noon. I didn't understand that Madame Butterfly had to pull him to drink tea and not let him participate in the meeting of the Earls of Aijun, and I was a little dissatisfied in my heart. However, at this moment, there is only a strong sense of gratitude.

Looking at the terrifying scene at the dinner, the aristocratic dream in Xinluos's mind was completely ruined. He said this to Madame Butterfly, who was in the main seat, and the counts, who were arguing at the side, apparently did not notice the conversation going on on the other side of the quiet long table.

"Lord Fanzhuo is gracious."

Madame Butterfly shook her feather fan gently, and although she couldn't see her face, the smile in her eyes betrayed her. Xinluos's expression had already fallen into her eyes.

"When I first arrived, I wasn't used to it. But after a long time, I slowly got used to it. Lord Fanzhuo is also from the royal capital, right? Of course, Wang Du and Aijun are a little different, don't worry too much, they actually don't have any malicious intentions, the so-called meeting, isn't that it? Whoever took who's water, who stole who's cattle, who owed whom"

The lady's tone was gentle, but Cynroth could still make out the faint disdain. A woman who can govern her territory well after her husband's death may look down on those counts who can only quarrel and behave extremely vulgarly.

"I see, thank you Madame for the reminder. Alas"

The baron was somewhat discouraged, not because of the rudeness of the counts. Although the so-called meeting of all the Earls of Ireland turned out to be like this, it might have been more interesting to know this, it might as well go with Ellie and the others to find Shanaido.

The harsh reality disappointed him, but it wasn't enough for him to be so disappointed - from the series of unusually conspicuous reminders from the orb of light, the baron could already sense that something upheaval was happening. Moreover, it is very likely that it has something to do with the Imperial fleet at sea.

As a nobleman of the Empire, he felt compelled to remind his colleagues. But this was not the slightest conjecture, and even he could not convince himself, let alone the arrogant counts, and the morale of the Imperial Navy.

It was only a matter of time before the power of the Empire's five fleets was gathered and the Normans were crushed into the dust of history. The emperors of the past did not do this, except for worrying about the heavy casualties of the Imperial navy, why not bleed the unruly Britannia?

And now, the Imperial Army has been unable to recover for a long time, and the death of the Imperial Marshal has made the royal capital unable to endure it any longer. He needs a big win to solidify his authority.

This battle must be fought and won.

Madame Butterfly took a sip of her wine, looked at Sinloth's depressed appearance, and her heart moved, thinking of what the Baron had done for her niece the night before, and she was determined to mention the little Baron who had made a good impression on her: "They can't discuss anything like this, and they have been like this all these years." If you really have something to do, come to my study later. ”

"Thank you, beautiful lady." Hearing the lady's kindness, the baron hurriedly replied. After a pause, the baron glanced at the food on the long table. half-cooked, bloodshot meat chops; It was as dark as night, and there was a lot of soup with unidentified lumps floating, "Madam, to prove my piety, I have been fasting lately. Can you change this food of mine, just give me bread and water? ”

"If that's what you're asking for."

In the dim moonlight, Sinloth was guided by the green-haired maid to Madame Butterfly's study.

Out of years of habit, Sinlos didn't push the door directly, but said to the maid, "Thank you." ”

The baron had not expected this at all, and the green-haired maid was visibly stunned. The maid returned the baron in a mess, and then walked into the darkness of the castle. Although she repeatedly slowed down her pace, trying to make herself look calmer. But the baron could still feel her nervousness.

"Ah, I forgot again. The nobleman said to the servant, this maid chief is a little familiar, it seems to be the one who knocked him down that day? ”

The baron didn't take the green-haired maid to heart, and no matter how you look at it, she was just an ordinary maid. Except that it seems to be a little clumsy, there is nothing special. The baron thought for a while to no avail, and then put it down.

The people inside are tonight's main meal.

The baron cautiously pushed the door open, and sure enough, there were already several people waiting for him inside. In addition to the hostess Madame Butterfly, the other two people turned out to be familiar faces.

Earl of North Munster, Orne. Duke of Kildel, Ed.

Like the baron, these two honorable men were also surprised when they saw Sinlos. But soon, they regained their composure, waiting for Madame Butterfly's explanation.

"Gentlemen, it seems that you all know each other, so I will introduce it again." Even in the dim candlelight, the lady's beauty was not damaged in the slightest, and the wide-brimmed hat partially obscured the lady's face, making her even more mysterious: "Lord Orn, Lord Eddard. Lord Fanzhuo, like the two, is actually dissatisfied with the status quo. I thought that such a person was worth inviting. What do you think? ”

"Madam, you are the master here, and I will obey your arrangement."

"It wouldn't hurt if he really did."

Seriously, Cynroth didn't expect it at all. Madame Butterfly invited these two, but she hadn't seen them at dinner before, and thought something had happened to them, so she didn't come to the meeting.

It turned out that he had come here. He and these two are really fated to be very close, and there is some unhappiness between them. But now, it's not the time to think about that.

Earl Orne and Duke Ed were silent, waiting for Sinloth to take his seat. Compared to the chaotic appearance of dinner, this is like a meeting. The arguing of the counts was destined to make it impossible to discuss anything—perhaps the counts had not thought of discussing anything in the first place.

Sinloth found a seat and sat down, and the first county meeting of Ireland in which the Baron participated, officially began.

As usual, it is still Madame Butterfly as the hostess of the beginning. Madame removed the feather fan and looked at the confused little baron with a heavy face: "Before we officially begin, I have a few questions for you, Lord Fanzhuo, please answer me honestly." ”

"Are you unhappy with the state of affairs in the County of Ireland?"

The baron nodded. The aristocracy set up private checkpoints abroad, exploited merchants, and extorted violently from the inside, sucking the blood and sweat of farmers. The baron from the modern day didn't know how these guys dealt with this kind of problem, but his instinct told him that if he left it alone, in a few years, there would be a big problem.

"Are you willing to work for the revival of the County of Ireland?"

The baron nodded again. This is just nonsense, his fief is Desmond. No nobleman would want his hometown to be in tatters forever. Even if you take 10,000 steps back, excluding the factor of hometown, your hometown is stronger, and you will be more confident when you go out to face those nobles from other places. Isn't what the nobles are asking for just a face?

"Are you willing to put aside your old prejudices and work with me?"

This time, Sinloth didn't answer right away. The baron turned his head and looked at the two nobles on the side, the hidden meaning was self-evident. He and these two, the memories of the past are not too good. Although it's not the hatred of killing the father or the hatred of taking the wife. But the seeds of contradiction have been planted, and it is not known how strong they are.

Duke Ed immediately replied, "It's just a little thing, and I still have this measure." ”

Count Orne did not answer, but smiled at the baron with kindness in his eyes.

Well, there was nothing to hesitate about, and the baron nodded to Madame Butterfly. Judging from the information of Ditohardt, the baron already understood why the old Earl of North Munster had given him something that day. And now, it is clear that Orn has inherited the title. So when it comes to the deal between them, he still owes Orn.

And between Ed, it's even simpler, just fooling him once with the bishop, it's really not a deep hatred. Since he said so, the baron had nothing to insist on.

"Very well, two gentlemen, so that we have one more like-minded companion. We are one step closer to our goal. Madame Butterfly was obviously in a good mood, and even her tone rose: "In this way, our previous plan is a little more certain. ”

"Plan?"

Realizing that the Baron was a newcomer and did not know their plans, Orn, who had been silent, explained: "You must be aware of the situation in the County of Ireland, so I will not say more. Unlike those idiots, a few of us always have a bad premonition to prevent those premonitions from becoming reality, so"

Orn's nonsense is long, but considering the tragic education of this era, and his low ability to summarize, the baron no longer complains about anything. In short, the government forced the people to rebel, and the people had to rebel. And a few people of insight have seen the clues and tried to make changes.

"Between our four territories, customs duties have been exempted from each other. Now, of course, it's five. Compared with the previous random levels, our gains have not decreased at all, but have increased a little. The addition of business travel has also added a lot of vitality to the territory. Especially here in Dublin, I really envy Madame that there is such a good port. But that's not enough, we need more counts to join in."

"But it's not a trivial matter, you can see what those fools are doing. Although our goal is for the Irish County, we are bound to get them on board eventually. But those who have more muscles in their heads than brains must not be able to understand such a profound truth. In order to prevent them from getting angry, we need a respected leader first, and a good profit second."

Yes, five domains, Duke Eddard, but two counties.

Hearing this, the baron looked at Duke Eddard. And the relatively young duke also hurriedly smiled. Got it, now it's all understood. No wonder he, a duke, was so kind to him, a baron, for this reason.

Duke Ed is too shallow relative to his title, his age, and his qualifications. Although everyone respectfully calls him Your Excellency, it is difficult to say whether they recognize him or not in their hearts. As the nobleman with the highest rank in the county of Ireland, I am afraid that he wants to use this way to establish the majesty of his duke.

That's fine, but don't worry about him giving up halfway.

At this point, the baron knew everything. Looking at his expression, Madame Butterfly also knew that she didn't need to explain any more, but began to explain the plan itself: "I have sent invitations to all the famous wandering knights in the county of Ireland and in your name according to the plan. Not long ago, most of them have already given me a positive reply. I think there's no problem with holding a grand tournament. ”

It turns out that in a martial empire, war is naturally the best and fastest way to increase prestige. In addition, the tournament is also a good way, the more the organizer can invite the more powerful knights, the more it can reflect the majesty of the organizer.

Not bad idea.

But if Duke Ed comes, I'm afraid he won't be able to recruit many people—he has been a duke for no longer than Orn has been an earl. But Madame Butterfly is different, first of all, she is the queen of the famous family; Second, she is wealthy; Third, she is beautiful. With these three points, it is enough to attract those knights who are over-secreted by hormones. Just add a small, pink letter from Madame Butterfly after Duke Eddard's letter, and you'll be fine.

Knights who like to show themselves in front of noble ladies, especially beauties like Madame Butterfly, will never let go of this opportunity. Perhaps, Dublin's ** will meet a handsome knight because of this martial arts competition?

Who knows.

The plan of the three of them is obviously not a day or two of preparation, and all kinds of successive plans have been well planned. In the face of various unexpected situations, there are also means to deal with them. Judging from those details, the baron understood that they were not joking.

They're serious.

After listening to the three nobles for a long time, taking advantage of the gap between them to drink water and rest, Sinlos, who felt that he could not do nothing, touched the pocket of his waist and took out a small bottle from it. Xinlos uncorked the bottle, and suddenly, a faint fragrance appeared in Madame Butterfly's study.

Madame Butterfly sniffed and said in disbelief, "This is"

"Guys, I think I have a good idea. I just don't know if you have any beautiful ladies you know well."