Chapter 2250: The Puppet King (1)

"Lord Aslan, Lord Manchester, Lord Sylnant, has asked to see you. Early in the morning, Arthur was woken up by the voice of the village chief: "Please freshen up and follow the carriage to Fort Hillnant?"

"Of course. Arthur got out of bed, feeling his muscles ache. The time should be past six o'clock in the morning, and although the clock is not visible in such a place, Arthur's biological clock is always accurate. He didn't like to entertain the nobles------ even in Arthur's original time, Arthur, as a knight, did not like to entertain the nobles. But now, in order to achieve his goals, entertaining the aristocracy has become a compulsory occupation of King Arthur, which is ironic enough.

That's fine. Arthur had a feeling that it would soon be over. There are actually only two things he has to do, one is to assassinate Henry VI, the young king of present-day England, and the other is to kill Richard Beams, Earl of Warwick, who is behind everything and uses Henry VI as a puppet king. After these two key figures are eliminated, Britain will be in chaos, and the "Hundred Years' War", which Britain and France have fought for hundreds of years, will come to an end, and Joan of Arc will be liberated from her historical mission.

Theoretically, it is. Actually?

An hour later, Arthur and Bedwell got out of the carriage, and the imposing castle in front of them was Fort Hillante. The Duke of Manchester, as the lord of one side, of course furnished his house very luxuriously------ this luxury was certainly not the luxury of making the fortress inlaid with gold and silver------ he seems to have ordered the castle to be repaired every year, and the hard rock walls outside the fortress were re-strengthened countless times, so that the castle of Hillante was impregnable------ at least it seemed so. At first glance, there were twenty or thirty knights patrolling inside and outside the castle, and the formation was only large and heavily defended, which had never been seen before in France or in Port Penzance. Bunting fluttered in the wind, and the purple-blue gold-trimmed bunting bore (or embroidered) the family coat of arms of the Duke of Sylnant, the lord of the land. The pomp and circumstance here and outside are all proclaiming the power of the lord to the outside world.

Arthur couldn't help but feel funny when he looked at the pomp, but he didn't show it all. It would be unwise to mock the local lord in such a situation.

"Here, please, Lord Aslan. He was greeted by a man dressed like a steward, not Arthur's imaginary knight. However, this level of hospitality is also appropriate, or according to the culture of this world, it is more correct to send a steward to contact Arthur.

The Knight King didn't say much, just nodded and followed.

"Well, your wolfdog may have to stay in the waiting room and not let him into the living room. The steward glanced at Bediville again. The big white wolf looked majestic and vicious, and people with a little common sense would indeed be wary of him.

"Of course. Arthur said, taking off the saber and the belt with the throwing knife hanging from it, and letting Bedeville carry it: "This is all right, right?"

"A very wise decision, Lord Aslan. "The steward had planned to tell Arthur about this, and tell the blonde boy to remove his weapon before he saw the duke. Arthur took the initiative to do so, of course, for the better.

"Well, please, wait here, the Duke will be coming at short. He led Arthur and Bedwell into the castle, and after going around two stairs and a corridor, he quickly led Arthur and Bedwelle to the so-called waiting room, and then left Arthur and them alone, and turned and walked out on his own.

"Hmph. The Knight King saw some raisins and steaming black tea on the table in the waiting room, which seemed to have been prepared for him, and he was not polite, but picked up a few raisins and ate a few. He was woken up early in the morning, and he hadn't had time to eat breakfast yet. The Duke of Hillant must not be allowed to see him like a hungry ghost.

"Beddy, do you want to eat it?" he took some raisins and put them in front of the big white wolf, "This one is quite sweet." ＂

"Wang. Bediwell looked a little disinterested, but opened his mouth for Arthur to put the raisins on his tongue. There was no poison in the raisins, and if they were, Bediville could tell them the moment he smelled them. The appearance of the big white wolf lazily munching on raisins made Arthur feel a lot more relieved.

He took another sip of his tea, wondering how long he would have to wait to see the Duke. It's only about seven o'clock in the morning. The English nobles are lazy, and it is generally impossible to get up so early, maybe the Duke is still busy freshening up and hurriedly dressing up to meet Arthur? Maybe he hasn't even gotten up from bed? Of course, this is not a sign of rudeness, Arthur was summoned to the Duke of Sylnant's castle as a guest, and the subordinates were responsible for arranging it, and the Duke himself didn't even know much, let alone arrange the meeting time. It was normal for Arthur to wait here for two or three hours before coming to meet Arthur------ the nobles were just too much.

Thinking like this, Arthur took some raisins to satisfy his hunger, at least so that he would not go hungry. This can escalate into a long wait, what to do without eating first.

He glanced around a few more times. The interior and exterior of the castle are completely different. On the outside, a solid stone brick wall was used to fortify the defenses, and on the inside, a special clay or stucco was used to make the stone walls smooth and beautiful. In this way, the interior of the building can be protected from cold and insulated, and the surface of the plaster can be painted with a layer of insect-proof and moth-proof paint with white wall paint, which is a very high-end decoration at this level of civilization in this era. Judging from this décor, the Duke of Hillant was at least a man who knew how to live.

Yes. So boring. How long will we have to wait? Arthur began to look out the window into the vista. From this lounge, you can see the colorful flags fluttering on the opposite wall in the distance, and occasionally you can hear the footsteps of the knights patrolling with great fanfare. People who live in the castle are surrounded by such footsteps all day long, and I am afraid that they will have a different kind of security. If the knights were wearing legwear of pure metal, the footsteps would have been sonorous, the sound of metal colliding with rocky ground. But in fact, the footsteps of the knights are much calmer, and the leg armor must be padded with several layers of non-slip and wear-resistant leather to reduce the sound of metal and ground impact. Despite this, the armor worn by the knights of their time was not ~~~~often ~~~ heavy, and when they heard it, they knew that it was made of stainless steel, and they did not have considerable physical strength, and they couldn't even walk in that kind of thing. Although the armor of this era is measured by the standards of Arthur's era, it will be considered that the armor of this era is bulky and stupid, and it is completely a collection of iron blocks, lacking any technological components. But in fact, it is already good that the plate armor of this era can be built to this level. And if you think about it carefully, the Duke of Hilnant actually has such a large group (at least hundreds) of heavily armored knights with abundant physical strength, which can be regarded as a rather intimidating military force in this era.

It is understandable that a liege's private army is used to defend the territory. But what if he used this army to raise troops......?

"I've been waiting. The steward pushed the door in, interrupting Arthur's thoughts: "The Duke is ready." If it's convenient for you, Lord Aslan, please come here. ＂

"Of course. "I waited for about half an hour, not too long and not too short. Arthur thought to himself, while putting down his teacup and getting up from his seat: "Bedi, wait here." ＂

"Whew!" the great white wolf wagged his tail playfully, so angry that Arthur wanted to kick him.

The steward's lack of speed or slowness is what makes Arthur the most anxious. Luckily, the reception room and the lounge were not far apart, and walking through a corridor, Arthur saw two heavily armed knights waiting in front of a room, and knew that behind the door was the reception room of Fort Hillante.

"Then, watch your words and deeds in front of the duke. The steward stopped at the door, and motioned for Arthur to enter the reception room on his own.

Arthur nodded slightly, and pushed the door in.

There, a burly middle-aged man was facing away from Arthur, looking up at the blue sky outside the window. A puff of green smoke rose from his side, and the air around him wafted with the smell of burning tobacco, presumably smoking with a pipe.

Arthur had wanted to keep the door open so that the air could circulate and let the smell of smoke dissipate a little, but he thought that the next conversation might involve something inconvenient for outsiders, so he put up with the smell of smoke and closed the door behind him.

"You're finally here. After Arthur closed the door, the Duke of Hilnant turned to look at Arthur. When he did this, Arthur also glanced at him, and was surprised to see that the duke actually looked very similar to the grand duke of Parinlore------ of course, this kind of thing had happened several times, and Arthur began to disagree.

"Well, young man. The Duke of Hillant said straight to the point: "May I assume that your meeting with me this time is to seek more supporters so that you can regain the throne in the future?"

"What?" Arthur was stunned, "Duke, what the hell is going on. ＂

"There's no need to play dumb in front of me, Mr. Aslan. The duke exhaled a smoke ring, "It's just the two of us here, and the people guarding the door are also my cronies, so don't worry about the ears on the wall." It doesn't hurt to say what you have in mind. ＂

"No, I really don't have ------"

"I don't know if you've noticed," interrupted Arthur, "I was already on your radar when you first came to London with that old fellow Penzance's letter of recommendation. This time I invited you to come to my territory to find the source of the plague, ostensibly on the commission of others, but in fact I secretly arranged it. ＂

"Sure enough, it's you. Arthur narrowed his eyes as he looked at the scheming middle-aged man in front of him.