Chapter 65: Mr. Tim

Following Pat into the tent was a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a gray-black leather jacket that didn't fit well, and a pair of brown breeches underneath, which was obviously the warm clothes issued to him by the team. Although the middle-aged man tried his best to show his aristocratic status, his bony eyes and uneasy expression still betrayed his inner tension.

Lorist had no good impression of the middle-aged man at first glance, who seemed to be very shrewd, not with the natural swagger of a nobleman, but like a mercenary merchant, or like a housekeeper who collected rents, especially the eyes that were constantly turning, as if he had some idea in his heart.

"Thiem, heir to the Viscount of Turberly, salutes His Excellency and wishes him a great victory. The middle-aged man bowed deeply to Lorlist, who was sitting upright.

Lorist laughed, no nobleman's child would call himself that, they would introduce themselves as so-and-so of the family, and would not stare at the title to emphasize that they were the heir, this could deceive the ignorant lords, no nobleman's child who had been educated in orthodox aristocratic etiquette since childhood would say so. The identity of the middle-aged man in front of him is very problematic.

"I'm Norton Lorist from the Norton family in Northland, and I'm the team leader. Who are you, gentleman?" Lorlister's words indicated his doubts about the middle-aged man's identity.

"I, I'm really the eldest son of Viscount Turberly, if you don't believe me, you can ask those who have been rescued by you, many of them know me, and have grown up with me since childhood, otherwise they won't listen to me and follow me......" The middle-aged man's face turned red at once, as if Lorlist's suspicion hit his most sensitive heart.

"Really?" said Lorlist, noncommittal.

The middle-aged man paused like a punctured ball: "Yes, my lord." Indeed, I am the eldest son of the Viscount of Talbury. Only now my brothers and sisters, my relatives, are gone, and I am the only remaining descendant of the Viscount of Talbury. So, I'm also his only legal heir. ”

Lorist understood that this middle-aged man was the illegitimate son of Viscount Tybury, and that Viscount's family might have been wiped out by Count Corbilly, so this illegitimate son regarded himself as the heir of Viscount Tybury.

"What did Viscount Turbury put you in charge of before?" asked Lorlist.

"The Viscount has put me in charge of the three granges in the realm and the trade in foreign property. Because I had a lot of contact with the farmers in the territory, I didn't have much contact with the nobility. "Middle-aged people are honest and answer all questions.

"Well, Mr. Tim, I'm not interested in whether you are the heir to the Viscount of Talbury. I heard that you have asked my clan knights to equip your people with weapons and equipment for free, so may I ask? Why did you make such an impudent request?" Lorist stood up and forced his eyes to look at the middle-aged man in front of him.

"Great, my lord, don't you mean that nobles have an obligation to help each other?, and I, I also want my men to be armed to help my lordship deal with Count Corbilly's army......" In the eyes of this middle-aged man named Tim, Lorlist's aggressive momentum overwhelmed him, making him feel that the few pretexts he had thought of before were so pale and useless. In a hurry, I could only find a more orthodox statement.

"Haha, Mr. Tim, first of all, you are not a nobleman, it is not that you consider yourself the heir of the Viscount of Turbury that you become a nobleman, you must be recognized by at least three nobles of the nearby territory before you are qualified to say that you are the rightful heir of the Viscount of Tybury. You can then go to the royal capital to collect your certificate of ancestry, and then get the eligibility and title certificate from the superior lord of the Viscount of Tebberly. This is the more orthodox way of succession to the title. Secondly, there is another way to take control of a strong family army, create a de facto realm succession reality, and force the higher lord to recognize your inheritance of the title and territory. I guess Mr. Tim should have played with that idea. ”

"Perhaps, the Viscount of Talbury did not register the name of your eldest son in the family register, which makes it very difficult for Mr. Tim to follow the orthodox way of succession to the title. It's just that Mr. Tim shouldn't have forgotten who you are now, to be precise, you're just a prisoner of war, a prisoner of war of Count Corbilly. And our Norton family defeated Count Corbilly's army and accepted everything from this army, so you should also be considered our trophies. Theoretically, it is reasonable for us to have the right to kill your servants, even to sell them to slave traders. Unless you're going to pay a proper ransom price for yourself, like the other nobles. ”

"Speaking of the nobles helping each other, Mr. Tim, do you really understand this agreement? This is only effective when the nobles of the same region are invaded by a common foreign enemy, or if the human race is invaded by monsters and foreign races. We, on the other hand, now belong to two countries. Even if you are a nobleman, I have no obligation to you, and I can even get a reward for cutting off your head and hanging you for being a nobleman of an enemy country. As for helping us fight, hehe, Mr. Tim, that's a terrible excuse. ”

The middle-aged man was pale, sweaty on his forehead, and trembling all over. In the past, if he had to assume that he was the heir of the Viscount of Tybley, he would be respectful and respectful, and would not dare to disobey in the slightest, so that he would be able to induce a large crowd of people to listen to him and serve him as Lord after he was captured. Unexpectedly, in front of the real aristocracy, he, the self-proclaimed heir, seemed to have been stripped of his gorgeous disguise, and his original form was revealed at once.

Lorist walked around the middle-aged man slowly, looking him up and down with interest: "Mr. Tim, in fact, I don't mind if you are pretending to be a nobleman, whether you are the heir of the Viscount of Talbury. It is good for a person to be ambitious, and it will motivate him to work hard. If you can pay the price for our generosity, then I can forgive you for making an unreasonable request this time. If you want to get rid of the white wolf from us, then I have to think about what to do with you liar, hang or behead? ”

The middle-aged man, Tim, went limp, and he had seen how his father, Viscount Talbury, had summoned the guards to end the lives of several of his subordinates who had disobeyed his orders, and how his heir brothers had whipped to death a few of the people who had frightened their mounts. From an early age, his mother, a former lady-in-waiting of the Viscount of Tybberly, taught him how to live humbly and humbly as an illegitimate son, to win his father's trust, to become a steward of the Viscount, and to use his status as an illegitimate son to gain additional benefits from the ignorant lords.

It wasn't until his father, along with his brothers, had been slaughtered by Earl Cockbilly's army that he realized that he was the only surviving descendant of Viscount Talberly, and although he had not awakened his vindictiveness and had not been taught by the orthodox aristocracy, the Viscount's care for his illegitimate son was to allow him to learn the written language. But all this did not prevent him from erecting the concept of himself as the sole heir of the viscount among the people he knew, and using his shrewdness and eloquent mouth in dealing with wandering merchants and peddlers for a long time, he recruited a large number of wandering lords to stand out in the western mountains and build a cottage, until this time it was broken by the sweeping troops and became a prisoner himself.

Originally, I thought that I would die this time, but I didn't expect that such a powerful sweeping force would be annihilated by a convoy escort and be rescued. After eating and cloning himself in the camp, he went to inquire about the details of the convoy, and when he learned that it was a northbound armed convoy of a family named Norton in the Northland, he suddenly realized that this was an opportunity, and perhaps he could get some benefit from the passing convoy. In his mind, as long as he mentioned that he was the heir to the viscount, then the owner of the convoy should treat him like a guest, and he could get whatever he wanted. At that time, he still had a few plans in mind, such as one, two, three, four, etc., and could even use this convoy to defeat Count Corbilly, and return to the viscount with a powerful army himself, becoming a territorial nobleman who everyone envied.

When he heard Lorlist's smile on his face and ask him to choose a way to die, the old reverence for the nobility and the inferiority of his own bastard suddenly came to his heart, this is the real aristocracy, laughing and laughing freely and ruthlessly, and does not need to rely on coercion and inducement to make his subordinates obey like himself. In his eyes, Lorlist, like the viscount he feared the most, could easily decide whether he lived or died.

Tim prostrate on the ground and wept: "My lord, spare me, I shouldn't be delusional, I shouldn't intend to get into the title, please spare my humble life! In your eyes, I am just an ant, not worthy of your attention......"

Lorist took a step back: "Please get up, Mr. Tim." If you want to be a nobleman, then at least please keep your demeanor. No nobleman would behave as shamefully as yours. A true nobleman, even in the face of death, should be calm and unhurried with an unchanging face. Perhaps, you misunderstood what I meant. As I said, I don't mind if you are the heir to the viscount, if you are a nobleman. What I want to know is, in what capacity are you making such a rude request to me?"

Looking at the blank and ignorant eyes of Mr. Tim kneeling on the ground, Lorist smiled bitterly and explained to him in detail: "Mr. Tim, if you think that you can get everything you want from me for free by virtue of your status as the heir of the viscount, then I will behead or hang you as a liar, because you have offended the dignity of the Norton family, you should understand that the most disgusting thing for a territorial nobleman is rudeness and deception." ”

Mr. Tim shuddered, and he remembered the Viscount, and remembered the Viscount ordering the guards to hang a fisherman, because the poor fisherman wanted to hide his catch, and because there was an extra fish, the fisherman who told the lie lost his life. He remembered what the Viscount had said: "I don't care about a few more fish, I only care that he cheated on me." ”

Mr. Tim nodded, signaling that he agreed with Lorlist's words.

"Mr. Tim, if you are not trying to get anything from me as a liar, then as a nobleman, when you ask me for my help, then as a nobleman, I should also reach out to you. It's just Mr. Tim, the help between the nobles is not gratuitous, have you figured out what price you are prepared to pay?" asked Lorlist.

"We can arm an army for you, we can help you regain your territory, and we can also arrange for you to receive training in orthodox aristocratic etiquette, so that your every move will be more like a nobleman, and you will not make any jokes in front of other nobles in the future. But it's not free, and you're going to have to pay the price, Mr. Tim. Lorist said.

"I, I have money, I am willing to pay for food and ask for your help......" Mr. Tim finally understood what Lorist meant, especially when Lorist mentioned that he could be arranged to receive etiquette training from nobles, which surprised him even more.

"That's right, Mr. Tim, you are so sensible that our communication has been smoother and more friendly, but can you tell us where your money and food are now?"

Mr. Tim honestly explained the origin of the money and food, that is, when the viscount was invaded by the army of the Earl of Cobilly, Viscount Tebberly took Tim to bury a batch of gold coins in a secret place overnight in order to make a comeback. He also instructed Tim not to return to the castle, but to go directly to the few granges where the territory had not affected the war, and pull all the grain in the warehouse to a cave under a mountain on the edge of the territory, which was an abandoned bear cave discovered by the Viscount during a hunting trip, and only Tim, who was with him at the time, knew.

Mr. Tim faithfully fulfilled the Viscount's entrustment, and when he returned to report to the Viscount, he found that the castle had been breached, and that the Viscount and his children, that is, Tim's brothers and sisters, had died. Mr. Tim estimated that the hidden wealth should be tens of thousands of imperial gold coins, and the food in the bear cave was enough for three thousand people to eat for half a year.

Looking at the map, Lorist found that the Visdom of Talbury was not far from here, only about a day's journey. So he told Reddy to fetch El, and asked Mr. Tim to take El and Pat to lead a group of men with wagons to carry all the gold and food to the barracks.

Before leaving, Pat looked at Lorlist, El made a gesture to wipe his neck, Lorist shook his head, he smiled and wished the three of them a smooth trip, and promised to arrange for him to be trained in aristocratic etiquette when Mr. Tim returned.

Shortly after returning to the Great Tent, Reddy came in and reported, "My lord, the Knight of Josk has arrived, and he has brought a group of men to ask to meet you at the barracks gate. ”