When Miria finished her work at the bakery and returned to Blackfire Castle, it was already late at night. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Although she is nominally the personal maid of the dignified duke, if she were somewhere else, she would definitely have the envy of countless people.

However, the Black Fire Castle is far away from the center of the empire, not only has a small territory, but also has a pitifully small population, and it is far from comparable to other castles in the empire in terms of financial and material resources.

So much so that when asked about the name of Blackfire Castle within the Empire, most of the nobles said they had never heard of it.

It is only the scholar in charge of the aristocratic realm who will stumble upon such a small place in the Far East of the empire when he is looking through the classics.

This shows the popularity of Blackfire Castle in the Empire.

The Black Fire family is very poor, and in addition to being blackmailed by the surrounding tribes for many years, almost the entire Black Fire Castle is living with its belts strangled.

As a direct result, Milia had to go to a nearby village to find work after finishing her work in the castle.

This part-time situation is widespread among the officials of the Black Fire Castle.

Officers were in a slightly better position because they had to go out hunting, but civilian officials had to wear many hats in order to support their families.

For example, Mr. Moda, the administrative officer, runs a fruit shop, and Mr. Morrie, the treasurer, is a teacher in the castle.

It's just that compared to the officials who subsidize their families, Milia's reason is not for herself at all.

The Duke is already weak, and he is getting older, so he should continue to supplement his nutrition.

But in order to reduce financial expenditures, the Black Fire family had to start cutting even the Duke's three meal expenses.

In fact, this was also proposed by the Duke himself in the past, calling on everyone to work together to tide over the difficulties.

Others say that Lord Duke is a Duke of Waste Firewood, a pile of mud that can't be supported on the wall, but Milia always thinks that Lord Duke is very gentle, and he has been working hard to make everyone's life better, but the situation of the Black Fire family is really bad.

In such a harsh environment in the Far East, even survival is extremely difficult, what can a boy with a weak personality do?

And all she can do is do her best to use the food she gets from her part-time job to open a small stove for the Duke.

Miria is stupid and useless, she can't share her worries for the Duke, and that's all she can do, right?

She passed by the corridor of the chamber with a sense of reproach, and two soldiers stood guard outside the door of the chamber, the door of which was closed, and through the crack in the door she could see that the fire was shining inside, and from time to time there was a loud noise.

"Leah, are you back from the fight?" Vivien smiled as she walked out of the conference hall with her teacup, and greeted Milia, who was also a maid who took care of the Duke's living in the castle, and she had a very good relationship with Miria, and had always regarded herself as her sister.

"Well, are the adults still in a meeting? Whose voice was it just now? I remember no one in the castle seemed to have such a loud voice. Miria followed Vivien to the kitchen, asking curiously.

"It's the voice of Lord Wolf of the Gray Wolf Tribe, it seems that Lord Duke asked the Lord Gray Wolf Tribe to send people to the territory of the Black Dog Tribe, Lord Wolf does not agree to come, it's really strange, these two tribes who used to bully us in the past have now begun to listen to the Duke Lord's command. ”

Vivien lit an oil lamp and washed the dishes in the kitchen, a huge castle, and the internal chores were all taken care of by her and Milia, and the workload could be imagined.

"The Duke has worked hard, has he had dinner today?" asked Miria.

Vivien has been in charge of the food delivery for these two days.

"No, they've been discussing in the conference hall for a whole day, and they don't know when they'll come up with a result, so why don't you send it yourself if you're worried about him, and you're still worried about what he did that day?" Vivien blinked.

The thing she said was naturally referring to the epoch-making thing that Lin Ye had just crossed over and done in a daze.

Ever since that incident, Miria has been running away from the Duke, who seems to be a little different from before.

The only thing the two had in common was that she had brought him breakfast this morning, and she hurried away without saying a word.

I had never felt this way before, so why did my heart beat so hard when I faced Lord Duke now?

"Miria is just a humble maid, and there are really other things that can't be separated from her......" She seemed to be pierced by Vivien's girl's heart, and quickly twisted her head to the side, her face flushed, like an apple harvested by the moon.

"You, don't always talk about maids, you are childhood sweethearts who grew up together, aren't you? From tomorrow, I can't get out of it, and the job of delivering meals to the Duke will be handed back to you, I don't care. Vivien put on a posture of not caring about herself.

"Sister Vivien, you can't bully people like this!" Miria was so anxious that tears rolled in her eyes, she was really not ready to face him.

"How can this be called bullying you? This is creating an opportunity for you, Leah, no one in the whole Black Fire Castle is cuter than you, and no one cares about him more than you, so be brave and face it, my sister will support you spiritually. Vivien touched Miria's head in encouragement.

The moonlight shines through the window on the girl's side face.

Can the girl's thoughts be transmitted to him through this gentle moonlight?

――――

After the Black Dog Tribe, the Gray Wolf Tribe, and the affairs officers of the Black Fire Castle left one after another, there were only a dozen soldiers left in the conference hall.

These included officers on active duty, as well as representatives of the militia who had just won the war.

The atmosphere in the conference hall was a little strange, except for the young Duke, everyone's faces were not very good-looking, and they were very heavy.

"Well, I know you have objections to my decision, and now that the irrelevant people are gone, you can raise your opinions. Lin Ye waved his hand and made a gesture of please, signaling to the officers, but it was okay.

"My lord, we have won this battle with great difficulty, the main force of the Black Dog Tribe has been annihilated by us, and now is the perfect opportunity to eradicate them, but you not only let De Muhei go, but also let the Gray Wolf Tribe provide them with protection, I really can't understand your intentions. An officer questioned.

He represented the opinion of the majority of the officers, and the infantry officers, including Dussel and Kate, nodded in agreement.

"I understand your feelings, you have been oppressed by the Black Dog Tribe for so long, and now the opportunity to completely exterminate them is in front of you, I think anyone will be red-eyed. Lin Ye affirmed the officer's doubts.

As far as the current situation is concerned, defeating the Black Dog Tribe is indeed just a matter of his words.

"In that case, then why are you still ......?" the officer asked cautiously.

After all, it was the Duke who led them to win the battle, which is why they left the doubts after the meeting and did not raise them on the spot.

"But what can we do after we destroy the Black Dog Tribe? Vipers, poisonous frogs, and lizards have also bullied us, should we also wipe them out?" Lin Ye raised the tone of his voice and asked rhetorically.

"If there's a chance, of course ......"

"There is a chance? You also know that there is a chance, calculate this account, in the battle of the Black Dog Tribe, we have taken advantage of the time and place, but we have also paid the price of nearly 50 casualties, how many people are there in our Black Fire Castle in total? More than 600 people, in order to fight this battle, we have almost drained all the young people in the territory, we are fighting a little, a little less, and then look at those tribes. Lin Ye paused.

"Which of them doesn't have hundreds of strong soldiers? And they are much stronger than us in terms of living environment and reproductive ability, what can we fight them? Even if we win, what can we gain besides the ever-increasing number of casualties?"

Lin Ye was almost roaring when he said it, the question in front of him was too cruel.

The Black Fire Castle is a lonely fortress, the population cannot be replenished from the outside, and only these 600 people can reproduce naturally, so when will it reach the normal size of a town?

Moreover, in the current harsh environment, if there is no one day to protect it, a tribe will kill it violently, even if it succeeds in repelling it, it will definitely be a heavy loss, and he can understand why Link has always adopted a policy of appeasement.

It's a last resort!

"At least we can get dignity, and even if we fight to the last soldier, we will make them pay!" the officer clenched his fists and said these long-suppressed words with a moment of blood.

This also speaks to the hearts of most officers.

They are soldiers, and soldiers should engage the enemy on the battlefield, not just run away.

They have been running away for too long, and they have managed to win on the battlefield, only to watch it slip away.

This really makes them unwilling!

"Dignity? This is really a justifiable answer, then is your dignity just to vent the resentment in your chest, and to disregard the safety of the people you should protect? Such dignity is really too despicable and too cheap!"