The wait was a little longer than expected, but when Viscount Sim's uncle, Count Eugen, appeared in front of Richard and Reilly with a convoy of more than twenty wagons, they knew why they were three days late than scheduled.

It seems that Viscount Sim knew his people, and when he received the news that the family messenger had not arrived as scheduled, he did not show a frightened look at all, but proudly said that there would definitely be a ransom worthy of his noble status, which opened the eyes of the knights in the countryside. Hearing this, Reilly expressed his high appreciation in his heart.

(Worthy of a professional!)

The trucks were unusually heavy, making Reilly curious about what was inside. It seems that the goods in the car were also part of the ransom of Viscount Shim.

Eugen was a middle-aged man in his forties, and he looked very gorgeous in an aristocratic gown adorned with fine jewels. The Earl brought with him as many as three hundred royal knights, and even in the face of a private army of a field earl, this force of incredible combat power would be a great deterrent.

After receiving the news, Reilly took three hundred puppet knights and went out to meet the earl.

Eugen rode a tall horse, and the brightly armored royal knights lined up in three columns behind him, forming a charging position. The Count's private guards lined up behind the royal knights, and they looked dazzling in their shining gold and red armor. However, in the eyes of Reilly, these warriors with an average strength of less than level 5 can only be regarded as strong and middle-class, and they are not even as good as the guards of the original Baron Fosa. In front of the tenth-level puppet knights and the ninth-level royal knights, Count Eugen's private soldiers can only be regarded as a pile of scum.

Before seeing this group of private soldiers, Reilly had no idea of going to war directly. And now, he turned his right hand upward, and the puppet knights behind him leveled their spears in a standard charging stance.

Seeing this, Count Eugen snorted heavily, and shouted to Reilly, "Sir Richard!" Obviously, he did not know what the real Richard was like.

"Count Eugen. Unlike Eugen's majestic voice, Reilly's tone was flat, but everyone present could tell that he did not regard the earl in front of him as an equal object of exchange.

Count Eugen's face was full of anger, and he said coldly: "Sir Richard, I don't know which famous family you come from!"

"Akmund. ”

Count Eugen raised his chin and said haughtily, "I have never heard of the name Akmund among the famous families of the continent. ”

"Akmund wasn't a famous family in the first place. Reilly shrugged his shoulders and said.

Hearing his answer, Count Eugen sneered and said, "It turned out to be an upstart!"

Reilly smiled and said, "The noble Viscount Chim was caught twice by the nouveau riche you called. Then, he picked his fingers again, made a "two" gesture to Eugen, and said, "Yes, twice!"

Count Eugen immediately turned pale, and he shouted loudly: "Richard, you are provoking an earl!"

"So, are you going to go to war with me?" Reilly gave him a faint look and said, "Who gave you such courage?

Count Eugen's face changed first from cyan to white, and then from white back to cyan, and he was speechless for a moment. He was tempted to order the troops behind him to launch a surprise attack, but reason told him that only his own private army would obey this order. If Count Eugen made such a decision that could endanger Chim, the royal knights would immediately turn around and clean him up.

Eugen took a few deep breaths, barely suppressed the anger in his heart, and then said in a cold tone: "So, Sir Richard Akmund, are you going to discuss the ransom with me here?"

"Well...... Reilly said with a smile, "I'll take you to meet Viscount Sim first, and then I'll go to the conference room to talk to Richard about the ransom." ”

It was only then that Count Eugen understood that Richard had not personally come out to meet him. He raised his arms with a flushed face, but he couldn't swing it, as if he was imprisoned by an invisible force.

Reilly looked at Count Eugen with a smirk, and the latter's hair stood on end in anger. Finally, he slowly lowered his arms and squeezed out two words from between his teeth: "Lead the way!"

Soon, Count Eugen met with Chim. Hearing his exuberant shout, Count Eugen knew that Sim was still healthy.

However, the ensuing negotiation process was somewhat unexpected by Richard.

Count Eugen seemed to want to vent all the anger he had received from Reilly, but instead of giving up an inch of ground in the negotiations, he also took on the posture of wanting to duel Richard. At the most tense moment, Count Eugen even said that he would go home and negotiate with another person.

The other party's attitude was so tough, which surprised Richard. It stands to reason that the presiding officer of the negotiation should not be such a willful guy.

(Looks like this should be their bottom line)

Thinking of this, Richard decided to accept Eugen's proposal, he didn't want to take Viscount Sim into his own hands. If Eugen returns and another person comes to negotiate, then more than half a month will pass. For Richard, the most precious thing was time.

Eventually, the negotiators reached an agreement. Count Eugen redeemed Chim with 20,000 worth of magic materials, 30,000 worth of valuable goods, and 50,000 gold coins in cash. However, those valuable goods are actually all kinds of high-grade stones, such as marble, black sand firing and the like.

To be able to send these things to Richard, who was building the castle, Count Canglu had indeed put a lot of thought into it. However, Richard didn't want the castle to be built in any luxury, and all he had to think about was its defensive capabilities. In Richard's opinion, this batch of stones did not make much sense at all. What he really values is gold coins and magic materials, which are things that can be converted into combat power in a short period of time.

After the ransom was paid, a permanent armistice was signed. Of course, everyone knows that this kind of thing has more symbolic meaning than practical meaning. As for Richard, if his next war with Viscount Sim takes place on his own territory, Count Canglu will have to pay more ransom to save his son.

The next day, Count Eugen left Richard's domain with Chim.

Richard, Chim, and Eugen were all pleased with the outcome of the negotiations, although for different reasons.

Richard was given the much-needed gold and magic materials, Sim was freed from captivity and could return to the luxurious life to which he was accustomed, and even to gather a new army to avenge himself, while Count Eugen took a tough stance to change the ransom money from 80,000 to 50,000, and put the 30,000 gold in his pocket. For this court earl, whose territory was not as large as that of the knight, 30,000 gold coins was already equivalent to a year's income.

The following week was spent in calm, but it was only superficial.

After Viscount Sim left, three hundred Golden Sparrow Eagle swordsmen entered Baron Fontaine's domain and camped in the barracks outside the castle at dusk. Richard knew that these swordsmen, with an average rank of six, belonged to Count Canglu and were the most elite troops under his command.

"Obviously, the Earl of Canglu is very important to his new vassal, and perhaps there is some other reason behind this. Reilly smiled and said, "Also, I just had a phone call with Baron Fontaine and made a plan with him. ”

Richard wondered, "What is that?"

Reilly took out a small cell phone and handed it to Richard, "This is a new product of our Bracada School. With it, I was able to communicate with people within a hundred kilometers. Ever since Reilly saw the blueprint of this thing in the Library of the Stars, he renamed it a phone and built it, even the case was changed to look like a mobile phone.

Richard immediately realized the strategic value of this thing, so he said eagerly, "Do you have any telephones?

Reilly smiled and said, "This thing is burning a magic crystal!"

"But it can win for us!"

"I can have a phone for each of your followers if needed. Reilly nodded and said, "But for now, let's talk about the Sim family." Do you have any indication of Baron Fontaine's approach?"

"Nope. Richard shook his head and said, "I don't think the power of the Duke of Blue Wolf is strong enough to change the situation, and he can contain the Duke of Glasburg at the political level at most." ”

"Hmm......" Reilly pondered for a while and said, "Duke Blue Wolf is fighting against the Duchy of White Rock, so he must make some concessions to avoid falling into the dilemma of being attacked on his back. So, did he make any recommendations for our actions?"

"Sir Shanton said I was free to move. Richard thought for a moment and said, "So, the consequences of this will be borne by myself." It is clear that the Duke of Blue Wolf has been adequately compensated in the matter of Baron Fontaine. ”

Reilly smiled and said, "Originally, I thought that Baron Fontaine had cheated Count Canglu. However, judging from the current situation, the Duke of Glasburg was also shot. ”

Richard also smiled: "In addition, the friends of the Blue Water Oasis are more reliable than expected. Tiffman sent me three hundred orc warriors and fifty barbarian warriors, Bilier provided the metal we needed, and Amman came up with a contract for mercenary combat. ”

"What kind of contract?" asked Reilly, curious.

"If we can help Luofu defeat the enemies near the Blue Water Oasis, we can get a seat on the Oasis Council. The first target was Michela the scorpion, which had more than 500 warriors, and Amman offered a purchase price of twenty gold coins for each head of this faction, and Michela's own head could be exchanged for an additional ten magic crystals. ”

"I like it!"