A gray horse and a brown horse arrived at the southern border at the same time. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info several knights wearing scorpion badges greet those returning from the imperial capital.

After two months, the city of Paliwa has been completely renewed. Odin and Rose walked through the streets of Paliva, the sanctuary was empty, the Inquisition was no longer filled with terrible cries, children were shooting rakes in Place Saint-Louis-Zette, statues of the god Osiris and his saints were gone, and the greystone floor was clean and tidy, no longer covered with corpses.

There are few pedestrians on the road, shops are sparse, and no one dares to do business here except in the deep valley. Extravagant brocades and handicrafts were apparently not needed, and the sporadic storefronts were blacksmiths, grain stores, and taverns.

They found that most of the inhabitants had moved from the outskirts of the city to the vicinity of the Poppy Theater, where the nobles once lived, where the Larsen vassals had built their mansions, and now they had all betrayed their lords and fled back to their own realms, swearing allegiance to others. Carter Larson lets the Freedmen move in.

Without the nobility, there was no longer a need for slaves, and the barbarians, the poor who had been sold for debt, the captive Nanfeng, and the non-sunset people were freed, enjoying the same rights as the freedmen, and the only requirement was military service to fend off the approaching imperial army.

The Imperial borders were tightly sealed, and Paliva was the only gap. Carter negotiated with Duke Hall to sell weapons to barbarians, and bought blood crystals and minerals from the wasteland. At the same time, he also found two abandoned iron mines in Luling and sent 500 men to mine them to ensure that the army was well paid.

Odin and Rose rode to the schoolyard and saw warriors wearing scorpion insignia standing in a dense clearing, which looked like there were more than a thousand people—meaning that the entire city-state's sturdy population had sworn allegiance to the lord.

"Your nephew, what a natural leader. Odin said involuntarily.

"I didn't have much contact with him, but I remember what he was like when he was a kid. When I came back from seminary, I saw him alone in the courtyard waving the myeloid worms that the sea had sprinkled on him. The staff was too heavy for a child, but he stood there and swung it for an afternoon, and several times almost fell to the ground. ”

"Later, I told him a spell that was too difficult for him, and he couldn't even speak the ancient imperial Chinese at that time. Little Carter couldn't get the hang of it at first, so he practiced in the yard for two all-nighters until a wick-high flame was released. ”

Ross couldn't help but laugh when he recalled the past, and he couldn't figure out how that stubborn little boy had become the commander of a city-state. How did the peaceful life of the past become a battlefield of iron and blood in the blink of an eye.

The warriors were practicing the skills of assassination and fighting in groups of three or five, and most of them were thinner than ordinary soldiers, and their movements were a little clumsy, after all, they were not as good as regular soldiers who had been fighting for many years, and they might not even be as good as mercenaries. But they knew that they had to fight for their own life and death, and they did not dare to slack off.

The knights loyal to Larsen had already told their lord the news of their return, when Carter hurried from the mansion and finally saw the warlock who had led him to the battle, and his bastard uncle, whom he had not seen for a long time.

However, Carter did not enthusiastically reminisce about the past, but frowned and looked solemn. He seemed to have recovered a lot from the disaster, but his face was still as white as paper, and one hand was somewhat nervously gripping the saber at his waist.

"I hope you can bring back some good news from the imperial capital. His gray-green eyes looked at Odin, deep and determined.

"The good news is - your uncle told me that the Empire will muster eight thousand troops to march against Paliva, and the Sanctuary will send two hundred men to follow. Odin said with a smile.

Carter Larson's hand holding the saber trembled slightly: "I should have known. ”

Then he whispered, "I should have known." ”

"They thought that by following me, they would have a better life than before. Now I'm dragging them into the abyss. All this is just for my selfish desire for revenge. Carter looked at the soldiers on the school grounds, his eyes cold, and he stopped talking.

"You've got to be kind to me, Rose, your nephew is good at everything, it's just too easy to go to extremes. He never thought we would win. Odin quipped to Rose, "You are related by blood, your family likes to go to extremes." ”

The archmage looked at Carter, who had not been in close contact with this nephew for almost twenty years. But the young man gave him an inexplicable familiarity, and looking at him reminded one of Haysa—while Carter Larson was more gloomy and Haysa was more like a bright ray of sunshine, they both had the same essence.

"Mr. Odin has done a lot of work in the imperial capital, and now the royal family is scattered, and the major families of the Imperial Council are ready to move, and they have no intention of fighting. Of the 8,000 troops, only 2,000 were loyal royal guards, and the rest were family knights who responded to the call, and even mercenaries. It's a big but bloated team. ”

Rose said to Carter Larson in a gentle tone.

"Even the weakest tiger can win against a strong cat. Carter was unconcerned about the dispute over the imperial capital.

"This gentleman also promised to teach all people spells. Ross continued to argue.

"Sounds like a joke. Did he use his theories of magic to confuse you?" "Although Carter has witnessed the miracles of Odin, it is no different to let civilians learn spells at this time.

Odin broke the argument between the two: "There is still a month before the Imperial army arrives in Paliva, and I will fulfill my promise." What's more important now is - Lord Larson, before leaving the Imperial Capital, I instructed you to repair the circle according to the manuscript, has this work been completed?"

Carter turned and looked directly at Odin: "Of course, sir, this work is not easy at all. It took almost a month to gather the raw materials, and during this time, I was constantly worried about the surprise attack of the Imperial Army. ”

"I asked a hundred mages from the deep valley to copy and dictate all the drawings to make sure they knew the patterns by heart. At the same time, we also made a small circle of circles to scale to ensure that they were accurate. Restoration work began at the end. ”

"We measured the city accurately, which took a lot of effort and could only estimate the length based on the buildings and the remnants of the circle. Then, each etched line ensures width and depth. ”

"In order to ensure the temperature at which Mithril melts, and that the Ugin powder is not contaminated, each mage can only complete repairs within about ten steps per day. They were doing this for a whole month, and the time was tight, but it was done. ”

Odin smiled, "I didn't expect Lord Larson to be so cautious. If you can go higher in the future, you will definitely be a very good ruler. Now, let's take a look at the results of our work. ”