() When I left the Outpost, I became an officer without soldiers, a knight without a servant, a boyar without a banner.

When I returned to the camp, I would have been ridiculed to death, and my departing soldiers would have to expose my shortcomings to Giovanni, and instead of giving them a head start, I decided to meet him as Giovanni had instructed, and then ask for punishment for the departing soldiers.

Of course, I would have thought that Kruzkal was my soldier, but this mercenary said that he was not my soldier until he was paid for the first time, and I couldn't afford to give this Rhodok a single gold coin at all.

"If you follow me, I will give you a good reward." This promise is all I can give him.

"I've heard this promise countless times, and I don't care to hear it a few more times, but don't expect me to believe you. Let's put it this way, I am ready to leave you at any time, I do not shy away from it, although mercenaries are soldiers, but before that, we are also people who have to eat, and without gold, there is no loyalty. ”

"You'll regret that later," I tried to make my tone sound less forceful, but convincing, "I'm lord of the Riverlands, and the retainers of House Lepnin will be loyal to me. ”

Cruzcard said, "Oh? How did I hear that you are a vassal of the Duchy of Valan? How can you claim a Wikirian estate? And as far as I know, that family was poor to death in peacetime, and now it has turned to ashes, so you use this family to attract me? ”

Neither Kruskal nor I had horses, so we had to carry our own saddles on our backs, and some of the tattered that the quartermaster had given me was also hung by us, which made the two of us look like idiots. We walked backwards through the long wagons of Valans and watched as the Valans carried cartloads of equipment and supplies to the camps in the mountains.

All the Valrences along the way were laughing at me, and they had accepted me as one of them in the camp, but it was impossible for them to respect me as they did boyars. The Valans believe in heroes on the battlefield, and I have not once proved it on the battlefield.

"It's complicated," said a fat bald soldier of Varan, laughing as he hung a circle of sausages around my neck. I must have looked ridiculous. The surrounding Varan soldiers burst into laughter, and the bald soldier was busy telling others how he had come up with the idea, and I continued to say to Cruzkal, "but there is no doubt about it. I have de jure sovereignty over that territory. ”

"What is de jure sovereignty?" Cruzkal said in a teasing tone, "You can sleep with the farmer's wife there?" ”

"No, if anyone wants to do that, I'm obligated to castrate this person."

"Then he can sleep his daughter?"

"Not really."

"Then what kind of legal sovereignty is there a?"

I stopped. In the most decent tone I can say, "This right allows me to expel the enemies who occupy this land at any time and by any means." And this right was recognized by the nobility, you know, the Parliament of Vicchia. Burke Council, all of them must respect this right'''"

Cruzcard let out a loud fart and saw me being interrupted, he said, "You go on, I have no intention of interrupting you." ”

I feel like I'm being slighted, because it's not all of the above that I'm trying to say, and those high-sounding reasons are just the beginning. "I don't mean to say. Because with this right, I can take back that land. Rather, it says''''"

"Alright," Kruskal looked uninterested, "whatever you say that the land is not yours. In the end, you still think about where we will stay tonight, where we will get a sum of money, and let me go to my brothers to join you, my boyar. ”

Kruskal's price was fourteen Burks a year, with a commission paid every three months, and if I were to entrust him with recruiting soldiers, he would promise to recruit them for eleven Burks a year. He remembered that in some of the slave markets and taverns of Creel, there were some of his comrades-in-arms, and if I could scrape together a hundred gold coins in two months' time, he would be able to bring them to me, and after that he could not guarantee that the soldiers had not been hired. I've never seen a hundred gold coins, but I'm going to pretend that a hundred gold coins are just a copper plate for me, and I don't feel sorry if I lose them.

"When I find Prince Giovanni," I use Giovanni as my shield, "you can get my money." ”

There was the sound of horses' hooves rumbling behind me, and Cruzkal and I flashed to the side of the road, and a group of Valan cavalry ran past me. One of them saw me and recognized me.

"Is that Victoria?" This Varan cavalryman came from Varankov and was one of the first soldiers to follow Giovanni.

"Yes, my brother."

"Haha, I don't dare to call Giovanni's illegitimate son a brother," who spread this rumor? "I said, there's a girl who has been looking for you in the camp, I guess she's itching!"

"Don't laugh, no woman will look for me."

"Haha, it's that weird woman who wears black all day, and she cured my back sore, so I helped her with a message. She said she had something important to tell you, and she told you to go to Eureka City to find her, and she would be waiting for you there. Did you plant a seed and sprout it, and secretly go there to give birth? ”

It turned out to be Bella, what did she want me to do in Eureka City? What is this Eureka City?

"What is this Eureka City?"

"The Creelian land is rich in jì women and illegitimate children. The former can give you happiness, and the latter is the same kind as you, and you should go and see it. ”

"Get out!" I forgot about my boyar identity and spat on that cavalryman.

The cavalryman smiled and pulled his horse around in a circle, and went after his brothers.

Kruzkal watched the cavalryman go away, "I can't see it, you still have a little lover." ”

"She's at least twenty years old, much older than me, how can she be my lover?"

"Don't give it to me."

We chatted like this, and walked along the main road. After walking on the road for half a day, we finally came across a farm ox cart loaded with hay. Kruzkal immediately stepped forward, jumped into the cart, kicked all the hay off the cart, and loaded all the weapons and equipment on his shoulders. Several red-faced peasants yelled for us to stop, saying that it was the quartermaster's ox cart, and Kruzkal slapped one of them in the face, and then the peasants put the hay on their backs with tears in their eyes, and went hand in hand.

After peacefully requisitioning the ox cart, we threw a bunch of tattered treasures onto the board and drove the ox cart off into the distance.

"Just now you "''We offended the quartermaster.'

"Who cares about him."

"He's got your paycheck."

"No one dares to owe a mercenary's salary." "Otherwise, their leader will give them a head and cut off the heads of those who owe money, and then go to the enemy, right?" Kruzkal said to me.

"Yes." I admitted, "But we have another way to requisition this car." I can tell them that this is what Giovanni meant, and they will listen. ”

"They'll listen, are you sure?"

I was silent for a moment, "Not sure. ”

"Do you have any other way to requisition a car?"

"Nope."

"Lord Boyar, Lord Boyar." This is Kruskal's mantra, and he shakes his head and says it every time I can't speak.

Ox carts passed through the forest, and from time to time there were cavalry, but they were all our own cavalry. On a few other occasions we met supply convoys that were requisitioning food and forage, and I was a little curious about Cruzkal's ox cart, but I didn't dare to ask about them. These supply teams were all temporarily requisitioned from the peasants, and they did not dare to offend the Valan soldiers at will. Most of the members of the supply team came from the surrounding villages, they were a group of idle people, these people had no feelings for their villages, they knew where there was more food, and they were often willing to sell their villages for a small bounty, and Giovanni always knew who to mobilize.

Before nightfall, we caught up with a group of Valan soldiers from behind. These people encountered the Vikyans' forces the other day, and the Vikyans ordered the Valands to help them carry the food, but the Valans naturally refused, so the Vecchian cavalry stepped on the Valans, wounding many soldiers. The Vycians have always had a master-servant attitude towards the Valans, and it is no wonder that alliances have always broken from within, let alone such alliances that have no equality.

"Can you give us a ride?" A Varan soldier on crutches turned back to us and asked.

"The ox cart is so empty, and I don't have two butts, so naturally I can." When the limping soldiers heard this, they sat down on the bullock cart and set aside the poles used as crutches.

"Huh? You two don't look like people from the supply team, how can you have an ox cart? ”

"What's wrong with that?"

"No, ah, I recognize you, you're Victor."

"Yes." I can't remember who this man was, but I guess it was a soldier in the barracks. The number of soldiers was gradually expanding, and the soldiers in these barracks were much more reliable than those of unknown origin, and they were all recruited by Giovanni himself or the people he trusted the most.

I gave food to the Valans, who began to brag about their bravery on the battlefield.

The twilight was desolate, and the falling rì fell behind the cliff, and dark red clouds appeared in the sky.

The Valans sang the song of the Valans in Ivangorod, which I had heard in Ivangorod and could not understand the dialect at the time, but now I could understand the meaning without difficulty.

“

The wind blows in my chest, and a spring flows from my mouth;

It was raining in my hut, and my bed was covered with moss;

There was fire burning in my eyes, and my tongue was spitting out the trees;

My hearth is full of embers, and the blade of my sword is covered with blood scabs;

galloping on a woman, like a horse;

Kill above the fertile fields and let your enemies rot into mud and sand!

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