"Great-grandfather, is there a lot of fun in Darkhawk City? Is it prettier than Twilight?" A childish voice came from behind Count Nilo, and a little girl stood up, stepped on the broad back of the horse, put her hands on Count Nilo's shoulders, and glanced ahead, but could not see anything, so she exclaimed, "Great-grandfather, you are lying, where is it almost here, there is obviously nothing ahead!"

Hearing this, Count Nilo smiled, his face was amiable, he turned his head to meet his great-granddaughter's big watery eyes and fair little face, and when he saw his cheeks puffing up slightly, he said gently, "Gianna, I didn't lie to you, I will definitely be able to go to Dark Eagle City today."

Gianna had short blond hair, with a few beautiful hairpins like little swans, innocent and cute, with a slightly sideways face, and said suspiciously, "Really?"

"Of course, if I'm lying, you can make any request and I'll do my best to accommodate you!" Count Nilo smiled kindly and gently stroked Gianna's blonde hair on the side of her face.

"Wow, great-grandfather is amazing!" Gianna jumped on horseback and cheered loudly, "Hee-hee, I want to see the orc circus!" I've seen a lot of circus descriptions in storybooks, it's wonderful, but I haven't seen it once, didn't you say that there are orcs in Dark Eagle City? Take me to see it!"

Nilo held Gianna's waist to prevent her from falling, but when she heard this request, there was a touch of helplessness on her face, and she said, "I'm afraid I can't guarantee that this request will be fulfilled, after all, it's not Twilight City, how can you fulfill your wish, the orcs there don't belong to us, how can you be willing to perform acrobatics for you obediently."

"Huh?" Gianna held a long tail note, her little face drooped, and she dragged a piece of light armor on Nilo's shoulder, and said, "Then what should I do, how can I see the orcs perform, great-grandfather, you must have a way, right?"

Count Nilo shook his head and sighed, then raised his head after a moment, squinted and smiled, "Hehe, way... Yes, but hope may be in you."

"What do you mean?" Gianna tilted her head, her little face confused, confused.

Count Nilo fell silent suddenly, his smiling face turned forward, and the smile slowly faded and regained his composure.

His voice drifted behind him: "The first requirement is that you should be quiet and not jumping around. Just like your third grandmother, Jolia, quietly."

......

Four hours later, Count Nilo led the team to Darkhawk City, followed the road signs, and soon reached Grimm Manor.

At the gate of Green Manor, Sveta was taking a leisurely walk, but he did not expect to meet the visit of Count Nilo, who almost as soon as he met, he enthusiastically turned over and dismounted, and with enthusiasm rarely seen in the southwest frontier for decades, he walked forward quickly:

"Steward Svetta, it's been a long time, but your complexion is as good as ever, and you are still so energetic."

Svetta, who was a little insomniac, put down the small red kettle that was watering, and responded politely: "It's Count Nilo, it's been a long time, you are going to visit the lord today?"

"That's right, I do have something to discuss with Marquis Ret." Count Nilo's smile remained unchanged, he pointed to the carriage behind him, and said, "This is a gift from the Marquis of Reiter on behalf of the Brynes family.

"It's a small thing."

In the face of Count Nilo's warm greetings, kind words, and boxes of gifts in the back carriage, Sveta felt a sigh of emotion in his heart.

Once upon a time, his lord was just a small baron nobleman, and Count Nilo was an absolute big man to the Green family, and even the lord used to face it with respect. But feng shui takes turns, and today, everything is reversed. As the steward of Green Manor, he felt this very deeply.

When he came back to his senses, he took out the attitude that a marquis butler should have, smiled faintly, but did not lose his manners, and said to the knight behind him, "Kaz, you go to the training ground to find a few servant knights, and let them transport these goods to the warehouse!"

"Understood, Steward Sveta!" With that, the knight hurried towards the training ground.

"Count Nilo come in with me first, he is in the castle, and I will go up and report." Sveta said

He turned around and quickened his pace towards Darkrock Castle.

"Thank you!"

When Count Nilo followed, there was a chaotic sound of footsteps around him, and Sveta turned his head and frowned slightly: "It's best not to walk around with so many people in Green Manor, especially in the back garden, but on these two empty lawns, you can move around at will." As he spoke, he pointed to the empty lawns on either side of the stone path.

"These are the most basic rules, I know it!" Count Nilo smiled, then picked up Gianna and said, "This is my great-granddaughter, it should be no problem to accompany me into Darkrock Castle, right?"

"It's okay, please come with me."

Gianna, who was held in Nilo's arms, looked left and right, although she didn't make a sound, her bright eyes were full of curiosity about this strange place.

The two entered the Darkrock Castle, where Sveta instructed the servants to entertain the guests, and then stepped on the stairs to report up. But at the corner of the third floor, he happened to see Leitt who was going downstairs, and he was stunned for a moment, and kept his posture ready to tell the old man about the visit of Count Nilo.

Krett interrupted him, stretched out a hand, and said, "I can see it all, Count Nilo is down there, Sveta, your complexion doesn't look good, go and rest first."

"My lord's eyes are like torches, I did lose sleep last night." Sveta said as he stroked his chest.

"Take care of yourself and let me know if you feel unwell." Rett patted Sveta on the shoulder and walked over him down the stairs.

Wow

Hearing the slight sound of going downstairs, Count Nilo stood up straight, stepped on the red blanket and walked quickly, greeted the mature and steady figure, and said in a higher voice: "Marquis Leith, long time no see, the news of your promotion to Marquis is good news to the entire southwest border, I have been waiting for your promotion banquet, ready to say hello to you in person. But I haven't waited for a long time, but I'm excited to send it to you, so I'm here today."

Looking at Nilo, who took the initiative to spread his arms, Leiter hugged him gently, with a standard smile on the corner of his mouth: "Thank you for the compliment, who is the little girl next to you?"

"Bony's granddaughter, and my great-granddaughter, Gianna. You know, the last time Bony returned to the canyon defense line and was seriously injured, it was always a blow to him, and he came back devastated and didn't have much to look after the future generations. As a last resort, I took her out for a long time on this outing."

"I see." Rett walked to the table, sat down and beckoned to Count Nilo: "Please sit down, Bony's experience is really sympathetic, I hope he can come out of the shadows as soon as possible."

"Ugh." Nilo sighed and took a sip of his tea.

Then, the two exchanged pleasantries for a while, tasting a few pieces of dessert, during which Gianna sat in a chair, although motionless, but her big dripping eyes kept turning around, and it was obvious that she had a lively and active heart.

Seeing this, Leiter smiled slightly: "Count Nilo, Gianna looks like she can't sit still, and there is no need to tie a small child to a fixed position. It's better to let her go upstairs, Dick and Cazelle are both playing in the room, they shouldn't mind such a cute girl joining, even... It's going to be welcome, don't you think?"

"That's great, I agree with Marquis Reiter!" Count Nilo looked at Gianna, patted her back, and said, "Gianna, there are other friends waiting for you upstairs, go up first, I have other things to discuss with Marquis Ret."

"Got it." Gianna obediently answered, finished the dessert on the plate, and jumped out of her chair.

"Scarlett, you take her to Raylai's room." Leiter said to the maid next to him.

"Yes, my lord!" Scarlett, dressed in a black and white maid outfit, answered and took Gianna's little hand upstairs.

After the two of them left, Reiter took a sip of tea and said softly, "Count Nilo, it seems that your great-granddaughter is not very happy, and it is not good to force children to do things that they are reluctant to do......

"It's nothing, it's just that Gianna has always wanted to see the orcs perform acrobatics, how can I agree to her unreasonable request." Nilo shook his head with a smirk.

He paused, weighed his words, and said, "Actually...... Marquis Reit, come this time

There's an important thing I want to talk to you about."

"Oh? Tell me something." Rett looked at the other and pretended to be surprised.

"I think we can marry between our two families!" Count Nilo said earnestly.

"Marriage? You're not kidding?" Rett raised his voice abruptly, and looked at Nilo with a different color on his face.

Count Nilo also said with a sincere face: "That's right, that's it, you are now the Marquis, you are the strongest force in this land on the southwest border, and our Bryne family has also been operating here for a short time, if we can marry and join forces, it will be of great benefit to each other and to the land of the southwest border."

"Whether it is the combination of capital, or the complementarity of intelligence, force, etc., it is beneficial and harmless to us."

Hearing this, Leiter's eyes deepened, he touched his chin, and said in a deep voice, "Hmm...... Sounds like a good choice, but I'd like to ask if you and the Kim family have been united in the past?"

"Of course not." Count Nilo shook his head: "Marquis Reiter should have heard that the other party planted spies in our family a few years ago, which doomed us to have an irresolvable estrangement. Moreover, this is not the point, more importantly, our two families are at the same level, there is competition in many aspects, open and covert fighting, and the so-called alliance is at most superficial.

After all, the strength of our two sides is comparable, and in essence, neither of us is convinced of the other, but we are jealous of each other's conspiracies behind each other's backs, and it is difficult to really integrate together. It would be nice to be able to live together peacefully without interfering with each other."

"But you are different, Marquis Reit, you are the jewel of this barren land on the southwestern border, destined to shine in this land, which has been neglected by many in the kingdom." Count Nilo's words shifted, his eyes lit up as he said this, and his tone contained a hint of eagerness: "You have infinite potential and strength strong enough to suppress some intrigues in the face of your absolute power. Your armed guarantee is the foundation of true peace, so that everyone will obey your command and achieve a closer union."

Rett looked straight at the other party, paused for a moment, looked at the other party deeply, and said, "Count Nilo's vision is really extraordinary."

"It's your light that shines so brightly that anyone who isn't blind can see it." Count Nilo said modestly.

"Haha, okay, there's no problem with the joint matter, you can discuss it slowly in the future, and leave it to the people below to discuss how to cooperate." Reiter smiled and said, "But about the marriage, I should have stated before, my three sons are all married, so it is difficult to agree."

"No, no, no, Marquis Rett has misunderstood, this time, I want to talk about a family affair for Gianna." Count Nilo hurriedly waved his hand and said, "I have learned in advance that Young Master Tucker has an eldest son who is about the same age as Gianna, and I feel that the two of them are very suitable."

"Dick and Gianna? Well, I'm going to ask Tucker for advice on this." After listening to this, Leiter pondered for a moment and gave a reply.

"No problem!" When Count Nilo heard this, he looked a little pleased, and the other party did not directly refuse, which means that there is a play, and the success rate is quite high. After all, the head of the family has the right to make decisions about everything, and he did not give his attitude of refusal, and the marriage is nine times out of ten.

The two continued to talk for a while, and after a while, the dusty Thales walked in through the gate, he had heard of the visit of Count Nilo when he was in the manor, and he had also seen strange knights outside, so he greeted politely when he came in: "Count Nilo, long time no see!"

"Long time no see." Count Nilo was also quite enthusiastic, and took the initiative to stand up and hug Thales.

"Thales, it looks like you've returned triumphantly, how about this trip to the bandits?"

Rett said with a smile that more than a week ago, he received news that bandits had killed and looted on the southwest border, and many villages and civilians were killed, although it did not happen in his territory, and now as the marquis of the southwest border, he could not sit idly by, so he sent the white hat to take Thales to suppress the bandits.

To be honest, it's a bit overkill, but in order to facilitate Thales to harvest fate points, I still think it is safer to send the sixth-level magister of the white hat.

"Bandits?" Count Nilo was stunned for a moment, and then was a little surprised: "Could it be that the gang of bandits with fourth-level earth knights?" On the way here, I met some of the victims, and I heard that the gang did all kinds of evil, burning, killing, and looting, and they did not spare men, women, and children."

"That's right, it's them, a total of more than twenty bandits, and the leader is indeed a fourth-level earth knight, and they have all been ambushed!"

............