In human history, from the early days of the empire to about 300 years after the new calendar, there was a golden age of knights.

At that time, the black magic had not been completely improved, and the old magic system was simply not enough to assist the empire in conquering other countries, and the main force of the empire at that time was still knights.

At that time, knights, regardless of status, were undoubtedly higher than now, and the test of becoming a knight was more demanding, and every glorious knight had to learn how to become a knight step by step, starting from the servants of other famous knights, or their followers.

At that time, to become a glorious knight, there were three steps, first, when a child was seven or eight years old, his father would send him to the home of a famous knight, become the knight's boy, be familiar with and take care of the master's daily life, and also undertake all kinds of chores, of course, on the other hand, he could learn some chivalric etiquette and cultural knowledge from the knight's surroundings, as well as skills such as singing, musical instruments, etc.

When the child grows up to about fourteen years old, he will become the master's servant, that is, the attendant guard, and can also be seen as a knight in preparation, at this time, he begins to come into contact with knightly skills, such as horsemanship, swimming, spear throwing, swordsmanship, hunting, chanting, and chess, and these are the knights of that era must master, they call them the seven knightly skills, some are used for marching and fighting, and some are used to please the female surname.

It was only when the child was about twenty years old that he was freed from the status of a 'servant' and canonized as a qualified knight.

In the days of knights, before the rise of magicians, every knight was a knight of the empire, they enjoyed the rights of nobility, directly obeyed the lord, even the king, and they were the backbone of the war.

With the development of history, the magicians of Sassen gradually improved the black magic, although some of the magic power was weakened, but relatively, these magicians were also easier to be mastered by ordinary people, so the proud and glorious knights gradually withdrew from the stage of history and were replaced by magicians.

And when King Sassen XI, that is, the previous emperor of the empire, took power, he added the crown that was originally crowned to the knight to the magician, once again improving the status of the magician, and the knights who were in the past were gradually declining, even if the royal knight legion was the same as always, it was difficult to change the relatively weak phenomenon of knights compared to magicians.

Compared to the beginning, today's nobles will never send their women to other knights' homes, not even the Imperial Royal Knight Academy, and the nobles would prefer their children to become excellent magicians than knights, which is why the Reox Academy is so famous.

Of course, not everyone will choose to become a magician, far from it, at least Galik's Earl Lord Avery Ogier was born in the Royal Knight Academy of the Empire, enrolled at the age of eight, became a trainee knight at the age of fourteen and graduated, was sent to his family's territory Galic to learn combat skills, at the age of twenty-two he was canonized by King Sassen XI and became a knight, and at the age of twenty-eight took over the position of Lord of Garric, so far, the Ogier family has taken over as Lord Garic for more than two hundred years, and is a rare veteran knight family nobleman in the Empire.

Just as the magician looks down on the knight, the knight also despises the magician, they don't think that those magicians who are weak have extraordinary strength, after all, in a one-on-one battle, the magician is indeed slightly weaker, after all, the average magician is relatively weak in physical resistance, and cannot deal with knights with high defense equipment, but when the large army fights, a knight can embody a role that is obviously much weaker than a magician.

Therefore, in the nearly two hundred years of warfare of the Empire, knights were mostly used to capture city fortresses, while mages were used to attack the main enemy army, but there were exceptions, at least in the war between Galik and the barbarians, the power of magicians was never used, and even Galik had a branch of the Imperial Magic Society.

Count Gallic Avery Ogier not only distrusts magic, but also has a feeling of almost disgust, after all, it is the magician who has ruined the brilliance of the knight, so the Gallic Magic Guild branch can only convey the current situation to the Empire, or fight for the Galic army, and do nothing else.

The reason why the mage reserve of the Garik Magic Association branch is weak is because some mages are unwilling to come to this place and be buried.

But it has to be said that even without the help of magicians, Garik's army is still a powerful military force in the top three regions of the empire, and it is on a par with the Artak soldiers who live in harsh environments, and has repelled the barbarian raids countless times.

Compared to the Artak soldiers, the Garik soldiers are the most disciplined warriors in the Empire, they will strictly carry out the orders given by their superiors, even if their superiors are just a straw bale, and this, Artak's soldiers can't do it, the unruly Artaks only obey the orders of the strong!

Now at the head of this army is Count Avery Ogier, an old knight who has been promoted to marquis several times and demoted to the rank of earl because of his disagreement with the nobles of the Imperial City of Sasson.

Maybe the knight is really in decline, at least Jiang Zhe has never heard of this Garrick Lord in the Reox Academy, he has only heard of so-and-so magician, so-and-so great magician, of course, what he heard from Scott does not count, after all, that lord is his grandfather.

When he first met this lord, Jiang Zhe didn't notice anything, on the contrary, he also felt that this old man was not as old-fashioned and stubborn as Scott said, but just a meal, he changed his mind...... "Please take a seat, children!"

Jiang Zhe was sure that this sentence came from the mouth of Lord Garric, that is, Scott's grandfather, but when he and the others sat down, he suddenly felt that the atmosphere in the room was a little wrong.

In fact, it was not only he who felt that something was wrong, but also several of the children, because the old earl was looking at them with a slight frown.

"Ahem!" Scott coughed softly, drawing the attention of several of his companions.

Looking at his straight seat, the children looked at the old earl again, and then quietly straightened up their bent backs.

"Hmm!" said the old earl, who smiled slightly, crossed his fingers and propped himself on the long table, looked at the children and nodded, "You are Scott's friends, right? He didn't tell me, how did you meet?"

"We're from one academy!" said the outspoken Lisa with a grin, "and Mr. Connell is a friend of Ivey and South, and of course a friend of ours!"

"Oh, are you an academy - is that Ryo's Academy?"

In Scott's wry smile that was powerlessly covering his forehead, Lisa said seriously, "It's Rioks, Heliryox Academy of Magic!"

"Oh, the Academy of Magic, ......" The old earl nodded slightly, Jiang Zhe could see that the old earl's interest had obviously decreased a lot, and after glancing at a few children, the old earl said lightly, "How many of you...... Are they all magicians?"

"Not yet," Lisa said, shaking her head, sticking out her tongue, "we're just a magician's apprentice now!"

Perhaps it was Lisa's cute appearance that aroused the old earl's favor, but he smiled and said, "I've seen magicians too, well, that was a few years ago, there was a magician who could use fire and one of my subordinates had a conflict, and finally they decided to end the quarrel in a duel, and the result was ...... Hahaha, the result was immediately decided, and for my subordinate in hard armor, that magician fireball technique had no effect...... Alas, if you're on the battlefield, will the enemy give you time to say a spell?"

"That magician is too weak!" Seemingly not noticing Scott's frequent gestures, Lisa said unconvinced, "The fireball technique is only low-level magic, if it is high-level magic, it must be won by the magician...... Soth uses fireballs, and he can cast dozens of fireballs at the same time!"

"Dozens of fireballs?" asked the old earl, stunned, "who is Soth?"

"He's it!" In Scott's weak expression, Lisa pointed at Jiang Zhe and said, "I heard that the high-level fireball technique can penetrate hard armor!"

"Oh, is it?" the old earl looked at Jiang Zhe with surprise.

Under Scott's vigorous shaking of his head, Jiang Zhe said dryly, "Piercing the steel armor, this can't be done......" What he said was indeed the truth, but it was obvious that one thing was concealed: although the high-temperature flame could not penetrate the steel armor, it was relatively easy to kill the knight wearing the steel armor, after all, the knight wearing the steel armor and moving slowly was simply a target in front of the fire magician, if the knight did not take off the armor on his body, then he would either be killed by the magician or burned to death by the armor on his body, and there would be no accidents.

"Can't you?" asked Lisa, looking at Jiang Zhe curiously.

Jiang Zhe shook his head with a wry smile and said, "Can't!"

"Haha, I'll just say I can't!" the old earl smiled heartily, and nodded to the butler Old Blake, who was standing not far behind him, and asked him to bring the dinner that had been prepared, while Scott secretly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

In a few moments, Hu Cong served dinner, which was simple, but also very rich, with broth, hare meat, salted pork, roast pigeons, and some chickens and ducks, plus vegetables, bread, cheese, dessert, and as for the liquor, it was dispensed with, but Connell was served a separate red wine, after all, the children were still adults.

"Wow!" Alan snorted, he hadn't had such a sumptuous dinner in a long time, and just as he rubbed his hands to destroy the food in front of him, Scott coughed beside him.

Looking up inexplicably, Alan was stunned to see several people walking out of each carrying a copper basin.

"What is this?" Alan was a little stunned, and as soon as he finished speaking, he saw Scott stand up and wash his hands in a copper basin - it turned out that the copper basin contained water to clean his hands.

Oh my God, don't bother, do you......? Glancing at the servant in front of him with a wry smile, Jiang Zhe reluctantly washed his hands in the copper basin, somehow, he had a very strange feeling.

After cleaning his hands, he picked up a towel and wiped his hands, and the old earl sat up straight in his chair again, and said with a smile, "Please!"

Looking at Jiang Zhe and then at Scott, Alan swallowed his saliva and said in a low voice, "You can eat it now, right?"

Like him, the children looked at Scott and were secretly relieved to see him grab a knife and fork and put a piece of food in his mouth.

Carefully putting a small piece of food into his mouth, just chewing it, Allen's eyes lit up, and he said indistinctly, "Well, this is good......" Before he could finish speaking, another cough came from beside him.

Oh my God, is this still eating?

"Ahem!"

The chewing sound was too loud...... "Ahem!"

The grinding of the knife and fork was too loud...... "Ahem!"

The spoon for the soup was used incorrectly...... "Ahem!"

After eating meat, I forgot to wipe my mouth with a napkin...... "Ahem!"

...... Looking at Scott's helpless and innocent eyes, Jiang Zhe felt an indescribable powerlessness.

In fact, he doesn't blame him, after all, he doesn't have similar experience, except for him, Alan naturally doesn't have to say, even a few girls have made a few mistakes, even Dia, except for ...... Lavia!

Jiang Zhe can't remember how many times he was surprised and surprised by this girl from Althak, when he usually saw her, she didn't pay attention to dressing up like ordinary girls, she often wore the gray magic robe issued by Reox like him, and her surname was not as gentle as ordinary girls, but more tenacious and strong like boys, with a strong sense of justice and a strong tone of voice. Not weak strength, as well as meticulous learning attitude, is simply on the opposite side of Jiang Zhe, after all, Jiang Zhe is a guy who has no pursuit, no ideals, and no revenge...... But this time, watching her skillfully cut the food with a knife and fork and put it in her mouth, and then picked up the towel on the side and wiped her mouth, that elegant movement couldn't help but make Jiang Zhe have a little illusion...... It turned out that she was still a girl after all...... As if noticing the staring gaze from the boy next to her, Lavia's face flushed slightly, and she lowered her head and whispered, "What...... What's wrong?"

Jiang Zhe shrugged his shoulders and said in a low voice, "No, you continue!"

"Ji ......" Diya, who felt a little inexplicable, glanced at Jiang Zhe, and saw that he was looking straight at him, and suddenly felt a little nervous in his heart, and knocked over the cup full of juice carelessly, so Scott's cough sounded again...... Just when everyone, including the old earl, turned their eyes to Lavia, they saw that she picked up a towel and wiped the table without panic, and then turned to the servant standing by the wall and said politely, "Can you give me another clean towel?"

"Hmm?" Looking at Lavia's calm and polite expression and movements, the old earl was slightly surprised, and nodded approvingly, but he didn't see it, after taking the towel handed by Hu Cong and wiping his hands, Lavia glared at Jiang Zhe fiercely.

"Bastard!"

Jiang Zhe pouted speechlessly.

In this way, a depressing dinner was over, although the dishes were very sumptuous, but in the end Jiang Zhe still couldn't eat enough, I think the others were at most half-full, except for Lavia and Connell, of course.

Lavia aside, Connell ate on his own no matter how much Scott coughed, and tore the food with his hands a few times in the middle, after all, in his time, he never used a knife and fork to eat.

Scott was also a little helpless about him, but he didn't care, after all, he was not familiar with Connell, and all he cared about was his grandfather's opinion of his friends.

"Whew!" After drinking the last drop of red wine in the bottle, Connell looked vulgar and burped, then looked at the old earl and said seriously, "Thank you for your hospitality, I want to ask you a question!"

Glancing at Connell, the old earl quietly removed the utensils that served the food one by one, then nodded and said, "You can ask, Mr. Connell!"

"Thank you," Connell took a deep breath and said coldly, "Earl, do you know a city called Waldrobe?"

"Waldrobe?" the old earl was slightly stunned, glanced at Connell, frowned, and said, "You mean the territory of Galik?"

"Yes - maybe not in Garrick, but certainly in the Northeast!"

"This ......," said the old earl, frowning and thinking for a moment, "I'm sure there is no city in Galik called Waldrob!"

"Yes......" the werewolf sighed in disappointment.

"Wait," the old count recalled, as if remembering something, under the disappointed gaze of the werewolf, "I think I've heard this name somewhere...... Wodrobe Wodrob ...... Hmm, you're not talking about Alder, are you?"

"What do you mean?" asked the werewolf with a frown.

"If I remember correctly, Waldrobe was called hundreds of years ago, the domain of a count named Vlad at that time......"

"Vlad?" said the werewolf's light gray eyes with a hint of excitement, grinding his teeth, "yes! yes! it's that guy's territory! Do you know where it is?"

Frowning and glancing at Connell, the old earl said in a deep voice, "The count named Vlad did not have a good reputation, and he erected many enemies in the chaos of the time, and after his death, several surrounding lords jointly captured his territory and burned down his castle, and hundreds of years later, the empire unified this place...... If there is no error in the account, then Waldrum should now be called Alder......"

"Alder?" the werewolf was slightly stunned, then his eyes flashed a few red lights, and he whispered, "Then you know what, Waldrobe...... No, where is Alder?"

Glancing deeply at the werewolf, the old earl said suspiciously, "If my guess is right, there is only a ruin there, well, and a cemetery...... Where are you going to do something?"

"I just wanted to see ......"

"Really?" said the old earl, glancing at Connell, "but your eyes don't say so, young man, and your eyes are full of hatred!"

With intense excitement, Connell said in a deep voice, "Tell me where Alder is!"

Blowing his beard, the old earl said solemnly, "Are you threatening me, young man! I don't ask for anything, but at least you should be careful about your tone, humility is a virtue, young man!"

Seeing that Connell's expression was getting more and more excited, Lavia stood up and whispered, "Let!"

Glancing at Lavia, Connell took a deep breath, calmed the anger in his heart, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Earl, please tell me where Alder is!"

Looking deeply at Connell, looking at the sincerity and apology in his eyes, the old earl nodded, pointed to the southeast, and said, "From Alicock to this southeast, about a hundred miles, there is a large area of ruins of the old castle...... I'm curious, young man, I don't understand why you went to that place, and the hatred and anger in your eyes, believe me, it's been uninhabited for a long time, nothing - except a large area of ruins and cemeteries!"

"I have a reason to go!" Nodding to the old count, Connell whispered, "Thank you!" he said, glancing at Lavia, and turned to walk in the direction of the door.

"Jean!" Lavia called out softly.

"What a reckless young man," the old earl shook his head, looking at Connell's back, and then as if thinking of something, he turned to Lavia and said, "You just ...... Call him Jean? Is that his name?"

"Yes, Count," nodded Lavia politely, "his name is Jean Connell, and he is my friend with Thos!"

Glancing at Jiang Zhe who was sitting on the side, the old earl nodded and said suspiciously, "Is that young man's name Jean Connell......?" I don't think I've heard this name somewhere......"

"Listen...... "Listen" was slightly taken aback, and Lavia whispered, "No, it's just a very common name......

"Hehe!" the old earl smiled, then glanced at the family crest on Lavia's chest, and said with a smile, "Maybe, by the way, how is the Archduke of Fahualia in recent health?"

"Huh?" said Lavia, looking at the old earl, in surprise, "you...... Do you know my grandfather?"

"Hehe, how can I not know each other? At the Royal Knight Academy, we were in the same room, and when he graduated, he returned to Artak, and I returned to Garik, and I haven't seen each other since...... There was correspondence before, but the barbarians in the north were not very restless, so they gradually forgot about it...... He's okay?"

"Hmm!" Lavia nodded, "Grandfather hunted a Men snow wolf two years ago!"

"Men snow wolf?" the old earl was slightly moved, a little unconvinced hum, then nodded and said, "I used to have a necklace made of Lords snow wolf wolf wolf teeth, but my unfilial son ...... Ahem!" he said, glancing at Lavia, recalling her calmness when she had stumbled over the cup just now, and nodded approvingly.

"Master!" At this time, old Blake walked over, pointed to the pocket watch in his hand and said, "It's time, you should deal with military affairs!"

"Hmm!" nodded, and the old earl turned to Scott and said, "Scott, tonight's etiquette class will be canceled for the time being, and you can talk to your friends, eh...... Well, I'll give you a day off tomorrow, and I'll let you know a few mentors!"

"Really?" said Scott, looking at the old Earl in disbelief.

"Do you need to ask - when did I go back on what I said? But you have to make up for the missing lessons in a week!"

In Allen's snicker, Scott nodded helplessly, "Yes......"

"Huh?" the old earl frowned at Scott's feeble reply.

Subconsciously, Scott straightened up and said, "Yes, grandfather!"

"Well, go -- Blake, get a room for these kids!"

"Yes, master!"

(To be continued)