Lildra walked past the pile of dead men, the once mighty knight crushed under his horse, the blood long since dried near the massive wound, the helmet tossed aside, and his empty eyes staring into the distance without focus.

The baron sniffled, and he swallowed the unknown vomit with all his might. Annaba's troops had laid down their weapons, and they crouched on the ground, numbly watching the soldiers walking around them.

It was not yet afternoon, but the atmosphere of slaughter on the battlefield had not yet subsided. A Santiago knight stood by the corpse of his companion and sang softly in an Iberian ditty.

"Five knights were killed, eight were wounded, and the extent of the injuries is hard to say. Angus Gale's voice came. He was accompanied by the Count of Annaba and his daughter.

"Earl of Annaba, General Cecil. The baron muttered, looking up at the giant, who was much taller than him, and was in no mood to say what he wanted to say.

"Pay your ransom, or I will hang you. Ignoring the bound bear, and whether he could understand it or not, the baron walked straight to the side of the dead knight and fell down on one knee.

Just to be closer to them.

Their names are unknown, their country has not yet been recovered, their exploits are buried in a distant foreign land, and their lives are scattered with the strange breeze of Bamholm.

Lildra trembled and reached out to the face of a knight, what was the young knight's name? It seemed to be Gabriella?, the baron thought ashamedly.

He used to be just an ordinary historical researcher, accustomed to a boring research life, had seen the rise and fall of history, and had seen enough of the joys, sorrows, and sorrows in the red dust, but now he stood in front of the Spanish knight who died because of him, crying silently.

This Santiago knight named Gabriela just lay there quietly, and he died in the flails of the enemy.

His companions stood in silence, there were no priests, no churches, and no deathbed masses.

Baroness Bernice looked at the age lord who was crying with her head in her arms, and her condolences to her knights made her empathize.

"This is war. Angus Gale lifted up his master, "The only regret is that there is no priest." ”

"Why are you able to accept death with all ease?" said the baron, in a low tone, letting tears roll down his cheeks.

The knight was stunned for a moment, then laughed, he glanced at the Santiago knight standing not far away, and said word by word in Spanish:

"Because you are God's spokesman, because you are the Lord's favor, we lived for you and died for you, and we will fight side by side with you to create a kingdom of heaven on earth!"

He repeated it softly in English, then knelt down on one knee, as did the unarmoured Santiago knights, their swords in the ground in front of them, a voice echoing at King's Landing's feet

"Knights of Castile, live for you, die for you!"

The news of the defeat of the Earl of Annaba soon spread, and the nobles talked about it.

The wealthy families of the royal capital have lost their former majestic status, and they just let the Annabas solve the problem on their own.

The county of Annaba is in shambles. The enemies who defeated the count offered a ransom, and as long as the captured noble families from the count to the knights began to raise gold coins.

Of the fifty knights, only eighteen survived.

The old viscount, who was temporarily in charge of the county, did not have the courage to go to war again, and as long as Lord Cecil returned to the territory, what could he do without the Pena Valley?

The ownership of the valley has become another question.

Its old owner, Duke Anthony, is terminally ill, and the family is in danger of civil strife. The army of the new master, Annaba, was more than capable of defending itself, and it was only a matter of time before the Pena Valley was abandoned.

The eyes of many lords were set on this place.

They tried to send messengers to observe the reality of the mysterious castle.

Everyone paid great attention to this mysterious lord who called himself Baron Rildra.

The Baron also knew that the Pena Valley was going to be a new problem for him in the near future.

Ransoms from the nobles began to arrive, and he began to recruit mercenaries and expand his manpower.

Starting with a blacksmith from a nearby town who had been heavily hired to forge leather armor and a crossbow, King's Landing did its best to treat the ownerless Pena Valley with kindness.

The soldiers from the castle pushed several carts of grain and gave them to the peasants and townspeople free of charge, demanding only a paltry oath of allegiance. The soldiers of the Pena Valley, who had been captured before, were given money and released except for those who voluntarily stayed. Most of the soldiers from the Counts of Annaba were used as laborers, and only a small percentage of the selected soldiers joined the castle.

The cavalry of several castles walked through the early morning dew to a nameless village.

The chief of the village greeted him respectfully, and one of them, a soldier from the Pena Valley, left a word and hurried away.

"The castle recruits soldiers, food and lodging are all-inclusive, and the salary is distributed according to different combat effectiveness, at least ten silver coins a month!"

Ten silver coins? Father, isn't there more than one gold coin a year? As a farmer, I worked hard to get half a gold coin in a year's farming.

Many young people with active minds began to think about it, and some middle-aged men who had fought in the war looked at the noisy children and empty kitchens in their homes, sighed, and took out weapons and armor from the boxes from many years ago.

Near the castle began to gather a number of people, armed with swords, axes, and even dung forks, dressed in rudimentary clothes, and gazing with awe into the tall walls.

"There are about 100 people selected in the past few days, and a few of them are veterans or mercenaries with excellent strength. Angus Gale was sweating profusely, and he was tired from selecting soldiers in the past few days, "With the prisoners we have recruited before, we can add four hundred new soldiers." ”

"Weapons and equipment were supplied to the Danes and experienced local veterans as much as possible, and a few days later another batch of equipment arrived. The black market here is so dark!" the baron grumbled.

"That's right, Your Excellency. The emissary from the Earl of Annaba has been held in custody for two days, what are we going to do with it?"

"Keep locked up and take me to Cecil and the baroness. ”

When confronted by the Baron again, Bernice could still feel a sense of intimidation. The handsome man in front of him defeated her and her father.

Butler Frederick stood by with a smile on his face, looking at them.

"The messenger from Annaba has been held by me for two days. The baron's voice echoed through the room. After listening to the translation, Bernice raised her eyebrows, and was about to stand up and angrily scold this guy who had no aristocratic demeanor.

Her father stopped her: "What conditions do you have?"

The Earl of Annaba faced all this with great poise, and he had to endure it himself as a vanquished.

The baron did not speak, he handed the count a list.

The Count glanced at him a few times and replied with a sneer: "Your Excellency, you are too greedy, you do not have the strength to make such a blackmail against the Latin family. ”

Still smiling, Lildra pointed out the window and stepped out of the way.

The Count and Bernice walked over, and the face of the bear of Annaba became solemn, half-elf?

"You will become the public enemy of all mankind!" the Count gritted his teeth and glared at the nonchalant Lord Baron.