A light rain fell on Otto and his party, washing everyone's armor and washing away the dust.

In two days, Otto visited all the nobles of the Aargao collar, large and small, but the results were not ideal.

Yes, it is true that Otto is the heir of the county of Allgäu, but because the count himself was in strong health, he did not deliberately cultivate power for him, and Otto has always lived in a simple place, so the nobles of the territory did not have a deep impression of Otto.

The future of the territory is not a difficult choice for the vast majority of the nobles of the territory, whether it is handed over to a hairy boy with no management experience, or a countess who has proven her ability and prestige.

When they didn't know about the conflict between Otto and Lady Kailin, everyone felt that Young Master Otto, who was still a minor, was undoubtedly the right thing to do to learn how to become a qualified lord by Lady Kailin's side.

As for Young Master Otto's desire to manage the territory now, he is a little too impatient. Inexperience means not knowing how to deal with complicated territorial matters, and it also means not being able to balance the interests of the nobles.

For the sake of their own interests, Lady Kaylin managed the territory, which undoubtedly made them more at ease.

Except for Baron Hill, whose two sons became Otto's squires, and the Knight of Monton, who also gave away his eldest son, who expressed their support for Otto, the other nobles, although their tone was ambiguous, but their words were full of distrust of Otto.

Even Baron Hill expressed his support by euphemistically saying that Otto, after gaining the power of the territory, could invite him into the Earl's court and assist Otto in various matters.

It can be seen that even if Baron Hill can only side with Otto because of his son, he still does not trust Otto enough.

Otto's heart was full of helplessness. He had no doubt that if he recruited his attendants a few days later, none of the sons and nephews of these nobles would be sent to him.

In fact, most of Otto's new batch of attendants are from large and small noble families in the territory, after all, they can receive military training, and they can also know the news of Otto's recruitment of attendants for the first time, except for the nobles, there is no one else.

It's just that the status of the other squires is not as good as that of the Gent brothers and Gore, and they are already marginal children in the family, and they can't influence the decisions of the nobles.

Now Otto is facing the problem that the interests of the nobles below are not deeply entangled, and this pot, to a large extent, is to be deducted from the head of Otto's cheap father, Count Allgau.

In fact, as the heir of a high-ranking nobleman, generally speaking, the guards and attendants around him are almost always selected from among the nobles under him, and it is best to be their heir.

In this way, the heirs of both sides grow up together, get acquainted with each other, and even if they can't form a friendship, they will have some affection, and after each inherits the aristocratic status of their fathers, the possibility of unity is high.

In his previous life, Otto's world-selling novel "A Song of Ice and Fire" described a similar scene in detail. For example, Eddard Stark grew up with Lauber Baratheon and Rhaegar the heir to the throne of the Dragon Family, and Theon grew up with the Stark children, etc.

As the Count of Allgäu, although he does not rule much land, he also has a count, and he must follow the game of the nobles.

However, it is not known whether his father wanted to train some of his own team for Otto, or because of his unstable roots in the Allgao collar and wanted to suppress the local aristocracy.

In short, when Otto was a few years old, he chose few of the children of the nobility, but the children of the commoners.

This has the advantage of avoiding Otto's local influence, and the squires and guards are also very loyal, such as Bard, who was about to shed tears because Otto was upset.

But the disadvantage is that Otto, as the heir of the count, has no emotional bond with the nobles below, and for the nobles below, it is completely someone else.

Fortunately, Otto is not young, he is already fifteen years old, and the situation in the Duchy of Swabia as a whole is relatively stable. Otherwise, after the loss of the reign of the Count of Allgau, perhaps the Argäu Lords will be lost from the hands of the Allakhulf family.

But the current situation is not much better for Otto, and it seems that the territory can continue to be held in the hands of the Alakhor family, but whether it can fall into Otto's hands is another matter.

The rain became heavier and heavier, and Otto's vision was somewhat blurred by the rain, and when he saw his castle standing not far away, Otto suddenly reined in the reins of his horse.

"Stop! Don't go back to the Old Castle, let's go to Emma Abbey! ”

The Old Castle is the name of the castle where the Earl's family lived by some villagers, because the castle has not been repaired for many years and looks extremely old and dilapidated, so it is named the Old Castle.

In addition, as the Counts of Allgau, the Arachol family has more than a dozen castles of all sizes in their territory, and in terms of size and maintenance, it is the only place suitable as a residence for the count.

This is also the reason why Otto later wanted to overhaul the Eagle Castle, judging from the current financial situation of the territory, it is almost impossible to renovate the old castle in the short term, thinking that even if he becomes an earl, he still has to live in such a dilapidated castle, Otto naturally can't bear it.

Anyway, you have to repair the Eagle Fort to meet the requirements of the system, why not repair it a little bit, and kill more birds with one stone?

When they went to Emma's Abbey, the group was very confused.

With such a heavy rain, why don't you go back to the castle to take shelter from the rain, go to the monastery, go to the gods and pray that the rain stops?

Even though there were doubts in their hearts, the attendants were obedient and faithfully carried out Otto's orders.

Otto chose to go to Emma's Abbey with the mentality of giving it a try. When I talked to Priest Matthew before, he mentioned that if you feel that the castle is not safe, you can go to Emma Abbey.

At that time, Otto did not understand the meaning, thinking that the priest Matthew had told him to seek refuge in the church. After all, no matter how bold Lady Kaylin was, she would not dare to rashly attack him in the convent, which was a provocation to the Church.

But Otto thought about it carefully, and felt that this was not what Priest Matthew meant, but wanted him to go to Lawrence, the bishop of the region.

After savoring it, Otto threw it to his back. It is one thing to seek the support of a priest of Matthew, who has some prestige in the territory, and quite another to seek the support of a bishop of the region.

The former represents only the individual, while the latter represents the church.

The entanglement of interests and the love-hate relationship between the secular aristocracy and the church can not be explained in three or two sentences. Without the history that Otto knew in advance, his aristocratic status alone naturally made him wary of the Church that wanted to meddle in secular power.

As a last resort, he didn't want to deal with the church at all, let alone seek support from the church, and he once planned to suppress the nobles in the territory after becoming an earl.

But now that the situation is compelling, perhaps the only one who can help him is the church.

I just hope that I am not wrong with Priest Matthew.