"Yuna, I'm going to the Imperial Capital, where there are the best teachers and cultivation resources that can help me break through the bottleneck of cultivation."

"When will you be back?"

"Hey, I've said it so many times, you don't need to say honorifics to me, just call me Eve. I don't think it will take long this time, and I'll be back in about another year.

"You should have graduated from the Knight Academy in time, and I'll be a true high-level mage!

"At that point, you'll be my personal bodyguard!"

The conversation between Evelyn and herself when she parted in the past was still in her ears, and Yuna looked at the girl in front of her in a daze.

I haven't seen her for more than a year, but she has become more beautiful and must have become stronger.

But what remains unchanged is her sincere personality and fiery style - she is the eldest lady of Linfeng City, how can she dare to go out of the city with only such a few people, this is too dangerous!

"Why, I haven't seen you for too long and can't even speak?"

Evelyn turned over and dismounted, looking at her with a smile, "Even if you go to the imperial capital, you still have correspondence, right?" ”

Even though it was inhuman, her smile was as bright as she remembered, quietly touching the softest part of Yuna's heart.

It is precisely because of the vicissitudes of life that some things that have not changed are even more precious.

Her tense body slowly relaxed, and she whispered, "Welcome back, Eve." ”

"Hmm!" Evelyn smiled softly, "I'm back." ”

"I know you have a lot to say, but unfortunately we don't have room for small talk."

Noren interrupted their touching moment of reunion in confusion, "The rangers of the steppes are coming soon, Evelyn, are you sure how to deal with them?" ”

"Of course!"

Treating Noren Evelyn was another attitude, glaring at him and saying, "I'm a high-level mage, and the people I bring are the best people, there will be no problem!" ”

The Knights of Linfeng are under the personal control of the city lord Ivan, and even she can't get their hands on it easily, but that doesn't mean she's the commander of the light pole.

In fact, the Baihat family controls the entire city of Peak, and even if you don't count the organized army, their family strength is the strongest in the city.

Many powerful transcendents are directly under the orders of the Baihat family, not the city lord's mansion.

As the eldest lady of the Baihat family, it is natural for her to go out of the city this time and bring the elders and guards of the clan.

This team of only a dozen people are all transcendents of the fourth order or above, and one of them is a powerful seventh-order knight!

Seventh Order!

You must know that there are only two eighth-order powerhouses in Linfeng City, one is the old city lord of Linfeng City, the "Tiger of Linfeng" Aemon Baihat.

The other is Ryan Anderson, the head of the Knights of the Summit and the president of the Knight Academy.

Now the old city lord Aemon is in poor health, and he passed the position of city lord and patriarch to his son Ivan, who has not appeared in the eyes of the world for several years.

Only Ryan is left to act as the face of the strongest combat power in Peak City, but he also takes a back seat because of his age, and rarely shows his skills.

As a result, the backbone combat power that can be dispatched at will in Linfeng City is actually only the sixth- and seventh-order transcendentals.

In addition, Linfeng City is located in the remote west, far away from the political, economic, and cultural centers of the empire, and the inflow of foreign talents is relatively small.

Compared with other cities, the overall strength is close to the bottom of the Roland Empire.

Of course, the steppe people are not much better.

They have been wandering in the barren frontier for a long time, even if the people are fierce and all the people are soldiers, limited by population and resources, the number of high-level transcendents is not much, and they are half a pound and eight taels with Linfeng City.

It's just that Linfeng City pursued a passive strategy of not fighting, and this was why so many people and villages were successfully plundered by the steppe people.

Now Evelyn has come to support with the elite troops of the Baihat family, not only as a high-ranking mage herself, but also with a seventh-order knight.

This is already considered the top individual combat power in this war.

Harrison's elite raid force was just two sixth-order knights.

Now that there are sixth-order mages and seventh-order knights joining, not to mention annihilating the enemy's entire ranger force, covering their retreat is not a problem at all.

"Nolan, this is ......"

Seeing the reinforcements arrive at the stronghold, Harrison then rushed over and looked at the young and beautiful strange girl.

Her troops had the crest of the Baihat family tattooed all over their chests, and although it was the first time they had seen the girl, they had already guessed her identity.

"Evelyn Baihart, the reinforcements I've brought this time." Nolan briefly introduced.

Since it was the Baihat family who made the move, Harrison breathed a sigh of relief, and the boulder hanging in his heart quietly landed, and he couldn't help but sigh:

"I didn't expect that the eldest lady of the Baihat family has grown into such a courageous woman, it is really the luck of Linfeng City, and I solemnly thank you for your support."

"Polite words will be dispensed with."

Evelyn raised her hand and said, "Just go back to the city and leave the rest to me." ”

"I'll stay and help you!" Yuna said immediately.

"Yuna......" Evelyn looked at her, her eyes lit up with a little sparkle, "would you still like to be my personal bodyguard?" ”

"This ......"

She was speechless for a moment, and subconsciously looked at Noren beside her.

"Hey, it's too immoral to dig the foot of the wall in front of the bitter master, right?" Nolan immediately protested.

"Who is the bitter master?" Evelyn didn't give an inch, glaring at him fiercely.

“……？？？” Harrison's black question mark on his face.

Although he didn't know what happened between the three of them, he had no intention of getting involved in this twisted relationship, so he wisely withdrew from the chat and ordered the troops to evacuate.

Heh, the relationship between young people nowadays is really complicated.

Evelyn calmed the churning emotions in her heart, and her voice calmed down: "Since you are not my personal bodyguard now, then there is no reason to follow me anymore, right?" ”

"Yes." Yuna plucked up her courage and said, "I'm not yours...... Friends? ”

"Friend...... Evelyn said with a slight startle, "Indeed, of course we are friends, best friends. ”

"But don't worry, I've been in the imperial capital for so long, and I've seen a lot of winds and waves, and I really don't care about this little fight."

She pretended to cross her waist generously, "Come with him, there will be more opportunities to meet in the future." I'll come back to you after tonight! ”

"But ......"

Yuna was about to say something, but Noren took her hand and said, "It's time for us to go, don't waste a piece of her kindness." ”

"Okay......"

Yuna was easily convinced, and Nolan instructed, "You go to the carriage and wait for me, and I'll come with a few words to her." ”

"Hmm."

Evelyn waved goodbye to Yuna, and when she saw Nolan coming over, the gentle smile on her face immediately turned into disgust:

"What else do you want to do? It's despicable to threaten Yuna with me! ”

"I'm sure you'll support us even if Yuna doesn't come, you're such a knife-mouthed tofu-hearted person."

"Hmph, don't talk as if you know me very well, it makes people angry when you listen to it!"

"Okay, let's get down to business."

Nolan's face turned straight, "Evelyn, I want to ask you, how is the current City Lord's Mansion going to deal with the Prairie people?" You can't change the status quo by doing nothing. ”

She is the sister of the city lord Ivan, and she is the closest person to Ivan, and she may be able to get the true attitude of the city lord's mansion towards the steppe people from her.

"Uncle Lane and I, including many of the City Lord's Mansion's staff officers, are actually advocating a head-on battle with the Prairie People, and we cannot tolerate them burning, killing, and looting our land."

Evelyn hesitated for a moment and replied, "But Ivan implements the strategy of not fighting, hoping to preserve the strength of the Knights to the greatest extent. He insisted on closing the city and waiting for reinforcements from neighboring cities to come and relieve the siege. ”

"Reinforcements? Now that the two princes are fighting for the throne, they have made a mess inside and outside the Roland Empire, how can the imperial capital still have the energy to support us, and the city lord should also recognize the reality. ”

"No, it's not reinforcements sent by the Imperial Capital, but the neighboring city of Shattered Star City, and they will launch a military aid operation against us in the name of the city."

Evelyn explained, "Ivan and the lord of Shattered Star City are forging an agreement, according to which Shatterstar City will send troops to help us solve the troubles of the steppe people, and we only need to rely on the city walls to defend against their attacks during this time. ”

Nolan was stunned for a moment, as if he had heard the funniest joke ever, and couldn't help but laugh:

"It's a ridiculous idea, isn't Peak City a vassal of other cities? We have our own army! Our own blood feuds, and we still need others to help us avenge them?

"There is nothing more ridiculous than watching the people outside the city being killed, while the army inside the city stands on the sidelines and does not come out!"

Although she is also a main battle faction, seeing Nolan say that the City Lord's Mansion is so unbearable, Evelyn is also a little uncomfortable in her heart, and says with a straight face:

"What are you laughing at? Ivan is by no means as afraid of death and ruthless as you think, and he is also guarding Peak City in his own way!

"The invasion of the steppe people is not as simple as you think, they are backed by the second prince behind them!

"The continent of Eden is vast, the environment is very different, there are nearly 100 kinds of human races living in total, seventy-seven years ago the Roland Empire unified the human race, the territory of the human territory together, this process is actually full of controversy and blood.

"In the process of merging, many ethnic minorities have been brutally treated differently by the Rolanders, and the customs of some ethnic groups are too different from the empire, even after decades, they have not been assimilated, and they have a lot of criticism of the empire.

These grievances have erupted since the death of Roland I, which has been happening all over the Empire, with coups and uprisings in many cities where ethnic minorities are concentrated, trying to break free from the Empire's control.

And the second prince Roderick seized their appeal. He openly supported these cities that wanted independence, and promised that if he ascended to the throne, he would give any other people the right to become independent! ”

Evelyn said a lot in one breath, and finally pointed out the main point:

In order to gain the support of as many forces as possible, the second prince Roderick was willing to divide many of the territory of the Roland Empire to other peoples.

Among them, returning the La Buse grassland to the La Buse people and selling the city of Linfeng to the steppe people were exactly what he secretly supported.

"Second Prince Roderick, he colluded with the steppe people in the frontier, betrayed the interests of Linfeng City, and destroyed the integrity of the empire, he is simply a traitor of the Roland Empire!"

"Oh." After listening to the explanation, Nolan shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "It's not up to him who Linfeng City belongs to. Whoever wants to come and take away our homeland, we will naturally make him pay a dearly price. ”

"You still don't understand!"

Evelyn couldn't help but raise her voice, "It means that we are not only going to face the steppe people, but also the forces of the second prince behind them!"

"The empire is in chaos, and this scuffle that has swept all of humanity is destined to last for a long time! It is precisely because of the consideration of fighting a protracted war in the future that Ivan is unwilling to consume too much combat power at the beginning, and his consideration is also reasonable! ”

Nolan shook his head and sneered: "Yes, let others send troops to help us beat people, a good way to drive away the tiger and devour the wolf." Since the City Lord's trick is so clever, why is there still a majority of the main battle faction in the City Lord's Mansion?

"You actually know it, the people of Shattered Star City are not stupid, in this era of war when everyone is in danger, since it is willing to send troops to help us, it will definitely not work for nothing.

"Let me guess, how much money and resources are the city lord going to spend and how many resources in exchange for their help? What is the income of Peak City for three years? Or five years, ten years?

"Everything is a drain on resources, and once the foundation of a city is hollowed out, it will surrender without a fight and become a lamb to the slaughter, no different from a slow death.

"Not to mention, even if you call for backup, are you sure that Shattered Star City will be able to expel the steppe people? Is it possible that instead of reinforcements, we are calling for another hungry wolf?

"The steppe people are not invincible, if we don't win a beautiful battle with our own strength now, it will only make others look down on us even more, and think that we are weak and easy to bully.

"Now that the Empire State Building is about to fall, there is no order in this world, and the weak are destined to be swallowed up and exploited.

"If we can't temper ourselves stronger in this war, even if we repel the steppe people with foreign aid, there will be other forces that will wage war against us and extort money for various reasons.

"By that time, the resources in our city have long been exhausted, the people have long been disappointed in the city lord's mansion, the army in the city has not experienced the baptism of actual combat, and the combat effectiveness is also in shambles......

"When we get there, what are we going to do to resist?"

Nolan pointed out the loopholes in Ivan's plan, and Evelyn frowned, but did not refute it.

In fact, this is also the point of view of the main battle faction, it is not that Linfeng City has no available troops at present, and they have not really fought a battle with the steppe people, and they are divided into strong and weak.

And Ivan, who gave up the battle before the start of the war, pinned his hopes on reinforcements for the expulsion of the steppe people, this strategy was still too conservative.

In short, on the question of whether or not to go to war, the help-seeking faction and the main fighting faction have their own opinions, and each has its own position and reasons.

But no matter how they quarreled, it was the city lord Ivan who made the final decision.

Ivan himself was a staunch help-seeker, and neither his sister Evelyn nor the Knights' leader Ryan could convince him to change his mind.

If nothing else, Linfeng City may really embark on the road of passive defense and seeking foreign aid.

But Nolan didn't want that.

He had always advocated that he was in charge of his own destiny, so how could he be willing to gamble the future of Linfeng City on illusory reinforcements?

He also has to fulfill his agreement with Yuna, so that Yuna can avenge the grassland people with his own hands.

"Nolan, what are you still doing there!"

In the distance, Harrison shouted to him, "The refugees have been settled, we are leaving!" ”

"Coming soon!"

Nolan looked at Evelyn and finally said, "Is it really because Ivan doesn't go to war with the steppes because he is thinking about the future of Peak City, not that he is weak and selfish and only wants to protect himself?" ”

"I vouch for the reputation of the Baihat family, he is not such a person!"

Evelyn replied categorically, "I have misunderstood him too, but when I see him sitting in his study all night these days, thinking and busy, and even growing gray hair on his temples—

"I knew that he was really planning for the future of Peak City in his own way."

This is why even if she disagreed, she did not break with her brother, and even made a few words of defense for him.

Everyone's intentions are good.

"Heh, that's really hard work Lord Lord."

Nolan turned and walked towards the convoy, "We're going to keep fighting no matter what."

"We will prove with victory after victory that the Prairie people are not an invincible opponent. We will convince everyone that we can take back what we have lost in our own hands. ”