Section 10 Knights

Rosa spent a few minutes picking out the armor she was going to wear today.

He now has five suits of armor, one of which is a rusty chain mail he used to wear—something he has kept because of its commemorative value. After all, he got his current status by relying on this suit of armor. The other three sets have their own strengths. A very beautiful set of leather armor - a gift from a merchant last year - was so luxurious that it did not resemble a suit of armor. It's light and comfortable to wear, and it can also have some defense. Two sets are Seiko armor, heavy, but look very majestic, one is plain, and the other is gorgeous. The final set is chain mail somewhere between leather and armour, each of which is carefully plated with silver.

In the end, he still chose the simple armor. He's not going to visit guests today, it doesn't have to be so gorgeous. The armor was bulky and inconvenient, but after all, he was a knight now, and a knight - according to the prejudice of most people in this world - wore armor. It's not that you can't wear other armor, but wearing other armor, people's first reaction is not to believe his identity, thinking that he is just a passerby or something.

Before leaving the house, Rosa greeted his wife, who was young and beautiful, and had bore him two children, a boy and a girl, within five years of marriage. In addition, at least on the surface, she seems to be well-educated, able to hold the family ** well, and is the kind of virtuous helper that everyone envies. His home - that is, this castle - everything seemed to be in order under the control of his wife.

By the time he walked out of the castle, his troops were already on standby. The line-up of ten cavalry, thirty infantry (plus enough men to stay in the castle) also looked pretty good. These soldiers were not improvised militiamen, but professional soldiers, all of whom were very well equipped. They looked at him with a little admiration, because he was the object of their emulatory efforts, or rather, idols. Each of them wanted to replicate his success.

For Rosa, every day is so good. He was now a knight and owned a castle that was not very large, but very elaborate and fortified. He also owns a fief in Purple Stone, a market town next to his castle. Despite its short history (even by the most liberal standards, it's only a decade), this market town is quite prosperous. Due to its location on a major traffic route, most caravans and pedestrians will stop here to rest. On average, it provided the lord with more than thirty Geori in taxes per day (not counting the lord's own private property income), far more than the fiefdom of an ordinary baron. Even if the area of the latter is more than ten times that of the former. With the income it provided, Rosa was able to easily support a well-armed army of seventy men.

As for Rosa's duty as a vassal, he led patrols twice a day to ensure that the market town was in good order. In addition, he had to pay three hundred quill taxes to the vampires every month, and at all times provided the monarch with an army of fifty men, including ten fully equipped cavalrymen.

Yes, he was a vampire or, more solemnly, "Duke of Blood," knight canonized by the Vampire. It must be noted that Rosa is a human through and through, and has not and will obviously not have any interest in dark arts. In fact, like most mercenaries in this world, he can't read a single word.

He was a mercenary, or rather, he used to be a mercenary. Now he works for the Scarlet Duke.

This kind of thing is not uncommon now. Everyone knows that although the Scarlet Duke is an inhuman monster, perhaps as evil and cruel as the legend suggests, he has one virtue that surpasses the vast majority of monarchs in this world, and that is generosity and trustworthiness.

Five years ago, Rosa was an ordinary mercenary, and with a few silver coins in his pocket, he couldn't resist drinking and gambling to play with women. He has been in the business for many years and has not saved any money. As everyone knows, the morality of mercenaries is to fight for money, not to care about the identity of their employer. So by chance, he was hired by a vampire - although the person who came forward was a human, in fact, everyone knew that the real mercenary was the Scarlet Duke. This phenomenon is very common. Mercenaries can be hired by anyone, including non-human races, if the conditions are right.

The battle is about raiding a city. Actually, it wasn't an attack, because there were people in the city who responded. The outer and inner castles were easily opened and occupied with the assistance of the inner city, but there was a problem when attacking the central castle. At that time, the enemy had already reacted, and the spy responsible for assisting Neiying was obviously detected, and was directly beheaded and thrown out.

Although the Dark Mages who accompanied the army disrupted the magical communications, the disruption did not last long. Once the time is up, the people in the central castle will be able to send an emergency message to Ryan's royal court. Faced with this situation, the commander who led the team decisively ordered a strong attack.

What is the concept of attacking a castle when there is a shortage of siege machinery? Mercenaries recruited with money are the best targets.

The battle was fierce. One of Rosa's best friends was shot by his side, and blood stained the battlefield instantly. Although it is said that mercenaries are fighting for money, they are generally considered to be armies with low morale and poor discipline. But seeing her friend die next to her, Rosa's eyes immediately turned red. In the fury of revenge, he actually lost his mind, forgot to die (not at all like a mercenary should do), and was the first to rush to the city and kill the defenders. He took the lead, and the castle was successfully captured.

Rosa didn't care at the time. Because according to the tradition of mercenaries, even such a merit can only get a large honorarium. Unexpectedly, however, upon their return to Sivania, the vampires personally met him and praised him for his bravery on the battlefield. At the end of that meeting, the vampire offered him two options: the first was a large bounty, and the other was for Rosa to swear allegiance to him, and he would give him the title of knight and a fief commensurate with his knightly status. Faced with such a choice, even the most idiotic mercenary knows which one he should choose.

He immediately swore allegiance to the vampire, and overnight, "Mercenary" Rosa became "Sizzle" Rosa. Duke Scarlet gave him purple stone (including the castle where Rosa now lives and the market town next to the castle) as a fief. By the way, the Scarlet Duke also married him a girl who was released from the Dark Castle due to her old age, which is his current wife.

The purple stone is just a small place, and it seems to be inconspicuous and not worth mentioning. But the sheer amount of income is staggering - the place is literally full of oil and water every day. It may not be a big market, but travelers from north to south choose to stop and rest here. And for all the buying and selling here, Rosa has the right to take his own share of the tax. In addition, because of the lord's privileges, he built a number of inns under his own name here - and business was very good. So, although his orthodox tax revenue is already very substantial, in fact his real income is still above that.

Compared to these benefits, his obligations are simply not worth mentioning. In addition to paying regular taxes and a small army, he was tasked with overseeing movements in the north. That's right, this castle in Purple Stone is an outpost in the event of an invasion. However, there is no danger in this, because in addition to the castle itself, there is also a one-time portal in the center of the castle. Once war breaks out, Rossa's duty is not to stop the enemy army, but to confirm the size and number of enemy forces, and then be able to use the portal to retreat.

Incidentally, on the opposite side of the portal is the Scarlet Duke's Dark Castle. Without a good reason, using this portal is like looking for death.

In short, after such five years of life, Rosa now looks more and more like a big aristocrat. Although he still maintained the habit of exercising, his stature and strength did not decrease. But before going out every day, he had to dress up and choose a suit of armor. Now when he is facing ordinary people, he can also hold his chin high and look at others with condescending eyes.

If he had any regrets, it was that this fertile fief was not hereditary.

This phenomenon is common in the Seven Kingdoms. Many of the titles and fiefs conferred by the monarch were not hereditary. In other words, when the owner dies, the things are taken back instead of being inherited by the descendants. As for the reason, put aside all excuses - that is, of course, the credit is not great enough, and the relationship is not good enough.

Before being knighted by Duke Scarlet, Rosa never imagined that he would one day worry about the future of his children and grandchildren. At that time, he was licking blood with a knife, and he didn't know if there would be a tomorrow today. Later, after becoming a lord, he was also inexplicably excited, and he never thought of the concept of "hereditary" at all.

But the environment is always so easy to change people, and now, this matter has become a piece of Rosa's heart.

In fact, it is not impossible to turn a "domain" into a "hereditary domain" - at least, the Duke of Scarlet is indeed a generous monarch. As long as Rosa can once again make great contributions to the monarchy, I think the Scarlet Duke will not hesitate to add the word "hereditary".

But the mercenary Rosa is a bachelor, according to an unkind saying, it is completely "cheap", and it naturally doesn't matter if you work the battlefield. And the life of the knight Rosa is much more important. In addition, he had a wife, children, and wealthy property, not to mention that his domain was still non-hereditary, which meant that if he died, he would have nothing left.

If you can't make a war achievement, then you can only please the Scarlet Duke in another way. And this way is also very simple, that is, to give a favorite gift.

If someone in Sivania asks what the Scarlet Duke likes, then he will get only one. The Scarlet Duke only liked ** - beautiful girls between the ages of twelve and seventeen. And gold, precious stones, calligraphy and paintings, sculptures, famous horses, magical knowledge and other treasures in the eyes of the world are completely worthless in the eyes of vampires. Even if he gave the Scarlet Duke a million gold Oli, he would not be half moved. On the contrary, a slave girl who conforms to his aesthetic concept can make his attitude change in an instant.

If you want to win the favor of vampires, there is only one gift. Legend has it that a businessman even traded his daughter for three years of tax exemption - and he was lucky. Because the Scarlet Duke never had this girl on his menu. By the time she turned eighteen, the vampire finally gave her back to her father.

It's a pity that in today's West Vania, this kind of thing is hard to come by. Because everyone knows that vampires have a high taste, and ordinary goods are completely out of sight. Although Rosa has been a knight for five years, he has never had such an opportunity.

But this time, during what was supposed to be a routine patrol, he saw a rare target.