When this strange group was drawing water and setting up camp by the river, a team of guard cavalry nervously stepped forward to inquire as usual, but quickly retreated with respect and admiration.
In the time it took to eat a meal, information about this group spread throughout the farm.
Even the little kids still wearing open-crotch pants and with snotty noses knew that the famous Lord of Highcliff, the Lion Hunter, the Dragon Knight, Marquis Li Wei had arrived.
Among the younger generation today, this rising star of Debe has many admirers.
Even remote villages have inevitably heard embellished second-hand news from bards or caravans.
So, the next day, countless young people flocked to express their desire to join Highcliff and dedicate their loyalty to their lord.
The lord has always been extremely tolerant of his admirers, patting them on the shoulders one by one, encouraging them to study swordsmanship for two years before coming to Highcliff.
After all, Highcliff is not short of ordinary civilians, but of elite warriors.
When the young daughters of the farmers saw the true face of the legendary Lord of Highcliff, they hurriedly ran home, lifting their skirts to bring basket after basket of blue snow fruit, a fruit that only grows in winter and is usually picked by girls to give to those they admire.
They may not know what it means to be snobbish, but they have certainly heard the story of Cinderella.
"Boss."
Zat shouted from outside the crowd.
Li Wei was surrounded by a group of girls, his face covered with lip prints, and he was now scrambling to deal with the girls' enthusiastic hospitality.
"Boss, Knight Skye and the others are here!" Zat had to cup his hands into a trumpet shape and shout again.
"Damn it, you can't touch here!" Li Wei suddenly noticed several hands heading straight for his lower body, and he was so scared that he squeezed out of the crowd.
He ran back to his team as if fleeing, leaving behind a group of disappointed northern girls.
"Marquis, long time no see, still as charming as ever."
Skye looked at the Highcliff lord's face covered in lip prints, his face full of amusement.
The knight, who was wearing a close-fitting riding suit and a black wolf skin cloak, had arrived at some point, with dozens of people behind him.
"Cough, cough, there's no way around it, facing these young people always makes me feel the vitality of youth, and I can't help but want to have a good chat with them about life," Li Wei said awkwardly, taking a handkerchief from the rabbit girl and wiping his face.
"Actually, the girls in the North are like this, enthusiastic, generous, and they love and hate intensely, which is the complete opposite of the gentle girls in the South."
Skye was not surprised, but winked and whispered in the lord's ear:
"Marquis, why don't you stay here for the night? I bet at least ten girls will climb into your bed tonight."
"This is actually very normal, which nobleman hasn't been through hundreds of battles, and even in the vassal states of Debe, the nobles' territories give the lord the right to the first night of the girls."
"Damn, am I that kind of person?" The lord glanced at a figure approaching out of the corner of his eye, and immediately righteously refused, with an expression that said, 'I didn't expect you to be that kind of person'.
"Lord Li Wei, long time no see."
Just then, a voice rang out next to him, and Li Wei turned his head to see the ice and snow priestess, Maisha, whom he hadn't seen since their last parting.
There was also an old man with white hair and beard, Master Fugin, who bowed slightly.
Skye noticed that Maisha's eyes were becoming more and more strange as she looked at him.
He wanted to explain, opened his mouth, but in the end could only swallow his anger.
"Let's go!"
The lord waved his hand, and the team that had been preparing for a long time began to roll forward.
Originally, they should have gone to Whiteleaf City to meet with the northern nobles, but since Skye and his men had appeared here, it meant there was no need.
"Why are there only a few of you? What about Fulina and the others?" Li Wei asked, riding on Sorrowwind. Skye's team had carriages, so Heather and several rabbit girls had been driven to take the carriages.
Logically speaking, Fulina and her group of nobles would be invited to attend the banquet in Gonda this time.
"Duke Fulina refused and sent a prince to attend the banquet in her place, and they have already gone to Gonda."
"I just happened to hear you were here, so I came to join you," Skye replied truthfully.
"Master Fugin and the others heard you were here, so they came along too."
Fugin, who was having difficulty getting on a pony, watched his only student come over to join the conversation and chose to remain silent and take the blame.
"Smart," Li Wei gave a thumbs up.
After all, Fulina had a different status, and coupled with her unpleasantness with the King of Debe, there was no need to risk going to Gonda in this situation.
Although unless this King of Harland had his brains eaten by goblins, he wouldn't do such a stupid thing as killing a duchess.
But in this world, never bet on whether the other person is such a fool.
After all, the example of Ned Stark, the Wolf Lord of the North, was right in front of him.
Li Wei was purely bold because of his skill, and the Holy Light Church had something he needed, so he had to go, which is why he went.
"However, I'm curious, Master Fugin, what are you going to Gonda for?" Li Wei asked curiously, looking at the white-bearded old man.
"It's because His Majesty also invited our Ice and Snow Church to attend the banquet," the priestess girl, sensing that she could join the conversation, replied quickly before Fugin could speak.
Nearly half a year had passed since they last met, and her relationship with the lord had not diminished, but seemed to be intensifying.
After all, anyone who stays in a boring church and listens to the passionate stories from the South can't help but yearn for them.
Especially since the protagonist is now in front of her.
"His Majesty believes that our church has also contributed a lot to this war and should not turn a blind eye to it, so His Eminence the Archbishop sent us and a bishop to Gonda."
"Lord Li Wei, you must be prepared, this banquet may not be easy for you," Fugin said seriously to Li Wei, turning his head after panting and climbing onto his pony, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"Oh, why do you say that?" Li Wei frowned.
Although both Fulina and Layton had told him this not long ago, after all, the two were considered his own, so it was expected that they would have this idea.
But now even Fugin, an outsider, felt it was not simple, then things might be more serious than he thought.
"Because there is more than just us participating in this banquet," the old man counted on his fingers, "The Holy Sith Empire, Taylorcy, Debe, the South, the North, there are five parties in total, each with different thoughts."
"But they definitely have one goal in common, and that is the Dragon Knight!"
"After all, the appearance of a Dragon Knight is even more dazzling than the appearance of a legendary powerhouse, no one will ignore his existence."
"Even because of this, the border friction between the Holy Sith Empire and Debe has disappeared during this time."
"I never thought that the border problem that has plagued Debe for decades would be solved by a small, newly promoted marquis like me," the lord couldn't help but find it funny.
But he also knew that a Dragon Knight was more important than five legions, and could visibly increase a country's military strength.
"But Marquis, don't worry too much," Skye added from the side: "The Prince who is going to Gonda this time will try his best to solve this problem."
In fact, news from who knows where said that Duke Fulina and this Lord of Highcliff had an unclear relationship and might marry in the future.
Therefore, all the northern nobles now regard this Dragon Knight as one of their own.
After hearing that he was going to Gonda to attend the banquet, ten percent of the nobles were eager to help, and the remaining ninety percent said that they would simply draw a line and become a true King of the North.
With the help of the dragons, the griffon knights of the royal court would be nothing to worry about.
"Then what should I do?" Li Wei scratched his head, he really didn't expect anyone to take the blame for him.
"Do as much as you can to play a positive role," Knight Skye stroked his beard: "Lord Felo has been in the political arena for many years, and he is at ease in the maze of power, although he is a bit hot-tempered at times and doesn't do things in the usual way, but generally there won't be any major problems, and even if there are any problems, the Prince is good at stirring up trouble."
When it comes to the words "but" and "generally", the lord will instantly feel unsure.
In his opinion, "a little hot-tempered" means that he has a very bad temper and may explode at any time, and "generally there will be no problems" means that there will be problems one hundred percent.
"Why not choose someone who is mature and stable," Li Wei sighed.
He always felt that this banquet would head in an unpredictable direction.
"Marquis, although Lord Felo's temper is a little bad at times, he is definitely a qualified politician and trustworthy," Skye knew very well what Li Wei was thinking.
After finishing the business, the two chatted idly.
Most of them were Li Wei telling them about the great things he had done.
Under the persuasion skill and his own eloquence, he told the story vividly, even more fascinating than the bards in the tavern.
"Marquis, I think even if you don't become a noble, you can make a living as a bard," this was Skye's most intuitive feeling.
"Alas, my initial dream was to be a bard who mingled in noble circles," the lord just looked at his bulging biceps, his expression complicated.
When he finished telling the story of how he solved the legendary demon by riding a dragon from the sky with his own strength, the eyes of the priestess girl, Maisha, were full of Li Wei's majestic figure.
The white-bearded old man next to him was so distressed that his hands were trembling, as if a delicate flower had been inserted into cow dung.
After finishing speaking, Li Wei suddenly remembered something and asked Skye, "When you were stationed in Dreadfort, did you feel that the Flayers were doing anything wrong?"
The lord was still brooding over the fact that the gates of the Bone Fortress were suddenly opened.
As long as he found evidence to prove who did it, he would let the other party taste the power of the legendary weapon, Digen's Howl.
Skye thought seriously for a while before saying, "If there's anything wrong, it can only be that Little Flay died too strangely, and then a bastard just happened to get the position of heir."
After speaking, he spread his hands: "To be honest, Bolton's luck is enviable, Old Flay only has one son, Little Flay, and after Little Flay's death, the heir can only fall on his head, after all, Old Flay is already in his fifties, although he has married many wives, but no more children have been born."
"Who knows if it's good luck," Li Wei smiled meaningfully and didn't continue the topic.
He just inexplicably felt that the incident was inseparable from Dreadfort.
He should have taken the opportunity to slaughter those Dreadfort soldiers together and blamed it on the demons, and no one would have said anything about him.
It can only be said that some things can only be remembered after experiencing them.
In this way, a few people talked about this and that, and the team of thirty people expanded to fifty people, starting from the Golden Radiance Plain and heading south along the flat Lionheart Avenue.
Half a month later, they walked out of the border of the North and officially entered the territory controlled by Gonda.
The most direct feeling was that it was still snowing in the North, but here, although the weather was still cold, the sun was shining brightly, which was rare good weather.
With the rolling of the wheels, seven days later, a magnificent city appeared on the horizon, appearing golden and brilliant in the sunset.
"How high is that?" Maisha was obviously visiting Gonda for the first time, and looked up at the unusually tall city walls in amazement.
She felt as if she were an ant looking at magnificent human houses.
"One hundred and twenty-eight blades high, it took seventy-two years, and was built by countless craftsmen, civilians, and mages who controlled the elements of earth and gold, and was completely completed two thousand five hundred and sixty-seven years ago," Layton pushed up his glasses, now he can be regarded as a Debe expert.
He even knew more about Debe's history than the Debe people present.
"It is said that according to the calculations of the craftsmen at the time, if those noble mages had not joined in the construction, it would have taken nearly a thousand years to complete this project."
"But only this kind of magnificent city wall can resist the bombardment of magic and the dragon's breath of dragons."
"How can this kind of city wall be taken down?" Zat looked at it dumbfounded.
He thought that the city walls of Corin in the South were high enough, but he never thought that Gonda was nearly three times higher.
"It is said that Gonda has never been forcibly attacked, but has always been breached from the inside, which means that only the people inside can open the gates of this city wall," Layton just finished speaking when he realized something was wrong and said sorry to Mil next to him.
He knew that the other party was a remnant of the former Feder Kingdom, and this kind of public discussion was like rubbing salt in the wound.
Mil waved his hand, not caring at all, but listened with great interest.
Anyway, the Feder Kingdom was already hundreds of years away from now, and under the passage of time, it was like listening to the deeds of other countries, and it had nothing to do with him.
