Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords.

Chapter 267: Distressed Sophia
When Levi went to find Florina, he happened to meet Leah in the castle.

The Gratuitous Garden is the most famous attraction in White Castle. The blooming tulips, exquisite sculptures, fountains, and shrubs make it magnificent under the night sky. The famous legend about the first Duke of the South adds a sense of depth to it.

The beautiful girl was swinging on a swing covered with bitter ivy flowers, looking thoughtfully at the moon looming in the sky. She was just like the beautiful princess imprisoned in the harem by the evil queen in a knight novel, waiting for the redemption of a handsome knight.

The lord is thinking about how to break this situation.

Before he could say hello, the other party raised his head when he heard the footsteps, with a puzzled look on his face: "Levi, what are you doing here in White Castle so late?"

Generally speaking, one would give prior notice before entering White Castle. If the other party rushed here late at night, it was most likely because of something important.

After saying this, Leah stretched out her fair little hand to Levi, and the lord raised his hand in time to support her and helped her get down from the swing.

"Miss Leah, you may not know yet, but the demons are coming." Levi said seriously, "Just tonight, when I was on duty at the city wall, at least four thousand unstoppable demons attacked the city wall, trying to use trickery to enter Cologne."

Cologne is very large and the White Castle is at the rear, so the sounds of fighting from the city walls could not be heard, and he and Montvitt were the messengers themselves.

Therefore, most people are still kept in the dark about this, including the new Duke.

"This……"

Leah knew that the first honorary marquis under her command would never make a big fuss about such things. When the other party said this, the situation might be more serious than what he said.

But after all, she had experienced a lot. Although she had not learned anything else, her big heart had become three points like someone else. Therefore, although she was shocked in her heart, she took a deep breath and her tone became calm: "Levi, Aunt Flinna is still in the study. Let's go directly to discuss with her."

When it comes to things like demons, it's not something that can be solved by one person alone.

If it was just an ordinary matter, then she, the new duke, could also make the decision.

The few of them wandered around and came to the outside of a study, where a female knight in silver armor was guarding outside faithfully. She had short hair cut to her ears, was tall, had a broad chest and a thin waist, and looked heroic.

This is the captain of Florina’s personal guard, her name seems to be Regini.

The other party respectfully performed the noble salute to the three people. After getting permission, they walked directly into the study used to handle government affairs.

As soon as you enter, a faint fragrance lingers around your nose. The milky white light emitted by the gems in the copper lamps hanging from the ceiling is warm and not dazzling.

The floor is covered with thick wool carpet, and walking on it feels like walking on the clouds.

Levi and Montvit both rushed in from outside, their shoes were covered in mud, leaving behind black shoe prints where they walked. If you don't consider the overall loss, just hiring someone to clean it up would be an expensive expense.

All I can say is that he is worthy of being a Duke. Even the small study where he handles business is incredibly luxurious.

As for the mahogany table with exquisite sculptures and rows of gold-inlaid bookcases filled with books in front of it, they were not so eye-catching.

A beautiful figure was sitting in front of the desk, her brows furrowed, and she was marking something on parchment with a quill pen.

This made the lord secretly think that the Duke was not as glamorous as he had imagined, and he was still handling government affairs so late at night.

I don't know whether it is about the North, White Harbor, or the army in Cologne.

Just thinking about it, Levi shuddered and felt extremely sympathetic towards Florina. It was just a High Cliff Castle, and he was a hands-off manager, only responsible for ensuring the general direction was correct. This made him worry, not to mention the big family in the North.

"Duke Flinna."

Levi and Montvit bowed slightly and performed aristocratic etiquette, but Leah, as a duke, did not need to do so.

"What's the matter? Why did Marquis Wei and my good niece, who are busy day and night, come to my place so late?" Florina put down her quill, stretched her waist, and joked, "I thought someone had forgotten me after becoming a marquis."

Then he signaled to Montvit not to be too restrained and just find a seat to sit.

Mengweit was very tactful and stood aside, acting as a background.

He didn't have a very good relationship with the Duke of the North, and he came here just to act as a witness.

To be honest, Florina was a little angry with Levi. This knight had brought Leah to the North alone and was extremely poor.

How did she do it? She couldn't bear to see this handsome knight with nothing but ambitions fall into the trap of being the lover of a noblewoman who had gone astray, so she gave the orc warrior to him.

Afterwards, all kinds of supplies were given to him in truckloads, and even the title of Honorary Knight of the North was given to him without further ado.

He also secretly sent Sikai to make friends with the other party, and even chose to turn a blind eye to the other party's blatant poaching.

But what did the other party do? As soon as he arrived in Kelun, he didn't come to see her, as if he had drawn a clear line.

Asking her to take the initiative to find the other party, as a duke, he couldn't afford to do so.

"Ahem." The words of the noble lady in front of him were too ambiguous, and Levi didn't know how to explain it. He could only shamelessly explain: "Lady Florina, this is really not my fault. Defending the city is an important matter. Tonight, the result of my day and night patrols was fully reflected."

"Yes, aunt. Just now the demons disguised themselves as Northern soldiers and prepared to enter Cologne. If Levi hadn't been cautious, it would be hard to imagine what consequences they would cause after entering the city." Leah took over the conversation with a serious face.

On the way here, Levi had already told her the whole story.

The lord immediately gave Leah a grateful smile for coming to the rescue, but the girl misunderstood him and gave him an even brighter smile.

Looking at the two people flirting with each other, Florina put her hand on her bulging temple. She had heard something big and didn't want to continue joking. She asked in a deep voice, "Didn't I send Ando to the south to gather intelligence? Why have the demons come to Kelun, but we haven't received any news yet?"

"In fact, this demon army has already ambushed Count Ando's army." Levi said calmly as he told the news he had gathered: "I'm sorry... Count Ando's army has been completely wiped out."

The study was eerily silent for a moment. Everyone present knew that this demon army that suddenly came to Cologne was definitely not a simple bunch, as it could easily destroy a cavalry unit of 2,000 men before the news leaked out.

"My Lord Duke, please forgive me for my presumptuous words, but now whether it is a fight or something else, it is best to make a decision as soon as possible."

The middle-aged Earl Montwitt, who had a resolute face, said: "The walls of Cologne are high, and these demons cannot get in, but the villages around Cologne are definitely not able to stop these demons."

"We all know that they can recover by eating. If we don't destroy them quickly, they will become difficult to deal with."

In fact, these words were indeed part of Montvit's thoughts, but the real reason was that he did not want to see the scene of devastation.

The demons could not penetrate into Koren. Anyone with a discerning eye knew that they would definitely wreak havoc on the surrounding villages. These creatures were not human beings and would not be satisfied with just looting property and stale pork.

Humans are also on each other's diet. In other words, there is absolutely no possibility of peace between the two sides. Once they meet, they will fight to the death. This is a racial war.

"I'll order people to defend Cologne." Florina made a decision quickly, "But when the enemy situation is unclear, sending troops at night is a stupid thing for any commander to do. We can only pray that those country farmers can hold on until morning." Under Florina's orders, the female knight named Regni quickly went to the camp of the Northern Legion with a transfer order.

"Now that the matter is settled, Duke Florina, we will take our leave first. We are still needed at the city wall."

Florina also understood the priorities and nodded.

The few of them left along the same way they came.

"Levi, has the demon already reached Colen? And Fatih..." Walking side by side in the White Castle, Leah's face was full of worry, especially she was worried about her good friend who was going to the south to fight against the demon.

There has been no news from the south until now, so it is hard to say whether Fatih has been killed.

"Liya, there's no need to worry too much. Not to mention that Fatire has profound magical skills, even if those griffin knights can't defeat him, they can just run away. They won't watch a Holy Maiden of Holy Light die at the hands of the devil." The lord patted Leah's soft little hand to comfort her.

"Compared to this, I am more inclined to believe that this demon army bypassed the Bone Fortress."

Levi gave his own guess and inadvertently revealed the truth.

"If it was really a large army of demons coming, there would be no need for them to launch a surprise attack on Andao's 2,000 cavalrymen."

Although we cannot rule out the possibility that the other party launched a sneak attack in order to annihilate us, from what we have just seen, the number of these demons is not as large as we imagined. Among them, we only saw the Babu Demon, and there was no trace of even the Eight-Armed Snake Demon.

It is highly likely that they are not the main force of the devil.

Levi felt that something unknown must have happened in the Bone Fortress, which led to the current situation.

……

The sleeping military camp was like a wild beast that had been awakened. Countless soldiers who were in sleep had to rush out of the camp under the orders of the officers and finally gathered together and rushed towards the city wall.

As they passed through the city's streets, the sound of footsteps, the clashing of armor, and all sorts of noisy slang startled many of Cologne's residents.

They were all terrified, and at the urging of their wives, they had to muster up the courage to push open the door to see what these soldiers were doing so crazy in the middle of the night.

When I saw that they were fully armed with swords and guns, I was so scared that I kept praying in my heart that these soldiers would not do anything to them under the pretext of searching for traitors.

The soldiers who came to the city wall were soon shocked to the point of dry mouth by the shocking corpses under the wall.

They were hideous, blood-red monsters that looked like skinned humans, but the thick horns on their foreheads and the tails behind their butts proved their identities—demons! They were demons!

People in the Middle Ages all experienced being scared by their parents with demons when they were young - if they didn't obey, they would be captured and eaten by demons or undead spirits.

Unexpectedly, when they were in their prime and it was their turn to scare their own children, they actually saw the real thing.

The shock in my heart is naturally beyond words.

The story about the devil was only known among the top brass. Not only the small soldiers, but even some officers were not aware of it.

Fortunately, these Northern soldiers are not weaklings. Having experienced bloody battles, they have nothing to be afraid of as long as the enemy can be killed.

The corpses there just happened to prove that these demons were not quite the same as those in the legends.

The opponent will also be shot to death by one arrow. Apart from his weird appearance, he is no different from the goblins and kobolds in the wilderness.

The soldiers quickly calmed down and began to discuss while pointing fingers.

On the contrary, the troops from Gaoyabao had retreated to the camp and started eating and drinking to their heart's content.

After all, the number of people in Gaoya Castle is too small. It is okay for them to just patrol the city walls at ordinary times, but they are bound to be stretched when they really defend the city. Therefore, the lord directly handed the place over to someone more suitable.

I took the team back to the camp for a midnight snack.

It is obvious that there will be a high probability of a war tomorrow, so these big-bellied men are preparing to eat and sleep, and then have a good time tomorrow.

They had nothing to do in Cologne during this period of time. The life was so comfortable that their bodies had already become unhealthy.

I keep asking the lord when to return to Highcliff Castle. I feel like I'm going to get sick if I stay in Cologne.

As for the devil?

To use the original words of these reckless men, how many axes can you block? If you can block three axes, they will praise the other party as a hero.

The lord was not too worried. Judging from the performance of the group of Babu demons just now, he was able to lead the High Cliff Castle team to kill them all.

He just wanted to know how powerful those high-level demons were, which would allow him to judge the specific strength of both sides.

"Levi, what happened?" Sophia asked cautiously.

The person who least wanted to fight was Sofia.

She was so happy during this period of peaceful life that she didn't want to leave. She was as happy as a fool every day, thinking that after the war, she could go back to Gaoyabao to eat and drink for free, and also work to earn money to fill her wallet.

But I didn't expect that the sound of fighting would be heard again outside the city of Cologne tonight.

This made her very distressed.

"It shouldn't be a big deal. Look how enthusiastically they're eating. It doesn't look like anything serious." Heather, the big-breasted drow elf, slowly peeled an orange and handed it to Levi.

To be honest, if she had just been forced to use a platform to live on the ground, she would never have returned to the dark underground.

Well, now, she was completely in love with this human.

The drow elves all admire the strong, and she is no exception. The other party's strength makes her want to depend on him involuntarily.

But the temptation she had always had was like showing it to a blind man, and she couldn't help but wonder if she didn't meet the other person's aesthetic standards.

But she had inquired, and humans generally believed that good means big, and big means good. She completely fits that description, so it shouldn't be the case no matter how she thought about it...

(End of this chapter)