Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 326 The Mannan Faith and the Soaring Value of the Crimson Pearl
The construction of Flashspear City is indeed the top priority for the territory, but this matter cannot be rushed. After all, such a huge city cannot be built in just a few months, even with the help of a large number of dwarf engineers and halfling construction teams.

In the early stages, it was already quite an achievement for the Black Forest Territory to build the Lightning Spear Tower of the Heaven's Spear.

As long as this spire stands tall on the vast plains to the west of the territory, its soaring light will be enough to let believers and people within a radius of hundreds of miles see this holy site with its pillar of light reaching the clouds.

The only problem is that Baron Grant, the lord of Blue Mirror Territory, is likely to become increasingly wary of the strength of Black Forest Territory and take even stricter restrictive measures.

After Su Li agreed to President Roger's request, he continued, "The Bauhinia family and the people of our territory naturally welcome your investment in Black Forest Territory. However, this border princely territory is always fraught with threats and hidden dangers. Did you encounter any difficulties from Blue Mirror Territory when you came here?"

One of the key tasks of this Glorious Arena is to generate public opinion for the war between the territory and the Blue Mirror Territory.

Although order is relatively weak in the border princely territories, wars between two imperial nobles can easily lead to disputes and accusations, especially when one side is trying to completely annihilate the other.

This situation is somewhat similar to the Middle Ages under papal rule. If it is a conflict between members of the same sect, it is easy to arouse the papacy's disgust, and then he will declare them expelled from civilization, labeled as heretics or rebels.

Of course, in the border princely territories, the role of Pope is held by officials of the Imperial Elector Council. The Empire highly values ​​the continuation of noble bloodlines, somewhat similar to the concept of reviving fallen kingdoms and continuing extinct lineages. This ensures that the various noble territories and the lineage of nobles are not severed.

Wars and border conflicts may occur between two territories, but after winning, it is best to sign a treaty, requiring the other side to pay ransoms for prisoners and cede a portion of land to the victor. The victor, according to customary obligations, must also guarantee the safety of the other side, allowing them to maintain their noble status and return to their territory.

The empire has never had the concept of unification, so it strongly opposes the annexation of territories and the extermination of other noble lineages.

This means that when a territory expands its territory, it will face significant political and public opinion resistance.

The resistance increases significantly at higher ranks, growing almost exponentially with each rise in noble rank. The resistance to inter-kingdom wars between pioneering knightly territories is negligible. This is because the empire never considered pioneering knights as nobles; the destruction of their territory was as insignificant as the annihilation of a war gang or bandit group. Therefore, Orstein's westward campaign attracted little attention; the fall of several pioneering knightly territories was merely a few words in the battle reports.

If the Kingdom's Knight Territory were to be destroyed, the news would spread for hundreds of miles, and all the nearby nobles would know which noble had started a war and ended in a very dishonorable way, forcibly annexing a territory that had been passed down for many years by a glorious noble.

Since most of the kingdom's knights lived in villages, such an incident would simply be a source of amusement for the high nobles. They wouldn't see it as ambition for territorial expansion; they would more likely think that the annihilated noble had somehow offended their enemy.

However, things are completely different at the level of baron! Barons, in terms of both territory and political influence, are now legitimate mainstream nobles. They can even attend banquets hosted by imperial dukes, and are considered distinguished guests. After all, many barons are directly appointed by dukes, and sometimes these barons are even more important and loyal to the dukes. If a baron's power and influence are great enough, even the emperor of the empire will receive him and entrust him with important responsibilities. In the imperial capital, many important legion commanders and ministers are held by barons.

In this situation, annexing a baron's territory without a suitable reason or pretext would provoke public outrage. Forcibly annexing multiple baron's territories would inevitably earn one a notorious nickname, such as "the fat man," "the greedy one," or "the villain."

At the level of counts and dukes, each annexation was a major event in the history of the empire. Even though the province of Suland was devastated, other electors faced enormous resistance when attempting to annex it. Moreover, the people of Suland were very concerned about honor and did not want a historically rich, glorious, and illustrious territory to be annexed by other nobles.

Therefore, if Su Li wants to annex Blue Mirror Territory, he must conduct extensive public opinion campaigns to first secure his moral advantage and the moral high ground.

Upon hearing Su Li's question, Meryl Ramsay paid close attention and replied, "Blue Mirror Territory has set up strict checkpoints, and there are troops and knights everywhere. Everyone can feel the atmosphere of war. However, so far, they have only restricted all of this to the pass area in the east of the territory, and have only strengthened the screening of passers-by, without any particular harassment."

President Roger laughed and said, "Isn't this just making things difficult? We've been there for quite a while now, and I've spoken with other caravans during that time. Baron Grant's attitude was much tougher a few days ago, but because a large number of knights were stranded there without knowing what was going on, Blue Mirror Territory only had to loosen the restrictions after they lost patience and caused a huge commotion. Otherwise, he probably would have been torn apart by those furious knights."

Su Li couldn't help but smile with pleasure. This Glorious Arena was truly having a significant impact, bringing unexpected benefits in every aspect he hadn't anticipated. He could already imagine hundreds, even thousands, of knights and their servants being trapped in Blue Mirror Territory, inexplicably held captive for a long time, their anger erupting and causing a massive riot. Faced with such a group of people who only knew violence and not reason, Baron Grant would probably suffer quite a loss.

Meryl Ramsay didn't have much to say about this. After all, given her arrogance, she wouldn't bother asking those lower-level merchants for information. So, from her perspective, wherever she went, there was no obstruction.

So she said directly, "Should I thank these rude knights?"

President Roger shrugged: "You should know that rudeness is a characteristic of knights, and sometimes this temperament can bring some advantages."

"Enough! I don't want to discuss this anymore. Let's talk about cooperation." She turned to Su Li and asked, "I think the Bauhinia Knight shouldn't have any objections to us Mannan's followers, right?"

"Are you a follower of Mannan?" Su Li raised an eyebrow. He remembered that Zoe Ramsay was the sister of Mary Ramsay, and the head of the Ramsay family was a standard Lanord follower.

Although surprised, he still smiled and said, "Of course, I welcome the believers of Mannan very much. I believe that my conflict with Baron Grant is only a geopolitical conflict and has nothing to do with church beliefs."

Just like how, even though I have a deep and irreconcilable hatred for him, it doesn't prevent me from having a good relationship with his wife. We often have frank, in-depth, and tolerant conversations together!

With obvious pride on her face, Meryl Ramsay said, "The reason the family specifically sent me as the leader to Blackwood Territory is precisely for this reason. I heard that the Bauhinia Knights have a large number of Lightscale Fish for trade?"

Getting down to business, Su Li immediately became serious and said, "That's right, this is also the most important cooperation I hope to achieve with your Ramsey family. It was also a major reason why I asked you to send a fleet. I hope you can transport these Lightscale Fish out."

Meryl Ramsay replied proudly, “Then you have indeed come to the right person. The Mannan faith held a vital position in shipping and trade in the Old World, and many ambitious rulers were thwarted because they did not give this faith proper respect. Although the sect’s enemies believed that the Mannan sect abused its position as guardians of the sea, controlling access to the ocean for ransom, stifling trade, and requiring everyone to pay a demanded tithe—or else incur the wrath of the Mannan—in Maleburg, the Mannan sect’s power was exceptionally strong, and our Ramsay family and the cathedral wielded enormous political power.”

Of course, within the empire, the Mannan sect's power was relatively small, as the empire had little contact with maritime trade and it was only vital to the livelihoods of certain provinces. Nevertheless, the sect still enjoyed great respect in some places, especially in the southwestern provinces of the empire between the empire and the sea, where the people relied heavily on river trade; and along the storm-ravaged northern coast, where locals risked their lives to make a living on the Claw Sea.

Although Mannan was capricious and inherently violent, his power was equally formidable when protecting humanity. During the last invasion of the undead legions, countless monsters swept through the southwestern provinces of the Empire, destroying coastal churches and slaughtering worshippers and priests. But in this catastrophe, a miracle is said to have occurred—the Mannan Church in Scatten miraculously escaped the wrath of the evil monsters, for Mannan created a massive storm to engulf the city, forcing the approaching army to change course and move inland.

New converts mingled with refugee clergy, filling the Scatten Church with deafening prayers. The sect had no religious allies, but no enemies either—except for the shark god Stromfels, whom Mannan showed no mercy to. As long as priests of other religions showed proper respect for the sea—and, of course, paid their due tithes to the church—Mannan had no conflict with them.

The Sharya Church had a relatively poor relationship with the Mannans because the Sharya priestesses believed that the Mannans were so greedy, even thirsty! Offering sacrifices to the sea god was like throwing gold and silver into a bottomless pit. The sea was so vast for a reason—it was the stomach of the Mannans, an eternally hungry stomach.

At this moment, Meryl Ramsay, like the god she worshipped, was filled with extreme greed and hunger for wealth. After proudly introducing herself, she asked, "Bauhinia Knight, how many Lightscale Fish does your territory have?"

"I can show you in detail." Su Li wasn't entirely clear on the exact number either. With the vibrant life of spring, the territory was growing stronger in every aspect, and its wealth had increased significantly.

Lake Ravlin was no exception; the numbers of the Lightscale Fish and Stormhead Eels had likely changed considerably. Since neither Chairman Roger nor Meryl Ramsay had a griffin mount, Su Li rode a magnificent warhorse, Bloodmane, and galloped with them towards Lake Ravlin.

Suli currently has 16 of these mounts, all of them exceptionally fine steeds. This number isn't particularly exaggerated; no knight would complain about having too many mounts. Even ordinary manor owners typically own 3 to 5 mounts. A qualified knight should have at least 1 to 2 mounts; it's extremely rare for someone to have only one warhorse.

Therefore, the number of warhorses a knight possesses can reveal his identity, strength, and status. If an opponent has only one mount, he is either extremely special, like Durmström, whose powerful black donkey can gallop for days and nights, perfectly matching his status as the Raven Ruler and making him exceptionally suited for fierce battles; or he is a wandering knight or a rogue knight who has no legitimate income and is not much different from bandits.

This is why knights go to great lengths to find a master to serve; the difference in treatment, life, and status between having a job serving a noble is simply too great.

Su Li undoubtedly provided the knights of the territory with extremely high treatment. Along the way, every knight who saw Su Li immediately led his horse to stand by the roadside, respectfully bowed to Su Li, and watched him leave.

President Roger clicked his tongue in praise: "Brother Su Li, your reputation in the territory is simply unparalleled. I have been to many territories and seen many different customs, but I have never seen a knight in any territory show such heartfelt respect for his lord."

Meryl Ramsay was also secretly surprised by this, and couldn't help but raise her opinion of the young Bauhinia Knight. She really found it hard to imagine that such a young knight and a newly emerging lord could gain such high support!

It's important to understand that in the many border princely territories she'd visited, countless lords had been assassinated or overthrown by their knights. The number of pioneering lords who died in coups was perhaps ten times greater than those who perished in external wars. After all, the pioneering lords who came here were far removed from the protection of their former lords and the prestige of their ancestors, and were simply unable to deter the restless knights beneath them. In any case, the proportion of fools among the knights was not low. Even during the reign of the strongest emperor, there were always warlords who sought coups and rebellions. But in this territory, everyone held their lord in the highest esteem!
Su Li smiled at the two and said, "As long as you are generous enough to your subordinates, they will be very supportive of you. For example, this Lightscale Fish, if I were not the lord, I'm afraid many knights in the territory would not even have the chance to see it."

As they talked, the group finally arrived at the bottom of Björn Bay.

The scenery here also filled Meryl Ramsay with even more surprises; as a woman, she always loved these beautiful views.

Below Lake Lovelyne, there is a beautiful landscape of green mountains and clear waters. The beautiful green mountains of the Maiden's Ring are covered with clusters of flowers, and clear streams surround them, irrigating tens of thousands of acres of fertile farmland.

As the harvest season approaches, the wheat fields here are exceptionally lush and green, growing vigorously, with the heavy ears of wheat already bearing sharp awns.

Most of the wheat here is steel wheat, with awns that can easily pierce leather armor, so the serfs working in the fields wear gleaming chainmail.

Squads of knights patrolled the area, further enhancing the idyllic scenery. Every now and then, Rhea's spirits would appear in the fields, then vanish in a flash as people approached, disappearing into the woods.

This is the most fertile and bountiful scenery ever seen: tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of acres of flat farmland stretching as far as the eye can see, all fertile fields irrigated by the waters of Lake Lovelyne. Even just this sight is enough to tell you that this harvest season will bring a tremendous bounty to the territory.

Following the direction of the irrigation from Lake Rivelin, one can see that the dike of Bjorn Bay is covered with a profusion of blooming fruit trees. Pink and white flowers cover the branches, stretching for three or four miles like a tapestry. Many fruit farmers and Sisters of Dawn are continuing to plant new trees and graft more fruit trees. In the future, this flourishing and beautiful orchard will stretch for more than twenty or even thirty miles along the dike of Bjorn Bay!
When Su Li led his group to the top of the Bjorn Bay dike, the Minister of Agriculture, Fandall, and a group of nuns from the Church of the Dawn Goddess, who had arrived ahead of them on a giant eagle, immediately came to greet them.

Besides them, there is also a large security patrol team here. The main force is a company of the Holy Land Guard Force stationed here by the Hessian Territory, but in terms of numbers, there are more than 300 people from the Hessian Territory, who are divided into three groups to patrol here day and night in shifts.

There's no way around it; Lake Leflin is such a sacred place in the territory, and it's too big and too rich. It's inevitable that a group of outsiders will sneak in. Whether they catch a Lightscale Fish or find a Crimson Pearl, it's a huge fortune for them!
Such behavior was intolerable to the people and all the knights of the territory, and was considered a desecration of the sacred grounds of the territory.

Actually, if it were just a small amount, the territory wouldn't have such a big problem. The key issue is that their methods were very unprofessional, and the damage they caused was far more valuable than what they stole.

This is true in any world: destruction is always easier than development. A civilization that has been painstakingly cultivated over many years can be destroyed in a matter of hours by thugs.

Therefore, the sacred site for defending the territory is also a vivid embodiment of the spirit of the territory at this moment, embodying everyone's determination and spirit to defend the territory.

It is precisely because so many members of knightly families, along with their clansmen and servants from the manor, guard this place that the scenery remains beautiful and it has become a sacred place in the hearts of everyone in the territory.

Meryl Ramsay gazed at the shimmering, beautiful lake and asked, "Is this the famous Lake Lovelyne? I've heard that it was formed from the tears of a beautiful female knight, a spiritual embodiment of the Black Forest's fight against evil."

Su Li turned to look at Meryl in surprise and asked, "Ms. Ramsey has also heard the story of Lake Raveline?"

When Su Li and Fan Da'er were building this lake, they envisioned it gradually becoming famous far and wide for its beautiful legends. But they never expected that the beautiful legends of their territory would spread so quickly to outsiders.

"Of course," Meryl said with a smile. "I've also heard about Rainbow Falls and the hot spring town in Hessen Territory, which are both very beautiful and iconic attractions. I did my research before coming here."

President Roger chuckled and said, "Brother Su Li, you underestimate how quickly stories spread. When bards recount their magnificent epics, Lake Lovelyn, a beautiful scenic spot and famous holy site, is mentioned many times as a backdrop. I've heard that the Crimson Pearl originated from here?"

Su Li beckoned to Fandral, signaling him to introduce this famous holy site in the territory to everyone.

Fandral stepped forward and walked in front of everyone, immediately introducing the place as if it were his own treasure: "Lord, we already have 4 Magic Tide Pearls in this holy land, which further enhances the spiritual energy of the holy land lake. The cave corals can produce about 24 Crimson Pearls per cycle."

Each cycle yields 24 crimson pearls, which is 3 pearls per day. This number isn't actually that many; if pearls could be cultured, they could be sold by the basketful.

Of course, due to the powerful magical effects of the Crimson Pearl, this pearl requires more spiritual energy and time to develop, so this number is not incomprehensible.

Meryl Ramsay stared intently at the lake and said, “Excellent! This pearl will be an important resource for us Mannan believers. Our Ramsay family is willing to continue to purchase all the pearls at the price of 30 gold crowns.”

"Hiss~" Su Li looked at her in surprise. "Has this woman gone mad?"
Thirty gold crowns! That's enough to put a bounty on the head of a forest bandit leader.

She spent so many gold coins to buy a crimson pearl? This price was only raised so high by Senator Smith in an attempt to outbid Mrs. Bayonetta.

Seeing Su Li's surprised expression, President Roger, eager to curry favor, said with a smile, "Brother Su Li, you don't know, but since you left, the Crimson Pearl has been extremely popular in Maleburg. The followers of Mannan desperately need this treasure because they possess a divine spell for underwater breathing. However, since the spell requires incantation, it cannot be used underwater. It's like a healer being unable to heal themselves. But with this Crimson Pearl, they can further expand their activities within Mannan's territory! It has considerable value for their exploration of the deep sea."

(End of this chapter)