Being a knight is not easy

Chapter 229 Explosion

As Robin's army trudged through the snow back to their territory, a small elite cavalry force of two hundred men quietly broke away.

Andy Sue's anchor cloak fluttered in the cold wind as he silently followed behind the Ghost General.

This arrangement made him feel a tightness in his chest, but he dared not disobey his lord's orders.

"Southeast, three li away." The ghost general suddenly raised his hand, his pale fingers drawing several marks on the snow. "Twenty barbarians are plundering a village."

Andy frowned and looked around, but there was no one in the snowfield.

But when he followed the ghost general's instructions to circle around to the back of the hill, he indeed found a group of barbarian warriors burning down the granary.

The ensuing battle unfolded like a meticulously choreographed drama.

The ghost general divided the cavalry into four groups, using the terrain and snowstorm as cover, and annihilated the barbarian squad in less than half an hour.

What shocked Andy Sue the most was that no one was injured or killed during the entire process, and not even the warhorses were startled and neighed.

"You used to lead troops?" Andisu couldn't help but ask, his fingers unconsciously tracing the newly added nick on the hilt of his sword.

The ghost general's single eye reflected the snow's light, and a meaningful smile appeared on his lips: "In our family, children learn to deploy troops and arrange formations from the age of six."

This answer caused Andy Sue's pupils to contract sharply.

The Ghost General simply said, "Don't waste time here. The main force of the barbarians has been completely annihilated by our lord. Only a small number of them remain here. Our mission is to identify the key strongholds in these four territories, and then search for survivors to prepare for our lord's future occupation of these territories."

Andysu's breathing suddenly became heavy, and his hand on the reins tightened involuntarily.

He finally understood Robin's foresight—the "ten-acre system" that the other knights complained about at the victory banquet was actually preparation for today's expansion.

“Four territories,” he murmured to himself, as if he could already see vast, fertile wheat fields before his eyes.

The most pressing crisis of enfeoffment for those lands ravaged by barbarians can be immediately resolved by simply planting the anchor flag.

The ghost general swept his gaze across the abandoned watchtower on the distant hill, his voice like a grating whisper: "Mark the granaries, wells, and mines first." He spurred his horse forward, leaving a trail of clear hoofprints in the snow. "As for the survivors, it would be best if we could find them."

Andy Sue suddenly remembered the five acres of land she was forced to return last month.

He was secretly dissatisfied at the time, but now he suddenly realizes the truth.

Robin had long been preparing for the expansion of the Knights, and those farmlands that were taken back were probably for future redistribution in the new territory.

"Go!" Andy Sue cracked his whip, and his warhorse neighed as it charged forward. His anchor cloak drew a sharp line in the snow, as if he could already see countless newly knights kneeling to receive their investiture on this land.

Inside the lord's castle hall, twenty Knight Power Fruits gleamed with an agate-like blood-red light on a black velvet tray, while two large Knight Fruits were placed separately in an amethyst box—their patterns pulsating slightly as if they were alive.

Robin's dragon-slaying spear tip lightly touched each fruit, the spearhead striking the fruit shell with an eerie metallic tremor.

"Mountain dog."

The commander of the spearmen who had been called out staggered forward, with fragments of barbarian bones still stuck in the gaps of his armor.

The moment he swallowed the fruit, his blood vessels suddenly bulged like a spider web, and it felt as if countless tiny snakes were crawling under his skin.

He knelt on the ground and roared, his fingernails scratching ten bloody marks into the ground, finally completing his transformation with the third crack of his bones.

"From now on, you'll be called Sandy. 'Mountain Dog' sounds awful." Seeing that the other had successfully refined the Rider-Rider Fruit, Robin smiled and named him. This was a common problem among most serfs and slave soldiers; they named their children casually, even more casually than people from a certain island nation.

This is rarely seen in ordinary people.

Upon hearing his new name, Sandy bowed even more respectfully to Robin, his eyes filled with fervor.

The remaining twenty people all broke through to the next level as expected, which made Viscount Wilke nod in satisfaction.

The subsequent fruit was the Great Knight Fruit, not the peak Great Knight Fruit, but just an ordinary Great Knight Fruit. The two people who were given it were only at the peak of the Knight level.

The bestowal of the two Great Knight Fruits was unusually quiet.

When the old knight Monk used his silver knife to cut open the fruit, the juice seemed to seep into his graying temples as if it were alive.

Everyone watched with bated breath as his wrinkles gradually smoothed out, until he twisted the test steel ingot into a pretzel shape with his bare hands.

But a muffled explosion suddenly came from the north corner.

A knight attempting to refine the second Power Fruit exploded into a bloody mist, his splattered entrails leaving seven crimson trails on the anchor banner.

Robin expressionlessly wiped away the bits of flesh that had splattered on his lips, pointing his Dragon Slayer Spear at the pool of blood and mud: "Take him out. Next one."

"As expected, using the Power Fruit can quickly increase strength, but it also places very high demands on the body. If one cannot fully refine the Power Fruit they consume, they will explode and die when they consume it again."

Robin quickly made an assessment in his mind, then looked at Viscount Wilke and Ito.

The two nodded in perfect unison.

During this time, the two of them really wanted to use the Power Fruit to train again, but after seeing what happened today, they gave up the idea.

In the early morning mist, the Ghost General's cavalry rode through the city gate, leaving long trails of dust.

More than two thousand ragged survivors followed behind the group, looking at Viscount Wilke’s territory, which had no city walls, with a mixture of fear and curiosity.

They couldn't understand why Viscount Wilke, which had no walls, was able to withstand the barbarian attacks.

Viscount Wilke's hands trembled slightly, and the old lord could barely control his expression.

He knew all too well what those two thousand hands meant: the abandoned land could be reclaimed, the stagnant mines would once again echo with the sound of picks, and more importantly, the military camp would finally be able to gather enough manpower for three shifts.

"My lord." The ghost general slammed one knee on the bluestone slab and took out a roll of tanned sheepskin map from his bosom. "The key points of the four territories are all here." His fingertips traced several red dots marked with barbarian blood. "If beacon towers are set up here, barbarian cavalry will have to detour for at least three days."

Robin took the map, his gaze lingering briefly on the intricate contour lines and symbols.

He couldn't understand the complex markings, but the fact that the ghost general used different shades to distinguish the density of bushes when drawing them was reassuring enough.

“Father,” Robin casually tossed the map to old Wilke, “have these newcomers start by clearing the wasteland on the north slope.” He paused, “Tell the overseer that those who work for three months can join the territory, and thereafter the territory will protect their safety.”

When the old lord unfolded the map, he nodded in satisfaction and waved to Ito, who immediately went to make arrangements.

The former chief knight of the territory is now about to become the territory's political officer.

(End of this chapter)