Knight Lords: Infinite Simulation and the Path of Light

Chapter 151 Betting
"Kevin!!!"

"Kevin!!!"

Hearing the shouts of the crowd, Kevin put Madkela's body on the ground and hurriedly ran towards Frederick and the others. At this time, the remaining assassins of the Dark Alliance had all turned into huge fleshy balls with a diameter of about two or three meters. Their originally tattered clothes turned into a pile of shredded cloth scattered all over the ground under the support of their swollen flesh.

Upon hearing Anduette's scream, the White Lion Knights guarding Frederick and his companions quickly huddled together, holding their knightly shields in front of them. As their battle aura converged, under the influence of their coordinated formation, they formed a massive lion-headed light shield.

As Kevin leaped into the air, enveloped in a bright silver aura, he transformed into a lifelike white lion. With a powerful charge, he plunged directly into the group of assassins who had already been turned into human bombs, swatting away the surrounding assassins with his lion paws.

But the fully charged human bomb didn't give Kevin any more time. Explosions rang out one after another, like countless dull firecrackers exploding, and dust billowed everywhere.

The explosions lasted for nearly two minutes. After the smoke slowly dissipated, the once bustling and charming streets of the capital were left in ruins after the repeated bombings and attacks from the fighting spirit.

The White Lion Knights who were originally blocking Frederick and his group were mostly blown away. The three in the middle of the formation were protected by a yellow protective shield with magic runes flowing on its surface, and they did not seem to have suffered much damage.

After sensing that the vibrations outside had subsided, Frederick stopped activating the necklace in his hand that was inlaid with a huge yellow sapphire. As the pale yellow halo emanating from the necklace dissipated, a huge crack appeared on the surface of the yellow sapphire.

Before he could even feel sorry for the broken life-saving tool his mother had given him, Frederick quickly looked up and around. Just before the explosion, he saw Kaiwen, dressed as a white lion, rush into the group of assassins at the very center of the explosion. He didn't know what had happened to him.

With a worried heart, Frederick hurriedly began searching. At this time, the surviving White Lion Knights also struggled to crawl out from various places and began to clean up the battlefield and search for their comrades.

"Here he is! Lord Kevin is here!"

After a few minutes of searching, the group found Kevin Hylan, who had exited White Lion mode, under a collapsed wall. Although he appeared to be unconscious, he did not seem to have suffered any serious injuries.

Just as everyone was frantically lifting the broken wall, Kevin Hylan, who had been unconscious, woke up. He smiled at the worried faces of the crowd and told them not to worry.

"I'm fine~~~cough cough~~~You guys know what, these human bombs are pretty powerful. If we had a whole bunch of them, it would be much easier to deal with the orc siege~"

But given the current situation, it was clear that no one was in the mood to play along with Kevin's lame joke. Seeing everyone's preoccupied expressions, Kevin Hylan stopped talking and got up after his knights lifted the wall.

After standing up and turning around, his joints cracked and popped. He happened to see his personal guard captain and asked:

"Kuman!! Report on the casualties."

Captain Guman, whose helmet had been blown off, quickly saluted Kevin in response to his question:

"Reporting to Lord Kevin, after cleaning up the battlefield, we have basically completed the verification of the situation information."

First, regarding our side, of the one hundred White Lion Knights you brought into the city, forty-three are lightly wounded, twenty-eight are seriously wounded, and twenty-nine have been killed in action. All knights have now been recovered.

Furthermore, due to the suddenness of the attack, the first wave of casualties was the most severe. The first wave of alchemical bombs appeared to contain annihilation powder, causing varying degrees of damage and malfunction to most of the construct armor.

Listening to Captain Guman's report, which was all bad news, Kevin couldn't help but frown. War is indeed an expensive art. If Mori were here, he would definitely make an exaggerated sound about what Guman had just reported.

'My God! My God!!! By the goddess of harvest, at this rate, all the lords of the North will have to sell their castles.'

The treatment of the knights under his command, the distribution of pensions to the fallen knights, and the maintenance of damaged construct armor—each of these costs a considerable sum of money, enough to bankrupt a baronate twice over.

Seeing his friend's serious expression, Frederick patted Kevin on the shoulder reassuringly and said:

"Kevin, don't be too sad. That's how war is. They all sacrificed themselves to protect us. I'll cover all the expenses for this."

Seeing Frederick's magnanimous expression, Kevin, though reluctant to discourage the guy, thought about it and spoke up anyway.

"It's good that you have this intention. I hope we can achieve our goal. Otherwise, with the little money you have as a prince who ranks so low, it probably won't be enough. I don't want the people in your territory to suddenly become so poor that they can't even afford pants."

Upon hearing Kevin's words, Frederick was immediately somewhat unconvinced, but then he remembered that although the White Lion Set was a standard set, its powerful effects and abilities were in no way inferior to some less outstanding level three construct armors. As for level two construct armors, it could only be said to be among the most powerful.

Thinking about the alluring price of a full set of Tier 2 construct armor, Frederick couldn't help but swallow hard. If it were a dozen or twenty sets, he could easily handle it, but according to Guman, most of the White Lion sets had some problems, even if they weren't completely destroyed and had to be replaced. Even if only half of them were replaced and the other half were repaired, that alluring price was beyond his means.

Thinking about this, Frederick, who felt a lot of pressure from the debt, could only nod reluctantly. After all, if he really didn't pay the money, Kevin wouldn't force him to pay. But such an action would mean losing his good brother who had shared joys and sorrows with him.

"Then let's work hard together. I will definitely strive to achieve our goals. When that time comes, I will help you build up many, many White Lion Legions, so you will never have to worry about the northern orcs moving south again."

Just as Kevin was about to respond, the vigilant White Lion Knight signaled that a large force was approaching. The two immediately fell silent and looked in the direction the enemy was coming from.
As everyone watched, a group of soldiers in gray-blue uniforms emerged first. Then, several bright roars rang out, and countless small black dots appeared in the sky. As the dots descended, it became clear that the approaching force was the Royal Griffin Rifles.

As more and more imperial security, garrison, defense, and patrol troops appeared, a mocking look appeared on Frederick's face. He said with a slightly sarcastic tone, "No wonder my father died so mysteriously. At this rate, I should be thankful for him; he reigned for so many years before dying, which means he wasn't a complete sleeper."

Anduette understood that Frederick's words, while ostensibly a jab at the mysterious death of his father, were actually a complaint about how they had endured an attack for about ten minutes without any of the capital's garrison troops appearing. Instead, they only appeared after Kevin and the White Lion Knights had wiped out the attackers and everything had settled down, and they all appeared at the same time.

Fearing that Frederick might give the group a bad look because of this, Anduette quickly explained:

“Your Highness, Your Highness Frederick, I would like to ask you to calm down. Even if your dissatisfaction has reached its peak, you must still be patient.”

Frederick watched with a blank expression as Anduette painstakingly explained to the group that had rushed over. This series of events had left him in a terrible mood, and the veins on his forehead were throbbing incessantly.

"Your Highness, my father foresaw this situation. Since the Eighth Prince may be colluding with the Eternal Flame, then all of you princes and princesses who have the power to inherit the throne will be his potential enemies."

As for one's rivals, the only way to eliminate the threat is to eliminate those rivals altogether. Therefore, with so many princes and princesses already dead, you and Kevin returned to the capital with the formidable White Lion Cavalry.

Regardless of your thoughts, everyone will consider you the strongest contender for the throne, and that has been irreversible from the moment you stepped through the portal and returned to the capital.

Seeing Anduette coughing violently because he was speaking too fast in his haste, Frederick inexplicably suppressed his anger and patted the latter on the shoulder, indicating that he could speak slowly.

Seeing that Frederick's emotions had stabilized, Anduette breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced at the imperial garrison troops who were still some distance away and began to speak slowly and deliberately.

"In the capital, no one, big or small, whether they are old nobles, emerging nobles, military forces, or giant merchants, dares not take sides at this time. If they choose the wrong side at this time, they will face reckoning in the future, reckoning in any sense and at any level."

The deaths of several members of the royal family within a week only heightened their anxiety. They were all waiting for a result: would a prince or princess emerge to disrupt the seemingly calm surface that was actually turbulent beneath, or would all the princes and princesses fall in this premeditated scheme, with the eighth prince eventually ascending the throne and the church taking over the court?

This was extremely important to them, so they dared not play all their cards at once.

After listening to Andouette's lengthy explanation, Frederick roughly understood what the other party meant. Indeed, if he were in that situation, he would probably make the same choice. However, there was still one thing that Frederick couldn't figure out, so he asked Andouette his question.

"So why, even though Kevin and I have both decided to return to the capital, are they still...~~~~~~~~"

Frederick, unsure how to describe it, froze on the spot. Anduette, clearly knowing what the prince wanted to say, picked up the conversation.

"Are you trying to say why, even after you and Kevin returned to the capital with the White Lion Armored Knights, they were still observing and only showed up one by one after the attack just now?"

Hearing Anduette correctly articulate his doubts, Frederick nodded, awaiting her reply:
"It's actually quite simple. My father has also addressed this issue. However, contrary to his expectations, he didn't anticipate that those people on the other side would be so anxious. They launched an attack on you as soon as you returned to the capital. Moreover, judging from the scale of the attack just now, the intensity of their attack on you is already greater than the combined efforts of the other princes. It seems they have high hopes for you, Your Highness Frederick."

Seeing Anduette change the subject mid-sentence, Frederick raised an eyebrow. Realizing he had gone off-topic, Anduette quickly slapped his mouth.

"Ah~ I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Your Highness Frederick. My father said that I've been trying to get rid of this bad habit of showing off for a long time, but I still haven't succeeded."

The answer is actually quite simple. Even though you returned from the Arma frontier in the north, bringing with you the Empire's youngest Sky Knight and half of the powerful White Lion Construct Knights, they still wouldn't dare risk everything for you. You haven't proven to them yet...

"Haven't I proven it to them yet?"

Anduette's answer only deepened Frederick's confusion. This time, Anduette didn't dabble in anything irrelevant; instead, he stared into Frederick's pale golden eyes and slowly said:
"You haven't proven to them that you can live and protect yourself. After all, it's meaningful to them that you're alive and will continue to live. As for if you die, you haven't invested all your capital yet, so you can naturally negotiate a good price in the future."

At this point, Frederick understood what Anduette meant. Looking at the various Imperial troops only a few dozen meters away, he remarked with emotion:

"These are quite a cautious bunch of gamblers. So, after seeing that I survived unscathed from the attack by hundreds of assassins from the Dark Alliance and Teacher Madkela, they chose to place their bets at the table now?"

Following Frederick's gaze, one could see that after the leaders of the major legions had arranged the work of their respective troops, they all walked toward Frederick and his party, who were being protected by the White Lion Construct Knights.

"Yes, Your Highness. The situation just now was enough for them to make a choice. After all, risks and benefits go hand in hand. If it had happened any later, they wouldn't have been able to share as many of the benefits in the future."

"Then I should thank them for their investment in me, but I'd rather thank my brother Kevin. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be standing here waiting for them to say all that insincere stuff to me."

Kevin, who was wiping the dust off Louise's face, heard Frederick talking about him and replied without turning his head:

"No need for thanks. I'll think about how to communicate with them later. White Lion is quite expensive, so it's time for them to do their part."

Hearing his good friend's perpetually clueless remarks, Frederick sighed helplessly and turned to Anduette, saying:
“Let’s go, let’s see what these guys have to say. Help me out, you’re better at these things.”

"As you wish, Your Highness Frederick!"

(End of this chapter)