After I died, my personal maid rebelled.

As a high-ranking paladin, Paul's only job should have been to be responsible for the archbishop's security when he traveled.

But the archbishop was an extreme shut-in; his office was also his bedroom, and he rarely went out.

So Paul went from being a bodyguard to a gofer.

After leaving the training ground, Paul took a shower and changed his clothes. He thought to himself that he would tell the archbishop later that he wanted to go to the Western Territory to deal with the necromancer problem.

He walked through the Vatican's corridors, politely greeting the passing clergy, when a beautiful golden figure flashed before his eyes.

He instinctively raised his hand, but the words suddenly caught in his throat. He knew where she was going, and he didn't want a lukewarm response.

She already has new companions. Am I... stuck in the past?

Finally, watching Maria's figure recede into the distance, he silently lowered his hand and walked towards the bishop's office, feigning ease.

"Western Territory? Alright, but there's no need to rush the necromancer; it's currently unable to act."

John, munching on small cakes one after another, his snow-white beard covered in crumbs, mumbled, "Go to the Northern Territory for me and investigate the matter of the Royal City's assassins."

"Why don't you just write to the Duke and ask him about this?"

"He's already sensitive enough; there's no need to provoke him. Besides, the more attentive Oswald is to me, the more uneasy I become. As I've said before, I can't see through his thoughts, just as I can't figure out his attitude towards the Church."

John handed Paul an envelope and continued, "Take ten nuns with you. Tell them they are sent by the Vatican to the north for academic exchanges. He will definitely think they are my spies, which will make things easier for you."

"Yes, I'll go prepare it right away."

Paul went outside, walked to the corner, and carefully felt the envelope, indeed touching something hard. He sighed silently to himself; the relationship between these two was truly complicated.

……

Elena returned to the Duke's mansion, changed into a maid's uniform, and began her routine return check-up.

With the Duke absent, Elena handed Marquis Hughes over to the old butler and took a stack of lists from him.

First, she checked who had entered and exited the Duke's mansion during her absence. Aside from the Western Marquis arriving earlier than she had anticipated, there were no other issues.

The list of materials to be procured is correct.

There are no issues with the comings and goings of the servants in the mansion.

……

After checking repeatedly, she came out of the Duke's office and began to carefully inspect the hygiene.

Just as she squatted down, picked up a white hair with a puzzled look, and immediately began to worry about the health condition of a certain housekeeper who was suffering from multiple health crises due to old age, a little lamb hopped past her.

Following behind the lamb, Luna hummed a song, but unexpectedly caught a glimpse of red out of the corner of her eye.

Oh no, it's Elena!

The alarm suddenly went off, and she quickly and gracefully turned 180 degrees, then slipped and fell straight to the ground like a fish that had been thrown onto a chopping board.

Luna was relieved that she had saved her hand from further injury when she suddenly realized: Wait a minute, why am I dodging? This little lamb was a gift from the Marquis to my brother, not for me!

"If you want to eat something, just leave it to the kitchen and let the chefs make it for you."

Elena walked over, glanced at Luna's arm, and grabbed her by the back of the neck.

"I feel like you all misunderstand me," Luna said coldly.

Oswald, holding a lamb, walked over, gently stroking its soft fur while laughing eerily, his expression contorted as he played the role of a bald cannibal.

"Starling, Starling, tell me, is that lamb still screaming in your ear?"

He looked up, noticed their silent gazes, awkwardly put the lamb down, coughed lightly, and said to Alini, "Come to my office."

Seeing the Duke turn and leave, Eline released Luna, her gaze suddenly becoming incredibly sharp.

Who is Starling?

Luna shuddered. "I...I don't know..."

After discussing the issue of the southern commercial district with Elena, Oswald decided to have the Second Regiment, like the First Regiment, stationed in the eastern region, guard the southern region.

At the same time, a militia regiment of 5,000 people was formed in the south, composed of local residents, to be responsible for the defense and stability maintenance work in various southern cities.

People yearn for stability, but they are also easily swayed. For at least three years, Oswald will not abandon his policy of using the military to counterbalance local power.

However, after a long campaign, Oswald discovered that the military camp in Kuogu City, which he had painstakingly built up and invested a great deal of manpower and resources in, was now empty.

Of the two thousand elite cavalry, one thousand followed him to fight against the Undead Serpent and the Undead army, but more than half of them were lost and were put into Luna's personal guard.

The remaining thousand are now stationed in Ice City. Oswald originally planned to lead them and the Knights south to deliver a crushing blow to the Central Army.

Then the Duke of Dale sent money...

Ten thousand veterans were assigned to defend Kuogu City and Xingluo City respectively. In order to cope with the pressure brought by the demon army, he also transferred three thousand elite archers to Xingluo City.

Finally, including the two regiments from the three new legions that were transferred to local areas, only one new legion remains in the military camp of Kuogu City.

There was also the Fourth New Army Corps, which was composed of surrendered soldiers and did not join the battle order because it had not formed a combat capability.

Including the militia and Count Camillo's army, the total strength of the Northern Territory is close to 60,000.

Pushing back his chair, Oswald stood by the window, silently watching the bustling street, hesitating whether to continue expanding his forces.

The horses from the western pastoral areas and those purchased from the Dwarf Kingdom have arrived in Kuogu City, and a new round of cavalry construction is about to begin... But he is worried that the northern territories, which have not yet recovered, cannot support so many troops.

"Fine," Oswald made up his mind. Every sage teaches that great matters must prioritize the people, and that he should wait until everyone is living a stable life before making any plans.

Eleanor walked to his side and asked softly, "Your Grace, would you like to see Marquis Hughes?"

"I won't see him. Throw him to the construction crew and tell him he can come back to see me when he's figured things out."

"Yes... sir..."

"What's wrong?" Oswald turned around in confusion and saw Elena sobbing, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Why are you crying again?"

Oswald panicked and quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe away her tears. Had he done something wrong again?

In my past life, it was because of the plot that I often made her cry due to the internal conflict between my left and right brains. In this life, I don't think I've done anything wrong...

The girl's skin was still as soft as he remembered. Alene bit her lip, letting Oswald wipe away her tears, and raised her head, asking each word clearly, "Who is Starling?"

Ok? ? ?

Oswald's mind went completely blank. Starling? Hannibal? The Silence of the Lambs? How was I supposed to explain to her that I had just impulsively acted out a scene from a movie from my past life...?

Oh dear, this is troublesome.

After several days, Oswald finally dispelled Eleanor's doubts with a heavily modified version of the story.

Oswald, who had suffered terribly, could only pray that he hadn't called out a teacher's name while sleeping, since the soundproofing in the Duke's mansion was always terrible.

"My lord, a paladin who calls himself Paul requests an audience," a servant announced softly from outside the door.

Oswald put down his pen and looked down. Why was Lao Luo here again? Logically speaking, he should have noticed the hero and Maria's contact at this time.

Why doesn't he go back to guard the house and keeps leading the way to my north?

After putting away the documents as usual, Oswald looked up and said, "Please let him in."

Pushing open the door, Paul bowed and said directly, "Duke, the Archbishop, to thank you for your help, specifically asked me to bring ten nuns for study and exchange, as well as a letter from the Archbishop."

"Yes, thank you for your hard work."

Oswald took the letter, his expression calm. It's a shame this old fellow isn't a KGB agent; he's openly trying to plant a spy in my ranks.

As the letter opened, the metal key fell out, and Oswald grabbed it tightly in a flash, so fast that even Paul didn't see it.

"What's wrong, Duke?" Paul was alarmed when he saw Oswald's sudden change in expression and his sharp, sword-like eyes.

Your Excellency, could you please translate this? What do you mean by "don't provoke the Duke"?

Oswald said in a deep voice, "It's alright. Go down and settle the nuns now. I'll arrange for someone to contact you."

"Yes……"

Paul retreated nervously. After he left, Oswald released his grip and silently looked at the ancient mithril key in his palm.

In this world, marriages among nobles usually require the approval of the Papacy.

In other words, if a clergyman is invited to witness a nobleman's marriage, the Vatican will absolutely not allow that nobleman to divorce.

In serious cases, this nobleman could very well lose his title as a result.

They don't care about extramarital affairs, lovers, or illegitimate children. Just like how many female companions a hero may have, they don't care, because apart from Princess Diana, the rest of the girls are no different from lovers in the eyes of the public.

Oswald didn't really care about these things. Although the box that the key could open contained his and Annie's marriage certificate, if he didn't acknowledge the marriage, who would dare to criticize a duke who commanded tens of thousands of troops?

But what exactly was the archbishop trying to tell me when he sent me the key?

Could it be that he wants to stand on the moral high ground and point fingers at me? Oswald himself was amused by this thought; the old man wasn't that naive.

Moreover, the holy maidens he himself had trained were already on the path of being given away for free, and Oswald did not believe that the archbishop was completely unaware of this.

So, he wanted to win me over and hoped that I would personally go to the capital to meet him?

The marriage certificate is now kept in the Papacy in the royal city. With this key, Oswald can go there at any time and destroy the marriage certificate...

No, we must not act rashly.

Oswald carefully put away the keys and quickly calmed himself down. He needed to be on guard and not fall into a trap. That old man was a master of feints; he must have had ulterior motives for sending Paul this time.