Lord: I have a Mount & Blade panel.

Prince Anduin clapped his hands gently, and the classical door slowly opened, revealing a burly knight with golden branches carrying a heavy oak chest.

"Richard, five thousand gold coins is a lot of money. Even the Rommel family would find it difficult to come up with so much. Two thousand of them are my personal support for you."

The knight bent down, placed the box on the ground, and opened it, revealing that it was full of gold coins.

Richard picked up a heavy, beautiful, alluring, and glittering piece of gold, cast with the image of a king, yet more beloved than the king himself, more seductive than a naked succubus, capable of easily corrupting a person.

There were a full five thousand of them, while his territory's annual tax revenue didn't even amount to three hundred gold coins.

Damn, I really want to rip off this old guy and then run away!

Prince Anduin smiled, for he saw greed in the prince's eyes.

No one could refuse such a large sum of money, especially a little guy who had just come of age.

Richard closed the box, his face now displaying a polite and composed smile, looking greatly encouraged, and saying things like he would definitely live up to Uncle Anduin's expectations.

Prince Anduin then waved his hand in satisfaction, and the Goldleaf Knight helped the prince carry the heavy box back to his bedroom.

After Richard left, a voluptuous woman sat down next to the prince, affectionately took his arm, and said:

"Darling, this prince looks very different from what we've heard."

"Oh, what are the differences?"

Qi Na pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, "Rumor has it that he is weak-willed, but just now I saw him even dare to lose his temper with you. This doesn't seem like a weak prince."

"People who dare to lose their temper usually have something to back them up."

"Moreover, this prince's subordinates described him as extremely powerful, almost like Emperor Arthur from nine hundred years ago reborn."

"They're just a bunch of brainwashed followers, no need to take them to heart." Prince Anduin made his decision in an instant.

"Therefore, it can be seen that many rumors in this world are without any basis."

Prince Anduin himself was a mage, so he knew that every accumulation of cultivation inevitably consumed countless resources and time, and it was impossible to hide it from the eyes of the world.

Moreover, he knew all too well what kind of strength this Prince Richard possessed; at most, he was just a Silver-rank Battle Knight, and his so-called confidence was nothing more than a fox borrowing the tiger's might.

……

Sylvie, a graduate of the Royal Military Academy and Prince Richard's guardian knight, stammered as she looked at the five thousand gold coins in the box in front of her, "Your Highness... so many gold coins... where did you get them from...?"

As the prince's guardian knight, and because of his personality, he was completely indifferent to politics, so she was also in charge of the specific matters of taxation in the territory in the past.

That decent little town only collected a few hundred gold coins in taxes a year, barely enough to maintain a respectable lifestyle for the royal family.

It would take hundreds of years to save up five thousand gold coins!

The sudden acquisition of such a large sum of money made Sylvie somewhat worried.

"I earned it by selling myself," Richard casually replied, instructing his servant to find a map of the continent of Assassin.

"Huh?" Sylvie, who usually appears as an ice queen, was utterly shocked, as if her entire worldview had been shaken.

"What are you thinking? This is the little money I got by selling myself to the Rommel family as their son-in-law." Richard looked at Sylvie expressionlessly.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness." Sylvie apologized in a flash, inwardly cursing herself for reading less of those novels written by unscrupulous bards.

"Your Highness, here is the map you requested."

The waiter quickly rummaged through the luggage and found a map of the continent of Assassin.

In this regard, Richard had to thank his predecessor, who, precisely because of his interest in traveling the continent, prepared detailed maps of the continent of Assassin and the Kingdom of Empe when Gundon was still somewhat favored.

If it were now, it wouldn't be easy for this down-on-his-luck prince to find a map.

The continent of Asshal is very vast, surrounded by sea on all sides, and the Kingdom of Empe is located in the center of the continent. To the east is the boundless Semporna Sea, and to the north is the desolate and empty Un'Goro Wilderness.

Richard then sat down at the desk in the bedroom, and Sylvie spread the map out on the table. Richard's gaze focused on this small area.

His deep eyes were fixed on a location on the map.

"High Cliff Fortress".

"Is it here...?"

His gaze was fixed on the area above, which was located in the northern part of the Eastern Province, east of the Narrow Sea, and bordering the Semporna Sea. Further up lay the Northern Province and the Ungolo Wilderness.

The location of Gaoyabao is similar to that of the world's largest superpower in the previous life.

Gaoyabao was Augustus's hometown and did not belong to the Northern or Eastern Provinces, but was directly under the jurisdiction of the royal family.

However, in order to better govern the Kingdom of Empe, Augustus moved the capital to Gundon, and the High Cliff Fortress, whose wealth had been completely drained, became increasingly insignificant.

Only a few vassals loyal to the Augustan family remain in this impoverished land.

It had been ten years since Augustus last returned to his homeland.

"No wonder Anduin said High Cliff Fortress wasn't a good place." Richard leaned back in his chair, a headache nagging at him.

This tiny place has nowhere to retreat strategically. Once surrounded by a large army, the only outcome is to wait for death.

Seemingly sensing that her prince was troubled, Sylvie took the initiative to come behind the chair and gently massage Richard's head.

It felt good, but something was missing, Richard thought, and then said, "Move closer."

His head sank into two soft places, and the faint scent of night-blooming jasmine kept wafting into his nose.

That's just right!

Sylvie's usually icy face flushed slightly, and her movements became somewhat stiff. This seemed to be the first time His Highness had ever been so intimate with her...

When Richard first met his guardian knight, she left him with the impression of being an ice queen.

The other person not only has an enviable figure that even the devil would envy, but also a breathtakingly beautiful face.

However, this tall half-elf girl was so beautiful that she always seemed unapproachable. Her face was mostly cold, and she exuded a noble aura that only elves possess, keeping people at a distance.

The other party was undoubtedly a very arrogant person—but His Highness the Prince himself was the most arrogant person in the world.

Richard had reason to suspect that this excellent half-elf knight was someone his mother, whom he had never met, had deliberately placed by his side since childhood.

The specific intention is unclear.