Wearing black silk for a foreign woman

"Put down the sword!" Jiyang IX shouted at Fred to stop Fred, then in Fred's shocked eyes, he took the Holy Grail from Cardo's hand and drank it in one gulp.

"Your Highness!" Fred exclaimed.

"Ah~!" A green light flashed in Ji Yang IX's eyes.

Chapter 440 I Challenge You to a Sacred Duel

Although George is an honorable Holy Grail Knight and has a high status in Batoran, this high status does not mean great power. Even as a Holy Grail Knight, George's power is very small.

Unlike traditional noble titles, knights are more like a profession than noble titles. A king can be a knight, a baron can be a knight, and knight is not a title that can define a high status.

Therefore, although George has the title of Holy Grail Knight, if we really talk about social status, he is just a fiefdom owner, a landlord with his own manor.

Since the population under his command was not large, George did not know how to command a large army. He usually did most of the charging, or at most leading the charge. Due to habit, when he saw someone holding a flag in front of him, George instinctively made a decision that suited his status.

Capture the flag!

On the battlefield, military merit is the hard currency for soldiers to be promoted. If civilian soldiers want to get bounties, or complete class transitions, or be canonized with some minor titles, military merit is a must. For nobles, especially minor nobles, military merit is also indispensable.

There are many ways for nobles to climb up, improve their status, and obtain more territory, such as marriage, etc., and the most classic and indisputable way is military merit. As long as you have made military achievements on the battlefield, even if you are a mortal enemy of the king or even cheated on the king, the king must first reward you for your military achievements and then find a way to kill you.

Even though he was a Holy Grail Knight, George had the need to climb up, so after seeing the flag, George, whose mind was already confused, reacted instinctively.

Go grab that flag!

On the battlefield, capturing a flag is one of the highest military merits, higher than capturing prisoners and beheading soldiers. Taking back an enemy flag is a greater military merit than beheading a hundred soldiers, because the flag is a symbol and the soul of an army. If the flag of an army is taken away, the morale of the army is basically destroyed.

Even if the army is reorganized later, and the commander survives for various reasons, such as escaping or paying a ransom, the capture of the flag will be an indelible stain.

Although the top priority should be to retreat and ignore the flag, George's brain was no longer working at this time and he could only act according to instinct. There was only one person holding the flag, so George immediately decided to turn his horse around and seize the flag.

As George, the leader, changed direction and rushed towards the man holding the flag, the knights following behind also changed direction and rushed towards Ranna who was holding the battle flag.

When Ranna saw the knights rushing towards her, she did not retreat at all. Instead, she showed a victorious smile.

Facing the cavalry rushing towards her, Ranna sneered and took out a spherical object from the pocket on the saddle.

Pressing a raised button on the ball, Ranna threw the ball with all her strength, landing it on the path that the knights had to pass. George saw what Ranna threw at him, but he was sprinting at full speed at this time, and it was impossible to slow down or change direction.

Unable to slow down or change direction, he would speed up and rush past before the thing started. Even though his mind was unclear, George still relied on his experience and instinct to make the most appropriate move.

"Gee!" George swung the whip and hit his mount hard. The horse under his crotch neighed, and its already fast speed increased further.

The advantage of the elven horse bloodline was brought into play at this moment. George surpassed the knight behind him, rushed out alone, passed the ball, and rushed towards Ranna.

Almost the next moment after George rushed over, the ball exploded violently.

Explosion!? With his experience, George immediately recognized the sound behind him. The blast knocked George and his horse to the ground, leaving him lying flat on his face.

Compared with his colleagues, George, who just fell flat on his face, was definitely lucky, because the remaining knights just rushed to the position of the ball, and the explosion was launched right in the middle of them.

The size of the ball was much smaller than the two that had blown up Mara, so its power was much lower. The loud noise of the explosion made all the beastmen subconsciously stop fighting. This sound reminded them of the battle in the valley.

Linde and Ranna looked at the damage caused by the explosion, estimating its power in their minds and how to use it in the future.

"Madam is really lazy." Seeing Ranna throwing the shells, Linde showed a look of as expected. This is exactly a smaller version of the two bombs.

The knights were blown all over the place, some were killed directly, but a few were still alive.

The few knights who were still alive were stunned by the explosion. Their brains were already confused by the ammonia poisoning, and the impact of the explosion made them unable to function. They tried to stand up, but soon they staggered and fell down again.

"Give them a quick death." Linde looked at the miserable appearance of the knights from a distance and walked out of the forest. "I am a kind-hearted person and I cannot bear to see them suffer like this. Let them be free."

Led by Lind, the pig beasts, led by Faith, walked towards the dizzy knights with Elisa rifles in hand. After exchanging glances with Ranna from a distance, Lind waved at the pig beasts.

The pig beasts came forward with rifles and finished off the knights. Lind didn't need a ransom, nor did he need prisoners.

The knights were killed, and the surrounded servants were almost wiped out. George, who was knocked over by the air wave, recovered and climbed up from the ground.

After a long period of blurred vision, George regained his sight. The first thing he saw was Ranna, who was holding a flag, riding a horse that George thought was a bad horse, and wearing strange-style knight armor.

"You are..." George recalled when he saw Ranna's face. "Are you the sister of the village girl who was bitten by a wolf?"

"I didn't expect Lord George still remembered me." When she said this, Ranna's face showed anger. After her sister was bitten, Ranna asked for help, but was ruthlessly rejected by George, who even reduced the food quota for her sister, obviously wanting to starve her sister to death.

"So what if I remember you." George stood up shakily, raised his head, and looked at Ranna with a mocking expression. "Which dead female knight did you pull this armor from? Do you think you are a knight just by wearing armor? A pariah!?"

"Don't you understand the situation, Master George?" Ranna clenched her fists. "I challenge you to a sacred duel!"

Chapter 441: Knighthood

Compared with ordinary people, George's physical fitness is simply superhuman. He is already highly skilled in martial arts, and under the transformation of the holy water of the Holy Grail of the Goddess of the Lake, his physical fitness has made a qualitative leap. His extremely strong physical fitness makes George's situation much better than other knights.

Good physical fitness does not mean that George is not affected. The impact of ammonia poisoning, coupled with the catalysis of intense activities, has made George's mind a mess at this time. He even forgot his mother's name.

But even though the situation was so bad, George still remembered some things, which had almost become instincts engraved in his bones.

"Holy Duel!? You challenge me to a Holy Duel!?" George looked up and laughed exaggeratedly as if he had heard some big joke. "You are a lowly village girl! Wearing a strange armor! You think you are a knight! You are qualified to challenge me to a duel? Hahahaha!"

George laughed out of control, and Ranna, who was being laughed at by him, turned pale with anger.

"You have a good sense of humor, you are a good joke." After laughing enough, George stopped smiling and pointed his sword at Ranna. "But this is not a joke you can tell with your status!"

"A lowly person is not qualified to challenge a sacred duel!" George pointed his sword at Jana and shouted. "As a lowly person, you put on the sacred armor without permission! And you challenged me to a duel like a noble knight! You have committed a great sin that can only be redeemed by death!"

"You mean, you don't accept the duel?" Just as George was spitting at Ranna, a voice that sounded familiar to George came from behind.

"Who is it?" George turned his head and saw Lind. "It's you? Kong Nan's illicit son?"

"Remove the preceding adjective 'thank you'." Lind said with a frown.

"Why are you..." George was puzzled at first as to why Linde was here, and then he immediately reacted after seeing a group of two-meter-tall pig beastmen behind Linde. "I understand! You were the one who commanded this ambush!"

"So you were the one in charge." George's face showed some relief. Compared to being defeated by beastmen or untouchables, losing to the descendants of powerful knights was not so difficult for George to accept. "If I lose to the son of Kong Nan who never falls off his horse, I can accept it."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you. This ambush was not planned by me." Linde sneered, ruthlessly shattering George's fantasy. "The one who planned this was the pariah you mentioned."

George was startled, turned his head and looked at Ranna. Ranna cooperated, holding her head high and chest out, making a show-off expression.

Then George broke through.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you, you untouchable!" George couldn't accept the fact that he lost to the untouchables without any resistance and was defeated in one wave. He immediately broke down and rushed towards Ranna.

Facts have proved that even though his current condition is so bad, his whole body is shaking uncontrollably and his mind is in a mess, the Holy Grail Knight is still the Holy Grail Knight, his fighting power is still amazing, and he rushed to Ranna in an instant.

But Ranna is no pushover. As a country girl who could communicate physically with the Minotaur in her hometown, she reacted in time to George's sudden attack and prepared to fight back. As a result, Ranna's horse lost control first.

Faced with the Holy Grail Knight charging at him aggressively, the rider was not hit by anything before the horse became fertilized and suddenly lost control and began to struggle.

"Whoa~whoa~!" Ranna hurriedly calmed the out-of-control horse, but this also exposed a huge flaw in Ranna. Seeing this, George sneered and prepared to rush up and kill with one strike.

Just as George was charging, he suddenly had an idea, turned around quickly, and waved his sword to block the light coming from behind.

Blazing rays!? George blocked several attacks in succession, and was shocked. How come so many magicians suddenly appeared?!

After blocking the first round of volleys, George looked carefully and saw no magicians, only a group of pig beastmen holding iron sticks.

"Goddess of the Lake!" George exclaimed at the scene that was beyond his understanding.

"Even the Lady of the Lake can't save you." Lind sneered, raised a rifle and aimed at George.

Another volley of fire came, and George blocked it with difficulty. After blocking this round of attacks, George shouted angrily: "Didn't you say you wanted to duel? You are breaking the rules! This is a shameless sneak attack! You are outnumbered and bullying the minority!"

"You were the one who said you wouldn't accept a duel with a pariah." Lind sneered.

"...That's not fair!" After a brief silence, George shouted hysterically.

Facing the Holy Grail Knight who neither accepted the "pariah" holy duel, nor demanded fairness, Lind was speechless and prepared to fire another round of volleys to finish him off. The two rounds of volleys of fiery rays had already made George very embarrassed, and he couldn't handle another round.

"Please wait a moment!" Just as Lind was about to give the order to free George, Ranna finally controlled the out-of-control horse and rushed over. "My lord! Please allow me to have a sacred duel with him!"

"…Reasons." Linde hesitated and asked.

"He watched his subordinate's sister die without helping her!" Ran Na said angrily.

Lind was very disapproving of the sacred duel between generals. War was such a serious matter, why would there be a one-on-one duel?

But Ranna's attitude was very clear. She really wanted to have a sacred duel with George in order to avenge her sister.

However, Ranna wanted to duel, but George still didn't want to. George looked at Ranna and continued to mock her, "You lowly country girl! You are not qualified to challenge me to a duel!"

"Janna!" George's words also aroused Linde's anger. "Come here! Kneel down!"

"Yes!" After a brief moment of stunned silence, Ranna understood Linde's intention, and hurriedly rode over, dismounted, and knelt in front of Linde impatiently.

It was because he was too excited and knelt too forward, his knees even touched Lind's pants.

"As... the new Baron of Dundalk, I appoint you as my knight." Lind leaned back, drew his sword, and placed it on Ranna's shoulder, completing the appointment.

Although he had the title of baron, since there was no specific fiefdom, Lind's title had no specific name, so he just came up with one temporarily. As for the ceremony of canonizing knights, it was a simplified version, without those oaths, and he was canonized directly.

"Thank you very much! My lord! I won't let you down!" Ranna responded excitedly, then stood up and looked at George with full fighting spirit.

George looked unhappy, but the opponent was already a knight, so George had no choice but to fight back.

Chapter 442: Fair Duel

Linde has two fighting masters. One is Kong Nan, the father of the immortal horse, whom Badio denies, and the other is Chen Haihuang, the founder of unlimited fighting techniques.

Since the two were not on the same track, it was impossible to compare their strengths, but there was no doubt that both were masters in their respective fields. Kong Nan was recognized as the most powerful tournament knight in the Holy Empire, and Chen Haihuang was the only sect founder with a legal kill record since the founding of the country.

Both of them had a profound influence on Lin De. His fighting skills mainly came from Kong Nan, but his fighting philosophy was undoubtedly inherited from Chen Hai Huang. When fighting, don't talk about honor or martial virtues. The only purpose of fighting is to win. Fighting means using all means to kill the enemy. Martial virtues are only qualified to be talked about after you are still alive after the fight.

Therefore, Lind scoffed at the so-called sacred duel. He had dozens or even hundreds of brothers, and without even asking, a bunch of them would take the initiative to ask, "Who should we kill today?" Who would want to duel with you one-on-one?

But not now, Ranna took the initiative to propose a sacred duel.

Because of her sister's matter, Ranna wants to make peace with George. Although Ranna is also a pragmatist, unlike Lind, she has been influenced by the culture of chivalry. According to the culture of chivalry, the best way to end hatred is a sacred duel, which can decide the winner or the loser.

If Lind made a strong request to Ranna, as a knight, Ranna would do it, but Lind felt that if it was harmless, he should still satisfy his subordinates' certain pursuits, so as to better ensure their enthusiasm. To give an inappropriate example, Frieza, the emperor of a certain universe, allowed those five clowns to dance in front of him, and the captain even turned his butt towards him, so why couldn't he allow his subordinates to duel?

In short, if Linde does not agree to Ranna's request, he may not say anything on the surface, but Ranna will definitely feel uncomfortable in her heart. In this case, she might as well go with the flow and agree to it.

Not only did he agree, he also conferred upon Ranna the title of knight. He did this because he was motivated, but he had already made the decision, so it was considered early.

"Since you are already a knight..." Since Ranna has been knighted, George can no longer refuse on the grounds that pariahs are not qualified to duel. "Then as a Holy Grail Knight, I accept your challenge."

"Let me formally introduce myself. My name is George Morgan, and I am a Holy Grail Knight serving one of the great Twelve Paladins, a descendant of Armand of Aquitaine, and the current Duke of Aquitaine, Guillen VIII."

"Ranna Yake, a female knight serving the great new Dundalk Baron, Lind Hunter." Ranna gave her name and waved her sword. "Please give me your guidance."

Even though it is a life-and-death situation, one still has to be polite, even if one might kill the other in a moment.

When the two sides saluted, Lind was ready to intervene at any time, and the rifle in his hand was locked on George's back, never moving away. Although he agreed to Ranna's request for a duel, Lind would not really abide by the so-called rules. If Ranna was not in a good condition, Lind would not care about fair duel and would just shoot.

Linde finally got a female knight, and he absolutely could not let her die.

"Sir, could you please give the start signal?" After introducing themselves to each other, Ranna said to Linde.

"Of course." Lind nodded. "Begin!"

"For the beautiful legs of the goddess of the lake!" After hearing the start signal, George immediately rushed out, shouting the battle slogan and attacked Ranna.

"For the Mother Earth!" Ranna responded tit for tat, shouted her own slogan, and swung her sword to fight back.

The two swords clashed together, making a sharp metallic collision sound, and the strength of both sides was evenly matched.

"Master, who do you think will win?" Faith asked Lind after the battle began.

"Nonsense, of course it's Ranna." Linde said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Lind was very clear about Ranna's strength. All of her moves were learned secretly, and they were disorganized. Many of her sword techniques were based on instinct. But even so, Ranna's strength was already comparable to that of many serious knights.

In terms of hard power, Ranna is definitely not George's opponent, but that is normal George. At this time, George is in a very bad state, and even the hand holding the sword is shaking slightly.

It was because George was in such a bad state that Lind agreed to Ranna's request. Facing the Holy Grail Knight in perfect condition, no one around him would be a match for him in a one-on-one fight, so they could only fight in a group.

"What's wrong? Honorable knight, how come you are so weak that you can't even hold the sword tightly?" While the two were wrestling, Ranna taunted George on the opposite side. "You can't even compete with the untouchables you mentioned in a contest of strength!?"

"Stop talking nonsense, you are no longer a pariah, you are a knight." George tried to use his trembling muscles to resist Ranna's sword.

"Just by simply putting the sword on my shoulder, I am no longer a lowly pariah, but a glorious knight..." Hearing George's words, Ranna suddenly felt a sense of unreality.

Is it just a short ceremony that completes the transformation from lowliness to glory?

Maybe it was due to the haste of the ceremony, or maybe it was due to some other reason, but even though she had become the knight she had always dreamed of, Ranna didn’t feel as… happy as she had imagined.

But now is not the time to think about such nonsense. Ranna glanced at Lind who was watching the fight, then exerted force with her hands and pushed George away.