Unknown Knight

Chapter 402: The Path of the Lord

Airen stood on the wall of Fort Talboria, looking at the farmers working on the slope outside the fort, and the village farther away from the slope. Smoke had begun to rise from there, as if calling the people and animals in the fields to return home. It was a beautiful pastoral scene.

Such a beautiful territory now belongs to Ailen, but he knows in his heart that soon all this will be like a dream, and he himself may disappear along with it.

Airen used to be drifting like a fallen leaf, and he always dreamed of owning such a territory, peaceful and tranquil, without conflict with the world. As a lord, he would protect this territory and spend the rest of his life in this troubled world.

However, as an illegitimate child, Ailen's mother was just Eden's maid, and it was impossible for him to inherit any territory. In the future, he could only become a relative warrior of his other brothers, fighting for them and expanding territory for them.

Airen was unwilling to accept that his life could only help others achieve success. He longed to make a name for himself through his own efforts and become a great lord like his admired father.

So Ailen worked hard to practice martial arts since he was young, learn the knowledge and etiquette of the nobility, and constantly improve his abilities in all aspects, hoping to become a great person in the future, and finally obtain the title of nobility and become someone who can eat at the table on this continent.

But reality slapped Ailen in the face time and time again. He had no status in the family and was often excluded and suppressed by other brothers. They treated him like a servant, bringing him endless humiliation.

As a maid, his mother had no family power and could not give Ailen any help in the situation. She just advised him to be patient and cried silently.

Finally, Airen, who could no longer bear it, chose to leave home and venture out into the world. During this period, he experienced a lot and suffered a lot. He worked as a poacher on the grassland, an apprentice to a businessman, went to the battlefield to become a mercenary who killed people for money, and even became a bandit who made a living by robbing others.

As he grew older and gained more experience, Aileyon's abilities grew stronger. He soon formed a team of bounty hunters, began to gradually accumulate strength, and made a name for himself.

When he passed through Tiha city again, he was unexpectedly summoned by his biological father Eden. The two father and son, who had not seen each other for many years, felt a little strange when they met again. His father's attitude towards him was no longer as cold as before, but was warm and respectful.

The worldly-wise Ailen knew that his father's current attitude towards him did not stem from family affection, but was due to his team of nearly one hundred bounty hunters.

Especially when Eden heard that he was friends with Aix, who was very famous in the world at that time, he became more enthusiastic about him and began to talk to him about family honor, the situation of the territory, and even the father-son relationship. You know, these were topics he could never touch before.

Eden said this to Aileyen at the time, and revealed to him that as his son, he was entitled to share these resources, but Aileyen knew it was definitely not that simple.

Sure enough, in the name of the family business, Eden finally asked Aileyen to find a way to learn Aix's business secrets, namely the origin and production method of snow salt, and to find a way to collect all the information about Aix.

For this purpose, Eden even solemnly promised Airen that after the success, he would become one of the heirs and be eligible for the fiefdom and the title of nobility.

This promise shook Ailen's heart in an instant. Although his father Eden's request went against his principles, he couldn't help but be moved.

Ever since he unwillingly left home to venture out into the world, and experienced so many hardships and bloody storms, wasn't it just to become a real noble?

He now has nearly a hundred skilled men under his command, but Ailen knows clearly that the reason he can gather these people around him is that although some people choose to follow him because they admire his personal charm, these people are only a very small minority. The vast majority of his subordinates are because he is the son of a noble, and following him will give them the opportunity to make a name for themselves in the future.

Once these people find that there is no hope in following him in the future, they will disperse like clouds in the sky at any time. If he wants his subordinates to follow him forever, tie them to his side, and make them a part of his power forever, the only way is to become a de facto noble.

Only after becoming a real noble and obtaining the territory can he transfer the land in the territory to his subordinates. Only with the land can he tie them down firmly and make them follow him forever and serve him.

Most of the nobles of this era did this, like the Swadian knights under the Swadian earls, the Rhodok sergeants hired by the Rhodok lords, and the Nord warriors under the Nordjars, etc., all used this form to maintain the dependent relationship between themselves and their subordinates, and used the land to bind the combat power of their subordinates to their own.

Otherwise, the hundreds of people around him would disperse sooner or later, and wouldn't all his efforts over the years be wasted? No one would be willing to accept that, and in the end, between principle and unwillingness, Aileyen chose the latter.

So he used all the connections he could and sent out capable subordinates to track the whereabouts of the Aix caravan, investigate the business operations of the Aix caravan, and collect various intelligence near the territory of Talboliya.

Soon, Airen discovered that there was a huge gap between the coarse salt purchased by Aix and the coarse salt sold, and judged that the snow salt of Aix was processed from coarse salt. This is why Aix found that there was salt similar to snow salt for sale in Tiha City, but they did not master the purification method and could not remove the bitter taste.

Airen wanted to find the place where Aix processed snow salt, but every time the caravan bought coarse salt, it was taken to Talboliya and then secretly transported to the valley. Along the way, the forest was patrolled back and forth by sharpshooters led by Desevi and Robin Hood, and Airen never found the place where the snow salt was processed.

As the saying goes, you're not afraid of thieves stealing, but you are afraid of thieves thinking about stealing. Later, as the intelligence about Aix increased, Airen became more and more clear about the trajectory of Aix's business and the approximate military strength of the territory. A plan against Aix gradually took shape in his mind, and he reported the plan to his father.

It happened that at this time Iden was encouraging the Nords from his home continent to colonize Calradia. Airen's plan was exactly what this ambitious man wanted, so the father and son joined forces to formulate the plan to ambush Aix.

However, Airen did not appear at the ambush site, but borrowed a hundred Nord warriors from Iden. He also temporarily recruited a hundred people from his hometown, plus his own hundred men, using a total of three hundred people to capture Talboria.

Although old Eden agreed to grant him the territory, he was unwilling to pay a penny more for it. Instead, he painted a big pie for him, the territory of Tarboliya, and he had to conquer it himself.