The Defeated Dragon

That night, Liszt invited a total of fifteen friends of his for dinner at Tulip Castle. They were all descendants of knights or knights-in-training and were all studying at the Knights Academy.

The most noteworthy among them were two earth knights whom he had spoken with at the manor and have said that they would follow him. Their names were Rick Footprint and the orphan, Griffin Haystack.

Griffin's qi was in the same level as Randy's. He is just twenty years old, and his combat skills are good. His only flaw, however, was his stuttering.

The aristocracy pays attention to appearance and posture. They were not that particular about someone being ugly, but he should not be disabled. Stuttering, however, was cla.s.sified as a type of disability. This was the reason why Griffin was not selected as one of the Knights of Coral City. This completely devastated the young lad. Liszt remembered that his predecessor used to mock Griffin.

But later Liszt realized that Griffin was good and very kind, and he gradually developed a feeling of sympathy for Griffin's disability — he could not imagine being in Griffin's shoes.

Now Liszt is very satisfied with Griffin.

Good personality and hardworking — he has what it takes to be  a “confidant”, for those are the qualities Liszt was looking for in his followers, and also guaranteed loyalty.

Except for Rick and Griffin, the rest were trainee knights.

It may be enough to be hired as an officer but definitely not enough to join the Knights Squad.

After drinking, he had sent his friends on their way. Liszt went back to the room where he had lived for more than a decade and thought quietly. “All in all, I have five Knights Squad members, Marcus,Russell, Randy,Rick, Griffin,…and with seven more, I can complete the team.” 

Knights in small teams can practice group attacks, joint fighting and act like a single unit.

Only with a Knights Squad is he qualified to enter the battlefield. As for Liszt himself, his safety can be given to Tremblingwoods and his newly-hired sword, Paris—Liszt  believes that the strength of one person and one dog will peak, and he can escape any sword saint that would chase him.

“And I'm the son of the Count, and I'm a hard-core logistics worker!”

Levis can go to the battlefield to do logistics, but of course he can't lose to Levis.

————-

The second day was the celebration party.

All the n.o.bles near and far from Coral Island came to Tulip Castle. They took their servants with them as well, hence,Tulip Castle was noisy like a vegetable market.

The t.i.tleless members of the Knighthood order who partic.i.p.ated in the battle had already  determined that they would not get a t.i.tle this time. After receiving their own gold coin rewards, they each went back to their families to find their own mothers.

Only seven knights were left.

Seven of them were knights who made great achievements. They could win the t.i.tle of 'Lord's Knight' tonight. All of them were in great joy and wished that the awarding ceremony of the 'Lord's Knight' would start immediately.

In fact, there were three other knights who are eligible for the t.i.tle, but those three knights were followers of the other two viscounts and cannot come to the feast hosted by the Count.

At this moment, there were three viscounts in Tulip Castle – Trik Beer, Jonas Stone and Levis Tulip.

There were sixteen barons, including Liszt Tulip; seventy-six lord knights, plus seven newly promoted, summing up to eighty-three.

“If I remember correctly, there are eighty-two Lord's Knights in the Count's service. It seems that this time, six Lord's Knights were killed on the battlefield.”

A knight's sacrifice was considered normal, and the death of the knight was not uncommon. Barons and all positions above them have lower and lower death counts — after all, the higher positions are responsible for commanding their followers and ordering their knights to fight. In dangerous charges, it is the followers that fight desperately while their Lords do not take lead.

Like Liszt, he formed the Knights Squad but he never intended to count himself in it.

He has his own reasons for not partic.i.p.ating in the battle. After riding on Tremblingwoods , he felt the presence of his feet, “Don't panic when I'm here, give me a charge!”

It is said that there are two types of leadership charms -the “follow me” and “give me”.

The leader that says 'follow me' can win the support and love of his subordinates, thus he exerts greater combat power. However,  Liszt still chooses to be the 'give me' type. The life of the 'mud legs' are nothing compared to the life of the n.o.bility. The leaders who say ' follow me' are often engraved on monuments. The leaders who say 'give me' will always be leaders! [1]

“In fact, this statement is not accurate. Lords should be divided into three types.”

The first type says " Everyone shares in my benefits", the second type says "Give me the benefits and we will share them", while the third type says, "You give me benefits, and the benefits only belong to me."

“I want to be the third lord, but let's do the second one first.”

—–

Before the celebration feast, the ceremony was very lively. The seven new knights, held their  medals, representing a Lord's Knight, and bursted into tears.

There is a huge gap between the civilians and the aristocracy, which often takes generations to achieve.

But once you have a knighthood, even if you die on the battlefield, your descendants will inherit the t.i.tle, meaning it  is an una.s.sailable privilege – the aristocratic t.i.tle is not revoked unless there is no son to inherit the t.i.tle after death, or a big mistake is made.

“I swear to the Lord I will do my best!”

The seven Lord knights, kneeling on one knee, solemnly performed the Knight's allegiance etiquette to the Count.

The Count sat on the throne and accepted it frankly. He said something about encouragement and a warning as well , which basically means-I hope that you will work hard for me in the future. I gave you the t.i.tle, and I can also take it away. Maintain a humble att.i.tude and obey me. Abide by the virtues of a Knight, and do not disappoint me.

After the ceremony, the atmosphere reached its climax.

The Lord's Knights were drinking and bragging downstairs, while the Barons, Viscounts and the Count were also drinking and bragging but upstairs. Regardless of whether they partic.i.p.ated in the battle or made contributions, they were all drinking with pleasure.

Liszt was still not used to such an overly lively banquet, so he fell into a state of silence. Only when someone raises a toast does he bring up his gla.s.s and boast to each other – now, Liszt was not just the Count's junk son but a rising future Viscount.

Even Baron Henderson, who yelled at Liszt for his greed in the realm, took the opportunity to smile and toasted to Liszt instead of the Count.

“Baron Liszt, I wish Flower Town's business is booming.”

Without aiming for a smile, Liszt simply responded, “I also wish your territory's business is booming.”

Baron Henderson wanted to say something, but when he opened his mouth, he decided not to  continue. He just had a drink, gave a good smile, and went back to his seat.

The younger generation attracted the most attention during that dinner.

Not Liszt, but his brother Levis.

On his time on the battlefield, Levis was only in charge of logistics, but he could still see the blood and killing, nonetheless, which meant he had become a qualified heir in the eyes of the Count's followers. In the case where the earl was feeling too dignified and only his drink would touch his lips, the followers naturally focused their firepower on Levis.

Liszt was only a victim of fire.

But even though Liszt was silent and trying to be transparent the entire evening, he still turned out drunk when the celebration ended.

When Liszt was propped to bed by his servant, he had only one thought in his drowsy mind. “Sooner or later, I will be in the Count's position! Only I can persuade others to drink, and no one would dare to persuade me to drink!”

[1] 'cause they stay alive?