Unknown Knight

Since returning from Kugit last time, Aix has stayed in the territory for more than a week. Originally, the warehouses of snow salt and leather products produced in the territory were full, and they could have gone out for trading a long time ago. However, a big fire broke out near Kudan City last time, burning down all the trucks of the caravan. Without the tools for trading, they had to wait for Amanti to build new trucks.

For more than a week, Axe had a very happy life. Not to mention that Yamila and Cress had already tacitly approved of his relationship with Miss Tanda. In order to give birth to an heir to the territory as soon as possible, they launched a severe offensive against him as soon as dark.

There was nothing else for him to do during the day. Amanti, Old John, and Manide were already familiar with their work. With the cooperation of Li Da, Zhang Ping and others, they managed the government affairs in an orderly and clear manner, so he didn't need to worry too much.

As for the army, Fatis, Bandak, Desevi, Ran Hu and Niza were very capable in all aspects, and the training, patrolling and hunting were all very successful. When he arrived at the scene, he could only watch from the sidelines.

As an idle person, Aix would call over any military leader he saw who was free and learn some martial arts from him. Occasionally, when he was in the mood, he would ride on his chestnut horse and go hunting with Ran Hu, Desevi and others. His days were quite fulfilling and happy.

Amanti's truck has been almost completed in the past two days. Axe plans to go on a business trip in two days and visit that little girl Gangde. She has sent him several letters, and she will feel resentful if he doesn't go.

But that morning he received a royal edict brought by a patrol soldier, King Harlaus asked him to go to the royal city of Paraven, saying that there was an important matter to discuss with him in person.

Aix then remembered that he had not paid any money to King Harlaus since he took on the olive oil franchise job, so he took more than 400 silver coins, and together with Fatis, Niza and a team of twelve cavalrymen, they rushed to the royal city of Paraven.

Two days later, Aix and his party arrived safely at the Royal City of Paraven. After entering the hall, Aix offered the profit of 400 silver coins without waiting for King Harlaus to ask. He also pulled out the wound under his ribs to show everyone, and said that he had not sent the profit to His Highness in time because he was recuperating in the territory some time ago, and asked His Highness to forgive him.

After personally confirming that Aix's injury was no longer serious, King Harlaus returned to his seat and laughed loudly. He looked at the nobles of the royal city on both sides of him, as if to say: Look, my original choice was not wrong! None of you have the ability to deliver the money to me in such a short time.

Then the king and his minister performed a crosstalk in front of several nobles from the royal city about a wise ruler and virtuous ministers, and loyalty to the king and the country. After that, King Harlaus was very satisfied with Aix's acting skills, so he took his hand and walked him out of the hall, telling him to have a good rest as there was a banquet prepared for him in the evening.

At the banquet that night, Aix became a celebrity in the royal city's aristocratic circle. Everyone knew that this new noble had a good way of making money and could make the olive oil business profitable in such a short period of time, so they all came to make friends with him.

After learning that the Earl of Aix had not married any other nobles, several young ladies from declining families came to chat with him. But now Aix had no guts to do so, as he was already struggling to deal with the others in his family, so he had no time to think about anything else.

Another thing is that the looks of these people are really hard to compliment. They can't even handle the food well. And they all look down on others and are so arrogant. It really makes Aix unable to think about other aspects.

Just out of politeness, he had to agree to the beauties in the royal city and endure their mutton smell that even perfume could not suppress. He made several excuses just to go to the toilet, which made these elegant ladies in the royal city wonder if the new Earl of Aix had some defects in some aspects.

After finally making it to the end of the banquet, Aix was again stopped by King Harlaus for questioning.

His Majesty the King first patted him on the shoulder as a sign of recognition for his performance today, and then said to him jokingly:

"Why, Lord Earl, you have no interest in the daughters of the royal city? Do you want me to introduce you to someone? I heard that Earl Prais, the lord of the Rebollet Castle near your territory, has a sister named Joanna, who is very beautiful. Are you interested?"

Aix chuckled and said:

"Your Highness, I already have a lover."

"Oh, which daughter is so discerning that she likes you, who has a promising future."

King Harlaus was visibly in high spirits.

Aix smiled embarrassedly and said:

"Your Highness, she is not from our country. She is Miss Gangde, the daughter of the Lord of Wocheze City in the Nord Kingdom."

"Oh, this is someone I know. Is she Miss Tsuna, the leader of the shield maidens and the wisest woman in the Nord Kingdom?"

King Harlaus was obviously surprised by the girl that Ax liked. In fact, in Ax's heart, the three girls were in almost the same position, but he also knew the generation gap in status these days. In order to maintain the dignity of the kingdom, he did not dare to mention Yamila and Cres in front of King Harlaus.

Seeing King Harlaus waiting for his next words with a curious look on his face, Aix had no choice but to continue:

"In fact, we just confirmed our relationship not long ago, so I took this opportunity to report the truth to Your Highness during this audience."

"Well, do you know why I mentioned Count Prais and his sister, Miss Joanna?"

King Harlaus asked.

"I am stupid, please enlighten me, Your Majesty."

"Don't be so modest with me. You may also know that there are only two major threats to our country, one is the Rhodok Kingdom, and the other is the Nord Kingdom. I sealed you on the border of the Nord Kingdom because I hoped that you could help me on the border. That's why I hope you can marry Count Prais. This way, your two families will be closer and closer, and you can support each other in case of invasion.

The Nords are aggressive by nature. If we can stabilize the northern border of the kingdom, we can develop with peace of mind. This king hopes that you can play a certain role and do your part to curb the Nords' invasion to the south."

King Harlaus looked at Aix with burning eyes.

When Aix heard what King Harlaus meant, he knew it was a hint. He thought for a moment and said:

"Don't worry, Your Highness. Lord Iaya's family accounts for one-third of the power of the Nord Kingdom. King Ragnar and I have a good relationship and we have business friendship. With me here, the two of them will not easily start a war against our country. But I dare not guarantee Your Highness about Lord Idenyar of Tiha, after all, I am not familiar with him."

"Very good, that is enough. My Lord, you are really a great help to me!"

After hearing Aix's assurance, King Harlaus was very excited, but he suddenly seemed to have thought of something, and after a moment's silence, he said to Aix:

"I heard that your snow salt business is doing well. Can you tell me about it?"

When Aix heard this, he thought to himself that the news spread very quickly. If no one took the initiative to spread it, he would never believe that King Harlaus got the news so quickly. Fortunately, he had made plans before, so he pretended to be calm and said to King Harlaus:

"So that Your Highness knows, this snow salt was given to me by His Highness from the Kingdom of Ragnar. It is said that his fleet found it on an island in the North Sea. At first, it was difficult to sell it, so I took the opportunity to take over this business, and it has only recently started to grow."

"Oh, your business is doing very well, Count. I heard that your olive oil business is also booming. I thought it would take you a year or two to get better. You really surprised me."

When Aix heard what King Harlaus meant, he immediately said aggrievedly:

"Your Highness, please allow me to report. There is no such thing as prosperity. I know that Your Highness's military budget in Uxhall is tight, so I used the profits from snow salt to make up for the deficit in olive oil. This is like robbing Peter to pay Paul. Let's focus on Your Highness' urgent needs first.

Your Highness also knows that the village of Talboliya that I took over is a deserted village. It was looted by the Nords and Rhodoks one after another. There is not a single citizen left. I finally recruited some refugees, but they have no output for a while, and I have to provide them with food and water. The expenses are really high. "

"Oh, by the way, speaking of refugees, there are nobles who have reported to me that you are hiding their serfs for your own use. Is this true?"

King Harlaus seemed to have just remembered and asked Aix what he had said. Aix was startled and said hurriedly:

"Your Highness, this is true. However, these serfs were originally escaped serfs. The nobles could not afford to support them, but they could not let them starve to death. I had no other choice. There was no one in the territory, so I had to recruit some to serve. I hope Your Highness can understand."

King Harlaus thought what he said was reasonable and comforted him:

"These are all minor matters. I will make the decision for you. However, you also know that the military budget of Uxhall City is tight. I also want to find an opportunity to take back our Wincord Castle occupied by Rhodok next year. Do you think it is possible to deal with the military budget...?"

"Your Highness, please be considerate! I can only make a little profit from the snow salt. The olive oil business is controlled by Lady Anna and Count Dilinard and their cronies. It is difficult to acquire it, and it is even more difficult to make a profit.

I think that some people must be unwilling to lose their past benefits, so they find someone to complain to you. They just want to take back what they lost and cut off your financial resources.

Your Highness, think about it, if someone else takes on this job, can they honestly hand over the profits that Your Highness agreed upon?"

Aix complained with great grievance. He knew that this loophole could not be opened. Once he paid out money for no reason, the amount of money would increase.

After hearing what Aix said, King Harlaus seemed to have thought of something. He panted heavily and angrily slammed the table, saying:

"They dare! Just do it without worrying too much. As long as you work hard, if anyone dares to sell olive oil privately and not hand it over to you for unified sales, you tell me and I will send patrols to wipe them out!"

When Aix heard this, he wondered how he could let King Harlaus send patrols to wander around? What if they found a valley producing snow salt on the edge of the forest one day? So he said:

"Your Highness, you don't need to worry too much about this. Right now, our olive oil is mainly sold to the Nordic Kingdom. King Ragnar and I have some friendship. As long as their olive oil cannot be sold to the Nordic Kingdom, they will have to sell it to me sooner or later, and then I will sell it for Your Highness. If it still doesn't work by then, then I will ask Your Highness to help."

"Okay, I'm confident that you can do the job. Yes, someone told you something here, but you don't have to think too much about it. No one can rise to prominence without any setbacks. As long as you are loyal to me and do your job well, I will always be your solid backer."

King Harlaus stood up, walked up to Aix, patted him on the shoulder, and said sincerely.