Otherworldly Apprentice Lich and Foot Knight

Mangtan's court situation in the past three years has been very turbulent. Externally, it was only calm for a while more than a year ago. In the past two years, the situation between Mangtan and neighboring countries has become tense again.

But not all the neighboring countries, but specifically the Duchy of Kados.After living in Mangtan for three years, Zhou Lingke and Xia En gradually understood Mangtan's political status.

Mang Tan wants to expand, this is the first thing to be sure.Geographical location determines that Mangtan has almost only one entrance and exit of Blackstone Castle. Fortunately, it is also facing a bad geographical environment around it. Otherwise, Mangtan will become an aggressive country now, or become a habit of being kept in captivity. The sheep that have died are still two things to say.Although Black Rock Fortress is just a fortress that is not as big as a pin on the map, there are actually three countries that can be regarded as neighboring countries with Mangtan.

Counting the four countries including Mangtan, to put it more vividly, they are four bulls head to head with their horns on each other.Among the four bulls, Mangtan is the one who is restricted and unable to fully exert his strength, the weakest is the Principality of Kerla, the domestic power is in a mess, the Principality of Noni can be described as suffering from chronic illness, and the Qika Empire is backed by it. The most powerful is the Principality of Kados.

Three years ago, after Mangtan also became Qika's vassal state, the Four Kingdoms calmed down for a while.But then, the other two countries were fine, but Kados broke out.

In fact, at the very beginning, Mangtan bypassed Kados and went to sign a treaty with Chika himself. Kados was very unhappy——the official victory was clearly a victory for the coalition forces, and Qika’s commanders were all on the ground. Chika's emperors have accepted the victory parade, but they have to spend their own money to redeem their nobles.And after everyone was redeemed, Kados realized that the price spent by each country was different, and Kados spent the most!

At that time, the eldest prince of Kados was about to start the war again, but his envoy was reprimanded by the crown prince of Chika, and ran back to the country in despair.At that time, Qika had already obtained the magic crystal to her heart's content, and was waiting for the first batch of goods to arrive, so why would she want to cause trouble again?

So after calming down for a while, Kados turned his mind to the magic crystal.Because there was still a gap between Mangtan and Qika, Kados sent troops to "take over" the transportation of the magic crystal halfway.But why are reckless soldiers so easy to fool?Not to mention soldiers, even those laborers who transport goods, they can't be fooled away with just a piece of paper!The two sides fought at that time, and Kados lost without any accident at the beginning, but it was on his territory after all. Next time, the transportation team will face the enemy who is packed ten times. Even though they had built simple civil fortifications in advance, no matter how elite and brave soldiers were, they could not last long in that situation.But in the end, the Kados didn't get the magic crystal either.

The magic crystal is a kind of energy crystal. Generally speaking, it is relatively stable, but no matter how stable it is, it is impossible to pile it on the car like ordinary stones and just pull it away.Each magic crystal is packed in a separate wooden box, surrounded by fine flannel soaked in special liquid.The last thing the commander of the guards did was to take out all these magic crystals from the box, pile them together, then pick up one randomly, lift it up, and smash it into the pile of magic crystals. There was no response once. Just twice!three times!Then...boom!You know, that is the magic crystal that supplies an empire for at least half a year. Although the empire is not big, it is still an empire!That explosion is basically equivalent to a nuclear explosion in the magical world, at least the equivalent of [-] tons of TNT.

In other countries in this world, unless it is a religious war, there are very few officers who fight to the last moment and finally select heroic officers.Even if some feuding countries are at war, there is an unwritten rule not to kill knights and officers above knights, because they are nobles, and generally captives will be exchanged after the war, or their families will be allowed to redeem them with money.After these people return to the country, their attitude towards the monarch will not change.

So I didn't expect this kind of situation at all. After all, the battle between Kados and Mang Tan was only at the Blackstone Fort before, and the future heirs of several big noble families who almost fought were dead. , with thousands of troops, tens of thousands of civilians were affected, and a large area of ​​the country fell into a magical turbulence. In the next 50 years at least, no one will be able to enter and come out of that place alive.

This time Kados went crazy. This time, Grand Duke Kados went to Chika himself to cry, but this time he ended up worse. He was personally scolded by Qika's emperor, Meroda II. Bloody head!

Affinity brings Chika closer to Kados, but only compared to other subject nations.Qika's most important thing is of course only the interests of the country, so many magic crystals exploded?Countless innocent civilians died?No food harvest?A large area of ​​land has become a magical disordered area?

Should!Why didn't you blow up your grand duke's mansion?Who told you to provoke the team escorting the magic crystal?Send someone to protect?Are you a fool or do you think I'm a fool?If you send someone to protect you, will they be so desperate that they will blow up all the magic spar?Do you think it is safer for the teams passing through your country to be escorted by you?right!How safe is it?Now everyone has seen it, it is so safe, it is so safe that there is nothing left!Do you mean that all merchants don't need to hire their own guards, and they all have to be protected by your Kados army?Including our Qika merchants?

The Grand Duke of Kados came back even more disheartened, and something even more depressing happened to him.Three and a half of the four major chambers of commerce in his country are preparing to withdraw their capital, because Emperor Qika's reprimand has been passed back to Kados.

These chambers of commerce are all transported by their own bodyguards and workers. Although they know that Kados has political purposes in doing so, who knows if the Grand Duke will really prohibit them from sending their own escorts in the future?This seems to save the extra expenses of the caravan, but in fact, the caravan will have more or less extra items, otherwise, where will the high income come from?Even if there is really no entrainment, but... the armies of these countries are really more trustworthy than the caravan's own bodyguards?Lie to the undead!

In fact, only Mangtan is the real national army now. The large armies of other countries are usually the private soldiers of the nobles. They only gather together after receiving the king's order.So, let these noble private soldiers protect the caravan?That is too much to look at the personal virtues of these nobles. These days, it is not uncommon for nobles who are short of money to change into rags and pretend to be robbers to rob caravans, or loot the territories of other nobles in other countries or even in their own country.Some nobles even went to other nobles' homes to "borrow money" without changing their clothes.There are also despicable ones. The year before last, there was an earl who ran into the territory of a rich young marquise whose husband had just died, and forced the widow to remarry him. The widow died the next year, and she inherited from her former husband. Territory, property and title naturally became the new husband, not to mention other nobles, even their emperor didn't fart.

If you happen to meet such a lord in the business field, and you will be completely protected by him in the future, don't you worry?The pulling out of the Great Chamber of Commerce also triggered countless joint reactions.In short, Kados has been in chaos for more than two years, and he never dared to touch Mangtan's magic crystal transport team again.

But recently, Kados has been up and down again.This time, it's not just about transporting magic crystals, but even taking over the entire vein of magic crystals.And it's not that the old man's whimsy, even Qika has many supporters in China.Because Grand Duke Kados believes that Mangtan used to pay taxes and sell the magic spar to Qika (as a dependent country, of course, he has to pay a "tax", but at the same time Qika will also buy it with money, but only the market price [-]%, but for Mang Tan, who was blocked before and could not even transport the magic spar, this is still a profit. I can only lament that the country is poor and there is nothing to do.) It is not the best, nor is it all.But if it is controlled by Kados, or at least supervised by him, Mangtan's magic crystal output can be increased by at least [-]%!

I don’t know if Meroda II was annoyed by the nobles bought by Grand Duke Kados, or he was also greedy. This time, Chika sent a mission, apparently to reward the reckless Frank I. The efforts made by the king during the three years of cooperation (of course, the so-called rewards have no money or things, just small pieces of medals and the like).In fact, they came to "inspect" the magic crystal mine.

Zhou Lingke dragged Xia En all over the place for ten days, there was no way... As a young man who is healthy in all aspects (Lich plus calcium), if you let him eat meat every other month, he can, barely It's also about keeping your body and mind healthy.But all of a sudden, it became "at least" three months to eat stewed cabbage vermicelli, and he didn't even get a little meat.

But the beautiful days of eating delicious food every day suddenly came to an end. Zhou Lingke rolled on the big bed where he was left alone, feeling his heart was even more stuffy...

Suddenly someone knocked on the door, and it was the voice of one of the handymen, who is now married to the cook: "Master, Master Polivi is downstairs."

"Master Bolivi?!" Zhou Lingke, who was still disheveled, sat up instantly. He had just received a letter from Master Bolivi from Suopota Town two days ago. Question, Zhou Lingke's reply letter has just been sent out, but he himself arrived without warning?Zhou Lingke dressed in a hurry and ran downstairs.

"I'm so glad to see you again, my friend." It's still the same as the old man with the white beard when we met for the first time, but the creases on Master Polivi's face are much more, it's just that he hasn't seen you for three years, but Zhou Lingke thinks this The master seemed to be ten years old.

"What happened, Master Polivi?"

"Oh~" Master Bolivi touched his beard, walked to one side and sat down, his walking posture was not as vigorous as before, it was not obvious when he was standing still, but he could be seen clearly when he walked Bending down, "Give me a drink, my friend, and then we'll talk about things that bother you."

"Sorry..." Zhou Lingke went down to support the old man, and at the same time apologized for his impatience.Old John gave him the wrong notion that magicians are all old monsters, but it turns out that there is really only one Old John in this world.

"No, when you know why I came to you, you will know that it is actually me who should apologize. Because those are things that bother you." Master Polivi sighed and sat on a soft chair superior.Later, after having some snacks and drinking a glass of fruit juice, Master Polivi took a deep breath, and his complexion improved a lot, "I came to see you today because of a domestic matter, and I thought it was a foreign matter. , which one do you want to hear first?"

"There are still other countries?" Zhou Lingke was surprised.

"Correct."

"Then let's listen to the outside world first."

"This is also the news I just got. This mission also intends to contact you."

"Mission? The one who 'inspected' the magic crystal mine? Why did you contact me... ah! Beast?"

"Yes, War Beast. Recently, several great empires have started a new round of collision. No matter who they are, the two war beasts are a huge temptation. This time they will probably contact you first, and then... Mang Tan As Qika's vassal state, it is obliged to come out and assist after receiving Qika's call-up order."

"Master Polivi, why do I feel that your tone seems to be very inclined to let me go?"

"Because you went, we don't need to send troops. At the same time, we can 'slowly study' the magic crystal mine."

"Understood, I will go if necessary." Zhou Lingke was a little helpless. He now understands that ordinary people think that the embassy has come to all kinds of good shows before it starts, but in fact the embassy over there probably hasn't set off yet. The political game has already begun.Before he knew it, he was sold as a bargaining chip.

"Nick..."

"It's okay, Master Polivi, I understand quite well. I'm telling the truth, after all, Xia En is also a soldier." It's uncomfortable to be used as a weight, but if you think about it for a while, it's taking the lives of thousands or even tens of thousands of soldiers. Hand it over to your suzerain country (knowing that the other party will treat them as cannon fodder), or just let Zhou Lingke go there alone. It is not easy to treat a powerful magician as cannon fodder.He also understands that Xia En will probably not follow him when he wants to go abroad, and their parting time will be infinitely extended. "So, what's going on in China?"