167: Chapter 167 Ulysses

Bradley Mandy, a middle-aged man who was weathered by time, yet still possessed a handsome and refined face.

The shrewdness in his eyes, while somewhat inconsistent with his outward demeanor, did not feel out of place at all.

Judging solely by his appearance, it would be hard for others to imagine that he was actually a smooth-dealing businessman.

Since being forced to succeed as the head of the Mandy Family at the age of twenty-seven, he had occupied that position for a full eighteen years.

Having abandoned his dream of becoming a bard, he relied on his extraordinary wisdom to pull the Mandy Family back from the brink of decline.

And through his painstaking management, the Mandy Family reached a peak it had never attained before.

Unfortunately, this peak appeared high, but if the wind blew just a little harder, it would instantly collapse into a pile of rubble and ruins.

Therefore, in order to ensure its long-term stability, Bradley exhausted his efforts to maintain and reinforce it, all just to provide the family members atop the mountain with a stable and prosperous life.

Now in middle age, he had also become just like his parents, not only having to expend all his energy for the rise and fall of the family but also having to plan for his children's lifelong affairs.

From the bottom of his heart, he disliked the idea of arranged family marriages. His current wife, Judith Branch, was the marriage partner his parents had chosen for him when he succeeded as family head.

Perhaps his parents had not chosen the person he loved, but she was definitely the person who helped him the most.

This could be seen from how, after Judith married him, she managed every aspect of the household in an orderly fashion, not letting him worry about a single detail.

People say that when a man and a woman spend a long time together, even if they aren't each other's beloved, they will develop feelings of dependent love.

At first, Bradley didn't believe it—what kind of nonsense was that? If you don't love someone, you don't love them. If everyone followed that saying, wouldn't they all become unfeeling dolls?

Yet after eighteen years of accompanying Judith, he found himself—still didn't believe it!

But not believing was one thing; the fact that he had truly fallen in love with Judith was another.

This love was not because of some affection grown over time, but because of a beautiful and virtuous woman who had loved him for a full eighteen years, or perhaps even longer.

It was this unreserved love and persistence toward him that made him re-evaluate Judith, and also re-evaluate himself.

It turned out that the source of love was not love at first sight, but rather casting aside the rejection in one's heart and trying to accept that surging love.

In the end, he realized that the love at first sight from his youth was equally applicable to Judith.

After going around in circles, the person who loves you and the person you love had been waiting for you right there, never having left; you had simply chosen to ignore them.

But he had never regretted his stupidity; after all, without the previous stupidity, where would the subsequent deep, sincere love come from?

Therefore, he would never take the initiative to introduce his children to children from large families.

He firmly believed that even if his children took the wrong path toward love initially, they would eventually be able to find the right path on their own.

This stemmed both from his own understanding of life and from his parental affection for his children.

However, what made him feel happy and relieved was that his most doted-upon youngest daughter, Rachel, did not have to go around in circles as long as he did; instead, she found her destined person in the most beautiful years of her life.

Of course, he certainly wouldn't say that a large part of the reason was that the young man was outstanding, reaching the level of a Silver Knight at a young age.

He knew he had become a bit snobbish, but he didn't think he was that snobbish.

And this time, he traveled thousands of miles, personally leaving Telris to come to the remote and dangerous Western Frontier Territory.

It was both to pledge loyalty to Lister and to connect the bond of love between Rachel and Spartacus.

The whistling cold wind brushed across his face, leaving two long, deep ruts behind the long carriage procession.

Clatter, clatter, clatter~

Accompanied by the sound of horses' hooves, a handsome and youthful teenager rode his horse to Bradley's side.

"Father, I have already inspected the carriage procession, and there are no issues. After we pass the small forest ahead and travel for another stretch, we will almost be at Lord Howard's frontier territory."

Bradley nodded and praised him with a smile, "Well done, Ulysses."

Ulysses, fifteen years old, was the youngest of his three children. He was very outstanding among his peers in all aspects, including studies and physical fitness.

Bringing him out this time, Bradley wanted to train him, and incidentally, let him show his face before Lister; perhaps he could even be appreciated and entrusted with important tasks.

Originally, Bradley wanted Ulysses to participate in the management of family affairs in the future, but unfortunately, Ulysses did not like business and wanted to become a Knight instead.

Fortunately, the next generation successor of the family had already been confirmed to be Bradley's eldest son, Conan, and Conan's ability was worthy of this position.

Therefore, Bradley granted Ulysses' wish and agreed to let him strive on the path of becoming a Knight.

However, compared to Ulysses, Bradley was more aware of the difficulties of becoming a Knight.

The present is not like the past; the difficulty of obtaining a Knight's Breathing Technique is very high. Even if you spend a lot of money to buy a Breathing Technique, it is almost never a good one, and it might not even be a complete Breathing Technique.

Therefore, most people who want to become a Knight need to pledge loyalty to a certain Lord and start as a common Soldier.

Then, through their own efforts, they must pass the assessment to become an Apprentice Knight, and finally obtain a most basic Breathing Technique.

As for whether you can stimulate the bloodline within your body, that depends on your own ability. Generally, no one will take the initiative to teach you anything unless you are a "transfer student."

For a merchant family like the Mandy Family, which had never produced a Knight before, it was very difficult for a Knight to suddenly appear.

At least in Bradley's view, the family should have nothing to do with Knights; otherwise, they wouldn't have had to wait until now.

Therefore, he believed that in all likelihood, Ulysses would end up hitting a wall and getting battered, and then honestly return to the family to manage affairs.

Therefore, he didn't let Ulysses pledge loyalty to any Lord; after all, the probability of success was not high, and if a core family member pledged loyalty to a Lord, where would the whole family go?

Those Lords were all difficult people to deal with. If you wanted to obtain the precious opportunity to become a Knight, and you had no background, you could rely on talent alone, of course.

But if you had a background and a family, then there were many issues involved.

So rather than betting on a future that might cost the family everything but yield no good results, Bradley preferred the family to continue its path of business.

It was not that he lacked courage, but that the responsibility he had to bear now was too great; he could not do as he pleased according to his own whims.

However, things were different now. Since the family had unanimously agreed to pledge loyalty to Lister, this path that they dared not think about before could now be attempted.

This world was, after all, dominated by extraordinary beings. No matter how rich a merchant was, in the face of fists that could destroy everything, they were merely ants on the ground.

If a powerful extraordinary being could appear in the family, the future would undergo a earth-shaking change.

Watching Ulysses looking like he wanted to say something but hesitated, Bradley said in a stern tone, "Ulysses, if you have something to say, just say it. Hesitating doesn't look like a real man."

"Yes, Father." Ulysses nodded heavily and asked seriously, "Father, I want to ask why you want to lead the family to pledge loyalty to a Baron Lord. Is he really worth it?"

As his voice fell, a smile appeared on Bradley's face. He did not answer directly but asked, "Ulysses, what do you think of Father's wisdom?"

"Of course, it is first-class." Ulysses blurted out. He admired his father's wisdom from the bottom of his heart.

If it weren't for Bradley's extraordinary wisdom, the Mandy Family could not have developed to its current scale.

Bradley laughed and said, "Haha, since you recognize my wisdom, why do you still have doubts about my decision?"

"This—" Ulysses' words stalled; he didn't know what to say.

That's right, I admire Father's wisdom so much, why would I think like this? Could it be that I don't trust Father enough?

"No, it's not that you don't trust me." Bradley, seeing his thoughts, said in a gratified tone, "It's because you have started to have your own ideas and a sense of responsibility for the family."

"The sense of responsibility for the family makes you start to think about every decision that is closely related to the family, even if this decision is proposed by me."

"This is a very correct thought, and it is also a sign that you have truly grown up. I am happy for you."

"To make the family flourish, it does not rely solely on one family head, but on the concerted efforts of all family members."

"If any decision is made by the family head alone, and others just support it from the sidelines, then that is no different from being a marionette."

"Only when everyone can propose reasonable counterarguments, corrections, and other opinions when the family head makes decisions can it be healthy and sustainable."

"Your brother Conan has already reached this step, becoming a family heir who can stand on his own."

"Perhaps you will not manage family affairs in the future, but no matter what field you move forward in, you need this ability to think more; it will benefit you for a lifetime."

Ulysses suddenly realized. He had never thought of this before and just felt that there was a problem with his own psychology.

If he couldn't even trust his family, who else could he trust?

Now, after Bradley's guidance, he finally understood the meaning behind it.

Coming back to his senses, he immediately said gratefully, "Thank you for your teaching, Father. I will remember it."

Nodding with gratification, Bradley said no more. He knew Ulysses' personality very well; he would persist in things he had decided on, but he was also prone to getting into a dead end.

So at this time, someone needed to guide him from the side. This person could be him, or it could be someone else—

At this time, the carriage procession slowly entered the forest. The intimidating roars of beasts that came from time to time made everyone in the procession tense up.

Originally, Bradley and the others were not prepared to pass through this forest. After all, beasts would always haunt the forest, and there could even be magical beasts.

But unfortunately, in the last few days, the Western Frontier Territory had been hit by round after round of heavy snow, and most of the nearest roads to the Iron Thorn Territory Branch were covered by snow.

Especially after preliminary exploration, the surrounding roads were damaged to varying degrees, making it impossible for carriages to pass normally.

Therefore, after careful investigation and discussion with the knights who had escorted Isabelle to Telris and stayed for a few days to escort them back, Bradley chose to take this forest where the road was still relatively flat.

As for the ordinary beast creatures inside, they posed no threat to the escorting knights. As for magical beasts, they judged that there should not be many, as it was only a small forest.

But they ignored one point: the heavy snow had caused many beasts in the surrounding area to swarm into this relatively good "shelter."

And it was not just beasts—

Under Bradley's order, the carriage procession reached its fastest speed. As long as they passed through this forest, they would be safe and sound.

In the unseen darkness, pairs of soul-stirring eyes were staring closely at everyone in the procession.

And as the procession went deeper and deeper, those prying eyes became more and more numerous.

Until the procession passed through the central area of the forest, the prying beasts could no longer hold back and rushed toward the procession from all directions.

The five Bronze Rank 1 Full Knights who had been on guard for a long time were scattered in all directions of the procession and were the first to draw their swords and kill.

Sharp cold light streaked across the sky, and the few beasts that charged the fastest were instantly killed on the spot by longswords.

The powerful pressure belonging to the Full Knights instantly swept over all the beasts, causing their movements to hesitate immediately.

But the heavy snow had not only caused big trouble for the Serfs of various territories, but also made the stomachs of these ferocious beast herds growl for many days.

Therefore, even though the knights' pressure was strong, it still didn't overcome the total loss of reason caused by hunger.

After only a slight hesitation, those beasts rushed toward everyone again.

Fortunately, in addition to the five Full Knights in the procession, there were also many hired guards, so there was no gap in the defense.

Although the beast herd's attack was fierce due to extreme hunger, their physical strength was not as good as before.

Therefore, the hired guards could effectively organize a defensive formation, while the Full Knights kept wandering and harvesting.

Accompanied by shrill beast roars, one after another, huge corpses appeared on the ground covered with ice and snow. Blood dyed the white snow red, revealing a unique kind of beauty.

Ulysses, who was guarded in the center, watched the knights display their great power, his eyes filled with thick envy and admiration.

If it weren't for Bradley's strict prohibition, he would definitely have picked up the fine iron longsword forged at the best blacksmith shop in Telris and killed those beasts.

Seeing more and more dead companions, those beasts also regained a glimmer of reason and began to slowly retreat.

They knew that as long as those tall figures on horseback were there, they would not be able to get anything good.

Just when everyone thought they were going to survive this crisis, several even more terrifying beast roars sounded—