191: Chapter 191 Theodore's Response

Chapter 191: Theodore's Response

Coridinglo, the Earl's manor.

In the spacious office, Theodore sat in his leather chair, opening one military report after another that had just arrived from the northwestern Pioneer Territory front lines.

With every report he read, he couldn't help but rub his Temples vigorously, sighing repeatedly in frustration, anger, and worry.

"Three lord forces besieged a single Beast Tribe squad, only for two of them to be routed, and one lord was even nearly captured!"

...

"Even with an ambush prepared in advance, they were completely overrun by the enemy, and the lord was captured."

"Fleeing from battle—scared right off his horse by the enemy's roar—"

"Where did these 'talents' come from? If you don't have the ability, why the hell did you come to the Pioneer Territory—"

Angry curses spilled from his mouth, his eyes filled with contempt and resentment for these incompetent lords.

Even though he knew most of these lords had been forced to come to the Western Frontier Territory, he still couldn't hold back his rage.

These lords were simply too pathetic; they didn't even possess the most basic valor of a knight, let alone the ability to command their subordinates against the enemy.

To put it bluntly, they were like useless lumps of mud that couldn't be slapped onto a wall.

"My Lord Earl, anger is harmful to your health. These useless people are not worth your rage."

...

"Besides, not all Pioneering Lords are like them. Look at Duke Dogel's son, Reginoli—"

"According to the military report, when he led his Knight Squad in the attack, he was always at the forefront. He has already wiped out several Beast Tribe squads, including two mid-tier orcs."

"There is also Earl Louis's son, Leopold. Under his leadership, his troops have won victory after victory with an extremely low casualty rate."

"In addition, Duke Roy's son Victor, Earl Amos's son Richardson, Earl Dewitt's son Clayton, and others have all achieved significant victories."

Seeing the furious Theodore constantly venting, Wagner, the Silver-rank Advanced Knight Captain who stood respectfully in front of the desk, pointed at the military reports and began to comfort him.

Picking up the iced drink nearby, Theodore downed it in one gulp. Combined with Wagner's comforting words, the rage in his heart dissipated quite a bit.

Compared to the sons of those minor lords, the descendants of these great nobles, even if they might have some minor flaws, were still decent in terms of strength and capability.

With a soft sigh, Theodore exhaled a breath of turbid air. His expression returned to calm as he self-reflected, "You're right, Wagner. Tarring all these Pioneering Lords with the same brush is indeed not a wise approach."

"You flatter me, My Lord Earl," Wagner quickly praised respectfully. "Who in the kingdom would dare deny your wisdom? Just now, you were merely a bit agitated because you were too worried about the front-line battle."

"Haha, Wagner, you are getting better and better with your words." Although he knew Wagner was flattering him, Theodore still felt a wave of comfort in his heart.

Suddenly remembering something, he looked at Wagner and asked, "By the way, how is the military conscription going?"

Wagner replied without the slightest hesitation, "Replying to My Lord Earl, the orders have already been delivered to all the southwestern territories near Coridinglo."

"Except for a very few Pioneering Lords who truly cannot spare themselves, the other lords have all responded to the call immediately, leading their troops toward the northwestern front."

"As for those Pioneering Lords near the Western Frontier tribes, it will take a few more days to finish notifying them."

"Not bad." Nodding in approval, Theodore leaned his back gently against the soft back of his chair. "I remember that on the borders of the southwestern Pioneer Territory, there are a few young fellows who are quite good in all aspects."

"Yes, My Lord Earl," Wagner chimed in. "Like Cronin of Earl Lambert's family, Temple of Earl Rudolf's family, and Primo of Andrew's family..."

"Not only are their own knightly realms impressive, but their other abilities are also very good."

Nodding slightly, Theodore was not surprised by the people Wagner mentioned.

After all, he had met these people in person, and he knew very well what they were capable of.

"By the way, how is my late comrade Howard's son, Lister Howard, doing lately?"

"Lister Howard?"

Wagner was slightly taken aback, quickly searching his mind for information and a face corresponding to this person, but he came up empty.

Seeing his puzzled expression, Theodore immediately realized that Wagner had not paid attention to Lister.

He didn't feel any displeasure about this. After all, Wagner was usually very busy, so it was normal for him to pay little attention to noble descendants with ordinary backgrounds.

With a gentle smile, he said, "Wagner, although that little fellow doesn't have any prominent background, in terms of overall capability—"

"He is not inferior to any of those people you just mentioned. Although there is a high probability he might fall behind in the future, he certainly won't be too bad."

"You can pay more attention to him in the future."

"I understand, My Lord Earl," Wagner nodded respectfully in agreement.

He knew that Theodore's words definitely meant more than what was on the surface; there was likely an underlying meaning of wanting him to look after the boy a bit in the future, since he was the son of a comrade-in-arms.

As a subordinate, one naturally had to carefully ponder the ambiguous words of a superior. Otherwise, merely listening to the surface meaning would be far too foolish.

And his self-interpretation indeed aligned with the thoughts in Theodore's heart.

Of course, this was not just because Lister was old Howard's son; Lister's own outstanding ability was also one of the reasons.

However, the help he could offer was limited to this level. After all, Lister's background was indeed too ordinary, or even poor.

Compared to the descendants of those great nobles, his future room for growth would likely be incomparable, even if his own cultivation talent was excellent.

But an outstanding talent that had not yet fully grown was not that highly valued in the eyes of a powerful Golden Knight like him.

This was not because he was snobbish, but because he had seen too many similar situations and had long since seen through their essence.

Just then, a Soldier's respectful report suddenly came from outside the door.

"Reporting to My Lord Earl, Knight Captain Cyril requests an audience."

"Cyril?"

"Why is he back?"

"Isn't he guarding Tiffany at Snowwood Ridge?"

Theodore was stunned, three question marks popping up in his mind, completely unable to fathom why Cyril would return at this moment.

Could it be—

Suddenly, a bad premonition arose in his mind, and he hurriedly replied, "Let him in."

"Yes, My Lord Earl."

Not long after the respectful response, the exquisite door slowly opened, and the burly Cyril walked in with quick strides.

"My Lord Earl, Cyril sends his greetings."

Looking at Cyril, who was anxious and sweating profusely in front of him, Theodore's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly asked, "Cyril, why are you back? Has something happened to Tiffany?"

Cyril was taken aback, then reacted and replied, "Replying to My Lord Earl, Miss Tiffany is fine, but Commander Montgomery and Commander Wells might be in big trouble."

"Miss Tiffany somehow obtained news that the Beast Tribe is planning to join forces with two High Orcs from the Troll Tribe to ambush and assassinate the Commanders—"

"What did you say?!"

"Cyril, are you sure you didn't hear wrong?!"

Before Cyril could finish, Theodore stood up in shock. Even Wagner, standing beside Cyril, paled and gasped in surprise, breaching etiquette.

They knew that Cyril wouldn't return in person for some trivial matter, but this news was clearly too shocking.

Swallowing hard, Cyril had an extremely solemn expression as he continued his unfinished sentence, "Replying to My Lord Earl, this subordinate is absolutely not joking. These were indeed Miss Tiffany's exact words."

"Miss Tiffany also gave me the letter containing the news she received, and requested that My Lord Earl examine it."

With that, he took out the letter Tiffany had personally handed him from his storage ring and respectfully presented it to Theodore.

Without any hesitation, Theodore took the letter, quickly tore it open, and read it carefully.

Before long, after reading all the contents, his originally shocked expression became extremely unsightly, but the doubts in his heart forced him to calm down.

He looked at Cyril and asked in a deep voice, "Cyril, how did Tiffany obtain this letter?"

Cyril shook his head. "This subordinate does not know. Miss Tiffany suddenly came to me at the time, and after telling me the contents of the letter, I rushed back on horseback."

Hearing this, Theodore fell into silence. He did not know whether he should believe the contents of the letter.

After all, it was a letter of unknown origin, containing crucial intelligence that even he hadn't heard a single whisper of.

Let alone him, even those not-so-bright lords would probably find it hard to believe it outright.

Wagner proposed a hypothesis: "My Lord Earl, could someone be deliberately spreading false information to you through Miss Tiffany?"

"That possibility cannot be ruled out." Theodore frowned, then said with some confusion, "But if the mastermind truly wanted to disrupt us, why go to such great lengths to circle around?"

"Compared to this method, the mastermind could have simply spread rumors directly in Coridinglo."

"That way, they might have even caused chaos, which is obviously more effective and convenient."

Wagner and Cyril nodded in agreement, but soon fell into confusion again.

After pondering for a moment, Theodore's brow furrowed deeply. "Now is not the time to think so much. Regardless of whether this news is true or not, we don't have the time to investigate it in detail."

"Even if it is false, we must treat it as true for now. Otherwise, if it actually happens, the consequences will be unimaginable for us."

At this moment, Theodore displayed the decisiveness of a mature, experienced frontier Earl. He sat back in his chair, took out a pen and paper, and began writing quickly.

Soon, a letter with contents similar to the original appeared in his hand.

Walking over to the window, he opened it and blew a loud whistle. In the next second, a sharp, long cry resounded.

A massive Magic Cloud Eagle swooped down from the sky, landing on the ledge inside the window.

After placing the letter into a small cylinder made of Silver-rank magic beast leather, he instructed the Magic Cloud Eagle, "Deliver this letter to Montgomery at the fastest speed possible."

"Screech—!"

The Magic Cloud Eagle nodded with human-like comprehension, then screeched and took to the sky again, its body shooting toward the northwest like a bolt of lightning.

Watching the Magic Cloud Eagle's figure disappear, he turned to look at the two and said, "The letter I just sent bears my signature and seal, which should prevent Montgomery and the others from doubting it."

"However, Wells set off to reinforce Montgomery a few days ago, and they will likely meet up very soon."

"So, whether the letter can be delivered in time is no longer something we can control."

"What we need to do now is verify the authenticity of this news as quickly as possible, and report it to the royal station chief in Coridinglo."

"With the royal family's help, we should be able to verify it quickly. If the news is true and Montgomery's side hasn't been attacked yet..."

"Perhaps we can use this information to set up a counter-ambush against the Beast Tribe."

"My Lord Earl is wise!" the two praised from the bottom of their hearts.

As secret orders were dispatched one by one, the entirety of Coridinglo fell into a state of undercurrents.

Iron Thorn Territory Branch.

After reorganizing and dividing the army, Lister took Odinton to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the territory.

Due to the blizzard, some residential houses in Blackwood Town had suffered damage over the past few days.

Odinton had promptly organized the Serfs to make repairs, and arranged for those temporarily without shelter to stay in the homes of other Serfs.

Aside from some essential tasks, the Serfs needed for other work had been ordered to rest at home for the past few days in accordance with his notice.

Only the mining of the gold and mithril mines in the Tianping Mountain Range was proceeding steadily as usual.

To ensure the safety of the miners while working, he had ordered the reinforcement of the miners' residential area before going to support the White Cat-Ear Tribe.

After a geological and mineral expert sent by Brutus arrived, the speed of the mining operations increased significantly compared to before.

After inspecting the two mines, he went to the natural lake to check on the Earth Dragon Fish.

Under Bai Ze's 'painstaking guidance,' the Earth Dragon Fish was no longer as arrogant as before, having turned into an obedient 'little brother.'

Lister was quite pleased with this but not surprised, as Bai Ze's ability in this area had been proven multiple times.

Accompanied by the onslaught of wind and snow, the inspection work finally came to a temporary close around dusk.

Before returning to the lord's residence, he instructed Odinton and left him in charge of the comprehensive cooperation with the White Cat-Ear Tribe.

For the coming period, his focus would be on dealing with the Beast Tribe, and he also needed to implement some countermeasures against the Shadow Leopard Tribe.

Ending his day's work, he enjoyed a sumptuous dinner with Christina under the meticulous arrangements of Thomas and Flora.

During this time, Christina had been practicing Wizardry very diligently. Although she was still a Novice Wizard, her strength was not inferior to a Bronze Rank Intermediate knight in the slightest.

Such talent made him envious, but it also brought him heartfelt joy and comfort.