ARCHDEUS

CONVINCE ME(2)

Joan finally got permission to meet with the ruler of the County of Morhust.

He's been waiting for over a month.

The County of Morhust was de facto vested in the count's eldest son, Regis Evangelos Morhust.

Due to the count's steadily deteriorating health, Regis had come to power in the county very smoothly. It's almost certain that unless he dies in the war, Regis will be the next count.

And on this day, Joan de Rosse Orbelin, the loyal bodyguard of the Hereditary Princess of the Countess of Otilia will meet the man.

As a knight, of course Joan was proud of the armor she wore.

He planned to use equipment in the form of armor instead of fancy clothes to meet Regis. That was because in addition to showing his pride towards his position, it was also to make him more confident.

He brought at least 5 other knights.

If it is on schedule, the mansion party will pick them up in the morning by horse carriage.

Oh, while in this city, which is Harderborg City, the Capital of the County of Morhust, the first impression Joan gets is this city is very luxurious.

It is not as low as the capital of the country, but when compared to the capital of the surrounding county, it can be said that development in this county is the fastest.

There are a lot of tall buildings here. In addition, what made him very surprised was that in this county there were many merchants who sold non-human slaves.

It means that there are many slaves from races like elves to beastmen here.

The city is much more pluralistic than the surrounding city.

So when the train that picked them up came, and they were taken to the mansion, Joan was no longer surprised to see the tremendous waste of the luxury of the mansion.

He could guarantee, this mansion was almost similar to the palace of the King.

Even more wasteful.

On the front page of the mansion, Joan and her group were able to see a rare magic beast bound with magic chains.

Among all the animals, Joan could recognize one.

the largest animal with a reptile-like body. The animal is a drake.

Has a size of at least 3 meters. Drake is a species of dragon.

They are more commonly known as land dragons because they have wings and cannot fly. So they rely more on the strength of their legs and bites to attack.

Joan didn't really know what kind of drake was in this mansion but at least she remembered that just like wyverns, an average drake was classified in a high-class level. But because of its rarity, even duke-level nobles do not necessarily have it.

As for the habitat, though, drakes mostly live in the steppe region so they are mostly in the East Laurentia region as in some areas in the United States of Avargia and khanate-shaped countries such as the Khanate of Kyo-Ta and The Khanate of Bay - Ad.

Joan got off the train.

They were immediately greeted by the butler.

Different from most butlers, the butler here was a young lady.

"Miss Orbelin, we welcome you to our county. Hope you have a good experience here."

The butler bowed respectfully to Joan and her members.

Joan and the others also bowed back.

"Sorry Miss and the knights, but to enter my master's mansion, carrying weapons is not allowed. If you don't mind I hope you can leave your lady's weapons and honorable knight gentlemen to us."

Joan knows that. This is commonplace as a security procedure.

Joan had indeed deliberately brought her weapon, it was because she was not comfortable leaving her weapon at the inn.

It turned out that his other subordinates were also thinking similar things.

So you could say they trusted the mansion side to guard their weapons rather than the inn.

Their weapons were taken by the knights guarding the mansion.

"Miss and gentlemen knights, don't worry. We take good care of your weapons" said the butler.

"Well, thank you" said Joan.

They entered the mansion with the butler as their guide.

The first impression when they saw the interior of the mansion was ....

Very majestic!

Joan can see lamp hangers, picture frames, even gold-coated ceilings.

In addition, various types of statues are made of white marble rocks. In addition, he could see other decorations in the form of jars filled with various stones. It seems like this stone has been processed in such a way that it produces a bright color.

Joan realized it, not just gold. Almost all interiors also use mana stone!

Joan gulped when she saw which very expensive stone was now just a home display.

Not only him, his subordinates were also just astonished and swallowed their saliva when they saw which high-quality stone was only used as a display.

Even the mansion of the Countess of Otilia was not this luxurious!

When Joan and the others were still agape with all the luxuries, they saw a stone that was big enough to be in a storefront. At least the size of half a palm on display on a large table alone. There was no other display on the table other than which stone it was.

The butler realized their astonishment. So he went closer to which stone it was then explained to them.

"Miss and gentlemen honorable knights, this is where the first stone found by my lord. My Lord and Oldest Young Master Fertiphile discovered which stone this was and started the mining era in this county."

"Fertiphile's Oldest Young Master?"

Instead of focusing on historical explanations, Joan was more interested in Fetiphile's Oldest Young Master. It's not without reason. As a neighboring county of Otilia, of course he knew a few things about Fertiphile. Yet he had never heard of the achievements of the oldest young master of Fertiphile. Most news would only inform the achievements of the second or third young master of the Fertiphile Family.

"My Master and Oldest Young Master Fertiphile are very close friends. "

The butler explained with a professional smile.

Joan just nodded.

After that, they were brought into the meeting room.

There, they saw Regis sitting majestically on the leader's seat and on either side stood two knights with complete equipment.

Joan and the six knights kneeled in front of Regis.

Although they were nobles, but when meeting with a great nobleman like Regis, not to mention Regis had been appointed as the Acting County Leader's Task causing them to have to humble themselves.

Regis simply nodded to them and allowed them to talk.

"My Lord, I'm Joan de Rosse Orbelin, a representative of the County of Otilia, thank you very deeply for allowing me to meet and see Your Majesty The Most Highness" Joan said.

First he had to give praise to a noble before getting into the core of the discussion.

"I as a representative of the County of Morhust also thank you for making a special visit to our beloved county. It may be a little late, but since you've lived here long enough, I'm sure you and your friends may miss the typical cuisine of Otilia. So if you don't mind, I'd like to invite you all to a welcome banquet."

"My Lord, I am very grateful for your hospitality. But if my Master wills, I ask my Master's permission to hear and help with any problems that may be burdening my Master."

"No problem. You guys have come all the way here. Tell me what you need from me and my county."

Joan said briefly the last state of affairs that occurred in the area of Otilia. He did not disclose detailed information on the death toll or the Otilia defence apparatus because it was related to the county's confidential information. In addition, he also maintained the self-esteem of his county by saying the spirit of struggle in the county of Otilia remains blazing even though their circumstances are not supportive. He wanted to say something like despair and things that brought pity.

"So so. All right, I get it. So what's your purpose in coming to my county?"

"We wish to make a plea to my Lord; they say that My Lord has formidable warriors. If you don't mind, we plead with your Lord to send troops to help together against the invasion of our territory by the March of Canadia."

Regis held his chin as if he was thinking of something.

"As I thought. I don't want to disappoint you guys, but I have to answer honestly that I refused the request."

"Can I know why?"

Regis only smiled bitterly while tapping the small of his desk.

"I think you already know what happened in the Duchy of Sandwealth right?"

Joan knows that. He had heard of the eruption of the attack from the Kingdom of Ibeltia. But he still clung to the small hope that the war would not affect the aid they would receive in the future.

"Yes my lord, we know it."

"Well, so in short, I have to be honest. The royalty had decreed a decree obliging the nobility to send war relief against the Kingdom of Ibeltia. Unfortunately the location of the war was not far from our area so morally we had to prioritize the war with the Kingdom of Ibeltia. I know, the fief war going on in your county started in early spring while the war with Ibeltia erupted at the end of the first month of spring. While the war decree issued by our kingdom is two months later. So it's not that I don't want to leave a valuable ally, the County of Otilia, but this national interest forces us to prioritize assistance to the Duchy of Sandwealth."

"Both Master. I accept the full wisdom of my Lord."

Joan could not hold back her tears. He understood that the consideration made by Regis was not wrong. He believed that if the countess was in the same position, he would also prioritize the royal vocation rather than helping the region that was struggling for feudal power.

"There's one thing I want to ask you. Did you also ask the County of Fertiphile for help?"

"I'm sorry? Ah .. I mean, yes my lord. We send our representatives to all the great nobles in the southeast east of the kingdom."

"Hows it? What are their decisions?"

"I'm sorry, my Lord, the Fertiphile has not made any decisions yet."

This is the latest news that Joan has. He did not know why the Fetiphile had not given their policy towards the fief war experienced by Otilia. What was sent to them was Cotildy, the heir's daughter. Moreover, with its location closer than Morhust, the policy of the Ferthile should have been much faster than in Morhust.

"That's actually not that surprising. The Count of Fertiphile was a person who hated fief war greatly. Even he dared to refuse the request from the Duke of Sandwealth to help the fief war. If I'm honest, let alone with this war decree, my pessimistic Fertiphile will accept your request."

Joan's hopes were further hit when she heard Regis's views. She wanted to run and cry all day in her room like a girl who broke up. Yet he simply clenched his hands to withstand the turmoil of disappointment.

"Thank you, my lord, for giving me a look."

"If there's nothing more to talk about you can leave."

Joan and the other knights stood up and bowed respectfully to Regis before leaving the room.