ebookland #312 - Lone Eagle Rider from the Desert
#312 - Lone Eagle Rider from the Desert
The Red Copper Fortress's thick oak doors swung open, and knights appeared at the end of the road.
Horses neighed, and between the vine-bound fences, a river of gold and iron flowed distinctly through the golden wheat fields.
Fifty Order-level Temple Knights and fifty Squire-level Temple Knights led the way.
Hot monsoon winds from the Emerald Sea stirred dozens of banners embroidered with golden floral edges.
On the desert-colored banners, toothed giant eagles seemed to soar in flocks beneath the azure sky.
These toothed giant eagles were unique to the southern deserts of the Royal Court, belonging to the same category as the giant spiders of Thousand River Valley, the slimes of Black Serpent Bay, and the golden sheep of Gravel Plains.
Its name was also the title of the tall knight beneath the banner, a follower of Misella born in the Royal Court but who had defected to the Empire—Sand Eagle Knight Nidsar.
Nidsar was a human sand-dweller noble from the Royal Court, even a tax farmer of a region.
He fled to the Empire, bringing with him not only himself but also hundreds of the finest javelin cavalry from the Royal Court's vast yellow sands—the Nigosak Riders.
In the southern Elven language, 'Cossack' meant 'free man,' indicating that these Nigosaks were also commoner-born cavalrymen.
These copper-skinned humans from the Royal Court wore scale armor and dark red turbans that revealed deep-set eyes.
Unlike the Empire's preference for full beards and goatees, these men from the Royal Court preferred to shave their chins, sideburns, and necks clean, leaving only short, stiff black mustaches on their upper lips.
Riding on the backs of red-eyed, lop-eared horses unique to the Royal Court, they drove carts forward along the road.
On the pitted and uneven dirt road, the cart wheels constantly bounced up and down.
The heads filling the cart swayed precariously, almost tumbling from the pyramid of heads.
Under the glaring sunlight, the metal flashed dazzlingly, causing Zeraken, who was waiting by the castle, to squint.
"Ah! Lord Nidsar, it is wonderful to see you return in triumph," Zeraken said sincerely.
"Is it not expected that I return in triumph? The Secret Society of Black Serpent Bay only knows how to play petty tricks," Nidsar said coolly in the face of Zeraken's enthusiasm. "Compared to the magicians from the Royal Court, they are far inferior."
Unlike the Empire, which used the somewhat derogatory term 'wizard' for spellcasters, the Royal Court always used the relatively neutral term 'magician' to refer to them.
For Nidsar, who had dealt with magicians extensively, learning how to use cavalry against magic was a mandatory course for Royal Court tax farmers.
This time, assisting the Wolf Fort witchers in their siege of the Secret Society, his results were quite fruitful.
For some reason, this year's Secret Society was far inferior to previous years, both in manpower and equipment.
Although there were a few archmages who used Fireball, their casting speed was too slow, and they could only perform ambushes.
Once he realized this, Nidsar immediately led his javelin cavalry forward at full speed.
Those precious Fireball mages didn't even have time to escape before being pierced through by a volley of javelins.
In the end, he even took down a small Secret Society headquarters, capturing hundreds of mage prisoners.
However, these were not his biggest concerns at the moment; his biggest concern was the Kusch Territory to the north.
Those Salvation Army soldiers in Jeanne d'Arc Fortress, those peasant rebels, were his current focus.
The main reason was that these peasant rebels were actually able to defeat an Order Company.
Although Order Companies had been defeated before, and even annihilated, most of the time they were defeated by transcendent knights who were also nobles.
The situation of an Order Company being defeated by peasant rebels had never happened in thousands of years, and its political significance far outweighed its military significance.
"Was the Order Company really defeated by those peasant rebels?" Nidsar asked Zeraken as he took off his leather gloves and casually tossed them at a servant's face.
Zeraken, Nidsar's scribe, wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. "I heard that was the case, but I'm sure they used some kind of trickery. You know they have a witch on their side."
Nidsar grinned, revealing bloodshot white teeth beneath his black-red lips, unsure whether it was mockery or excitement:
"It's not like I haven't killed witches before. The Empire's cavalry tactics are too rigid... During my absence, did the Church send any letters?"
"Your wisdom is truly terrifying," Zeraken's powder-covered face was streaked with sweat. "The Church did indeed send letters."
"Read them to me."
Although he was ennobled as a titled knight, Nidsar, unlike most knights, was not very literate and could only rely on listening to others.
In this era without a sense of secrecy, Nidsar and Zeraken stood by the city gate as if no one else was around.
Zeraken read aloud Barnifus's private letter, amidst the rolling wheels and the captured mages' resentful gazes.
"Behave yourselves!" A Nigosak with a heavy rolling accent cracked his whip hard across the back of a mage prisoner.
The prisoner's expression instantly contorted, but he gritted his teeth and did not cry out, continuing to follow the cart slowly forward.
In the wheat field, beneath clumps of wheat stalks, straw hats gleamed with sweat in the sunlight.
The farmers occasionally looked up, watching the two nobles discussing, not knowing what they were saying.
But they didn't dare to know, and just lowered their heads to continue working.
"Barnifus can help me secure the entire Thousand River Valley as the Temple Knight Commander?" Nidsar asked, dragging the sweating Zeraken inside after hearing the contents of the letter. "Does he, a bishop from a non-metropolitan diocese, have that much power?"
Zeraken walked through the long gate corridor, a gloomy path made of black stone, the coolest place in the approaching summer season.
"I think the person with that much power is not him, but Prince Condé," Zeraken analyzed as he walked. "Currently, the situation in the Laya Kingdom is chaotic, and everyone sees Prince Condé as the biggest variable. They want to win him over, but they are also wary of him.
I dare say that if Prince Condé dares to extend an olive branch to one side, he will face a frenzied attack from the other.
He was never close to either side. If he helps someone win, there's no way to reward him, and he'll even be suspected of having ideas about the throne.
If he loses, he'll lose everything he has now, and might even have to return to the border.
Prince Condé has recently been promoting the application for the three-year tax rights of Thousand River Valley, under the guise of retaining his Order Company to deal with foreign enemies if a civil war is unavoidable..."
Nidsar stopped, frowning, the blurred sunlight slanting down from the gate.
"He wants to be the Prince of Thousand River Valley?"
"Probably."
Prince Condé's fief, Condé Territory, is actually very small. He has a high title but a small fief, relying entirely on the Pope and the royal family for blood transfusions.
His sudden shift to staying in Thousand River Valley while waiting for a price to be named is largely due to the sudden death of the Pope.
With internal strife in the Church and civil war in the royal family, his economy couldn't hold up, leaving him with no choice but to turn to the relatively wealthy Thousand River Valley.
"Can the Church approve it? Isn't there still a dispute?"
"Anyway, the new Pope is still from Laya. Although he hasn't officially ascended to the throne, with the upper echelons of the Church being controlled by Laya bishops, Prince Condé's request will likely be granted."
"Will Grandiva agree?"
"After all, there is the old Pope's will. Grandiva's claim that this Pope is an illegal Pope has indeed received support from many scholars and clerics.
I don't know if this 'new Pope' will officially ascend to the throne, but in the meantime, satisfying Prince Condé's request is still possible."
Nidsar slowly exhaled, rubbing his forehead. "The Empire's affairs are so complicated. Forget it, let's eat first. After we eat, you can sort out the matters of Kusch Territory and Prince Condé's requests again."