CHAPTER 685: CHAPTER 11 ANOTHER DINNER

After that pleasant night at the harpist’s tavern, Shajia and his companions had grown even bolder and even dared to show themselves in towns during the daytime.

And compared to the tavern, they had found an even better target— the estates of some minor nobles.

The food and drink there were better than those in the tavern, and the women were prettier.

Because Lion Heart Castle had been besieged earlier, many nobles had called their vassals and soldiers to go to the rescue.

As a result, the defenses of their residences were now particularly weak and easily penetrated.

Moreover, the estates of these nobles were usually quite secluded, so even if there was a great commotion, it would hardly be noticed by those outside.

Even if the city guards were alerted, Shajia and his group could easily escape with their ability to fly.

Since they flew fast enough to outpace the spread of news, every time they arrived somewhere new, the locals were unaware of the crimes they had committed elsewhere and took no precautions against them.

Shajia and the others had no intention of concealing their movements and boldly made their way towards the western territories.

Shajia could already imagine the look of astonishment on the face of that Lady named Ireya when they descended from the sky and appeared before her.

Balan and a few other Wing Clan Warriors gathered together, excitedly discussing what they would do after defeating the Dragon Slayer Knight.

"We should also cut off her head and hang it outside the city walls, to show everyone the consequences of angering us," said a Wing Clan Warrior named Sedya.

"That’s too cliché," Balan replied with a wicked smile, turning to Yaxu beside him, "Hey, is that Lady named Ireya good-looking?"

Yaxu seemed to be lost in thought, his expression a bit distant, until Balan hit him with his wing, only then did he snap back to reality.

"Ah, you mean the Dragon Slayer Knight... I haven’t seen her, but I’ve heard people in the Royal Capital call her Meat Mountain, so she must be... quite a burly individual, I guess."

"Perfect, I have a special fondness for big women," Caleb licked his lips.

Laughter spread through the crowd once again, and Yaxu forced a smile, a bit strained, which was caught by Caleb behind him, who then spoke up.

"Yaxu, do you have any objections to our plan?"

"No," Yaxu shook his head, "I’m just a bit worried."

"Worried?" Balan laughed, "What’s there to worry about? No one can defeat the mighty Shajia."

His statement was met with unanimous agreement from the Wing Clan Warriors.

"I know," Yaxu hastily replied, then, gathering his courage, he continued, "But she has defeated Lord Moen before, and even if Lord Moen is not as great as Lord Shajia, he is a well-known warrior in our tribe; the Grey Eagle Tribe is not a small one, furthermore..."

"Furthermore what?" Shajia asked expressionlessly.

"Furthermore, that Lady has Merlin by her side."

"Merlin?" This name was unfamiliar to the Wing Tribe, as they had not heard it before.

"Is he also a well-known warrior?" Balan asked.

"No, Merlin is not a warrior, he is the Prophet of the Double Rest Sect, yes, a Prophet is like the spokesperson of the gods in the mortal world."

"So he’s a charlatan," Sedya said disdainfully, "Those so-called gods of the Land Species are false gods. There is only one True God in this world, and that is our Mother Goddess."

At the mention of the Mother Goddess, all the faces of the Wing Clan Warriors turned solemn.

Yaxu knew that it was best to keep his mouth shut at times like these, but he didn’t want Lord Shajia and the others to underestimate their opponent too much, so he swallowed his saliva and continued.

"Merlin... probably isn’t entirely a charlatan, though. Recently, there have been many tales about him circulating on the Continent. It’s rumored that he can resurrect the dead and control thunder and flames. Oh right, they also say he has a Holy Artifact in his possession.

"That Holy Artifact is extremely powerful. It emits a roaring sound and white smoke, then his adversaries inexplicably fall to the ground. Ireya also relied on that Holy Artifact to become the Champion of the combat tournament, and many in the Royal Capital saw it."

The intelligence provided by Yaxu did manage to spark a bit of interest in Lord Shajia, but only a bit.

"So as long as we are prepared for that Holy Artifact, there’s nothing so remarkable about that Empire Lady, is there?"

"Probably... I suppose," Yaxu said hesitantly.

"She won’t get the chance to use that Holy Artifact," asserted Lord Shajia with strong confidence.

"And that fellow who claims to be the Prophet as well, his existence is a blasphemy to the Mother Goddess. This time, I will eliminate him too. You say he can revive corpses; I wonder if he can revive his own corpse." Shajia said with a cold laugh.

......

Meanwhile, as Lord Shajia and his followers were flying towards the western border, plotting their revenge plan, Solomon in Lion Heart Castle was in the process of recruiting new allies.

Even though they already had the help of elves and dwarves, compared to the vast Red Lion Empire, their combined populations and territories were probably not even as large as those of some of the great nobles.

Reliance solely on them was clearly not enough to conquer this land, and just like the Wing Tribe, the elves and dwarves were also considered invaders by the peoples living on this land.

They could be unleashed by Solomon to bite, but to assimilate the occupied territories and establish new rule here, he still needed to rely on those noble lords whom the Wing Tribe generally didn’t hold in high regard.

Solomon was well aware of this, so upon returning to Lion Heart Castle, he had been busy with this very matter.

Although the Wing Tribe had just murdered the Emperor of the Empire and slaughtered an Empire’s army in White River City, as the saying goes, where there are generous rewards, there will be brave men.

There were still some nobles who, enticed by the handsome rewards Solomon was offering, took the risk and came to Lion Heart Castle.

And surprisingly, the number was not small; together with those nobles from the city who had already pledged allegiance, the number was nearing a hundred, though most of them did not carry renowned surnames.

Solomon knew full well that these people came to join him as a gamble, they would either soar to the heavens or live in infamy forever.

But regardless, this was ultimately a good start.

Hence, Solomon planned to host a banquet following the empire’s tradition to welcome these new pledges.

He was currently using the Gedeon family’s mansion as a temporary place to handle state affairs and for daily living, so there were already utensils and cooks at hand, and the ingredients had been purchased as well. The only thing still missing was a few minstrels to liven up the banquet.

Solomon himself had no interest in poetry; he preferred quiet when eating, but this banquet was for gathering hearts, so he decided to follow the local customs.

Fortunately, Lion Heart Castle was not short of minstrels, even after having just experienced a terrible war.

Ivan managed to find over a dozen minstrels for Solomon in one go.

Not keen on auditioning each one, Solomon directly asked the intelligence chief, "Who among these is the most famous?"