Clip-clop. Clip-clop. Clip-clop.
The dense sound of hooves echoed as Baron Adam looked back at the hundred knights behind him, his face brimming with pride and arrogance.
He hadn’t expected his father, Baron Pulley, to value him so highly, sending a full hundred knights. They wen’t just any knights- they were true knights under the command of a count, not the ragtag horse-bandit types like those two hundred under Baron Omar.
Omar’s knights were basically just any strong-bodied men thrown into armor.
Pulley’s knights, however, were well-trained, physically strong, clad in fine armor, and skilled in swordsmanship, horsemanship, spear techniques, and more.
There was simply no comparison. If Pulley’s knights clashed with Omar’s on the battlefield, the result would be one-sided- even two against one, Pulley’s knights would win without suspense.
That’s why Baron Adam, leading these hundred knights toward West Sun City, had no fear of failure. He believed that Liu Feng would obediently hand over his castle, along with the secret recipe for the new milk tea drink.
Thinking about it made Baron Adam break into a radiant smile. He even fantasized about latching onto the Fourth Prince’s coattails and being made a high-ranking official once the prince claimed the throne.
“Hahaha…” Baron Adam laughed out loud, confusing the knight captain riding beside him.
“Young Master Adam, what’s the matter?” the knight captain asked in a low voice.
“Just thought of something pleasant,” Adam waved it off. He wasn’t going to share his fantasies.
“By the way, how much longer until we reach West Sun City?”
Looking at the darkening sky, Adam asked, “If we march through the night, can we arrive by tomorrow?”
“Yes, young master. If we march without rest throughout the night, we’ll reach the borders of West Sun City by morning,” the captain nodded. He had already learned the approximate location of West Sun City when they restocked their supplies in the last city.
“Oh? Then let’s keep marching throughout the night. We’ll reach West Sun City by morning, and I can snuggle up with a few beastgirls,” Adam’s expression turned lewd.
During his time moving through the cities in the Western Lands, he’d gathered intel on West Sun City. Liu Feng was said to be extremely wealthy, dressed as extravagantly as a prince. And more importantly, Liu Feng had a thing for beastgirls. He kept several stunning beastgirls at his side, and in West Sun City, beastkin were treated equally with humans. Then there was also the Shopping Mall, the Drunken Night Restaurant’s food, and more.
When Baron Adam got that information, his interest in the city skyrocketed. Beastgirls? With enough money, they could be bought. He was confident Liu Feng would hand them over to entertain him without a fuss.
But rather than the beastgirls, it was West Sun City’s prosperity and change that caught his eye. He was already considering secretly killing Liu Feng and taking over the city, installing a puppet ruler to serve as a hidden base for himself.
After all, this wouldn’t be the first time he’d done something like that. In the last city, while waiting for his knights to regroup, he’d taken a liking to a local noblewoman. When her father refused to offer her for a night, Adam had him killed as soon as his knights arrived- and the woman? She’d been played to death.
Afterward, Adam put a local merchant in power, demanding fifty gold coins annually in exchange for keeping his noble title.
There were too many minor nobles in the western territories. Some families only held titles for a decade or so before being replaced. Others who couldn’t make it inland would move out west to keep being nobility. After all, the Western Lands were poor and behind in development, so the cost of living wasn’t high.
Nobles from remote lands couldn’t compare with those from the inland. If this were the inland, Adam might not have been so cruel and would just use tactics like pressure and persuasion.
But out here? Baron Adam had power, and brute force got the job done quicker.
“Young Master, I advise against marching at night,” the knight captain said solemnly. “I’ve spoken with locals- this area is near the Forbidden Mountain Range. Night travel could be dangerous. We might lose a few knights.”
He had gathered information in the previous city. Come winter, beasts from the Forbidden Mountain Range came down to hunt. Large wolf packs, in particular, could cause serious casualties and deaths even to a trained unit like theirs.
“Is that so?” Adam frowned. These knights had cost a fortune to train and equip- if he lost too many, his father would not be pleased with him.
“Young Master, if we rest tonight, we can reach West Sun City by tomorrow afternoon,” the knight captain continued. “And if the local noble dares to resist, our knights wouldn’t be exhausted due to traveling through the night, and allow them to take advantage of our exhaustion.”
“Fine. We’ll rest for the night and move in the morning,” Adam relented. Besides, they were traveling overland, and after a full day, he was tired himself. He decided he could tolerate waiting one more night. And he decided he’d have Liu Feng secretly killed, raise a puppet ruler, and enslave all the beastkin in the city to earn him gold.
“Set up camp here! Pitch the tents and light the fires!” the knight captain pulled on his reins and shouted. “Move quickly- it’s getting dark!”
Clang…
Armor clanked as the knights dismounted and got to work- some pitching tents, others gathering firewood. Everyone moved orderly.
Night fell swiftly. The hundred group gathered in a circle, with Baron Adam at the center.
More than a dozen fires lit up the darkness, giving off a warm glow. Everyone ate their rations in silence- they were used to this kind of life.
Officially, this mission was about acquiring the secret formula for West Sun City’s new beverage and investigating Baron Omar’s disappearance. But in reality, Count Pulley had sent them as a show of force- a warning to the western nobles to fall in line or face annihilation.
The battle for the throne allowed no mistakes. If the Fourth Prince failed, the nobles who supported him would be purged by the new king. As such, the nobles in the Western Lands could be used to provide a little bit of military support for the Fourth Prince to rebel.
After all, this wasn’t the first time such things had happened. Three kings ago, the ruling monarch had taken the throne by killing his brother in a rebellion.