When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 769 - 724: Difficult to Resist

"Damn it." Count Lavier quickly tore off the scarf from his neck to cover his face and discarded his noble fox fur coat, "The transport team, move first!"

The Falan smugglers, indifferent to the corpse of the cloaked man on the river, jumped into the cold water and began to push the boats, while the sound of the attack grew closer behind the clustered reeds.

The pack horses snorted heavily among the reeds, whinnying in discontent as their masters whipped them furiously, yet still turning around amidst the chaos.

Crouched behind riverbank rocks and trees, the troops of vagrant mercenaries drew short swords, round shields, or crossbows from their waists or from the horses' backs.

The thuds of crossbows and bowstrings tore through the night, scattering fibers like strands of gold as the barbed arrows pierced the reed stalks.

Yet amidst the reeds, only a series of jingling sounds could be heard, with the scattered golden strands swirling in the air.

A knight, clad in heavy plate armor yet moving freely and even able to jog and leap, appeared in front of the many vagrant mercenaries.

Seeing the Lanfeng crest on the knight's chest, Viscount Lavier's pupils immediately filled with blood: "Damn it! It's the King's Guard!"

The viscount's muttering was drowned out by the robber knights under him loudly shouting, "Fire! Fire!"

A rain of crossbow bolts fell on the knight's plate armor, sparking blue embers.

Apart from the specially thinned edges of the plate armor, seven or eight feathered arrows were all deflected.

Those knowledgeable robber knights quickly realized, urgently stamping the ground to stop in their tracks.

If they weren't mistaken, that should be Lanfeng armor, a unique forging technique controlled by the Lanfeng Family.

At this point, Lavier no longer thought of covering the escape of the smuggler horse team; he simply shouted, "Scatter, into the reeds, rendezvous at the usual place!" and then darted into the reeds.

The other vagrants, seeing the situation was not in their favor, immediately abandoned their weapons and dove into the reeds.

Lavier even purposely cut open the saddle bags of the pack horses with a knife, hoping to force the Royal Guards to stop and collect the sugar.

White sugar spilled into the mud, but the blue-armored knight leapt over it, while three vagrant desperados blocked his path.

"Get out of the way! Scum!" The longsword slashed in a circular arc, as three heads, blood, and exploded reed fluff flew up simultaneously.

Lavier crawled into the reed bed using his limbs, the silk scarf soaked with sweat and sticky with sugar, glistening like scales.

Feeling the armored sounds behind him growing closer, Lavier suddenly halted, plunging his disfigured left hand into the rotten soil.

The stench of decaying soil flew towards him, but the knight deftly dodged his head sideways, swinging his sword horizontally once more.

A circle of reeds flew up as Lavier narrowly rolled aside to evade.

Unfortunately, the thorns and rubble on the ground snagged the mask on Lavier's face, revealing his entire face under the starlight as he stood once more.

"Lavier?!" The armored neck guard emitted a muffled sound, "Are you Viscount Lavier of the 1420 class, Fort Virginia Knight School? It's me, Cosimo!"

Lavier said nothing, only swinging his sword relentlessly.

But Cosimo's sword tip coiled and flicked, the sword edge slashing across the unprotected arm, severing Lavier's elbow with a sound.

With no weapon, Cosimo mercilessly smashed the pommel-ball on the hilt of his sword against Lavier's chest, knocking him to the ground.

"Why?!" Cosimo pressed the sword tip against the chin of his childhood classmate, "Your grandfather's portrait still hangs in the Royal Loyalty Hall! Watching over you every day!"

Lavier clearly recognized this junior; his eyes held not a trace of past youthful spirit or joy of reuniting with an old acquaintance, only silent coldness.

"Speak up, Lavier!" 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

But the viscount simply sneered, "What does he have to do with me? Does he know my hardship?"

He fared well, died, gained honor and enjoyment; the royal family remembers him, but do they remember me?"

Cosimo raised the beak-shaped helmet, staring incredulously at him, "You are the founder of Loyalty Brotherhood! We all vowed to dedicate our loyalty to the Kingdom, right?"

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" As if hearing the funniest joke, Lavier laughed bizarrely and maniacally, "The Kingdom's lords banned grain smuggling but they smuggle themselves, letting grains rot in the granaries,"

Lavier grinned with his bloody mouth: "My father hanged himself on a maple tree. If I can't come up with the inheritance fee for the King, then after my death, my family will forever lose its noble status."

"Is this your reason for treason? Just because of a few dozen gold pounds of inheritance fees?"

"A few dozen gold pounds? Do you think it's just a few dozen gold pounds for the inheritance fee?

Wrong, you have to bribe the gatekeeper at the Heraldry Institute, getting the court to recognize your noble proof costs money, even writing a noble lineage document requires a scribe fee for the Herald." Lavier, a noble, had tears almost falling from his eyes, "Duke Fuge demands a luxurious life, wants the court, a standing army, and to keep his musicians and tax collectors...they will do anything for money!

Everyone who has three gold pounds will spend five gold pounds, only then can they appear respectable and outshine other nobles!

I love our Leia, but who loves me?"

"Absurd! You're simply absurd! You, you..." Cosimo's face reddened under his helmet.

"Do you think you knights with fiefdoms are worry-free?" With tears in his eyes, Lavier laughed like a night owl, "You've seen Falan's Royal Cavalry, are they knights?"

Cosimo was silent for a long time, and the voice under the mask sounded so disappointed: "Money, money, money, you were never like this before."

"Stop joking, don't the banquets within your court cost money? Don't the armor decorations for the tournaments cost money? The prices of weapons, horses, magical beast meat, potions...which of those don't cost money?" Although Viscount Lavier was lying on the ground, his shadow seemed to enshroud Cosimo entirely.

Nowadays, many scholars have pointed out that with the cheap grain and precious metals imported by the Royal Court, prices are skyrocketing at an imperceptible speed.

Prices are soaring, and the nobles' income can't keep up with them, while the Falan Royal Family has started a trend of extravagant competition.

No wonder the nobles within the Empire are madly oppressing their serfs, with the backing of the extraordinary they dare to be so excessive.

Those Robber Knights hanging around the suburbs with Lavier were not once the same as Cosimo's knights?

Except they all went bankrupt, the lucky ones could still join a noble's cavalry regiment and earn a meager salary.

Those less fortunate or of lower extraordinary status became wandering knights as mercenaries, or turned into Robber Knights plundering homes.

Of course, the two often convert between each other, there's no difference.

The night mist of the Nao'an River flowed between them.

Cosimo's sword tip trembled, for a moment he didn't know how to decide, how to refute.

"Kill me." Lying on his back on the ground, Lavier's severed arm bled black in the night as his face lost its earlier frenzy, becoming as calm as the starry night, "I've had enough, don't let me suffer shame and humiliation anymore."

A moment later, the Knight's Longsword fell, whistling through the air.

When the head was thrown into a specially made lead box by the attendant, Cosimo picked up Lavier's cane.

"Captain, it's ready."

Taking the lead box from the attendant, Cosimo stood stiffly in place for a while: "You tidy up these things, I'll go meet His Majesty the King, you send these stolen goods to the Guild as a fine."

"Yes."

The Knight left with bewildered and melancholy steps, while after checking again and again, a young guard squatted next to a sugar sack.

Taking advantage of the officer's inattention, he pulled a specially sewn cloth bag from his clothes lining and madly shoved the blood-stained white sugar into the bag.

"Are you crazy?" His companion grabbed his arm, "Aren't you afraid of being seen by the inspector?"

The young Royal Guard pushed his companion away with an elbow and whispered: "The Royal Army's pay is always late, they say it's late and keep us hanging.

Paying half on the 10th, and not until the 15th or the 20th releasing the other half, sometimes not at all, they shamelessly do it! This stuff is white sugar, selling it can earn fifty percent profit, plus the original cost, that's a hundred and fifty percent profit, if you don't take it, I will!"

Filling up the pocket lining, the Guard took out a blackened and shriveled salary pouch, continuing to shove the blood-stained white sugar into it.

Looking at the guard raiding the white sugar and thinking of the empty salary pouch, the companion hesitated for a long time but eventually gritted his teeth and tossed another salary pouch to the Guard: "I'll keep watch, pack some for me too."

"Got it."