Chapter 225: Chapter 193: High EQ: Got Shoulder-Thrown, Low EQ: Slipped
They had never heard of High Cliff Castle, nor did they know anything about this Baron Levi, but they were certainly familiar with Fulina.
Though they didn’t look particularly bright, they were actually very cautious. "Please forgive our suspicion. We must first make some inquiries about this matter."
Two Tree-men helped their dazed kin up from the ground, while another left its post at the breach.
"Rose, who did this to you?"
The two Tree-men supported their kin, waiting until the Tree-man who had attacked the Lord was feeling a bit better before asking anxiously.
They truly couldn’t fathom who could possibly throw one of the Tree-man Race to the ground.
They had all been busy dealing with the remaining enemies and hadn’t noticed what was happening at the breach.
The Lord immediately pulled Masha to one side and started casually making small talk, putting on an air of having nothing to do with the situation.
The Tree-man named Rose glanced down at a certain Lord. Ultimately, it was too embarrassed to admit it had been yanked clean out of the ground and then shoulder-thrown, so it mumbled, "My foot slipped. I just accidentally fell."
The other two Tree-men clearly didn’t believe it.
"This Baron Levi is indeed here to support us. Let him and his followers enter." The Tree-man that had left returned, breaking the awkward impasse. The dozen or so Tree-men parted to clear a path.
Levi waved his hand, and the people of High Cliff Castle followed, filing through the breach in the wall.
The dozen or so Tree-men then resumed their post, blocking the breach.
Behind the wall was a mountain peak with a wide road running through the middle. The wall was clearly just a defensive pass.
In the open area, besides the Elf Warriors, many Elf women and children were also running back and forth, tending to the wounded.
The wounds inflicted by heavy weapons like giant axes and great clubs were horrifying, but the faces of the women showed only habit—or perhaps, numbness.
"Zat, take fifty men and hold the breach with the Tree-men. The rest of you, with me to the wall to help defend." After giving his orders, Levi immediately led his remaining men toward the top of the wall without pause.
They had only dealt with the Wilderness Alliance Army at the breach. The wall was a good hundred paces long, and the Alliance Army was still assaulting it in other places.
With a great clamor, the group ran up onto the wall.
The battle was still raging on the wall. Wilderness People were constantly climbing up, and the Elves were struggling to beat them back.
Levi’s eyes immediately fell on a disheveled Silver Armored Knight not far away, locked in a desperate fight against four or five Pigman Warriors who had surrounded her.
Levi gave a hand signal, and Mier immediately led his men to help the Elves defend the wall. The Lord himself led the charge, kicking one Pigman Warrior to the ground before cutting down the rest at the waist with two slashes of his sword.
The Pigmen died without ever knowing which bastard had ambushed them from behind.
The Silver Armored Knight sagged with relief. Just as she was about to collapse to the ground, the Lord caught her in an embrace.
"You crazy woman! You have a hundred thousand soldiers under your command. Couldn’t you have sent literally anyone else? You had to come to this godforsaken place yourself. If you actually died in this backwater, what am I supposed to do then?"
’My Lion Hunter Knight title would go right down the drain. It’d be a total loss, losing out on all fronts.’
The Lord looked down at Fulina in his arms, her face a little pale, and muttered to himself, his heart aching with frustration.
To be honest, he meant every word he said.
If Fulina really died here, the Northern Territory would undoubtedly fall into turmoil, and that was just for starters.
Without a Duke to absorb the pressure, he would have to face the pressure from the Duke of the Southern Territory all by himself.
Levi admitted he was powerful, but his subordinates were not. If he couldn’t win a fight, he could always run. His people, however, could not.
The only outcome would be him ending up all alone in the world, which went completely against his original goals.
"But you came, didn’t you?" Fulina said with a grin, then shot a wry look at the Lord’s hands. "Speaking of which, how much longer are you planning to hold me?"
"Tch, what kind of person do you take me for? No good deed goes unpunished."
The Lord put on a show of being righteous and noble. He smacked his lips, then helped Fulina over to the wall to lean against it. He even thoughtfully found a Wilderness Person’s corpse to serve as a cushion for her.
The Duchess, unfazed, didn’t hesitate to sit right down on the corpse.
"Tsk, tsk. You look miserable, like you were just fished out of a pool of blood."
As his Barbarians took over the defense of the wall, the tide of battle turned instantly. The attackers from the Wilderness couldn’t even show their heads. Only then did the Lord have the leisure to jest.
"Hmph, and you think you look any better?" Fulina scoffed.
If she looked like she’d been fished out of a pool of blood, then Baron Levi in front of her looked like he had rolled around a dozen times in a meat grinder filled with shredded flesh.
The heavy, feathery snow falling from the sky was instantly seared into rain upon contact with his body, continuously washing away the bits of flesh and blood caught in the crevices of his Armor.
"Are you the ’Lion Hunter Knight’?"
Just then, a voice as melodious and beautiful as a lark’s song came from his side. The Lord looked up and was stunned for a couple of seconds.
He saw a female High Elf in golden Light Armor. Her skin was more fair and delicate than porcelain, her frame slender and graceful. Her face, though a little pale, possessed a beauty that all the scholars of the world combined would struggle to describe even a fraction of.
Legend told of the pure-blooded Upper Blood Elves, who were considered priceless treasures by the Titans. They possessed an astonishing beauty unmatched by any other Race, a beauty that made the loveliest flowers wilt in shame and the moon shutter its windows in jealousy.
They were considered the unsurpassable pinnacle of beauty throughout history. Levi believed that even if this Elf from the Wind Speech Tribe couldn’t quite match that ideal, she couldn’t be far from it.
This, however, was a conservative judgment, made only because the Lord had yet to see a pure-blooded Upper Blood Elf for himself.
"Actually, I’m not the ’Lion Hunter Knight’ yet. I am the Lord of High Cliff Castle and a Baron of the Debei Kingdom. You can call me Levi." The Lord took off his helmet and smiled faintly.
It wasn’t that he had any designs on the female Elf before him; he was simply stunned by such ultimate beauty. The appreciation of beauty is an innate ability of all sentient beings, and he was no exception.
"I am Ash Wind Speech, the Elf Queen of the Wind Speech Tribe. Thank you for your selfless aid."
"The Wind Speech Tribe will not forget what you have done for us today."
Ash Wind Speech was stunned by the sight of Levi without his helmet. It took her a few seconds to recover her senses before she spoke with utmost sincerity.
To be honest, she had assumed that beneath the helmet was a grizzled, middle-aged or elderly Knight.
After all, the "Lion Hunter Knight’s" power was terrifying, and power was often linked to age. For a human to reach such a level of strength within their normal lifespan, they would have to be of an age that was impossible to ignore.
But she never expected the face beneath the helmet to be so unexpectedly young and handsome.
"It’s nothing. I imagine no one could stand by and watch beautiful Elves be destroyed by a gang of brutes." Levi flashed what he considered his most dashing and handsome smile.
Levi’s sudden change in tone, so different from moments before, made Fulina, who was listening from the side, feel as uncomfortable as if she were covered in lice.
"From now on, you are the ’Lion Hunter Knight,’" Fulina said flatly, interrupting the two from continuing to praise each other in front of her.
The whole exchange was making her skin crawl.
"So generous? No more tests?" Levi asked, scratching his head.
It had all come so simply and easily that he felt no sense of accomplishment or ceremony.
"The title was always going to be yours. It was just a matter of sooner or later," Fulina said, shaking her head.
"Besides, a title is just a title. I can give it to whomever I please. It’s only considered precious because it’s the first honorary title I’ve ever conferred. Since no one else has ever received it, it naturally became valuable."
After she finished speaking, Fulina looked at Levi. "Do you think I’m being capricious? Or perhaps just plain weird?"
Considering the actions of this fierce woman—first personally taking command of the Thorn Corps, and then leading a small squad deep into the Wilderness—Levi desperately wanted to nod and say yes. Instead, he forced himself to offer a more tactful reply. "Not at all. I just think you’re... following your heart."
"I’m a Duchess. If I can’t do as I please, what’s the point of being one in the first place?"
But Fulina just smiled, voicing the Lord’s own innermost thoughts.
In that moment, the two of them reached a certain understanding.
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