Chapter 12: 12 Demanding Compensation

Luoning certainly knew that the group of guards had not betrayed him at the instigation of Weijinsi; he had been certain of this the moment the traitors made their move.

The reason he was now pinning the blame on Weijinsi was primarily to put the other man in the wrong, so that he could "demand compensation" from him.

"Grandfather, those nine guards were carefully selected by Father for me. Could Father really not know what kind of people they were?"

Lulansi glanced sideways at Weijinsi, only to see the latter turn his body slightly, his gaze somewhat evasive.

Luoning was not wrong; those nine guards had indeed been carefully selected by him, only they had been selected for being the worst.

Laziness, fighting, gambling—the nine of them had each done at least one or two of these things, and Pi'er, who led them, was a notorious troublemaker.

He had simply wanted to find a troublemaker to make things difficult for Luoning, but he had not expected this group to actually betray Luoning, and even want to kill him.

"My caravan had just left Wushan City and was resting in the woods when these nine people made their move."

Luoning continued, his tone carrying a sense of panic as if he had just survived a disaster.

"Grandfather, just think about it. They were only castle guards, and each one of them was an ordinary person; how could they have the audacity to make a move against me? Although I have been stripped of my inheritance, I am still their master, the Baron of Shanlin Town, and a bloodline of the Wushan Family!"

Speaking to this point, he looked at Weijinsi with anger, "I have thought it over and over, they must have been instigated by Father, otherwise they would never have dared!"

"I did not!"

"Although I dislike you, and don't even want to acknowledge that you are my son, I would not go so far as to send people to kill you!"

Weijinsi's hair and beard bristled with rage; he hated being falsely accused more than anything in his life, yet every time he was accused and blamed, he found it hard to find reasons to refute it, because the other party's words were reasonable and well-founded.

"If I really wanted to kill you, why would I have given you so many resources?"

"That was for the sake of my late mother!"

Luoning retorted, leaving the other man speechless.

A brief silence fell in the living room. Lulansi sighed and said, "Perhaps there is some accident in this matter; I believe your father is not stupid enough to go as far as killing you."

No one knows a son better than his father; Lulansi still understood Weijinsi quite well. Although the latter was stupid, reckless, and brainless, he would not go so far as to do something as foolish as killing his own son.

"Did that group of fellows say anything before they made their move?" the Marquis asked.

Luoning thought for a moment. Since it had come to this, there were some things he could not easily hide.

After all, the remaining traitors were not dead yet; their motive for betrayal would be known as soon as Lulansi sent someone to interrogate them.

"Before they made their move, they told me they didn't want to go to Shanlin Town, saying it was remote and dangerous, that going there was just waiting to die, and they also said the family had already abandoned me, and that I would probably be killed before I even reached Shanlin Town."

Chahar, standing behind him, was somewhat confused. Had that group of traitors really said these things? Why hadn't he heard them?

In a daze, he understood; it was likely said when the traitors chased the Baron into the woods, at which time he had fallen to the ground and hadn't yet stood up.

"Child, the family has never abandoned you. My stripping of your inheritance was merely for the long-term consideration of the family!"

Lulansi revealed a little of the reason to comfort Luoning, then he turned his head and severely criticized Weijinsi:

"The eldest grandson of the Wushan Family dares to go to Shanlin Town, yet as guards of the family, they dare to shrink back. Weijinsi, how do you usually train them?"

On this point, Weijinsi was in the wrong, and he did not speak.

Luoning still wanted to shift some of the blame onto Weijinsi, so he continued: "The man who led them said he wanted to seize my supplies and money, and then leave Wushan Territory to live somewhere else."

"Although these motives of theirs seem quite reasonable, I feel that there is still someone behind them pulling the strings."

He voiced his own guess, "Otherwise, they would not have had such audacity."

"Haha, my grandson, you are mistaken there."

Lulansi understood; Luoning had mistakenly thought that Weijinsi was pulling the strings behind the scenes, which was why he was venting his anger on Weijinsi.

"Anyone has the ambition to strive for profit, and guards are no exception. They must have seen that you were an ordinary person with no one around you, and thought to join forces to rob you."

The old Marquis analyzed, "And I am certain they must have known you had many gold coins in your possession, which is why they were tempted."

As his words fell, Huoerhuate, who had followed, felt his heart skip a beat. He immediately stepped forward and saluted, saying, "My Lord, you are right. That day, when I handed the gold coins you gifted to Young Master Luoning, I did it right in front of them!"

As he spoke, he expressed his apologies to Luoning again: "I did not expect my negligence to bring you such great trouble. Huoerhuate is guilty!"

Weijinsi spread his hands, "See? I told you it had nothing to do with me!"

Luoning's expression was sheepish, and he did not reply, which was considered a tacit acceptance of this result.

His behavior left the manservant Chahar, who was standing behind him, confused once again.

To be precise, he had been bewildered from the moment he stood in front of the gate of Wushan Castle until now.

He did not understand why the Baron would suspect that the Count had instigated these traitors, and he understood even less why, if the Baron thought the Count wanted to kill him, he still dared to return to Wushan Castle?

"Could it be that the Master is certain the Marquis will uphold justice for him?" Chahar thought to himself.

At this moment, Lulansi above put away his serious attitude, his expression softening significantly. If a father-killing-son incident had truly occurred, he would have been very distressed.

"The matter is clear now. Luoning, do not be so angry with your father. Although he is a bit stupid, he would not go so far as to kill you. We Wushan are not the Haide Family."

"Furthermore, Huoerhuate was not cautious enough in his actions; fine him half a year's salary!"

Huoerhuate did not argue, but bowed to accept the punishment, "Huoerhuate accepts the punishment and will keep this lesson in mind. I hope this can appease the Young Master's anger."

Although Huoerhuate was indeed somewhat incautious, the other party had more or less helped, and Luoning felt a bit embarrassed to have him punished.

"Grandfather, this matter has nothing to do with Huoerhuate, let's just forget it."

Huoerhuate, however, insisted on admitting his fault, "No, Young Master, this matter was indeed my mistake. Please, Young Master, do not plead for me."

Lulansi laughed, "Since Luoning is pleading for you, then let it be waived."

He said to Luoning again: "You and Weijinsi are father and son; it is enough that the misunderstanding is cleared up."

Luoning also gave Lulansi face, bowing slightly to Weijinsi, "I was too angry just now. Now that I think about it carefully, I did indeed wrong you."

"Hmph!" Weijinsi turned his body away, huffing in anger, but he felt a bit better inside.

Luoning turned to Lulansi, "Four of those nine traitors were killed by Knight Maiken, and I have brought the remaining ones back to hand over to Father. I dare not keep such traitors by my side anymore."

"Knight Maiken?"

Lulansi looked at this knight with an unfamiliar face standing behind Luoning, "This is my first time seeing him."

Luoning laughed and casually made up a story.

"Maiken is a Wandering Knight, and we have known each other for a few months. When he learned that I had become the Baron of Shanlin Town, he wanted to follow me. It is also thanks to him that I survived today."

Maiken performed a Knight Salute to Lulansi, then continued to stand behind Luoning.

Weijinsi, on the other hand, looked him up and down, "Although I didn't use even a fraction of my strength in that kick just now, the fact that you could take my kick without falling means you have some ability; following the Wushan Family won't be a loss for you."

It was true that he hadn't used his full strength, but claiming he hadn't used even a fraction of it was clearly Weijinsi talking nonsense.

Luoning did not expose him, turning instead to bring up the purpose of his return.

"Although Maiken's ability is decent, not having guards by my side is still very inconvenient for me; I can't always have a Professional Knight doing everything."

Luoning's tone became respectful, in stark contrast to his previous attitude toward Weijinsi, "So, I ask that you, Father, please arrange a few more trustworthy Guards for me."

Perhaps it was seeing Luoning being so polite, or perhaps it was the recent clearing of his name, but in any case, Weijinsi was in a pretty good mood right now.

Hearing this, he agreed loudly without even thinking, "Fine!"

Weijinsi looked at Huoerhuate, "Go, find nine new guards for Luoning."

"Father, nine is too few!"

Luoning stopped Huoerhuate, who was just about to turn to carry out the task, "Shanlin Town is too dangerous. If you only give me nine soldiers, they will think the family is sending them to their deaths, and they might even develop ulterior motives. So I hope you can give me more men; if I could have a hundred, that would be best!"

Lulansi, sitting to the side, couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth upon hearing this.

He suddenly understood why he had felt that sense of awkwardness from the moment Luoning walked through the door.

And Weijinsi reverted to his usual irritable temper, "What, a hundred? There aren't even a hundred Guards on duty at Wushan Castle right now, and you're asking me for a hundred!"

"There aren't, there absolutely aren't!"

Ordinarily, there was only one Knight Order stationed in the Wushan City area, and every day the Knight Order would dispatch one Knight Squad to be responsible for the defense of Wushan Castle.

A Knight Order possessed ten Knight Squads, and each Knight Squad contained 12 Professional Knights, 36 Attendant Knights, 10 Archers, and 60 Infantry.

The guards Luoning saw at the gate were the Infantry of a Knight Squad, so Weijinsi was not lying; there were indeed not a hundred guards on duty.

But Luoning didn't need to worry about that; he just needed to open his mouth and ask, as he wouldn't lose anything even if he didn't get them.

"Father, you wouldn't be unable to even produce a hundred guards, would you? You are the Count of Wushan City! In my heart, Grandfather is first, and you are second, yet you can't produce a hundred guards, this..."

"Bullshit!"

Weijinsi said angrily, "It's a mere hundred men; do you think I can't produce them?"

Lulansi rolled his eyes directly and shook his head helplessly; since when had his grandson become so good at provoking people?

"Luoning, you want a hundred Guards; that number is too high."

The old Marquis directly extinguished Luoning's thoughts, "As far as I know, the population of Shanlin Town is less than a thousand. Even if you want to form a defense team, recruiting a dozen or twenty militiamen is enough. You asking your father for a hundred guards is, firstly, unnecessary, and secondly, you can't afford to support them."

Hearing this, Luoning's burning heart was dropped directly into a basin of cold water.

The population of Shanlin Town is actually less than a thousand??

This is worthy of being called a town?

His territory is just too difficult!

"How about this, Weijinsi, you arrange twenty Guards for Luoning and give him a bit more resources. That way, when he gets to Shanlin Town, it will save him the trouble of re-recruiting militiamen."

Weijinsi nodded, "Twenty is about right."

"Grandfather, twenty is too few!"

Luoning transformed into a haggling merchant; his territory's population was so small, he had to find a way to increase it.

Otherwise, when would he ever reach the 3,000 population required for the 【Population Prosperity】 achievement?

Relying on natural reproduction generation after generation, who knows how long that would take?

"Eighty, Grandfather and Father, you only need to give me eighty Guards!"

"It can't be any fewer!"

(End of this chapter)