Chapter 1116: Kingdom

Lancaster Castle.

Aaron, in the guise of a middle-aged man, walked in swaggering.

"Mr. Aaron!"

The two guards at the gate hurriedly lowered their heads and saluted.

Aaron kept a cold face and did not respond at all.

Then, he arrived at the dungeon on the lowest level of the castle.

Inside the cold and dark dungeon, quite a few people were imprisoned at this time.

And then, his own younger brother Yege became the Viscount of Lancaster!

"Lord Yege!"

Encouraging his own sons to fight amongst themselves, and then competing to see who among them was the most outstanding.

Roge Kingdom.

"I need more resources!"

Fred IV, the second year of his reign.

Yege stood up in surprise, looking at Aaron.

As for Stryker? He was another master of Herbalism, and because their research directions overlapped, he was considered Aaron's direct competitor.

"Ahem!" Aaron coughed: "Master Stryker... your experiments are always full of accidents; such precious samples must not die at your hands..."

Hmm... a big fire, and leaving behind a charred corpse in the end would be enough.

Just at this moment, Stryker, who was wearing a gray robe, wearing an iron ring necklace, and having few hairs on his head, also arrived: "Witchers from other schools are extremely precious resources; they cannot all be given to Master Aaron. I have an experiment on hand, and once it succeeds..."

At this time, he was already thinking about how to make a graceful exit.

Sigh... who told the boss that he didn't like his subordinates to get along well?

To celebrate the establishment of the Lancaster Kingdom, the new king, Yage I, specially held a martial arts tournament.

"Actually... tracing the bloodlines of the nobility and the king, one can discover many interesting things."

In reality, he felt that this old codger was quite wicked! He was not as brainless as he appeared on the surface; perhaps he was intentionally failing to get along with him.

Two Witchers stood guard at the gate like statues.

"Once he harbors murderous intent, he will definitely kill me, even if only to keep his secrets..."

"Ximo, you lost again!"

Aaron bowed slightly and performed a salute.

He decided to help Yege so that the other party could invest more resources into him.

"Aaron... I have specially kept two Witchers who can serve as subjects for your experiments."

Stryker announced with full confidence.

And as a fairly famous Herbalist in the territory, Aaron naturally also received an invitation from the Count.

It must be said that he was a qualified superior and also possessed a certain amount of leadership charisma.

But Aaron did not care; as long as there were enough resources to supply his research, that was fine.

Fred III, the seventeenth year of his reign.

Count Yege of the Lancaster Territory launched a rebellion directly.

In the study, Aaron was reporting his work progress.

"Okay."

"Many thanks, Lord Count. I believe that above the Master Witcher, there must be a higher realm!"

In order to let these Scholars study to their heart's content, Yege even moved the Royal Family's collection of books over.

A long time ago, he announced that his wife and lovers had given birth to many children, and all of them were brought to the castle to be raised.

To reach this step, he still needed more test subjects and more support!

"The resources of a Count's territory are no longer enough..."

In reality, he had already completed most of his research using the spoils Yege had gained from his conquests over these years.

By the fifth year of Fred IV's reign, the entire Roge Kingdom had already submitted to Yege.

For a Witcher lord, wanting to dominate the world, offspring and descendants were ultimately a big problem.

As for the truly ordinary commoners under the humble families in ancient times, they were not even considered human.

The young ladies giggled and blew him a flying kiss.

And the fame of his formidable Witcher Legion even spread outside the kingdom.

Among this, there was no lack of reasons caused by Yege's intentional instigation.

They were all Yege's children—in name.

For him, the weakened version of the balanced Witcher was the best soldier to form the Witcher Legion.

It was imperative to make Stryker's reputation even greater, to overshadow himself by a notch, and then hide under the other party's brilliance...

Children must be cultivated from a young age.

He had been waiting, enduring...

"So... after a certain number of years, should I fake my death and escape?"

"And then... defect to the command of one of his sons and come back to enjoy the 996 working life?"

After all, Yege had been recruiting various Scholars and Herbalists to research the power of Witchers.

At this moment in the garden, a young man in his twenties was using a Wooden Sword to knock a teenager to the ground, laughing loudly.

After a trip to the Royal Capital, Yege returned with eyes full of the flames of ambition: "This is... the best opportunity!"

As an ambitious leader, Yege naturally would not overlook this point.

It's just that the mortality rate for midwives is a bit high...

And before this, the expansion of the Lancaster family had already caused dissatisfaction among many old-line great nobles in the kingdom.

At the critical moment, Yege came out to smooth things over; he also did not want the infighting among his subordinates to exceed a certain limit.

Anyone who proves they have ability will receive his promotion and heavy responsibility, and even rewards!

But the subsequent "Blood Prison" is a realm that exists entirely in fantasy.

Whether in the East or the West, it is the same.

Aaron truly felt reluctant to leave the research environment here.

But in reality...

These two masters of Herbalism not only increased the advancement success rate of the Witcher Legion under his command by a significant margin, but also helped him become a Witcher Master.

This caused the Royal Capital to become even more bustling than before; the coming and going crowds were full of business opportunities, allowing the merchants of the Royal Capital to make a huge profit.

Seizing this opportunity, he brazenly forced Fred IV to abdicate, passed the crown to himself, and established the Lancaster Kingdom!

Yege directly appointed himself Prime Minister of the kingdom, then ordered the other great nobles who had raised troops to withdraw, taking the opportunity to divide these kingdom nobles.

"I am not interested in these; after our King completed his great undertaking, he has already set his sights on Warlocks... Perhaps, soon we will be able to obtain a Warlock as a test subject; that one is mine!"

Yege smiled.

Relying on the large amount of captured Witcher Inheritance, his brand-new Witcher Meditation Technique was already more than half complete.

"What?"

He was just planning to train a few squads of Witchers outside of the Viper School to use as special operations teams.

Inside the Library.

"Lord Count, the latest type of Black Iron Potion has been successfully developed!"

And... are Witchers from other schools really that rare?

"The Shadow Dragon School is indeed a bit troublesome... but this time I also wiped out their Witcher Master, don't worry... the relevant data will be sent over soon."

As for the commoners below the minor nobles?

Sorry... those aren't even people!

To use Eastern terms, as a minor noble from a humble background, Lancaster was suppressed by the great noble clans and had already been vaguely restricted, with no room for development.

Letting subordinates divide into several factions and fight each other is also an ancient wisdom of governance for a feudal lord.

Aaron had seventeen or eighteen secret skills hidden, and that wasn't even all of them!

It could be considered a classic example of an employee screwing over their boss!

Yege excitedly slammed the table: "I will give you ten people to train and experiment on; once successful, I will appoint you as Chief Scholar!"

"Many thanks, Lord Count!"

"The two of you need not fight... there will always be samples."

He still trusted Aaron and Stryker relatively more.

The interior of Lancaster Castle is very large and has a nice garden.

His Witcher Legion was like a hot knife through butter, repeatedly defeating the King's army with fewer numbers.

As for those original Witchers, they could serve as Captains or even special forces.

In order to break through this restriction, any diplomatic means are useless; it must go through a war of blood and fire!

And at this time, Aaron also noticed this point.

No children means reduced loyalty!

After this war maniac took power, he immediately began a new round of demands on surrounding territories, then expanded his domain by a circle, becoming the Count of Lancaster who held significant weight throughout the Roge Kingdom!

Aaron revealed a troubled expression.

As a Free Citizen on the territory, if he refused, it would instead seem very strange.

Especially in the innermost position, inside thick iron bars, two battered Witchers were spread-eagled and bound to wooden racks.

That's right!

Yege was already a Count at this time!

Under Yege, he mainly studied problems beyond the level of Witcher Master.

Yege held a red-hot branding iron in his hand and was just retracting it in a dispirited manner.

Anyway, with the pathetic forensic technology of this era, could they even identify that the charred corpse wasn't him?

Aaron said: "At the same time, I have also improved the Basic Tempering Potion, making its medicinal properties milder, and the herbs required are not so precious..."

"This... besides Witchers as test subjects, I also need the Secret Transmission of various schools... especially the Shadow Dragon School! It is said that the founder of this school was one of the oldest Witchers; they might know more!"

In the end, the Witcher army stormed the Royal Capital and captured King Fred IV.

"Through the classics of various schools, I have developed a balanced Black Iron Potion. After taking it to become a Witcher, one's physique, strength, and speed will all be 1.5 times that of an ordinary person, quite balanced and weakened... and thanks to this, the success rate has increased to about fifty percent!"

After Yege left, Aaron and Stryker exchanged a few more sharp words, then parted ways.

Aaron laughed heartily.

Two expressionless Witchers came to Aaron's side and said in cold voices: "Due to foreign spies and assassins, from today on, the two of us are responsible for guarding your safety."

Because of this, the relationship between the two of them was not very good.

Wandering Knights from all over the kingdom could display their skills here, and the champion could even obtain actual fiefs.

As for Rude? After this former Viscount fell into the river while drunk and drowned, his several sons also met with accidents one after another...

By then, there would be as many test subjects as one could want!

Aaron and Stryker looked at each other and lowered their gazes one after another.

Aaron smiled slightly at these youths and greeted them.

He gazed at the books on the shelf, then looked at the ancient, yellowed book in Aaron's hand: "Master Aaron... are you reading such a decaying thing?"

Even, having the confidence to pass the Red Mountain Trial and be promoted to a Demon Hunter Master.

The old king who ruled the kingdom died of illness, leaving behind only a seven-year-old child.

Aaron controlled his own excellence, maintaining it at a top-tier level, yet not the kind that was irreplaceable.

Relying on Yege's resources, his preparations for assaulting Red Mountain were also seven or eight-tenths complete.

'This Yege... in all likelihood wants to discard the millstone after the grain is ground. No, pui pui pui, I am not a donkey...'

At this moment, several young people were sparring in the garden.

'Yege... is certainly not a good monarch.'

These were all the foundations for the large-scale cultivation of Demon Hunters.

Ximo, who had been knocked to the ground, had unwillingness in his eyes.

But in reality, in the shadows, he was constantly absorbing the knowledge from the various school classics Yege had obtained, occasionally even using his subordinates as test subjects, and Yege seemed happy to see this happen...

"Master Aaron, by the order of His Majesty the King, you will reside in the Research Institute from now on."

Aaron then applied along with other Herbalists, and gradually stood out... Of course, among the other Herbalists and scholars, many talents also emerged.

"Lord Count..."

Just then, Stryker, also accompanied by a Demon Hunter bodyguard, walked into the Library.

Aaron flipped open an ancient, yellowed "Genealogy of Noble Articles and Royal Bloodlines" and began to read with great interest.

Not only that, through the gains from wiping out the various Demon Hunter schools, he would have more confidence in assaulting the Blood Prison in the future.

Aaron put on an excited expression.

Thus, he found Yege.

The Research Institute was a converted former school of the kingdom, with excellent facilities and a Great Library.

Aaron seemed to have no feelings about this and accepted the arrangement very calmly.

A spark called ambition seemed to blink in Aaron's eyes.

That was a conjecture regarding a higher realm beyond the Demon Hunter Master...

Yege said indifferently: "You and Stryker can use them to your heart's content... you must create an auxiliary potion that further increases the trial success rate... as long as you succeed, I will reward you heavily."

"Good!"

Aaron sighed with emotion as he walked out of the dungeon.

They prided themselves on being ancient nobility, possessing noble bloodlines as well as a long history and tradition; they were in a completely different class from upstart minor nobles like the Lancaster family.

Although it was not needed now, showing favor to the future heir certainly had its benefits.

Royal Capital.

Finally, calmly breaking them one by one.

And in reality, he felt not a single ripple in his heart regarding this.

"You!" Stryker glared at Aaron; he was also very dissatisfied with this Aaron, believing the other party was full of a decaying craftsmanship and did not understand the value of his own unconstrained thinking at all.

'These days, no one should take anyone else for a fool...'

Aaron got off the carriage and tossed a gold coin to the young women on the carriage.

After all, one does not feel the pain if it is not one's own son; Yege practiced wolf-style education, or rather, raising gu.

A suzerain without heirs cannot guarantee the descendants and rights of his vassals.

He even knew that, stimulated by him and with a small hint in the dark, Stryker would soon catch up and also present Yege with a grand gift.

As for how many died or were crippled in the process, he did not care at all.

"I look forward to it..."

Aaron returned the smile.

(End of this chapter)