Chapter 181: The Duke's Dilemma

"It's nothing, I was just asking casually, thinking that if there were a chance, I would like to see the ruins of that great battle with my own eyes!" Sinuoli laughed it off to cover it up. They bypassed the dragon head displayed in the foyer and entered the inner hall.

The Human nobles of Bretonnia are different from the Dwarfs in the Qunshan; in most cases, Dwarfs are accustomed to holding banquets in a round-table format, mainly because their population is smaller and the concept of hierarchy is not as apparent.

Here, what Sinuoli saw was a long table, and on the side near the door, four Human nobles were already seated along the table; they stood up when they saw the Dwarfs walk in.

Sinuoli felt it slightly and could not help but be startled again. Except for Kangsitanting, who had traveled with them, the other three he did not recognize were actually all Grail Knights!

"Long heard of you, please sit!" The tall man in the very center made a gesture of invitation. As the commander of the Dwarf party for this trip, Sinuoli sat opposite him, while Sitelinge sat on Sinuoli's left, sitting diagonally across from Kangsitanting.

"Thank you all for being willing to help my kin!" The red dragon emblem painted on Duke Fengdaiyike's formal attire made his identity known without asking, and in Sinuoli's perception, the aura of divine grace on him was also the thickest.

"In this era where the threat of Chaos is increasingly rising, helping each other is only right." Sinuoli brought out standard polite remarks to respond.

The Duke himself seemed somewhat taciturn; he briefly introduced the other two Grail Knights—his Flag Bearer and his cousin—before calling for the servants to serve the meal.

Sinuoli looked at the steak on the plate and nodded. The main course of this meal was venison; it was deep red, had a particularly soft taste, and compared to other meats, it was very lean, with almost no excess fat or marbling.

Venison is the highest-grade ingredient in the Kingdom of Bretonnia, and only nobles can enjoy it. If a peasant were found eating venison, he would face harsh punishment; using this as the main course at least showed respect.

Sinuoli had thought in advance about what he was going to say. In fact, obtaining some possible foreign aid from Bretonnia to realize the recovery of the lost Shanbao was originally one of the important purposes of his trip.

"From what I have seen and heard on this trip, your duchy seems to have some hidden troubles!" After three rounds of wine, both sides prepared to consult on some practical topics.

"Yes, I don't even know where to start for a moment!" The Duke had already been overwhelmed by the internal affairs of his own duchy. Duke Fengdaiyike is widely renowned throughout the Old World for his martial prowess.

This Duke has a nickname even more imposing than "Dragon Slayer": "The Dragon-Dreader." Like most knights of Bastonne, not long after he became a formal Knight, he embarked on a crusade to seek the Grail.

Wanting to prove himself by slaying a dragon like his ancestor Jilesi is the long-cherished wish of every generation of the Duke of Bastonne, only Fengdaiyike is more enthusiastic about this than his ancestors.

This warrior spent more than ten years traveling the entire Old World to find a giant Dragon, and along the way, he slew many monsters, accumulating a great reputation. However, when he finally found the evil Dragon, for some reason, that Dragon did not fight him and flew away directly by flapping its wings.

Having no ranged weapons and not being on a Pegasus at the time, the Duke could only sigh at the Dragon. Such a spectacle was widely spread by witnesses as Fengdaiyike making the giant Dragon fearful, causing it to tuck its tail and flee in a panic.

But this Duke, who had admired the style of his ancestors since childhood and practiced the art of dragon-slaying hard, still could not be happy. In the end, he could only slay a nest of Wyverns as a substitute before drinking the Grail Water to inherit the title of Duke.

After becoming Duke, Fengdaiyike's heart for slaying dragons remained unchanged. He learned from experience and specially organized a team of Pegasus Knights, and issued a high bounty to anyone who could provide him with the tracks of a giant Dragon.

His obsession with giant Dragons led to a proverb circulating in the Old World: "Found a giant Dragon? Go tell Fengdaiyike of Bastonne!"

According to Sinuoli's understanding, the predicament faced by the Basituonie Gongguo is actually present throughout the entire Knight Kingdom, it is just that the thick Knightly Virtue here has magnified the problem.

First is the lack of internal administration talent. Many Knight lords are busy improving their martial arts, fighting everywhere to pursue higher titles and more merits, and they themselves often have no time and are not good at managing their territories.

At this time, the task of management falls to the second sons without inheritance rights, illegitimate sons, and village elders. Among them, those who have received noble education and those who have gained experience from life have their own advantages and disadvantages in doing things; if they complement each other properly, it is still possible to manage well.

But in Bastonne, the lords can almost only rely on village elders, because of the thick knightly atmosphere, almost all noble children will choose to receive a warhorse and a set of knight equipment when they come of age to establish merit as a Knight Errant instead of securing logistics for their fathers and brothers.

Secondly, the pursuits among the nobles are different. Fengdaiyike himself has no intention of running for Knight King. Having reached the peak in both secular and knightly ways, he can be said to have no desires.

But his subordinates—Knights Errant want to obtain fiefs, Kingdom Knights want to improve their titles, and high-ranking nobles want to seek the Grail! Several times, the Duke had just promoted a capable knight, hoping he could achieve something in managing the territory. As a result, that person immediately put down his lance, shouldered his greatsword, and embarked on the road of crusade.

Even if the Lady is slightly partial to the people of Bastonne, the proportion of those who take the Crusade Vow and eventually drink the Grail Water still makes the Duke very sad.

What makes Fengdaiyike even sadder is that not every Grail Knight is willing to come back to serve him; many Living Saints prefer to take on the responsibility of guarding the Goddess's sanctuary, dedicating their whole lives to their Goddess.

Among the various duchies of Bretonnia, the relationship between Bastonne and the Dwarfs is relatively close, for no other reason than that they need more armor and weapons!

Bastonne has the most Knights Errant, Questing Knights, and Grail Knights, and the first two are undoubtedly high-risk professions. In order to achieve their goals, they rush to wherever it is dangerous, and accidental deaths lead to a very low recycling rate of equipment.

Such a situation creates a greater demand for money and land; buying equipment requires money, and enfeoffing knights requires land. Every year, the Duke himself has to worry about these two things, and sometimes he even has to take his subordinates to do mercenary work to increase income.

The problem of land plagues every lord in Bretonnia. Without a family planning policy, even if the standards are raised year by year, there are more and more knights qualified to obtain or expand their fiefs.

For this reason, Bretonnia always hopes to expand outward. His Majesty Chalun's crusade to wipe out the Greenskins is one aspect, and coveting the land of the Border Prince Territory is another goal, is it not?