Domestic situation

No one knew who first spread the news that their battalion was allowed to return home, but that was what the soldiers in the battalion were saying now.

"Really, Lord Baron?" Mond, Yoshk, and a few platoon jarls went to Cardoj to confirm.

When the baron nodded slightly to show that it was true, the faces of the platoon jarls were filled with smiles from the bottom of their hearts.

These platoon jarls had joined the army since the beginning of the war. After being away from their hometown for six years, even the toughest of men would feel a sense of homesickness.

It was a rare benefit to be allowed to return home first.

Although the war was over, there were still many uprisings breaking out in various parts of Shalor. Although the main force of the Faustian army was still in Audis, there were actually Faustian soldiers active throughout Shalor.

Suppressing rebels and eliminating bandits were all carried out in an orderly manner in the occupied areas.

When Locke received the news, he was also very surprised.

Originally, he thought that their battalion would be transferred by the Ministry of War to be stationed in a certain city in Shalor. Many troops had been sent out in the past two days.

Of course, it was a good thing to be able to return home. Locke no longer looked into the reasons. The decision of the higher-ups was not something that a small platoon jarl like him could speculate about.

The palace in Audis was originally the place where the old Shalorian king and nobles discussed matters. Now, it was the hall where Prince Kenzir and the Faustian higher-ups discussed matters.

"Have you decided which troops to send back?" Kenzir sat at the head of the hall. A long round table was placed horizontally in the middle of the hall, with various nobles and generals standing on both sides.

Marmen, De Sandro, and Shia sat at the front of the round table. The first two sat on the right, while the latter sat on the left.

"It's decided." Marmen, who was sitting on the right, stood up and passed a list to Kenzir through his attendant.

Kenzir took the list from the attendant and read it carefully for a while. He then slapped the table and decided, "Alright, let these troops go back first!"

After saying that, he turned to look at Shia on the other side and said, "Shia, I'll have to trouble you to return home and help my father consolidate the situation."

"Yes, Your Highness." Your Royal Highness. "Marquis Sia accepted the order.

Since the fall of Audis, Shalor had been declared dead. As the victors, Faustian did not face the joy of victory first, but the constraints from all sides.

Aomar, the suzerain, had yet to arrive due to the long journey. The surrounding countries were getting restless, ready to snatch a piece of meat from Faustian.

The Kingdom of Karaman in the northeast sent the Jungle Wanderers and the Barbarians to the front line of Morphey Forest.

The Kingdom of Gondor in the west had sent a division of armoured troops to be stationed in the fortress of Elvehaugh, which was adjacent to Faustian.

Even a small country in the southeast, the Jose Kingdom, sent out two of its royal rangers.

This was the posture of an impending storm!

The most surprising thing was that the Ligia Union, which had always had an ambiguous attitude towards Faustian, had also reduced the amount of food imports to Faustian. Not only that, the lords of the Ligia Union had also transferred their most elite Grassi light knights to the border of Faustian.

Fortunately, ever since Bideslane was occupied by the Faustians, it had been committed to developing agriculture. Although the Ligia Union had restricted food imports, the food produced in Bideslane was not a problem for them to be self-sufficient for the time being.

Although the attitude of the neighboring countries was still unclear, their intentions were obvious. They all wanted to take advantage of the situation.

"We will not fight this war again!" In Felor, the current king of Faustian said resolutely to a group of noisy nobles in front of him.

"Even if we fight, we are not afraid of them!" His Majesty had just won the war against Shalor, and his momentum was at its peak.

The nobles in front of him were all members of the noble council and the House of Elders.

They were afraid of everything during the war, but the first thing they did after the war was to reap the benefits were these guys.

As soon as the neighboring countries showed their hostility towards Faustian, this group of cowards were so scared that they started talking nonsense. There was even a brainless one who suggested ceding part of Shalor's land in exchange for peace.

The Faustian king really wanted to crack open the skull of the idiot who suggested it and see what was inside.

Who would have thought that just yesterday, most of the nobles present were still discussing how to divide the big cake that was Shalor?

The king's confident words made the nobles present stop their commotion. With such an iron-willed king, they, as his subjects, unconsciously felt a lot more secure.

Not all the nobles were short-sighted. "We should talk to them," someone suggested.

By 'them', they were naturally referring to the rulers of the neighboring countries.

"Talk! Of course! "The Faustian king gave the noble who said this a look of approval. "But not now, but the day our troops return!"

The king's words caused a thousand ripples.

"Withdraw the troops?"

"What about the land occupied by Shalor?"

"The Shalorians will rebel!"

.....

The nobles were obviously shocked by the king's words.

"Of course, not all of them," the king said slowly. The King said slowly, "A portion of the Lion Legion and the Falcon Legion will return. Marquis Sia will also return."

The answer was revealed, and the nobles' tense nerves finally relaxed.

"With Lion and Falcon around, they won't dare to make a move."

"Margrave Shia will be back. That's good."

The nobles said one after another.

This was the result of a night of discussion between the Faustian king, Kenzir, and the four margraves, who were far away in Shalor, via magical flame messages.

Lion and Falcon each sent a quarter of their troops, led by Margrave Shia, to rush back to the kingdom to defend.

The remaining troops of the two major corps, together with the reorganized Gale, continued to suppress the Shalorian kingdom.

With the reinforcements of this experienced army, coupled with the presence of the Marquis of West Asia, as well as the garrison of the kingdom, the surrounding wolves would have to think twice before making a move.

Gently exhaling the turbid air in his chest, Locke, who had just finished his training, wiped the sweat on his body with a towel beside him, picked up his longsword and walked towards the tent.

He would leave the joint camp in the afternoon and embark on his journey home. Locke suppressed the excitement in his heart and insisted on completing his daily training plan.

This training plan was suggested by Wyr, and Locke accepted it humbly. The experience of a high-rank Knecht was definitely useful.

When he returned to the tent, Suzanne had already packed up her clothes and everything was in order.

Locke had already asked Henry from the caravan to bring Suzanne and the others along. "Let's go to the transport team now."

"Let's go to the transport team now." Locke pulled Suzanne who was still busy at the side. "I'll handle the rest myself."

"Okay." Locke, who had just finished his training, exuded a masculine aura. This made Suzanne, who was very close to him, blush.

"Where are Glace and the others?" Locke asked.

"They went to get some food." Locke ate in the baron's tent, but they didn't. They went to the kitchen to get their own food.

Corey, who was in the kitchen, had also prepared a sufficient amount of food for the 'non-staff' members. Locke wasn't the only one; the other platoon jarls also had their own women.

After the war, Cardoj was very generous in this regard and didn't set any rules for the platoon jarls.

"You guys can go straight after you finish eating. Don't wait for me," said Locke as he kissed Suzanne's forehead.

"Okay." Suzanne squinted her eyes. She really enjoyed being gentle with Locke.

After changing into a clean set of clothes, Locke walked towards the baron's tent. Apart from lunch, Cardoj would definitely give some orders today.

As the vanguard of the battalion, the cavalry platoon left the main force behind and went to Bideslane first to report to the baron and deal with the baron's personal affairs. During lunch, Cardoj gave the order.

The reason why they left the main force behind was to follow De Sandro's cavalry regiment.

As for the baron's personal affairs, they had to deal with the spoils that they had seized.

Close to half of their battalion's spoils and supplies were now being pulled by the cavalry platoon's horses.

What surprised Locke was that this time, Cardoj would personally lead the team with the cavalry platoon.

Looking at the mountain of spoils in the cavalry battalion, Locke could understand Cardoj's mentality. With so much wealth, of course, he would only feel at ease if he looked after it himself.

Speaking of wealth, Locke was definitely a rich man now.

Now, he had forty thousand silver thalers in his account (Locke had directly sold his share of the spoils to the baron's caravan). Coupled with the vouchers from the royal capital and the silver thalers that Suzanne had earned for him, Locke's personal assets were close to sixty thousand silver thalers.

This amount of money was enough to buy a manor in the baron's territory and live comfortably for the rest of his life.

Locke didn't have high ambitions. After living in the precarious army for so long, he cherished everything he had now. He was inclined to live happily with his family in the future.

In the afternoon, under the envious gazes of countless soldiers in the joint camp, Cardoj's battalion embarked on their journey home.

Before leaving, Angelina finally went to look for him after such a long time.

"You go first. I'll be at Bideslane soon." Angelina didn't have any sense of confidentiality and casually revealed her itinerary.

"Okay," Locke agreed and was about to take something out of his chest.

Angelina knew what he was going to do. "Take the moon bracelet first."

The moon bracelet was a life-saving item that Angelina had given him before the siege of Audis. He hadn't used it until now.

"It's just a piece of magic equipment. I can still decide its use," said Angelina. As a precious item that could withstand a full blow from a peak-level Knecht, it wasn't as easy as she made it sound.

It would be fine if she used it herself, but it was different for Locke. This was one of the few treasures in the Faustian treasury.

"You have to be careful too," said Locke. There were too many people around, so he couldn't do anything out of line. He could only express his concern with his eyes.

"Okay." Angelina nodded and watched him leave.

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