Although the outer city of Angate was extremely dilapidated, after seeing the inner castle which was empty and dilapidated but very solid, Allen couldn’t help but feel helpless about the selfishness of the noble who built the castle.

Compared with the dilapidated state of the entire castle, this inner castle could undoubtedly be described as luxurious. Although it had been ravaged by bandits, with messy broken tables and chairs everywhere and cheap and crude weapons hanging on the walls, this inner castle not only had three floors, more than a dozen rooms, but also a rather large balcony.

There was a stone main hall below these rooms, where a dozen servants who had survived the bandits’ blades were cleaning. A gray-haired old man was directing the servants to work.

Seeing the lord appear in the castle, the servants who were busy were about to put down their work and salute. Allen waved his hand nonchalantly, signaling them to continue working. He walked slowly in the inner castle, suppressing his excitement.

He finally got a “territory” of his own, a territory that truly belonged to him without having to rely on others.

There’s even a barely decent army.

There are probably not many people who can resist the temptation of a castle. Countless people have imagined living in a luxurious and majestic castle. And now, they really own such a castle.

“My Lord Baron.”

The short old man bowed respectfully to Allen. As the steward of the castle and one of the survivors rescued from the dungeon by Allen, the old steward named Cooper was particularly respectful to Allen.

“How long will it take to repair this castle?”

Allen asked straight to the point.

“…It will take at least three months, sir.” Old Cooper showed an embarrassment on his face, “Unless we can hire some more craftsmen from the North and buy some materials, then we can speed up the process…”

“The castle needs to be repaired as soon as possible. Please make a list of the materials and workers needed. I will go to the North tomorrow.” Allen tapped his palms lightly. “Prioritize the repair of the inner castle and the city walls. My sister will be here soon. At least prepare a roof for her to shelter from the wind and rain.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“How are those female knights doing now?”

“As you instructed, we’ve cleared out a room on the second floor to house them,” Cooper said.

“My men have already gone to Medina City to report the news. Their families will come to pick them up soon.” When the seven female knights, led by Theresa, were found, they were covered in filth and lying in a foul-smelling liquid. Under the knight commander was a large pool of yellow urine.

Allen would rather stay away from these troubles and burdens.

After giving some simple instructions, Allen left the inner castle and came to the backyard. The chaotic slogans of the soldiers, the scolding of the elven mercenaries, and the cheers echoed in this small open space.

“Bang!”

An elf dodged a spear coming from the front, rolled on the ground several times before standing up. He looked at the strange battle formation of the soldiers in front of him, with a hint of excitement in his eyes.

“Come again!”

As soon as he finished speaking, he raised the scimitar in his hand and rushed towards his “enemy”.

Facing the elven mercenary were two sword and shield soldiers holding Soma-style long shields and scimitars. Four nearly three-meter-long spears were interlaced in the middle and on both sides of the two sword and shield soldiers, and two soldiers holding short halberds stood on the left and right. The squad leader holding a short spear stood at the back of the battle formation.

“Spear, charge!”

As the captain shouted, four spears without spearheads suddenly thrust out. The elf’s forward momentum suddenly stagnated, and he could only quickly dodge sideways, grab a spear shaft, stretch out his scimitar, and rush towards the battle formation!

But then, a short spear stretched out from behind the shield and blocked the scimitar in his hand, and the swordsman in front of him also turned sideways and raised the long sword in his hand from the gap.

The elf, who was attacked from multiple angles at the same time, immediately let go of the spear and rolled over to avoid the spear’s attack.

Suddenly there was a burst of laughter all around. The elven mercenaries, the Angate soldiers, and even the villagers who were watching the fun all laughed out loud.

Looking at the surprised look on Thordrin’s face beside him, Allen couldn’t help but curl the corners of his mouth.

Chapter 238: Snakes and rats in the same nest

Controlling an army is the foundation of survival in this damned era. Although he has a group of elite and powerful elven mercenaries, the number of people in the Cold Wind Tribe is limited after all – one less person dies.

If he continued to recruit, the price of a large number of elven mercenaries would be beyond the reach of a small baron like him.

Therefore, his plan did not include relying on such pure mercenaries to develop his own strength.

The Sforza family on the border has made all the monarchs of the entire continent wary. A mercenary eventually overthrew his employer and took the duke’s crown himself. This only needs to happen once. No one wants to be the second unlucky person to have power taken away by his own men.

Allen knew better than those monarchs how dangerous it would be for a country to rely entirely on mercenaries. He had learned lessons from the border where Sforza had seized power, the witch kingdom that had risen and fallen earlier, and countless examples in history.

Moreover, with the development of the times, wars will become more and more brutal, and the scale of wars will become larger and larger. It is obviously not enough to rely solely on paid mercenaries to maintain. Even as the number of troops needed increases, even those monarchs who are famous for their wealth will one day be overwhelmed by the huge remuneration and unable to make ends meet.

So he needed an army of his own.

But he couldn’t train these conscripts, who were farmers not long ago, the same way he had trained them to be knights since childhood. His only choice was to use discipline and group strength to counter individual martial arts.

In a modern army, individual combat effectiveness may not be strong, but it must have strict discipline and enforce orders.

The combat effectiveness of a team is far greater than that of an individual. In addition to being as disciplined as the soldiers of the Witch Legion or the Imperial Infantry, the soldiers must also be able to skillfully cooperate with others and master how to flexibly change formations when facing strong enemies.

This battle formation, which was based on the Mandarin Duck Formation, was his first attempt.

This battle formation from the Far East was improved and localized by him and used on these soldiers who were seriously under-armored and were farmers not long ago. They were organized into teams according to villages and neighborhoods, and they elected their own captains, ate and lived together, and trained together.

In an era without national and ethnic consciousness, fellow townspeople and neighbors are the strongest bond. With the land and generous military pay promised by Allen, he believes that given time, this small army will surely become his strongest support.

But now, they still need more training. These ten soldiers, whose cooperation can barely be considered “tacit understanding” and can compete with the most skilled elven mercenaries, are already the “elite” of this small army.

Just as he was about to speak, a rapid horn sounded suddenly.

When they ran out of the inner castle, an elven mercenary standing on the castle wall turned around and shouted, pointing to the north:

“My lord, someone is coming this way! It’s the flag of Sigusain!”

To the west of the Northern Border City, on a steep hillside, there is a monastery. The monastery’s walls are made of large stones, very solid but not high, and covered with large patches of creepers. From a distance, it looks like a spreading and undulating green barrier.

On one side of the monastery is a gentle slope with a road leading from the foot of the mountain to the gate, while on the other side is a steep cliff.

Alfred Heinems climbed up the stairs with difficulty. He was very careful because if he was not careful he might roll down the stairs. If he was lucky he might get a bruised face, otherwise he might fall off the cliff.

He kept complaining in his heart about why that person chose such a damn place, but his face showed a calm and even respectful expression.

Finally reaching the last step, Alfred breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he was only in his twenties, alcohol, sex and debauchery had hollowed out his body, so that walking such a small path was a big challenge. Standing on the hillside, you can have a panoramic view of the town below. If your eyesight is good enough, you can even see the pedestrians on the street through the gaps between the gray roofs that are lined up one after another.

Pushing open the door of the monastery, under the guidance of a monk, we walked through the long and narrow corridor into the basement, and then walked through a long and narrow corridor, the situation inside immediately came into view.

In the endlessly dark underground cell, there was a beautiful woman imprisoned. She had long golden hair, and although her skin was covered with whip marks and liquid, she still showed signs of being well-maintained.

The charming eyes were covered with cloth, revealing only her small, upturned nose, and her plump red lips were forcibly separated by an iron gag.

The woman was tall and naked, with a hot body that was curvaceous, a pair of high and plump mountains with metal ornaments on the top, and a graceful waist and plump buttocks, as well as two slender legs wearing a pair of 13-centimeter black high-heeled shoes.

However, the woman’s arms and legs were forcibly pulled apart by the chains, forming a “big” shape, standing in the middle of the basement.

Standing in front of the beautiful woman was a man. He was about thirty years old, with neatly trimmed brown hair, the ends of which seemed to have been specially trimmed, slightly curled and curled inwards. The tip of his nose was slightly tilted upwards, which looked a bit funny.

The man was very tall, and even when he sat down he was very conspicuous. He was wearing a travel suit, which was common when traveling, and a pair of coarse cloth leggings on his legs.

At this time, the man’s hands were dancing on the woman’s mountain. The mountain was connected by a thin iron chain. Just a slight pull would tighten the body and make the woman fall into heavy confinement.

The man had a frivolous smile on his face. He looked at the woman with the corners of his mouth curled up as she screamed. The mountains were pulled into two red balls. Then he took out a steel needle from the side and gently stabbed the mountains.

The pain immediately made the woman scream, but with her eyes covered and her lips blocked, she couldn’t utter a single word.

“Ah, Alfred, you’re here.” The man turned around and saw Alfred appearing at the door, with a sarcastic smile on his face, “Wait a moment, I’m just about to get into the main story. Your mother is really a beautiful and lovely woman, but her temper is quite hard.”

The woman’s moans suddenly increased by several decibels, and her struggling became more intense, causing the chains to rattle as they shook.

No one could have imagined that one of the Duke’s mistresses, who was thought to have been missing for many years and was the subject of rumors in the North, would be imprisoned in the basement of a monastery just a stone’s throw away from her husband and her home.

The one who imprisoned her here was her own son, Alfred.

“Quiet!” The man kicked the woman’s crotch fiercely. With a scream of pain, her whole body trembled. The man adjusted the chain slightly, made the woman kneel on the ground, and then injected spiritual power into her mouth.

Her mouth, which was forced open by the gag, was completely unable to resist the entry of spiritual power. The man standing in front of her seemed to be showing her a toy. The peculiar bad smell of spiritual power rushed straight into her throat, and the huge impact made it almost impossible for her to breathe.

“Ha, how are you doing these days? Beautiful lady, how does it feel to be desecrated by another man in front of your son?”

The man was hitting the Duke’s mistress in the mouth while mocking her: “Who are you thinking about? Your husband who almost became a prince and is still obsessed with the Queen? Or your son and daughter? Your good son Alfred is looking at your charming appearance!”

With a cruel smile on his face, the man continued to taunt the woman, and kept releasing tremendous spiritual power, causing the latter to temporarily lose consciousness.

Chapter 239: The Sins of a Madman

But the next second, the extreme pain from being pierced by the mountains woke her up from her unconsciousness. The poor woman watched with her eyes open as the man took out the steel needles in his hand and pierced the mountains one by one.

The beautiful woman’s slender body trembled continuously in the steel needles, but was locked tightly by the iron chains and could not break free.

Then, the man took his hand back and pulled the chains tied to her legs, sinking the woman’s body little by little, forcing her to stretch her legs outward, almost in a straight line. The woman’s painful howls suddenly rang out in the cell.

“What a great expression! I like to see a high-and-mighty woman like you being desecrated.” The man gently stroked the woman’s cheek which was twisted in pain, as if he was expressing the deep affection between a lover and his beloved. “Just stay like this, every day, and spend every day in this desecration, hahahaha.”

He let go of his hand and wiped his palm with a handkerchief. Then he put on his clothes and turned to the young man who was waiting on the side, with his head lowered and not saying a word:

“You did well, Alfred. Your mother is indeed a beauty, and she pleased me very much.”

“It is my greatest honor that Your Excellency the Duke likes me.” Alfred lowered his head even more. He knew very well that he must not offend this man in front of him. “Then, Your Excellency the Duke, what you promised me…”

Looking down at the young man who had packaged his biological mother as a gift and presented her to him, the man casually threw his handkerchief on the ground and said, “I am not a person who breaks my promise. I will definitely do what I say… Next, I want you to send a request to the Soma Empire, saying… your father has received the revelation of the Lord and is preparing to make a journey of atonement, with the destination being the Holy Land of the Orthodox Church. Once he arrives at the Holy Land, he will walk on his knees over the Seven Hills and enter the tomb of the Holy Land to pray, only then will his wish be fulfilled. At the same time, the land in the north will be dedicated to the Holy Land.”

“Holy Land?” Alfred looked up in astonishment: “Why…”

“That’s not the question you’re asking.” The man didn’t care about Alfred’s reaction at all and interrupted him directly, “Just do it.”

“…Yes, Your Excellency.” Alfred bowed his head respectfully again, “But there is a problem. Bishop Olof will definitely not agree to this.”

“He is a bishop.” The Duke sneered, “A dying nobleman who donated the land he inherited from his ancestors to the church and dragged his sick body on a journey to the Holy Land to pray for salvation. It might even be a one-way journey, but he still set out without hesitation… Isn’t this an invaluable divine revelation? As a servant of the Lord, what reason does he have to stop all this?”

“…But, sir.” After hesitating for a moment, Alfred explained, “This is Soma. The bishop only needs to report this matter to the upper diocese… If it is delayed for a few days, the Soma diocese will send people, and then the Inquisition in Toledo… By then, I am afraid that I will not be able to have the final say…”

The Duke frowned: “Is there no way to get rid of the people from the Inquisition?”

“The court was established by Her Majesty the Queen herself.” Although Alfred knew that there was no one else here, he still lowered his voice, “Everyone here is a close confidant of the Queen…”

“…Then we can only let the bishop die.” The Duke said coldly, walked out of the corridor, and said behind him:

“Leave this matter to me. All you have to do is to find a way to distance yourself from it… Don’t affect my plan, otherwise you should know how I will treat betrayers… After the matter is done, take care of your mother and send her to my castle, then… I will give you what you want. You will be the next… Bishop of the Leon Diocese.”

“…Yes, sir.” Alfred lowered his head even more, “Your Excellency the Duke of Orleans.” As the Duke left, the basement fell into dead silence.

After confirming that the other party had gone far away, Alfred let out a very light “snort” from his nose, and after a while, he suddenly burst into huge anger!

With crackling sounds, the angry earl smashed almost everything he could pick up and destroy, including chains, whips, various torture instruments and sex toys, and started shouting wildly in the room!

Accompanied by the woman’s screams and the sound of things falling to the ground, it took a long time for the young man to calm down. His eyes were red and his decent robe hung crookedly on his body.

His eyes scanned the room and fell on the bound, naked woman. A mixture of shame, disgust and anger suddenly appeared on his face.

“Just wait… just wait… I will make the name of Haines resound throughout the continent… at any cost… I want you to know that I am not a useless person who can only tame women and hunt… even if it means making a deal with the devil…”

Mumbling, he suddenly thought of something, took down a black tape mask from the shelf beside him, and slowly approached the Duke’s mistress.

As if she was aware of her son’s approach, the woman struggled violently again, whimpering and shaking her hair, as if she wanted to say something.

Beg for mercy? Explain? Get angry? She was tied up so tightly that she couldn’t struggle at all.

“Mother, do you know that in the Ottoman Empire in the East, there is a special kind of slave. They are covered with black masks that completely cover their faces. This is a symbol, a symbol that the slave’s identity as a human being is completely deprived, and her body is only used as a tool for venting.” The Duke’s mistress struggled harder and harder, shaking her head desperately, trying to avoid Alfred’s hands.

But it was futile. Alfred didn’t care… He pinched his mother’s chin, stuffed two inflatable leather plugs into the Duke’s mistress’s nasal cavity, and sealed it after filling it with air.

Realizing what he was doing, the Duke’s mistress immediately showed a look of fear on her face – after her nasal cavity was completely blocked, she could only breathe through her mouth!

“For the sake of the whole family and my humble illegitimate status, I have to put up with you, mother… I have to please that bastard. I will give him whatever he wants… even if it means asking for my mother… I’m sorry, mother, you don’t want to see our glorious family name buried in the dust of history, right?” Alfred muttered to himself. But the Duke’s mistress could no longer hear. The same leather plug was stuffed into her ears. As the beautiful woman struggled in fear, her ears were completely sealed.

“Isabella… that woman and her Inquisition are slowly taking power away from us.

One day, all the nobles of Soma will become yes-men who only obey that woman. But that is our power, the power given to us by our glorious bloodline…”

Following closely behind was a gag with a snorkel and a black rubber mask. With an iron chain biting behind her head, this woman who was once famous in the North for her beauty completely lost her identity.

Chapter 240 Everyone Takes What They Need

In the eternal darkness, tears flowed from her eyes and were then absorbed by the hood. She could not hear any sound, see anything, or feel anything. Whether she was asleep or awake, she would always be in that kind of crazy quiet darkness.

Suffocating, desperate darkness.

“That’s right, I will never be your chess piece… Just wait and see, I will become the best chess player, and I will make you kneel on the ground and lick my boots…”

Looking at the Duke’s mistress with a hood on her head, Alfred turned his head and walked away silently.

With each step, his boots tapped on the stone floor. As the iron lock on the stone door was closed, his biological mother, who was struggling desperately in the darkness, was left behind.

The blind monk waiting on the side bowed and saluted. “Send the woman inside to the castle in Orleans. Remember to arrange for someone to look after her. Make sure she is delivered safely – understand?” The monk nodded silently, and his lips, which were tightly sewn by needle and thread, moved slightly.

Because it is located in the mountains and covered with mist, the road in the distance that can be seen from Angate Castle is just a vague dark belt. However, when you are very close, you can still see the flag embroidered with a huge tree pattern held by the flag bearer in front of the opposing team, fluttering in the wind.

“He is Mayor Field of Sigusarn.” Cooper, who followed Allen into the castle, explained, “He is your father’s former captain of the palace guard. He has the status of a baron, but no fiefdom. The Knight Theresa on the second floor of the castle is his niece.”

“Sigusan…” Allen held onto the wall, watching the approaching team. However, after he exerted a little force on his hands, he heard a cracking sound from the wall. He slowly loosened his hands and saw that a piece of the wall had loosened because of his force, which made him feel both angry and amused.