Chapter 368: The Backstabber 3
Chapter 368 The Backstabber 3
“What price do I need to offer in order for you to willingly …… accept the honor of only a Peer Sword Noble while giving up the power of a Peer Sword Noble?”
Paul sat on the chair, his eyes gazing at Bryce, his right hand gripping the wine glass and gently shaking it as he calmly uttered these words.
Responding to him was silence, the commander of the 1st Battalion across from him was as if frozen in place, his eyes not moving.
Paul cocked his head and asked curiously, “Bryce?”
“Lord Earl, I …… don’t know what you mean?”
Bryce finally spoke up, yet his voice was so small that it really didn’t match his large and thick image.
“Literally!”
Paul answered without any hesitation at all.
Silence continued in the restaurant as Bryce stared intently at the wine glass in Paul’s hand wondering what he was thinking.
“Lord Count!” Bryce finally spoke, “Is this how you treat your loyal subjects?”
His voice actually contained a few hints of anger!
Blind! Did you play a bad game yourself?
A million thoughts flashed through Paul’s mind in an instant, regret, worry, and chagrin ……
Had he still underestimated the conventional wisdom of this era? Even people like Bryce Alder, who did not care about personal interests, could not be exempted.
What remedy should be taken?
Paul held out his left hand, “Bryce, listen to me! I ……”
“Lord Earl!” Unexpectedly, the other party clenched his hands into fists and hammered the tabletop, shaking the table full of cups and plates clanking. Wearing full body armor, his entire body erupted with a majestic aura.
Bryce almost roared, “How disrespectful of you to think that I would put my own interests above my loyalty to you! How demeaning to my honor is it to speak of a ‘price’?”
Huh? Paul’s outstretched hand froze.
What was he saying?
“Bryce, I …… I don’t know what you mean?”
Paul asked in a whisper.
“Literally!”
The commander of the 1st Battalion answered without the slightest hesitation.
He continued, “You are the Lord of Arda, you are the Lord of us, whether or not to grant power is up to you, so why test my loyalty by saying ‘at what price’, am I the kind of person who values profit in your eyes?”
The tone of his voice was very serious, and his face still had a pout on it.
Paul was surprised, his face full of incredulity!
Listening to Bryce’s words, did it just work out? Did the process go so smoothly?
On the contrary, it seems that they are worrying about nothing, then I have taken great pains to set up this Hongmen Banquet …… ah bah, set up this dinner party for what?
The normal process should not be the other side to open price, their own counter-offer, the other side to continue to open price, their own continue to counter-offer …… until both sides reached a compromise until?
That is the sword nobles ah! In this era of bloodline supremacy, the temptation for non-nobles is how huge, with their own titles, with their own territory, closed doors can be king, who can not care.
This kind of gold can not buy things not to sell a good price, really …… really …… really do not know what to say.
“Touch!”
The sound of shattering glass broke the tranquility of the restaurant, and Paul forcefully dropped the wine glass in his right hand.
“Clang!” Bryce lurched to his feet, his face aggravated, indignant, yet seemingly resigned to his fate, and closed his eyes.
There came the sound of the dining room door opening, and sure enough, someone was coming in!
Alas …… after all ……
Alas? Wait, I’ve already said what I wanted to say along with what Earl-sama had in mind, it shouldn’t be like this.
Thinking of this, he opened his eyes again and looked towards the door.
“You two, did something happen?”
Oh, it was the old butler, Mr. Philip.
Mr. Butler looked down and saw the broken wine glass.
“Just a moment, I’ll get a new one right away.”
He turned to go out, and another servant came in to clean up the debris.
“Really, too much theater ……”
Bryce said in a self-deprecating manner with an embarrassed look on his face.
He looked at his lord, only to see that the Earl-sama had a look of excitement on his face, so it turned out that the falling of the cup just now was a result of too much excitement.
The earl apologized, “It’s my fault, using a villain’s mind to speculate about a noble knight …… But what do you mean by theater or something?”
Bryce ten thousand times embarrassed while laughing and waving his hands, “Haha, nothing nothing nothing, as long as Lord Earl doesn’t doubt my loyalty.” Snapping his fingers, Paul snapped his fingers crisply, “Definitely can’t let honest people suffer. Come man! Get on the map!”
The dishes that had yet to be finished were quickly removed, and a huge map was placed on the table.
Bryce looked at the map, which was a preliminary version of the map based on the information brought back by the various mapping teams earlier.
The initial version of the map contained the three earldoms of Arda, Bairdin, and Emden, and there were still many imperfections and gaps, but several important towns and the roads between them had been drawn.
Due to the use of advanced measurement methods, the accuracy was more than a step up from the old-fashioned maps that people drew by feeling and estimation alone.
Only the Earl-sama was seen holding a pencil and circling the map.
Speaking of pencils, this is also the Count’s “great invention”, using graphite and clay mixed in a certain proportion to make a quill, and then wrapped in wood, it becomes a pen that can be used to write and draw on the paper, compared to the traditional quill pen that uses ink, the wonderful thing about pencils is that its marks are not permanent, but can be wiped away with bread crumbs.
Upon its introduction, the pencil became popular with all kinds of people, such as school teachers and students, and then military officers, who could finally draw and paint without fear as they brainstormed on maps.
Paul stopped the pencil under his hand and exclaimed, “I have decided to grant you the title of Baron of Byramburg! It was you who commanded the army to trap Byram Castle during the War of the Usurpers, and it is only fitting that you receive this title!”
Byram Castle, wasn’t that the place where Earl Kent used to stay?
Dedicating himself with an earl’s residence? Bryce got excited.
“Also,” Paul pointed on the map, “the five villages in the Byram Castle area, as long as they are publicly owned arable land under the administration of the Council of State, are also yours.”
Emden’s so-called publicly owned arable land under the administration of the Council of State was actually the arable land under the name of the Kent family in the past, and after the War of the Usurpers, the output of the arable land under the name of the Kent family was all included in the public treasury.
“Really? Lord Earl?” Bryce asked excitedly, he was familiar with the area around Byram Castle, it was a large piece of land, and he would be a big landowner in the future!
Paul confirmed, “Naturally it is true! But …… don’t forget what I said before.”
Bryce nodded his head like garlic, “Yes, yes! Lord Earl, of course I remember.”
Although he had obtained the title to the land, the taxes that should be paid had to be paid just the same, and the decrees that should be obeyed had to be obeyed just the same. In a word, putting aside the noble name of Count of Byram Castle, he had only turned from a small landowner into a large landowner, and was still a subject under the rule of the Council of State.
He knelt down on one knee with a look of gratitude, “Thank you, Lord Earl, for your reward, and my descendants and I will remain loyal to you as always.”
Paul smiled and helped him up, “Keep up the good work! You will get more in the future.”
The two men retook their seats at the table and Paul said, “I’m sure you understand this ‘excessive’ request of mine.”
He was talking about not granting rulership to the nobles of Perseus.
Thinking about the talk about schools and talent earlier, Bryce nodded heavily.
“There can never be an independent kingdom in my territory!” Paul clenched his fists and said, “To tell you the truth, I think the current feudal system-which is just layer after layer of lords-is just too inefficient in doing things… …”
“Shhh!” Bryce made a silencing gesture, “My lord, don’t say that out in the open.”
Paul said nastily, “Let’s just talk privately between the two of us!”
Bryce asked with some concern, “My lord, I can think of one problem – I myself can accept this, but it’s hard to say about the others. What if the crowd gets upset?”
Paul hemmed and hawed and said somewhat wistfully, “That’s the second reason I invited you over tonight.”
Looking at the mysterious smile on the Earl’s face, a chill ran through Bryce’s heart.
Paul moved closer to Bryce and whispered in his ear, so and so …… so and so ……
The more Bryce listened, the worse his face became.
Not yet waiting for Paul to finish, he shouted, “No way! Lord Earl, ten thousand times no way! You find someone else.”
Paul said gravely, “There is no one better suited than you! You must do this job!”
Bryce said aggrieved, “Why don’t you reward the name of Baron of Byram Castle and the cultivated land there to someone else, I …… can’t afford it!”
The voice was even with a sobbing voice.
“Shut up!” Paul some anger, “I hall a party lord said out words how can repent, reward you must accept, live you must also must do good!”
After Paul’s carrot and stick, Bryce finally reluctantly accepted the order.
……
The commander of the first battalion dragged his somewhat weakened legs and hobbled through the corridor, he carefully recalled the scene after Paul dropped the cup, and it looked like he had really been overly concerned.
It really shouldn’t be, how could Lord Earl be that kind of mean and unkind person?
Baron Byram Castle, and that piece after piece of cultivated land, Bryce’s heart was on fire, his own social status and family fortune could be said to have skyrocketed tonight.
But when he thought of the task that Lord Earl had sent him, his heart screamed again.
(End of chapter)