“Your Highness! We seem to have arrived. That’s Valdes Fortress.”

After leaving the capital and passing through the development base Stefan, it took a whole week.

Eurius finally arrived at Valdes Fortress, which could be called the command tower of the north.

Player Scharnos the Great had almost unified the rich central and southern parts of the empire, but there were only two places he couldn’t conquer.

They were the northern mountains centered on Valdes Fortress and the desert lands centered on the southern desert kingdom, and the two difficulties had one thing in common.

They had a natural fortress that took advantage of their geographical advantages and a strong resistance from the natives.

Valdes Fortress was the front line to stop the northern immigrants.

Heinz, who was not yet used to the cold of the north, shivered a little.

“It’s really cold. I heard that the northern knights hardly wear armor, but I can understand why.”

“More than half of the year is snowing season, so what do you expect?”

Heinz and Eurius grumbled as they entered the fortress.

“Greetings to the first prince of the empire!”

As soon as he entered, hundreds of knights lined up on both sides greeted him with a loud voice.

And at the end of that line was someone Eurius had wanted to see for a long time.

“Haha! I haven’t seen you since you were young, Your Highness. I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Anderson.”

The owner of the voice was a giant in one word.

He was over two meters tall and his shoulder width seemed to be twice that of an average adult male.

He greeted Eurius with a hearty laugh.

Eurius was also glad to see him in his heart.

‘He still looks more like a bandit than a knight.’

A giant with an overwhelming physique, squinty eyes, and a beard that grew in any direction.

If he wasn’t wearing a knight’s uniform, he would have been mistaken for one of the northern barbarians without a doubt.

But Eurius’s eyes were full of affection as he looked at him.

‘It’s been a long time. I hope to build a good relationship with him this time.’

Count Anderson was the only one among the four superhumans of the empire who had sided with him.

He and the northern knights were the driving force that allowed him to survive the civil war for over ten years.

‘The northern knights are rough because of the environment, but their loyalty is genuine!’

This was his evaluation of the northern knights in his previous life.

The empire was such a large country that the front lines where the troops were deployed were also very wide.

Especially in the west, where there were many neighboring countries including the Triphos Kingdom, or in the east, which was just the sea, it didn’t matter much, but in the north and south, they had to bear a considerable amount of material and human costs.

The most painful cost among them was the deployment of knights.

Knights who could use force were high-end personnel, and more than half of the empire’s knights were deployed in the north and south.

But the knights deployed in the north and south were treated as high-end personnel, but they had very different characteristics.

First of all, looking at the southern knights, many of them had grown up in a wealthy environment and received enough support.

That’s because the southern part of the empire was the base of the archduke faction.

Knights who were born in noble families and followed an elite course were the mainstream.

On the other hand, the northern knights were different.

‘The north is cold, harsh, and full of undeveloped wilderness.’

‘I heard that battles with barbarians happen frequently.’

It was an environment that normal elites would naturally avoid.

Therefore, there were quite a lot of knights who were lucky enough to graduate from the academy as commoners or who came to gain merit by gambling or who were disliked by the power structure and demoted.

Naturally, knights from the north and south didn’t get along well.

‘Northern knight? Aren’t they just miserable things deployed in nowhere? They don’t have any dignity or dignity as knights!’

‘Hmph, the southern fat pigs are not knights, but just flashy armor! How often do they get to draw their swords as knights!’

Eurius thought that both sides had a point.

Indeed, the northern knights were rough and the southern knights lacked combat experience.‘But you can’t ignore the environment you grow up in.’

He never looked down on the southern knights.

Eurius was also of noble birth and knew best how much merit it was to train in a good environment as he grew up.

In order to persuade the northern knights who had been trained roughly by harsh combat experience, Eurius needed to make a plan of his own.

‘Count Anderson is a typical northern knight. That will give me a chance to get close to them.’

As Eurius thought, Count Anderson welcomed him with a hearty appearance on the outside, but when he heard that he was coming to the north, he had to worry a lot.

‘The first prince seems to underestimate the north too much. He will have to suffer a lot when he comes.’

Count Anderson was not only strong and loyal, but also had a sufficient mind and fair judgment unlike his appearance.

He was not in charge of changing hundreds of people in the empire by receiving trust from the emperor for nothing.

He had no intention of giving any favors to the first prince.

‘If he comes to take away our hard-earned achievements with flattery, he will regret it.’

He nodded his head repeatedly and finally made a decision.

“Call Knight Linfield.”

…

“Did you call me?”

“You must have heard the news.”

The face of Linfield, who was called a knight, tensed slightly.

“I heard that His Highness is coming here.”

“Yes. You’ll guess why I called you.”

Knight Linfield sighed in front of his superior Count Anderson.

It was not uncommon for knights in the north, but it would have been surprising for ordinary knights.

“It would be hard for other colleagues to accommodate His Highness.”

“Yes, it would be hard if it wasn’t for you who have experience in the central knight corps.”

Linfield was one of the rare nobles among northern knights, and he was also an intelligent person who had Count Anderson’s trust as a representative confidant.

“I plan to appoint you as part captain of the squad that will serve His Highness. It will be hard, but this is also for the sake of the empire, so please help His Highness to adapt.”

“It’s an honor for me to serve His Highness. Thank you for entrusting me!”

Of course, Linfield didn’t like the task very much, but what could he do when the count who was changing hundreds of people asked him personally?

‘I’ll have to adjust his mood slowly.’

Linfield knew well the habits of those who grew up in luxury. He probably expected to receive the first fiery anger from the emperor and sighed deeply.

It started with the accommodation.

…

“I apologize for bringing you to such a humble place, Your Highness.”

The room that Eurius was guided to was quite large, but it was very cold inside. There was only a large fireplace in the center of the room and a few pieces of furniture including a bed.

Although Valdes Fortress was a large castle, it was still a fortress to prevent external invasions. Its interior was less splendid than that of a medium-sized noble’s mansion.

‘It’s about time to start.’

Linfield was preparing various excuses in his mind, expecting the prince’s complaint to burst out at any moment…

“This is just the right size for me alone. Tell Count Anderson that I’m grateful.”

‘What?’

Linfield was greatly surprised.

To be honest, even he, who was a nobleman, would think it was too much to stay in such a room. Wasn’t the prince’s reaction too modest?

On the other hand, Eurius didn’t care about such things at all. His attention was focused on the knight who was guiding him, Linfield.

‘Linfield, was it? He looks like a useful talent.’

‘Stat window!’

[Gareth Linfield]

Job: Intermediate Knight, Intermediate Staff Officer

Strength B+ Agility B Intelligence B- Spirit B+ Force Aptitude B- Force BDisposition: Good, Loyal, Flexible

[Traits]

Swordsmanship (B+)

Eurius liked this knight named Linfield.

‘He’s a different type of knight from Heinz.’

He looked about the same age and had similar skills to Heinz before he received training from Count Carlos.

But what Eurius noticed more than that was his intelligence score.

‘He has quite high intelligence for a northern knight?’

He was more suitable for being a staff officer next to the commander than a charging captain on the front line. He had enough military skills and intelligence to handle that.

‘Maybe Count Anderson values him highly… Maybe he reluctantly gave him to me to please me?’

Eurius had spent half of his previous life as an emperor fighting with the northern knights. He had a rough idea of how they felt about his sudden appearance.

‘They must not have good feelings.’

So Eurius needed to break their prejudice that he came here to show off his achievements.

“Your name is Linfield right?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Linfield felt that it had finally come.

The first remark was indeed a sarcastic remark.

‘I hope there will be no trouble…’

But the words that came out of Eurius’s mouth were completely different from his expectation.

“I heard before I came to the north that the knights who come here for the first time have something called a ‘ceremony’. Is that true?”

“Yes? Yes!”

Eurius smiled triumphantly.

This was the beginning.

“Then I guess the knights who came with me need to do that too?”

“Yes. But if Your Highness wishes, you don’t have to do that.”

Linfield looked puzzled.

‘Where did he hear that?’

In fact, most of the knights who came to the north didn’t even know that there was such a thing.

“Hmm… I don’t know much about it, but if everyone has to do it, I don’t want to be left out.”

Eurius brought several knights with him for escort, including Heinz. They also had to adapt quickly to the north.

‘And for that, the ceremony is essential.’

Eurius got to the point.

“Then it would be awkward for me, who brought them here, to be left out. Can I join the ceremony too?”

“…!?”

Linfield was too surprised.

The ceremony was actually an unavoidable measure for the knights from the warm south to get familiar with the north quickly, but it was not something he could recommend to the first prince.

“Your Highness! I’m sorry, but that ceremony is not suitable for someone as noble as you. It’s fine for knights, but Your Highness doesn’t have to follow it…”

“Oh, so you’re trying to give me special treatment now?”

“That’s not what I mean…”

Eurius said casually.

“I’m also a brave man who received loyal knight training for over ten years. The more you dissuade me, the more curious I get about what it is.”

‘Your Highness, that’s not something you can handle so easily.’

Linfield felt like his clothes were going to burst, but Eurius never gave up his stubbornness.

“Then tell the Count. I don’t like special treatment!”

‘Damn it!’

If he really made the first prince do that, he and Count Anderson would probably have an uncomfortable relationship for as long as the first prince stayed here.

‘Oh, what should I do?’

Linfield had prepared himself for something from the first day of the emperor’s arrival, but he didn’t expect such a big trouble.

He walked toward the Count with a throbbing head.