The First Order

The sound of the horse trotting got closer and closer. Ren Xiaosu watched quietly as more than a dozen figures gradually appeared ahead on the dirt road and galloped towards them at full speed.

The horses looked handsome with an extremely tough stature. Among the cavalry, there were even some people leading horses without a rider on them.

These people were all wearing heavy steel armor. When Ren Xiaosu saw them for the first time, he nearly drew his black saber. In fact, it was because their armor was somewhat similar to the expeditionary army’s heavy armor.

However, these people’s armor was a shiny silver and looked much more exquisite than what the barbarians wore. They were even more attractive to look at.

But in Ren Xiaosu’s opinion, their armor was not as practical and sturdy as the barbarians’.

Melgor smiled and patted Ren Xiaosu on the shoulder. “Don’t be nervous. These are the knights of the Li and Liu clans.”

“How did they know that we were coming back?” Ren Xiaosu wondered.

“Actually, according to our arrangements, we should’ve returned a month ago. They were supposed to be waiting at the edge of the Gobi to welcome us, but we were delayed by a month due to the incident with the Eye of True Sight. I believe they were likely patrolling the area once in a while.”

“I see.” Ren Xiaosu said, “I thought they were enemies coming to kill you.”

Li Chengguo and Liu Ting had already started waving their hands wildly. The eyes of the two sheeple were red, and it looked like they had become very emotional at the thought of returning to their hometown.

For the past two years, they had been disguised as sheep and ate grass every day. Now that they had returned to their hometown and saw their clans’ knights, how could they not be excited?

“How’s the combat capability of the knights?” Ren Xiaosu asked curiously.

“They’re all veterans who were discharged from the royal army.” Melgor explained, “Actually, the royal family does not allow nobles to raise their own private armies. You can see they’re only carrying bladed weapons. They aren’t allowed to carry any lances or bows. In the Kingdom of Sorcerers, spears, bows, and firearms are all prohibited weaponry, and civilians aren’t allowed to secretly own any of such equipment.”

“Wait a sec, you just said that they weren’t allowed to have any private armies. Then what are these people?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

“At the beginning, the regulations were very strict when the order was first handed down. But it’s gradually loosened up,” Melgor answered. “Furthermore, these veterans did not have any livelihoods after they retired from the military, so they became a threat to society and order. As such, the royal family started tacitly allowing nobles to recruit a small number of soldiers to guard their homes.”

“Without modern firearms and explosives, how can these people stand up to the magus order that controls the royal family?” Ren Xiaosu said disdainfully, “Speaking of which, since the magus order has no intention of developing science, aren’t they afraid that the Northwest will launch a counterattack someday? When the Northwest develops into a stronger power, these sorcerers will be as useless as trash.”

Melgor glanced at Ren Xiaosu. “Why? You still have Fortress 178 on your mind? What’s important is that no foreign enemies have ever invaded the Kingdom of Sorcerers for the past 200 years.”

Ren Xiaosu thought to himself, ‘True, there’s no need to think so highly of all monarchies. In the history of every Central Plains dynasty, there hasn’t been one that lasted too long either, with the shortest one not even outlasting the current Kingdom of Sorcerers.‘

Historically, there were many cases of nations going into isolation and closing their borders. They sold their lands for riches, and killed loyal subjects who served them.

If not for that, there wouldn’t have been so many dynasties.

Calculating the duration, the Magi had enjoyed themselves for over 200 years now, so it was also about time for them to lose their fight.

Ren Xiaosu suddenly realized the more he knew about this Kingdom of Sorcerers, the more he felt it was no longer fit to be seen as the Northwest’s opponent.

More than a dozen knights had already arrived in front of them. All of them jumped down from their horses and knelt down on one knee with their right hands placed over their chests to salute Melgor.

When Melgor signaled for them to get up, they turned and looked at Li Chengguo. “Young Master, we were tardy.”

Li Chengguo’s eyes were brimming with tears. “You’re not tardy at all!”

Next to him, Liu Ting asked, “Where are the knights from our Liu clan?”

“We split up with them to patrol the area, so they should be somewhere nearby right now.” The knight commander said, “But you can return to the county with us. We’ve already made plans with them to rendezvous there.”

Liu Ting was relieved. “We’re finally home.”

The knight commander said, “Lord Melgor, shall we set off now?”

“Mhm, let’s set off,” Melgor replied.

Ren Xiaosu realized the status of sorcerers was indeed very high. The private soldiers of the clans still had to serve them first before they could see to their own master’s needs.

Immediately after, Ren Xiaosu realized the knights had only brought three spare horses with them. It was obvious they were only prepared for Melgor, Liu Ting, and Li Chengguo’s arrival and did not take him into account.

Well, they didn’t know that Melgor would suddenly kidnap someone back, did they?

“How should we assign the horses?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

The knights looked at each other. “Who are you?”

“Oh, I’m Lord Melgor’s steward,” Ren Xiaosu said with a smile.

Melgor thought to himself, ‘So you’re not addressing me as Mel anymore now?‘

The knights looked at each other. Since when did Lord Melgor have a steward? However, they could not say anything since Melgor had silently acknowledged it.

However, they were all wearing armor, so two knights couldn’t ride on one horse.

Ren Xiaosu said to Li Chengguo and Liu Ting, “Um… sheeple, why don’t you two squeeze onto one of the horses?”

Liu Ting raised an eyebrow. “We can let one of the knights walk back on foot.”

“Does a steward’s words carry so little weight with you servants?” Ren Xiaosu asked. “Hurry up and get on the horse!”

Li Chengguo and Liu Ting could only answer helplessly, “OK…”

Melgor and Ren Xiaosu rode at the front of the group together. The knights riding at the back asked Li Chengguo in a whisper, “Young Master, what’s the history of Lord Melgor’s steward?”

Liu Ting lowered his voice and said disdainfully, “He’s no one important. He was originally a captive we took from Fortress 178. In the end, he was chosen by Lord Melgor to be his personal steward!”

“Then does he have any special powers?” the knight commander asked.

Liu Ting snapped at him, “He’s especially good at bragging!”

The knight commander was speechless.

Melgor suddenly said to Ren Xiaosu, “When I saw these knights, I remembered the question you asked me. I’ve indeed seen the name Ren He mentioned in a book before. It was in that book that chronicled the life of that genius sorcerer.”

“What was recorded in there?” Ren Xiaosu asked curiously.

“I only thumbed through that book, but there was something that left a deep impression on me.” Melgor said, “Initially, three black Eyes of True Sight existed, and two of them were the private assets of that sorcerer. Somehow, one of them ended up in the hands of the Tudor family.”

“Didn’t you say that there were two black Eyes of True Sight? One of them fell into the hands of the Tudor family, so what about the other?” Ren Xiaosu asked.

Melgor looked at Ren Xiaosu. “It was taken away by that Central Plains rider!”

Ren Xiaosu was stunned. “He took it away?”

“Yes, it said he gave it to him as a gift,” Melgor confirmed.. “Wait, I understand now. The unknown black Eye of True Sight I sensed was the one the Central Plains rider took away!”