Chapter 378: Chapter 127: Noble Lord Robson

The incident in Red Leaf Town was not an isolated case.

In Vidom County, and even in the more distant Chris County, nobles with lands near the mountains discovered that for some unknown reason, the once-quiet mountains were now teeming with Beastmen!

Many fiefdoms suffered from Beastmen attacks.

The attacks varied in scale, but most were carried out by groups of a dozen or so Beastmen.

In an instant, all of Vidom County was plunged into chaos.

As members of the military-merit faction, they didn’t have much power to begin with, and what little money they possessed had been poured into developing their lands.

An army? If the lower-ranking nobles of the military-merit faction could afford to maintain a professional army while also clearing their lands, Grantham wouldn’t have had to scheme for a seat at the table.

Beating opponents into submission was clearly easier than persuading them.

With such a major crisis unfolding in Vidom County, Vidom City—the seat of the County Governor—was in utter chaos, besieged by people flocking to plead for help.

Many nobles who had lost their fiefdoms stormed into Vidom City.

Inside the City Lord’s Fortress at the heart of the city, Viscount Elton broke out in a cold sweat as he stared at the flurry of letters in his hands.

As the Governor of Vidom County, Viscount Elton knew exactly what this was all about.

Just a few days ago, two letters from Sri County had arrived for Viscount Elton.

One was from the Noble Council of Sri County, essentially condemning the reckless actions of the Vidom County nobility. It accused them of driving the Beastmen into Sri County, which had triggered a chain of calamities.

Now, Sri County had paid a heavy price to successfully drive these Beastmen back into Vidom County. The matter was far from over, and he’d better watch his back.

The other was from his neighbor, Viscount Robson.

Unlike the aggressive arrogance of the Sri County nobles, Viscount Robson’s letter struck a completely different, almost good-natured, tone.

The gist of it was that he, Lord Robson, was not involved in the matter between Sri County and Vidom County. As for what the Sri County nobles had done, he claimed the principles instilled in him since childhood would never allow him to partake in such an affair.

But, he explained, there was nothing to be done. All of Sri County was in an uproar, and he, Lord Robson, could not go against the will of the people.

Although he, Lord Robson, could not prevent the actions of the Sri County nobles, he could help remedy the aftermath.

’So what if Sri County drove the Beastmen into Vidom County?’ Viscount Elton had thought. ’I’m not worried. Someone else chased them over, what does that have to do with me?’

’I’m not worried about the threatening letter from the Sri County Noble Council, either. They’re the southern faction, I’m the military-merit faction—we don’t even run in the same circles. So I offended them. Big deal. What are they going to do about it?’

But when these two things were put together, Viscount Elton couldn’t help but panic.

After all, the accusations from the Sri County Noble Council were, in fact, true.

Not only were they true, but he, Viscount Elton, had orchestrated the whole thing himself.

It couldn’t be helped. The nobles of the military-merit faction had shallow roots; it already took considerable effort just to clear their own lands of goblins and Kobolds. Count Sriphine had issued an order for them to help the nobles within their territories cleanse these non-human races.

But with so many non-humans in the territories, if they took the time to clear them out slowly, would the County Governors ever get around to developing new lands? Auric Province was, after all, the largest province beyond the pass.

So, they all tacitly agreed to do the same thing: drive the goblins away. As for where the goblins went, that was not something the County Governors needed to worry about. As long as they weren’t on their own turf, it didn’t matter.

You push them a little, I push them a little, and sooner or later the goblins would be driven to the edge of the province. Viscount Elton had no other choice; he could only drive these goblins toward Sri County.

He had originally assumed the southern nobles were powerful enough to handle it. He never expected the influx of goblins to trigger a chain reaction with the local Beastmen, causing the entire situation in Sri County to blow up.

Now that the other side had suffered heavy losses and was using the exact same tactic on Vidom County’s nobles, Viscount Elton had no grounds to complain.

If he couldn’t escalate the conflict to a higher level, he, Viscount Elton, would almost certainly be made the scapegoat for Vidom County’s current crisis.

Just as the worried Viscount Elton was poring over a map, a sudden cry of alarm rang out from outside.

"A dragon! A dragon!"

"Hold your fire! That’s Viscount Robson! That’s Viscount Robson!"

A dragon!

Viscount Elton rushed to the window and threw it open, only to see two colossal beasts in the sky: a red dragon radiating a white light, and a strange, pure-white bird.

Viscount Elton was, of course, all too familiar with these two creatures. ’Isn’t that Viscount Robson, the very man I’ve been waiting for day and night?’

In his letter, Robson had vaguely alluded to the matter of supporting Vidom County.

With no word yet from Count Sriphine, Viscount Elton could only pray that his neighbor was truly as noble as the rumors claimed.

...

"A dragon?! How can there be a dragon in the sky?!"

"I never saw a beast so majestic, even on the central line! It’s simply... terrifying!"

"Where are the guards? Why aren’t they driving it off...? Wait, it looks like the dragon is about to land!"

...

Throughout Vidom City, from the Free People within its walls to the other nobles, everyone looked up.

Just as Robson had thought, the reputational value of a dragon far exceeded its practical value. To put it simply, it was excellent for making a show.

"Look! There’s someone on its back!"

"A Dragon Knight? Who is that?"

Many sharp-eyed nobles had already spotted what appeared to be a human riding on the dragon’s back.

Their questions did not last long. The dragon circled once in the sky, let out a mighty roar, and then dove straight down toward the central plaza of Vidom City.

When the cloud of dust settled, a noble clad in armor emerged from within it.

Who else could it be but Robson?

Upon seeing the newcomer, someone in the crowd immediately recognized him.

"It’s Viscount Robson! What’s he doing here?"

"It’s Lord Robson! He actually managed to tame a dragon!"

...

Although Robson had informed Viscount Elton of his impending arrival in Vidom County, the other nobles were completely in the dark. Seeing Robson descend from the sky, all sorts of speculation began to fly.

"Do you think Viscount Robson is here to solve our Beastmen problem in Vidom County?"

"How could that be? Viscount Robson is the governor of Elisilan. For him to come to our Auric... Would Lord Sriphine even agree?"

"Why not? Our relationship with our southern brothers has always been good... Besides, I’ve heard that Lord Robson is an exceptionally noble man! He despises evil, and he was the one who led us to repel those Beastmen before!"

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