Chapter 337 (1/2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Crick wasn’t vicious. On the contrary, he was rather mild and friendly, even to the servants in his baron’s mansion and beggars on the street. He hardly ever behaved harshly or punished others.

This didn’t mean that he was weak though, nor did he tend to show unnecessary kindness on critical issues.

He could also be brutal and cold-blooded when needed.

For instance, he had fought atop a horse and killed numerous people during the battle of Sun’s Death Day two years ago in the winter.

Now, facing the aggressive Grand Duke of Thunder, he again became so angry that he couldn’t even stop himself from killing!

The Bishop of Miramon had a good and practical idea and the most important thing was, it exposed his blind spot.

Through all this time, he had never thought of confronting the Grand Duke of Thunder. After all, the Keane Hill was hugely different from the Duchy of Thunder.

The Duchy of Thunder could easily summon official troops of no less than twenty thousand soldiers when needed, of which over three thousand would be armored-knights with a good command of various weapons rushing into the battlefield on their horses.

What about the Keane Hill? Well they could also provide three thousand people—of all ages and genders—and have each of them fight with a sharpened wood stick as their weapons.

However, a troop of twenty thousand people would just be wishful thinking, as the Keane Hill would never able to gather such a headcount, even if they included the livestock there.

Or maybe it would be less wishful to gather twenty thousand ants.

In terms of advanced force, there were typically four legendary masters based in the Duchy of Thunder. In critical cases, it would even be able to convince twice as many as usual to join. At least two of these four were direct subordinates of the Duke of Thunder, including Gates Enrique, or the “Slayer of the Green-eyed Dragon,” who was one of the three marquesses and the Duchess’ brother.

Looking back at the Keane Hill, Bishop Miramon from the Church of Void Mask was its number one master to date, at level 19—not even at the advanced legendary peak. Moreover, he wasn’t a direct subordinate of Crick. “Three Arrows” Ryder was at level 15 now, the highest among Crick’s subordinates, barely reaching the advanced level.

It was such an obvious gap!

Indeed, the Keane Hill already had its strength. With thirty armored foot soldiers, twenty senior soldiers who were good archers or skilled in other weapons, around ten knights, four middle-ranked spellcasters, and three experienced adventurers, along with additional militia at temporary request, it could manage to organize a troop of around three hundred.

And the friendly Church of God of Art and Culture and the Church of Void Mask would be willing to support them at their request by providing about twenty adventurers, including several spellcasters. There was even a chance they could borrow a small group of knights from the temple.

Such a force would be more than enough to defeat any baronet and most viscounts easily… but defeating the entire Country of Thunder and Lightning would also require intelligence.

All this time, Crick had been bound to this thought, so he hadn’t refused the Lord’s command last time to provide support against the Eagle Kingdom, even when it had been so dangerous that he could have died.

However, Miramon’s words had enlightened him like the sunlight at dawn.

Indeed, the Duchy of Thunder was truly strong, and the Duke of Thunder was powerful, but why did it matter?

He was nobody but the leader of the great nobles and was probably superior to a baron or viscount, yet this might not have been the case when he was with an earl.

The Keane Hill was located in the heart of Earl Holhuck’s territory, whose consent was necessary before the Duke of Thunder could attempt to attack with troops or masters. Besides, it would be very likely for them to negotiate for—in light of the transportation modes in this world—more than a year.

Then why was he still concerned?

He could choose to desert the Duke of Thunder and take his oath to Earl Holhuck in the worst case!

In this world, betrayal was considered an inferior move, and no honorable man would do so, even if threatened by death. This had assured the Duke of Thunder of the Keane Hill’s loyalty, as he believed Crick Keane was an honorable man who would rather swallow all his complaints before betray him.

How naive he had been! Though Crick truly was a decent person, he wouldn’t be confined to “loyalty” or any common notions here, because he had never belonged to this world.

Crick still remembered a professor at his university from the past who had seemed to enjoy criticizing the historical transformation of traditional intellectuals. Each time he talked about this piece of history, he had always cried in grief, “Be engaged in government affairs when doctrine dominates, and live in seclusion when doctrine fades. But what is the third choice if seclusion is blocked!”

It was said that the professor had fought with another professor who had spoken ill of the first generation of governors, so it had been hard to tell if he was loyal or not.

Thanks to his roar, Crick still had some historic sayings left in memory. Though he had already forgotten where they came from, at least he could make some use of them when needed.

Like say, now.

Since the Thunder Lord hadn’t cared about being kind to his men, it would be natural for Baron Keane to betray him or pledge allegiance to a more reliable leader!

Crick was feeling no pressure, but pure excitement about doing so.

Though he had made up his mind to confront the Duke of Thunder, vowing his allegiance to Earl Holhuck would have to wait.

After all, Crick had never thought of being one of his men before, nor had he studied this earl. Basically, he knew nothing about him except for his great influence, remarkable strength, and large number of followers.