From Baron's Second Son to Dragon Rider

Grand Duke Veronica's subtle changes could not escape the attention of Count Stephen in the audience. He thought to himself: "No way? Could it be that Klober is so favored by the Grand Duke? It turned out that the Grand Duke still took care of Klober's personal feelings in the face of such a crucial issue related to the situation in the western region of the entire principality!"

Thinking of this, Count Stephen frowned slightly, with a puzzled and thoughtful look on his face.

In fact, this was also his misunderstanding. It was not that Grand Duke Veronica considered Klober's feelings, but she was just thinking about the loyalty of the Golden Rose Family to her.

The Golden Rose Family was one of the founding families who followed Grand Duke Veronica to establish the country. If their family could be stronger, they might have been canonized as marquises at the beginning.

After all, the entire principality was vast and sparsely populated at that time, and there was a large amount of unclaimed land available for reward.

Looking back at the history of the Golden Rose Family, Grand Duke Veronica trusted their loyalty, but she also knew that she could not let this family monopolize the western region, and she had to find a competitor for them.

This is the most basic quality that a ruler should have, because no matter how loyal a family was, once its strength and status were improved, it would inevitably breed greater ambitions and gradually climb to a higher level, and eventually it would inevitably pose a threat to her rule.

After all, on this vast continent, although dragon knights are rare, their number is by no means small.

And those gifted and talented people are like a stream of carp crossing the river.

The Golden Duchy is not without enemies. There are also several powerful countries in the north of the continent. The spies and intelligence personnel they have dispatched have been trying to infiltrate the Emerald Kingdom and the Golden Duchy. If the nobles in the western part of the kingdom dominate, they will definitely come to the western part of the Duchy to sow discord and cause a civil war to consume the strength of the Duchy.

In order to resist the potential threats and adverse effects of external hostile forces on her own principality, Grand Duke Veronica, after careful consideration, decided to take moderate measures to suppress the Golden Rose Family, which was in its heyday, but she couldn't go too far - after all, the family had made great military achievements and hard work over the years, so a marquisate was naturally indispensable;

However, in the matter of dividing the territory, Veronica might consider expanding the existing fiefdom of the Golden Rose Family to the minimum standard that meets the status of a marquis.

In addition, the newly awarded land is located in the border area outside the Moyi Forest. Compared with its core hinterland, there are relatively scarce resources and monsters.

In this way, although the overall strength of the Golden Rose Family can still be improved to a certain extent, it will never develop into a dominant position in the entire western region.

By then, Grand Duke Veronica also plans to confer one or two more earls on the territory that originally belonged to the Great Forest of Moi. In this way, the situation in the western part of the principality will surely become more stable.

As for the Moonlight Mushroom family where Stephen is...

Although Grand Duke Veronica does not like this family, Count Stephen did give him a viscount-sized fiefdom, which will add a lot of foundation to the Moonlight Mushroom family.

However, Grand Duke Veronica did not agree with Count Stephen's advice on the surface, but sent him away with a few vague words and continued to meet with the nobles behind.

Since only earls and marquises were received, this audience ended quickly.

Grand Duke Veronica also returned to his room to rest. Klober was unlucky. He had to stand guard at the door of the Grand Duke's room and listen to the orders that the Grand Duke might convey from the room.

Because the task of standing guard was extremely heavy and required a lot of time and energy, Klober was almost occupied by standing guard during the day.

However, the diligent Kroeber did not give up the road of self-improvement.

After a long period of exploration and practice, he created a unique practice method - he could practice Dou Qi while standing guard!

Although this method is not as fast as the practice speed of full concentration under normal circumstances, Kroeber can persevere and use the time of standing guard to practice day after day.

Over time, the accumulated results are also quite considerable.

Kroeber once shared this method with Dylan and others, hoping to help them.

Unfortunately, both Dylan and Foster and other companions said that it was difficult to enter the practice state after trying it personally. Perhaps this method is really only suitable for Kroeber.

At this moment, Grand Duke Veronica, who was in the room, actually knew what Kroeber did outside the door.

You know, she is a dragon knight, and the dragon knight can no longer be considered a human being. After merging with the dragon, it is more like a human with half the physique of a magical creature.

With her keen perception, she could naturally sense that Krober outside the door was absorbing the gold magic power floating in the sky and earth, and circulating the magic power in his body to convert it into fighting spirit.

Because the dragon knight, like the dragon, will also be permeated with the surrounding environment, but the dragon knight's permeation is more gentle.

When Veronica breathes normally, some ownerless gold magic power will overflow, not because of any physical problems.

Just like humans exhale air, Grand Duke Veronica, as a dragon knight, exhales ownerless gold magic when she breathes out. This is a common sign of a high-level life form.

This results in the gold magic content around Grand Duke Veronica being much greater than that of other places, which will also speed up Krober's own cultivation speed. After all, more magic means more Dou Qi converted.

Moreover, Krober's Dou Qi is very pure. Perhaps it is because of the three bottles of magic potion he used when he broke through. The magic potion purified Krober's Dou Qi and increased the total amount and quality of Dou Qi.

Krober had a hunch that as long as he stood guard at the door of the Grand Duke's room, it would not take long for him to break through to the Grand Knight.

After all, the transition from a formal knight to a Grand Knight is simply to increase the amount of Dou Qi and the final transformation of Dou Qi. These are not problems for the gifted Krober.

——————

The next day, under the order of the Grand Duke, the Dragon Breath Knights and the nobles who were formal knights and above were sent to the Moyi Forest in the form of teams to perform reconnaissance missions.

Every ten official knights are led by a great knight, every ten squads form a large brigade led by an earth knight, and every ten brigade is led by a sky knight.

Each of their squads carries the scales shed by the golden dragon Vivian, which contains Vivian's breath and has the function of detecting breath.

If the tin dragon appears within the detection range of the dragon scales, Vivian can quickly rush there to fight with the tin dragon.

Because Veronica sent out all those who have the strength of official knights and above, the Hilton Fortress, which should have been heavily guarded, became extremely empty.

At this moment, only those knight attendants who have not yet grown up and ordinary soldiers composed of ordinary people with no combat experience are left here.

Even if the tin dragon chooses to take advantage of the opportunity and launch a surprise attack on the Hilton Fortress, the damage caused is probably minimal.

After all, for the high and mighty Grand Duke, the lives of these ordinary soldiers are as cheap as grass - they die and die, and it will not bring too much substantial impact to the Grand Duke.

You know, it won't take more than ten years for a new group of soldiers to be recruited to fill the vacancies.

In contrast, as long as the core forces of the official knight class and above are guaranteed to suffer less losses, everything will still be within control.

Because these people are the real pillars supporting the entire country and the army. Losing them will bring unbearable weight to the Grand Duke.

The Grand Duke is still sitting firmly in the center of the Hild Fortress, and Klob is naturally staying in the fortress with the Grand Duke.

Because of the upcoming fierce battle with the Tin Dragon, Grand Duke Veronica has already put on a majestic and seemingly indestructible armor.

It is a set of armor made of pure gold, as dazzling as the sun, and the light is so bright that it almost covers the Grand Duke. She is wearing this shining golden armor, heroic and valiant, like a Valkyrie descending from the sky, awe-inspiring.