Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence

Accompanied by several ministers, Su Li quickly returned to his castle, which was situated on the hilly highlands in the northern part of his territory.

Outside the castle gates, over a dozen towering ogres were lazily lounging against the gates and walls. They were greedily devouring the smoked meat and grilled fish provided by the territory, their noisy chomping blending into a single sound. The ground was littered with discarded fish heads and animal bones.

Beside the gate, there were two empty bamboo baskets, a testament to their hunger. A squad of knights in shining armor rode up on their tall steeds, but the ogres barely reacted, continuing to stuff themselves with food. They merely glanced at Su Li and his party with their dull eyes before losing interest.

This greatly reduced Su Li's wariness. It was clear that these ogres were accustomed to life among humans, taking knights for granted and losing their inherent vigilance and ferocity, unlike the fierce brutes from the mountains at the edge of the world.

Su Li then handed his warhorse over to his knight attendant, Hary, and strode towards the castle.

But as soon as he left the stables, a massive creature pounced on him, weighing him down and making it difficult to stand up straight.

"Ouch, my darling, you're quite a big baby now. You can't jump on me like when you were little." With Su Li's groan, a huge griffin reluctantly hopped off him.

Indeed, the creature that had jumped on Su Li was Deathclaw, the tiger-striped griffin he had raised himself.

Anyone who saw this behemoth would find it hard to believe that it was only two months old.

It was simply too massive. Even the most powerful lion in the pride was not as large as it was now. Only Su Li's constant improvement in strength allowed him to hold it. Otherwise, a pounce from it would send an ordinary person flying.

A small lion mastiff trotted along behind it, this beast being a tribute presented to Su Li by a slave.

Taming a lion mastiff is a challenge many imperial nobles cannot resist, as it is considered by many to be the perfect hound. To successfully train a lion mastiff, it must be captured and tamed when it is very young, or subdued by force.

However, considering many lion mastiffs have a fierce sense of territory, obtaining a young one is indeed a very dangerous task. Occasionally, a chivalrous knight would be given the task of capturing such a beast to prove himself.

More commonly, nobles would find suitable "volunteers" from among the peasants, promising a huge reward to the survivors who brought back a healthy, young lion mastiff, though very few ever claimed the prize.

Under Su Li's guidance, the knights and slaves of Blackwood Territory found this lion mastiff pup in a clearing at the edge of the territory. Its mother had died in battle defending the territory, becoming food for the horn beasts. Without intervention, it would have starved to death in a few days or been killed by goblins or kobolds.

But the knights of Blackwood Territory brought it back with slaves, and from then on, it became Su Li's war pet.

Su Li had also realized his dream of having a hawk on his right and a hound on his left. Next, he needed a brocade hat and sable coat, and thousands of riders to sweep across the plains.

However, the two war pets did not get along very well, mainly because Deathclaw did not like the little female dog named Jin Ya.

Although Jin Ya always trotted behind it, it would impatiently swat her aside with its claws, sometimes even hissing and roaring at the little female dog.

But Jin Ya would cower and curl up, pathetically refusing to leave. As soon as Deathclaw turned around, she would trot back and stick to Deathclaw's side.

This showed that the griffin was very young and not at all interested in the opposite sex.

Sometimes Su Li would mediate their quarrels, but most of the time he would let them get along on their own. After all, he had given Jin Ya her name casually.

Before, this little female dog was called Jin Ya (Gold Tooth), in the same style as Lai Fu (Lucky) and Wang Cai (Prosperity).

But Hilda strongly opposed it, believing that this lion mastiff would be an important partner for Su Li's conquest in the future, and the name could not be so casual, so she changed her name to Jin Ya.

It must be said that Hilda's idea was very insightful. The simultaneous appearance of the golden lion mastiff and the tiger-striped griffin immediately made Su Li appear noble and imposing.

When the two war pets ran into the castle hall around Su Li, the halflings and ogres in the room exclaimed in surprise, and stood up from their seats in shock.

These were two rare and fierce magical beasts, symbols of the status of great nobles. Even a duke might not have a noble griffin, and now the master of this territory had both a hound and a war eagle.

Without further words, they immediately had a clear understanding of the strength of this territory and the lord's grace and wealth.

Some halflings were so shocked that they couldn't control themselves and rubbed their eyes hard: "Oh, my God, by the grace of the Wind Hyacinth God, what am I seeing? A noble tiger-striped griffin!"

"That's right, it's really a noble tiger-striped griffin! The last time I saw a tiger-striped griffin was in Milanden Territory, when I was a guest at the castle of the powerful White Wolf Duke, I saw it from afar."

"Stop boasting about your past that we've heard so much about. We all know that you only got a chance to deliver goods to the castle, and you only wandered around in the servants' area."

"The White Wolf Duke is so cruel, it is said that he will radically kill every commoner who secretly peeks at his noble griffin. You've only heard this legend, and you probably haven't even seen a feather of the griffin."

Su Li raised his eyebrows, sat back on his main seat, propped his chin with his right hand, and asked lightly: "Or should I wait until you finish arguing before I speak?"

The soft voice made everyone in the room feel a chill down their backs, and everyone instantly fell silent, looking up at Su Li with some awe.

Although this young man was sitting there lazily, his eyes were clearly looking down on all of them.

This is the noble temperament of holding power, the demeanor of a strong man that can only be brought about by the power of life and death.

All the halflings clearly felt what is called majesty on this young man.

Hatzkling, the leader of the Balantang Born family, quickly put down his pipe, bowed to Su Li, and said: "Honorable lord, please forgive my ignorant clansmen, they have lived outside the city for many years and have no knowledge or etiquette. But their respect and admiration for you are sincere, otherwise they would not have traveled thousands of miles to the territory with me."

"That's right, we have heard of your generosity and strength, Lord, and are willing to join your territory," a strong halfling with a round belly said rudely.

Hatzkling's face changed, and he scolded: "Krupp, I specifically emphasized to you, don't bring your rustic rudeness to the noble's castle. Don't speak randomly when the noble doesn't let you speak! You promised me."

The middle-aged halfling named Krupp muttered dissatisfiedly: "Halflings are used to close communication, and say what they have to say. I hate these red tapes!"

Su Li propped his chin and looked down at him, and said lightly: "This is a castle, not your halfling territory. Your rude behavior is your own business, and as the master here, I don't have to condescend to tolerate your bad habits."

"Remember, this is your last chance. Next time you are rude and reckless, my knights will directly chop off the offender's head."

"Understood?"

"Understood, understood."

"Wow, what a powerful lord, very imposing."

"Yes, yes, as powerful as the legend, this territory is more worthy of us joining."

Listening to the halflings' habitual chatter, Hatzkling quickly turned the topic back to the main point, and said to Su Li: "Respected Lord, as you can see, we have brought back four halfling families this time. They have heard of your deeds and have requested to join the powerful Blackwood Territory."

Su Li suddenly understood, and asked: "So you came back so quickly, and brought so many ogres, because you met relatives from other families?"

Hatzkling nodded, then shook his head?

Su Li was puzzled by this, what did this reply mean?

Hatzkling quickly explained: "We did contact our relatives in the first place, the brave Brandisknapp family. They heard that you are willing to provide us with an autonomous halfling territory, and reached a unanimous family decision in just one night to move to your territory."

"They are very powerful warriors. In addition to having the unique halfling archer unit, they also have very good field guards. These excellent infantry can patrol the border of the halfling autonomous territory to resist various threats and unwelcome outsiders. They will quickly become familiar with the terrain here and be able to make full use of their advantages to severely damage the enemy."

This is a good thing, Su Li didn't quite understand, what did he mean by shaking his head?

Hatzkling quickly continued to explain: "But my cousin, the head of the Brandisknapp family, Heimish Blackbeer, is still a member of the Comradeship Club."

"He told the club's branch in Maleburg the news, which immediately attracted the interest of several club families, and they also clamored to come to the territory together."

Su Li looked at the strong halfling with a round belly just now, and asked: "Is it this Mr. Krupp?"

"That's right." Krupp saw Su Li looking at him, and immediately puffed out his chest proudly, and said: "Our Comradeship Club is an elite club. If you want to join, you must be unbelievably brave, unbelievably rich, and unbelievably stupid. It's best to have all three. Currently, the members of the club are all wanderers looking for a place to settle down."

"In addition to having ogre guards, our club itself also has many powerful arms, such as swan riders, goat riders, battle ram chariots, treant partners, and harvesting machines. And the most important and most popular arms, the plate car!"