Start with Island Lord

Chapter 35 Rosen, how can you be so mean~

The largest river in the north of Weilan is called the Broken Gold River, and Xialin City is next to the estuary.

The huge flow of the Broken Gold River is like a huge blood vessel, connecting the northern inland of Weilan with the ocean.

It also makes Xialin the largest city in the north of Weilan.

Therefore, to develop the White Sturgeon Island, the Earl is one of the most indispensable helpers.

On the third day of arriving in Xialin, Rosen and Selena took a travel carriage and drove briskly along the spacious Maple Avenue to the Maple Leaf Castle of Earl Robert.

At this time, Shitou had already found out a lot of relevant information about the White Sturgeon Island. The two knew that there was a civil strife on the island and that the Crescent City had been occupied by the rebels.

Therefore, they not only had to visit the Earl this time, but also had to find a way to get as much support as possible from the Earl, and it would be best if they could borrow an army.

On the way, Rosen looked at the maple trees with fiery red leaves on both sides of the road and suddenly chuckled.

"Come to think of it, Earl Robert is my distant uncle."

Selena was combing her hair in front of the silver mirror. She smiled and said, "What's the big deal? To be honest, I'm still your cousin."

This is true.

According to the "Genealogy of World Nobility", all the lords of Veran have the blood of Saint Veran.

And Saint Veran is said to be the daughter of Mother Nature, so it is also called the blood of God or the blood of nature.

The Natural Alliance attaches great importance to blood. Possessing natural blood is a hard standard for becoming a noble lord, called "divine right of kings".

Otherwise, even if you are talented and become a sage, you can only get an honorary title that cannot be inherited and has no land.

Back to Rosen.

Rosen's ancestor six generations ago became a brother with Earl Robert's ancestor, and about two generations ago, his maternal ancestor became a sister and brother with one of Selena's paternal ancestors.

Back to the topic.

Rosen turned his head to look at Selena's increasingly dazzling face, and smiled: "Cousin, I suddenly feel a little worried about letting my uncle see you."

Selena snorted: "I am still a princess, and I am protected by the sage. Earl Robert dare not have any idea about me no matter how ridiculous he is."

Rosen said seriously: "I am not worried about this. I am worried that he will be jealous of me, which will affect the cooperation."

"The jealousy between men is very subtle. If there is, there is, and if there is not, there is not. Reason can only suppress it, but it cannot be eliminated."

"Well, what you said is right."

Selena met Earl Robert several times at the tournament in Dawn City, and once felt that he secretly observed her with strange eyes.

She didn't understand before, she just thought Robert was weird, but now she has a husband, thinking carefully, she suddenly understood the meaning of his eyes.

She immediately said to Rosen: "Use a transfiguration spell on me, turn me into a person full of sorrow, fatigue, haggard, and even prematurely aged."

The beautiful face has brought her enough troubles, and she doesn't want to have one more.

Rosen was waiting for this sentence, and had Laifu prepared the corresponding expression. He immediately raised his hand and gently wiped Selena's face.

Selena immediately took the water mirror to check, and couldn't help shrugging.

"Hmm~ It's really good. Now even I hate myself."

At this time, the travel carriage drove to the entrance of the Maple Leaf Castle's suspension bridge.

The carriage was very high-end, so the captain of the guard came to question in person.

"Please state your identity, visitor."

Rosen opened the window and handed out a letter of introduction, with a gold coin secretly under the letter.

"I am Baron Saxon, the magic apprentice of Lady Agnet, and I come to visit the Earl."

"This is the letter of introduction given to me by my mentor. The magic seal on it can prove what I said."

The captain of the guard was a knight. After touching the gold coin, his expression eased a lot. When he heard his identity, he was surprised again: "Wait a minute, I'll find someone to confirm it."

He took the letter of introduction into the castle. About ten minutes later, he came back and handed the letter of introduction back to Rosen, but his face was more jealous than before.

"Good luck Baron Saxon, please come in, Mr. Abru, the chief steward of the interior, will guide you to see the Earl."

Rosen nodded: "Thank you very much."

Alia, who was in charge of driving, continued to move forward.

In the car, Rosen whispered to Selena: "Madam, look, a little knight is jealous of me."

Another fact is that after more than a week of explosive spread, the news that Princess Dawn married Baron White Sand Island has spread throughout the entire Veran Island.

"What are you jealous of?" Selena has always been slow to pay attention to details.

"The baron who is jealous of the humble has been favored by the Princess of Dawn."

Selena was startled, and a worry appeared on her face: "My dear, will this bring us extra trouble?"

Rosen shook his head: "There will be some, but they are all minor troubles. I will handle them properly."

There are still some sequelae of marrying a princess, but they are controllable.

After crossing the drawbridge, the carriage entered the dedicated parking lot outside the castle.

As soon as the car stopped, a middle-aged man with gray hair and decent clothes came up with two young servants.

One young servant took Alia to the servants' lounge, and the other untied the horse pulling the carriage and led it to the stable to feed and water.

The middle-aged man came over and diligently opened the carriage door for Selena, and thoughtfully placed a small wooden step at the door, calling her "Respected Princess".

Rosen did not have this treatment, and he opened the door and got out of the car by himself.

After standing still, the middle-aged man saluted again: "Your Highness, Baron, I greet you."

Then, he introduced himself: "I am the Earl's housekeeper Abru. The Earl is currently busy in the conference room. Please wait in my lounge?"

The guest follows the host's wishes, and Rosen naturally has no objection.

The two followed the housekeeper, walked through the spacious and bright arched corridor, entered the visitor area of ​​the castle's atrium, and were finally arranged in a luxurious large guest room.

"Your Highness, Baron, if you have any other needs, please call the servants at the door at any time. They are there 24 hours a day."

The middle-aged man was very respectful, of course, this respect was mostly because of Princess Selena.

If Rosen came alone, he would probably only get a lower-class guest room.

So, after marrying the princess, his status was comprehensively improved.

Rosen asked: "When can we see the Earl?"

"We can see him in the evening. The Earl will invite you to dinner."

Dinner together, to get a treatment that Rosen had never dared to think of before.

After saying this, the middle-aged man bowed again, turned around and left in a hurry.

Rosen flicked his finger at his clothes silently, then closed the door and stretched his body.

"The Earl is in trouble."

Selena was looking at the room layout, and asked curiously: "How do you know?"

"From Mr. Abru's face, he looked worried and anxious. As the Earl's attendant, most of his emotions come from his master, so the Earl must not be in a good mood."

Selena thought about it carefully and found that it was true.

She would be surprised before, but after getting along for half a month, she had become accustomed to her husband's keen observation, so she jumped directly to the next topic.

"What do you think the trouble is?"

Rosen saw a few bottles of excellent maple wine in the wine cabinet next to him, so he opened a bottle, poured out a small half cup, shook it gently, and used a special heating technique to sober up.

After the aroma of the wine overflowed, he sniffed it gently, took another sip, and praised: "The smell is fresh and soft, the taste is soft and mellow, good wine."

After using the same method to decanter a glass for Selena, he stood in front of the gorgeous floor-to-ceiling window, admiring the beautiful atrium garden, and said two words concisely.

"Lack of money."

Selena took a sip of the wine and found that the taste was wonderful. The wine itself was only good, but it was decanted very well, with a strong aroma and a rich taste, which was endless.

So she took a second sip quickly: "Rosen, I haven't heard that you like to drink."

There are not many fine wines in the world that can make her unable to resist taking a second sip in a short period of time.

Rosen smiled: "To be precise, I don't like to drink too much, but I often have a few sips. When I'm bored, I just study it by the way."

"Fortunately, it's just a study by the way, otherwise Anna and I would be at risk of becoming alcoholics."

Selena walked to Rosen and looked at the atrium garden outside the window with him.

"The Earl is not short of money. The trade tax collected by Xialin City is as high as 500,000 Oggs every year, second only to the Dawn Port."

The flowers in the garden are good, but some flowers in some corners have withered and died, but they have not been replaced in time.

There is also a damage on the garden wall. Although it is not big, it can be seen from the moss on the damaged surface that it has been broken for at least more than a month.

The details are small, but of course they cannot escape Selena's eyes.

Half a minute later, she changed her words: "Although I don't know the reason, Earl Robert has indeed encountered a financial crisis."

"My husband, what do you think about this?"

Rosen gently shook the crystal wine glass in his hand, letting the amber wine flow on the wall of the glass like silk.

"Madam, the living conditions on the White Sturgeon Island are very poor. Most of the islanders are descendants of exiled criminals, and they are constantly threatened by forest elves and fishmen."

"So, the islanders are tough and extremely reverent, but they are also short-sighted and closed-minded."

"If I guess correctly, the islanders have an almost instinctive worship of the power that they can intuitively feel, but they lack sufficient respect for the Duke who is far away in the sky."

These words are irrelevant to the question.

But Selena can certainly hear the underlying meaning.

"You mean, we must have an army?"

Rosen nodded: "Yes, we must have an army, otherwise, let alone inheriting as the new lord, it will be a problem whether we can survive."

"Moreover, our target is not only the human rebels on the island, but also the two alien races of forest elves and fishmen."

"And since my ancestors landed on the White Sturgeon Island 200 years ago, the war with the alien races has never stopped. The two sides have a huge hatred, and they will definitely take advantage of the civil strife to recover the lost territory."

Selena understood: "How many soldiers do you think we need to borrow?"

Rosen nodded: "If we want to pacify the entire island, it is estimated that 3,000 regular troops will be needed. But if we only seize the Crescent Valley, a 500-man army, or a 100-man elite regiment is enough."

Selena listened to Rosen's introduction to the situation on the White Sturgeon Island and agreed with his estimate, but she had new worries.

"Sending troops to aid is a big deal, and the military expenditure is huge. We only have so much money on hand, and it is far from enough."

It is common for a lord to borrow troops from another lord to quell a rebellion. The default rule is that all expenses are borne by the borrower, and a considerable commission must be paid.

Let alone 3,000 regular troops, even if only 100 elite warriors went with them, the total cost would be estimated to be more than 50,000 Oggs.

If the financial situation of Shire County was good, as long as they were thick-skinned enough, they could completely borrow money, but now the Earl is so short of money, this account is definitely not on credit.

Rosen snapped his fingers: "We can also exchange it with territory resources, such as ore, wood, bird droppings, etc."

Selena looked teasing: "Dear, I know there are a lot of bird droppings in the mountains and forests of the White Sturgeon Island, but ore and wood... It seems that there are not many?"

"If we use it to pay off debts, we can't use it ourselves."

In response, Rosen smiled and said: "Madam's worries are reasonable, but please rest assured, Madam, I have already thought of a countermeasure."

As he said, he changed to whispering in his heart and roughly explained his plan.

Selena listened carefully, and her beautiful eyes turned around Rosen's face, half angry and half smiling.

"Rosen, my husband, why are you so mean?"

"Besides, the Count is Anna's biological brother, we can't plot against him like this."

Rosen spread his hands, helpless: "Madam, who made us short of money now?"

"Besides, this is not a plot, it's just a decent loan. We will pay him back when we have money."

Selena was immediately convinced: "Okay, then do as you say."

Rosen raised his glass: "Madam, let's drink this glass and wish the plan a success."

"Cheers~"