The Imperial Scepter of Glory

Chapter 11 Border

Lin Tan was greatly shocked after his encounter with Hansen.

He had seen barbarian berserkers before, but that was in the form of a spiritual projection. No matter how real it looked, it couldn't compare to actually fighting someone with real weapons. Clearly, Lin Tan's knowledge and strength were completely out of sync. If anyone had seen more than Lin Tan, he wouldn't believe it, and he knew that his hundred years of wandering as a spirit hadn't been in vain. But strength can't be gained just by looking at things; no matter how much he had seen, he was still just a hundred-year-old ghost. Not to mention, a single axe swing from Hansen had knocked him to the ground, while all he could do was use the system's bestowed aura and attributes to put a bit of fire on the barbarian's weapon without doing any real damage.

Lin Tan had already given up hope for the battle. Over there, the Flag mercenaries were evenly matched with the Iron Fist mercenaries, with a slight edge due to better equipment and teamwork. However, if he couldn't stop Hansen, a level-four barbarian berserker charging into the battle would only lead to his men being slaughtered one by one.

Just as Lin Tan was preparing to admit defeat, Hansen spoke up.

"Alright, enough. If we keep going, my weapon's going to get ruined."

Lin Tan was stunned.

Hearing the leader's words, the big men of the Iron Fist mercenaries stopped fighting and disengaged. The Flag mercenaries were confused, but seeing Lin Tan give them a nod to stop, they also refrained from pursuing and helped their fallen comrades to their feet.

"Your soldiers aren't bad," Hansen complimented, adding, "We just came from the battlefield and were looking to take a simple task to kill time while we rest. But it looks like we won't be getting this task."

"Mr. Hansen..." Lin Tan didn't know what to say. It was clear that Hansen was letting him off, "I really appreciate it..."

"Don't thank me. Your father and I had some dealings. It looks like you've just taken over the mercenary group. Not taking on a few tasks to establish your authority could harm your standing in the team. Besides, the Iron Fist mercenaries don’t rely on small tasks for a living." With a carefree gesture, Hansen said, "Come on, brothers, let's go drink! We'll go to war again next spring!" With that, he turned and led his men back to the town, clearly abandoning the mission.

Galabaron, panting, walked over to Lin Tan's side: "Everyone says the barbarian Hansen values loyalty, and it seems to be true."

"Hansen said he and my father had dealings?" Lin Tan asked.

"Yes, it's true. They fought together on the eastern front," Galabaron replied.

Lin Tan nodded and didn't ask further. He waved to the leader of the merchant caravan, and after a while, the caravan departed from the small town. The Flag mercenaries followed suit, and they began their mission.

...

Four days later, they arrived at the border between the Liverpool Principality and the Florence Principality. The journey had been smooth, with no major threats. The merchant caravan was mainly worried about bandits or large beasts, which was why they had hired mercenaries for protection. In Liverpool Principality, the security wasn't particularly great, but when a mercenary group with a recognized flag appeared, small-time bandits wouldn't dare to act. Large groups of bandits wouldn’t bother to clash with a mercenary band over small gains, especially one that had seen bloodshed on the eastern orc battlefield.

They did encounter beasts twice—about a dozen starving wolves attacked the convoy—but all of them were quickly dealt with by Lin Tan and his men. In the process, two of Lin Tan's mercenaries gained some experience, though the rewards weren’t without cost...

"Slaying monsters can actually increase faith energy?" Lin Tan looked puzzled, to the point that he hadn't been able to sleep well for days. The 300 faith energy he gained in one month was quite unsatisfactory. With his system's initial 100 base energy, and an additional 300 energy from the first month's harvest, he had 400 points in total. Now, however, he was down to zero. Training his subordinates cost him 60 points, and he spent 200 points to exchange for the Holy Fighting Qi method. He also used the system daily for personal training, which took up 40 more points, leaving him with just 100 left, which greatly pained him.

If he only relied on the system's monthly output, it would be too tedious. Fortunately, he had discovered a new way. However, the efficiency of gaining energy through monster slaying seemed quite low. Two groups of 20 to 30 wolves had only granted him about 10 energy, which wasn’t enough to quickly replenish his needs.

Meanwhile, Lin Tan's strength was steadily advancing toward level-four knight status. The knight ranking system was simple and based on four areas: physical fitness, martial skills, fighting aura capacity, and aura application. All four categories had the same maximum score, and once the average reached a certain level, one could advance. Knights without aura didn't count the last two categories, just the first two. Therefore, aura played a more significant role in the latter stages of ranking. Even though Lin Tan, a level-three knight with aura, struggled greatly to defeat Dekal, a level-four knight without aura, the situation would be much different at higher levels. Ten level-ten ordinary knights might be no match for a level-seven or eight knight with aura. Moreover, without aura, it would be incredibly difficult to reach level-ten in terms of both physical fitness and martial skills.

Just as Lin Tan was riding his horse, pondering the system within his soul, trouble came.

The caravan suddenly stopped, and Lin Tan opened his eyes to find that over twenty soldiers from the Florence Principality had blocked the path of the convoy.

Lin Tan rode forward and inquired, "Soldiers, why are you blocking the road?" As a lower-level knight of Liverpool, under the Sacred Cross Alliance's agreement, the noble status of one member state is recognized in all member states. Although this didn’t grant real power, it did provide protection under the respective country's noble laws. Therefore, Lin Tan was not overstepping by asking the soldier.

The soldier looked at Lin Tan’s knight emblem and gave a slight bow. "This is the order of the Duke's brother, Marquis Hildargo. All roads are to be blocked."