The majestic Alps are rolling and towering in the northwest of the empire. The lowest mountain valley is more than 2,000 meters above sea level, and the highest peak is more than 7,000 meters above sea level.
The west side of the mountain range is an uninhabited desert, and the east side is the blood rock of the northern plateau that spreads out from the remaining veins.
Due to natural geographical factors, after the extermination war against the demihuman tribes, the human empire divided six lords along the hilly areas of the Alps to serve as outposts to monitor and prevent the demihuman tribes from invading the empire.
The Barony of Eton is one of them.
However, the title of the Eaton family has now been changed to Viscount.
Moreover, the family's territory has become the only surviving territory of the human empire at the southern foot of the Alps.
The reason must start after the war stopped.
However, he said that after the war ended, the demihuman tribe took root in the northern Blood Rock.
The harsh environment made it difficult for them to eat, and they missed the fertility of their ancestors' homeland. The hatred of their nearly exterminated family became unforgettable day after day.
Decades later, they finally adapted to this barren land.
With the "friendly" help of countless greedy businessmen who sent endless supplies, their home was rebuilt.
Then, naturally, the seed of revenge engraved in his bones to seek revenge against the human empire began to sprout, growing into a towering tree in an instant.
The bloodthirsty horns filled with rage and the drums of priests offering sacrifices to their ancestors shake the snow from the mountains every year.
At that time, the human empire had already deployed most of its troops on the border between the southwest Terror Swamp and the northern grassland, guarding the snake-men and centaurs. There was no concerted effort to launch another genocidal war against the demi-human tribe.
And those lords whose territories were not in the northwest hills also turned a blind eye to this.
It's none of your business, just hang it up high.
The demihuman tribe launched a war of revenge. What does it have to do with them?
It’s not like you’re invading your own territory!
It won’t bring any disadvantage to them!
On the contrary, it would be more beneficial for them if the lords in the northwest of the empire were attacked and killed by the demihuman tribe and their territories were taken away!
Because at that time, under the banner of the empire, they can let their nephews and descendants who have no inheritance rights lead the troops to take back these territories, and for their contribution to participating in the war and regaining the territory of the empire, the family will be given another title and another enfeoffment.
territory.
However, their expectations were dashed.
The demihuman tribe, which had long been severely weakened, only frequently raided the outposts in the hilly areas at the southern foot of the Alps, and did not have the strength to invade the plain territory behind.
In other words, the demihuman tribe was eager to start a war and did not expect to regain the homeland of their ancestors in one battle.
The human demigod is still alive!
The human empire, which has only been established for a few decades, has not yet decayed to the point of falling apart.
The imperial center did not send legions to fight, it was just that the incident happened suddenly and there were no troops to dispatch for a while.
All demi-human tribes know that if they only send troops to plunder the lords of the northwest hills without going deep into the empire's hinterland and causing fundamental harm to the human empire, then the human empire and the demigods will regard this battle as a small border conflict.
But if they cross the hilly areas and go deep into the northwest plains and touch the bottom line of the human empire, the human demigods will not mind personally leading the army to completely obliterate them and avoid future troubles!
Therefore, due to multiple factors, this war initiated by the demihuman tribe continued intermittently for nearly a hundred years.
The result of the tug of war is that both sides suffer losses.
For the lords located in the foothills of the southern Alps, some of the grain they sow and the materials they store are robbed by demihuman tribes every year. Endless wars have caused farmers to flee one after another, and their territories have become increasingly desolate, and the lords' lives have become abnormal.
Embarrassment.
The demihuman tribe is also having a hard time.
Every year, some of their tribesmen die in looting.
And as these territories became increasingly desolate and tribal people died in more and more battles, their plundering behavior began to turn into more losses than gains.
The turning point came from the Eaton family.
At that time, Mike Eaton, who was just thirty years old, inherited the title and became the fifth Baron Eaton.
With indignation against the human empire for not sending troops to rescue him, and unable to bear the damage caused to the territory by repeated wars, he made a "rebellious" move.
The night before the horns of the demi-human tribe were wailing in the wind in the Alps, he placed two carts of food and some daily supplies prepared in advance at the border of the territory, and erected a sign with the words "Do not enter the Eaton family territory" next to it.
wooden sign.
Yes, he plans to pay tribute to protect his territory from war.
Such behavior is a betrayal of the Empire.
It will also make all human lords think that the Eaton family has tarnished the glory of the human empire and is not qualified to associate with them anymore.
But Mike did it anyway.
Regardless of the opposition of other members of the family, he flatly rejected the request of the territorial guards and would rather die in battle than surrender to the demihuman tribe.
"My grandfather, the third Baron Eton, has never stopped asking the Empire to send troops to rescue the territory since he inherited the title, but until he closed his eyes, the flag with the gryphon embroidered on it was not flying above the Alps!
"
"My father, the recently deceased fourth Baron Eton, led you to defend the territory and the people to the death! Five brothers, two sons, three nephews, and more than 500 soldiers were killed in the battle! Let us Eton
The heroic deeds of the territory became songs in the mouths of the bards!"
"But what's the cost?"
"The wheat we grow is plundered every year. We live in poverty and have no food to eat! Every winter, old people freeze to death. Young girls cannot afford new clothes and jewelry when they get married. Children
There are no shoes to wear even in winter!”
"Seventy-four years!"
"It has been seventy-four years since the demihuman tribe sent troops to invade our territory!"
"The Empire has abandoned the Eton Territory, but we, the Eton Barony, cannot abandon ourselves! Now, I have become a baron, the lord of the Eton Territory. I just want us to live! I just want our lives to no longer be poor and no longer
Worry about food, don’t set up fires and hold funerals for your loved ones every autumn and winter!”
"so......"
"Go to the glorious empire!"
"No matter what, I will end this senseless war!"
Amidst the opposition, young Mike raised his left hand high, letting the bronze ring symbolizing the status of Baron Eaton reflect the sunlight, and yelled these words hysterically.
It also made everyone shut their mouths.
That year, among the six human territories in the foothills of the southern Alps, only the Baron of Eaton was not invaded by the demihuman tribe; only the people of the Baron of Eaton had enough food to last until the next year's planting.
season.
Young Mike also gained the love of all his people.
But he is not satisfied with this.
Because when the demihuman tribe transported away the food and supplies offered by the Eton Territory, they also hung four or five shawls made of snow fox fur on the wooden signs.
That was a sign of their acceptance of Eaton's territory and their promise not to infringe on Eaton's territory again.
In Mike's eyes, this is an opportunity for the territory to usher in development.
He once again ignored the opposition of his family and people, crossed the Alps alone, and entered the territory of the demihuman tribe.
No one knows what he discussed with the demihuman tribe.
People only know that he brought back countless furs, animal bones, and fruits of plants that only grow on the blood rocks in the north.
Mike used these materials in exchange for a large amount of food and iron tools, half of which was used for the construction of the territory, and the other half was stored until the fall and winter when the demihuman tribes easily "robbed" them.
As the years passed, the Barony of Eaton quickly became wealthy, and the lives of its people became better and better.
It also met the wrath of other lords in the hilly areas.
It’s not surprising when you think about it.
When they see that their territory has been invaded by demihuman tribes year after year, becoming increasingly poor and depressed, while the Baron of Eton, which should have sympathized with each other, has slowly become richer, that emotion called jealousy will torture them day and night.
They swallowed up their sanity bit by bit.
In particular, they also followed Mike Eaton's approach and sent their trusted people into the Northern Blood Rock to request an end to the war through trade. However, the demihuman tribe's response was to skin their envoy alive...
..
They are all lords of the human empire, so why can the Eaton family enjoy the blessings while they still suffer!
With such unwillingness, human beings' bad nature was quickly amplified, and all the lords determined the cause of the matter——
"Baron Eton betrayed the Empire!"
"Barony of Eaton has become the territory of the demihuman tribe!"
"The Eaton family is the lackeys of the demihuman tribe and has tarnished the glory of the human empire!"
.........
The indignant lords, while denouncing Michael Eaton's actions, sent people to the imperial capital to accuse the Eaton family of treason, requesting the empire to label the Eaton family as treason, strip them of their titles, and send troops to attack them.
This made the Eaton family the public enemy of the northwest of the human empire.
After hearing about this, Earl Mikonokki, the most powerful person on the northwest plain, cut off the trade rights of the Baron of Eaton, and wiped out the trade truce agreement between Mike and the demihuman tribe. The Ice Goddess Cult believed in by the entire north could not help but directly
Publicly proclaimed that the Eaton family's faith was not firm.
Even the baroness who had been Mike's wife for two years was taken back by her family.
Mike was left with only a divorce document signed by the high priest of the Ice and Snow Goddess Cult, and an apology: "My territory is on the plains. If the engagement is not terminated, my family will be denied the faith by the church and will be destroyed."
There will be destruction.”
Northern men will never give in when faced with unfair fate and difficulties.
They will just swing their swords and try to carve out a bloody path, no matter whether they succeed or not.
Faced with the dilemma of his family being isolated, Mike made a decisive choice.
Although he knew that the food transferred to the Northern Blood Rock every year could feed more demihuman tribesmen, and the concentrated ore would also turn into knives and axes and fall on humans.
But he felt that he was not wrong.
His family has not seen a flag embroidered with griffons for more than seventy years, and the number of people in the territory has dropped by more than half. It has reached the point of depletion. Now he wants to keep the family and let the people live well. This has
What's wrong?
So he once again went to the Northern Blood Rock alone.
Because he also knew that the demihuman tribe was waiting for his visit - they rejected the other lords' request for a trade truce, which was a means of alienation and division.
In order to isolate the Eaton family and to force Mike to seek help under the pressure of survival, the Eaton family was eventually turned into a vassal of the demihuman tribe.
Of course, Mike would not let his family become a vassal.
His visit only allowed the demihumans to make a choice, "In the human empire, there will no longer be a lord who is as frank to the demihuman tribes as the Eaton family. If you still want to maintain fair trade treatment, if you don't want to see it in the Alps
The gryphon flag of the Imperial Legion will be launched in three days."
After returning, he sent a banquet invitation to the lords in the hilly and mountainous areas.
Claiming that he should not abandon his responsibility to fight against foreigners alongside them, he also regretted his previous trade with the demihuman tribe, and was willing to share the wealth accumulated through these years of trade with them equally, but begged them to withdraw their accusations and clear their names.
The "misunderstanding" that the Eaton family is a traitor to the human empire.
This request made the five lords from the hilly and mountainous areas happily come to the banquet.
The Eaton family surrendered to them and was about to live a precarious life like them, so why should they refuse the wealth that the Eaton family expressed sincerity?
However, what greeted them at the banquet was not the fragrant roast pig, honey-smeared bread and strong wine from the plains, but life-threatening swords and axes.
Their family also became the dust of history due to the internal and external cooperation between the Eaton family and the demihuman tribe.
When the Iton family was the only one left in the human empire in the foothills of the Alps, Mike did two things.
First, he asked a sociable uncle to rush to the imperial capital with rare items from the blood rock in the north.
These rare items can be sold for extremely high prices in the heart of the prosperous empire, which is more than the tribute that the six lords of the hilly area have lacked since the invasion of the demihuman tribe.
Yes, Mike not only paid the lord tribute that his family and the other five lords had owed for more than 70 years in one go, but also increased the share of annual tribute!
The intention is also obvious.
He wanted to tell the emperor and the imperial dignitaries that the foothills of the Alps were still the territory of the empire, and that one Eton family was more beneficial to the empire than the coexistence of six lords.
Another thing is that he tried to open up another trade route.
In order to secure the trade agreement with the demihuman tribe, he sent his family's caravan across the Alps and southward along the edge of the Western Desert, bringing the goods to the city of Gardinanlas, the western center of the Empire's defense against the Snake Tribe and the hub of the north and south of the continent.
.
This is a trade route that risks the lives of everyone in the caravan.
Mountain avalanches, glacier holes, severe cold, desert bandits, imperial officers patrolling defenses becoming thief-minded, etc. Any possibility will cause the caravan to disappear completely.
But this is also Mike's only choice.
Count Mikonokki on the plains has blocked the trade routes of the Eaton family, and the Snow Goddess Cult has also made all the northwest nobles not want to have anything to do with the Eaton family.
The only thing Mike can do is to leave the fate of his family to time.
The wait is long.
The Empire Center happily accepted the tribute from the Eaton family, but it has not yet been concluded whether Mike's behavior betrayed the Human Empire.
Sometimes, silence is also an answer.
Three months later, Count Mikonokki united with the soldiers of other nobles, and the Snow Goddess sect formed the Guardian Knights and launched a war against the Eaton family.
The reason is very just.
"Defend the glory of the human empire, traitors will face justice!"
"Use the wisdom of the goddess of ice and snow to guide the souls of the lost lambs to salvation!"
.........
The momentum of this coalition of justice is huge.
Not counting the personal retinue of the knights and the believers who followed the glory of the goddess and voluntarily participated in the war, there were more than 8,000 warriors alone. Compared with the Eaton family, which only had more than 1,000 men armed with all the adult men in the general territory,
This is undoubtedly an unparalleled disaster.
But the Eaton family is not alone.
When the tyrant hawks acting as scouts soared 10,000 meters above the sky, when werewolves rode tall wargs frequently appearing in the hills and ravines, when the Deinosuchus tribe with bone spurs exposed all over their bodies protected the demihuman tribal priests and beat their war drums, they were elected
Count Mikonokki, the head coach, has yet to sound the clarion call for attack.
Without the participation of the Imperial Griffin Legion, the coalition of many lords in the northwest plains alone would not be able to defeat the demihuman tribal alliance.
Otherwise, their fathers and ancestors would have turned Northern Blood Rock into family territory long ago!
What's more, they have little interest in opening up new territories for the empire.
I don’t even want to fight to the death against the demihuman tribe.
The original intention of sending troops was just to wipe out the Eaton family, give the family more territory, and replace Mike as the controller of the demihuman trade.
Therefore, Count Mikonokki convened the nobles to discuss and made a compromise decision.
They sent envoys to show the demi-human tribe that they had no hostility. They only called in the army to resolve their personal grudges with the Eaton family. They also swore in the name of the Ice and Snow Goddess that after they wiped out the Eaton family, they would definitely abide by it like Mike.
Agreement on trade between the two parties.
You can even make more profits!
But the demihuman tribe does not lack wise men.
For the tribal alliance, they dare not occupy the hilly areas and touch the bottom line of the human empire before the demigods fall. Therefore, the powerful Earl Mikonokki is not a friendly neighbor. The weak Eaton family is the tribal alliance.
best choice.
Negotiations were fruitless, and war broke out as expected.
It also ended amidst everyone’s expectations.
After hundreds of soldiers were killed by the coalition forces, the earl, at the unanimous request of all the lords, dismissed the army and returned to discuss the long term on the grounds that the army had run out of rations.
The Eaton family was unscathed and not even a Union flag was seen.
But it also came at a price.
Since then, the Eaton family has become a public enemy in the northwest of the empire. Human traitors who have been criticized verbally and verbally by the major lords have been completely isolated in the hilly areas. As the high priest of the Ice and Snow Goddess Cult said when talking about the Eaton family: "
A fly passing through the Barony of Eton would take on the smell of evil."
The results of the war reached the imperial capital, and the emperor and the minister of military affairs suddenly remembered that there was a dispute between lords in the northwest of the empire that needed them to mediate and make a conclusion.
Soon, Mike's title was promoted.
From baron to viscount, the territory also covers the entire hilly area.
But the annual tribute is twice the combined tribute share of all the lords in the hilly areas.
As for the other five lords whose families had been destroyed, the emperor was very saddened by what happened to them and angry at the demihuman tribe that killed them, and vowed to send the Griffin Legion to exterminate them.
Then, there is no more.
The small lords in the northwest of the empire could not understand this.
Count Mikonokki, who was well versed in the noble game, was not surprised at all.
It was in the dead of night that he couldn't help but walk in the direction of the imperial capital in a very unaristocratic way, and greeted the women in the emperor's family cordially.
Yes, the imperial capital's decision was to guard against Count Mikonokki.
For example, if a bucket of honey stored at home leaks, there is no need to worry if a fly discovers it.
Because no matter how much it eats, it will never finish the honey.
But if it is discovered by a bear, not only will the honey be eaten, but even the barrel will be torn into pieces; it will even eat the marrow to learn the taste and continue to look for other barrels storing honey.
For the empire, the benefits of trade among the demihuman tribes are the honey flowing out.
Sweet and delicious, it is a delicacy that everyone wants to get their hands on.
The Eaton family is this lucky fly, and Count Mikonokki, the most powerful man on the northwest plain of the empire, is a bear with a huge appetite and very destructive power.
Whether he was promoted to a noble title or was treated as an insignificant fly, it didn't matter to Mike.
What really made him overjoyed was that the caravan had returned from the city of Gardinanlas!
The successful opening of the new trade route means that the trade agreement between the Eaton family and the demihuman tribe is guaranteed; it also means that Mike's original intention of letting the people of the territory live a good life is finally guaranteed.
Yes, Mike has no ambitions.
He was willing to bear the shame of being a "traitor of the Human Empire" and ignored the verbal and written criticism from all the lords in the northwest. All he wanted was to save his family from the war and allow the people in his territory to survive.
Therefore, he also regarded the new trade route as the lifeblood of the family.
For the rest of his life, he often personally led caravans to the city of Gardenanras.
In order to maximize the benefits of the trade routes and expand the trade routes to the south of the empire, he used trade as a bridge and converted to religion as a sincerity. He accepted the baptism of a Vulcan archbishop and added flames to his family crest.
above the chapter, and promised that the people of the Eaton territory would always believe in the God of Fire, and every subsequent Viscount of Eaton would be a loyal servant of the God of Fire.
The southern part of the empire was originally a purely religious country.
The ruler is the pope and two archbishops elected by believers.
When they were forcibly incorporated into the empire's territory, the title of Pope of the Vulcan Cult was reduced to the dust of history under the unrivaled strength of human demigods. However, the two archbishops gained the title of duke, turning the south into
The family's hereditary territory.
The Ainske family is one of the hereditary dukes and archbishops in the south.
Normally speaking, such a deep-rooted and extremely wealthy family would look down upon the weak Eaton family.
But there are no absolutes.
The special environment of the integration of politics and religion in the south made the Einske family see the benefits of lending a helping hand to the Eaton family - accepting the Eaton family meant that they would spread the glory of Vulcan to the northwest of the empire.
This seemingly illusory benefit is exactly what the Einske family is eager to pursue.
Because the Vulcan popes have become a thing of the past, and they have equal power in the church with another archbishop family.
When the odds are evenly matched, a single straw can tip the balance of victory.
For the Einske family, leading the Eaton family and its people in the territory to bathe in the glory of the God of Fire is the straw that makes their family's reputation and power overwhelm that of another archbishop's family.
Therefore, with this win-win and mutually beneficial bond, the Einske family did not hesitate to lend a helping hand to the Eaton family.
Not only did the profits from the trade routes go to the construction of the Eaton family territory, they also sent many family private soldiers to the northwest in the name of religion to help the Eaton family resist the harassment from Count Mikonokki.
This assistance lasted for more than a hundred years.
It was not until the ninth Viscount Eton, Henry Eton, inherited the title that something happened.
It's not that the interests of the Einske family and the Eaton family are in conflict, but that the news that the human demigods are about to fall has become the consensus of everyone!
The normal life span of ordinary humans is only seventy or eighty years.
The lifespan of a strong human being who has reached the pinnacle of martial arts can exceed a hundred years, but it has never exceeded one hundred and fifty years. As for the human demigods who have broken through the racial category, after living for two hundred years, they are finally about to usher in the end of their lives.
The fate of turning into the dust of history.
The assertion that human demigods will fall was confirmed by the centaurs at the cost of the lives of two khans.
A strong man at the peak of his martial strength is called Khan among the Centaurs.
More than ten years ago, the centaurs that multiplied on the northern grasslands ushered in the most glorious moment in the history of the race, and actually owned three khans at the same time. The increase in peak strength also made this notorious race known for its cruelty
His ambitions began to swell, and he went south year after year to burn, kill, and plunder the human empire wantonly.
They also paid a price.
The demigod, who had not appeared in front of the world for more than thirty years, rushed to the northern grasslands alone and brought back the heads of two centaur Khans.
As for why I didn't finish my mission of eradicating evil and bring back all three heads...
The human demigod was injured.
Although it is said that with the blessing of racial talents, the strength of the three centaur Khans is comparable to that of five strong human beings, the human demigods who were once under the siege of seven strong human beings were still unscathed and fought back magnificently.
Injured for the first time?
The only explanation is that the power of the demigods has begun to decline.
If you think about it further, he will die.
This inference caused the undercurrent of the human empire to surge, and also encouraged the expelled races such as demihumans, centaurs, and snakemen to sharpen their swords.
The Ainske family is also preparing for the future.
For the South, which was forced to be incorporated into the empire's territory, the day when the human demigods fell was the moment when they broke away from the Holy Empire, and when the Vulcan Cult once again welcomed the Pope.
The Einske family is determined to win the papal scepter.
Because in the struggle for power, there is no such thing as mercy.
For example, if another archbishop family obtains the papal scepter, the Einske family will inevitably face the fate of destruction.
Therefore, the Ainske family lurked all its power in the south, waiting for the moment when the empire fell apart to show its fangs to the other Archbishop family.
Henry Eaton, who had just inherited the title, was fully aware of his family's situation.
In the northern part of the empire where the Ice and Snow Goddess religion is widely believed, the Eaton family is not allowed to be included in the human kingdom and is an existence that the major lords want to get rid of.
And the demihuman tribe will no longer support them.
Most of the land in the northwest of the empire is the homeland of the demihuman race, including the hilly areas where the Eaton family is located.
If the human demigods fall, the demihuman tribe will no longer need the Eaton family to maintain trade. They will launch a war to return to the homeland of their ancestors. The Eaton family will either crawl at the feet of the tribe and become servants, or become on the altar of their ancestors.
of sacrifices.
Don't expect the friendship that both parties have accumulated over time.
In the face of racial standpoint, friendship cannot change the outcome, and there is no right or wrong.
What's more, in earlier times, the Eaton family was also a participant and beneficiary of the human empire's expulsion of the subhuman tribes from their homeland!
Therefore, Henry Eaton is also actively planning for the future of his family.
In fact, there is nothing to prepare for.
The Eaton family has been spurned by the northern lords and the Snow Goddess Cult, and they cannot willingly become slaves of the demihuman tribe. The only future is to move the family and people to the south and become vassals of the Ainske family.
As for after that, will the Eaton family still have the title of viscount or independent territory~~
The era is about to play the prelude to the rise and fall of the race. The primary issue is to preserve the family and continue to pass it on. The rest is left to fate.
To this end, Henry worked hard to train the people in his territory to become warriors, and expanded the size and number of caravans traveling between the north and the south.
The purpose is also very clear.
It is hoped that when the Einsk family launches a war to monopolize the south, the Eaton family can obtain a territory by virtue of its participation in the war, so that the family and its people can have a place to stay.
Sometimes, God will occasionally glance at those who work hard when they are bored.
Henry is such a lucky man.
When he was actively fighting for the future of his family, God took a very kind look at him and gave the Eaton family hope to continue to take root in the northwest.