One week later.

The remodeled Inner Castle in Hebron.

Losa, clad in black scale armor and draped in a red double-headed eagle cloak, stood majestically on the throne, accepting the allegiance of over a dozen young nobles from Europe.

These days, young nobles from various places frequently came to pledge their service, mostly second sons of European nobility, having little more than a title.

Losa selected some for future roles as heavy cavalry archer reserves, while others were sent directly to assist Jeanne with training new recruits.

The slots for the Imperial Knights were limited and couldn't be entirely wasted on them.

Losa also planned to reserve some slots for use when summoning various Lords to join him in attacking Rauf's territory to the south.

He now stood as the spokesperson for the "Young Faction" of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, on par with Reynard's past status, capable of rivaling Regent King Raymond.

Sending off the new Knights who pledged their loyalty to him.

Jeanne, looking displeased and travel-worn, walked into the castle.

"These days, have you been enjoying yourself at home, my lord?"

Without waiting for Losa's reply, she continued, "I imagine you have been, sheltered from the sun and wind daily, your skin showing obvious refinement."

She glanced at Chelina, who was chatting quietly with Furinjira, and huffed, "Look at Miss Chelina, once such a fair young girl, now almost sun-tanned to wheat color."

"That's quite an exaggeration."

Losa glanced at Chelina, indeed darker than before, but still far from wheat color.

"These days have indeed been hard on you."

Chelina shook her head slightly and said, "Not hard, it's my duty."

Jeanne said sarcastically, "Indeed, how could this count as hard, given we still have to venture into enemy territory soon to hunt a Fire Dragon."

Losa was at a loss for words.

He could understand Jeanne's resentment towards the prospect of a difficult task she seemed eager to shirk.

Because during this period, he indeed hadn't engaged in much significant work.

Each day, apart from exercising and meditating, "accepting allegiance" was the only notable task.

Andreas had managed Hebron in an orderly manner, his potential surpassing that of Laine, Model, Leonard, and other contemporaries, showing great progress after learning from Kurs for a period.

"Don't be angry, dear Jeanne, take a look at this first."

Losa opened his hand, revealing a square, gold-edged item that resembled a videotape.

This week's card draw reward.

The item was called: Blank Battle Record (Song-Jin War).

It's a rare item for attendant elite training; passing the test within this Blank Battle Record allows advancement to the Elite First Stage.

"You're so good to me, my lord!"

Jeanne's face instantly brightened with a gleeful smile as she took the gold-edged tape and examined it closely.

Losa, speechless, said:

"Don't rejoice too soon. This Blank Battle Record requires you to lead all territory soldiers in a small battle in the simulation record to defeat the Jin Kingdom's general, Wuzhu, commanding 5,000 troops. With just what's in the territory's current reserves, do you think it's possible?"

Jeanne frowned: "I know some things about Jin Kingdom, but who is this Wuzhu? What kind of troops are under his command, elite or ragtag?"

"Wuzhu is the fourth prince of the Jin Kingdom, birth name Wanyan Zongbi, not particularly outstanding as a general, but certainly not a witless fool either."

"His troops, of course, are elite!"

"Western Liao, also known as the Taohuashi Khanate, was defeated by this group, forced into a dire state."

Losa paused and added, "Yet, even Western Liao, in such a dire state, managed to deal significant defeats to the Sassanid King in Central Asia, losing the rich lands by the river. This gives an idea of how formidable the Jin Kingdom army is."

Jeanne frowned: "And how is their equipment? I heard that Jin Kingdom was originally just a group of forest-dwelling barbarians, how formidable can they be even if brave?"

Losa, somewhat resigned, replied, "Originally not much, but after the Song Dynasty's humiliation at Jingkang, they gifted the Jin people a great number of armors, weapons, crossbows..."

Jeanne was momentarily speechless.

Losa sighed lightly: "In any event, you should hold on to it. Once your new army finishes training, there should still be a chance to beat the enemy."

"Can I try first?"

Jeanne pondered, "I suppose if I could strike the enemy general with a Holy Spear, take out their leader, without their core, a fight might not end in loss."

Losa nodded: "Possible. But it's best not to. This Blank Battle Record can only be used three times at most, and besides—who knows if Wuzhu has a powerful aide by his side."

"I see, then I'll keep it for now, anyway, there's a long way till the max level."

Jeanne, somewhat regretful, said.

She knew well how much Losa had at his disposal; after expanding the army and settling tens of thousands of residents, there really wasn't much left.

She put away the Battle Record.

Jeanne teased, "My lord, with such a good item, I was quite surprised you didn't give it to Prajna but to me instead."

"Why would that be surprising?"

Losa retorted.

"This item should obviously be used first by Six-star Attendants. Chelina and Prajna, one an assassin, the other an Iron Guard, wouldn't gain as much from early elite training as you would."

Furinji grunted, "I object; why should I be considered a Five-star, this is unfair!"

"That's not something I can control."

Losa consoled, "If I had the final say, I would surely designate you as a six-star exclusive."

Jeanne smiled and said, "I feel the same, with Miss Furin's skills, being a six-star is more than sufficient."

"Nina, what do you think?"

Next to them, the usually silent Chelina was taken aback when it came to her, and after a pause, she said, "What, my lord and Miss Jeanne said makes a lot of sense."

"Ahem—let's get down to business now."

Losa became serious, "Have you all wrapped up your current affairs?"

Chelina nodded and said, "Yes, the residents are settled, with Imperial Knights from various places and the Patrol Officers you appointed helping, there shouldn't be any slip-ups."

"Same here."

Jeanne replied, "The nine hundred regular troops you asked me to train have been assembled, and the archery officers you assigned are quite skilled. Laine and Model's methods for training infantry are also decent, so there shouldn't be any issues even when I'm not there."

Heavy Cavalry Archers count as archery officers too.

"In that case, it's settled, we'll set out tomorrow to hunt the Tyrannical Dragon in the heretics' territory to the south, any objections?"

Jeanne said straightforwardly, "No objections."

Chelina nodded slightly, "Nor do I."

Jeanne suddenly said, "By the way, I heard that in a few days, Princess Sibilla is going to marry Berian from the Ibelin Family. My lord, do you have any thoughts on this?"

"No thoughts at all."

Losa genuinely didn't care about such matters.

With his power-ups, was he supposed to rise through marriages?

That would be like begging for scraps.

Jeanne teased, "That's a shame, but if you, my lord, have such high ambitions, I might as well conquer Constantinople for you, and let the Empress of the Eastern Empire become your concubine?"

"Sure, I'm waiting for the day your big words come true."

Losa couldn't help but chuckle.

Though the Eastern Empire had declined, it was still one of the major empires in Europe, not something a mere Border Count like him could dream of touching.

"By the way, today, you all should learn some basic Arabic phrases from Prajna; you might need them later."

...

Three days later.

Losa stood on a protruding black rock.

Gazing out in front of him, there spread a continuous chain of volcanoes.

At the volcano's mouth, smoke curled up.

Everywhere lay black hardened lava, walking over it, one could feel waves of scorching heat.

The ground was black and absorbed heat, and being so close to the volcano, possibly due to geothermal effects, stepping on this black rock, it felt like one's feet were soaked through with sweat.

Furin, in the form of a small bat, perched on Chelina's shoulder, covered her head with her wings.

A layer of black fog surrounded them, a cooling spell cast by Furinjira.

Jeanne followed closely by Prajna, enjoying Prajna's natural air conditioning, lazily said, "Miss Prajna, if I were a man, I'd risk everything to steal you away from your lord."

Losa completely agreed with this sentiment.

In an era without air conditioning, Prajna was indeed a deity!

The mounts they brought were all left at the mountain's base.

They could withstand the heat, but the mounts could not. Besides, given the value of warhorses in this era, they still needed them for the return journey.

All along the way.

They didn't encounter any significant dangers.

However, the border city's inspections were quite strict, with falcons occasionally circling in the sky, clearly, Rauf was wary of Losa seizing the opportunity to head south.

But realistically, unless using the powers of the Jerusalem Crusaders or merely raiding without occupying, Losa didn't have the resources to seize Rauf's lands in Hejaz.

Losa suddenly flared his nostrils, his heartbeat quickening: "I can feel it, it's just below."

They arrived at the volcano's perimeter.

Losa took a step forward, standing at the edge, suddenly overwhelmed by the sense of his own insignificance compared to the grandeur of the volcano.

Stretching his neck to look down, the clouds and fog below obscured any view.

Jeanne frowned, "What should we do, surely not go down there and wake it up?"

The volcano's interior was difficult to climb, its pyramid shape made the outside climbable, but descending from the top was an ordeal.

Losa pressed a hand to his chest; his heart was beating like a drum, resonating with the Giant Dragon due to his Dragon Bloodline, confirming the Tyrannical Dragon's lair was below.

Losa was silent for a moment, then shook his head, "No need."

The initial plan for a concentrated attack was now impossible, as they couldn't even glimpse the opponent, how to talk about a planned strike?

"The Tyrannical Dragon has a strong sense of territory; even though it sleeps deeply, once I reveal the Dragon Mighty of a Giant Dragon, it certainly won't tolerate another dragon species invading its home."

"Furin, you can start setting up the formations, the rest of you can rest or assist."

"Once Furin's setup is done, we'll begin the battle."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.