Bam!!
The sparkling and translucent crystal cup shattered on the ground. Looking at this scene, the Garrison Captain didn't even dare to breathe heavily. He lowered his head like an ostrich burying its head in the sand.
"A foreign noble dares to provoke the Parkwood Family on Eagle Highlands?!
How dare he!! "
The old man sitting in front of the desk had white hair and beard, but his dignified expression and his body that was as straight as a javelin gave others a heavy pressure.
Not only did the captain of the guards not dare to breathe heavily, but even the servants beside him were sweating profusely. They lowered their heads and didn't dare to say a word.
"Father!"
At that moment, a middle-aged man strode out from the crowd. His face looked similar to the old man, but he was much younger.
He wore a black ceremonial robe with a longsword hanging on his waist. His entire body was like an unsheathed sword, inspiring reverence.
"Please let me go. I guarantee that I will arrest the villain who provoked the Parkwood Family!"
Strictly speaking, collecting a debt wasn't a big deal. Logically speaking, the Parkwood Family shouldn't treat it so seriously.
However, the one who provoked them was a noble. From this point, the entire situation changed drastically.
And this was related to the history of Eagle Highlands.
After the Second World War, the Temple of Light and the Underdark fought until both sides suffered heavy losses and had no choice but to retreat from the dark underground world.
After that, for a long period of time, the power of the Temple of Light weakened while the authority of the mortals gradually increased.
Royal authority and religion began to separate, and the Kingdom of the Nine Saints that was established to fight against the devils also underwent a series of changes in this series of revolutions.
The elves returned to the Forest of Stars and Moon to recuperate. They activated the Mystic Lock and completely sealed off the connection between the mortal world and the elven kingdom.
Meanwhile, the Komandor Empire that the Silver Saintess Seren once founded fell apart in the struggle between royal authority and religion. Both sides fought against each other for more than a hundred years, and in the end, the Abyss of Condemnation was used as the boundary to separate the North and the South.
The Kingdom of Spring, which was under the protection of the Great Mother, Spree, was divided into four smaller countries amidst the internal struggle for power.
The Sky Kingdom, Skal, which was once established by the Emerald Goddess Adas on the Eagle Plateau, was even more miserable. In the tenth month of the Year of the Broken Sword, following the sudden death of King Dardanelle the Fifth, Skal fell into a long period of chaos.
Because Dardanelle the Fifth had no children, and soon after ascending to the throne, he suddenly died.
This caused the whole country to fall into a long period of chaos, and then the Prime Minister Pacasi, who was in charge of state affairs, announced that the son of Dardanelle V's sister, the Princess of Cypress, would be the prince.
However, not everyone was willing to accept this outcome. The Royal Faction believed that although the son of Princess Cipling was also considered a son of the royal family, his bloodline was not pure.
And the spokesperson they introduced was even more surprising – it was a son from a manor in the northwest of the Eagle Plateau. It was rumored that he was the child of Dardanelle who was drunk and had sex with a maid. Although the identity of an illegitimate child was somewhat unreasonable, he was still a direct descendant of the royal family. Naturally, it was more justifiable than the child of his sister and an outsider.
Both sides refused to give in, and finally, it developed into a full-scale war.
In the end, the nobles led by Prime Minister Pacasi were defeated by the Royal Faction.
However, this did not mark the end of the war. At the end of the war, although Prime Minister Pacasi and the others died on the battlefield, they also succeeded in assassinating the illegitimate prince, forming a situation where both sides lost.
As a result, the situation of the whole country became even more chaotic. The Royal Faction lost their supporters, and the ambitious lords were unwilling to be left out. One after another, they rose up and tried to unify the country.
This war lasted for decades, and there were countless deaths and injuries.
The former Sky Kingdom was completely swept into the garbage heap of history, and this gave the wandering barbarians in the north an opportunity. They took advantage of the years of civil war in the Sky Kingdom, and the people had no way to make a living. In one fell swoop, they invaded a large area of the other side's territory like a hot knife through butter.
As the saying goes, 'Time makes the hero.' After realizing that they would only benefit others if they continued to fight, these local lords and nobles finally decided to unite and fight against the foreign enemies.
One of the nobles named Ulna took the lead and reunited the originally divided Eagles. In the end, they united their strength and defeated the barbarians, driving them out of Eagle Plateau.
Thereafter, with this alliance as the main body, Eagle Plateau formed a new ruling form, the Scal Federation, in order to balance the interests of all parties.
To put it bluntly, in the newly established Scal Federation, all the lords ruled their own countries, but they were united in the form of an alliance.
On the other hand, the ruler of the Scal Federation adopted a system of taking turns every four years.
Although the ruler of the Scal Federation didn't have absolute authority on the surface, he could give orders to the entire Federation. As long as two-thirds of the lords agreed, the order could be passed.
Under this special system, the authority of each territory's lord was naturally rather important.
As the ruler of one of the territories, the Pawood Family naturally couldn't allow a foreign noble to casually challenge their authority. Otherwise, once their prestige was swept to the ground, the Pawood Family's speaking rights in the Federation would also be reduced in the future.
It was due to this reason that they were so furious about Jenn's provocation.
Regardless of whether the other party was insane or premeditated, just based on what he said, the Pawood Family couldn't let this matter go.
There were no secrets among the nobles. If this matter were to spread, how could they continue to live in the Federation in the future?
The Garrison Captain was also aware of this matter. If it was possible, he didn't wish to be involved in it. He was only a small garrison officer and the schemes of the nobles weren't something a person like him could get involved in.
But it was a pity that this was his duty and he couldn't do anything about it.
Upon hearing his son's words, Old Pawood revealed a satisfied expression. He nodded and was about to say something.
At that moment, a clear and elegant voice suddenly sounded.
"Please wait a moment."
Upon hearing this voice, everyone was taken aback. They turned to the source of the voice and saw a white-robed young lady with thick blonde hair sitting there, knitting her brows and thinking about something.
After sensing everyone's gaze, she shook her head and turned to the old man in front of the desk.
"Father, I think there's a problem."
"A problem?"
Upon hearing this, everyone was taken aback.
If it were someone else who said this, perhaps they would scoff at it. But the one who said this was the daughter of the Pawood Family, the pearl of the Tower of Star Brilliance, and an Intermediate Mage.
In that case, they would have to reconsider the meaning of this.
"What problem?"
Upon hearing his daughter's words, Old Pawood also frowned.
In fact, after listening to Jenn's words conveyed by the garrison officer, he was so furious that he couldn't wait to send someone to teach him a lesson.
However, after listening to his daughter's words, he was stunned for a moment. He also felt that there was something amiss, but he couldn't tell what exactly it was.
"Don't you think it's strange?
If he were an ordinary person, it would be normal for him not to know about the Pawood Family. If he were just a traveler passing by, he naturally wouldn't care about this.
But it was impossible for a noble to come to someone else's territory without investigating.
He should know very well that Parsus is under the jurisdiction of our Pawood Family.
But in this case, he still provoked us, which means that the other party came prepared.
From this, it can be seen that the noble was either sent by a certain force to find trouble with us, or … "At this point, the young lady muttered to herself.
"… Or, he doesn't care about the Pawood Family at all.
No matter which it is, I don't think we should act rashly. "
"So what do you plan to do?"
Upon hearing his daughter's words, Old Pawood nodded. He also felt that something was amiss, and now that he heard his daughter's words, he realized that there was indeed something fishy about it.
But this time, the young lady didn't answer immediately. Instead, she knitted her brows and pondered for a while before looking at the garrison officer beside her.
"You said that the man gave you a bag of gold coins?"
"Y-Yes, Missy.
A bag of gold coins. I counted, and there are indeed only a hundred of them … "
"Let me see."
"Okay."
Upon hearing the young lady's words, the garrison officer immediately reached into his pocket for the bag and handed it over respectfully.
The young lady took the money pouch and glanced at it. After seeing the pattern on the surface of the pouch, her beautiful brown eyes widened instantly.
"What's wrong?"
Old Packwood couldn't help but ask curiously when he noticed the girl's unusual behavior.
Upon hearing her father's question, the young lady let out a long sigh of relief, stood up, and walked to her father's side, placing the bag of coins in front of him.
"Father, it seems like we have to be patient this time."
“？”
Hearing until here, the old man looked at his daughter in confusion, and then at the bag of coins.
On the surface of the bag of coins, there was a family emblem.
And on the dark-colored cloth, there were three white rings and a six-pointed star.
In the middle of the six-pointed star, there was a bright red snake twisting its body and biting its own tail.
Upon seeing this symbol, the old man's face instantly turned gloomy.
"Three rings and six-pointed star …"
"That's right, Father."
Looking at her father's expression, the young lady let out a soft sigh.
"This is the symbol of the Church of Saint. If I'm not wrong, then we are about to face a decorated noble."