Chapter 153: The Last Day of Jeanne d'Arc
"Your Excellency the Duke, I have delivered the gift."

Half-kneeling in front of Darnay, the knight took off his helmet and spoke to Darnay in a flattering and fawning manner.

In front of him, in the empty hall, it was clearly daytime, but because of the dim light, he had to light candles.

At the long table, only the Duke and the Duchess were sitting, and more than a dozen servants were standing in a row beside them, holding towels, water glasses, handkerchiefs and wine jugs.

Not far away, a singer was gently playing the harp to accompany the two of them.

"Bishop Bulwerf, how is it?"

"He's still being held there. The guards are pretty tight. He's fine. He hasn't been abused. He doesn't even have bruises. But he's not in a good mental state."

"Being locked up all the time would make anyone feel bad." Bamanda swallowed a piece of steak, rinsed his mouth with wine, and then said, "Frisiska, you did a good job this time. Come, have a drink."

The servant at the side immediately handed over the wine jug and poured a glass for Frisiska, who drank it all in one gulp.

"One day, I hope you can sit at the table and drink with us." Darnay laughed inarticulately, "Oh, by the way, today all the war bonds have been successfully sold. It's the happiest time. How can there be no chivalric poetry?"

Bamanda clapped his hands and laughed, "Yes, yes, I said something was missing."

"Come, write a song for us. It must have money, a villa, beautiful women, and a donkey! And it must praise the mercy of the Holy Father!"

No wonder the Duke and Duchess are so happy today; their hard work over this period of time has finally paid off.

The couple amassed a total of 30000 gold pounds, not to mention the 60000 gold pounds that were deposited in the Holy See Bank after selling their assets, and the 30000 gold pounds that had not yet been received by the French royal family.

A full 12 gold pounds.

This does not include the properties and estates previously purchased near Huaqiu City, as well as the shares invested in coffee bean futures.

Last year, a brand of coffee beans called "Eternal Alexandrus" sold for a high price of 6700 gold pounds.

It’s a pity that there are still 3000 spears, 900 sets of old breastplates, and some scattered weapons and iron ingots and steel ingots in the former Duke’s armory that have not been sold. What a pity.

"Bamanda, after the New Year, we will probably hold our wedding in March or April on a sunny spring day. Believe me, even the cardinal will come."

Darnay left the table, walked over to Bamanda and took her hand.

Only at this time, Bamanda felt that she had made the right choice of husband: "Yes, as long as we wait for our army to arrive, this is not our end, this is just the beginning."

Dane didn't say anything. He gently stroked Bamanda's shoulder and suddenly blew out two candles. The hall suddenly became darker.

His hand slid directly from Bamanda's shoulder and reached between her lips. Bamanda let out a low cry.

The light in the hall gradually dimmed, and the two people's ** were reduced bit by bit, until they simply crawled onto the dining table, their two ** big ** entangled together.

Knight Frisiska, who had finished his chivalric poem, stood aside awkwardly with a pen and paper in his hand, and slowly moved towards the door.

"Frisica, where is my poem?" Danai called out to Frisisca with a flushed face.

"I, I, I've finished writing it. I'll give it to you later... Now doesn't seem to be the right time..."

"What are you talking about?" Darnay panted softly. "Now, now is the time. Come behind me and read it to me."

………………

"锃——"

The long sword sheathed, fitting perfectly.

But Horn grasped the hilt of the sword and pulled it out smoothly. He looked at Brock and said, "Is this sword mine?"

"Yes."

"is it?"

"Yes, it was quite long before."

"You know it's not this length." Horn showed the sword, which was obviously smaller than the original one, to Brock.

Halkin complained, "Dad, this is not how you do business. You can cut corners, but you can't be so short. This sword is obviously shorter. People can see it at a glance..."

Brock kicked Halkin in the waist, causing him to fall to the ground.

Brock then turned around and explained, "Your sword is different from others. Inside the sword, there is a red steel sword blank. Maybe the person who got this sword didn't have the forging skills of us dwarves, so he cast a layer outside the sword blank, so it is longer than an ordinary sword.

The reason why the tip of the sword was cut off when you chopped down the tree was not because the wood broke the sword, but because the red steel sword blank inside the sword broke the sword.

I reforged the entire sword for you, and it is a thousand times better than the original one."

When talking about his craftsmanship, this seemingly honest and old-fashioned dwarf couldn't help but feel proud.

Perhaps the dwarves were driven to live in the mountains by humans, but the dwarves' fire casting technology is thousands of times better than that of humans!
Picking up the half-sword that had become about 1.3 meters long, Horn swung it and found that it was indeed much more convenient to use than before.

Maybe Horn felt that the sword was easy to use not because of the outer layer, but because of the sword embryo inside.

He took a step forward and slashed the cedar tree next to him with his plow-like sword, and the cedar tree immediately broke in half.

"Not bad." Horn was extremely satisfied after returning the sword to its sheath. "Halkin doesn't need to hide from his debts anymore. There will be a war soon. You and your son should run away as soon as possible."

"Alas." Brock said with great sorrow, "I don't know how to get out. The castle and checkpoints are all closed, just like 19 years ago. I shouldn't have listened to that brat. I should have left earlier..."

19 years ago, Horn narrowed his eyes. Wasn't that 1425?

Horn remembered the account books and asked quickly, "What happened 19 years ago?"

Brock looked at Horn in surprise, as if a little surprised that Horn was interested in this, but he still answered honestly: "It seems that the Duke had just come to power that year."

"Wasn't the Duke's reign in April, 1424?"

"You who come from other places don't know that when Lord Dane inherited the throne, he was required to pay a large inheritance tax and gift money to the Royal Family of Leia..."

As Brock spoke, Horn gradually understood.

The gift money system had been abolished, but King Leia insisted that Dane give it because the Leia royal family was deeply in debt at the time.

Danai had just succeeded to the throne. He was young and energetic. He confronted King Leia and blocked the canals, roads and checkpoints to prevent the Leia caravan from passing through.

Later, the Kingdom of Leia even sent out the Royal Knights. Danai could not bear the pressure and left the church. Only then did the King of Leia give in and only paid some symbolic gifts.

So Darnay didn't actually succeed to the throne until September 1425. This was not a big deal at the time, just a quarrel in letters, and only old people like Brock knew about it.

"I see." Horn was thoughtful. There was actually such a thing. No wonder there was no record of it in the guild church. It was really shameful.

But this has little to do with Horn, he will be gone tomorrow night.

As for Dia's divination, it is likely that the church's army is about to arrive.

They arrived faster than Horn had imagined.

But that was not his trouble, but the Duke's trouble. In order to deal with this trouble, the Duke had been preparing for a long time, collecting taxes and issuing bonds.

The refugees heard that the Duke's secret army had arrived at Jeanne d'Arc, and they spoke of it with certainty.

Even if the church army came, it would take at least half a year to conquer these layers of castles and checkpoints.

After half a year, even if Duchess Hemashi and the Monastery of Blago kept dragging their feet, they knew it was time to take action.

As soon as the two sides arrived, the army of the Archduchess, coupled with the monks of the Blago Monastery, forced the church army to retreat, or else they would be attacked from both sides.

But being surrounded means a harsh blockade. If Horn doesn't leave, he will really be trapped in Jeanne d'Arc forever.

time to go.

Horn repeated this sentence in his mind, but he felt as if something was stuck in his throat, making him unable to speak.

Let Halkin take his father to find a place to stay. Looking at the weather, Horn left the camp with several guards to blow the whistle that Carrie left for him.

The night was dark, and the moonlight was completely hidden in the dark clouds.

The horses' hooves trampled over the chamomiles on the roadside, and the backs of Horn and others quickly disappeared into the darkness.

But none of them noticed that Jeanne, in a bridesmaid dress, was standing by the fence at the camp gate, staring blankly at his back.

(End of this chapter)