Chapter 106: Hunting Competition (Part 1)

“Good morning, Your Excellency Churde Defendi!”

The Miss of Baron Tier’s family lifted the hem of her skirt with her right hand and curtsied similarly.

In the following ten-plus minutes, the descendants of the two barons chatted like friends who had not seen each other for a long time, while their subordinates and guards stood behind them, waiting quietly.

Of course, the hostility between them still existed.

It was even stronger than before.

“I think we can set off now, right?”

Baron Janel, who had been hiding somewhere unknown before, appeared again at this moment and put an end to the seemingly endless pleasantries between the two baron descendants.

The young people of the Ferrchelen Knight Order saw a redeeming quality in this Good-for-nothing Baron for the first time.

At least, he was a little useful at this moment!

Of course, if one of the parties had been someone else instead of that Miss of Baron Tier’s family, Baron Janel would absolutely not have stepped forward.

“Then, let us set off!”

Baron Janel said this, and at the same time, he led his guards and walked at the very front of the convoy—it was well known that Baron Janel, who had no descendants at all, had to go personally in the face of Marquis Vauban’s invitation.

As for replacing him with a collateral relative?

Undoubtedly, that would be very disrespectful and could easily cause unnecessary disputes.

Baron Janel, who wanted to live his life safely and without worry, certainly did not want such disputes to appear; therefore, he had to go personally.

Regarding this, Dean felt lucky.

If Baron Janel was still in Janel Town, and his other subordinate, Jack, wanted to unify the underground forces of the entire Janel Territory, there would still be some difficulties. But Baron Janel’s departure made the last bit of resistance disappear completely.

“Regiment Commander!”

Huck looked at Dean and asked with his eyes—Baron Janel’s convoy had already gone ahead, and it was their turn or the Defendi Territory’s turn, while those guys from the Defendi Territory looked a little impatient.

As the Lord of the Janel Territory, it was naturally indisputable for Baron Janel to walk first in the team.

When it came to the second position, it naturally needed to be fought for.

Whether it was strength or prestige.

These were the standards to measure this—and the guys from the Defendi Territory, who had just lost a round, naturally would not back down at this time.

In fact, the Nephew of Baron Defendi had already given the order that they must obtain the second position to set off.

Facing such an order, those knights of mercenary origin from the Defendi Territory had already drawn their swords. Obviously, they were willing to pay any price to complete such an order.

The mercenaries who existed for Gold Pulton continued to exist.

It was precisely because of their desperate spirit that appeared at times like this.

However, the Defendi Territory was willing to risk their lives, but Dean was not—if the surging killing intent earlier had made him want to kill these guys from the Defendi Territory, then at this moment, that original intention had not changed.

But the method needed to be changed.

After all, his subordinates beside him were different from the other side; the other side could recruit new people after dying, but Dean did not have such conditions; therefore, every single subordinate was extremely precious.

If they died on the Battlefield, Dean would have nothing to say.

But dying here would be too unworthy.

“Let them go first!”

Dean signaled his subordinates.

Then, the young people of the Ferrchelen Knight Order just stood by the roadside and watched the guys from the Defendi Territory pass in front of them; however, when those guys from the Defendi Territory passed in front of the young people of the Ferrchelen Knight Order, they did not have the slightest bit of their previous smugness, and every one of them looked extremely nervous.

Some of them stared fixedly at every move of these young people as they passed.

Especially that Knight-rank Captain and the ten guys close to Knight-rank all gathered in front of Dean, looking very alert.

Obviously, they were very worried that this powerful young man in front of them would suddenly attack.

After all, everything that happened before showed that this seemingly cold and arrogant young man was definitely not good-tempered; and that wanton killing intent informed these people who had wandered on the edge of life and death that the other party was a true killer who had killed countless people; otherwise, it was impossible to possess such killing intent.

Only after the last guy from the Defendi Territory passed did this Knight-rank Captain slowly retreat with his elite subordinates. It was not until a full dozen yards later that they turned their horses and chased after the team in front.

“Clown-like guys!”

Huck commented on these guys from the Defendi Territory like this.

Regarding such an evaluation, the surrounding young people nodded one after another.

“Let’s go, it’s our turn—the two-day journey has just begun. We just evaluated them, and they are evaluating us too… So, I hope such an evaluation will be maintained until the end!”

Dean reminded his young subordinates.

Elites naturally had their own pride, but such pride definitely did not come from their character, but from their strength.

Only true powerful strength could have true pride.

And what Dean needed was such elites, not a group of guys who were impressive only in appearance.

Therefore, before his subordinates truly grew up, he needed to remind these young people constantly.

Dean’s eyes swept over the young people beside him with a unique look. After every young person met Dean’s gaze, they immediately felt a chill in their hearts and immediately put away that bit of smugness; undoubtedly, in the hearts of these young people, Dean already had an irreplaceable prestige, a prestige built up by victories time and time again, and by never letting people down.

Such an ‘ever-victorious’ prestige was undoubtedly more effective than any words.

Therefore, after hearing Dean’s reminder, all the young people answered loudly—

“Yes, Regiment Commander!”

…

The team began to move forward. However, the team, which looked like a whole, maintained a state of drifting apart. Baron Janel at the very front seemed to have no intention of sending out scouts at all—obviously, he thought that his team of over a hundred people, all fully armed, would not be attacked at all.

However, the Nephew of Baron Defendi and Dean both sent out their own scouts.

It was not the kind that alternated for communication.

It was the kind where each looked after their own.

After all, given the relationship between the two sides, even if one side offered to help, the other side would be deeply suspicious.

Whenever the scouts from both sides passed each other, there would be very unpleasant glaring—although provocation had not appeared yet, in Dean’s view, it was only a matter of time.

Dean was all too clear about the behavior of mercenaries.

If he had really killed a few of them earlier, these mercenaries would have definitely tucked their tails between their legs and been more honest than anyone else. But it was only a deterrence in terms of momentum.

For these mercenaries, that was far from enough.

To put it simply, without the threat of real death, they would never know fear.

Dean estimated that by lunchtime at the latest, such conflicts would erupt again—verbal provocations, followed by brawls, and then bleeding or even death.

This was the general behavior pattern of mercenaries.

Of course, Dean would definitely not follow the other side’s behavior pattern; he would skip the previous steps and go directly to the final result.

Death!

And regarding such death, Dean was indifferent.

The positions of both sides did not require his guilt or pity.

Moreover, for his current state, in order to improve the level of [Dragon Swordsmanship] faster, Dean did not mind killing a few more of the other side.

After all, judging by the comparison between the opponent’s strength and his current level, the experience points given by the opponent were still very generous.

However, what surprised Dean a little was that during the lunch break, the guys from the Defendi Territory did not provoke trouble. In fact, even the look in their eyes changed a little: dissatisfaction and refusal to accept defeat turned into a deeper gloating.

In fact, the expressions on their faces were the same.

“Regiment Commander, what are they up to?”

Undoubtedly, Vice Regiment Commander Huck, this rough and bold man, also saw that something was wrong.

“It’s just some ‘games’ of mercenaries!”

After Dean’s gaze swept over the appearance of those mercenaries, he had already guessed most of it in his heart.

Just like knights, mercenaries did not just drink and brawl all the time. They also had their own training. It was just that, compared to the training of knights, the training of mercenaries seemed a bit more casual.

But there was one thing that was the same, and that was duels and competitions.

“However, our overall strength is obviously weaker than theirs. Even to save the face of the nobles, Churde Defendi would not make such a request… Let’s thank our Baron Janel again!”

Dean said thoughtfully.

If Baron Janel was not present, Dean could not guarantee whether the other side would take the risk.

After all, things like ‘dead men tell no tales’ were all too common on Goedz.

Huck, who was on the side, looked at Dean who was thinking and did not disturb him—Huck’s admiration for his young Regiment Commander was really increasing day by day.

If it was something Dean couldn’t figure out, Huck certainly didn’t think he could figure it out either.

Therefore, Huck remained quiet.

However, at this moment, Churde Defendi walked over with that Knight Captain—

“Regiment Commander Dean Ken!”

After signaling to the Miss of Baron Tier’s family in the distance, Churde Defendi greeted Dean with a smile.

“Your Excellency Churde Defendi!”

Dean responded to the other party.

“I want to hold a competition before dinner—a competition about hunting!”

Churde Defendi said this.