Chapter 135: Castle · The Gap Part 1

“Regiment Commander! Regiment Commander!”

The young men of the Ferrchelen Knight Order rushed in first, followed by the guards of other nobles; unlike the ‘impulsiveness’ of the young men of the Ferrchelen Knight Order, these noble guards seemed cautious. It was only when they saw Dean standing alone on the Front Plaza that these noble guards seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and swarmed in.

Of course, this was not all the manpower, but only about half.

The remaining half still protected those nobles at the back—just like Huck, the Vice Regiment Commander of the Ferrchelen Knight Order, who led the guards of Baron Tier and firmly guarded the carriage of Miss Baron.

The guards of these nobles had similar arrangements.

“Be careful, there might be danger ahead!”

The enemies on the Front Plaza had already been swept away by Dean, and these noble guards naturally wanted to cross the Front Plaza and walk towards the front hall corridor of the Ancient Castle. Seeing these noble guards who were acting differently from their previous cautiousness, and considering they were on the same side, Dean reminded them; however, such a reminder was obviously of little use.

Except for Baron Jandu and a few guard captains who stopped their subordinates’ recklessness, the vast majority of the guards just rushed towards the front hall corridor of the Ancient Castle. The formation was even a bit messy, as if they were a group of bandits coming down from the mountain.

“These hateful guys, when they saw danger before, they were timid, but now that there is no danger, they immediately become brave!”

The young Captain Theron could not help but mutter, and the young men nearby were also very dissatisfied.

“Clean the battlefield!”

Dean scanned the appearance of his young subordinates and gave the order directly.

Facing Dean’s order, the young men acted immediately—their dissatisfaction was directed at those noble guards, not their own Regiment Commander, so how could they ignore Dean’s order.

Dean stood there, looking at the noble guards going away, and sneered in his heart—Dean was, of course, very clear about the thoughts of these noble guards.

They just saw him ‘showing off’, felt jealous in their hearts, and were eager to prove that they were stronger than him.

Dean did not comment on such thoughts.

After all, everyone has a desire to win.

However, Dean did not agree with being unable to distinguish the situation and only knowing how to compete for supremacy.

As for stopping them?

The previous reminder was already Dean reminding the other side because they were on the same side; Dean would absolutely not do anything more.

What’s more, the more Dean stopped them, the more those departing noble guards would probably think that Dean wanted to take the lead and stop them from gaining credit!

Dean had seen such things too many times.

And he absolutely did not want to participate in it—no matter which side.

Of course, these departing noble guards were not entirely useless.

At least, they could test the arrangements of the Thieves ahead for Dean—the Front Plaza and the city walls were full of Mercenaries. Clearly, those skilled Thieves were doing what they were best at: setting traps and assassinating opponents.

Of course, Dean would definitely not thank these departing noble guards.

“‘Manticore’ Mercenary Group!”

An exclamation from Baron Jandu attracted the attention of everyone who stayed behind.

After all, the seriousness and earnestness shown by Baron Jandu made it hard to imagine that such an exclamation came from his mouth.

“Is the ‘Manticore’ Mercenary Group very famous?”

A guard captain who was clearly from another county asked.

“Yes, a very powerful Mercenary Group, recognized as the first in Vauban County—this is their Regiment Commander, Vice Regiment Commander, and a group of elites. These six people are all… experts at the true Knight-rank level!”

Baron Jandu nodded and said very seriously.

At first, the questioner did not care, because as noble guards and people from a Knight Order, they had a disdain for Mercenaries; however, when he heard that these people were all experts at the true Knight-rank level, the questioner’s face changed; not only the questioner, but the remaining noble guards also changed their faces.

Then, everyone looked at Dean—

Being able to solve six experts at the true Knight-rank level in just a few minutes, the strength of this young man before them…

Grand Knight!

Involuntarily, this guess rose in the hearts of these noble guards.

And with such a guess, these noble guards could not help but feel deep respect.

After all, they knew very well what reaching the strength of a Grand Knight at this age represented—the Silver and Gold ranks.

Perhaps the latter was full of difficulties, but the former, as long as no accidents occurred, was definitely achievable given the age Dean displayed.

After all, an eighteen-year-old Grand Knight had the capital for it.

Watching the noble guards’ faces change repeatedly and finally become respectful, Theron and the other young men of the Ferrchelen Knight Order felt incredibly relieved.

They knew that previously, this group of people kept talking about their Regiment Commander’s ‘good luck’—saying things like ‘being young is good, running fast enough’, ‘those guys are just like that, I could have killed them faster’, ‘really nice credit’. The tone of some guys made Theron want to draw his sword and compete with them to make them shut up completely.

“Regiment Commander, the battlefield is cleaned, what do we do next?”

Theron walked quickly to Dean and asked, deliberately raising his voice; Dean could certainly guess what was going on, but he did not stop his subordinate at all, and instead answered very seriously: “Escort the spoils to Huck first, then return here and stand by!”

“Yes, Regiment Commander!”

After the loud answer, Theron immediately signaled his subordinates to put the weapons, leather armor, and iron armor on their mounts and walk towards the outside of the Ancient Castle.

Watching the behavior of the young men of the Ferrchelen Knight Order, those noble guards seemed extremely awkward, looking at each other, not knowing what to say.

“Cough, cough, Regiment Commander Dean, what should we do next?”

After coughing a few times, a noble guard captain tried to break the awkwardness in front of him.

“Your Excellency Jandu, I have some words I want to ask you…”

Dean waved his hand at this noble guard captain, signaling him to be patient, then looked at Baron Jandu and pointed to the archway under the Ancient Castle gate.

It was a secluded place.

Clearly, Dean did not intend for the next conversation to be heard by others.

“Alright!”

Baron Jandu hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded in agreement.

Dean and Baron Jandu walked side by side towards the archway, while those noble guards stayed where they were and waited patiently—after all, although Jandu had always displayed the style of a Knight, his identity as a Baron would not change, and although Dean was just a Knight, his possible identity as a Grand Knight was something they could not hope to reach.

One had extraordinary status, the other had extraordinary strength.

Even if they served different nobles, they would not object at this time.

After all, the gap had already appeared.

“Your Excellency Jandu, can you tell me Marquis Vauban’s plan?”

Outside the city gate archway, at a position in front of the drawbridge, Dean stopped, turned sideways, looked at Baron Jandu, and asked directly.

“What?”

Baron Jandu was stunned.

“I am talking about Lord Marquis’s plan—although the Knight-rank guards in our team have not decreased much, those Grand Knight gentlemen disappeared long ago and did not appear when the team set off… I don’t think that those Grand Knight gentlemen would all have something happen to them; after all, their biggest task is to protect the people around them!”

Dean looked at Baron Jandu and spoke every word clearly.

The latter’s face changed slightly, but he continued to remain silent.

“Also, look—after I entered here, I roughly counted the Corpses of the Ancient Castle guards. If my memory of the previous two times is not wrong, there are only about one-third of the usual number… can I ask where the remaining Ancient Castle guards went?”

Looking at Baron Jandu whose face changed slightly, Dean continued to ask.

However, it was obvious that this Baron possessed the same serious and earnest quality he displayed; even facing Dean’s repeated questioning, he still chose to obey his County King’s command.

However, precisely because of this, it made Dean more certain that this Baron Jandu knew something.

After all, with his background as a guard Knight of Marquis Vauban, coupled with his identity as the Lord of Jandu Territory near Vauban City, he clearly had an extraordinary relationship with Marquis Vauban—the former was enough to prove that he had a long time with Marquis Vauban and had a friendship beyond master and servant, while the latter represented Marquis Vauban’s trust in Baron Jandu.

One must know that for work guarding the ‘gate’, without absolute trust, Marquis Vauban would obviously not hand it to Baron Jandu.

And clearly, Baron Jandu’s performance at this moment was worthy of this trust.

And to dig anything out of the mouth of such a loyal, serious, and stern person was obviously the most difficult.

Because the other party would not be tempted by profit, nor would he fear torture.

As for the threat to his Health?

Not to mention whether Dean could use such means at this moment, even if he used them, Dean could be completely certain that this Baron Jandu was ready to die.

However, this did not mean that Dean had no way at all—

“Alright, we need to change the way we talk… In Marquis Vauban’s original plan, did he tell you how long it would take to end, or… what defines safety? Not just our safety, but also Marquis Vauban’s own safety!”

Dean paused and said this.