<h4>Chapter 26: The Commander''s Offer</h4>


    On top of the castle, in a study that belonged to the old duke, themander of thepany of soldiers sat, a big table was ced in front of him, and on it, tens of documents that he needed to go through.


    The documents presented all the wrongdoings of the young duke, the archmage, and other ministers of the territory.


    The study was actually the highest ce in the castle, but after the death of the old duke, it was locked and nobody was allowed to enter.


    That was under the orders of the young duke Orsted. Themander had opened the study, and upon seeing that nothing was out of ce, he used it to go through the documents.


    The portrait of the old duke and his family was hung on the left wall while the right was filled with bookshelves.


    Documents that the old duke was going through before his death were still there.


    The difference between reports the old duke had gotten and the ones that were in front of themander were very, very different.


    The situation was worse than expected. Almost all of the noble houses here were guilty of numerous charges and if charged with all of the evidence that themander had, most would lose their titles, while some would even be beheaded.


    That was what themander nned on doing, he had no sympathy for those bastards that sat around and did nothing but collect money from their business while asionally going out to cause trouble.


    Beheading was a mercy to those bastards, but he was not thewmaker, and neither could he try to change the rules.


    He knew that even after he would present the evidence to the royal court, some of it would definitely get misced and lost. There were always deals happening in the shadows, deals that he was not privy to because of his position.


    Still, even those that would survive and perhaps face no consequences would still pay a price. Most would be the dogs of the empire, doing anything and everything that the empire needed of them.


    They would never have as much freedom as before and would spend their whole lives serving the crown without any means of rebelling.


    For some, such a thing was too disgraceful, the disgrace they would feel would eat them away until they made a blunder. When they did so, then it would be time for them to face the consequences that they had managed to escape from so long ago.


    Themander sighed, even after 2 days he was still not close to dealing with everything here.


    With the situation of the entire world changing, he didn''t even know what to do.


    He had contacted his superiors, but the only response he got was one that told him to continue with the original n until they updated him with more information.


    Suddenly


    Loud knocks could be heard on the door of the study. Themander raised an eyebrow before opening his mouth.


    "Enter." His calm voice reverberated through the study as the door opened and the royal soldier from the gate entered the room.


    "Sir, we might have a problem." The soldier said before showing the heads of the dead monsters.


    He had put them in special bags so that blood or brain matter wouldn''t drip down. Even after his death, the old duke was still one of the most respected people in the empire, the soldier wouldn''t dare to sully his study with blood.


    Upon seeing the slight confusion on themander''s face, the soldier quickly narrated what had happened. He told about the Khilman that had suddenly appeared and given them the heads while reporting that the monsters were moving.


    Upon hearing everything, themander simply sighed before getting up and looking through the window.


    "The world is changing, the situation of the dukedom is far worse than anticipated, the assassin that was supposed to send the signal never showed up, even though he had done his mission, and now a mysterious stranger, a Khilman, shows up." Themander scratched the back of his head before sitting down.


    "Can''t I get a break?" Themander said as he stared at the ceiling before looking at the soldier.


    "We currently don''t have nearly enough manpower to do a sweep of the forest, from your guess, what realm is this Khilman at?" Themander said before suddenly letting out mana and pressuring the soldier.


    The pressure onlysted for a couple of seconds before themander stopped and looked at the soldier who was now sweating a bit. Even though the soldier was a Knight, when put up against a Golden Knight, he was barely able to stand from the slight mana that themander leaked.


    "He never leaked mana, but the pressure he gave off simply by looking at us made it clear that he was above us, so I would say at least a high-level Silver Knight, or perhaps a Golden Knight."


    "I see." Themander said as he nodded.


    "He said that he will stay a couple of days in order to investigate the forest?"


    "Yes sir!"


    "Good, give his description to all the soldiers, including the ones from the dukedom, he is not to be disturbed by anybody, all we ask of him is to share his findings with us, if he needs help, he has the right to choose 2 royal soldiers of the Silver Knight realm to help him, resources as well." Themander said as the soldier stared at him with wide-open eyes.


    "Sir, that, I might be presumptuous to say, but isn''t that a bit too much?"


    "No, it isn''t presumptuous, it is too much, but it''s also a bet."


    "A bet, sir?"


    "Yes, if the Khilman manages to find out more information and give it to us, we will be the ones to profit, he knew that, that was why he had given you the heads and the information so easily, but I doubt he will ask of help, the Khilman like working alone best, he probably won''t ask for any resources either." Themander said before looking at the soldier.


    "Go, I want everybody to be aware of that man''s existence by sundown."


    "Yes sir!" The soldier said before bowing and going out of the study.


    "A Khilman, hmmmm." Themander mused to himself before taking another document to go over.


    As for the person they were discussing.


    He was currently sitting in the room and having a discussion with the system.


    [ The host''s bloodline will have an impact on other people, as long as the person in question isn''t 2 Tiers above you, they will feel a sense of suppressioning from you, those that are 2 Tiers above the host or more will, however, see through it. ]


    "So, the reason why me releasing a bit of killing intent was able to make those soldiers nervous was because of my bloodline huh?" Lyle thought out loud as he stared out the window of his room.


    Knowing something like this would be very useful. He could now easily bluff and act powerful when faced with those that are stronger than him, of course, he doubted that it would work on everybody.


    [ Correct, as the host bes more powerful, the effect of the bloodline will be more powerful as well, but there would of course be those that also have a powerful bloodline or special abilities that will allow them to see through the host. ]


    "I see, that''s good to know, I probably shouldn''t try to use it in crowded ces then, I don''t want anyone to find out about my bloodline just yet," Lyle said before lying down on the bed.


    "I still haven''t used the [ Servitude ] skill, I wonder what kind of creature I should try and use this on, a hobgoblin, maybe a wolf?" Lyle thought before shaking his head. He would try to use the skill when the opportunity arose, he only had 1 slot for a servant, and he wasn''t going to use it for some weakling.


    The opportunity would, however,e sooner than Lyle had expected.


    As he got up from the bed, Lyle put on the robe of a Khilman before disguising himself once again. He used the same appearance he had in the morning and went to the city gate.


    Upon reaching the gate, the soldiers simply nodded at him while one called him over. He exined that themander would like to work together with Lyle and the terms he had given.


    Upon seeing the terms, Lyle smiled inside but simply shook his head whilst telling the guard that he will give them information about the forest for free and that there was no need to give him any benefits for something like that.


    ''Themander is a shrewd one, had I epted the offer, I would have probably been captured by him and the Silver Knights of thepany in the morning, he definitely knows that no Khilman would take such an offer as they disliked getting help for such simple matters.'' Lyle thought as he made his way into the forest.


    Upon hearing the report from the soldier that was at the gate, themander simply nodded before excusing the soldier, he nced at the window, smiled, and went back to reading the documents in front of him.