Meanwhile, the female knight felt a subtle sense of crisis in her heart. If Amelia gives birth to an eldest son, then due to their respective statuses, this child is bound to be recognized by everyone as a legitimate noble bastard with noble status and inheritance rights! If she cannot bear a child, does that mean that Laine’s titles will all be inherited by Amelia’s child in the future?!

"Don’t worry, Surya. Amelia’s child will only inherit Amelia’s title, and all my titles in the future will be inherited by our child." Laine noticed Surya’s concern, and he said with a smile, "You can rest assured, I’m not that easy to kill."

Surya’s face flushed, and the female knight whispered, "That’s not what I’m worried about; I’m worried about what will happen if... we can’t have one?"

"No, Amelia... is just a bit special." Laine quipped, "Her spirit rune matured only three weeks ago, and then just a few days later... she was already expecting one."

"Master, why did Amelia conceive so easily?" the Dark Elf asked curiously.

"Because her body doesn’t have rampant magical elements, so the whole process is relatively easy." Laine shook his head, "You are all different, Ollica; your body contains a large amount of Dark Magic mana, while Surya’s body accumulates a large amount of the Lady’s divine power."

The female knight and the dark elf maid suddenly understood, especially Surya, who blushed as she contemplated whether the Goddess had possessed her too frequently recently.

"Alright, let’s not talk about this, Amelia is just lucky, you’ll all have your chances." Laine signaled that they should return; there was still much for the Count to handle.

...I am the dividing line for internal affairs...

Old World, east of Brittania, Gray Mountain Range, the river valley below Black Stone Stronghold.

Expedition Knight Kaled was marvelling at the dwarven architectural craftsmanship.

Beneath the peaks of the Gray Mountain Range, there are vast tracts of farmland being cultivated, where over two thousand peasants are working diligently, atoning for their deeds with hard labor, all the while being grateful to Duke Hagen for his magnanimity.

The dwarves of the Angland Clan have fully controlled this valley by establishing just a few sentry posts, each staffed by only 5-10 dwarves, equipped with elite firearms and various siege defenses capable of withstanding an army of over a thousand!

If the dwarves at the sentry posts judge that an invincible foe is approaching, these posts will ignite beacons, at which point the dwarf army residing within will march out and deliver a deadly blow to the enemy. Knights of the nearby Jisoleox Duchy will also immediately deploy to battle upon seeing the beacons.

Simultaneously, certain actions by the dwarves astonished Kaled. Faced with these unarmed runaway slaves, Belgar ordered his subordinates to train them in basic spear thrusting and the use of simple crossbows. The dwarven crossbows were incredibly easy to handle; the peasants only needed to learn loading, aiming, and pulling the trigger, a simple tutorial that allowed the peasants to quickly get up to speed, even achieving some effectiveness.

The expedition knight faintly realized why the peasants in Laine Territory possessed considerable combat power.

Unfortunately, time waited for no one, and Kaled could not linger there for long. To continue winning the Lady’s attention and favor, he had to set out. The human army led by Sir Bertrand had already left two weeks prior.

With his Divine Sword Durandale in hand, he mounted his beloved horse Galipa, and after cleaning his battered robe, Kaled was delighted to find that Belgar had his rune blacksmith Slude the Truthful reforge his knight plate armor, including adding three runes to protect this powerful expedition knight. Out of camaraderie once shared during the battles at La-Mesnil Abbey, the dwarves only charged Kaled the cost price plus three hundred gold crowns, which was quite reasonable for the dwarves.

After a long expedition, Kaled had accumulated a decent fortune; equipment and steeds are a knight’s lifelines, so he paid the money without hesitation.

Donning his armor and mounting his steed, Kaled bid farewell to the dwarves and the peasants within the valley, setting off on the expedition road alone.

The Holy Grail Expedition is a lonely one. Within three hours, the settlements and towns of the mortal world were already far behind Kaled. Now, the expedition knight was left with empty wilderness, and it was already April; in some places within Jisoleox Duchy, it was still snowing. Kaled suspected it was the last struggle of winter, but there was no doubt that gentle snow was indeed falling across the land.

From Kaled’s vantage point, he occasionally saw some barren farmland, but only occasionally. As he looked farther, there were few peasants working in the fields. Clearly, the damage Kemler brought to this duchy would not vanish in such a short time. Kaled even doubted if the damage the undead mage inflicted on these lands could ever heal. Yet, one thing was certain, Kemler was dead, and life must go on for the peasants and the nobility.

This is life.

What puzzled Kaled was that merchants, like sharks smelling blood, flocked together. Along the way, he encountered many caravans, all intending to trade at the newly established trade post. They brought furs, wine, and horses, exchanging them for dwarf-manufactured weapons and equipment, as well as Empire-produced dark beer and grain.