On the third evening of his departure from Bran, Richard arrived at Baron Fontaine's castle and met the baron appointed by the Duke of Wolves to supply him.

The Baron's castle was built on an island in the middle of the great lake of Windermere, and was connected to the shore by a wide avenue.

The island was not formed naturally, it was slowly reclaimed from the lake by the Baron's family for generations, and it took countless human and financial resources to build it after a hundred years of construction.

The outermost ring is a typical castle building, with a sturdy round tower topped by battlements and lookouts. The inner buildings can be described as works of art, with vaults of various shapes, columns running through two or three floors, and terraces extending in all directions, all of which are gorgeous and exquisite.

From the main building, you can also enjoy the view of the lake and water, as well as the distant mountains and forests. The castle has an ancient name that roughly translates to the twilight of the lake, and over time, it has been shortened to the twilight castle.

At first glance at the castle, Richard's instinctive reaction was how to storm it. With his unprofessional eye, he could find three or four effective attack paths, which showed the weakness of the castle's defenses.

The most formidable defense was the twenty-metre-long road that crossed the lake from the land to the castle gates. Although this path could accommodate eight heavily armored knights charging side by side, it still limited the number and speed of attackers. Next, Richard discovered that this was a very beautiful and charming castle. From the very beginning of its construction, it was not intended for war.

Before the visit, Richard had heard that Baron Fontaine was an outstanding swordsman, and that the baron, who inherited the family swordsmanship, currently possessed a fourteen-level combat power and was a well-deserved master of swordsmanship. The baron was both a painter and a poet, and his love for painting and poetry was far greater than that of swordsmanship.

Unlike the other vassals of the Duke of Wolves, Baron Fontaine was a very gentle man who rarely expanded externally, and the standing army in his territory was about 800 people, including 100 elite knights. It seems that the baron's military strength is weak, but those who underestimate him have suffered enough. Fontaine was a man of great learning and resourcefulness in leading the army, defeating several of his family's rivals and expanding his territory to more than 500 square kilometers in what it is today. This is already more than the average viscount in the Faro plane.

The barony's territory is fertile, rich in grain, and rich in minerals such as coal, iron, and copper, although there are no precious and rare minerals, but iron and copper are the most commonly used raw materials for weapons and equipment in the Faro plane. Baron Fontaine thus established a large number of military workshops, producing a wide range of standard weapons, from swords to full-body plate armor. Because of this, the average level of military equipment of the baron can be said to be the highest among the vassals under the Duke of Vicious Wolf. It is also one of the largest producers of weapons and equipment in the Kingdom of Sequoia.

Richard stationed most of his soldiers in the barracks outside the castle, and then entered the castle at dusk with only a dozen retinues to meet with Baron Fontaine.

The baron was about forty years old, the prime of his life, and he was full of charm. After meeting, he was sincerely surprised by Richard's youth, and at the dinner, he was impressed by Richard's rich and profound knowledge of magic. The Baron had three sons and seven daughters, and some of them were very fond of magic, so the Baron called them out to let Richard know them and evaluate their future magical talents.

So during the tea break after dinner, Richard used a few detection techniques, and found that several of the little ones were quite talented in magic, and there was no problem in reaching level 10 in the future. So he congratulated the baron. It can be seen that Fontaine is sincerely delighted.

By the time the baron had arranged accommodation for Richard and his entourage, it was already late at night. Richard and the Baron chatted casually over tea, and learned a lot about the history and secrets of the Sequoia Kingdom.

The reason why Baron Fontaine, who is incompatible with the style of Duke Vicious, joined the Duke's camp is because of the relationship between three generations ago. The old baron swore allegiance to the Duke of the time for more than seventy years.

The Sequoia Kingdom is also extremely complex, with the royal family nominally being the co-owner of all Sequoia nobles, but actually having very limited influence on military and political affairs within the nobles' domains. However, from another point of view, in an era when the great nobles had almost unlimited autonomy, chaos was inevitable.

And there's the church of the gods involved. The Church of the Three True Gods officially established a temple in the Redwood Kingdom, with great nobles as supporters. And more churches are still in the process of trying to infiltrate.

However, the Church of the Gods was resisted by a group of patriarchally worshipping nobles led by Duke Vicious Wolf. For if all the people were converted to the gods, the souls of their ancestors would not be nourished and would slowly weaken. This is almost a devastating blow to the family of ancestor worship. For a powerhouse like Duke Vicious Wolf who has reached level sixteen, at least half of his strength is closely related to the strength of the ancestor's soul.

On the other hand, when enough faith and worship are obtained, the souls of those ancestors have the possibility of igniting the divine fire and stepping on the divine throne. Or during a certain sacrifice, the soul of the ancestor resonates with the soul of the potential descendants, and the power can be directly infused into the body of the descendant, so that his strength can be directly greatly improved, so that he has the opportunity to impact the holy realm or even the legendary realm.

Therefore, there is a fundamental conflict of interests between the worship of ancestors and the gods. The struggle between the two sides was extremely fierce, and any means would be used, except that there was no open declaration of war.

Originally, only in the face of an event such as an alien invader that threatens the security of the entire plane, it is possible for the two sides to join forces for a short time, and immediately afterwards they will fall back into a battle to the death. However, it can be seen from the fiasco of the temporary alliance between the Iron Triangle Empire and the Sequoia Kingdom that even the alliance in the name of righteousness is extremely unreliable.

When Richard received Marven's letter, he guessed that &39;construct&39; was an important reason for Duke Wolf to accept him. Now that I know so much background information, I can fully understand Duke Vicious's desire and pursuit of power, and even know that there is a problem with Richard's identity, and the identity that Marven gave Richard is almost forged under his nose, but in order to get a construct that can enhance his strength, he also gave Richard the protection and cover he needed most. This was very advantageous to Richard, and where there was a need, there was a basis for trade and even cooperation, and this bond was stronger than any covenant oath.

Baron Fontaine was a man of elegant conversation and charisma, and a night of small talk opened Richard's eyes. At the same time, Richard also left a good impression on him, especially Richard's calm and calm bearing, which will only appear in the body of the top giants in the plane.

Late at night, Richard went back to his room to rest. Early the next morning, the Baron's messenger would set out for the Wolf Duke's city, inform the Duke of Richard's intention, and then wait for a reply.