Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1175 1157. Position

 “You would be wise to come directly to me, son.”

Aunt Nannick took Lan En around like a garden, walking around and talking.

"Oh?" Lan En said with an interested smile on his face, "You said so. It seems that Duke Seeward has made little progress in discriminating against others in recent years?"

"Kid, don't think that just because you have fought a few prestigious tough battles and done some great things, you can win everyone's respect. Don't be so naive."

Aunt Nannick stretched out her fat, wrinkled hands and plucked two marigolds from the bush, which were often eaten in salads.

He ate one by himself and handed the other to Lan En without looking back.

At the same time, he said to Lan En.

She looked like an old woman who would stuff snacks into the hands of her grandchildren and then chatter about them.

Lan En took the marigold obediently, put it in his mouth and chewed it.

"Hey, I'm not that naive, Mammy."

"That would be the best, because that would save a lot of avoidable disappointment," Nannick continued.

"You can't just judge a person's attitude by looking at the surface. Of course that old dog in Siward knows how good you are. If we really meet him, he might give you some basic respect."

"But no matter what he shows on his face, his true attitude towards you only depends on his position."

Lan En savored the fragrance of marigolds in his mouth, as well as the subtle bitterness of herbs.

"So at this stage, what is the position of the Duke of Elland?"

"Hey, you are much sharper than Geralt." Nannick looked at the young man in surprise. "Tell the truth."

"Shiward has been working hard to implement a policy in recent years. He wants to help the Knights of the White Rose obtain authorization from the Council of the Templars, so that every knight in the regiment can actually obtain enfeoffment."

The Council of Templars is an organization in Temeria that is responsible for managing the affairs of many knights.

Institutions like the Knights generally have higher combat effectiveness than ordinary soldiers, and many of them are young people with noble inheritance rights. Of course, they must be careful and troublesome to manage.

Therefore, it is normal to set up an organization specifically to deal with this matter.

In Toussaint, the "Land of Knights and Wine", although there is no formal military force due to policy and historical reasons, there is a cultural tradition of wandering knights.

In order to manage wandering knights, they have specially set up a 'Wandering Knights Guild'.

For example, the High Hill Castle that Foltest granted to the Ember Knights actually went through the process of the Templar Council.

This process would normally be normal for ten years, but the performance of the Ember Knights under Lan En's command on the Sodden Mountain battlefield was really not enough to be described as 'outstanding'.

It’s simply terrifying!

Therefore, with the prestige of the ‘Battle of Bengsodeng Mountain’, the approval time was probably the fastest since the founding of Temeria.

The review sent by Duke Seeward was a process that was ten years shorter than usual and constantly promoted progress.

"By pushing for this review, Seeward was able to get the Knights of the White Rose to eagerly assist him."

Nannick smiled.

"In other words, it is to gain the support of the Knights of the White Rose that he works so hard to promote the review. This is the most popular knights in Temeria in recent years. Of course, the Knights of Ember are nominally a Cintra expatriate. , not included in this list.”

"You mean," Lan En carefully savored the information revealed by Sister Nannick, "that the Knights of the White Rose are an important part of Siward's strength?"

At this time, Lan En was also lamenting the correctness of coming to the Melitelli Temple first after arriving in Elland.

As a foreigner, it would be impossible for him to know information about the composition of the local Duke's organization under normal circumstances.

For the chief priest of Meritelli, who was also deeply rooted in the local area and even had a greater and wider influence than Duke Siward, there was nothing confusing about this news.

"His contribution to advancing the review process of the Templar Council is in exchange for the loyalty of the Knights of the White Rose. This means that while he accepts the allegiance of the Knights, he will inevitably be influenced by the Knights themselves."

Lan En followed Grandma Nannick's leisurely pace and spoke in a low voice with determination.

Generally, people who do not have an in-depth understanding of an organization or group will naively believe that the will of the leader of the group or organization will affect the entire organization or group.

There is some truth to this view, but it is narrow.

The greater possibility is that the will and tendency possessed by the leader are just the projection of the will of the entire organization or group onto him.

Just like the boss of a gang must be ruthless, because the organizational form of the gang requires them to be ruthless.

The purpose of gang organization is to make money, so when you are a gang leader, you don't want to lead your subordinates to make money. When he has made enough money and despises the danger, so he wants to leave everything behind, retire, clear his name, and dissolve the organization, nine times out of ten it will be the time for him to die.

Because at that time, his will was already contrary to the will of the organizing group.

The same goes for Seward.

He brought the Knights of the White Rose under his command, obtained their oath of allegiance, and increased his military power. But at the same time, he was bound to be enveloped in the style and spirit of the Knights of the White Rose. And what is the style of the Knights of the White Rose?

-In the beginning, even though Geralt was well entertained by Nannick, enjoyed the treatment of a guest, and enjoyed the protection of the Meritelli Temple, the knights who came to trouble him were the knights of the Knights of the White Rose.

Couldn't be more blatantly racist.

In order to win over this group of racists and maintain their loyalty, Hiward has to be a 'racist' whether he wants to or not.

This is what is called ‘standpoint’ determining thinking.

"It seems that I did the right thing by not going to Seeward and going through the process of greeting the nobles and coming here directly."

Lan En sighed again, but this time he said it out loud.

Nannik raised his hand to straighten the blue veil covering his head: "There is no need for you to go there to find trouble, kid."

"You and that old dog Seeward are not the same people. I could tell at the first sight."

"Now you come here mainly because of the incident in the Pontal Valley. Other than that, you have no interaction with him and there is no need to know him."

"You can feel free to stay here." The kind fat lady said in an unquestionable tone, "This is my territory, the temple of Meritelli! Since the establishment of the temple, no one has dared to stay on my property. Go wild."

The old woman's words were firm and natural, as if they were taken for granted.

If a student of Oxenfurt University and the recently launched ‘eradicating superstition’ movement heard this, they would probably think that this was the wild belief in fictitious gods by ignorant and backward believers.

But for Lan En, he thought of some kind of "strangeness" that Nannick showed when he came out of the cave greenhouse just now. As the most prestigious temple of the Melitelli faith on the continent.

If someone really dares to cause trouble here after eating the bear's heart, Lan En estimates that this person's fate will be very "unoptimistic".

"Then we'll feel at ease." The demon hunter shrugged and changed the topic, "As for business, what is the situation in the Pontar Valley?"

Nannick pulled Lan En slightly, and the two of them lifted their feet to walk around a small mess on the ground.

It was a pile of feathers and guano from poultry. It looked like the traces left when the priestess apprentices drove away the chickens, ducks and geese just now.

But in the lush gardens of the temple, these things will soon disappear on their own, becoming the fertility of the soil.

Speaking of this inland water transport artery of the four northern countries, Nannick's usually calm expression also frowned slightly.

"How much did Foltest tell you?"

"Not much." Lan En answered her, "But just these are enough to make people feel bad."

"That's true." Nannick nodded in agreement with the young man's statement, "If Foltest hadn't had to deal with a sudden conflict with the Nilfgaard Empire on the border, he would have definitely come here in person. "

"I know everything Hiward knows about this matter."

Nannick said it matter-of-factly, without any pride at all.

"After all, when those who fled outside the city of Elland, the first thing they thought of was the Temple of Melitelli. Who else would be willing to rescue people who had walked in the mountains for ten days and a half without any time to rest? "

"Dirty, smelly, skinny, and looks like it could bring bad luck. Hum."

Nannick couldn't be described as sarcastic, he just smiled in a 'seen a lot' tone.

"Then what happened to these people?"

Lan En's tone began to change from a leisurely conversation to a cautious and focused one.

He began to enter the working state of a demon hunter.

Nennik has known Geralt for a long time and even takes care of him like a son. Of course, he is also very familiar with the working style of the witcher.

So there was nothing uncomfortable about it.

"They were originally mountain people living in the Mahakam Mountains."

Nannik first explained to Lan the cause of the whole incident, or in other words: the cause of the incident being discovered.

"They live in the mountains working for the dwarves. Mahakam is a big mine, and the dwarves have not finished digging it for hundreds of years."

"Their current chief elder is a conservative named Hogg. He doesn't want the dwarves to leave Mahakam and enter the dangerous human world. But he doesn't have any objections to allowing a small number of humans to work in the mines."

"Not only does he have no objections, but Siward and Foltest also have no objections. After all, the gold earned by the mountain people from Mahakam still has to be exchanged for supplies in the human society below the mountain."

"Not only are they mining for the dwarves to make money, there are also a few hunters in the small villages of the mountain people who can get some meat in the mountains of Mahakam."

(End of chapter)