The first door guard

In the southwest part of the seven central states that worship the gods of the Star Realm, it is a rich and vast basin. This is the area called Stigia by the world. For thousands of years, humans have reproduced and lived here, and finally formed five kingdoms. Stigia is rich in land and resources, and the soldiers are brave and good at fighting, and worship the gods of nature. Their system is also completely different from the seven central states. The entire Stigia is composed of fiefs of all sizes (although the seven central states that worship the gods of the Star Realm also have fiefs, most of the places are directly under the jurisdiction of the state rather than

The Lords in charge of the nobles who ruled Stigia had the lowest class as knights. Each knight had his own independent territory and people, and was loyal to the higher-ranking nobles. The same was true for the barons, viscounts, counts, marquis and dukes, and all nobles were loyal to their kings. Each noble had great autonomy in his own territory. In terms of obligations, in addition to protecting the security of his own territory and paying necessary taxes, the greatest obligation of the nobles was to obey the recruitment of superiors and go to the battlefield.

The countries of Stigia rarely established military groups like the Knights, but their knights performed no worse than the Knights on the battlefield. Because the custom of Stigia was an incomplete hereditary system. Usually, the children of nobles could either only obtain two ranks lower than their parents (the sons of the lowest knights usually cannot inherit any land and titles), or they had to win their own status on the battlefield. This custom made Stigia produce the fearful noble knights. When the Stigia knights charged bravely on the battlefield, they were enough to make the most powerful enemies afraid.

After a long confrontation and countless wars without endings, Stigia seemed to have a dawn of unity. Cassillos and Saint Gene, the royal families of these two kingdoms, formed a deep friendship in the war with the greenskins (orcs and goblins), and on the other hand, after a long marriage, it has almost become a family. King Saint Gene married his only daughter to King Cassillos, and retired due to illness and handed over the power to his son-in-law.

As we all know, once these two countries merge into a kingdom one day under a crown, they will gain an overwhelming national advantage over their neighbors. And this day will obviously not last long.

Perhaps it was precisely because of the deepening of this crisis. Paro, the kingdom in the northeastern part of the Stigia Basin, announced that he would give up his worship of the gods of nature and devote himself to the faith of the gods in the star field. Then, Paro declared war on the neighboring Casilos and Saint-Gen in the name of spreading the teachings of the Church of True Gods and launching holy wars. A new war kicked off.

——Excerpt from "The Chronicles of Stigia"

Veteran Marcos opened the city gate while sipping the heater in front of his hands. On the cold winter dawn, the iron rings on the city gate were so cold that they could simply freeze a layer of skin from people's skin. This made the job of opening the door a complete chore.

Today, we must find a way to get a pair of gloves. Marcos put his stiff hands on his neck to keep warm, thinking. However, most of his savings have already purchased combat equipment for his third child, so it is really hard to squeeze out the money for gloves.

"Hey, Uncle Marcos." Someone greeted him in the crowd entering the city.

Marcos has been in this position for a long time, so many people nearby know him. But few people know that if luck did not pass by him, Marcos might have the opportunity to become a real knight. The job of guarding the city gate is simple, leisurely, and good treatment is not bad, which can make many farmers envious. But if Marcos had not been shot in his knee back then, he would have been promoted to a knight in almost every ten years.

A knight promoted from a militia may be looked down upon by some nobles who value blood, but it can pave a path to wealth and status for future generations.

More than once, Marcos once fancied that he could ride a horse into a castle and be well received by his master. His children could also go to the battlefield as an apprentice knight, have excellent equipment, and fight side by side with colleagues of similar status, rather than an unknown little militia who no one would take a look at.

The knights rarely care about the casualties of militias. Fortunately, they rarely care about the militia's escape. The fleeing militia will not be punished when they come back. At most, they can only be a big fork to let them be discharged from the army (and this situation is very rare). In addition to the apprentice knights, the fleeing knights may have to go through a lot of trouble. If they fail to pass the "Judgement of Honor", they will even be in danger of being confiscated.

Because it is a winter festival, there are a lot of people coming to the city today. The call of "Uncle Marcos" brings the veterans back to reality from fantasy and meditation. When people get old, they are prone to reminiscing about the past. Marcos often recalls that day, as a militia, he was rewarded by the commander and promised by the knight.

"Marcos, your courage is so disproportionate as a militia. When this expedition is over, I will definitely report your Majesty and report your deeds to him one by one. Do it well, young man. Keep it up, becoming a knight is not as difficult as you think!"

Next, all the knights saluted him. Even the proudest knights in the army expressed their congratulations to him. At that moment, he was so glorious, so happy, and so proud. But fate always made people so foolish, and the orc archer had an arrow, breaking all Marcos' dreams.

There is no doubt that Count Thomas (that general) did finally implement his promise. Marcos, who was slightly disabled, was given the position of janitor of the capital Fros. Finally, he had a long-lasting life and could comfort this unfortunate man.

The sun finally slowly emerged from the clouds and spread the warm light to the earth. The light shone on people, making it very warm and comfortable.

The doorkeeper's work ensures that the door is opened and switched on time, and at the same time, pay attention to keeping all parts on the door in normal condition. After closing the door, wipe things like rust to ensure that the door latch can be pressed accurately. As for other times, you can let him sit aside and bask in the sun to recall the past.

A small team of militias were responsible for the security work near the gate. Unless on special days or important activities, the noble knights were disdainful to perform such low-ranking official duties. The militias all respected Marcos and respected him as "Uncle Marcos". Because after all, he finally obtained this position because of his military achievements.

"Uncle Marcos, I heard that the war ahead is in a hurry!" a young man said to the veteran.

"It doesn't matter whether you are tired or not. Regardless of the victory or defeat, as long as the Wolfkou Castle is in our hands, the Paro people have no choice." Like most elderly people, Marcos likes to pretend to be wise and magnanimous in front of his younger generations, so as to win the admiration of these younger generations. But this is actually very easy. Although Marcos is far from being knowledgeable, he has finally been in the military for half his life and has dealt with many people. Compared with these young people, neither experience nor knowledge is the same level.

"So, the final result of this war will not be any different from the past. The Sister Mountains are insurmountable natural dangers. As long as Paro cannot capture the Wolfkou Castle, they will not be able to achieve any decisive victory." Marcos explained to the young people confidently.

"So will we counterattack?"

"I don't know...it depends on the resolution of the nobles. But I believe the above are not very interested in counterattack. Unless the frontline wins a major victory,..."

The sound of horse hooves in the distance interrupted their conversation, and a messenger appeared from the end of the road. He was wearing conspicuous red and white clothes, waving something in his hand.

"Urgent military information! Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" The messenger shouted loudly. His shouting worked, and the people entering the city made way out. The messenger rushed to the city gate before being stopped.

"Emergency Military Information!" The messenger shouted loudly to the militia. "Get out of the way! The Paro people are approaching here!" He held a rolled-up document in his hand, with a red seal on it.

The militia made way and watched the messenger rushed in with confusion.

"Uncle Marcos...he said just now... the Paro people are approaching here?!"

"How is that possible!" Marcos scoffed. "There are always a bunch of messy information on the front line. Because there are always many hot-headed nobles who don't calm down to get things clear and pass on military information to the rear. A small team is often misunderstood as a large army, and a wave of bandits can easily be understood as the outpost of the large army. In short, that's it! I guess a Paro infiltration force sneaked into the border. Remember, two days ago, did the communication soldiers of Langkou Castle bring a report of "no abnormality"?"

This explanation is very reasonable and conforms to people's ideas. Many people are no longer interested in the messenger and the information they carry. The winter festival is not a big festival, but there are also some markets, parades and other activities.

The day passed without realizing it. In the afternoon, when Marcos was napping comfortably in the sun, he was suddenly awakened by a noisy sound.

"What's going on?"

"Uncle Marcos...there's a fire in the city!" a young man shouted.

Marcos calmed down. From the location of the city gate, you can see that the thick smoke in the central area of ​​the city was rolling in. The fire in winter is difficult to deal with, and the weather is dry, and the fire is easy to spread but difficult to extinguish.

"Are we going to help?" asked one person.

"No need, there are many people in the city, and we don't need to add to it." That's right, but Marcos felt that the fire was a little unusual. Because the fire did not seem to burst out in one place, because there was not much time, the second and third columns of smoke appeared. It seemed that the fire broke out in different parts of the city. Moreover, one of them was the palace.

This is really bad. Almost all the royal members are in the city... I don't know if there will be an accident... I guess there will be a big commotion...

While he was still thinking this, he saw people rolling in. Countless people, men, women, elderly people, children, howling towards the city gate.
Chapter completed!