Puris Disha's recent days had been quite pleasant.
The experience of serving the Elk Family felt like a dream, becoming increasingly vague. His knightly skills and training were long forgotten, and his belly grew larger by the day. He had bought new clothes for this reason, changing to looser cloth pants and silk robes, which were both convenient and retained the style of a "noble"—though he knew there were no true nobles in His Majesty's territory.
Of course, his knightly career was not a complete dream either. The polished armor in the living room was proof. Strangely, when he was an Elk Knight, he couldn't stand the armor and even wanted to sell it to the blacksmiths for cheap. But after switching to serving His Majesty, he found it increasingly pleasing to the eye. One of his favorite pastimes at home was holding his toddler and rambling about those "heroic" war stories in front of the armor.
However, in these stories, Puris never mentioned Duke Lyon, as if he had been loyal to Roland Wimbledon from the start, an impeccable and loyal subject.
Since entering the City Hall, his career had been steadily rising. Seizing the opportunity of Winterless City's rapid population growth, the chicken and duck farming area in the north of the city had been expanded again and again, and had now become an extremely large poultry factory. That's right, he felt that the farm he had built with his own hands was no worse than those factories with production machines. Ever since His Majesty said the word "factory", he immediately hung the sign at the entrance of the compound.
Nowadays, factories of all kinds were springing up like mushrooms in Winterless City, and it had become the most popular word in City Hall. He naturally couldn't lag behind.
After all, with as many as a hundred employees and a total of nearly ten thousand chickens and ducks, several baskets were needed to hold the feed and earthworms they ate every day. He couldn't have imagined such a scale before. As for others calling him the "Chicken and Duck Knight," he didn't care at all, but rather enjoyed it.
Now that the work was on track, Puris had become more relaxed. The first batch of apprentices had learned how to distinguish between male and female, how to feed them, and how to select chicks, etc., and could also train new people by the way, without him having to do it himself. And the chicken plague, the most feared thing in poultry farming, could be easily dispelled by that witch named Lily, so there was no problem with how big the farm could be. He usually only needed to do some planning and submit the data to the Minister of Agriculture.
In fact, most of the knights who had been captured with him, except for a few die-hards, were doing quite well. For example, his Sai Seni. Dali, the original Benlang Knight, had now become a minister, considered one of the best off.
Xiaochen Guang had been promoted to a senior teacher, with a salary similar to his. However, during a chat, Felin. Sierte seemed to mention that he had other plans and would not be a teacher forever. He didn't know where this former star knight would work next, but he thought it wouldn't be too bad.
There were also Halong, Warsa, Kazan, etc... either continuing to be teachers or opening shops. In his spare time, he would also get together with these old acquaintances, chatting about family matters or discussing work and looking forward to the future. However, not everyone was convinced by His Majesty. For example, Halong was very dissatisfied with the rule that captured knights could not join the army, and always looked depressed at gatherings. Puris didn't think much of this. Everyone knew how powerful firearms were, and if it were him, he wouldn't want to hand this kind of thing over to the defeated generals of the past.
As for himself, he set his sights on the annual Medal of Honor ceremony. According to His Majesty's emphasis on agriculture, he felt that he would eventually stand on the high platform in the square, accepting the envious and admiring gazes of the crowd. Not only would he personally receive the medal awarded by His Majesty the King, but he would also receive a reward of one hundred gold dragons. This was much more promising than joining the army.
Humming a little tune, Puris arrived at the City Hall. Just as he was about to say hello to Seni. Dali before going to the farm, the minister stopped him.
"Ah, you've come at the right time. His Majesty is looking for you."
His footsteps paused slightly. "What's the matter?"
"The guard didn't say, just told you to go to the castle first."
"I see," Puris pretended to be calm, but his heart skipped a beat. The agricultural mobilization conference had just passed not long ago. Could it be that His Majesty was thinking the same thing as him, and wanted to promote him as a model for awarding medals?
With anticipation in his heart, he walked into the castle, and then, under the guidance of the guard, came to the office on the third floor.
"Come in," after announcing his name, a familiar voice came from inside the door. "I've been waiting for you for a while."
"Agriculture Department official, Puris Disha pays his respects to you," as soon as he entered the door, he knelt on one knee like a knight, clenching his fist to his chest. However, his belly had a little too much meat, and this posture was not as upright as before. He almost tripped himself when he knelt down.
"Get up," His Majesty the King sat behind the long table and smiled at him. "You've been doing a great job lately. Even Barov is full of praise, which is not an easy thing to do. Therefore, I have a new task that I want to give you."
"You can give me any orders," Puris stood up and said respectfully.
"Listen carefully... This matter is confidential, and few people in City Hall know about it," the other party's expression suddenly became serious. "Moreover, it is of great significance and is related to the future development direction of Winterless City. Once you accept it, you must not reveal anything you see or hear to anyone before I allow it. I chose you because you are the most suitable in the absence of precedent, but it is not like I cannot do without you. If you do well, don't worry about the treatment. Give me an answer now."
Puris was stunned. He didn't expect His Majesty to say such a thing. Not only was it unrelated to the awarding of medals, but he also seemed to be preparing to put him in a very tricky situation.
Oh, don't mention the importance or the generous rewards... These were equivalent to trouble in his eyes, and being involved with the kingdom's secrets was even more deadly. He subconsciously wanted to decline, but he swallowed the words that came to his mouth - wait, who was the other party? It was the lord of Winterless City, the king of Greycastle!
Did a king need to discuss when he wanted his subjects to do something? Unless the latter had long had intentions of rebellion and found an opportunity to hide in his fief and not come out, otherwise he would have to accept this order no matter what, otherwise he would wait to bear the king's anger. His Majesty didn't directly order it, but was just taking care of his emotions. Could he really allow him to decline?
Puris couldn't help but swallow. Even though this Wimbledon His Majesty was unconventional and very different from other lords, and every word came from his heart, what did he say earlier? "You can give me any orders"!
He had just confidently said that nothing was impossible, and in the blink of an eye, he said directly that he didn't want to do it or couldn't do it? If he were the king, even if he didn't act out on the spot, he would remember this knot in his heart. In the future, don't even talk about promotion opportunities, I am afraid that he would not even be able to be an ordinary official, let alone the Medal of Honor ceremony and the generous rewards.
Puris couldn't wait to slap himself in the face.
After hesitating again and again, he finally gritted his teeth and replied, "Your subject is willing to bear this important task."
He couldn't lose this position. His knight status and fief no longer existed. If he lost his official position and was no longer responsible for the farm, he would really have nothing.
The only thing that made him feel comforted at the moment was His Majesty's words - "You are the most suitable in the absence of precedent"... At least, this could be regarded as an affirmation of his ability, right?
"Very good," Roland smiled, turned his head and whispered something to the empty space beside him, then looked at him. "Then come with me to a place now."
"Where?" Puris asked subconsciously in trepidation.
"Third Border City," the king raised his eyebrows. "Have you heard of it?"