Grant felt a chill race from his scalp to his toes, his back going rigid. Shock, wild elation, and utter bewilderment blazed through his chest like fire!
But he forced down the churning emotions, keeping his usual calm exterior, not even hesitating before speaking clearly and steadily to those outside the carriage: "Stop here. Head to the castle.
Deploy the guard units to take over the town's defenses. Knights... send out five patrols, spread out immediately to scout the surrounding territory, map the area thoroughly, and report back before sunset."
He paused briefly, raising his voice so everyone could hear: "Tonight, all five patrol squads get double rations and an extra gold piece each! Everyone else gets ten silver coins as a bonus!"
"Yes sir, Lord Grant!" The coachman's voice barely contained his delight, and faint murmurs and gasps could be heard from the soldiers outside the carriage.
Such generosity! This young lord of the Snow Wolf family was clearly no penny-pincher!
The carriage slowly entered the castle's somewhat weathered gates. The wheels crunched over frozen ice in the courtyard, making harsh scraping sounds.
Grant took a deep breath, preparing to get out.
Just then, the ten knights who had been quietly waiting in the courtyard moved.
They moved as one, heavy armor glinting coldly in the snow's pale light.
Without a word, they marched toward the carriage in perfect formation. Before the door even opened, like ten silver steel statues suddenly frozen in place, they thunderously dropped to one knee on the cold stone!
Eyes beneath their helmets stared straight ahead, low, powerful voices echoing through the silent courtyard:
"Frostguard Knights! First Regiment! Third Company! Seventh Squad reporting! We salute Lord Grant!"
"Frostguard Knights?!"
Those words hit like a thunderclap, instantly shattering the courtyard's peace!
The servants who had just stepped from the carriage froze where they stood, not daring to breathe!
The ten knights Grant had brought were even more stunned, eyes widening, their knuckles white as they gripped their sword hilts!
As members of Northern Marches knight orders themselves, they knew exactly what this name meant!
One of the five elite knight orders under the Raven Duke! Equal in status to the Snow Wolf family's three legendary main orders!
Don't think that just because the Snow Wolf family had equivalent knight orders, the Frostguard Knights were any less formidable!
That was because the five great ducal houses who founded the kingdom were all pillars of the realm. Besides them, only royal descendants with sufficient power could be granted marquis titles.
And the Snow Wolf family... was the only one in the kingdom's centuries of history that, with merely an earl's title, could enter the inner circle of power and even make the royal family depend on them and seek their favor!
With a thousand years of accumulated influence, the Snow Wolf family not only held the main Snow Wolf earldom but also controlled four powerful vassal territories, making them the most formidable force on the entire kingdom's map after the royal family and the four great dukes!
Even so, with the Snow Wolf family's millennium of heritage, only the three elite knight orders that the main family poured all their resources into could truly match the Frostguard Knights!
And the Frostguard Knights themselves—even their lowest-ranking regular knights had to be Silver-level warriors!
A squad leader's minimum requirement was peak Silver!
Company commander? Only Gold Knights could handle it!
Regiment commander? Only Earth Knights capable of moving mountains could lead!
And commanding the entire knight order's legion commander? That was a symbol of Northern Marches legendary power—only those who had reached the Sky Knight realm, able to soar through the heavens, were qualified to compete for that supreme command!
And the current legion commander wielding Frostguard, this blade of the Raven, was Grant's own blood relative—the Northern Duke, "Black Raven" Andre Augustus!
Inside the carriage, Grant's hand, ready to push open the door, froze in mid-air.
The shock and wild excitement about the system were instantly swept away by those thunderous words "Frostguard Knights." His original plan to quickly dismiss the garrison knights and hide in his room to study the system vanished completely!
He threw open the heavy padded door. Bone-chilling wind poured into the carriage, but he didn't care, his movements carrying an urgency he himself hadn't noticed.
He stepped down from the carriage, feet touching the cold stone ground, gaze falling to the ten knights kneeling before him like silent silver statues.
"Frostguard Knights..." Grant's voice wasn't loud but carried clearly, with a note of confirmation. "Rise."
This was the first time in Grant's life that he truly, intimately felt what terrifying power the joining of "Augustus" and "Windsor" bloodlines had created!
He, Grant Windsor, only sixteen years old. Among the five brothers in his family, he was considered the weakest in ability, even less talented than his third brother Fletcher, who was obsessed with business deals and neglected his combat training.
His three older brothers—eldest brother Carlos had shown leadership skills from an early age, second brother Vincent was a cavalry commander, fourth brother Leon was even an advanced apprentice mage, and though third brother Fletcher's martial prowess wasn't impressive by family standards, he had turned his exceptional business sense and family resources into a thriving empire, already a baron with real authority.
As for Grant himself, despite all his efforts, he had only just reached the peak of Knight Squire in combat—still one step away from officially becoming a Black Iron Knight, while even Fletcher had broken through to mid-level Black Iron. He was genuinely the family's worst performer.
The power gap was like a vast chasm!
Yet at this moment, these ten Silver Knights who could easily crush all the Bronze-level guards he'd brought—including himself—with a single charge, knelt before him as if before their supreme lord, offering him their deepest respect!
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[Note: Currency system—100 copper coins = 1 silver stag, 100 silver stags = 1 gold dragon. One gold dragon was what an ordinary farming household earned from a year of hard labor!]