CHAPTER 58: CHAPTER 51: WINGED CAVALRY COMMANDER

The long-silent Jorgelisburg ushered in the busiest moment it has seen in years.

Ever since the Kingdom of Jerusalem expanded its borders to the east to encompass Count Reynard of Jordan’s territory, the splendor of the past here was no more.

The military preparedness waned, soldiers redeployed.

The funding was reduced time and again.

The weathered, mottled and peeling walls resembled the old frontier soldiers, gradually aging, crumbling into dust.

The newly arrived armored soldiers, under the guidance of the Jorgelisburg veterans, were familiarizing themselves with the situation of the castle.

Some had already taken off their armor and started organizing their accommodations, repairing the long-abandoned dilapidated houses.

Hans hung Losa’s banner at the top of the castle tower.

The Black Eagle stood alongside the Jerusalem Cross, fluttering in the wind.

Losa opened the building section of the system, and apart from the Lord’s Hall, all the building slots were dimmed, requiring him to draw a building card to unlock them.

He glanced over roughly, seeing infantry camps, cavalry camps, scout camps, siege weapon factories, blacksmith shops, towers, castles, stables, ports...

Everything was there.

At that moment.

The system prompt sounded: Detecting the special item "Winged Cavalry’s Swallowtail Banner", which can be used to unlock the special building "Winged Cavalry Camp".

Winged Cavalry Camp: You can train one ordinary cavalry into the special unit, Winged Cavalry, each day. The training cost is fifty Suludes gold coins.

As a special unit, when your highest actual control title is Baron, the training limit for Winged Cavalry is 50; for Count, 100; for Duke, 150; for King, 300; for Emperor, 500.

Winged Cavalry: Elite cavalry equipped with lobster helmets and half-body plate armor, holding hollow lances made of spruce wood, and armed with sabers, broadswords, armor-piercing swords, warhammers, and other melee weapons. Behind their armor, there are eagle-style wings as decoration to prevent rear cuts and intimidate enemies. (Due to epoch correction, the short-barreled firearms equipped by Winged Cavalry have been removed)

Activate Milestone: Winged Cavalry Commander: At least fifty Winged Cavalry must serve under your command [0/50].

"Can the building be unlocked using an item?"

Losa furrowed his brow.

The Winged Cavalry’s Swallowtail Banner, as a divine artifact capable of increasing the impact speed of cavalry troops by twenty percent, is enough to elevate him, an ordinary person, to the top tier of cavalry commanders.

Moreover, it is an important item for dealing with the cavalry archers adept in nomadic shooting.

It allows heavy cavalry to quickly chase down the cavalry archers harassing formations in short sprints, fulfilling strategic objectives faster.

In any era, mobility is the greatest reliance of cavalry, bar none.

If Losa were to head to Jerusalem to serve as a cavalry commander, it would play an incredibly significant role in battles against Saladin’s Mamluk Cavalry.

But the problem now is that Losa does not have his own cavalry troops.

Even if he commands the Royal Knight Order of Jerusalem to achieve glorious victories; how many people would credit these successes to Losa?

They would only think that the Royal Knights were divinely aided, blessed by the Heavenly Father, and thus the warhorses ran swiftly.

Losa hesitated, but decided to use it anyway.

No matter how rare the Winged Cavalry’s Swallowtail Banner is, sooner or later there will be new items to replace it.

He must seize the present.

Only with sufficiently strong personal power—even if only on paper—can he seize the greatest benefits amid the chaos of the Kingdom.

This benefit can also help him complete milestones, proceeding in a virtuous cycle.

This is also why Losa does not hesitate to spend a fortune to build a force of armored soldiers.

Whether they can fight or not, at least the appearance must be impressive enough to intimidate people.

Although he has made up his mind, Losa does not intend to immediately choose to build the Winged Cavalry Camp and the Lord’s Hall.

He doesn’t know how much noise the construction will cause.

Will it be earth-shaking, created out of thin air?

Or will a construction team visit the castle, building it step by step.

Although in this extraordinary world, even if it is really created out of thin air, it is not inexplicable.

But he still decided to wait until nighttime, when everyone is asleep, to commence construction.

Losa, along with Prajna and Furinjira, entered the inner castle.

This is a three-story fortress, towering above Jorgelisburg.

Though slightly rundown, the inner castle’s condition is evidently much better than the outer castle.

Probably at the time of construction, the Lord of Jorgelisburg used the best stones to protect his own life and fortune within the inner castle.

The hall on the first floor is rather spacious, with a Jerusalem Cross Shield Emblem hanging on the wall. The tables and chairs below the emblem, and standing cabinets either lacked a leg or were covered with thick dust and cobwebs.

The carpet had large patches of caked mud.

Mice swiftly scurried along the wall, not seeking food in this empty fortress, but to avoid the scorching sun outside.

"When it was prosperous here, it must have been quite nice."

Losa comforted a bit insincerely.

Furin murmured quietly, "How on earth are we supposed to live here? Sir, how about we go back to Jerusalem? We can’t really live in ruins."

Losa remained unmoved.

She continued, "At the very least, shouldn’t we bring some of those villagers’ wives over to tidy up a bit? Surely you don’t expect me, a noble Princess of the Royal Court, to do such menial tasks?"

Losa had already planned to construct the Lord’s Hall tonight, which would naturally cover or completely renovate the Inner Castle.

So he said, "Why not? Isn’t there some sort of cleaning spell in Blood Magic?"

Furin objected hastily, "How could that be? Blood Magic is for killing, unless you are cleaning up bloodstains, how could it be used to clean dust and catch mice?"

"Heh, just kidding."

Losa reached out and ruffled Furin’s silky white hair, speaking indulgently, "Don’t worry, I won’t let you live in a place like this."

"Ahem—"

Prajna cleared her throat lightly. Seeing the two look over, she nonchalantly diverted her gaze, as if she really just coughed by chance.

Meanwhile, the system alert sounded: Your intimacy with Furin has been elevated to "Friendliness". You may share Furin’s talent "Blood Magic Specialization" or "Blood Charm," and by default, share your own unique talent "Two Lives as a Human" with your retainer Furin.

It was a long time in the making.

The time was ripe.

Losa was not surprised, smiled, and without hesitation chose the first option, "Blood Magic Specialization".

Countless pieces of knowledge instantly surged into Losa’s mind.

He felt a sharp pain in his head, blood vessels appearing in his eyes, and in his vision, everything turned into blood-red lines.

Particularly Furin, in this blood-red world, she seemed like the eye of a storm, with all the blood-red lines circling around her.

Compared to the actively triggered talent "Keystones", "Blood Magic Specialization" is a passive skill, constantly producing effects.

"What’s wrong with you?"

Prajna frowned, sensing a faint yet unusual aura from Losa, though weak, it was enough to pose a threat to her.

Furin seemed to realize something too, quickly saying, "Your Spiritual Power isn’t enough to handle so much Blood Magic, abandon the talent sharing for now!"

Losa suddenly understood, was it due to insufficient Spiritual Power?

Without hesitation, he summoned the system panel and allocated the three accumulated Attribute Points to Spiritual Power.

The next moment, the blood-red scene vanished quickly.

His vision returned to normal.

His mind was now filled with various Blood Magic spells: Bloodfall, greatly boosting speed and Power temporarily by accelerating one’s own blood flow.

Blood Spear: Throw a spear imbued with one’s own Magic Power, mixing with the enemy’s blood, the Magic Power infects the opponent’s blood and triggers a "Blood Burst".

Bat Transformation: Temporarily transform into a vampire bat.

Immunity: All your vital parts are nullified by your Blood Magic, granting immunity to all bleeding effects, and you can mitigate damage by consuming blood.

...

Perhaps the remaining Blood Magic were too profound, his Spiritual Power couldn’t cope, thus they appeared as ellipses.

But even just these already represented a significant upgrade for Losa.

Prajna gave Losa a deep look without speaking, neither did she like usual, shadow him closely, instead went upstairs first.

Could she be jealous?

Without an intimacy drop alert, Losa was a bit puzzled for the moment.

Furin was uncharacteristically a bit embarrassed.

Though fond of talking big, in truth, she was all bark with no bite; the unlocking of shared talent due to intimacy couldn’t escape her own notice.

"I’ll go up and take a look with the big guy."

Finished speaking, she flew upstairs like a lark.

Leaving Losa behind, unsure whether to follow or not.

...

Early the next morning.

Leonard woke up with sleepy eyes, suddenly widening his eyes.

He covered his mouth in astonishment, his teeth chattering, making incomprehensible whimpering sounds.

"What... what on earth happened?"

Just yesterday, the Inner Castle was still in ruins; now, it had transformed into a more magnificent, refreshed grand fortress than before.