Chapter 731 - Bodley
Chapter 731: Bodley
Abel walked out of his room in his pajamas. Burbridge was already waiting outside; he immediately said with a bow, “Your Majesty, head commander Bodley wants to see you!”
“Tell him to wait for me in the hall; I’ll be there in a moment!” Abel nodded.
He didn’t expect head commander Bodley to come this quick. He only mentioned it to head commander Markham yesterday, and the man had already arrived early next morning, just in time to increase the knight force of the duchy of Carmel.
Abel put on some casual clothes in his changing room and walked towards the hall.
“Grandmaster Abel!” Head commander Bodley was drinking a cup of coffee. He quickly stepped up and bowed when he saw Abel.
“Bodley, long time no see. No need to be this polite; this is not the head commander Bodley I know!” Abel padded on his shoulder and said with a laugh.
Head commander Bodley began to laugh as well when he saw Abel’s attitude. He then stood up straight and said, ” I wanted to come follow you the moment I heard you became king of the duchy of Carmel, but I had some business I needed to finish up in Miracle City, so that’s why it had taken this long!”
Head commander Bodley had fought alongside Abel before. He trusted him with all his heart. Serving a king like this was far better than those nobles who inherited all their wealth.
“The duchy of Carmel is not strong. We need a powerful head commander like you!” Abel continued to smile.
“I, head commander Bodley will forever remain loyal to king Abel till the day I die!” Head commander Bodley kneeled and yelled.
“I, the king of the duchy of Carmel Abel, accept your loyalty. I will be treated as my man!” Abel said in a serious tone as he took out a knight sword from his portal ring and tapped it on the head commander Bodley’s two shoulders.
The ceremony was finished just like that; the relationship between Abel and head commander Bodley was one step closer.
“Grandmaster Abel, I will move my family here!” Head commander Bodley quickly added.
“I’ve just gotten a new city, Neekin City. I will divide it into 4 and grant you a knight domain. I will also submit a baron title for you to the Kingdom of St Ellis. I prepared a mansion for you in Bakong City and a courtyard outside the city. If you need anything else, just tell me!” Abel waved his hand.
“Thank you, Grandmaster Abel, but this is already too much. I am satisfied with it!” Head commander Bodley bowed.
4 knight domains were the most amount of domain a baron could get. But in reality, barons could rarely obtain all 4 domains. The title of a baron signified that you have 2-4 domains.
Therefore, most new barons in the Holy Continent would only have 2 domains since all kings would like to grant the minimum number of domains.
Of course, if head commander Bodley’s family were nobles with a coat of arms, his rewards would be added on by his war glory.
But head commander Bodley was only raised in a small noble family. The only reason that his family could maintain their status was that he was serving in Miracle City.
As a head commander, he could go to any duchy and obtain a very prestigious title. But that title wouldn’t have any coat of arms. Nobles like this would decrease status with each generation and become an ordinary citizen at last.
A Coat of arms was the most prestigious signifier of status. Even a knight with a coat of arms and without a domain was more prestigious than a normal high status noble.
This was why countless knights had willingly risked their lives in battle. As long as they could obtain a coat of arms. His offspring would be able to enjoy the prestige of this title forever if they did not kill themselves.
It was very rare to see a huge coat of arms family like the George family being banished. If they didn’t get exposed for supplying the orcs with secret human weapons to unleash their massive attack on the Miracle wall, as well as getting in the way of Abel’s right to have a duchy as domain, this would have never happened to them.
Therefore the George family incident was extremely rare.
After head commander Bodley happily left the palace, Abel connected with Bartoli through the soul chain, “Bartoli, come see me!”
He then turned to Burbridge, the butler, and said, “tell the 4 griffin knights to see me!”
“Yes, your majesty, where do you want to have lunch?” Burbridge replied.
“Here, I have a lot of things to take care of today!” Abel said casually.
Although this was not the norm, Burbridge did not question the king too much. He turned and told the servants.
It was at that moment Bartoli appeared next to Abel in a flash.
“Bartoli, prepare a contract for me. I need it immediately,” Abel said with a gaze.
But soon, he realized there was no mana in the palace. He had disrupted Bartoli’s training by forcing her to stay in the palace.
“Yes, Bartoli. Also, draw out a forbidden area in the palace and tell the Wizard Union to set up an intermediate mana gathering circle. You can then keep doing your training!” Abel added.
“Yes, master!” Bartoli replied in excitement.
She was Abel’s steward, but also Abel’s contracted object. Abel had brought her out from the Dark World. It was an extremely risky thing to do, but she could help Abel a lot with her noble status.
Her work was nothing compared to the amount of joy she had received from Abel. The care Abel had given just further deepened her gratitude.
At that moment, the Griffin knights arrived and neatly bowed at Abel. “Your prestigious majesty, the griffin knights are at your command!”
“What are your names?” Abel asked, confused. Their movements were almost synchronized.
“I am griffin knight no.24!”
“I am griffin knight no.27!”
“I am griffin knight no.31!”
“I am griffin knight no.33!”
The 4 griffin knights bowed and replied.
“Dead knights!” Abel realized their identity. They did not have names; they were raised to be a weapon ever since birth. Their loyalty definitely wouldn’t be a problem.
However, since they were given out, it was hard to say if they could threaten their new owner. The kingdom of St Ellis probably wouldn’t do anything to harm Abel.
However, Abel would never wait until a problem arose, so he contacted Bartoli earlier.
“I accept your loyalty, so I’ll give you a choice!’ Abel paused and gazed at the 4 machine-like griffin knights. He then continued, “one Is to remain in your current form, another is to sign a contract. If you sign a contract, I will give you potions to increase your power. If any of you can become a head commander, I will grant him a noble identity!”
“Your Majesty, we have reached the peak of our potential!” Griffin knight no.24 hesitated and bowed.
At the end of the day, humans are not machines. Even these griffin knights were forced to do dead knight training since birth, their human nature remained.
Abel had given them a chance to live the life of a normal human in exchange for their full loyalty.
“Griffin knights, I am a wizard. I can see your potential. I won’t say anything that I’m not confident on!” Abel said blankly.
“I agree to sign the contract!” Griffin knight no.24 was the first one to bow.
Afterward, the other 3 griffin knights bowed as well without hesitation. “I agree to sign a loyalty contract!”
Bartoli had the lambskin parchments prepared. Each was etched with complicated patterns. In the center, there were some words of loyalty, and below it was a blank space.
The knights stepped forward one by one. They bit their finger and pressed it down with their blood. When the last griffin knight completed, 5 beams of white light emerged from the pattern on the parchment.
The 5 beams of white light connected Abel with the 4 griffin knights. The contract was successfully signed.