Come to another world and become a lord

Chapter 198 Dealing with the aftermath

With the end of the battle, the two sides reached a reconciliation, and the next few days seemed relatively uneventful. Although there were occasional conflicts, they were all within a controllable scale. Such incidents mostly occurred because of private revenge by the soldiers. Ultimately, with the joint efforts of Grand Commander Aiden and King Philip, similar incidents were quickly and completely eliminated.

The two sides quickly reached a consensus on the ownership of Walter Territory. After discussion, Aiden and Philip agreed to give Walter Territory to Carl. This was a resolution that almost no one could resist. Not to mention that Carl eradicated the vampires, and later it was he who resolved the crisis between the two. With the blessing of these two things, even if Philip was reluctant, he had to admit it. Moreover, Carl was nominally his nephew and his vassal, and it was better to give the land to him than to the Church. So, with the consent of both parties, Carl naturally became the new lord of Walter and was officially named Earl of Walter.

The investiture ceremony was still performed by King Philip. This was the second time that Carl knelt in front of him to accept the investiture. The king tapped his shoulders with the ceremonial sword and announced his title to everyone, and he swore allegiance to Philip.

However, what Karl did not expect was that after the ceremony, King Philip personally helped him up. This made Karl a little confused. Was he doing this to reconcile with himself?

Of course, none of this mattered. After dealing with the fiefdom, the Crusaders and the King's Army began to prepare for withdrawal. Soldiers had begun to return in batches, and Walter Territory finally welcomed peace. However, as a new lord, Carl had a lot of things to deal with.

The first is the third prince Gareth. As the king’s son and also a member of the vampire Isabel’s family, he was kept as a hostage when negotiating with Isabel.

As a hostage? Carl always felt strange when he thought about it. Although Isabel had made it clear that Gareth was her family member and she had the final say in everything, as a vassal, would he let the king's son be a hostage? Would the king agree? Where would his face be?

However, Philip's attitude surprised him again, and he agreed readily.

"It's not bad to let my son stay with you, so that he can get more exercise. After all, we are all family."

He heard the king say this, and then he said:

"I know you had grievances before, blaming me for always favoring others and being unfair to you. But after all, I personally conferred the title of Baron on you, and I insisted on conferring the title despite everyone's opposition. Those people are still watching. They are just waiting to see the joke, waiting for you and me to make a mistake. So when you and Morton had a conflict, it was impossible for me to stand by you. I hope you can understand."

This... is really a gesture of goodwill. Carl was stunned and then bowed to express his gratitude.

Philip nodded, and finally said:

"But now, you have proven yourself. If you want to be the duke, I will support you. I will also help you to bear the pressure from the court. When you have completely stabilized the northern border, as long as you and I work together, the rest of the people will not dare to say anything."

After saying that, he suddenly extended a hand to Karl. Karl hesitated for a moment, bowed to express his gratitude, and then extended his other hand. Philip had already taken the lead and shook his hand. Then the two shook hands again before parting. As he left, he heard Philip sigh again:

"The North has been in chaos for too long. The reason is that the Duke's position has been vacant. It's time to find a place for him."

Not long after seeing King Philip off, Eleanor came to him:

"You want to take in a vampire? Do you remember why we came here in the first place?" the bishop shouted excitedly.

"Calm down, calm down." Carl advised from the side, "That's the third prince Gareth."

"That's also a vampire!" Eleanor continued to shout, "And it's Isabel's family!"

"What do you want from me?" Karl suddenly asked. "That's the king's son."

"I...I didn't think about it..." Eleanor choked for a moment, then lowered her head.

"What's more, he was forced to become a vampire," Carl added.

"But he is Isabel's follower. Who knows if he will be instigated by the witch to deal with us?" Eleanor said again.

At this point, Carl couldn't help but look back at the black sword wrapped in cloth, which was now lying quietly in his room. According to the girl in the dream, Isabel must now obey him. But he didn't trust the girl's words. Vampires were never trustworthy. No matter what she said, Isabel was a threat in his eyes.

"I understand your concerns, but we have no choice. Gareth is not only supporting vampires, but also His Majesty... Even Grand Commander Aiden chose to destroy the evidence of His Majesty's collusion with vampires in the end." Carl's tone was calm and firm.

"I understand..." Although Eleanor lowered her head again, she was still dissatisfied, but she chose to tolerate it. In the end, the matter was settled.

After dealing with the miscellaneous matters in the territory, there is another more important matter that Carl needs to deal with, which is more important than anything else:

Finally he met Campbell. On a quiet night, after dinner, he, Arya, Campbell, and Farand discussed in the study. The flickering candlelight illuminated the faces of the four.

Carl was the first to speak. He said a little embarrassedly:

"Regarding the firearms you want, to be honest, I do have some trouble here."

Campbell frowned, and Farand said:

"Lord Karl, we agreed at the beginning that we would rescue you and you would provide firearms, and it was a normal transaction, so it's not a loss no matter how you think about it."

"It's not that problem. It's that these firearms are not controlled by me alone. They are mainly made by the dwarves. I have an agreement with them and cannot sell them to others." Carl said, revealing an embarrassment. Then he said, "But this time without the help of Lord Campbell, we will never be able to defeat the vampires... What I want is to give you the land in the east of Walter as a reward in return. Not only is the land there rich in resources, but the geographical location is also very advantageous, enough for you to profit from future trade."

But Campbell suddenly said:

“We are not here for the land…”

"But we can't be rude to the dwarves," Arya interjected.

For a moment, both sides fell into silence. After a while, Farand suddenly laughed, and laughed very loudly:

"I see. We want firearms, but Lord Karl has already made an agreement with the dwarves not to sell them to outsiders. There is only one solution now. As long as Lord Karl takes the position of Duke of the North, we will no longer be outsiders."

After he finished speaking, he glanced at Karl and saw that he was looking at him with a smile. He immediately realized that he had guessed correctly. This was the other party's real purpose.

Then he heard Campbell beside him suddenly say:

"You have already gained one third of the northern territory. You deserve the title of Duke. I am willing to help you!"

Then he saw Carl bowing respectfully to him:

"Thank you very much~ Of course, I am willing to give you the northern land as well. This has nothing to do with the title of Duke, but it is a thank you for saving me in the forest."

Then they both stretched out their hands at the same time and held them together.

After reaching an agreement with Campbell, Carl gradually felt relieved. He had obtained 4 votes from the five earls, and the North was under his control. Now only the White Knight Sirod was left, still struggling.

However, he also understood that the road to the Duke's position would not be smooth. Behind Sirod was the Prime Minister Aaron, who was not so easy to deal with, and the next battle might be another tough one.

Under the cover of night, Carl stood on the top of Walter's castle, overlooking this land that was once ravaged by war. The future power struggle has quietly begun, and he is destined to become the protagonist of this struggle.