Chapter 64: Northland

When Ethan and Angelina returned to the camp, there were already four people waiting for him on the boat.

There were three men and one woman. Judging from their attire, three were knights in armor, and one was a wizard wearing a tall pointed hat.

Moreover, all four of them came riding on eagles.

The so-called eagle is a flying mount with an eagle head, a lion body and two wings, which is only found in the North.

The Eagle Duke of the North got his name from this eagle.

It is said that the first Eagle Duke a thousand years ago was the first Eagle Knight.

At the beginning, he relied on the unparalleled mobility of the eagle and his supreme personal strength to make great military exploits in the North, and was named the King of the North.

This family has always abided by the promise of the title, and has been stationed in the North for generations. The current generation of the Duke is the 46th generation.

During this period, the empire has changed several dynasties, but only his title of the King of the North has never changed.

Once a dynasty changes in the mainland, the first thing to do is to appease the King of the North, confer titles, add territories, and increase power.

This shows its importance.

And his Lord of the North is very unique, he is the Duke of two countries in one.

Simply put, he is both the Duke of the Aslan Empire and the Duke of the Helingard Republic.

It sounds ridiculous, but this is the fact.

The cause is simply that since the collapse of the Tudor Empire, the unified human kingdom thousands of years ago.

The human kingdom has been divided into countless large and small countries. As time goes by, several dynasties have changed in the middle.

To date, the two largest countries are the Aslan Empire and the Helingard Republic.

They are both bordered by the Dark Moon Wasteland where the orcs are located, and the two countries have borders in the north.

This means that if the two countries want to distinguish, they may have to divide the north into two.

But the north is related to the safety of the entire human race, how dare they?

Not only do they not dare, but they also have to keep transporting supplies and manpower here.

Of course, they have no intention of dividing the north.

In fact, if possible, neither country wants the northern border.

The weather here is cold, the land is vast and sparsely populated, and they have to face the sneak attacks of orcs from time to time. It is not suitable for survival at all.

Both countries hope that the Duke of the North can establish his own country, which would be perfect.

But the Duke of the North not only did not get any benefits in the internal struggle for the sake of human beings to guard the border, but also had to face the orcs alone without any support. How could he suffer such a loss?

And this is no longer a question of whether to suffer or not, but a question of survival.

The North is the strongest fortress to prevent orc invasion. It stands firmly at the forefront and wins a comfortable living environment for the rear.

Although they have to face the orc problem all the time and have no time for internal struggle, it does not mean that they are willing to stay here, nor does it mean that they are willing to suffer.

And he also has a way to check and balance the two countries.

If any of the two countries dares to be smart and give up the North, and throw the blame to him alone, then no one will benefit.

At worst, he, the Lord of the North, will not stand it anymore and lead hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers to the interior. Then everyone will accept the ravages of the orcs together and see who can get the benefit?

I dare not say anything else, but he will definitely have no problem finding a comfortable place and establishing a foundation with hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers.

But it is hard to say whether other human countries can withstand the ravages of tens of millions of bloodthirsty orcs.

Therefore, all countries must negotiate terms with the North when they establish their country.

Human resources and material resources are equally important.

In a sense, all countries need the approval of the Duke of the North to establish their country.

Of course, this is only in name.

In fact, the North is no different from an independent country. They have all the configurations that a country should have.

However, as time goes by, coupled with the greed and selfishness of human beings, and the comfort of the rear, they are unaware of the plight of the North.

More and more small countries have begun to break the rules of the game, neither sending troops nor sending supplies to the North.

In their view, since their borders do not border the North, why should they assume obligations?

Anyway, if the sky falls, there is someone taller to hold it up.

And they also bet that others dare not do anything to them.

The others here mainly refer to the Grand Duke of the North.

This is also the fact. The Grand Duke of the North is thousands of miles away from them. What can they do?

And other countries themselves are unwilling to send people and materials to the North. Seeing someone take the lead, they are too happy to follow suit. How can they possibly attack them?

Even the two largest countries, the Aslan Empire and the Helingard Republic, think the same way.

They also only like to enjoy the right to a comfortable life and are unwilling to assume corresponding obligations.

If it were not for the border between the territories, they would have learned the behavior of those small countries long ago.

Therefore, the situation in the North can be imagined.

Ethan certainly understands these situations. In fact, his stationing here has a lot to do with this matter.

He actually sympathized with the situation in the North. For the sake of human safety, the people here not only had to face the attacks of foreign races in the bitter cold land, but also had to suffer the exploitation of their own race in the rich inland areas.

In a word, that was not a life for human beings.

But the Duke of the North had to bear a great responsibility for the root cause of all this.

He thought that by relying on the weak points of the human race, he could threaten other countries to assume their obligations, so as not to participate in internal strife and hand over his own fate to others. This approach itself was stupid.

Of course, it is very likely that he really couldn't get away.

According to historical records, every time a dynasty changes in the inland, a large-scale orc invasion will inevitably break out on the human border.

And it is often the orc invasion that comes first, and the human internal strife that comes later.

It can also be seen from this that before these people rebelled, if they were not colluding with the orcs, they would have been waiting for the opportunity for a long time, and would never give the Duke of the North a chance to enter.

Ethan thought about what he would do if he were the Duke of the North.

After thinking about it, there is no good way.

After all, as long as you can't spare the energy and manpower to participate in the internal struggle, you are destined to be checked and balanced by others.

And if you open the fortress and let the orcs participate in the carnival, the result is nothing more than everyone is finished together, and you have to bear the crime of raping people, which is even worse.

Therefore, Ethan admires the righteousness of the Duke of the North.

In addition, Ethan also saw the efforts made by the Duke of the North to get rid of the current predicament.

That is to turn the obligations that countries should bear into trade.

Through trade routes, countless manpower and materials are transported to the north.

It's a pity that this thing can't be done by road transportation.

Therefore, it is now changed to sea transportation, which is also the reason why Ethan is stationed here.

But Ethan doesn't understand. This matter is not legal yet and should be carried out quietly. Why did the Duke send someone to find him in a big way?

It's okay to make a big fuss, but the key is that he is not the one who makes the decision and can't make any decision at all. There is no point in looking for him.

With doubts, Ethan walked onto his ship.

At this time, the deck of the ship was scattered with goods and firewood.

Of course, this was not caused by fighting.

It was because there was a canvas canopy on the deck, which was originally used to cover goods and firewood.

And the guests pulled the eagles to the deck to avoid the snow. They felt that there was no place to put them, so they threw all the goods to make room for their eagles.

Ethan looked at the mess on the ground, frowned, and said nothing.

At this time, Andreev had already greeted him at the door of the cabin and said that there were guests coming and waiting for him in the captain's room.

Ethan nodded, said nothing, and walked in with a sullen face.