prynovel Chapter 129: Cluster Crossbow
Chapter 129: Cluster Crossbow
Ron's straightforward question left Amy completely bewildered.
Is this an attempt to win me over?
What merit or ability do I possess?
Amy was puzzled for half a second before she understood the meaning of Ron's last sentence.
He can help him break through the Earth Knight barrier.
The thought of breaking through made Amy's eyes light up with fervor.
Amy quickly did the math in her head: after breaking through to become an Earth Knight, she could obtain at least twenty acres of land in the kingdom, and this land could be passed on to the next generation.
But Ron probably couldn't offer that much. She hesitated for a moment, but still asked, "Although I'm only at the peak of my knighthood, I have land and houses granted to me by the Border Earl in Gorubak Castle."
Ron asked, "The house is fine, but how much is the land? And what's the salary?"
The territory is currently lacking money the most.
"I can give you the land, and we can discuss the salary," Ron said. "But the territory doesn't really have much gold right now. So I'll pay you in another way: I'll help you break through to become an Earth Knight, and then I'll give you a position as a vice-captain. Once the territory has money, your position will also represent your income."
Amy quickly added, "I have a two-story house in the eastern part of Gorubakburg, where six family members live. I receive a salary of two gold coins a year, and I also have ten acres of farmland in the suburbs outside the city, which produces three thousand catties of grain every year."
The house is too small to house so many people. As for the farmland, it needs to be made clear that the land in the Blackthorn Wasteland is notoriously barren. Even if we gave her twenty acres of land, she wouldn't be able to grow three thousand catties of grain. It would be better not to have it at all.
Amy wasn't worried at all about whether the Rose Knights and the Border Count would agree.
She was a hired knight; she only had the right to the harvest from the land, not ownership.
Most importantly, all the weapons and equipment belong to the lord. Even if she takes someone with her to work, the salary is two gold coins in peacetime, but double in wartime, as was the case in Ashwood this time.
"Two gold coins!" Ron breathed a slight sigh of relief upon hearing this figure. "I can give you a house that's over 120 square meters. If you break through to Earth Knight, I can give you another one. As for the land, the land here is private land, which you can cultivate freely, but you must pay taxes. Of course, you can also hand it over to the territory's agricultural bureau, which will plan the planting for you to maximize the output. The standard for Earth Knights is fifty acres."
With both a house and land available, Amy was indeed tempted, but she knew very well that while both were land, the amount of output was crucial.
Amy asked earnestly, "Lord Ron, I would like to know the yield of your territory's grain crops."
"Ground rock potatoes have a very high yield, serving as the primary snack source for all lords and alien races throughout the Blackthorn Wasteland. Although the yield is high, they are difficult to cultivate. However, our territory has already cultivated several new crops with very considerable yields. Currently, they are still in the breeding stage and cannot be planted on a large scale." Ron added confidently, "Ground rock potatoes yield three thousand catties per acre. Now that we have obtained so many goblin corpses, we can produce a large amount of magic fertilizer, and the farmland around the main city will soon be transformed."
After hearing this, Amy almost rolled her eyes.
She certainly knew about ground potato and its yield, but she also knew how difficult it was to cultivate.
From beginning to end, Ron talked to him about the future of the territory, but there were no actual benefits.
It is commonly known as "drawing a big pie in the sky".
It's not that we don't have any; at least we have a house and land.
Amy was caught in a dilemma; compared to these things, she cared more about whether she could break through the Earth Knight's defenses.
However, his family members—his parents, his elder brother and sister-in-law, and his two nephews, especially the two nephews—are currently at the Knight Academy in Gorubakburg and are likely to become knights in the future.
The house is the biggest source of confidence for this family to stay in Gorubakburg.
"My father's name is Albert. He has an old injury on his left knee, and he limps when he walks fast. My older brother's name is Marcus. He lost two fingers and can no longer hold a sword. Now he works in an equipment shop repairing hands. My two nephews are thirteen and eleven years old, and they are both at the Knight Academy." Amy spoke calmly, but Ron could tell that Amy was also very nervous.
The two nephews were able to study at the Knight Academy only because their father and elder brother worked so hard.
There was simply no extra money left to spend on renting a house.
If she follows Ron, the lord will definitely take away her house, and she'll probably be cursed to death by her family.
After thinking for a long time, Amy finally made a decision: "My lord, I need to go home and discuss this matter."
Ron nodded, then said, "You're already twenty-eight. The reason you can still maintain your peak condition is because you haven't given birth. If you haven't broken through to Earth Knight by the age of thirty, your physical functions will decline rapidly. This is the tragedy of most female knights, so you don't have much time left."
Ron's last words undoubtedly broke the last straw for Amy.
Because of her background in the Rose Knights, Amy understood all too well how true Ron's words were.
In reality, female knights of the Rose Knights who fail to break through to the Earth Knight level after the age of thirty will switch to second-line service and leave the Rose Knights at the age of thirty-five.
If they don't want to go home, they can serve another ten years in the city defense army.
Ten years later, the female knight's vitality had clearly declined, and her strength was far inferior to that of an ordinary official knight. At this time, it was the best time to choose to retire.
This is assuming the female knight has never been married or given birth. If she has given birth, it would be very difficult for her to serve until she is forty years old.
Many have to retire before they are even 35 years old.
"Thank you, Lord Ron!"
Ron smiled, nodded, and waved his hand: "Go ahead!"
For the next two days, Amy was restless, which made the other female knights think that Ron had done something to her.
Una asked her for the third time, "What's wrong with you?"
Amy simply shook her head and said, "I'm thinking about something."
Una didn't press the matter further, but the curiosity and worry in her eyes didn't fade.
Two days later, the gates of the goblin camp reopened.
A vast swarm of goblins, both large and small, surged toward Ashwood territory.
This time, they were smarter; instead of forming a dense formation, they charged in a dispersed manner.
This time, Fanta didn't intend to slaughter goblins; the main reason was that the warehouses in the territory were full of various goblin materials.
The catapults at the four positions began firing volleyballs, and bricks rained down from the sky, causing goblins to fall to the ground, their heads bleeding profusely.
This volley of catapults alone inflicted one-sixth of the goblins' casualties, and as the goblins approached the city walls, they let out a frantic shout.
Immediately afterward, a cracking sound was heard, followed by a loud, muffled thud—a sound completely different from the Eight-Ox Crossbow, which could be clearly heard even in the noisy environment of the battlefield.
The cluster crossbows on the city wall released their triggers at the same instant.