Morey Sabashtian

Looking at the two people in front of him, Ye Wei'an felt that they looked very familiar.

The leader was a burly man whose muscular build was still evident despite his black mourning clothes. He had a neatly groomed gray beard and a well-worn two-handed sword hanging at his waist.

Beside him was a young man with similar gray hair and a resolute expression.

"Greetings, Lord Ye Wei'an," the bearded man spoke first, his voice hoarse and deep.

Ye Wei'an glanced at him, then nodded calmly. "Long time no see, Knight Morey Sabastian."

"Oh! Mother Earth (Santia)'s womb, you actually remember my name?" Morey paused for a moment, then laughed heartily, both surprised and pleased.

"You are Lina's father, of course I remember." Ye Wei'an gave the other party a way out.

Upon hearing this, Morey laughed even more heartily.

Of course, he couldn't know that Ye Wei'an actually recognized him through the personal profile displayed by the system.

[Morey Sabashtian, Lv.6 Totem Warrior (Bear)]

He truly deserves to be one of the greatest knights in Firefall.

Totem Warriors are a subclass of Berserkers. They believe in animism, and each tribe has its own worshipped beast spirit. They use the beast spirit as their guide, protector, and source of power. This class is quite common among the Leatherman tribe.

Morey, standing before him, was the highest-level professional he had ever encountered since his transmigration.

Morey's smile faded, his eyes becoming somewhat complicated. "Young Master," he said, "to be honest, four years ago, Lina was under pressure from Lady Serena to take care of you. I wanted to lock her in solitary confinement. I thought that in a noble family, unconditional kindness would only harm her. But who could have imagined..."

He looked into Ye Wei'an's eyes, which shimmered with a blue-white light. "This girl is only a teenager, yet her vision surpasses that of her father. That insignificant illegitimate son has actually become a mage. Since she has chosen to believe in you, I, Morey Sabastian, have no reason not to take a gamble."

He stepped forward, lowered his voice, and his tone became solemn and serious: "Ever since the old baron fell seriously ill and that woman took control of Firefall Territory, I've felt uncomfortable. That woman only cares about money and has no regard for honor. I've long since run out of patience with her."

Immediately afterward, he angrily pulled the young man beside him forward: "This is my son, Lina's younger brother, Volodya. I originally wanted him to inherit my mantle, to worship the family totem, and to guide the power of the beast spirits, but he insisted on listening to the nonsense of those bards and wanted to become some kind of 'knight.' He's a traitor to the family!"

Although he complained, Ye Wei'an could hear the pride in his voice.

"Vorodya, what are you standing there for?" Morey shouted at his son with a stern face. "Didn't you want to be a knight? The man standing before you now is your lord! Go, swear allegiance to him!"

Volodya was much more reserved than his father.

He solemnly performed a standard knightly salute, kneeling as he handed his sword to Yevian: "Volodya Shabastian, I am at your service, my lord. Though I do not possess my father's powerful rage, my sword and shield will protect your banner."

Ye Wei'an looked at his file.

[Volodya Sabashtian, Lv.3 Warrior]

He was seven or eight years younger than Kane, but he was a Level 3 warrior like Kane.

However, the Warrior subclass is more focused on enhancing individual combat power, while the Purple Dragon Knight is better at leading troops into battle.

This also aligns with their family style.

"I am honored to accept your allegiance." Ye Wei'an took the sword and tapped it on his shoulder, thus completing the allegiance ceremony.

Having established their oath of allegiance, Morey immediately asked, "Young Master, now that we've entrusted our entire family's lives to you, I won't beat around the bush. What are your plans now?"

"Of course, it's about recruiting soldiers and horses to prepare for expansion," Ye Weian said simply. "I plan to recruit a group of landless farmers in Firefall Territory."

"My lord, I must say something that will spoil the mood." Morey frowned and pursed his lips, "Twenty thousand gold coins may seem like a lot, but it's far from enough to expand our territory."

"There are many places to spend money if we want to expand our territory," he said, counting on his fingers as if he knew them by heart. "We need to build fortresses, buy farm tools, buy food rations, and clear trade routes... There are so many places to spend money, and this amount of money will only last us for half a year at most."

Upon hearing this, Ye Wei'an asked in surprise, "Didn't Lina tell you about our financial situation?"

"Tell me...what?" Morey was somewhat puzzled.

"These 20,000 gold coins are just my father's support," Ye Weian explained. "Besides these 20,000 gold coins, I also 'extorted' an extra compensation from Lady Serena—including 10,000 gold coins, half of the weapons and armor in the territory, half of the cattle and sheep, a year's worth of rations for 500 people, and some other supplies."

Morey was taken aback for a moment, then slapped his thigh and burst into thunderous laughter: "The skirt of the Earth Mother Goddess! Young Master, you are truly remarkable, managing to squeeze meat out of that miserly woman's mouth. I, Morey, have led troops my whole life, and I've never seen anyone make her yield to money. Based on this alone, Lina was right about you!"

“It’s not just money,” Ye Wei’an corrected. “I also got formal recruitment rights from her—besides farmers, I can freely recruit craftsmen, all kinds of talents, and even knights.”

Upon hearing this, Morey's expression turned serious.

"My lord, this is what I wanted to remind you. With your current reputation, it is indeed not difficult to recruit a large number of refugees and farmers who want to eat their fill in Firefall Territory, but if you are hoping to take away a large number of organized soldiers or decent knights, you will be disappointed."

"Oh?" Ye Wei'an raised an eyebrow. "Please explain, my great knight."

"The reason is simple. Although Firefall Territory is not large, most of the soldiers and knights here, or their fathers, have served in the Purple Dragon Legion under the old baron."

Morey's tone was heavy. "Ordinary farmers don't know the dangers of the frontier, but these soldiers do—they've seen travelers whose bones were gnawed by orcs, and their comrades who died from the miasma. There's no 'future' that you can see or touch. Those experienced veterans would rather stay in the territory for their entire lives than go to the wasteland to their deaths with you."

Ye Wei'an raised an eyebrow slightly: "I am a mage, isn't that a sufficient reason?"

"My lord, you are still too young." Morey shook his head with a wry smile. "Those soldiers and knights are different from us Leathermans... To be honest, they don't like spellcasters that much. In their eyes, mages, though powerful, also mean strange, need protection, and the risk of dragging everyone into some kind of accident at any time. Although you have a reputation for being considerate of your soldiers and fair in rewards and punishments, this can only earn their respect, not their entrustment of their lives to you."

At this point, he solemnly advised, "Young master, if you want those veterans to follow you, you have to find a way to make them believe from the bottom of their hearts that they can survive on the frontier by following you."

Ye Wei'an understood the hidden meaning in Morey's words.

As a veteran of the military for twenty years, Morey may have a forthright personality, but he is by no means naive.

A simple person cannot become a great knight of a territory.

His words were both advice and a subtle way of establishing his indispensability—Ye Wei'an had never led troops before, and the safest way to get those proud soldiers to obey was to rely entirely on Morey's reputation and hand over military power to him, the "Great Knight."

Ye Wei'an did not expose his ulterior motives, but he also did not intend to relinquish his military power.

The wisdom from his hometown told him: the most important matters of the state are war and sacrifice.

If he wanted to be a comfortable lord, he absolutely could not hand over military power to anyone else.

But how can you gain the soldiers' trust in the shortest amount of time?

He suddenly remembered the map belonging to the Santalite Society that he had found at a Santalite Society supply point before.

The Santalite Order is an old and evil organization on the continent of Faerûn, founded by Bane, the "Black Emperor," a tyrannical god.

Externally, they often disguise themselves as a smuggling guild called "Blacknet," but the Santa Linde is actually a transcontinental underworld empire. They not only engage in trade and smuggling, but are also keen on manipulating the political situation of other countries through force and infiltration.

Most regimes in Faerûn were quite wary of such organizations, especially powerful monarchies like Cormierz.

The royal family of Obieschiel, seated on the Dragon Throne, would not tolerate such an organization infiltrating the kingdom's government.

He had wondered why the Zantalin Society had so many secret outposts in the Hurek Forest.

Given Cormier's strength, he would never tolerate such a thing happening.

Only after discovering evidence of the Amareske family's smuggling activities did Ye Wei'an understand what was going on.

So there was a mole inside.

Now, this map seems to be working.

"Sir Morey, I understand your concerns." Ye Wei'an wasn't angered by the other's skepticism. "It's fair that people don't trust a spellcaster who has never been on the battlefield. In that case, before leaving Firefall Territory, I'm preparing to make one last contribution to the family—to lead troops to wipe out those bandit strongholds on the border and help my younger brother maintain peace in the territory. Please help me gather those soldiers and knights who want to make a name for themselves or test my mettle, and tell them that I will lead them out to suppress the bandits. I will show them with facts whether I have the ability to lead an army."

Upon hearing this, Morey's expression froze for a moment, looking somewhat embarrassed.

He had hoped that Ye Weian would back down and instead ask him to step in and take charge, so that their Sabastian would have an important position in this future new territory.

He hadn't expected this young master to be so...naive.

"The bandits around Firefall Valley are no pushovers; they hide in the forest and are incredibly cunning."

Seeing that Ye Wei'an was looking at him firmly, Morey had no choice but to compromise: "Since young master has this courage... alright, I'll go and gather the brothers who are willing to participate and see who is willing to make contributions."

Lord Ye Wei'an is, after all, a mage; if he's just a bandit, nothing serious should happen, right? Morey thought to himself.