The region of Teutonia had no large cities with most of the people living in small villages, forts or in the handful of towns that were located in the south. The people of the region were tough people who were expected to put martial skills above all else especially under the reign of Rikard Plangent.
Edward and Joan got to the Plangent castle, the ancestral home of the Plangent family. It was a plain castle in the middle of dense forest on a small hilltop that overlooked the whole forest. It also was the base of the knights of the black sun.
Inside were all the personal quarters and rooms for all the knights of the black sun. The knights were expected to let go of all their belongings and inheritance and live the life of a warrior. The rooms were like the lives of the knights, ascetic. The most precious and valuable thing they had was their armor, weapons, and the pride of being part of the knights.
Edward, Joan, and the rest of the knights walked into the castle courtyard. It was almost completely empty and looked run down with holes in the wall and ceiling. Even the chimney had collapsed and had not been bothered to be fixed.
"Why the hell is the castle all run down?!" Edward asked.
"Our father didn't bother with the maintenance. He kept going around the kingdom taking down insurrections and killing of raiding grey skins. If you think this is bad, you should see the quarters where the knights lived."
~ ~
Edward was taken to see the quarters where all the knights lived in. The doors of the rooms did not close or didn't have doors at all. Rats were running around and some even had a breeze come through. One room just had a dirty mattress on the floor with nothing else.
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"What the hell happened here? Can't we fix all this?" Edward yelled.
"We can, but the lord of the region of Teutonia gets its income from the people living in the region. We always were a poor region but had enough gold to keep the castle renovated. Since our father stopped taking care of the forest's beasts the people moved away as refugees. That caravan we saw was only the tip of the iceberg," Joan explained.
Edward walked around and saw most of the rooms empty.
"Where are all the other knights?" Edward asked.
"Many of them perished in the battle of Ins."
"Still. When I was young I remember young guys outside the castle hoping to be one of the knights. What has happened?"
"After the knights became an enforcing group that attacked the populace, no one wanted to join anymore. The knights already live in squalor, the only thing they had was their pride of being a knight of the black sun, but many knights don't have much to be proud of anymore," Joan explained the bad situation of the knights.
"SHIT!" Edward yelled and punched on the wall and made a hole in it.
"Don't think that helps."
"I know, I know. Just frustrating that's all."
~ ~
The next morning Joan woke up the morning inside her rundown room. She smelled a foul smell that was coming from the castle's courtyard. She walked in with other knights that had also woken up by the same smell.
On the courtyard was a pile of monsters heads and corpses with Edward all covered in blood sitting on top of it. Joan and the rest of the knights looked at Edward who was sitting on top of the pile with his large sword resting on his shoulder that was covered in monster blood.
"What the hell is this?" Joan yelled at Edward.
"Decided to do some purging?" Edward said and smiled.
"What do you mean some purging. How the hell did you kill all these monsters during the morning?"
"Who said I just did it in the morning?" Edward said with a smile.
Amala looked stunned.
"You mean you went alone to hunt down these monsters during the night. Do you realize how dangerous it is?! Are you stupid?" Joan yelled at her brother.
"Do I look like a mirror to you?" Edward said back and just started to laugh.
One knight tried to hold his laughter.
"That doesn't even make any sense what you just said."
"You don't make any sense."
"Birdbrain."
"Predator bird's ass."
The knights laughed as Joan and Edward were insulting each other. They knew that when a brother and sister quarrel they quarrel because they love one another.