Troy hung his head low, like a wounded beast.

Yet he was clearly not that weak.

"Troy, this is the second time," Luo Wei stated firmly.

"Twice you've abandoned your employer for complete strangers. Is this what being a mercenary means to you?"

"Clang—"

Troy dropped to one knee, presenting his sword in his hands, his voice strained: "I swear upon my life, never again will I—"

"Troy, mercenaries don't make oaths," Luo Wei cut him off, "That's a knight's courtesy. You're a knight, aren't you?"

Mercenaries had but one purpose - to complete their employer's tasks. They never concerned themselves with honor or oaths.

Only knights would make valor, benevolence, mercy, and justice their guiding principles, always ready to sacrifice themselves for their virtues.

Troy's body tensed, his hands holding the sword growing slack. Luo Wei knew she had hit the mark.

"You seem quite knowledgeable about the royal affairs of the Kingdom of Ater. Were you one of the king's knights?"

Luo Wei answered her own question: "A knight serving the King of Ater would surely hold the rank of general, wouldn't he?"

"How did you fall so far?"

"Troy, if you don't explain yourself clearly today, I truly cannot keep you in my service."

"Think it over carefully."

With these words, Luo Wei turned toward the stairs.

"Wait!"

"Don't go. I'll tell you everything."

Luo Wei turned back to see Troy's pleading gaze.

"Please stay. I'll explain it all."

"Very well," Luo Wei settled herself on the steps, "Speak. I'm listening."

Still kneeling on one knee, Troy spoke with difficulty: "I was indeed a knight once, but no longer."

"At fourteen, my father sent me to a knight's castle as a squire. After coming of age, I became a knight-in-training."

"At that time, several grand duchies were at war within the Kingdom of Ater. I fought for the king's army and officially became a Square Banner Knight..."

In medieval Western society, there were no military ranks for generals - a knight's rank was equivalent to a general's position.

Noble children would be sent to castles at fourteen to serve as squires to great nobles. Upon reaching adulthood, they could become knight-apprentices and carry their own swallow-tailed banner.

After proving themselves in battle and earning military merit, an apprentice knight could remove the swallow tail from their banner to become a Square Banner Knight, receiving their own territory and castle.

Troy's military achievements were extraordinary. In just three years, he rose from knight to baronet, then from baronet to baron, and even gained the king's favor, becoming his personal guard.

"So you were of noble birth. Then how did you end up in Siria?" Luo Wei asked, intrigued.

Troy gripped his sword tightly: "Because I was betrayed."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"A friend, jealous of the king's trust in me, secretly poisoned my wine. While I lay unconscious, he marked me with the Dark God's totem, falsely branding me as a Dark God cultist."

"Queen Medusa had the palace guards arrest me and poisoned the king's mind, claiming that red hair was a devil's mark, suggesting they verify it through trial by fire."

"I managed to escape, but have lived as a fugitive ever since."

Troy recalled the past, his teeth clenched in bitter hatred.

After listening in silence, Luo Wei sighed: "Ah, Queen Medusa achieved exactly what she wanted."

"What do you mean?"

"Removing you from the king's side," Luo Wei explained matter-of-factly. "You said you were highly capable, didn't you? Having someone as competent and principled as you by the king's side - how could she hope to control him?"

Troy's eyes widened with sudden understanding: "She sought to control the king?"

"Isn't it obvious? The king disfavors her children and wishes to name another heir. Of course she needs to secure her future. Or should she simply wait to be eliminated by the new king?"

Just look at Axina's behavior - acting so brazenly even without royal recognition. Where does such audacity come from?

Clearly from Queen Medusa's ambition.

Luo Wei stood and patted Troy's shoulder: "Try to see it from her perspective, brother. Someone like you, with such an overwhelming sense of morality that you can't even properly serve your employer after taking their money - I'd want to remove you too."

Troy: "..."

"What, thinking of returning to protect the King of Ater?"

"No," Troy shook his head firmly, "He's no longer worthy of my protection."

Luo Wei raised an eyebrow: "Oh? Then who is?"

Troy's emerald eyes flickered toward her, his ears flushing red: "You."

"You are worthy."

"Then remember what you've said today," Luo Wei's voice turned stern, "I don't want to see this mistake happen a third time."

Troy nodded eagerly.

"Alright, you may rise."

After the harsh lesson, it was time for some kindness. Luo Wei helped him to his feet.

"Since you once commanded troops, surely you had some loyal subordinates?"

"I did have a few, but they were all implicated because of me. Some died, while others fled."

"Troy," Luo Wei revealed a slight smile, "Would you like to clear the charges against you all and become citizens of another country?"

Troy gave a bitter laugh: "The King of Ater has issued arrest warrants. No country on the Western Continent would accept us, especially with my red hair."

Ever since he became a fugitive, the prejudice against red-haired people across the continent had only grown worse.

In a way, Lidia too had become a victim of his circumstances.

"Just because there's no place on the Western Continent doesn't mean there's no place beyond it."

"If you can help me claim a piece of land from the Western Continent, I'll pardon you and your loyal subordinates of all crimes, and grant you citizenship in my country."

Troy's head snapped up, his gaze intense as he stared at her: "You're not from the Western Continent's royal nobility?"

Luo Wei smiled brightly: "Of course not."

"Then you..." Troy's Adam's apple bobbed as he dared not voice his suspicion, "Are you... a princess from the Wastes?"

Luo Wei merely smiled, neither confirming nor denying.

But this very response made Troy's heart race faster.

"The forces behind me cannot intervene here, and I've never led troops in battle," Luo Wei said matter-of-factly. "This endeavor will have to rely on your strategic planning."

Troy was both excited and troubled: "But I have no troops under my command."

His title had been stripped away, his territory and army reclaimed by the king.

"That's why we need to find unclaimed land, to secure a territory with minimal resources, quickly, as our base for training troops."

"Unclaimed land," Troy pondered for a moment, "The unclaimed territories on the Western Continent are all contested battlegrounds between nations. It would be difficult for us to take any of them."

"Such places lack the foundation for us to take root. The unclaimed land I speak of is where no one dares to venture."

Luo Wei hinted to Troy: "Like barren dunes, frozen snowfields - places too desolate for anyone to want to claim."

"Such places do exist, but..." Troy hesitated.

"But what?"

Troy spoke with reluctance: "But these are all lands tainted by the Dark God, inhabited by souls and demons, full of forbidden taboos. Breaking these taboos means certain death."

He put it mildly - for humans, entering such places was suicide!

Yet Luo Wei's interest was piqued: "Oh? These Dark God-tainted lands, where are they?"

"The Demon Sea, the Abyssal Canyon, and the Plague Forest."