Bang!

Count Seyrod struck the armrest of his jade throne and then collapsed into the chair.

“Hu…… huhuhuh...”

He blankly stared into space before bursting out into a chortle. The other nobles gathered in the palace all had similar expressions.

One hundred trained crossbowmen from Count Seyrod’s family were slaughtered. Also, Joseph Breeden, the promising young knight, was killed. Out of the twenty knights from the Order of Red Wolf, six were dead, and the rest sustained grave injuries that would leave them in a bed for half a year. Even though there remained twenty knights and five hundred soldiers, the price was steep.

The crossbow was extremely rare because of the precise engineering that was required to complete its parts. The empire strictly controlled the craftsmen who could produce such weapons. Hence, it was expensive.

The Seyrod family had acquired the crossbows by purchasing them from the imperial family, as they did not have any craftsmen capable of producing crossbows. Some blacksmiths from the territory attempted to dismember and learn the crafting methods, but they gave up due to the preciseness of the parts contained within. They were only capable of simple repairs.

Moreover, the knights who were equipped with full plates of armor and warhorses had been cut down to half of their original forces.

What was intended to be light intimidation had turned into a disaster and cost them a fortune in terms of money and military power. With a weaker army, it would be difficult to maintain security...