So, even though Chen Mo had privately occupied the territory of a baron under his command, Count Warren did not react and just watched from the sidelines.
Time passed quickly, and a year went by. The mysterious lord did not make any significant moves, except for frequently purchasing various ores and other resources from the surrounding territories.
Until a few days ago, he received a letter from this mysterious lord, hoping to purchase a batch of fine warhorses at a high price. The letter also mentioned that due to limited military strength in his territory, he hoped Count Warren could send people to escort the horses to his territory. Along with the letter, a large piece of high-purity gold was sent.
According to the current price of warhorses, this gold was enough to buy the horses he needed. According to the lord's letter, this was only half of the deposit. After the horses were escorted to his territory, he would pay the remaining half in gold.
Although Count Warren, as a great lord, owned vast lands and had several vassal nobles under his command, the annual income from his territory and the taxes paid by his subordinate nobles amounted to a huge sum.
However, maintaining the luxurious life of a noble and supporting his powerful army also consumed most of his funds. The amount Chen Mo offered was a huge sum.
Selling a hundred warhorses to Chen Mo at more than twice the price, Count Warren saw no reason to refuse.
Even if Chen Mo had the warhorses, it would be impossible to train a powerful cavalry unit in a short time. Any knight required over a decade of careful training and life-and-death experiences to finally emerge.
Moreover, Count Warren had his own thoughts.
Initially frightened by Chen Mo's terrifying strength and the large number of werewolf corpses, as time passed and Chen Mo made no moves, Count Warren gradually had other ideas.
Knights were already the strongest human force. Even the most powerful knight could not single-handedly defeat a werewolf, let alone kill dozens of them alone.
This was simply impossible! The more he thought about it, the more suspicious Count Warren became of Chen Mo. How could a human be so strong? Thinking about it carefully, the whole thing seemed fishy and somewhat absurd.
The story of Chen Mo single-handedly killing dozens of werewolves had always been just a legend, and no one had seen it with their own eyes.
As for the pile of werewolf corpses, Count Warren speculated that the original lord and his knights and soldiers might have perished together with the werewolves. Chen Mo discovered these werewolf corpses and collected them to scare them.
He had intended to test Chen Mo, but before he could act, Chen Mo came to him.
Looking at the gold in the box that came with the letter, Count Warren was surprised by Chen Mo's carelessness and became very interested in Chen Mo's wealth.
What kind of immense wealth did this mysterious lord possess to offer twice the price to buy a large number of precious warhorses and send such a large amount of gold in a box without even locking it?
Was he so wealthy that he didn't care, or was he foolishly unguarded?
Count Warren could not have known about Chen Mo's keen perception and highly developed brain, which gave him the ability to understand people's hearts.
In a year, Chen Mo had thoroughly understood the inner workings of everyone under his command.
He knew each person's character, morals, family situation, behavior style, and loyalty to him.
Not to mention that the soldiers he sent would not disobey his orders and open the box privately. Even if they accidentally discovered the huge amount of gold inside, it was unlikely they would betray him and run away with it.
Moreover, the soldier was a filial son and would not abandon his parents for gold.
Having gradually lost his fear of Chen Mo's strength and coveting Chen Mo's wealth, Count Warren decided to agree to Chen Mo's request and sent a powerful knight unit capable of destroying any of his subordinate territories. The purpose was to test Chen Mo's strength, kill him, and take all the gold back!
It had been five days since Count Warren sent out the knight unit.
The distance to Chen Mo's territory was not far. At the speed of cavalry, they could reach it in a day. However, the knight unit was carrying a large number of warhorses, which would slow them down. Considering the time spent in Chen Mo's territory, they should be back by now.
How much gold would his knights bring back? Would it be enough to build a more magnificent and luxurious castle?
As Count Warren pondered the design of his new castle, the sound of galloping hooves suddenly reached his ears.
It must be my knights returning!
A hint of joy appeared on Count Warren's face. He was eager to see the knights' spoils.
He wanted to know how much wealth the lord, who had deceived him for a whole year, had left him and whether it was enough to redeem his sins.
Pretending to be calm, Count Warren slowly stood up from his chair and tidied his luxurious noble robe. Just as he was about to personally go to the castle gate to welcome his victorious knights, the sound of the alarm bell startled him, leaving him standing in place, unable to react for a long time.
The castle's alarm bell had not rung for a long time, not since the werewolf attack years ago.
The territories of the dozen or so vassal nobles surrounding his direct territory served as a natural barrier against external attacks. Except for the swift and stealthy werewolves, no one could silently break through the vassal territories and attack his castle directly, unless it was a rebellion from his own territories!
In the nearby territories, possessing a large number of warhorses and coming at this time…
A terrifying thought crossed his mind. Could it be him? Does that mean…?!
At this moment, Count Warren desperately hoped that the soldiers guarding the watchtower had made a mistake or that it was a rebellion from one of his subordinate nobles. Anything but Chen Mo!
Although he knew it was almost impossible, just hearing the loud hoofbeats from afar indicated that the number of warhorses in this unit exceeded a hundred. The only one with such a number of warhorses under his command was Chen Mo, who had just bought warhorses from him.
If it was indeed Chen Mo, it meant that his knight unit had been wiped out, and Chen Mo's strength was as formidable as the legends said. He did not believe that Chen Mo could train such powerful soldiers in just one year to defeat the dozens of knights he had sent.
The rumors he had dismissed as legends resurfaced in his mind. Facing such a powerful Chen Mo, how should he respond? He must not let them in!
Thinking of this, Count Warren could no longer maintain his noble demeanor. He pushed aside the tea table filled with various precious fruits and ran towards the city wall with two knights.
Outside the castle, a heavily armored cavalry unit of over a hundred men, all clad in cold silver armor, charged towards the castle gate with unstoppable momentum, led by a black-robed knight at the forefront, like a silver sword.