After the departure of Duke Louis of Connet and Duke of Leonais, King Richard sat alone on the throne, pondering over everything.

There was no doubt that his grandnephew Angxi Desmond had failed his entrustment and teachings. It was his mistake that doomed the entire Knightly Army, and his grandnephew bore significant responsibility for this war.

Now the king had to face the aggressive dukes; the losses of the army required the kingdom's treasury to come up with a huge sum to compensate for this loss, and in the short term, the king did not know how to find such a sum.

It seemed necessary to discuss the borrowing matter again with the Duke of Marinburg, the "Lender" Van der Gubben-Schultz. At the thought of how much money the royal finances owed to Marinburg, the aged king felt a pang of physical pain; he had calculated last year that Brittania's short-term royal debt to Marinburg alone amounted to over a hundred thousand gold coins, not counting the long-term debt.

Alright, putting the financial issues aside, Richard still had to face who would bear the responsibility for this.

Firstly, he had to establish a baseline that as King, he absolutely could not bear this responsibility; otherwise, his throne was at risk of shaking.

Regardless, Angxi was already dead.

Adelaide was also dead, only Baron Laine survived.

Thinking about this, Richard felt a burst of anger; if only there could have been this slight change, like if Laine had died and if either Angxi or Adelaide had survived to lead the six thousand remaining troops to victory, it would have been so much better.

The nature of this war could have been completely transformed; he would have heavily promoted this Pyrrhic victory, turning the commander of this army into a national hero and loudly proclaiming that the destruction of the Ten Thousand Demon Rock could ensure decades of peace for the country, creating a "victory is victory" and a "legendary major victory" narrative to silence everyone.

But the one who survived and ultimately achieved victory was that Divine Chosen Champion of the Lake Fairy—Laine Macado.

This kid, though very strong, never belonged to him, never was one of his own.

On the contrary, his affiliation was extremely complex; he used to be a White Wolf Knight, his adoptive father was a White Wolf Knight, his godfather was the Griffin Duke of the Empire. He was both the Divine Chosen Champion of the Lake Fairy and a vassal of "Long Legs" Francois, Duke of Winford; from any angle, he was not one of his own.

Meanwhile, the army he led also included the forces from Bastogne.

But could Richard directly punish Laine? Could he hold Laine accountable for not aiding the Knightly Army or rescuing Marquis Angxi?

Actually, no he couldn't. Richard's mature political wisdom told him that he could not hold him responsible, at least not now, because Laine had brought back victory.

At this juncture, he was a hero of the country, and Richard absolutely could not publicly punish him, otherwise, his own prestige would certainly be damaged.

However, from Richard's standpoint, he also could not give too high rewards to this guy who did not belong to his faction; otherwise, it would be tantamount to indirectly encouraging the knights to establish their own factions and not follow orders, which would further weaken royal authority.

This was no different from aiding the enemy; within the kingdom, Duke Francois of Winford and Duke Bohemond of Bastogne had always been deeply at odds with him. This recent Knightly War had left the armies of these two duchies relatively unscathed, after enduring baptism by blood and fire.

In this balance of power, the king did not want them to gain any further advantage.

But this comes back to the point: it was Laine who dismantled the Ten Thousand Demon Rock and brought back victory.

This seemed almost like a dead end, with no way out.

The king knew he needed to find a solution from another perspective.

As for not holding a triumphal ceremony, that matter was not a big deal. Given the heavy losses, not holding a triumphal ceremony could be justified from any angle, and Laine could not demand it, as all eight dukes of the army would oppose it.

After pondering for a while, the king gradually came to a decision.

Victory was still victory; this Knightly War was not a crushing defeat. On the contrary, it was a glorious victory!

Since he did not want to attribute the credit to the living, then let it be attributed to the dead!

As for Laine and his people, let them wait, dampen their arrogant spirit, and then grant them enough rewards to silence them.

Now, he awaited the arrival of the dukes, as the king and the dukes would hold a meeting to discuss how to conclude this war.

......

In late September, when Laine led the Right Army out of the forest, the autumn atmosphere in the Brittania Knight Kingdom had deepened, and the peasants were numbly harvesting the crops.

Walking across the plains, the knights felt quite gratified; through their efforts, they protected the people on the fields.

They were now the victors.

Nothing was more honorable than defending the homeland.

It was once said that if the knights of Brittania were not so rarely inclined to initiate wars to defend the homeland, and if the Holy Grail Knights did not need to protect the Holy Land of the Lady, perhaps the knights of Brittania could conquer the world.

This, of course, was an unreliable speculation, but it also showed how much the people of the Old World feared the knights of the Knight Kingdom.

The large army moved along the road and then arrived at Atuo Castle. This castle was just a day's journey from Kulona, and Laine received the envoy of the Knight King, instructing that this army would rest at Atuo Castle, and only the leadership including Laine could directly proceed to Kulona to await further notice. Of course, that night they would all collectively rest at Atuo Castle.

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