"Marshal, are you okay?"
Vissekid came back to his senses and looked in the direction of the question he was asking. There stood the princess with mouse-gray hair.
After not seeing each other for a long time, the princess has grown a lot compared to when she was separated from him: she is taller and has a girlish figure; only the palms of her hands are beginning to be covered with calluses, which does not look like a princess anymore.
But compared to the distress that the old butler, Ens, expressed from time to time, Visserkid really appreciated these "unprincess-like hands".
After all, His Majesty Calanthe's hands are also rough. This lioness who was able to lead the army and win victory at the age of fifteen is the eternal queen in Vissegerd's heart. Vissegerd is very happy to see Princess Cirilla becoming a new "lioness".
Compared with the princess, another member of the royal family, Lan, surprised Vissekid even more.
After the capital of Cintra was captured, all members of the royal family except Princess Cirilla committed suicide to avoid being captured or humiliated by Nilfgaard.
Lann's existence was a pleasant surprise.
A surprise beyond Visserkid's imagination.
Recalling what happened the previous afternoon, Marshal Visekid, who had experienced many battles in his life, couldn't help but shudder again.
Yesterday, after Lann said "Show me my abilities", Vissekid took Lann to the military camp where he was stationed.
At that time, the soldiers inside were engaged in a confrontation training, and Lann casually grabbed a wooden sword used for training and stopped the training in a way that no one else could understand at all - because he knocked down the vanguards of both teams at the same time.
In the words of one baronial officer: "He seemed to be dancing solo at a banquet."
The soldiers were shocked, but Vissekid was still worried about Lann's fighting ability; Lann expressed his understanding because this was a sneak attack on his part.
So next he challenged the entire Marshal's guards to a battle: head-on confrontation, tacit cooperation, infantry and cavalry fighting together, and they had already formed a battle formation.
The soldiers were full of confidence.
The result was that there was an extra group of people lying on the ground. Lann became even more excited because of the adrenaline of the demon hunter, as if he had just finished warming up.
Only now did Vissekid have to admit that Lane had refreshed his understanding of the word "battle".
Then Lann brought Vissekid to an open space by the lake and showed him his seals and equipment: magic armor that deflects arrows, Quen shield that is invulnerable to swords, Igni flames that are enough to cover a hundred people, and Alder sweeps that are like a storm.
The confusing Axi and the slow-moving Arden are not convenient to show, and the exclusive skills of the Ancient Blood are not mentioned for the time being, but these are enough to make Vissekid waver in Queen Calanthe's previous national policy of "abandoning magic."
Lane showed Marshal Visekid a whole new possibility for warfare.
Vissekid was filled with emotion at the moment. He had heard a lot of rumors about Lann, such as the corpses of enemies were everywhere where the lion passed, and the lion would have fire and storms to disperse the black sun.
He had been on the march and in battle for many years, and had seen many of these words. He originally thought that they were the ravings of refugees, exaggerations and rhetoric made up to give life a little hope.
Now it seems to be realistic!
"You can't imagine what kind of tactics I'm thinking of, Lan. Our soldiers will never lack morale in the future..."
After calming down, the marshal began to think, and then asked a question: "Lane, I see there are many other demon hunters in your team, such as Geralt. Can they achieve the same level as you?"
Lan thought for a moment and answered tactfully, "We belong to different schools, and we are good at different things."
The marshal was silent for a moment: "What about you?"
Lann smiled more tactfully: "I have learned a lot of different things, a little bit of everything."
…
"Marshal, are you okay?"
Vissekid was thinking about Lann, and he lost consciousness again. It was really inappropriate for him to let the princess ask about his condition for the second time.
"Excuse me, Your Highness."
Ciri covered her mouth and chuckled, her words and actions were dignified and polite: "No need to be polite, Marshal, I will trouble you later."
After returning to Brokilon, Ciri suddenly straightened her body, corrected her manners, softened her tone, and became a "princess". Lann almost felt dizzy. If he remembered correctly, Ciri had skipped all the court etiquette courses before.
In the end, Yennefer answered Lann's doubts: "I used to be a royal advisor in Aedirn, and I also taught a lot of etiquette classes in between magic courses. Ciri studied very hard."
A war fortress has been built in the town of Brokilon. Ciri is now standing on the highest point of the wall, which has been simply arranged as a platform, with the three lions flag of Cintra flying behind her.
The blacksmith who once worked in the royal family also made a ceremonial armor for Ciri based on Queen Calanthe's former military uniform, although it was a smaller version.
At this moment, Ciri was wearing a chain mail lining, a white robe on the outside, covering large, thin shoulder armor, a red waist guard, and deerskin bindings.
After putting on the armor, even the young girl, who had not yet fully developed, looked heroic. The old men in the army were also filled with emotion, as if they had seen a lioness alive.
Standing beside her were Lann, Mossack, Vissekid, Geralt, Yennefer, and ten guards selected from Lann's guard team.
In front of Ciri was Brokilon's entire standing army and the army brought by Vissekid.
She will accept their allegiance today.
At the same time, there was a steady stream of other people coming here, and Lann's servants and guards were leading people to maintain order.
"Except for the soldiers who are still on the front line guarding against the Nilfgaardians, the rest are all here. They need to swear an oath to their princess and know who they are fighting for." Mossak said softly to Ciri.
The princess nodded and took a step forward so that her face was in sight of everyone below.
When Cintra was still there, the princess lived in seclusion; during the Brokilon period, she was hidden in Kaer Morhen by Rann, so many people saw Ciri for the first time and knew what the princess looked like for the first time.
…
"This is Xi... Is this our Highness?"
"She still looks like a child...but she does look a lot like Your Majesty."
"Shall we fight back against Nilfgaard under her leadership?"
The soldiers had good discipline and were able to remain silent, but from time to time there were discussions among the people, and it seemed that they had considerable doubts about Ciri's existence.
Lann frowned, took two steps forward and passed Ciri, then turned around, lowered his head, and knelt on one knee towards the princess.
The discussions below suddenly quieted down, and there was no more discussion or questioning.
Vissekid also took two steps forward, looked at the soldiers below, and said loudly:
“Warriors of Cintra, we are all going through difficult times.
In the past, our country was conquered by Nilfgaard, our homes were burned by fire and trampled by iron hooves. Some of us lost our parents, some lost our wives, some lost our children, and some even lost everything. We retreated to Bruges and established our base in a foreign country, just to wait for the moment when the three lions flag will fly again, just to wait for the day when the lion's roar will resound through Cintra again.
We rely on the rage of revenge to support us, but sometimes we are confused. I sleep and eat with you, and I know what you think. We all call out the name of the one who once led us forward: His Majesty Calanthe. "
Vissekid paused here, his eyes reddened, "We lost Her Majesty, and we were unable to protect her when she passed away. This is a shame that we will never be able to wash away.
But in the future, we will have a chance to regain our glory on the battlefield, because we have new followers——"
"Our princess, His Majesty's granddaughter, Her Royal Highness Cirilla Fiona Iren Rayanlun."
Vissekid spoke passionately, his voice spreading everywhere. Then he turned around and knelt on one knee towards Ciri:
"I hereby swear to Her Majesty the Princess that I will always be loyal to Cintra and Her Highness. I swear to use what I have learned, my wisdom and courage to defend the dignity and honor of the kingdom, protect the safety of Her Highness the Princess, and the territorial integrity and prosperity of the country. I will do my best to fight for the security and interests of the country and Her Majesty. At every moment of my duties, I will faithfully act in accordance with the will and decision of Her Highness, as well as the interests and honor of the country. I will abide by this oath until the last moment of my life."
Under the stands, all the soldiers knelt down on one knee at this moment and shouted together:
"I will abide by this oath until the last moment of my life!"
The sound of thousands of people kneeling on the ground shook the ground slightly, and their shouts resounded through the sky. The trees and leaves of the Brokilon Forest swayed gently, as if disturbed by the momentum of humans.
…
Geralt's expression was unnatural, but his body was straight. Yennefer crossed her arms and smiled, a rare moment on her face that had been as cold as an iceberg for thousands of years.
莫斯萨克的眼眶中有微波**漾。虽然这还不是他所等待的那一刻，但是看到希里终于出现在自己的子民面前，接受效忠，他不免还是感慨万千。
希里深吸一口气，只觉得眼前的场景比起凯尔莫罕遇到的那些怪物都要骇人了不知道多少倍。但是和面对魔物的时候不同，希里没有发抖，反而觉得血脉之中的什么东西被激发出来了一般。
她的腰杆更挺，呼吸更重，脸上的表情也愈发显得清冷、威严、乃至庄重。
她缓缓越过兰恩和维赛基德，眼睛扫视着前方。军队内的士兵们也都整齐地排成方阵，仿佛在等待着什么。
“抬头，我的勇士们！”
数千束目光投向希里。希里和他们对视着，一瞬间从中感受到了数不胜数的充沛情绪。
公主深吸一口气，然后慢慢地吐出，回想起在凯尔莫罕学习到的呼吸法。那原本是为狩猎魔物准备的，没想到居然在现在发挥了作用。
她的大脑空白了一瞬，于是她回头看向了兰恩。那一瞬间好似有温暖的火焰在她的体内开始燃烧，让她发凉的双手开始回热。
同时，也有大段的话语开始自动地在她的脑海中浮现，宛若福至心灵一般。
“过去的日子里，我们的国家遭受了袭击，我们的家园和人民遭受了前所未有的威胁。我和你们一样，失去了几乎全部的家人；也是因此我能够知道，恐惧会在你们的心中滋生，而复仇的火焰也会以此为燃料熊熊燃烧，直至我们将尼弗迦德人彻底驱赶走的那一天。”
“我深切地知道自己年龄的浅薄，了解自己见识的短缺。我很荣幸能够获得诸位勇士的效忠，也是因此，我于今日命令你们：一如跟随我、尊敬我一般地，去尊敬、跟随我们的莫斯萨克顾问……”
希里回头，将错愕的老德鲁伊拉上前来。
所有的民众为此鼓掌，莫斯萨克早已获得了民心，成为了如今辛特拉人不可分割的一部分。
“去尊敬、跟随我们的维赛基德元帅……”
希里挥手，指向老元帅。
所有新至的士兵发出欢呼，感觉自己在异国他乡的坚守获得了承认，为这君臣和睦的一幕感激涕零。
“去尊敬、跟随我们的……”
最后，希里退后一步，笑盈盈地站在了兰恩的身后。
“……我们的兰尼斯特，公爵。”
……
在威严的声音过后，好似恶作剧一般的轻笑声在兰恩的身后响起。
底下所有的欢呼声在这一刻都好像被按下了暂停键。
狮瞳青年不免地错愕了，他转过头来，对上了笑盈盈的希里。
“现在？有必要吗？”
“本来不该是现在的，我本想着等复国之后一步到位。”希里轻声说道，这个时候她的语调又恢复了那小姑娘的雀跃，“但是我听说你之前去庞塔尔见其他国王的时候，因为头衔遭到过不少的刁难……所以我就先把最高的头衔给你好了。反正这也只是个头衔，现在也没有相匹配的领地可以给你，等以后就好了……”
“按照礼仪，这个时候还应该有礼器、勋章、仪仗队，还有侍女来给你穿戴衣袍什么的。我现在都还没有，你先委屈一下呗……”
在说完这段话之后，希里立刻又切换回了那庄严的表情，将清冷的声音提高到了所有人都能够听到的程度。
“向我跪下，兰尼斯特‘公爵’！”
兰恩强行压住笑意，侧过身子，确保自己和希里此刻的表情都能够被下面的人看到。
而希里也快步上前，“锵”地一声拔出了兰恩的湖女之剑。那令人目眩神迷的符文金光一瞬间和阳光融为了一体，也映照得兰恩的淡金头发更加夺目。
叶奈法玩味地看着兰恩，自由而高傲的女术士在这种场合还在和杰洛特说悄悄话：“他确实很英俊……超乎寻常的英俊。”
……
希里的眼睛也被晃了一下，只觉得自己眼前出现了什么极端美好的事物，刹那都忘了接下来要说什么。
一只穿着镶铁手套的手抓住了剑刃，是兰恩。他轻轻把湖女之剑搭在自己的肩膀上面，高声宣誓到：
“在雄狮旗帜的见证下，我正式宣誓履行我作为公爵的职责。我将保护和维护家族的荣誉和地位，并向我的前辈、我的家族和我自己的名誉负责。
我将献出我的一切去驱逐尼弗迦德，光复我的祖国。我将保护国民的权利和利益，誓死守卫我的公主。
我将竭尽所能去帮助过去与未来为这个国家奋斗的英雄们，他们的所作所为使得我们能够继承和享受这个国家和家族的传统和荣耀。
我现在宣誓：我将永远忠诚于我的国家和我的同胞。我将尊重我所作出的承诺和献身精神，并成为一个值得尊敬的公爵。”
在兰恩宣誓的时候，整个布洛奇隆都没有其他的声音。
希里终于回过神来了，她转身面对民众，本想说：为我们的兰尼斯特公爵欢呼吧。
事实证明她不用说这句话了。
……
“为什么他们给你欢呼的声音这么大？明明我才是公主才对！”
布洛奇隆，领主府邸内，希里抱着兰恩的胳膊不依不饶地嚷嚷着。此刻她虽然还穿着那身礼服，但是语调和表情已经重新恢复了少女的活泼。
“辛特拉原本的士兵就算了，为什么维赛基德带过来的士兵都对你这么尊敬？”
兰恩轻飘飘地回答：“我昨天抽空把他们里面最厉害的几个……几十个——也可能是百来个——打了一顿。”
希里噎了一下。
随后她皱起鼻子：“那算了，我现在还打不过他们……但是你的那个‘雄狮教团’，是叫这个名字的对吧？他们真的是拼了命啊！就不怕把自己的嗓子吼出来吗？一个个不要命地往前挤，差点把军阵都冲散了，布洛奇隆的镇民也都跟着他们瞎起哄！”
小姑娘气得直拍桌子：“对我宣誓的声音这么小，对你获得册封的欢呼这么大，他们眼里还有没有我这个公主了！”
兰恩正在书写文件，结果桌面上的墨水、纸张都随着希里的动作抖了两下，差点前功尽弃。不得已只能笑着把气得够呛的公主搂进怀里。
希里在兰恩的怀里蹭了蹭，心情刚刚好了一点，一抬头，却发现兰恩只是敷衍地把左手搁在自己脑袋上，有一搭没一搭地顺着自己的头发，另一只手还在写文件。
她发誓，这个男人和黑风相处的时候都比对自己要更认真！
“我不理你了，我去找杰洛特！”
“你找他干嘛？”
希里明明气鼓鼓地，却还是有问必答：“我喜欢这身铠甲，我要问问他能不能留下来！”
兰恩嗤笑一声：“你还是乖乖地把它当做礼服吧。它的设计本来就不合理，放在战场上或者马上还行，要是去森林或者其他稍微复杂一点的地形，你动都动不了。”
“我不管，实在不行就收进你的那个空间魔法里面，等我想穿的时候你就随时拿出来！”
小姑娘风一样地冲出书房，去找自己的“意外之父”去了，屋外立刻传来豪斯对公主的行礼声音。
然后，侍从将被公主撞开的门轻轻合上。
……
兰恩此刻正在做去史凯利格的准备。
群岛的海上部队，是整个南方、北方、乃至于山那头的泽瑞坎王国、海那头的欧菲尔王国都没有的。
夸赞一句天下无双都不过分。
虽然有着布兰王和伊斯特的存在，让史凯利格是自己天然的盟友。但是群岛独特的政治制度也让自己目前没法获得全部的援助，如果想让史凯利格全心全意地帮助自己，那么势必要也要进行一次如同泰莫利亚和瑞达尼亚一般的游说。
时间不会短，因此在这之前他需要把布洛奇隆的事情安顿好才行：
凯尔莫罕带回来的三头巨魔交给了莫斯萨克，德鲁伊对待这些智慧魔物——虽然智慧不是很多——有着独到的方法，可以想象领地的基建速度可以获得显著的上升了。
随后，兰恩打算把蛇派的大部分人留下，只带走寇格林姆。像是雷索一般的人物，跟在自己身边做个高级打手实在是大材小用了。
这位蛇派的领袖有着不弱的政治嗅觉，兰恩打算让他在布洛奇隆待一阵，具体的职务由莫斯萨克安排，好像轮岗一般熟悉一下如今的辛特拉各个方面，也算是缓解一下辛特拉如今高级人才不足的压力。
雷索本人也早就反应了，跟在兰恩的身边会让他“持续”地变弱。独自把他留在辛特拉也是给他一个机会不断磨练猎魔人的技艺，以及增强刻在骨子里面的刺杀技巧。
在兰恩未来的计划中，雷索会让整个北境震惊。
Serrit and Oaks stayed with Letho, and they continued to do their old job as demon hunters, taking commissions and so on. Cintra will definitely be the base camp of demon hunters in the future, and the people need to be familiar with the existence of demon hunters.
Although there is Lan now, the lion is too high and mighty. Having two more snakes roaming around among the people can help both sides deepen their understanding. The friendly atmosphere in Cintra laid by Lan also makes the two snakes happy.
Among the three attendants, Levin was kept by Lann and was arranged to be Visserkid's adjutant. The troops brought by Visserkid were all disbanded and reorganized with Brokilon's troops to get to know each other and cultivate combat tacit understanding. When Lann was away, Levin represented the voice of the lion.
Originally, Lann was more willing to keep House, but when he saw the determined look in the servant's eyes as he held the long sword he named "Sward", Lann gave up after thinking about it.
These are the more trivial aspects.
In the general direction, during Lann's absence: Vissegerd continued to train soldiers and confront Nilfgaard; Mossack was in charge of the people and was also responsible for the changes in related management positions in the territory; the old butler Ens managed the finances and was responsible for all dispatches in the territory.
Compared with the perfect systems of Lann's later generations, this management system is too simple. However, in the current form of Cintra, it is barely sufficient.
At least it was much better than before. At least Mossak could be freed up occasionally to study magic. After that, he would ask Kovel to find Kelda to discuss the matter of setting up a mercenary group.
…
Looking at the documents in front of him, Lann breathed a sigh of relief.
Hopefully I can get what I want in Skellige.