The Weeden soldiers on the opposite side didn't take the scouts seriously. But when they saw Lan and his men, they immediately put their hands on their weapons and gradually formed a formation.

They were so nervous only because Lan En and his four companions stood out from the crowd.

You have to know that even the servants, including the three Swordsmen, are wearing scale armor. And you can tell at a glance that it is high-end armor with special armor plates designed and reinforced according to their personal fighting style.

Sward, who had been an apprentice blacksmith, also wore a layer of mail lining inside his scale armor, which looked very intimidating.

And Lann was wearing knight's plate armor, riding a Black Wind that was obviously taller than the other horses around him. The noble emblem of a golden lion on his chest roared in the sunlight.

"Where are you from and where are you going?" a short, fat man called out to Lan from a distance. His face was dark and wrinkled like a dried plum. He was wearing a green uniform and carrying a bow and a quiver with white-feathered arrows.

Sword rode forward, it was his turn.

"Before you is Lord Brokilon, the Young Lion of Cintra, Lord Lann Lannister Rhaanron! Who are you?"

After hearing what Sword said, Weiden's soldiers were shocked.

"The Young Lion of Cintra? Is he the kid who somehow became the tournament champion at the age of fifteen?" Some soldiers whispered to each other, sneering.

"What does this mean? Men in Cintra today can't even wield swords better than a child?"

Although the soldier's voice was low, it was loud enough to be heard in the environment of confrontation between the two sides.

"How dare you!" Sword's neck instantly turned red with anger, and he and House drew their swords at the same time. Ace also bent his bow and drew his arrow, with a fierce look on his face.

The servants would never allow the lord they were loyal to to be insulted in the slightest. Their bounden duty was to defend the honor of their lord to the death.

Seeing that the Lane side was about to attack, the Weiden side was not to be outdone and they all showed their weapons, and the atmosphere between the two sides suddenly became tense.

In this tense atmosphere, only Lan's emotions and movements remained unchanged.

"To answer your question: I came from Cintra, looking for our princess, and now I want to go there-" he said slowly, raising his hand and pointing behind the Weiden soldiers. "What happened there?"

Everyone shifted their gaze slightly in the direction of Lann's finger.

Ahead, a large, leafy tree had fallen on the road. The stump lay in the brush by the roadside, with long, white splinters of wood still on it. In front of the broken tree was a carriage covered with a tarp. Several long-haired ponies lay on the road, tangled in the handlebars and reins, their bodies riddled with arrows, their yellow teeth bared. One of them was still alive, snorting heavily and kicking with its feet.

The sand was stained with blood and littered with human corpses, some clinging to the carriages, others caught in the wheels.

"I didn't know it was the Earl himself. I'm really rude." In response to Lann's question, the short and fat man gave an imperfect salute.

Behind the short and fat man, a slanted-eyed soldier waved his hand and asked all the soldiers to put away their weapons again. The slanted-eyed soldier had a worn-out wrist guard on his left forearm, like the ones used by archers.

"We are the men of King Evel, soldiers of Nastrog. We were also sent to look for Princess Cirilla. It's great to meet you here, Lord Earl." The short and fat man smiled and said, "In fact, we just came here to check the situation. It seems that the tree spirit attacked a caravan."

Nastrog is the capital of Verden.

The short and fat man wiped his eyes in a pretentious manner and said, "Our commander is Baron Freixenet. The poor Baron also died at the hands of the dryad."

"My Lord, this is a caravan from Cintra." Leventhe stepped forward and whispered to Lann, "But something is not right..."

Lan nodded and waved his hand to signal his soldiers to put away their weapons. With his other hand behind his back, he made a few covert gestures to the servants.

Although Levin did not understand the gesture, he was smart enough to immediately understand Lane's intention. He also put one hand behind his back and secretly made a secret signal to the scouts that only they knew.

Seeing Lann's side put away their weapons, the short and fat man smiled with relief and continued, "The caravan from Cintra was attacked? That's too bad."

The slanted-eyed soldier turned slightly and said as if introducing something: “The scene is obvious: the caravan carriage was moving along the road and hit a broken tree.

The pine tree fell in the middle of the road. It had just been cut down, and there were traces of it in the bushes. When the merchants came down to move the tree, the tree spirits attacked from three directions. The arrows were made by the tree spirits: the arrow feathers were glued with resin, and the feathers were soaked in sap..."

The short and fat man nodded and agreed, "These evil tree spirits killed the passing caravan and possibly the poor princess. The four kings around here - I mean no offense to Cintra - have been unwilling to harm these 'kind and friendly' tree spirits. I plan to go back and report to our Majesty. It's time to punish these tree spirits... punish... how do you pronounce that word?"

"Punishment." Lann reminded kindly.

"Yes, punishment!" the short and fat man shouted, "Lord Earl, do you think so too? It's great to have your support!"

Lan smiled, but of course no one could see his sullen expression inside the helmet.

"But," Lan pointed at the bodies and interrupted the short and fat man, "In my opinion, some of them were shot with arrows but not killed. In the end, they were killed with knives."

"Yes, yes, these tree spirits are so cruel." The short fat man sighed, "Please also report this to His Majesty the King of Cintra. It is urgent to punish the tree spirits of Brokilon."

"But if you ask me, one caravan is not enough for Cintra to send an army here. You have to work harder."

Before Lan En finished his words, he suddenly knocked on the horse's belly, and the black wind seemed to turn into real wind and rushed out.

"Like - killing our princess for the 'Tree Spirits', right? You bastards of Weeden!"

Ace drew his bow and arrow at astonishing speed, and shot three consecutive arrows with three "whoosh" sounds. The arrows flew towards the other side before they could react - their horses.

Lann taught Ace to shoot the horse first before shooting a person. Horses are larger and usually do not wear armor.

Most people would not choose to harm horses even in battle, because horses are valuable and are good trophies.

But the Lannisters had no such need.

There was a sudden commotion behind Weiden. The frightened horses overturned the knights and disrupted their formation. One unlucky man was even crushed by the horse, and the soldiers who were close to him could even clearly hear the crisp sound of a broken bone.

Levin was already ready to organize a charge with the scouts, but he did not expect that the Earl, who was supposed to be commanding from the rear, would rush out first.

Following closely behind him were his loyal servants, Sword and House.

This shocked him, but also made him extremely excited.

"For the Count!" the young man shouted as he charged forward. "For Cintra!"

"For the Count, for Cintra!" No one could refuse to charge for the Count who led the charge.