After the Marquis' family finished their audience, the next person to walk into the hall to meet the Grand Duke was an elderly Earl - Earl Stephen Moonlight Mushroom.
This earl was not unfamiliar to Krober. After all, Krober had a deep friendship with his heir Frank.
The territory owned by the Moonlight Mushroom Family happened to be located on the western border of the Principality. Although it was less adjacent to the Moi Forest and its scale could not be compared with that of the Golden Rose Family, it was still an important frontier area.
I remember that the last time Krober went to buy equipment, Frank revealed to him that Earl Stephen was in seclusion at that time, trying his best to break through to the realm of Sky Knight.
However, Earl Stephen likely failed to break through this time. Although his aura remained powerful and majestic, he still couldn't transcend the shackles of the Earth Knight, and compared to a true Sky Knight, he still had a considerable gap.
It is estimated that Earl Stephen also wanted to use this war to take his family one step further and become a marquis, but unfortunately he failed to make a breakthrough and fell short.
The hard condition for becoming a marquis is that there must be a sky knight in the family, otherwise it will be impossible to subdue the nobles under his command.
Count Stephen was also stunned when he saw Krober. After all, he had been in seclusion for some time, and had been busy with territory affairs since his failed breakthrough. Naturally, he didn't know that Krober had joined the Dragon Breath Knights.
His son Frank did tell him about Krober's breakthrough to become a full knight.
But at that time he just sighed at Krober's talent, but he didn't expect that he would meet him here.
"Your Excellency, Earl Stephen, Knight Dragon's Breath, and Imperial Secretary, Krober Golden Rose greets you. The Grand Duke is ready to receive you. Please follow me inside."
During this period, Krober has received countless nobles of all sizes, and his messenger's speech skills have been perfected. Combined with his elegant temperament and perfect etiquette, everyone who sees him will praise him.
"As expected of the Grand Duke's close minister!"
Earl Stephen had met Krober several times before. Although Krober was handsome before, he was not as confident and elegant as he is now.
Thinking of this, he sighed helplessly.
That guy Klar had given away the hope of his family and his future powerful vassal, which made him heartbroken.
Legally speaking, if Krober's last name was still Oat, he would be a permanent vassal of the Moonlight Mushroom family, unless their territory was taken back by Stephen and their noble titles were revoked.
But with Krober's talent, he can only be promoted to a noble title in the future. How could he be stripped of his title? Maybe when Stephen leads his family to be promoted to marquis, the first earl family he recommends will be Krober's.
The highest title that a marquis can confer is viscount. Earls and marquises are both nobles who are directly loyal to the Grand Duke. The marquis only has the right to recommend, not the right to confer.
However, in recent years, the number of viscounts has decreased, and there has not been a new earl for many years.
Now all the nobles in the principality are eyeing the cake of the Moy Forest, and they all want to bite off a piece of it. As far as he knows, the Marquis of Frostwolf wants to recommend a family with sufficient strength to be promoted to earl.
Daniel, the sixth one, even broke through to become a Sky Knight and was planning to be promoted to a Marquis!
Since the territories of both sides are very close, Earl Stephen has stationed more intelligence forces in Huaguan City.
God bless you, when the spy wrote that Earl Daniel had a great chance of breaking through to become the Sky Knight, Stephen felt terrible.
After all, his neighbor has become stronger, and it is very likely that he will be promoted to marquis through this war.
They are the only two great nobles in the entire West, and they have been fighting openly and secretly for many years. How could they be so willing to be suppressed?
So, that night, Earl Stephen handed over all the tasks at hand to his son, took the family's best potion and began to retreat, hoping to break through the Sky Knight and catch up with the Golden Rose Family.
But unfortunately, Earl Stephen failed.
This audience with the Grand Duke was also for this matter, hoping that the Grand Duke could maintain the balance in the West and prevent the Golden Rose Family from dominating alone.
Presumably, as a ruler, the Grand Duke certainly does not want the entire West to be flagged with the Golden Rose.
Even if the Grand Duke's herald was a member of the Golden Rose clan, he would still make this advice in front of the Grand Duke.
So when Kroeber brought Count Stephen to the audience, he told the Grand Duke about this.
When the idea of suppressing the Golden Rose Family and supporting the surrounding disadvantaged families was proposed, Krober felt that Count Stephen's abacus beads were about to hit him in the face.
The vulnerable families around?
In the entire West, apart from the Golden Rose, isn't your Moonlight Mushroom family the only one left?
Why don’t you just say that you support me? Why do you have to drag those petty nobles into this? Do they know that you have provoked such a powerful imaginary enemy for them?
However, although he kept complaining in his heart, he still did not express it on his face, and he did not even have the thought or action to avoid suspicion.
Grand Duchess Veronica frowned slightly after hearing this. To be fair, she really didn't want the Golden Rose to dominate the West, as this went against her way of ruling.
Don't think that the Dragon Knight can rule a country just by talking. The nobles are also an important part of maintaining her rule.
If the nobles dominate the country, they will develop rebellious intentions, and once they encounter the right opportunity, they will raise the banner of rebellion and overthrow the rule of the rulers.
So the suggestion made by Earl Stephen does make sense.
"Golden Rose..."
While silently reciting the Golden Rose's last name, Grand Duchess Veronica's eyes drifted to Krober who was standing beside her.
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