4 Furze Alliance

After washing himself, George approached Knight Angelo, a rather strong black-robed knight with high status among his peers.

"Sir, I have finished washing myself. I had a favour to ask, though", George spoke

Angelo looked at the teenager in front of him. George could be said to be quite cliché. Blond hair, fair skin and muscles that were decent enough for anyone to see that he had been training rigorously.

Knight Angelo was not blind. He had seen the young teenager spar with his peers more than once, and he overwhelmed them all with beautiful swordsmanship, even when he was supressing his strength to match that of his opponents. Like the other black-robed knights, he could feel that the young kid had reached the [Sword Expert] realm, which was nothing short of extraordinary, considering his age.

Due to them walking the path of knighthood, they instantly felt closer to the kid. After all, they all knew what it took to reach such a deep understanding of the way of the sword. It meant years of sacrifice, spent in studying the sword. For George to have reached this realm at such a young age, they could only imagine how horrible his childhood must have been, and they thus felt compassion.

If only they knew that George only listened to his biochip alerts in order to reach this realm, the black-robed knights would immediately curse him out of envy. The AI chip was that valuable after all.

"Tell me...You have helped us drive the carriages in the past. As long as it is within my authority, I will allow it", Knight Angelo spoke with a smile, "I have seen you teach some of the noble youths. I must say that you are quite the good mentor. You remind me of a certain someone in the Sarad Kingdom, young Lionheart"

George smiled. He understood the reference and felt quite praised. After all, it wasn't every day that a knight would compare you to a Grand Knight, and knight Angelo definitely compared him to the founder of his family, Grand Knight Arthur Lionheart.

George answered in a low voice: "You see...The howls of dire wolves are becoming increasingly more frequent, and there are noble youths who are very frightened about it. I have decided to create a small alliance in order to build connections and help each other if danger arose. It would be beneficial to you too, since we would be able to work better and defend ourselves to some extent. If I could distribute the rations myself and choose a carriage to set up my alliance, then there would be many nobles willing to join me!"

Knight Angelo smiled: "Build connections, huh...I will allow it. What will be the name of your alliance? You're actually not the first person to ask me about it"

George nodded: "The Furze Alliance!"

---

Hours later, Knight Angelo announced to everyone that the third carriage would be managed by George Lionheart. It instantly caused a commotion, since the latter had quite the reputation among the apprentices. His strength, charisma and background were no secret, and he was secretly admired by many youths.

Following knight Angelo's announcement, George immediately selected a handful of youths to join his alliance. Out of the 13 noble youths he invited, 13 accepted his invitation. It told a lot about George's influence in the carriage.

Of course, George had investigated Leylin Farlier, the original main character of the book George had read. Unlike the main character, his actions made little sense. He spent his days training alone, rather than seeking out help, and he almost died twice by eating random fruits without checking whether they were poisonous.

If the original Leylin was a fool, then this one was a hardworking one. Unlike the main character of the book, however, he didn't show many signs of intellect, and seemed to rely on otherworldly knowledge, making George suspect him of being another transmigrated being who had read the book.

Since George had only read 60 chapters of the book, his knowledge on the world was quite limited. He had considered assassinating Leylin a couple times, but it wasn't worth the trouble. Leylin didn't pose much of a threat to him, considering his strength and talent. And since he wasn't the calculative main character of the book, but a playboy who continued to fool around with the noble girls in the carriage, he decided to observe him instead and eventually learn information from him.

After distributing food to the nobles who had joined his [Furze Alliance], George decided to introduce the true purpose of his alliance:

"Ladies and Gentlemen. I am truly honored that all of you have accepted to join the [Furze Alliance]. As we are going deeper into the [Great Plains of Death], it is no secret that the threats to ours lives will multiply. I have spoken with the black-robed knights, and I have learnt valuable information on this region. We are going to encounter dire wolves, and if it is a huge pack, then we will not be fully protected. I have gathered all of you because of your respective specialties. Some of you have sparred with me in the past, and I have chosen you because you were the strongest ones among all the others. As for the four women who have been invited to join us, I have chosen you because our carriage needs food, cleaning and medicinal care. The boys will defend the carriage, while girls are to help us with those duties. Will it be alright?", George spoke

Evangeline Crown, who was among the girls selected, nodded and interrogated George: "You just said that girls are to take care of food, cleaning and medicinal care. However, I can fight better than you! Why should I listen to you?"

George sighed. Evangeline Crown, third princess of the tiny Phuinem Kingdom, adjacent to the Sarad Kingdom and currently being invaded by goblins and orcs, was carrying an enormous burden, one that should not be shouldered by a girl who wasn't even sixteen yet. Due to it, she wanted to learn magic and save her kingdom, but this also made her much more mature.

She had followed knights since she was young, and she had been hailed a sword genius her whole life. However, it was only in comparison to her brothers and sisters, who were below average in terms of combat prowess.

George scanned her, and sighed.

[Name - Evangeline Crown | Status - Healthy | Title: Preparatory Knight

Attributes : Strength - 1.7 | Dexterity - 1.8 | Vitality - 1.6]

She was a decent preparatory knight, but the reason why he had chosen her was not her physical attributes, but rather, the knight who followed her around as a bodyguard. After all, out of the 9 boys he had invited, 6 were preparatory knights with equal or superior attributes.

George smiled: "Do you wish to challenge me to a duel? I know you are a preparatory knight yourself. If you can take 10 hits from me, I will allow you to join the boys on the frontlines, if that is your wish"