Chapter 598: Chapter 424: Before the Exploration_2

“How dare you be disrespectful to the Lord?”

Seeing this, Kelsey stood with hands on her hips and said, “Apologize to the Lord at once!”

“Forget it, it’s just a childish slip of the tongue.”

Gently patting Kelsey’s shoulder, Leo Ray smiled at the female knight captain and said, “Captain Tina, we’ll have to trouble you to provide escort this time. As agreed, your Blue Rose Knights will receive one-third of the spoils I earned.”

“Mr. Christopher, rest assured, as knights, we will do our best to prevent you from being hurt.”

Hearing this, Tina’s fair face was filled with joy as she paid respect to Leo Ray once again.

“Get ready, once Lord Asher arrives, we will depart.”

Nodding slightly, Leo Ray stepped forward and left the reception room.

“Tia, you little troublemaker, causing trouble at such a critical moment, wait till I get my hands on you when we get back…”

As the door closed, the angry yet helpless voice of Tina could be heard again.

Afterward, under Kelsey’s guidance, Leo Ray walked to the room where the Broken Blade Knights were staying.

“Mr. Christopher, thank you for your trust.”

Layne, the Broken Blade Knight’s Captain with long hair and wearing black armor, elegantly bowed and welcomed Leo Ray into the room.

At this moment, this young nobleman who resembled Gideon Black appeared calm on the outside.

However, Leo Ray could still hear the uncontrollable excitement in his voice.

Later, through Layne’s introduction, Leo Ray learned that there were also five powerful individuals from the Broken Blade Knights, most of whom were seasoned veterans.

Although their strength was on par with the Blue Rose Knights, their overall age was much older.

Especially their black light armor which was quite different from the silver armor worn by the Blue Rose Knights.

From this, it could be clearly seen that if the Blue Rose Knights represented youth and vitality, the Broken Blade Knights would naturally represent maturity and steadiness.

“Not bad, everyone has their unique strengths.”

Thinking of this, Leo Ray couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows and said to the male knight captain in front of him, “Captain Layne, we’ll have to rely on you for this unknown relic expedition.”

After a moment of contemplation, he continued, “Moreover, I’ve heard that the Broken Blade Knights and the Blue Rose Knights often have small-scale conflicts due to some overlapping missions. However, given the unpredictable dangers ahead, I hope you can make way for the Blue Rose Knights and put aside past grievances, cooperating sincerely. This is also my special request.”

“Mr. Christopher, you’re too kind.”

On the other side, Layne bowed gracefully, his face grateful, and responded, “Since Mr. Christopher holds me in such high esteem, I’ll be honest. If it weren’t for your invitation to our Broken Blade Knights to participate in this relic expedition, our independent knight order with a history of over 200 years might have perished in my hands.”

After all, the knight order’s funding has been depleted for quite some time, and although I’ve kept it secret from the ordinary members, the high-born nobles’ overbearing attitude at the residence exposed some clues.”

At this point, Layne’s face showed even more gratitude as he continued, “Initially, after the auction, I had planned to disband the knight order. However, Mr. Christopher’s invitation reignited my hope and prevented me from destroying my ancestral foundation.”

“Therefore, all the strong members of the Broken Blade Knights are willing to sacrifice their lives to protect Mr. Christopher, let alone put aside past differences with the Blue Rose Knights.”

After finishing, the crisp sound of armor colliding rang out.

Layne and the other four black armored elder knights all bowed to Leo Ray, their faces filled with gratitude.

“There’s no need for formalities.”

With a faint smile, Leo Ray nodded slightly and said, “See you later.”

Thus, after leaving the reception room of the Broken Blade Knights, Leo Ray walked back down the long hallway of Sanders’ Trading Conference and returned to his own room.After weighing the options, Leo Ray finally made a decision.

Besides having two knight squads and ten Tier 3 Powerhouses as his obvious protection, he decided to bring only Taylor, Red Night, and Gideon Black with him.

After all, the strength of Lord Asher Porter of Viennas City was quite impressive, just like Kelsey’s father Gael – both being at the respectable Tier 4 three-star level.

Most of his other subordinates, even if they wore invisibility cloaks and vanishing rings, would still run the risk of being detected and cause unnecessary trouble.

Moreover, after getting eighteen Ice Knights, he also had nearly fifty Tier 3 Advanced Magical Puppets on hand or to call upon at any time.

Even with fewer subordinates by his side, there wouldn’t be too much of a power gap.

As for the sisters Serena and Stella, who were adept at stealth, they would follow behind the team and then standby around the ruins to be explored.

This arrangement allowed them to monitor the surroundings in real-time and be ready to provide support when needed.

It could be imagined that, having learned from the previous experience, Lord Asher Porter of Viennas City would undoubtedly deploy heavy defenses around the ruins, in order to prevent sudden attacks from the mysterious organization.

With Serena and Stella’s top-notch stealth techniques, as well as the invisibility cloaks and higher-grade vanishing rings, even if the Tier 5 level No. 7 Black-robed Person were to show up again, they would naturally be unable to detect them.

Leo Ray had already tested this with Taylor beforehand.

As for Scarlett, Bianca White, Abigail, and Amelia, they stayed at the Sanders’ Trading Conference to assist Kelsey in thoroughly eliminating the remaining forces of the former vice-chairman.

“Alright, let’s follow the plan when the time comes,” said Leo Ray, seated at the head of the table, nodding at his subordinates after all the arrangements were made.

“As you wish, Lord!” responded the neatly standing subordinates at the bottom of the table with a fist bump.

Not long after that, Lord Asher Porter of Viennas City arrived at the Sanders’ Trading Conference, accompanied by Kelsey’s father, Gael.

Meanwhile, Leo Ray and his party, fully prepared, were already gathered at the entrance awaiting them.

“Lord City, Chairman, it’s nice to see you again,” said Leo Ray, accompanied by Tina and Layne and the other ten knights, nodding at the newly arrived Lord Asher Porter of Viennas City and Gael.

Lord Asher was still dressed in his loose blue magic robes.

Compared to a short while ago, the white at his temples and the crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes seemed to have increased significantly, making the middle-aged city lord, who was about fifty years old, appear a bit haggard.

It seemed that the matter of the mysterious organization still had him quite worried.

As for Kelsey’s father, Gael, he was dressed in a light grey outfit with an upright physique and a firm, resolute face, giving off the air of a martial arts master, which was in perfect harmony with his occupation as a martial artist.

“Hehe, Mr. Christopher, it’s good to see you well,” Lord Asher responded with a smile.

At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel surprised in his heart, as the young man before him seemed to have greatly improved in strength.

However, when he met Leo Ray previously, his focus was almost entirely on the upcoming auction and preparing to deal with the mysterious organization, so he didn’t remember Leo Ray’s specific strength at that time.

On the other hand, Gael also smiled brightly at Leo Ray. After experiencing the previous auction’s events, and with his beloved daughter Kelsey now under Leo Ray’s command, this middle-aged powerhouse no longer saw any essential difference between Leo Ray and his other subordinates.

Then, looking at the strong knights behind Leo Ray, Lord Asher nodded slightly and smiled again, “It seems that your guards are all here, Mr. Christopher. In that case, let’s set off immediately.”

“That suits me fine,” Leo Ray replied with a faint smile, “I’ve been looking forward to this exploration of the ruins.”