Chapter 159: The Turtle's Bankruptcy

  For such a group of people, Xia Ya instinctively felt that this person was not easy to mess with and did not want to have much contact with Rong Ke and others. He calmly said, "Rong Ke, I don't know what brings you here." Rong Ke didn't enter the door, but stood outside on the road. Xia Ya's attitude was cold, his expression even more indifferent. As the leader of the Dark Night Forest Guards and a loyal imperial guard, he was accustomed to not having to curry favor with any minister. Only by maintaining an aloof attitude towards all powerful officials could he maintain the emperor's trust. So Rong Ke simply nodded at Xia Ya and raised his hand. The two attendants behind him then lifted several boxes of varying sizes from a horse-drawn carriage on the side of the road and placed them in front of the door.

  "Baron, by order of His Majesty. I have brought you some things, these few items were personally selected by me from the palace armory, if you find them not to your liking, you can also send someone to exchange them."

  He spoke in a flat tone, with an air of officialdom. After finishing speaking, he seemed to have no interest in saying anything more. He also didn't want to stay any longer, raised his hand slightly, and then led the people to get on their horses and leave.

  Staring at the pile of boxes of various sizes on the floor by the door, Xia Ya was taken aback for a moment. Only then did he remember that these were the weapons and equipment bestowed upon him by the Emperor as a reward for offering a piece of dragon scale.

  He didn't mind either and casually had people carry them into the yard. It wasn't until they were lifted that he felt it. These few trunks were unusually heavy!

  After closing the courtyard gate, Sharuba and Kato, as well as Avfrekat, had also come out. Everyone opened these boxes together, wanting to see what kind of weapons the emperor's reward was. After opening several boxes, everyone in the yard couldn't help but take a cold breath!

  Kato, who had been in charge of logistics in the army, looked up after a while and glanced at Xia Ya, unable to help but laugh: "Xia Ya, you're really rich now! I've only heard of some of these things before, but never seen them. Damn it, the stuff in this imperial palace's armory is indeed good!"

  Although that guy Rong Ke has a cold attitude, he really does his best with the things entrusted by the Emperor. The things he picked out for Xia Ya in the armory are all genuine and good stuff, not saving any money for the Emperor at all.

  Here is a complete set of armor, including long and short weapons, horse armor! But Yong Ke didn't know what kind of weapon Xia Ya was used to using, so he simply chose one of each type of long and short weapon.

  The short sword is one of three, a silver-plated single-character sword. This is not the kind of thing that warriors on the outside like to use, although many imperial warriors do like to use this kind of long sword with its elegant appearance and imposing aura, but most are imitations. The real silver-plated single-character sword should be the special weapon used by the Knights Templar in the church hundreds of years ago!

  The true Temple Knights of the church are a group of devout and powerful ascetic knights responsible for guarding the church and maintaining its glory. It is said that this knightly order was founded at the beginning of the empire, but under the oppression of the imperial power, the scale of this knightly order owned by the church has always been small, with a total number never exceeding fifty people. However, each of these fifty knights is an exceptionally skilled master. At the beginning of the empire's founding, they also made great military achievements for the empire and were renowned for a time. After the empire was established, however, the divine right and imperial power struggled countless times, and the church was gradually suppressed by the royal family, causing this Temple Knights to decline gradually.

  According to legend, the Knights Templar used this silver sword with a single character. The shape is elegant and extremely suitable for close combat.

  Most importantly, the genuine White Silver Sword has a hilt that is not inlaid with ordinary white silver.

  But it's "Secret Silver!!"

  This is a special rare metal that can attach magical properties!

  Those silver-plated swords that are popular on the market, are just ordinary warriors' admiration for the sacred knights of the past, envying the Temple Knights' use of silver-plated sword models, powerful and mighty, but later became a trend, big or small, every weapon shop has imitations.

  The true silver-plated sword can only be found in the armory of the church and the royal family! Because swords are easy to imitate, but secret silver is extremely difficult to obtain!

  Afureka was a warrior by birth, and his eyes lit up when he saw this sword.

  He picked it up and looked at it for a while, then sighed: "Damn, today I finally saw the real thing! The blade is made of high-quality steel, and the sword's edge is crafted with special techniques. It's not comparable to those counterfeit goods on the market."

  He drew his own sword, one hand holding a sword, and the two swords clashed with force! With a clang. His own sword suddenly had a notch on its blade! Afureika threw away his own sword, took the silver-hilted sword and examined it carefully, sighing: "Indeed sharp! The hilt is made of secret silver! If we can find a magician to help us cast magic, this sword will become a magical attribute weapon! When facing enemies, its power will increase exponentially!"

  "After that, Afreca explained carefully: 'This is a magic enhancement. Generally speaking, it's just a strength enhancement or an agility enhancement, but with the good stuff like Secret Silver, the enhanced magic can be more complex, and even enhance some wind system magic or fire system magic! When I was young, I once saw a real temple knight from the church, and when he swung his sword, flames would splatter out from the blade! It must have been the effect of enhancing fire system magic.'"

  Xia Yahahaha smiled: "I don't like using swords. This sword is yours."

  Avreca was taken aback, looking at Xia Ya's sincere expression, which didn't seem to be joking, and suddenly became overjoyed: "Sir!"

  "It's just a sword, I'm used to using my fire fork. And Sharuba and Kato are both cavalrymen, they're not good at close combat, and their martial skills aren't as good as yours. Among the people by my side now, you're the only one with a proper martial background, so this sword is given to you, it's also making the best use of it."

  Afureka was overjoyed and bowed his head to Xiaya: "Thank you, sir, for giving me the sword!"

  He was overjoyed in his heart, even if it was a counterfeit white silver sword (such as the one used by Philip of the Silver Python Warrior Team, his arch-nemesis). Its value on the market would be at least several thousand gold coins. And an authentic one... its value would increase by several times!

  In addition, there was a lightweight cavalry sword made of fine steel, but the blade was slightly longer and narrower. It felt light in hand, and Shaya took one look at it before handing it over to Kato Ichizen.

  Among people, Sharuba's strength is great, and Kato's martial arts belong to the category of light and agile techniques. This kind of lightweight saber is most suitable for him.

  As for Sharuba, there is also a double-handed heavy sword among the weapons; weighing over 20 kilograms, it is just suitable for Sharuba, a sturdy and powerful man.

  The horse knife and the double-handed heavy sword, although not as good as the white silver individual sword, are also of high quality. If in the army, only senior generals above the rank of lieutenant general would be qualified to use such weapons.

  Apart from short-range weapons, there were three long-range weapons on horseback that Rong Ke had chosen. One of them was a spear with the character "Yi" engraved on it. The style of this spear made Xia Ya involuntarily think of the black spear in Hei Xin Tian's hand, but this spear was obviously more magnificent than Hei Xin Tian's dull and unadorned one.

  The gun head was shaped like a word, and the tip of the gun revealed a sharp blade, increasing its lethality. The body of the gun was made of iron, which added weight to it, but Xia Ya didn't know what kind of metal it was. It was hard yet flexible. Although Xia Ya had never learned any martial arts related to spears, he could tell at a glance that using this spear required the user's martial arts skills to be balanced between hardness and softness in order to bring out its full power.

  He gave it a try, grasping the gun in his hand. His arms exerted force, even imbuing the crimson killing intent's power into it. The gun barrel almost bent into an arc like a longbow! As soon as he relaxed his grip, the gun barrel suddenly sprang out with a "whoosh" sound! The strong elasticity caused the gun barrel to heavily slam onto the ground; instantly shattering a square piece of bluestone into four or five pieces! And after the gun barrel straightened again, it was completely unscathed!

  "Good stuff!" Xia Ya praised, but then looked at the people around him; Sharba and Kato were cavalrymen, but their martial skills were somewhat inferior, while Adirekata was a warrior, and horseback riding was not his forte. Such a good war spear, none of the three could use it.

  As for Xia Ya himself, he still likes to use heavy weapons like long axes or maces.

  "Let's put it away for now." Xia Ya sighed: "I seem to have heard that Greene, that mad dog, is a master of guns. Let's keep it and give it to him later."

  In addition, there were two long weapons on horseback, one a halberd and the other a heavy mace.

  The halberd's handle was plated with a layer of golden metal, shining brightly, while the axe blade was sharp white steel, and the spearhead was made of tempered iron, Xia Ya thought for a moment. He simply gave it to Kato.

  As for the war hammer, it was given to Sharuba. The iron head of the war hammer had 360 steel spikes on it! It weighed dozens of kilograms, and even Sharuba, a great warrior, found it somewhat difficult to wield. Sharuba's martial skills had not yet reached the level of cultivating battle energy, but in the future, after he broke through his current limits, this heavy war hammer would be his most powerful weapon.

  Neither the long nor short weapons were suitable for Xia Ya to use. Tu Bao couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, but then he opened the largest wooden box and took a look, and Xia Ya finally exclaimed with joy!

  "What a great Kusazuri!!" Kato exclaimed first.

  The Byzantine Empire was renowned for its cavalry, although generally speaking, the individual soldier's quality could not match those frenzied warriors of the northern Odin, but they excelled in equipment. Especially the cavalry equipment was unparalleled on the continent.

  Generally speaking, the armor made by the Byzantines was among the best on the continent. In the imperial army, defensive equipment was divided into several grades: ordinary cavalry usually did not wear iron armor, mainly wearing leather and cotton armor, occasionally to strengthen defense, some iron plates would be added to the vital parts of the leather armor, which can be considered as the lowest level of lightweight "iron armor". Real iron armor was only equipped by the officers of the cavalry squad, that is, ordinary plate armor, with two pieces of chest armor in front and back, shoulder guards and arm guards. This type of armor was the lowest grade of officer-level armor.

  Generally speaking, this low-ranking officer's armor configuration is relatively flat in shape and mostly black in color, so it is called "Black Flat Armor".

  The next higher level is the camp officer and above, which can be considered as a mid-level military officer in the army. The armor is still mainly made of iron plates, but with steel plates reinforced at critical weak points, and to strengthen defense, no longer simply nailed with flat steel plates, but adopted some advanced craftsmanship, with small pieces of steel plates covered like fish scales. Because the iron plate itself is black, while part of the steel plate has a white color, the shape shows some black and white stripes, this kind of armor is called "striped armor".

  At a higher level, generally speaking, it refers to the flag-level officers in the main force army or some local second-line troops' defense commanders and other high-ranking military officers who can stand alone. At this level, generally speaking, one foot has entered the ranks of imperial high-ranking military officers. The armor configured at this level is generally made of refined steel plate, no longer using iron. In terms of both material and defensive power, it has gone up a notch. In the manufacturing process, a large number of advanced craftsmanship were used. High-ranking military officers generally rarely fight on the front lines, so they no longer use the board armor craftsmanship - the shape of the board armor is more suitable for frontal defense against slashing weapons. The high-ranking military officers do not need to fight on the front lines, so the manufacturing process of their armor focuses on defending against arrows. The fish-scale-shaped scale armor is considered to have the best defensive power against bows and arrows, which are sharp and piercing weapons. Therefore, generally speaking, the armor configured for this level of officer is all fish-scale steel plate armor. Because the color of the steel plate is bright, such armor is called "Ming Guang Jia" (Bright Light Armor).

  Arrived here, it's a small watershed.

  Generally speaking, in the Byzantine army, when encountering an officer, it was not necessary to look at his badge of rank. Just by looking at his armor, one could roughly tell his position and status.

  If it is a suit of armor with black iron as the main material, then most likely it is for officers below.

  And if it's a white bright steel armor, then it is a high-ranking officer of the flag team.

  When Xia Yazhou returned to the imperial capital from the front line, all the officials along the way treated him with courtesy, just because he was wearing a white and bright steel armor in the army. This is a symbol of status.

  Reached the "Ming Guang Jia", it is already the highest level of ordinary armor for imperial officers, and further up is the general level. Can independently command a branch of troops to fight, a powerful general of the empire who can take on a single face.

  This level of craftsmanship on armor highlights the Byzantine Empire's military-industrial standards.

  Plates are suitable for withstanding frontal chopping, while fish scales are more resistant to defensive bows and arrows that pierce sharply. However, when it comes to the general level, the requirements for armor need to be able to withstand both near and far attacks, with even greater defensive power.

  So at this level, armor completely abandoned the style of plate armor and scale armor, but instead used a large amount of "mail armor"

  Such armor, with high-quality soft steel as the main material, is harder than ordinary steel plates in terms of hardness, but still has flexibility, so that senior generals will not become stiff and cumbersome when wearing it, and will not restrict personal martial arts skills during battle. At the same time, small pieces of soft steel are nailed together like locks, one ring hooking into another, which can disperse the force received through countless lock rings in an instant when encountering heavy frontal attacks. The force is dispersed, reducing damage. And at the same time, because they are tightly locked together, with dense seams, they also have strong defensive capabilities against sharp and penetrating projectiles such as arrows.

  At this level, it can no longer be called "Jia", but is referred to as "Kai"

  Such high-grade equipment made of soft steel is generally referred to as "Kusazuri".

  The origin of this name is said to be the lock-shaped armor, which was first created by a master armorer named "Qiu Shan" in the empire.

  It can be said that those who wear Chushan armor are high-ranking officials in the military, either as generals commanding a large army or as high-ranking officers.

  This time Xia Ya returned to the imperial capital, wearing a soft steel lock armor "Qiu Shan Kui" on the road. Wearing such armor is a symbol of identity!

  However, Kyushan armor also has its own distinctions. The set worn by Shaya before was just the basic equipment extorted from the military department in the war zone. Those who can wear Kyushan armor are either rich or noble. On the basis of this soft steel plate armor, various improvements and modifications have been made to enhance defensive power.

  For example, this set of Qiu Shan armor in the box in front of me. Although it is still a soft steel lock armor style. However, multiple upgrades have been made.

  For example, in the chest armor part, a layer of silver thread was plated around the edge. The silver thread looked carefully and it was also secret silver powder! And the inside of the chest armor was lined with a layer of high-quality rhinoceros leather! Because of the forging of metal armor, after all, there are always some seams and gaps in the joints that give the enemy an opportunity to take advantage of! Lining up a layer of rhinoceros leather inside can make up for the joints. The weight has not increased much, but the defensive power has increased by at least 20%.

  Moreover, this soft steel is not comparable to ordinary Chushan armor. This set of armor has a brighter metallic luster than ordinary soft steel, with an additional layer of subtle gloss that seems like the color of a white silver sword's edge! A cold and stern light shines through the luster!

  "Old knowledge..." Afreca took a deep breath after gazing at it for a while: "This is soft steel, probably made with secret refined fire! Such craftsmanship is extremely difficult. Generally, it's only used on the blade of a weapon to enhance its hardness and sharpness. And yet, an entire suit of armor is made this way!" How much did that cost?!

  Xia Ya picked up the armor and couldn't help but try it on. The craftsman had been extremely meticulous, modifying the armor to fit Xia Ya's physique perfectly, so when he put it on, it fit him like a glove.

  Originally, Xia Ya didn't care much about armor and the like, because he had dragon scales to protect himself, and his body was strengthened by dragon blood, making his defense strong enough. However, when he put on this set of "Qiu Rang Armor", a fierce aura burst forth. His whole body looked majestic! The three people beside him couldn't help but cheer loudly after seeing it.

  "Damn it, this armor seems like it was born on you!"

  Afureka's heart skipped a beat as he shouted loudly: "Sir! Watch out for your sword!"

  As he spoke, he swung up the white silver sword and slashed it down on Xia Ya's arm!

  Xia Ya smiled slightly and raised her arm to block... Clang!!

  The sword blade of the White Silver Sword sliced onto the armor on Qiu Shan's arm, instantly emitting a string of sparks! However, the sword blade was gently bounced off by the elastic soft armor. Xia Ya looked down and saw that there wasn't even half a crack on the armor, only an additional shallow white mark, which disappeared after a gentle wipe.

  Although Afreca didn't use his full strength, the sword in his hand was a Silver Word Sword! With just one try, several people fully felt the power of this Qiu Shan armor!

  Kato sighed: "There's a legend that when Duke Minas was young, he fought on the battlefield and Your Majesty gave him a set of armor secretly made in the palace. That armor was impervious to swords and guns, and even arrows couldn't penetrate it. Even if you used your inner energy to try and break it, it would be very difficult. Duke Minas became the greatest general of his time, fighting many battles. That armor saved his life many times. Now, looking at this armor that Xaya got, it's not necessarily inferior to the one Duke Minas had back then!"

  "Right! This armor also has a secret silver powder on the chest! It seems that as long as we find a magician to help, we can add magic to it! At that time, the power of this armor will be fully revealed!"

  Xia Ya was overjoyed in her heart and couldn't help but laugh out loud, feeling quite pleased with herself.

  This suit of armor was indeed very satisfying. Wearing it, he walked back and forth in the courtyard a few times, and even took out his fire spear to try out a set of Breaking Thousand Armies martial skills. There was no hindrance at all, clearly the joints had been specially treated.

  Having obtained so many good things, Xia Ya was naturally delighted. On this evening, the Duke of Minas sent someone again.

  It wasn't that fake Marquis Roparc who came this time, but several attendants from the Minas family. The visitor didn't say much and directly handed over a set of keys and some property deeds. Then he left without saying anything else.

  Xia Ya understood in her heart that this was what Kavihir had said. The Duke of Minas returned the Tulip Family's secret mansion to himself.

  Although the tulip family's affairs left him with some reservations in his heart, unexpectedly gaining such a large mansion was also an unexpected gain.

  As for the people around him who asked, how did Duke Minas suddenly come to send such a big gift, Xia Ya naturally wouldn't tell the truth, and just laughed. He deliberately thickened his skin and said: "I think it's because the duke thinks I'm young and promising, with a bright future ahead of me. He wants to recruit me as his son-in-law, so he came to send gifts to show his kindness."

  For Xia Ya's words, the several companions in the house naturally all smiled and ridiculed him, but seeing that Xia Ya actually got the attention of the first minister of the empire, they were also happy for Xia Ya. At this moment, Xia Ya was already the core of everyone, and from now on, everyone would be considered as a subordinate attached to Xia Ya. He could get the appreciation of Duke Minas, such a big figure, and everyone's future prospects naturally also had a guarantee.

  Xia Ya is an impatient person who can't keep things hidden. After getting the house, he took people out of town and went to see it again that day. Although he couldn't open the secret room in public when bringing people there, seeing such a large mansion built on the mountain, although it was old and dilapidated, its grand architecture still left everyone with their mouths agape.

  The toad was very pleased with himself. He had a great time boasting, but when he counted his money in the evening, the toad was stunned!

  "How, how is it possible?"

  The tortoise widened its eyes: "I got such a big house, but I'm going bankrupt instead! Attention! A new week has begun!!"