Pioneer Lord: I Have Conquering System

“I didn’t come just to make the delivery. It’s mainly that I haven’t been back to the Northern Territory in years. I wanted to see Fulina and thought I’d drop by and see you too.” Mandela took a bite of an apple, then a mournful look crossed his face. “But I never expected you, of all people, to be married already. The news was quite a shock. To be precise, all the beautiful maidens in Debei cried for a whole night.”

Fulina was no longer young and still had no heir, leaving the future succession of the Northern Territory uncertain. That was why he had been so strongly in favor of his niece marrying the Lord of High Cliff Castle.

But as it turned out, the man was already married.

Baisitina smiled faintly from the side. For some reason, hearing this made her very happy.

“I guess that makes me the bad guy,” the Lord said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

“Alright, alright, let’s drop it. Who you marry is none of my business.” Mandela waved his hand dismissively. As a notorious bachelor himself, he was in no position to be pushing Fulina to get married. “The five hundred Griffins are in your clearing. However, the Griffins need to accept their Knights before they can be ridden. I don’t know much about that part. Perhaps the Griffin Knights who came with them know what to do. You can ask them.”

Levi’s gaze turned to the three Griffin Knights.

“Lord, first, your Knights must eat and sleep with the Griffins.” The old, heavily-bearded Knight took a sip of hot tea and spoke first. “It’s how they’ll get accustomed to each other’s scent, allowing them to familiarize themselves more quickly and build trust.”

“Lord Levi, you mustn’t listen to his old-fashioned ways,” the young Knight suddenly interjected, the flute at his waist seeming to vibrate. “Singing lullabies is the trend now! My Wendy will only spread her wings to the ‘Sky Lullaby’…”

He looked completely earnest, as if this was a proven fact.

“Actually, the key is honey cake,” the Female Knight in the corner spoke timidly, raising an oil-paper package to everyone’s astonishment. “Every Griffin has a favorite sweet. For example, Kaya loves cake with honey mixed in. That’s how I earned her acceptance…”

Levi’s face darkened. ‘Are they putting on a play for me?’ The teacup he had just finished was crushed into powder with a CRACK, its remains falling like ash onto the table.

The Knights shivered in unison at the sight. They exchanged a look, then shouted together, “Of course, Lord, everyone’s methods are different! What we’ve said is only for your reference!”

Their synchronized performance was so perfect it was as if they had rehearsed it countless times.

“Hahaha, Levi, don’t be too hard on them,” Mandela laughed. “In reality, with Griffin Knights, it’s not the Knight who chooses the Griffin, but the Griffin who chooses the Knight. The Wisdom of these Magical Creatures is not much less than that of humans.”

‘Looks like I’ll have to use the old-fashioned way,’ the Lord thought, stroking his chin. ‘None of these guys are reliable.’ He knew their methods sounded outlandish, but perhaps that was precisely how they had earned their Griffins’ acceptance.

To be honest, Mandela had an ominous feeling. He knew the Lord of High Cliff Castle’s temperament all too well. When he started thinking that hard, it was a 100% guarantee he was cooking up some terrible idea.

And so, while they were in High Cliff Castle eating a meal that was the complete antithesis of mainstream Debei cuisine, a series of piercing shrieks suddenly echoed from outside. They exchanged glances and rushed out of the main hall, only to be met with a scene they would never forget: the Lord of High Cliff Castle was wrestling a Griffin!

A Griffin with a shoulder height of around a Tri-Blade and weighing several thousand pounds was as helpless as a wooden dummy in the Lord’s hands, being mercilessly slammed and thrown about. Feathers flew everywhere, and its piercing shrieks echoed across the sky above High Cliff Castle.

The Griffin Knights stood with their mouths agape, staring at the large crater smashed into the ground and the half-dead Griffin. They looked up at Levi’s two thick arms, their gazes completely frozen. They didn’t even notice when Griffin feathers drifted into their open mouths.

Any creature that can be tamed as a mount is, by definition, not an unbreakable one—and that included the famous Griffins.

This alpha Griffin, which the Lord had carefully selected for its leadership position among the five hundred, was now panting on the ground after a session with the Lord’s iron fists, refusing to get up. It didn’t even react when someone tried to put on the saddle Mandela and his men had brought.

Even when Levi climbed onto its back, the Griffin only glanced back once before falling silent.

“Take flight!”

And so, with Sophia away, this Griffin became Levi’s temporary mount.

Its two wings immediately began to beat. A powerful gust of wind sent the onlookers’ hair flying wildly as Levi’s perspective climbed higher and higher. Seated firmly on the Griffin’s back, he soared freely through the sky.

The feeling of riding it, he had to admit, was completely different from riding Sophia. The difference was like a motorcycle versus a heavy-duty freight truck from his past life.

The former was more agile and provided a more thrilling ride. The latter, on the other hand, was pure, raw power; you never had to worry about running into trouble in your own territory. Its terrifying weight alone was enough to crush anyone or anything that dared block its path to smithereens.

When he’d had his fun and returned to High Cliff Castle, he found that the Griffin Knights had already scrambled back to Gonda City in a hurry.

“They were afraid their own Griffins would suffer the same inhuman treatment,” Mandela said, holding back a laugh.

Still, he couldn’t help but admire Levi. Most people treated Griffins like their own revered ancestors. Only this master beat one into submission. It was, he had to admit, another way of doing things.

After all, this was a world where the strong devoured the weak. Magical Beasts, in particular, adhered to this Law.

Because of this, the flock of Griffins wasn’t afraid. Instead, they accepted Levi as their new leader.

“Let them go. It’ll save me a few meals,” Levi said nonchalantly as he walked back into the hall with Mandela. Then he got down to business. “Right, there’s one more thing. A while back, some scumbag noble from the Persian Gulf Empire invaded my territory. I captured him.”

“What?” Mandela was startled at first, then he frowned. “What happened? Tell me everything.”

After all, this was no small matter.

The Wilderness, after all, had been granted to Levi, the new Duke, by His Majesty the King. Nominally, it was now official Debei territory.

A noble from the Persian Gulf Empire invading the Wilderness could be seen as a border conflict. In a more serious light, it could trigger a war between the two nations.

After the Lord gave his embellished account of the events, with particular emphasis on his own wise and brilliant leadership…

After filtering out Levi’s flowery, self-aggrandizing rhetoric, Mandela pieced together the whole story.

“It seems the internal situation in the Persian Gulf Empire has been deteriorating these past few years, for them to start looking outward like this,” Mandela mused. His perspective was far broader than Levi’s.

He knew exactly what the internal situation of the Persian Gulf Empire was.

A cruel and incompetent King. A brutal, slave-based society with a highly monopolized economy that cut off all paths of advancement for commoners. A bloody and oppressive nation.

Their so-called “strength” was just a pretext. The great nobles could no longer divide the existing cake among themselves, so their only option was to make the cake bigger. And the only way to resolve their internal conflicts was through external war.

These were the conclusions Debei’s advisors had reached not long ago.

But Mandela hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.

Although that unlucky noble was ostensibly in the Wilderness to capture slaves for profit, it was likely a desperate move born from the fact that the “cake” back home was already fully divided. He had no choice but to seek his fortune elsewhere. Unfortunately for him, he ran right into a monster like Levi and met his end in this godforsaken place.

It was also further proof that the internal situation in the Persian Gulf Empire was dire.

“I know what you’re thinking, and that’s why I’m telling you all this.” Having been steeped in the history of his past life, Levi wasn’t as naive about these matters as some clueless college student.

He tapped the table and spoke slowly. “In recent years, our relations with both the Holy Sith Kingdom and Talisi have been tense, haven’t they?”

“And now, a nation that appears powerful but is actually a hollow shell, ready to collapse at the slightest push, has emerged. And it’s handed us a perfect reason to declare war. Tell me, if you were the King, what would you do?”