"True strength comes from within, not from external things."

—Savior Ludwig

In the eyes of the group from Nuer, or in the eyes of everyone in the Old World, it was precisely because Laine's brothers were Demigods that they could not possibly interfere in the many affairs of the Prime Material Plane. This was the law of the gods, and mortals had the laws of mortals—as long as you didn't rob by force and acted according to the basic rules, Laine, as a Holy Grail Knight, could not violate the rules set by the Lake Fairy either.

"Let's investigate everything clearly first!"

"Yes!"

......I am the dividing line that keeps answering repeated questions......

In March, spring sunlight bathed the Count Glamorgan, the ice and snow melted. Though the weather was still a bit cold, the coldest period had passed and spring was about to arrive.

Not long ago, the last snowfall of this winter had fallen from the sky. Once this snow melted, it meant the true end of winter. The Count's Domain of Glamorgan began to revive and, as always, the crowds were dense, even packed.

Lately, there had been an especially large number of Wood Elf visitors to Gene Town. Winter was over, and in this awkward transition period the Wood Elves needed huge quantities of grain the most, so coming to Laine to buy grain in bulk had become their top priority. Cart after cart of Wood Elf goods was brought into the market, exchanged for more grain to be carried back into the forest.

The Count's castle, more than ten meters tall, was being renovated under the hands of a Dwarf construction crew. Quite a few Dwarfs from the Angland Clan were circling the entire castle, pointing and gesturing, while many human laborers were working as helpers for the Dwarf Craftsmen. After years of development, Laine's current castle had become overcrowded and was no longer enough for his needs. He planned to expand it, raising the three-story castle to six stories, enlarging the walled area by 70%, and incorporating several nearby wastelands within it to build a larger outer wall.

Since a castle under expansion wasn't very suitable to live in, Laine had moved to the winery for the time being. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Under the spring sunshine, Laine, his wife Surya, and his little Maid Amelia walked together. Today was Amelia's day off, and the little maid had been clamoring to go see the dogs that Brother Angerong was keeping. Amelia really liked cute little dogs.

Angerong had a hobby of hunting (the kind without using ranged weapons), so he went to Oliver and Hadrian, asking these two merchants to think of a way to get him a few smart dogs to keep.

Since it was Angerong's request, the two merchants naturally cooperated with all their might; even if it was difficult, they had to tackle it head-on. They really did manage to find some: in the Imperial Oster Territory there was a kind of border collie called the Oster Border Collie, border collie for short. Hadrian used his channels to import several from the Oster Territory for Angerong to use as hunting dogs and guard dogs.

Border collies were energetic, alert, and enthusiastic, with cute looks and a habit of hanging their tongues out. The first time Amelia saw them, she fell in love with these dogs.

Today Amelia was wearing a fish-tail dress of crystal-studded pale blue and smoked-wood white; her golden hair was still tied up with a white silk scarf. She wore a pair of little leather boots that just covered her ankles, and her calves, wrapped in white stockings, exuded a youthful vibe. The little maid pointed ahead: "Laine, Surya Sister, Mr. Angerong's dogs are just up ahead!"

"We're coming, we're coming." Laine had a faint smile on his face. He looked into the distance at the Charon Forest; thanks to his efforts, Charon Forest was gradually freeing itself from the corruption of Chaos, becoming filled with birdsong and the fragrance of flowers, with the vitality of spring blooming there. Laine took the opportunity to bring his wife Surya out for a spring outing. He took a deep breath of the fresh air and said to Surya, a bit relaxed, "Sometimes getting out for a walk is pretty nice."

Today the female Knight was wearing a spotless academy-style uniform shirt and a well-behaved, sweet black pleated pencil skirt, with a black Kislev bear-fur coat draped over it. Her long, straight black-silk Long Legs were paired with black suede stiletto high heels. The Countess was in high spirits. She had spent the last few days at home playing with the bear cub brought by the Ugoer Tribe and had nearly decided to buy it and keep it herself. In the end Laine had to step in and stop her—this Count did not want to come home at night and find a bear sitting in his seat.

"Yeah, it's pretty nice." The female Knight's married life was blissful. On Laine's side there was no pressure from a husband's family (Laine's father and mother were both gone), and the entire household was basically run by the female Knight. If she wanted to go back to her maiden home, all she had to do was ride her Pegasus for fifteen minutes to reach Helunhilde, so her face was always lit up with a smile.

"Hey, little brother, you're here?" Angerong was holding a big basket full of rice bran and a small amount of boiled grain. Two adorable border collies followed behind him, barking non-stop. When they saw Amelia, they wagged their tails joyfully and licked the little maid's face with their tongues.

"Ah, 486, I've come to see you!" Amelia took some jerky brought by the Ugoer people from her small bag and fed it to the two border collies. The male dog was the most excited, gobbling it down without stopping.

Laine thought to himself, these two are lick-dogs too, but why on earth did Amelia name one of them 486???

Forget it, that wasn't important. He cleared his throat and said to Angerong, who was feeding the pigs, "Brother, Duke Bodric's eldest legitimate son, Fidmund, has returned from his Holy Grail Expedition. Will you go to the banquet with me?"