Chapter 176 - 167: Rise and Fall of the Eagle
At some point, a raven appeared beside Nuoshan and whispered, "Master, it’s time for dinner."
Nuoshan turned around to find that Duke Chen Hui had left long ago.
"These years have been hard on you," Nuoshan, the Duke, seemed quite reflective today, and said to the raven, "Over four thousand years of guarding, you have really given too much for the Nuoshan family."
The raven playfully replied, "No wonder Duke Chen Hui left without saying goodbye, he was probably scared off by your nagging."
"Ha ha, very well, very well," Nuoshan stood up with the raven’s support, "Enough talk, let’s go have dinner."
Before leaving, the raven looked back, casting a deep glance at the portrait of Nuoshan’s ancestor, the true master of the raven, the third Duke of Nuoshan.
Nuoshan was a title; every successor of the family’s dukedom was named after Nuoshan. The current bearer of the title was the two hundred and twenty-first Duke, and all dukes in the Eagle Alliance were hereditary, as long as the family owned more than one realm, their title would not be cancelled. Lei Shan, too, was a familial title. The father of Lei Shan, the previous Duke of Lei Shan, had established a solid foundation for the family, which led to the current Lei Shan’s honor of being promoted.
As for the raven, he was the oldest member of the entire alliance, guarding the Nuoshan family since the third Duke of Nuoshan established the alliance, and the world knew him as the Watcher.
From the raven’s tenure, Watcher had become the highest rank of martial prowess in the Eagle Alliance, lasting till today, with three major Watchers, the raven being one of them. The strength of these three Watchers varied greatly, with the raven ranked in the middle; the strongest was the husband of the Clan Leader Sinlei from two hundred years ago, Earl Xina. The five titles of Duke, Earl, Viscount, Baron, and Knight were split into three ranks each, and Xina was a second-rank Earl. His family was annexed when he was very young, but he was fortunate to fall in love with Duchess Sinlei, and as such, his title of Earl was unofficially preserved, growing from obscurity into a peerless powerhouse securing the alliance’s safety.
Speaking of the Eagle Alliance, its journey could be described as a roller coaster ride. Initially, the Nuoshan, Chen Hui, and Sinlei families, who ruled the thirteen realms within the Star Sea, often erupted into fierce wars among themselves, attacking each other and disputing territories. This continued until the third Duke of Nuoshan ascended to the position; he approached the two other dukes and proposed a strategy for peaceful coexistence and expansion.