Chapter 413

Since the conflict between the northern Empire and the Orc tribes living around the Northwest tatarus plateau more than 400 years ago, the shadow of war has never been rid of this huge country.

Although the orc civilization is undeveloped, they are brave and good at fighting, fearless of death and pain. Inspired by shamans and ancient spirits, any orc, even a minor female orc, can become a soldier. Their physique is far better than that of human beings, so that they can face these primitive creatures with bone sticks and stone spears, Human soldiers in excellent armor can't have the upper hand.

No one can predict that the war of extermination of primitive tribes, which was expected to end in about three months, lasted nearly five hundred years. During the long war and truce, the primitive orcs quickly imitated human civilization. They tried to farm, grow grass, raise cattle and sheep, They build workshops and crude sacrificial temples, learn from human craftsmen to build iron armour, build fortresses, and even the wise among them can think about the mystery of magic.

The war completely changed the orc race, and it was the same for the northern empire.

The nobles in the northwest of the Empire suffered a great blow because of the orc invasion in the past two years. Several families that existed at the beginning of the founding of the Empire disappeared completely, and large areas of ownerless land were vacant. After several times of collapse, the economy of the Empire quickly tilted towards military industry, and countless workshops and mines were opened everywhere, It undertakes the supply of military materials.

The best of these workshop owners and mine owners, as well as the soldiers who had excellent performance in fighting with the orcs in the army, became the new owners of the vacant land in Northwest China. These new aristocratic families became the main force to resist the invasion of the orcs, and also made their own family industry gradually become a part of the economic lifeline of the Empire.

The annual animal tide in the South and the continuous war in the northwest made the Empire of Norda unable to develop at ease all the time, and also made most of the new aristocrats decline in just a few decades, until another family replaced them.

But even so, for more than 400 years, some families still exist. Now they have become giants, controlling most of the mining, construction, metallurgy, transportation, textile, enchantment and other industries of the Empire. In terms of economy, the old-fashioned nobles, who are mainly farmers, are far away from these later generations. However, this is a world of fighting spirit and magic after all. In terms of individual strength, the old-fashioned nobles with perfect inheritance experience still occupy an advantage.

This is the difference between the two.

The Radcliffe family, where Joshua lived, was also a part of the new aristocracy in those years. The exploration of the great AEAS mountains in the North was just to find new veins and resource sources for the intensified war.

But now, the orcs are extinct, and the war that lasted more than 400 years is over.

The abnormal economic system of the empire is constantly returning to normal. The most obvious thing is that the demand for mineral resources and metallurgy has dropped sharply. It is said that the contemporary emperor Israel even plans to reduce the number of private soldiers of the northwest aristocrats in a few years and close most of the dangerous temporary mines and workshops.

Power and money are the lifeblood of a family. Without power, there is no way to protect money. Without money, there is no way to cultivate power.

Israel's move undoubtedly touched the core interests of the vast majority of new aristocrats - the arrival of peace, which means the disappearance of the inclination of war policy, the rapid decline of their importance, the loss of the Imperial military, the largest purchaser, and the closure of mass production facilities, which will undoubtedly bring incalculable economic losses.

If it is an empire in the ordinary world, then this time may be the beginning of a civil war, but in the continent of mirov, no one dares to challenge the authority of the legendary strongman. The emperor said, first, no one dares to say, second, Israel is able to defend himself and level the orc court, and he certainly does not mind to wipe out a couple of stupid nobles who dare to challenge the royal majesty, so as to set an example to others.

The aristocracy can only accept all this.

It was early in the morning when a knight drove slowly in the outskirts of SETI, not far from the imperial capital. He walked through the wet fields and came to a quiet small town. There is a sparkling river at the entrance of the town. The knight passes the flat stone bridge, crosses several streets, and finally stops at the gate of an ordinary manor.

The knight dismounted and reported his intention to the servant of the manor. The white haired servant glanced at him. Then on the simple armor, the old man saw the low-key and incomparable badge.

"Iron hand"

The iron hand of the Empire, the coat of arms of the feltaos.

So he nodded politely, and then went back to the house to report to the steward. Soon, a serious looking housekeeper passed through the manor and took a letter from the knight.

Before long, the door of a room deep in the manor was knocked, and Clement Seward woke up from his sleep.Although he woke up by accident, cleman didn't feel angry about it. The middle-aged man with long dark brown hair took two seconds to get out of his dream, and then began to think calmly.

If there is nothing important, his deputy will not disturb his sleep on weekdays. Since he is disturbed, it means that there must be something important. The middle-aged man with such a logic in his mind quickly put on his clothes and walked out of the room. He immediately saw his deputy waiting for him. As the largest ore supplier in the northwest of the Empire, the spokesman of the suward family in the imperial capital. As the second son of the family, cleman believed in this deputy who had assisted him for many years. Instead of pretending to be serious, he yawned and complained: "what's the matter? I haven't slept well for nearly two months

"A letter from the feltaos." It seemed that the deputy, who was about 50 years old, immediately replied, "the knight NACK sent it himself. It should have something to do with that."

"They haven't finished yet?" Cleman took out a Amethyst bottle from his pocket, sniffed it, and a very fresh and refreshing smell poured into his nose, which made him completely enter the working state: "it's been half a month, haven't there been any results yet?"

At this point, cleman frowned. He said angrily, "they didn't do it?"

"No, he did. It's just that the situation is a bit strange. Nach thinks something is wrong. He says his master can't handle the situation either."

"In addition to the ability of the eldest son, the new generation of the feltaos are all rubbish. The new nobles are all such guys. They don't know how to cultivate the next generation at all." Cleman disdains to say that although he is only the second son of the family and can't inherit the title of the suward family, he is the spokesman of the family in the imperial capital and controls most of the secrets of the industry. Even his eldest brother must rely on him in the future to smoothly manage the whole family.

To put it this way, cleman took the envelope from his deputy. He opened it, scanned the contents, and twisted his expression.

"What did they do?"

The future number two of the suward family made a low roar, with a trace of fear in his anger: "kill them all?! These goddamn dwarfs, and dwarfed idiots, are their heads made of stone? "

Most of the family members were not tall because of their blood and human intelligence. They became one of the largest arms suppliers of the Empire.

Seeing this, the deputy took the letter from cleman. He also glanced at it, then took a cold breath: "my God - it's not in line with the rules!"

"Of course." Cleman subconsciously took out the Amethyst bottle, which contained a high concentration of refreshing liquid. It was the favorite of the mages who like to stay up late to study. He took a breath and then calmed down: "the Radcliffe family disobeyed the rules and tried to seize the cake of the weapon market at this difficult time. It's normal for those dwarfs to want to threaten, But they went too far this time. "

Now, it is the peaceful time that the Empire has not seen for a long time. After the war with the orcs, the arms and ore market of the Empire has shrunk as a whole, and many workshops are unable to receive orders and are on the verge of bankruptcy. The suward family is OK. The ore industry they run is in great demand even in peacetime. Although it's a little uncomfortable, it's not a big difficulty. But the aristocrats like the fertao family, who started with casting weapons, are different. They are in an unprecedented crisis.

However, the Radcliffe family was even worse at this time. The northern family was one of the special ore suppliers of the five legions directly under the Royal Charter. Even after the end of the war, they could not affect much of their business. However, the new Earl seemed not satisfied. At this time when all the new aristocrats were in great difficulty, he was very happy, They began to produce and sell finished weapons and armor, and snatched business from other very difficult families.

Cutting off people's wealth is the enemy of life and death. This sentence is the same all over the world. The feltaos, who are most affected, must be mad. This can be seen from the actions of their spokesman for the imperial capital. Recently, he has been trying to harass the shops and industries of the radcliffs.

"One, two, three... Six."

Cleman rubbed his forehead fiercely. He looked very distressed: "seven gods, he killed most of Radcliffe's spokesmen in the imperial capital... This is not a temptation or a threat, it's a naked provocation!"

Cleman also dislikes the unruly Radcliffe family, but he is cautious in nature and prefers to find a time to solve all this at the negotiation table. Of course, he doesn't think there is anything wrong with the feltaos' behavior, but he kills too many people, which is also unruly.

Although the suward family is located in the northwest, they are real old-fashioned aristocrats. They pay attention to politeness. Only when they are sure that they can't get it through negotiation and transaction, will they do something.Assassinate, threaten and bribe the spokesmen of competitors, which was originally a part of aristocratic struggle. If we say that near the imperial frontier such as the northern or southern fortress, the noble's struggle is likely to develop into a bloody war, but not around the imperial capital. However, generally speaking, the assassination of spokesmen is the most intense warning and provocation. Killing six spokesmen at one time is basically equal to the war in the border areas.

"Didn't the radcliffs say anything?" Thinking of this, cleman turned his head and asked his deputy. He said strangely, "can those northerners bear their temper?"

He knows that the young Lord in the north is known as the youngest. He is even called the legend of the future by his majesty. It's hard to imagine that he can bear such a loss with his character.

"Here's the strange thing." The Deputy replied quickly. At this time, he had finished reading the contents of the letter: "the shop is in normal operation. Although people die one by one, there is no counterattack. You know, many people are ready to be assassinated, and we have temporarily hid in the suburbs - that's why the people of the feltaos asked us. They want to know what's going on."

There is no doubt that cleman acquiesced in this attack. To be exact, if several mining and metallurgical nobles did not unite against the radcliffs, the feltaos did not dare to challenge a strong man so easily, but Joshua's reaction made the other party confused.

"They think the count is afraid?"

After receiving the letter from his deputy again, cleman saw that at last, he grinned his teeth and even laughed angrily: "arrogant dwarf... That's a very strong man! He just came back from the battle field of holy mountain and wild dragon. The number of giant dragons killed may be more than the weapons forged in your lifetime! "

Before, the nobles of the Empire learned some news from the court. They knew that Joshua had left the Empire, so the feltaos dared to attack Alfonso Carlos. But almost a week ago, the news from the far south shocked everyone. The soldiers left at the invitation of the seven gods church, During this period of time, he has been fighting with the wild dragon in the holy mountain of the distant sea, and has achieved countless results.

Although he didn't believe that Joshua didn't respond to the death of his spokesmen because he was afraid, the middle-aged man didn't know what was going on. He leaned against the wall in distress and his brain kept running.

Are you really afraid? He thought that, of course, he was not afraid of the feltaos, but of some big people at a higher level.

This attack on Radcliffe's family is not entirely revenge for the other party's unruly business robbery. Cleman himself only got the signal from the family head, Marquis suward, to violate the family rules and cooperate with the dwarfs to provide poison. He guessed vaguely from the scattered information in his father's mouth that it seemed to be the instruction of a big figure in the royal court, but Kleiman couldn't figure out who would target Joshua in the royal court.

The Radcliffe family has always been a clear-cut imperial party, which can be seen from the fact that they were able to get orders from the five legions. Joshua himself had a close relationship with Brandon, the successor of another royal party, the CAOS family. His Majesty's former teacher, master nozhadanmas, also set up a mage Academy in the north, Not to mention that his majesty Israel himself was very appreciative of Joshua.

In any case, he can not be involved in the internal struggle of the court unless

Cleman took a deep breath, he has been reluctant to think in this direction, but now he felt a chill spread in the spine.

Unless it's about the heirs of the Empire.

From the beginning to the end, no one, no matter Kleiman, his deputy or the feltaos, felt that it was a big event to assassinate an ordinary businessman. They were afraid, but they were only afraid that they would kill too much. Killing too much at one time would make the radcliffs lose face, which was regarded as a formal provocation.

Interest is more important than everything. They want to solve all this at the negotiation table. The assassination of the spokesperson is just a kind of fierce notice. This is the way aristocrats fight. Cleman is very adapted to all this. Over the years, he has been doing this and thinks it will continue. But there are always some accidents in his life.

Now, for example.

Outside the manor, there was a sudden thunder. Cleman didn't care too much, but the next moment, he suddenly felt a shock all over his body, and all the pores on his body were constricted by fear.

The space seemed to be distorted, and the whole manor tilted suddenly - a swift and incomparable dark red ripple across the corridor from top to bottom, breaking a crack, creaking and cracking into a sound. The middle-aged man and his deputy quickly leaned on the more stable side of the corridor, and they looked at it blankly.The estate is divided in two.

On the other side of the building collapsed, cleman saw the early morning sun and breathed the air full of dew.

And a figure, suspended in the air, holding a silver sword in his hand, his eyes red as fire, overlooking the crowd.

The high temperature enough to burn the steel diffused from his whole body. The middle-aged man looked at everything on his side with fear - the broken corridor, the broken walls, furniture and potted plants turned into flying ash in the high temperature. The air was twisted by the high temperature, and rushed to the high altitude with these flashing red sparks.

The shadow of despair spreads