Since more than four hundred years ago, the Northern Empire and the Orc tribes living around the Tataros Plateau in the northwest, the shadow of war has never escaped this huge country.

Although the orc civilization is not developed, they are brave and good at fighting, and are not afraid of death or pain. Inspired by shamans and ancient pastors, any orc, even underage female orcs, can become warriors. Their physique is far better than that of humans, so that when facing these primitive creatures holding bone sticks and stone spears, human soldiers wearing fine iron armor cannot gain any advantage.

No one could predict that this primitive tribe extermination war, which was originally optimistically estimated to end in about three months, lasted for nearly five hundred years. During this long war and truce, the primitive orcs quickly imitated human civilization. They tried to plow fields, plant grass and raise cattle and sheep. They built workshops and simple sacrificial temples, learned from human craftsmen to build iron armor, build fortresses, and even the wise men in it would think about the mystery of magic.

War completely changed the orc race, and the same is true for the Northern Empire.

The nobles in the northwestern Empire suffered a great blow due to the orcs' two-year invasion. Several families that had existed since the beginning of the country disappeared completely, and large areas of unowned land were vacant. After the empire's economy was on the verge of collapse, it quickly tilted towards the military industry. Countless workshops, large and small mines were opened in various places, and they were responsible for the supply of military supplies.

The best among these workshop owners and mine owners, as well as warriors who performed very well in the battle with orcs in the army, became the new owners of vacant land in the northwest region. These emerging noble families became the main force to resist orc invasion, and also made their family's industries gradually become part of the lifeline of the empire's economy.

The annual beast tide in the south and the continuous wars in the northwest made the huge empire unable to develop with peace of mind, and also caused most of the emerging nobles to decline in just a few decades until another family replaced them.

But even so, for more than four hundred years, some families have survived. They have now become giants, controlling most of the empire's minerals, construction, metallurgy, transportation, textiles, and enchantments. In terms of economy, the old-school nobles, who were farmers, were far behind by these later generations, but this is a world with fighting spirit and magic. In terms of individual strength, the old-school nobles with perfect inheritance experience still have an advantage.

The Radcliff family where Joshua is located is also part of the emerging aristocrats of that time. The exploration of the Great Aes Mountains in the North was to find new mineral veins and resource sources for the increasingly intensified war.

But now, the orcs have become extinct and the war that has lasted for more than four hundred years has ended.

The empire's abnormal economic system is constantly returning to normal. The most obvious thing is that the demand for minerals and metallurgy has declined sharply. There are rumors that the contemporary emperor Isrell is even preparing to reduce the number of private soldiers of the Northwest nobles within a few years and close most dangerous temporary mines and workshops.

Strength and money are the lifeblood of a family. Without strength, there is no way to protect money, and without money, there is no way to cultivate strength.

Isrell's move undoubtedly touched the core interests of most emerging aristocrats, and the arrival of peace means that the tilt of war policy disappears, their importance decreases rapidly, and the loss of the Imperial Military, the largest acquirer and the closure of mass production facilities will undoubtedly bring uncalculable economic losses.

If it was an empire in the ordinary world, then this time might be the beginning of a civil war, but in the continent of Mycrov, no one dared to challenge the majesty of the legendary strong man. The emperor said one, no one dared to say two, and Isrell could lead the army and flatten the orc court. He would definitely not mind taking action to wipe out one or two stupid nobles who dared to challenge the majesty of the royal family to kill the chicken to warn the monkey.

The nobles could only swallow the bitter fruit.

It was early morning, and a knight slowly drove in the outskirts of Sitai not far away from the Emperor. He passed through a field full of moist water vapor and came to a quiet small town. At the entrance of the town, there was a sparkling river. The knight walked through the flat stone bridge deck, crossed several streets, and finally stopped at the entrance of an ordinary manor.

The knight dismounted and reported his purpose to the servants of the manor. The white-haired servant glanced at him a few times, and then on the simple armor, the old man saw the extremely low-key emblem.

'iron hand'

Imperial iron fist, the Fertao family's heraldic emblem.

So he nodded politely, then went back to the house to report to the manager. Soon, a serious butler walked through the manor and took a letter from the knight.

Not long after, the door of a room deep in the manor was knocked and Kleman Suward woke up from his sleep.

Although he woke up from an accident, Kleiman was not angry about it. The middle-aged man with long dark brown hair took two seconds to completely escape from the illusion in his dream and began to think calmly.

If nothing important is happening, his deputy will not disturb his sleep on weekdays. Since it is disturbed, it means that there must be something important. A 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 region of the empire, the spokesperson of the Suward family in the imperial capital. As the second son of the family, Kleiman, who has been assisting him for many years, believes in this deputy who has been assisting him for many years. Instead of pretending to be serious, he yawned and complained: "What's going on? I haven't had a good sleep for almost two months."

"Letter from the Ferta's family." The deputy who looked almost fifty years old immediately replied: "The big knight Nak personally delivered it, which should be related to 'that incident'."

"They haven't tried to finish?" Kleiman took out a small amethyst bottle from his pocket, sniffed it, and an extremely fresh and awake smell poured into his nose, causing him to completely enter his working state: "It's been half a month, hasn't there any results yet?"

Speaking of this, Clayman frowned and said with some anger: "Didn't they take action?"

"No, I took action, but the situation was a bit strange. Nak felt something was wrong. He said his master couldn't grasp the situation."

"The new generation of the Fertao family, except for the eldest son, is all waste." Kleiman said disdainfully. Although he is only the second son of the family and cannot inherit the title of the Suward family, he is the spokesperson of the family in the imperial capital, controlling most of the secrets of the industry. Even his elder brother must rely on him to manage the entire family smoothly in the future.

Having said that, Kleiman took the envelope from his deputy. He opened it, roughly swept the contents, and then his expression became distorted.

"What did they do?!"

The future No. 2 figure of the Suward family let out a low roar, with a hint of fear in its anger: "Kill them all?! Are these hellish dwarfs and dwarf idiots, their heads are made of stone?!"

The ancestors of the Fertao family were once mixed with dwarves, so most of the family members were not tall. It was precisely because of their dwarves' bloodline and human wisdom that they became one of the largest weapons suppliers in the empire.

Seeing this, the deputy took the letter paper from Kleiman's hand. He also glanced roughly, then took a breath: "Oh my God, this is not in line with the rules!"

"That's of course." Kleiman subconsciously took out a small amethyst bottle, which contained a high concentration of refreshing potion. It was the favorite of the mages who liked to stay up late to study. He sucked it before calming down: "The Radcliffe family is not following the rules and attempts to grab the cake of the weapons market when everyone is in a difficult time. It is normal for those short guys to threaten it, but they did too much this time."

Now, it is the long-lost peace time for the empire. After the war with the orcs ended, the empire's weapons and ore markets shrank overall, and many workshops could not receive orders and were on the verge of bankruptcy. The Suward family was fine. The ore industry they operated was in demand even in peacetime. Although it was a bit uncomfortable, it was not a big difficulty. But aristocrats like the Fertao family who started with casting weapons were different. They were in an unprecedented crisis moment.

But the Radcliffe family made things worse at this time. The Northern Family was granted royal license and one of the special ore suppliers of the five direct legions. Even if the war ended, it would not affect their business. However, the new count seemed not satisfied. He actually started to produce, sell finished weapons and armor when all the new nobles were in great difficulty, and robbed business from other families that were already very difficult.

Cutting off one's wealth is the enemy of life and death. This sentence is the same in the whole world. The Ferta's family, which has been most affected, must be furious. It can be seen from the actions of their spokesperson for the imperial capital that he has been trying to harass the Radcliffe's shops and industries recently.

"One, two, three...six people."

Clayman rubbed his forehead hard, and he was very distressed: "The Seven Gods are here, and he killed more than half of the spokespersons of the Radcliffe family in the imperial capital... This is no longer a temptation or threat, it is a naked provocation!"

Kleiman also disliked the unruly Radcliffe family, but he was cautious by nature and tended to find some time to solve all this at the negotiating table. Of course, he didn't think there was anything wrong with the Ferta's behavior, but there were too many people killed and it was also unruly.

Assassination, threats and bribery against competitor spokespersons were originally part of the aristocratic struggle. If the aristocratic struggle was near the empire's frontiers such as the northern or southern fortresses, the aristocratic struggle might develop into a bloody battle, but it would not be like this around the imperial capital. However, generally speaking, assassination of spokespersons is the most intense warning and provocation. Killing six at a time is basically equivalent to the war in the frontier area.

"Didn't the Radcliffe family have any expression?" Thinking of this, Kleiman turned his head and asked his deputy. He said incrediblely: "Can those northerners bear the tempers of the tempers?"

He knew that the young lord in the north was known as the youngest, and was even called the legend of the future by His Majesty the Emperor. It was unimaginable that the young man could endure such a loss.

"The strange thing is here." The deputy answered quickly. At this time, he had finished reading the content on the letter: "The store is operating normally. Although people died one by one, there was no counterattack. You know, many people are ready to be assassinated, and we temporarily hide in the suburbs. This is why the people from the Ferta'ao family asked us, and they wanted to know what was going on."

This attack was undoubtedly acquiesced by Kleiman. To be precise, if it weren't for several mineral and metallurgical nobles who jointly targeted the Radcliffe family, the Ferta's family would not dare to provoke a strong man so easily, but Joshua's reaction made the other party extremely puzzled.

"They think that Count is scared?"

After taking the letter from his deputy again, Kleiman saw it at the end. He grinded his teeth and even laughed angry: "The arrogant short man... that is a strong man! He just came back from the battlefield of the Holy Mountain and the Crazy Dragon. The number of dragons he killed may be more than the weapons you have forged in your entire life!"

Previously, the nobles of the empire learned some news from the palace. They knew that Joshua had left the empire, so the Fertao family dared to attack Alfonso Carlos. But almost a week ago, the news from the Far South shocked everyone. In fact, he was invited by the Seven Gods Church. During this period, he had been fighting against the Crazy Dragon in the Holy Mountain of the Far Sea and had achieved countless results.

Although he didn't believe that Joshua was afraid, he did not react to his spokesperson's death one after another, but the middle-aged man actually didn't know what was going on. He leaned against the wall with some distress, and his brain kept running.

Could it be that he was really afraid? Of course, he was not afraid of the Ferta's family, but of some higher-level big shots.

This time, the attack on the Radcliffe family was not entirely revenge on the other party's unruly robbery of the other party. Kleiman himself received the instructions of the clan leader and Marquis Old Suward, so he cooperated with the group of dwarfs to provide poison. He vaguely guessed from the scattered information from his father that it seemed to be the instructions of a major figure in the royal palace, but Kleiman couldn't figure out who would target Joshua within the royal family.

The Radcliffe family has always been a clear-cut royal party. This can be seen from the fact that they can get orders from the five major legions. Joshua himself has a close personal relationship with Brandon, the heir of the Caus family of another royal party. His former teacher, Master Nostradamus, also opened a mage academy in the north, not to mention that His Majesty Isrell himself admires Joshua very much.

The internal struggle of the palace could not involve him in any case, unless...

Kleiman took a deep breath. He had been unwilling to think deeply in this direction, but now he felt a chill spreading around his spine.

Unless, this matter involves the issue of the heirs of the empire.

From beginning to end, no one thought that assassinating an ordinary businessman was a big deal, whether it was Kleiman, his deputy, or the group of people from the Fertao family. They were afraid, but they were just afraid that they would take too much action. Killing too many at once would make the Radcliffe family lose face, and thus regarded it as a provocation of the formal war.

Money is more important than everything. They want to solve all this at the negotiating table. Assassination of the spokesperson was just a fierce notice. This is the way the nobles fought against him. Kleiman was very adapted to all this. For so many years, he has been here and felt that it would continue like this, but there are always some surprises in his life.

For example, now.

Outside the manor, thunder suddenly sounded, and Kleiman 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 tightened due to fear.

The space seemed to be twisted, and the entire manor immediately tilted a very fast dark red ripples across the corridor from top to bottom, breaking a crack, and the crunching twists and shattering sounds were heard. The middle-aged man and his deputy hurriedly leaned against one side of the corridor, and they watched all this in a daze.

Then, the cracks expanded rapidly, dividing the entire estate into two halves.

The building on the other side fell, and Kleiman saw the sun in the early morning and breathed in dewy air.

A figure was floating in the air, holding a silver sword in his hand, his eyes as red as fire.

The high temperature that was enough to burn out the steel spread from his whole body. The middle-aged man looked at all the broken corridors, broken walls, furniture, and potted plants beside him in fear and turned into ashes in the sky under this high temperature. The air was twisted by the high temperature, and rushed to the sky with these red sparks.

The shadow of despair covered everyone.
Chapter completed!