"Interesting. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info”

Joshua's eyes swept up and down, and after reading the letter sent by Alfonso roughly, his deep voice echoed in the study, and the warrior realized that the letter sent by the merchant was indeed irrelevant to the auction, but it was also important...... At least, let him know some of the things that are happening in the imperial capital now.

Something about his family business.

"Someone targeting me? It's kind of interesting. ”

After looking at it a second time, leaning back, Joshua sat down in a chair with comfortable leather cushions, lost in thought.

As we all know, whether it is a commoner or a nobleman, a merchant or an artisan, money is always the most important thing for the vast majority of people in this world, and the Radcliffe family, to which Joshua belongs, is no exception.

For this frontier military family rooted in the Northlands, due to the need to maintain an army of more than 2,000 people all year round and maintain a huge Black Forest fortress defense line, the little tax revenue in the territory is completely beyond its means, even if it is a hypothetical checkpoint, it is meaningless to levy tolls on adventurers and caravans passing through, what can really make the entire territory run normally is actually the Radcliffe family's ore industry that spreads throughout the center and north of the empire.

Due to the cooperation with the rune dwarves of the Northland to mine the precious ore veins in the Great Ajax Mountains, the Radcliffe family's refined ore quality has always been very good, and the amount is not small, it has always been the preferred target of major weapons and builders, basically as many as you can sell, plus the Empire's intentional or unintentional support, the Radcliffe family has even become one of the main raw material suppliers of the Empire's five major legions, and Joshua is also for this reason, as soon as he enters the Crow Legion, he is the deputy commander.

With these stable sales channels, at least there is no need to worry about the sudden decline of the family, and even look forward to a better future - even when Joshua's father was still alive, the old earl was no longer satisfied with the small profits from selling raw materials, but planned to enter the finished weapons industry.

With the entire Northland rune dwarves as their technical backing, and their own excellent volcanic veins, the Radcliffe family definitely has the ability to forge excellent swords and armor - under the orders of the old earl, with sword wielding hands, ore shops all over the empire immediately began to sell weapons and armor on a part-time basis.

Naturally, this would infringe on the interests of others, especially the original arms dealers.

That's where the targeting comes from.

"If you think about it, it seems that the Wilson family tried to prop up my cheap uncle to power for this reason."

Whispering to himself, Joshua shook his head: "Indeed, the raw material merchants plan to produce and sell their own products, and I don't know how many enemies will be erected, so it's no wonder that this group of people plan to take advantage of the unstable situation in Moldavia to embezzle my industry." ”

Alfonso, who was in the imperial capital, sent a letter to Joshua about this - probably because of the war with the orcs, a large number of shopkeepers sent out by the family were not optimistic that Joshua would survive the war before the crossing, and Danria had already succeeded in gaining favor from many people before returning to the north to compete for the title.

Therefore, after Joshua easily killed his cheap uncle and officially inherited the earl title, those shopkeepers who had already taken refuge in Danlia were afraid of reprisals, so they immediately sold the shop to a competitor of the Radcliffe family, and the other party naturally took over without hesitation.

In addition, not long after Joshua inherited the title, he went to Moldova to assist the Scarrante family, and did not find out about this situation in time, and now there are only two of the five stores of the Radcliffe family in the imperial capital, fortunately, other places are okay, there is no such large-scale resale, and the loss is not big overall, but it is a major blow to the reputation.

"Short-sighted and ignorant, it's not a big deal to take refuge in Danya, in the final analysis, I still serve the family, I'm not a demon, if I am willing to continue to work hard, the ghost will replace an experienced and well-connected local shopkeeper for this kind of thing."

Shaking his head and looking at the letter, Joshua's eyes narrowed slightly, and he sneered: "As for now...... This is betrayal. ”

And there is no good end for the betrayer.

The warrior stood up from his chair, he picked up his pen and wrote a few notes on a notebook: "It's time to find a time to go to the imperial capital to have a look...... By the way, let me see which families dare to oppose me. ”

Writing down in his notebook the names of several families who had dared to blatantly buy his family property, Joshua looked back at the last paragraph of Alfonso's letter.

【…… Therefore, I hope that Lord Earl will grant me the right to preside over your property in the Imperial Capital, and I will have the confidence to stabilize the situation, and even reclaim the two shops that have been transferred.

In order to gain your trust, I would like to take the honor of the surname Carlos as a testimony to lead the whole family to swear allegiance to you, to the Radcliffe family.

Your faithful, Alfonso Carlos. 】

"This guy is really going to seize the opportunity, you know, the shopkeeper who can run a shop in a place like the imperial capital is basically cultivated from a young age, and even simply a close relative with a blood relationship...... An outsider, the president of a local caravan, plans to rely on a few words to win an industry in a place like the imperial capital. ”

The image of the middle-aged man with a scar on his throat appeared in his mind, and a smile appeared on Joshua's face: "Although I really need someone who understands business to stabilize the situation at this time, and I deliberately use such a thing as an oath of allegiance as a guarantee, but I like this kind of straightforwardness." ”

Warriors don't hate this simple and direct approach, it's human nature to want to climb up, a person must have a desire in his heart, he will work hard, since Alfonso is optimistic about himself and is willing to get on his own boat, so why not give him a chance? He is willing to buy strange things for himself, and naturally he will do his best to work for the warriors.

"Hoo ......"

Suddenly, on the side of the study, the sound of soft breathing came.

The warrior turned his head and looked behind him, and sure enough, the silver-haired girl was lying on her side on the couch by the wall, asleep again.

Walking slowly, Joshua looked down, Hotaru was lying sideways on the animal skin sofa, her eyes were closed, her long eyelashes fluttered with her breathing, Miss Shenji's breathing was steady, and the expression on her face was also very soothing, and she looked very comfortable.

“…… If you want to rest, you should go inside your room. ”

Shaking his head and sighing, Joshua didn't know what to do, he smiled bitterly: "You don't need to fight now, what are you doing with me all the time, how good it is to sleep well." ”

Not intending to disturb the rest of his weapon, Joshua put away the letter in his hand, and he sat back in the chair in front of his desk and continued to work on the remaining letters.

Hotaru, who was asleep, frowned slightly.

She was dreaming.

- A strange nightmare.

The sky was dark, the sun was gone, and the earth, dimmed by the clouds, spread towards the end of the world, and a dim red light almost extinguished formed a small dot on it, flickering at the edge of the sky.

When Hotaru opened her eyes in a dream, she saw such a scene.

Underneath him, there was a dead silence, the black soil smelled of rancidity, and there was not a trace of life in it.

High in the sky, a distorted and strange cloud curtain obscured the sky, and it slowly changed its shape, making the patterns it had transformed into more and more eerie, exuding some kind of evil power.

The silver-haired girl in the dream looked blankly at everything around her.

In this dream, Hotaru's perspective is in mid-air, and she can clearly see the whole picture around her - from the end of the sky to the other side of the earth, whether it is mountains, hills, woods, rivers or city ruins, they are all shrouded in a dense gray mist, this breathless fog mixed with black dust, gradually wrapping everything on the earth in a crystalline shell as muddy as stone, and the distorted clouds rain viscous rain, spreading the power of chaos throughout the world.

The power of chaos envelops the entire world, causing everything to tend to absolute chaos.

The water no longer flows, the wind no longer blows, the trees no longer grow, the sun and the moon no longer rise......

-- Naturally, the fire is not burning.

The fire of this world has been extinguished...... (To be continued.) )