Soul of Burning Steel

"interesting."

Joshua swept his eyes up and down, and after roughly reading the letter from Alfonso, his deep voice echoed in the study room, and the soldier realized that the letter from the merchant had nothing to do with the auction, but it also had nothing to do with it. It's very important... At least let him know some things that are happening in the imperial capital today.

Something about his family business.

"Someone is targeting me? It's really interesting."

After watching it for the second time, Joshua sat on a chair with comfortable leather cushions and fell into deep thought.

As we all know, money is always the top priority for most people in this world, whether they are commoners or nobles, merchants or craftsmen, and the Radcliffe family where Joshua belongs is no exception.

For this border military family rooted in the north, due to the need to maintain an army of more than 2,000 people and maintain the huge Black Forest fortress line of defense, the tax revenue of the territory is completely beyond their means, even if it is a hypothetical checkpoint. It doesn't make sense for adventurers and caravans to collect tolls. What really makes the entire territory operate normally is the ore industry of the Radcliffe family that spreads throughout the central and northern parts of the empire.

Due to the cooperation with the rune dwarves in the north to mine the precious ore veins in the Great Ajax Mountains, the quality of the refined ore of the Radcliffe family has always been very good, and the quantity is not small. It has always been the first choice of major weapons and builders. The goal is basically to sell as much as you have, and with the intentional or unintentional support from the empire, the Radcliffe family has even become one of the main raw material suppliers for the standard weapons of the five major legions of the empire. Joshua It is also for this reason that when one joins the Black Crow Legion, one becomes the deputy commander.

With these stable sales channels, at least you don’t have to worry about the sudden decline of the family, and you can even look forward to a better future—when Joshua’s father was still alive, the old earl was no longer satisfied with the meager profits of selling raw materials, but It is planning to enter the finished weapon industry.

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

And this matter will naturally violate the interests of other people, especially the original arms dealers.

That's where the targeting comes in.

"Thinking about it carefully, the Wilson family's attempt to support my cheap uncle in power seems to be precisely for this reason."

Talking to himself in a low voice, Joshua shook his head: "Indeed, raw material dealers plan to produce and sell their own products. I don't know how many enemies they will raise. It's no wonder that these people plan to take advantage of the unfavorable situation in Moldavia. When it is stable, it will embezzle my property."

Alfonso, who was in the imperial capital, sent Joshua a letter about this matter—probably because of the war with the orcs, the store owners assigned by a large number of families were not optimistic about Joshua before crossing over. Being able to survive this war, Danlia had already successfully received favors from many people before returning to the Northland to compete for the title.

Therefore, after Joshua easily beheaded his cheap uncle and officially inherited the title of earl, those shopkeepers who had taken refuge in Danlia feared revenge and immediately sold the shop to the Radcliffe family's competitors. And the other party naturally took over without hesitation.

In addition, Joshua went to Moldova to help the Scarante family shortly after inheriting the title, and did not discover this situation in time. Of the five Radcliffe family stores in the imperial capital, there are only two left now. Fortunately, other places are fine, and there is no such large-scale resale incident. Generally speaking, the loss is not big, but it is a major blow to reputation.

"Short-sighted and ignorant, taking refuge in Danlia is not a big deal. In the final analysis, I still serve the family. I am not a devil. If I am willing to continue to work hard, the ghost will replace an experienced and well-connected shopkeeper for this kind of thing. "

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

And the traitor never ends well.

The soldier stood up from his chair, picked up a pen, and wrote down a few notes in a notebook: "It's time to find some time and go to the imperial capital... By the way, let me see which families dare to oppose me. "

After remembering the names of several families who dared to blatantly purchase their own family property, and writing them down in his notebook, Joshua looked at the last paragraph of Alfonso's letter.

【...Therefore, I hope the earl will grant me the corresponding rights to take charge of your property in the imperial capital. I have the confidence to stabilize the situation and even take back the two shops that have been transferred.

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

Yours faithfully, Alfonso Carlos. 】

"This guy really will seize the opportunity. You know, the shopkeeper who can manage a shop in a place like the imperial capital is basically cultivated from an early age, or even a close relative with a blood relationship... an outsider, a local caravan The president of the company plans to use a few words to win a property in a place like the imperial capital where every inch of land is expensive."

The image of the middle-aged man with a scar on his throat appeared in his mind, and Joshua showed a smile on his face: "Although I have seen that I really need someone who understands business to stabilize the situation at this time, I also deliberately swore allegiance to this kind of person. Things as a guarantee, but I like this straightforwardness."

Soldiers do not dislike this simple and direct approach. It is human nature to want to climb up. A person must have desire in his heart to fight hard. Since Alfonso is optimistic about himself and is willing to board his own boat, then Why not give him a chance? He is willing to buy strange items for himself, so he will naturally do his best to work for the soldiers.

"call……"

Suddenly, there was a soft breathing sound from the side of the study.

The soldier turned his head and looked back. As expected, the silver-haired girl was lying on her side on the sofa by the wall, and fell asleep again.

Slowly approaching, bending slightly, Joshua looked down, Yingying was lying sideways on the animal skin sofa, her eyes were closed tightly, her long eyelashes trembled with her breathing, Miss Shenji was breathing steadily, and her expression on her face was very soothing , It seems to sleep very comfortably.

"...If you want to rest, you should go to the room."

Shaking his head and sighing, Joshua didn't know what to do, he smiled wryly: "There is no need to fight now, what are you doing with me all the time, it would be nice to have a good sleep."

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

But Yingying, who was sleeping, frowned slightly.

She is dreaming.

——A strange nightmare.

In the dark sky, the sun disappeared without a trace, and the dark land covered by the clouds spread towards the end of the world, and the dim red light that was almost extinguished formed a small dot on it, flickering on the edge of the sky .

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

Below him is a piece of dead land, the black soil exudes a rancid smell, and there is no life in it.

High above the sky, a twisted and weird cloud curtain covered the sky. It slowly changed its shape, making the patterns it transformed into more and more strange, exuding some kind of evil power.

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

In this dream, Yingying’s perspective is in the air, and she can clearly see the whole picture of her surroundings—from the end of the sky to the end of the earth, whether it is mountains, hills, forests, rivers or ruins of cities, they are all covered by dense gray Shrouded in mist, this thick mist that makes it difficult to breathe is mixed with black sand and dust, gradually covering everything on the earth with a layer of muddy crystal shell like stone, and viscous rain falls from the distorted clouds, which will The forces of chaos spread throughout the world.

The power of chaos envelops the entire world, making everything 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 and set...

—Naturally, the fire ceased to burn.

The fire in this world has been extinguished...