Southern territory, the Earldom of Horsman.
The tall and muscular Count Karloff Horsmann sat in his reception room and looked at the guests in front of him.
As one of the most powerful land aristocrats in the southern region, Karloff Horsman has always been deeply proud of his surname and excellent family lineage.
His family was originally a branch of the Horsman family in the Holy Spirit Plains. A hundred years ago, his far-sighted ancestors realized the true direction of the Brumaire Civil War in time and responded to the "Northern War" The actions of "Crown Prince" won his own glory. After the establishment of the Second Dynasty, his ancestors who did not have the right to inherit were granted an exceptional canonization by the royal family. Only then did the family obtain a piece of land of their own in the south and became a land noble at the earl level. From that day until the next hundred years, the Horsman family in the south remained prosperous and strong.
This undoubtedly illustrates the excellence of the family's pedigree, and also illustrates the importance of the trait of "vision and foresight" to the family. Karloff Horsman always keeps this in mind, so he always He kept his eyes open, carefully and keenly paying attention to everything that happened in this land, not only in his own territory, but also in the entire southern land.
After the "Founding Duke" was resurrected and returned, his eyes never left Cecil Territory.
Since the civil strife in Fog Moon a hundred years ago, the royal family has always deliberately controlled the development of the southern region. The ancient and huge Cecil family is like a giant beast. Even if it collapses overnight, its remaining The flesh and blood of the corpse still has great power. In order to prevent the nobles of all sizes who are still loyal to Cecil's surname from stirring up the situation, the royal family has divided this land more than once in a hundred years and turned almost all the nobles in the south into royal families. A direct vassal of the land, and the noble title that controls this land is only as high as an earl - so Earl Horsman has always been one of the highest nobles in this land for a hundred years, but this situation was broken less than a year ago.
There is a new "Duke" in the Southern Territory.
Although the Duke did not immediately ask for his land back, nor did he make any claim to the contemporary aristocratic system in the South. Instead, he went to the Dark Mountains to start a rebellion while only retaining his title. Development and construction, but Count Karloff Horsman never relaxed his vigilance towards the resurrected founding hero. He had a keen sense of smell and could smell a different smell from the Duke's series of actions - that was Hidden ambitions and threats.
"This is the news that can be spread so far," said the guest in front of him. "The spies we sent have successfully infiltrated into an organization called the '25th Production and Construction Brigade'. According to that A term invented by the Duke of Resurrection. It is a 'secret construction department'. According to the information obtained by the spies, this department directly accepts orders from the lord and is responsible for the highest-level territory construction tasks, so the news transmitted should be reliable. And the value is extremely high."
"Very good... Mr. Green.Sir, the spies you trained did not disappoint me," Karloff Horsman nodded with satisfaction, then frowned slightly, "So...that Duke Gawain Cecil has a very powerful group of people at hand. weapon? And maybe it was provided by elves? "
"Yes, they use this weapon to deal with monsters wandering in the wasteland. ”
“The Silver Elves are the builders of the Magnificent Wall. It is not surprising that they have weapons to fight against the wasteland monsters, but they bypassed the Anzu royal family and directly contacted Duke Gawain Cecil and Assistance weapons...this is a bit weird," Karloff Horsman tapped the table lightly, thinking about the truth hidden during this period, "It seems that as I thought, the founding Duke was not a ' Good neighbor..."
"Perhaps we should act as soon as possible to control the development of Cecil Territory," a middle-aged, thin man known as Mr. Green said with a gloomy smile. He was originally His gloomy temperament looked even more gloomy under this smile, and his eyes covered by black hair shone with a cold light. "Viscount Leslie has obviously fallen to the Cecil family, and the Kant leader is now even more substantial." Under the control of the Cecil family, the man who rose from the dead is unknowingly infiltrating and controlling the lands that once belonged to him. "
"But it doesn't belong to him now," Count Karloff snorted. "But we can't make it too obvious - he is still the duke of the kingdom, at least nominally and legally. In this case, the first person to jump out against him will do no good regardless of the final outcome. ”
“He is indeed the nominal and de jure duke of the kingdom, but who wants this ‘duke’ to exist? You don’t want it, Viscount Carroll doesn’t want it, Dame Grant doesn’t want it, and even our King - he doesn’t want it, but everyone must show enough respect for a founding ancestor,” Green The gentleman smiled slightly. As Count Karloff's advisor for many years, he knew quite well what his sharp-eyed friend was thinking, "We cannot confront the founding heroes head-on. This will damage your reputation, but we can first Contact others and make some preparations in advance..."
Listening to the consultant's words, the expression on Karloff Horsman's face slowly became relieved.
" There is another thing." After the discussion came to an end, Mr. Green brought up another piece of information, "Recently, something called the 'Magic Network' has been reported from Leslie..."
"Magic Network? Karloff frowned slightly, "What is that?" ”
“A magic device, or something similar to a magic device, can absorb the free magic power in nature. The efficiency is many times higher than the traditional self-charging magic circle. It can stably deal with some It needs to be powered by devices that consume magic power, such as magic crystal lamps," Green explained. "You should have guessed that it first appeared on Cecil's collar, the magician under Duke Gawain Cecil. Leslie, who created it and then became very close to CecilThe Viscount purchased the technology in this area - however, Viscount Leslie obviously wanted to recover some of his capital..."
Count Karloff Horsman couldn't help but smile: "Any loyalty All are limited, as long as the price is right. Is this thing called a magic net valuable? "
"It is of great value, especially when combined with a device called a 'magic engine'," Green said. "The magic engine is a powerful magic that can replace humans. The props are also a product of the Cecil Territory. They are expensive, but they are worth the strength of dozens or hundreds of slaves, and they work tirelessly day and night. I have sent people to Tanzanian town to investigate the situation, and my statement is not an exaggeration. ”
Count Karloff was stunned: “Is there really such a powerful magic item? Could it be that the resurrected Duke even sold this kind of thing to Viscount Leslie? "
"Obviously, the Duke was very short of money after he was resurrected," Mr. Green said with a smile. "Of course, I guess he had reservations about selling it. After all, no one is willing to give away precious The magic props were left in the hands of others, but our spies in Tanzanian Town successfully established contact with the people under Viscount Leslie, and they had a way to secretly get a batch - as you said, any loyalty is Limited, as long as the price is right. "
"Very good, we will find a way to get a so-called 'magic engine', and there is also that... magic network, we will also find a way to get it," Count Karloff made a prompt decision. He had already It is the good character of the Horsman family to see the potential value from these two things and take action in time. "Don't worry about the required gold coins. The most important thing is to get the magical secret of Cecil Territory." "
Green smiled: "You will get what you want. "
In the Lord's Mansion of Cecil Territory, Gawain finished reading the letter in his hand and looked up at Amber with a smile: "What do you think our neighbor who lives in Tanzan Town said? "
Amber glanced at the letter. The emblem of the Leslie family could be seen in the corner of the letter, but she said casually without reading the content: "Recently, other nobles from the South have started to contact him, planning to Did you buy a magic engine? "
Gawain glanced at Amber in surprise: "How do you know? "
"I am the director of the Military Security Intelligence Bureau! Director! Amber immediately stared and pointed at his nose, "You personally appointed me. Damn, you didn't forget it at all..."
Gawain quickly pressed Amber's head closer and closer. He went back and waved his hands: "I haven't forgotten, of course there is no Internet - the main thing is that I didn't expect you to actually be working. The main thing you do every day is to find various departments to make money, and the rest of the time is spent If you make trouble for me, I will treat you as if you are not doing anything serious. "
Amber: "..."
The half-elf lady stared at Gawain for a long time, and then thought that she couldn't defeat him anyway and gave up easily: "In addition to the magic engine, I also received information that there are several territories in the western region of the Southern Territory.There are simple magic nets or clues related to the magic net. Some noble lords are recruiting rune craftsmen and rune masters, and others are recruiting magicians at high prices. Based on the direction of the circulation of the "magic net" information, I judge those local lords. I have purchased or secretly learned some information about the Magic Network and am trying to copy it. "
"Has the Magic Network started to spread...slower than I thought, but considering the impact of winter, this speed is not bad," Gawain nodded while thinking, "Viscount Andrew is also working hard. Yes. "
As soon as Gawain mentioned Viscount Andrew, Amber couldn't help but roll her eyes: "What are you talking about - before, Viscount Andrew secretly bribed the technicians you sent there and spent a lot of money? Half of it went into your pocket. After a lot of effort, people learned it secretly, and then you suddenly sent a messenger to say that the magic net can be sold. Not only can it be sold, but you can even let him be an agent to sell it to further places. ...Are there any people as deceitful as you? "
"I didn't want to trick him at first. Who told him to do something small on his own?" Gawain spread his hands helplessly, "The most troublesome thing for me when dealing with the nobles of this era is At this point, it is clear that business can be done openly and everyone benefits, but you still have to over-interpret your own random thoughts. But I believe that Viscount Leslie will learn a lesson after this... When doing business with Cecil, the rules are different from those elsewhere. ”