Edinburgh, City Lord's House.

The lord of the city, Grand Duke Mattosias, sat on his side with his friend Old Magician, and behind him stood one of the Grand Duke's lieutenants.

On the other side, there are the three most important members of the Hilton family: the patriarch, Count Silvio, the former patriarch, Elder Andrés, and the family worshippers Anthony.

Originally, Anthony was not going to come to such a meeting. If you have this time to grind your lips and fight, it is better to study the fusion between the different circles of the two worlds in the laboratory.

Recently, his research has found a little bit of a door, and it is the most critical time. But he was called to the city lord's palace to waste time, even in the face of the highest and most powerful Grand Duke Mattesias in Edinburgh, Anthony was not enthusiastic. Of course, he is not so superficial that he shows all his emotions on his face.

But there was no way, Grand Duke Mattosias specially named him to see him Anthony. Therefore, no matter how unhappy he was, he still came.

It's a pity that the "culprit", the owner of this room, His Excellency the Grand Duke, did not have this awareness, and chatted with Count Silvio like a friend.

"The Hilton family's business is booming, and it's been in the limelight lately. The girl in my house is clamoring for me to buy her a bottle of perfume. The Grand Duke said with a smile.

Count Silvio hurriedly said modestly: "Where is it, it's just some gadgets, they are all loved by everyone, and they are really not enough to worry about." Since the Duke's daughter is interested, I will ask someone to bring a few bottles to the Lord when I go back. Please also ask the Duke not to refuse. ”

In normal times, the Count would have brought up Anthony, the maker, and praised him severely. However, he knew that after the boy was called out of the laboratory, he was unhappy. In line with the principle that more is better than less, it is better not to bring the topic to him.

But some people just like which pot is not opened.

"I heard that this perfume was developed by Mr. Anthony?"

"Yes, Your Excellency the Grand Duke." Anthony nodded with a smile on his face, his manners and demeanor were impeccable, and there was not the slightest dissatisfaction in sight.

Grand Duke Mattosias looked at the young man, his face full of appreciation: "I have long heard that Mr. Anthony is a young hero and has outstanding strength. I didn't expect that in addition to martial arts cultivation, Mr. is so knowledgeable and talented, which is really rare. ”

Anthony smiled again, leaning over.

After chatting casually, the Grand Duke's face sank and he turned to the topic.

"I came to you this time, mainly because I wanted to ask the Hilton family for verification. It is about the trade route from Edinburgh City to Krakow County, Hilton has successfully passed through some time ago and brought back some specialties of Krakow County. So, Duke Ben wants to know, how did you get through that trade route? ”

Count Silvio also put away his chatter and replied officially: "If you go back to the Grand Duke, my Hilton family will negotiate with the main bandits on the trade route and pay a high toll, and they will protect our caravan to pass through the trade route safely. ”

Paying tolls in exchange for the right to free passage is the foreign rhetoric agreed upon by Hilton's top management.

"Oh, I see." The Grand Duke had a look of enlightenment on his face. Then the voice changed, "However, several nobles have jointly submitted a complaint to me, saying that your Hilton family controls those bandits, monopolizes the trade routes, and prevents other merchants from passing through the trade routes. Do you have any explanation for this? ”

The deputy, who stood behind the Grand Duke, took a few steps forward and presented a copy of the case file to Count Silvio.

The Count chuckled in his heart, knowing that the main drama was coming. hurriedly thanked him, took the case file with both hands, and opened it.

"I know that the leader of the Hilton caravan that time was none other than Mr. Anthony. As for the situation at that time, Mr. must know best. Why don't we let Mr. Anthony solve this puzzle for us? ”

Anthony swept the case file in Count Silvio's hand with a glance. The main thrust of the content is very simple, that is, as the Grand Duke just said, accusing Hilton of controlling the four bandit leaders to monopolize the trade routes and seek huge benefits.

Well, basically, these are all facts.

Sure enough, there is no impermeable wall in the world, and the intelligence work of the nobles is still quite solid. Although most of them do not have the key evidence, they are estimated to have only extrapolated the results based on some clues.

In that case, it's easy to do. It's nothing more than a dead denial.

"There is nothing to explain this, as the Earl has just said, we have paid a great price to pass through the trade road safely. As for the accusations in that case file, it is more like a shameless false accusation. The difficulty of forcibly opening up trade routes has been demonstrated by the nobles of Edinburgh countless times. They actually said that we had the bandits under control, and that was a terrible excuse. The Grand Duke is aware of everything, and probably won't believe their nonsense. ”

"Oh?" The Grand Duke was noncommittal to Antony's explanation, and turned his head to look at Count Silvio, "Lord Count, is that so?" ”

Under the gaze of the Grand Duke, who was as sharp as a knife, Count Silvio broke out in a cold sweat on his back: "Yes, yes, Lord Duke." ”

Duke Mattesias' gaze shifted to Elder Andres' face.

The old guy is not afraid of the earth, and the answer is even more direct: "Don't ask me, Anthony, the little guy knows this best." He said yes, and that is. ”

The Grand Duke's gaze returned to Anthony.

Anthony spread his hands and said helplessly: "What is my strength, the Grand Duke and this powerful Mr. Magician should be able to find out." Do you think it's possible for me to keep that tough and cunning bandit leader under control? ”

The Grand Duke didn't speak, but the old magician next to him, who had been silent, said, "That's not necessarily. With proper planning and a certain amount of luck, it is not impossible to defeat the strong with the weak. The Grand Duke has fought countless battles in his life, and he has done a lot of such things. ”

Anthony shrugged his shoulders and stopped talking.

No matter what you say, I just won't admit it anyway, what can you do to me?

Grand Duke Mattesias probably didn't expect that this extremely famous genius boy would actually play a scoundrel.

After a long silence, the Grand Duke asked again: "So, the last time the Fontaine family and others entered the trade road and encountered bandits, they actually took out expensive weapons such as flame spray cans. As far as I know, there are very few families and forces in the entire city of Edinburgh that are equipped with such a large-scale killing weapon as the flamespray canister. And the Hilton family happened to buy a batch before. ”

"Mr. Anthony shouldn't tell me about this, is it a coincidence? If you look at the flame canisters in your family's mansion now, I guess if not one left, at least half of them will be missing. You tell me? ”

Anthony admits frankly: "Those flame canisters in the hands of the bandits are exactly what we provided. ”

When the old magician heard this, he couldn't help but chuckle: "It's not easy, you kid is finally willing to admit it." ”

The Grand Duke also breathed a sigh of relief: "Since this is the case, then colluding with the bandits ......"

"That's part of what we pay for tolls!" Anthony intercepted.

Belch......

Grand Duke Mattesias and the old magician couldn't get up in one breath, and they almost didn't suffocate to death.

It's so md-hard!

Both the Grand Duke and the old magician couldn't help but curse in their hearts.

This young man is like an old politician with gray hair and beard, an old fox, who does not enter oil and salt, and does not invade water and fire. No matter what you say, he can push and dodge. If he doesn't work, he'll just be a scoundrel.

Could it be that after staying with Silvio's old fox for a long time, he has been polluted?

The old fox who was wronged was pretending to be sincerely frightened at the moment, and stood aside cautiously. But I watched the play with joy, and my heart blossomed.

Sure enough, it is capable people who can do anything!

Mr. Anthony is the one!

In the face of an iron-blooded general like the Grand Duke, who came out of the sea of corpses and blood, coupled with a magician whose strength is unfathomable, even if the Earl is accustomed to seeing the world, he will inevitably tremble with his legs and beat a drum in his heart. The usual sharp teeth are at least eighty percent removed.

But you look at Mr. Anthony, his face does not change, and his posture is calm. If you should fight, you should push, laugh and scold, all of them are free, and playing scoundrels is even more out of the realm. Didn't you see that His Excellency the Grand Duke and the honorable old magician were about to vomit blood in anger and suffocate their internal injuries?

On this basis alone, Count Silvio sighed to himself and bowed to the upper hand.