The waiter brought by Lla brought three small but delicate porcelain cups from a tray.

"Since you are a member of His Majesty's staff, is His Majesty still in Cologne?" Richard took a sip from his cup, and was surprised to find that it was actually a high-quality rum, and he thought it should be tea.

"No, I have already returned to the royal capital half a month ago. "By human standards, her appearance is a little exaggerated, and it is difficult to make a good impression at first glance.

But when he held the cup to his lips, his posture was impeccable, very elegant and noble, and no one could jump out of the slightest flaw.

And then - he threw his head up and dried it all down, and there was no trickle left.

Just as Richard was looking sideways, he picked up the handkerchief in a more elegant and impeccable manner, and gently touched the corner of his lips, as if everything just now was just a dream bubble, and it had never happened at all.

"Definitely a veteran alcoholic. The lord immediately made a judgment in his heart, and then he took it himself.

Sauron looked at the two of them and had no choice but to follow suit, but he was neither an alcoholic nor a mountain castle lord with an astonishing physique, and he was immediately choked and coughed lowly.

"This is the last drink of the day, and you must not drink it again, not even a drop. The waiter whispered as he poured the wine.

"Got it!" the goblin cripple's impatience was as obvious as the lice on the top of the bald man's head, and his tone was very vicious.

"Your Excellency, what are you doing here at our Alpine Castle?" the lord touched his glass, and the two of them had a tacit understanding and looked up again.

"You may not know that mediation by the Church of Light is about to restart. Zara looked down at the empty glass in her hand, and suddenly raised it and poured the last few drops of residual wine into her mouth before revealing a satisfied smile, "After all, the stakes are high, and I need to make sure that everyone who should attend the meeting can attend in time." ”

"Absolutely. Richard was not surprised by this, but secretly thought that he was lucky. If these two people come out a few days earlier, it is estimated that his disappearance will be exposed.

"That's good. "Your arms business in Alpine Fort has been suspended for a few months for some reason, and I wondered if there was something wrong, so I came to take a look." ”

Richard paused for a moment, "It seems that as long as you open the door to do business, it will be difficult to hide from someone who cares." ”

It is true that Alpine Fort is in the arms business, but its customers are mostly indigenous tribes in the wilderness, and the trade routes are even more distant from the city of Cologne.

Even the matter of owning iron ore has never been reported to the noble court. The lord always thought that it was a good secrecy and that it was not known to outsiders.

"Wrong. For someone like me, it wouldn't be too difficult to hide it once in a while, otherwise the tax officer would have come to the door long ago. If it weren't for Lord Zola, I really wouldn't know you were so bold. Sauron shrugged, "But then again, how much tax did Alpine Fort miss? ”

"Why should I make up for the taxes I have missed by my own ability?" Seeing that it had been exposed, Richard also became single, and choked Sauron back with a word.

Turning his head and looking at the next Le, his face was full of suspicion, "Could it be that we have spies in Gaoshan Fort?"

He has a system around him, and he doesn't have to worry about traitors among the Ripper's soldiers, which is a great convenience. But in fact, there is still no way to avoid the possibility of spies mixed in among civilians, let alone the possibility of intelligence leakage.

"It's actually quite obvious. Pulling his index finger casually tapped his wheelchair on his hand, and said intermittently in a more casual tone: "The equipment used by the ripper warriors has a dwarven style, and it is no secret that the mountain fort has dwarven lords, and you know at a glance that you have the ability to produce your own equipment."

"I checked the transaction records of the Cologne comptoirs, and found that the Voya comptoirs had purchased coal and blacksmith tools for you several times, but they had hardly bought iron ore, which only means that the mountain fort had found the source of the ore itself. ”

"There are blacksmiths and iron mines, and it's normal to want to run your own arms business to make money. Of course, this is just speculation, but with this guess as a premise, it is not difficult to verify it a little, after all, the comings and goings of the large carriage will always leave some traces. ”

"Everything is so obvious that there is no need for spies. Xiaola pushed down the neck pillow under his neck a little to lean more comfortably: "Most of the time, as long as you follow a clue and chase it down, the truth can't be hidden at all." ”

"Very careful reasoning process. Richard kept his demeanor with a smile on his face, but in fact he was scolding in his heart, and he wanted to do this green-skinned man on the spot.

As the most prosperous commercial city in the entire Northeast Province, Coron has many large and small commercial banks, and the trading methods are also complex and diverse. It seems easy to count all the purchases in a territory, but in fact it is more troublesome than removing all the seeds of watermelons!

How could the average person possibly notice such a minutiae!

"Nope. Zara shook her head and smiled smugly, "Not because I'm meticulous, but because you're trying to hide it too perfunctory." If you want to hide a cat, you have to hide the whole thing, and it's all about hiding a strand of hair. ”

"Is it so obvious?" Sauron covered his forehead, and by the look on his face, he knew he was doubting himself.

As the chief official of the Northeast Provincial Noble Garden, theoretically he is the one who should be in charge of the activities of the noble territory in the province, but he has never discovered Xiao Jiujiu of Gaoshan Castle.

But to say that Sauron was negligent would be to wronged him. Because in other provinces and even other countries, the management is almost as extensive - the officials maintain the overall stability, the nobles and lords at the bottom are each prosperous, and both sides take it as the greatest duty not to block each other, and it is the common pursuit of everyone to get by.

"Yes. Surely she did not know what modesty was, and before Sauron could finish speaking, he immediately replied:

"Even if it is difficult to count the transaction entries, it is not difficult to see that there is a clear anomaly in their financial situation, which can be inferred from the records of the entry and exit of the gates of Cologne. The monthly financial expenditure of the high mountain fort is huge, and the booty alone is not enough, and there must be additional income. ”

"Learned. Sauron sighed and stopped talking.

Although he has long been dragged down by official duties, Sauron is also a mage, and he has made truth his life's pursuit. It was obviously not so easy for him to be taught by goblins.

"So in your opinion, how can you really hide the existence of an iron mine?"

"Unless you don't use it at all, ......" Hirola held her chin and thought for a while, then shook her head: "It's hard." Any action leaves a mark, including those done to erase the trace, as well as new marks. Finding clues only requires finding the tip of the iceberg, but erasing the clues requires eliminating the entire iceberg, and the difficulty is not at all on an order of magnitude. ”

"Why—why did Pompeii expel the Church of the Ice and Snow and make the Church of the Light the state religion, and why did Stuart come the other way around?" Richard finally asked his most concern.