South, Earldom of Hossman.

Tall and sturdy Karlov? Count Hossmann sat in his reception room, surveying the visiting guests in front of him.

As one of the most powerful landed aristocrats in the South, Karloff? Hossman has always been proud of his family name and excellent family lineage.

His family was originally a branch of the Hossman family of the Holy Spirit Plains, a hundred years ago, his far-sighted ancestors realized the true direction of the civil war in the foggy moon, and won their glory by responding to the actions of the "Northern Crown Prince", and the ancestors who originally had no inheritance rights were canonized by the royal family after the establishment of the Second Dynasty, so that the family obtained a piece of land of their own in the south and became a land nobleman at the earl level, from that day on, until the next hundred years, The Horsman family in the south has remained prosperous and powerful.

This undoubtedly shows the excellence of the family lineage, and the importance of the trait of "vision" to the family. Hossman kept this in mind, so he kept his eyes open, cautiously and keenly watching everything that happened in the land, not only in his own territory, but in the entire Southland.

After the resurrection of the "Founding Archduke", his eyes never left Cecil's domain.

Since the civil strife in the Foggy 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 corpses and flesh still have great power, in order to prevent those large and small nobles 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 almost all the southern nobles have become direct vassals of the royal family, and control the nobles in this land up to the earl - So, for a hundred years, Count Hossmann was one of the highest nobles in the land, but this was broken less than a year ago.

The South has a "duke" again.

Although the duke did not immediately ask for his land back, nor did he make any claims about the contemporary aristocratic system in the South, but ran to the Dark Mountains to start a pioneering construction while retaining only the title of knighthood, Karloff? Count Hossman never let his guard down on the resurrected Founding Hero, he had a keen sense of smell and could pick out something different from the Duke's actions—hidden ambitions and threats.

"That's all the news that can come out at the moment," said the guest in front of him, "The spies we sent have successfully infiltrated an organization called the 'Twenty-fifth Production and Construction Brigade', according to the vocabulary invented by the resurrected duke, it is a 'secret construction department', according to the information that the spies have, this department directly accepts the orders of the lord, and undertakes the highest level of territory construction tasks, so the news should be reliable and extremely valuable." ”

"Very good...... Mr. Green, the spies you trained didn't disappoint me, "Karloff? Hossman nodded in satisfaction, then frowned slightly, "So...... That Gawain? Duke Cecil has a very powerful arsenal of weapons at hand? And maybe the elves offer? ”

"Yes, they use this weapon against the monsters that roam the wasteland."

"The Silver Elves are the builders of the Great Wall, and it's not surprising that they have weapons against the monsters of the wasteland, but they bypassed the Ansu royal family and directly with Gawain? Duke Cecil contacts and aids the weapon...... It's kind of weird, "Karloff? Hossman tapped lightly on the table, pondering the hidden truth during this period, "It seems that the founding duke is not a 'good neighbor' as I thought......"

"Perhaps we should act as soon as possible to control the development of Cecil Territory," said the middle-aged thin man known as Mr. Green with a gloomy smile, his already gloomy temperament was even more gloomy against this smile, and there was a cold glint in his eyes covered by black hair, "Viscount Leslie has clearly fallen to the Cecil family, and the Kant Collar is now more effectively under the control of the Cecil family, and the man who has risen from the dead is unwittingly 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 too much of it—he's still the duke of the kingdom, at least nominally and de jure, and in this case, the first person to jump out against him won't be any good, whatever the final outcome may be." ”

"He is indeed the nominal and de jure duke of the kingdom, but who wants this 'duke' to exist? You don't want to, Viscount Carol doesn't, Lady Gülen doesn't, even our King Majesty doesn't want to, but everyone has to show reverence for a founding ancestor," Mr. Green smiled slightly, as Earl Karloff's adviser for many years, he knew quite well what his sharp-eyed friend was thinking, "We can't confront the founding heroes head-on, it's detrimental to your reputation, but we can contact others first and make some preparations in advance......"

Listen to the advisors, Karlov? The expression on Horsman's face slowly became soothing.

"And one more thing," said Mr. Green, after the discussion was over, and brought up another piece of information, "there has been a recent news from Leslie Territory about something called the 'Magic Web'......"

"Magic web?" Karloff frowned slightly, "What's that?" ”

"A magic device, or something like a magic device, can draw on the free magic of nature many times more efficiently than a traditional self-charging circle, and it can steadily power some devices that need to consume mana, such as the magic crystal lamp," Green explained, "You should have guessed that it first appeared on Cecil's territory, that Gawain?" Duke Cecil's magicians created it, and then Viscount Leslie, who was close to Cecil's lead, bought the technology - however, the Viscount Leslie apparently wanted to recoup some of his money......"

Karloff? Count Hossman couldn't help but smile: "Any loyalty is limited, as long as the price is right. Is this kind of thing called a magic net valuable? ”

"It's a lot of value, especially when combined with a device called the 'Magic Engine,'" Green said, "and the Magic Engine is a powerful tool that can replace human work, and it's also a product of Cecil's Domain, it's expensive, but it's worth the power of dozens or hundreds of slaves, and it's tireless in working day and night." I have sent someone to Tanzania to find out what is going on, and I am not exaggerating. ”

Count Karloff was stunned: "Is there really such a powerful magic prop?" Could it be that the resurrected duke even sold such a thing to Viscount Leslie? ”

"Obviously, the Duke was very short of money after he came back to life," Mr. Green said with a smile, "Of course, I guess he must have reservations about selling, after all, no one wants to give their precious magic items to anyone else, but our spies in Tanzania have managed to establish contact with Viscount Leslie's men, and they have the means to sneak a batch - as you said, any loyalty is limited, as long as the price is right." ”

"Very good, find a way to get a so-called 'magic engine', and what else...... Magic net, also find a way to get it," Count Karloff made a quick decision, he had already seen the potential value from these two things, and it was the good character of the Hossman family to act in time, "Don't worry about the gold coins you need, the most important thing is to get the magic mystery of Cecil's territory." ”

Green smiled, "You'll get what you want." ”

In the lord's mansion of Cecil, Gawain read the letter in his hand and looked up at Amber with a smile: "Guess what our neighbor who lives in Tanzania said?" ”

Amber glanced at the letter, and the Leslie family emblem could be seen in the corner of the letter, but she didn't read the content and said casually, "Recently, other southern nobles have been in contact with him, and they plan to buy magic engines, right?" ”

Gawain glanced at Amber in surprise: "How do you know?" ”

"I'm the head of the Military Security Intelligence Service! Hey, Director! Amber glared and pointed to her nose, "You appointed it personally, mom, you can't have forgotten it at all, right......?"

Gao Wen hurriedly pushed Amber's head back closer and closer, while waving his hand: "I haven't forgotten, of course I don't have a net - the main thing is that I didn't expect you to really work, every day I see that your main thing is to find various departments to eat, and the rest of the time is all about making trouble for me, and I still don't do anything serious when you are not doing anything." ”

Amber: "......"

The half-elf lady stared at Gao Wen for a long time, and then thought that she couldn't beat the right person anyway, so she was familiar with the car and went back: "In addition to the magic energy engine, I also received information that there are simple magic nets or clues related to magic nets in several territories in the western region of the southern realm, and some noble lords are recruiting rune craftsmen and rune masters, and some people are recruiting magicians at high prices. The direction of the circulation of the Magic Net's information, I judge that those local lords have already bought or stolen some of the information of the Magic Net, and are trying to copy it. ”

"Has the magic web begun to spread...... It's slower than I expected, but considering the effects of winter, it's not bad," Gawain nodded in thought, "Viscount Andrew has worked hard, too." ”

As soon as Gawain mentioned Viscount Andrew, Amber couldn't help but roll her eyes: "What do you still say - before Viscount Andrew was trembling and secretly bought the technician you sent, and spent a lot of money, half of which went into your pocket, and finally someone stole it, so you suddenly sent a messenger over to say that the magic net can be sold, not only can it be sold, but it can even be sold further away as an agent...... Is there such a fool as you? ”

"I didn't want to trap him at first, who let him have to make some small moves by himself," Gao Wen spread his hands helplessly, "This is the most troublesome thing I have when dealing with the nobles of this era, obviously I can do business openly and honestly, everyone is good, and I have to over-interpret my own crankiness." But I'm sure Viscount Leslie will learn his lesson after that...... The rules of doing business with Cecil are different from those elsewhere. ”