April 18, Holier City.

As the temperature warms up, the activities of the city's residents begin to increase, and on the 8th, 18th, and 28th of each month, a certain scale market is organized in the city square, and this is the largest trading place in the whole of Ivota.

Farmers living in the villages near the city of Hollier would come in to sell their surplus grain or local products, and the nobles would buy the luxury goods that the caravans had brought from other cities in their own areas, which could be called a "hodgepodge" compared to the "shopping malls" of modern society. However, for people in this day and age, this is one of the few opportunities to trade and make a profit.

Not only commoners, but also nobles who lacked entertainment looked forward to such a day, with noblewomen choosing jewelry or gold and silver utensils transported from the south of the kingdom, knights gritting their teeth and buying weapons forged by some famous blacksmith, etc... It's a scene that happens at every fair.

However, when the market began on April 18, the appearance of a shop quickly attracted the attention of most people - a trading house under the banner of "Parling" actually openly sold all kinds of goods produced by "Wood Elves"!

For some time now, people had heard the news that some nobles had bought "Wood Elf Fruit Wine", but such high-end consumer goods were beyond the reach of the commoners, but after seeing the things sold by this trading house, the commoners who still had some copper coins in their pockets immediately surrounded them - they thought they couldn't afford anything, but suddenly found that the things sold by the trading house were not as expensive as they imagined.

So after a short hesitation, they quickly snapped up those affordable and beautiful fruits, grains and wooden tools...

It didn't take long for the nobles' butlers and the heads of the guilds to arrive when they heard the news, they didn't believe that there would be Wood Elves circulating in the market, but after seeing the herbs and magic crystals unique to the Silent Forest, they didn't hesitate to start buying them - in less than two hours, the total sales of this trading house exceeded that of the other merchants in the bazaar combined!

After some "local specialties" were sold out, the commercial bank even took out more than a dozen bottles of fruit wine marked with sky-high prices, but they were also sold out within ten minutes...

Before noon, they sold all their belongings, earning almost as much as the taxes paid by the four villages combined.

Such a fiery scene naturally alarmed the rest of the nobles - ordinary people saw the gold coins earned by this trading house, but the nobles saw the amazing profit potential behind this trading house... They immediately sent someone to investigate, only to find out that the final background of this business house turned out to be the Rusiflon family.

So most of the nobles kept their mouths shut, while those who had other plans in their hearts quietly chose to wait and see.

In the afternoon, Steward John reported the situation to Duke Angmar, who had closed his eyes and recuperated, but the old man was not very happy, and only asked in a deep voice, "Is there any result in the matter of Parling and the Silent Forest?"

"The Wellington knight has investigated some clues, and currently speculates in the letter that it may be related to Viscount Juan..."

"Juan?"

Angmar was a little surprised by the name, he thought for a moment, but realized that he hadn't heard it for a long time - the other party's presence in the territory of Ivota was almost zero, so that after so many years, Angmar had even forgotten that there was such a viscount in the territory.

"It's just speculation at the moment that the Wellington Knights are chasing the bandits, but the other party is obviously under the protection of some people, or... They themselves were the men of some nobles, so much so that it was difficult to trace them. ”

"Got it. ”

The old duke sighed a little tiredly - the combination of these nobles made him a little anxious, not to mention the tax problem, some guys have begun to blatantly prepare to fight against themselves...

Knowing that they were in financial crisis, they did not help or say anything, but they took the opportunity to fall into the trap, and even put forward all kinds of harsh conditions - and the exchange of territory for money and the like, in Angmar's opinion, was a way to quench his thirst, and it was impossible to agree to it.

To raise funds to support the increasing military spending, Angmar had no choice but to let the comptoir, which was planned to be overthrown in May, appear in the limelight in advance.

"Hopefully this will do something..."

Angmar sighed, and reached out to pick up the letter that Bishop Rubens had just sent yesterday - it was probably the most surprising piece of information in recent days: his daughter Sally, after giving up her studies, joined the ranks of exterminating the infidels, and within two months she had grown rapidly to become one of the most important talents of the "Temple" at the moment!

However, looking at Rubens's praise for Sally, Angmar didn't have much pride in his heart - as a father, his only hope was to make his daughter safe and happy, but Roddy now didn't know whether he was alive or dead, and his daughter was on the front line of danger, and Angmar, who was alone here, had a sense of loneliness of "old and helpless".

After Steward John stepped down, Duke Angmar closed his eyes, thinking about everything he had experienced in the past six months since he "woke up", but his heart became more and more uneasy... The threat of the orcs in Roddy's mouth has been proven, and the undead are obviously on the move, but what worries him the most is the internal problems of the kingdom itself.

"What do these guys have left in their eyes besides gold coins and territory?"

The nobleman's complaints were only spoken when he was alone, but he didn't expect John's butler to suddenly return to the study - the duke looked at him with some surprise, but saw John hand over a bright red envelope, and his voice was undisguised with excitement: "Sir... It's news from the Sola sentry, signed by Roddy!"

Holding the unopened letter, the originally decadent Duke exhaled slowly, and the gloom that had always shrouded his brow was almost swept away - it was then that he really realized the fact that before he knew it, Roddy had become the only person in his eyes who could save Ivta...

Or rather, the main force.

April 19th.

South of Evta, Ciudad Taromir.

It's one hundred and seventy miles away from Hollier City, so it stands to reason that the degree of development is not too bad, but in fact... Surrounded by two large forests in front of and behind them, Taromir lags far behind Hollier in size and economy, and even less than some of the larger towns.

There was a desolate atmosphere in the streets and alleys, not many people were seen even on the busiest streets, the mercenary guilds, the blacksmith shops were deserted, and the Apothecary's Guild didn't even have a home here, because in their eyes, it had no value.

The city and its nearby territories were isolated due to geography, and their commercial and self-producing output was a cut lower than elsewhere - not only because of low taxes, but also because of the obscurity of its lords in the territory of Evta...

And this viscount lord who is always overlooked is Juan.

The Viscount's Court was far less luxurious than the other nobles, and could even be called "austere" - except for a few paintings, there was no superfluous decoration in the room, the carpets were old, and even the tables and chairs showed very obvious signs of wear, not because they were not undermaintained, but because they had been around for too long.

At this moment, Viscount Juan, who had a hooked nose, was holding a black cane, listening to the reports of several black-robed subordinates behind him:

"Sir, the assault on Parl is complete, and Wellington is investigating the matter, but we have no evidence left. ”

"The team tracking the Silent Forest has confirmed the caravan's path... The search for Head Kevin was likewise unfounded. ”

"Sir... This is a letter from Bishop Flac. ”

For these situations, Viscount Juan only thought about it slightly, and then replied without hesitation: "The attack of the Parr Leader will stop first, Wellington is not so easy to provoke." ”

"The Silent Forest is ready to gather troops to move, and Kevin's matter will be put aside for now. ”

Raising his hand to take the letter, he narrowed his eyes, the anger on his face flashed away, and after his gaze moved away slightly, he said in an ancient voice: "Since Bishop Flack thinks that I am incompetent, let him do it himself." ”

"Yes, sir!"

Several black-robed people led the order, and in the empty study, Viscount Juan clenched his palms slightly, but secretly cursed: "Fool who is greedy for merit..."

It is hard for ordinary people to imagine that among the many nobles in the Ivota territory, this viscount, who has almost zero sense of existence, is actually a staunch supporter of the "Pit Viper Cross" among the Karen nobles.

There were not many nobles who had ill intentions towards Angmar, for they could all extract a lot of money from the duke - but they did not know that all the events that had taken place against Angmar since the spring had been at the behest of Viscount Juan!

As a lord whose financial income is far tighter than that of the duke, he, like all other nobles, really hopes that Angmar will die soon, and then take advantage of the situation to get a piece of the pie... However, he could have endured it for a longer time before he started it, but because of the mission of Cardinal Goethe of the "Pit Viper Cross", he had to start this series of layouts and plans in advance.

Goethe needed him to investigate the cause of the death of Kevin the Silent Forest, and sent a bishop of the "Viper Cross" to assist in the process—of course, "assistance" was "surveillance", and Juan had little problem with this.

However, the Bishop of Flac was obviously self-serving, and he did not care about the fact that the resources were in dire straits, and he was completely commanding—which made Viscount Juan always resentful in his heart, but he did not express it because of his identity.

However, the letter just now completely made him a little breathless... This bishop didn't even say goodbye, saying that he was going to personally lead the team to the Silent Forest to find clues!

"Okay, just go, just help me contain Wellington and Titus. ”

Juan was not interested in cooperating with the bishop at all, so he thought about it and wrote a beautifully worded letter to Goethe, but at the same time gave his hand an order to "take advantage of the opportunity to take the village of the Wood Elves".

But the viscount didn't know that the "Captain Roddy", whom he had previously regarded as the greatest threat, was now leading his troops through the northern forests of his territory...