The knight Saben was a little stunned, and stammered, "Your Excellency, I, I don't quite understand what you mean. ”

"I mean it very simply!"

Valam looked at Saben indifferently and cruelly: "You have a sword on you. That's the real reason why I've allowed you to kneel. You are a knight, a warrior. Use your way to gain my trust. Remember, you only get one chance. ”

Saben's face looked better. He understood the implicit meaning of Valaam's words. So he drew his saber and strode over to the middle-aged man who had fallen into a coma. At the moment when he raised his sword high and wanted to stab the other party's heart, he suddenly seemed a little hesitant.

However, a complicated and hesitant expression appeared on Saben's face for less than a second, and everyone present saw that the saber in his hand had fallen, piercing the middle-aged man's heart, and then pulled it out, bringing up a surge of blood.

Saben closed his eyes, feeling the bloody heat splashing on his body from the bottom up. By the time he opened his eyes, he had become very crazy, with an indescribable ferocity and cruelty all over his body.

Valam squinted at the scene, and shook his head slightly as the knight Saben turned around and his gaze was full of inquiry and flattery.

"It's not enough!"

Valam's heart was full of ridicule and sarcasm, but his expression was extremely serious: "This person alone, you are not enough to gain my trust. ”

Saben swallowed hard a mouthful of bloody saliva, and following Valaam's gaze, he saw Count Larsen, who had just gotten up from the ground.

Wiping his face with his wet left hand, Saben completely turned into a bloody man. He knelt down again in front of Valaam, with a heavy gasp, and a beast-like roar came from his throat: "My lord, before proving my absolute loyalty, may I ask what kind of reward I will receive?" ”

Valam's sneer began to show itself. That's what true allegiance looks like. The guy who has no desire and no desire, no one will use it, and he will not dare to use it at all. Only speculators will be bound together by interests, and only then can they talk of true allegiance.

"What do you want?"

Saben lowered his head, and his words were filled with humility and unconcealed exuberance: "I want Savannah, the Count's eldest daughter." ”

Valam's smile looked extremely hideous. He nodded, "This is the reward you deserve." You know what to do. ”

An indescribable frenzy rolled in the knight's body. He stood up, his sword in hand, strode towards the earl's family, stood still in front of a young and beautiful woman, stared for a few seconds, and suddenly raised his fist and struck the girl the waist, and the girl suddenly bowed in pain. Saben bowed his head, grabbed her clothes, and carried the whole person on his shoulders, his blood-stained face revealing a fierce and satisfied ecstasy.

"Saben! What do you want? Put it down! Put my daughter down! ”

The gray-haired Count Larsen screamed and roared hoarsely at the knight, "You, you can't do this. It was I who picked you up from the slums, it was I who raised you to be the best education you could be a knight. You, you actually killed my son, and now you want my daughter. You, you, you ......"

"You old bastard who can't die!"

Saben turned around and kicked the Count in the chest hard, the muscles in his face twisted, and he roared loudly with all his strength: "You keep saying that everything is for me, why don't you agree to my proposal?" Why don't you marry Savannah to me? Lao Tzu is desperate to work for you, just to be your watchdog? Savannah is mine, but she's no longer a noble countess. When Lao Tzu is happy enough, he will sell her to slave traders. Don't stare at Lao Tzu with that vicious gaze! Old bastard, this qiē is what you are looking for! ”

After saying that, Saben swung the sword in his hand with all his might, and the earl's head was cut off on the spot, and a clear line of blood rolled out on the ground.

……

The design of the castle "Kunming" follows the most practical rules of battle. Su Hao discarded a qiē beautiful ingredient, and all designs were made from a practical point of view. The strength he possessed at the moment was not very strong, and there were only about two hundred guardians inside and outside the castle, except for the staff who were indispensable in the zircon mines.

Team K821, a legionnaire under Second Lieutenant Nelson, has been stationed in the mine. They had a systematic living space, which was a small, enclosed barracks brought in by mechanical transporters and built automatically according to a fixed procedure. The K821 squad does not need Su Hao to supply food, and there is a complete set of small food production and processing workshops in the barracks, which is enough to maintain about twice the daily consumption of the combat team.

The amount of zircon shipped back to the Overworld has increased to thirty tons. In addition to the part that must be handed over, Su Hao also received a lot of military merit from Dai Xiaolou. Of course, the word "abundant" is relative to ordinary people. Although Su Hao is currently a major in the "Iron Warrior" servant army, he is not really a main army officer. According to Dai Xiaolou, if you want to really become a member of the main legion, you must go through a complicated and cumbersome assessment period. In contrast, it is the safest way to honestly pay the ore and accumulate military merits step by step, so as to achieve identity transformation.

Qiao Yuheng's death did bring some trouble to Su Hao. The Qiao family filed a complaint with the Supreme Court of the Empire, and successfully received a reply from the court in the review stage. However, things did not go on as expected. As many as 20 combatants, including Captain Nelson, the "Iron Warriors" became witnesses to the events of the day. Dai Xiaolou produced sufficient evidence to show that the incident was completely provoked by the deceased Qiao Yuheng. At that time, Konoha Town was already Su Hao's private territory, and it was illegal for Qiao Yuheng to enter without permission. No matter what kind of imperial code is applied, Su Hao's counterattack is not excessive, at most it is just a simple and crude way to solve the problem.

The Qiao family was not reconciled, they spent a lot of money, and wanted to save the situation through other means. However, Su Hao presented a document signed by Lieutenant General Stanberga in court, proving that Konoha Town had been included in the sphere of influence by the main army of the "Iron Warriors" a few months ago, and had become one of the important resource supply points of the General Administration of Legion Industry. Therefore, Qiao Yuheng's various behaviors are all provocations to the main army. According to the imperial military regulations, the Qiao family must pay a fine of up to 800,000 gold coins within the specified time limit, or offset it with resources of equal value.

The benefits from the space sector are not just superficial. In addition to zircon, furs and grain were also important trade commodities that Kunming Castle shipped to the Third Phase Overworld. Konoha Town itself does not produce food, and all the food consumed daily is transported from the inner regions of the empire. As the manager of the town, Su Hao must take a large part of the proceeds and buy food from the merchants to keep Konoha Town running. As for fur, the thorny bear is even better in quality than werewolf fur and is more expensive.

Qiao Tianyu was indifferent to the fight between the family and Su Hao. He has now begun the trade of furs and arms between Konoha Town and the Empire's Inner Realm. Although there is no profit in food trade, Qiao Tianyu believes that with Su Hao's further exploration of the space field, more special commodities can definitely be found. In such a situation, it is inevitable that a large number of armed personnel will be stationed to guard the resource distribution center, and arms will become something of higher profit value.

I'm afraid that only by using the phrase "spending money like running water" can Su Hao's current situation be described. The 200,000 gold reward from the Imperial Research Department has long been spent. About 10% of the zircon that was transported several times before and after was replaced by Su Hao for various building materials. The current town of Konoha is equivalent to a war fortress set up by humans in the border area. Under the watchful eye of Lieutenant General Steinberga, two large-caliber fortress guns were delivered to Konoha Town, where they were installed by the legion's professional technicians. This type of cannon is so powerful that it is usually only available in Team Fortresses. This also shows that the top management of the "Iron Warriors" army attaches great importance to Konoha Town, and must ensure a stable supply of zircon.

It was at this time that Garros came to Konoha Town for the second time.

He was shocked by the changes from the last time he had visited.

The town's perimeter wall is no longer an ordinary steel-concrete structure, but has been mechanically drilled to the surface. This is done in order to add steel plates to the outer surface of the walls, which can resist the use of heavy throwing spears and other weapons by dark creatures. Of course, the armor wall is twice as powerful and incredibly expensive. Garros didn't think Su Hao had the ability to complete such an expensive project. However, the facts are in front of us, and perhaps, it is only a matter of time before it is finally completed.

The Alert Tower has been completely revised, and instead of the previous permeable structure with four sides facing, it is a fully enclosed rotatable structure similar to a chariot turret. All the weapons equipped with them have been changed to combined cannons, and the elevator between the tower and the ground is relied on, and the ammunition supply system is convenient and flexible, which can carry out all-round monitoring of the inside and outside of the town as needed. Of course, the cost of this renovation is definitely not a small amount. Even if Garros's family wants to carry out such a transformation in the main city, it must be carefully considered.

There are also dozens of light combat vehicles in Konoha Town, and some important buildings have been modified according to combat needs. Together with the city walls and guard towers, they form three lines of defense, and even if they encounter a large-scale attack by dark creatures of the same size last time, they will have enough firepower to keep the enemy out and kill them one by one in an orderly manner.

When Garros saw Su Hao, he was putting on his power armor and preparing to lead the next group of armed men into the space passage.

"The changes in your body are so great, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to believe that this qiē was all true."

Garros's sentiments did not resonate in any way. Su Hao looked at him coldly: "If there is anything, just say it!" ”

The negative effects brought by Qiao Yuheng have not been completely cleared from Su Hao's mind. The experience before and after coming to the third stage of the world made Su Hao more and more disgusted with the word "noble". Although Garros is a fairly fair figure among the nobles, Su Hao has no deep friendship with him, so naturally he can't talk about any trust.

"It's clear that you're biased against me."

Garros no longer has the arrogance and indifference of an aristocratic son, and although there is a hint of anger in his words, it sounds somewhat low-profile: "I don't want to explain more on this issue. That's just a waste of time. I know you don't have a good impression of me, hell! It was simply Brito's idiot's mistake. I was only with him last time, so I was hit by the pond fish. You've achieved your goal, Brito is crippled, and he can't even sit up from bed. ”

Su Hao's eyes released a cold killing intent: "What, do you want to be unfair for him?" ”

"How is that possible?"

Garros spread his hands and looked innocent: "I don't like that weird guy at all. I just regret why you didn't shoot him in the head at that time, but you wanted to save his life? ”

Su Hao sneered and said lightly, "I did it on purpose." He is the kind of person who is dead, but it is a relief. I know that you nobles can open up joints in the upper echelons of the Empire, and you can spend a lot of money to get a few places for amputated limb reconstruction surgery at the Imperial Academy. However, once the central nervous system is damaged, it can never be repaired. Perhaps in a few hundred years, when medical technology develops to a higher level, this will change. Yet, for now, and for decades to come, Britto will always be an unrelievable wreck. He can only be a bunch of thinking meat, that's what I want. ”

Garros couldn't help but shudder. He suddenly found that Su Hao was far more ruthless and cruel than he looked on the outside. Perhaps, things have gone beyond their original plans. Perhaps, even my father couldn't really see through this mercenary and put him at too low a level.

"I'm not hostile to you."

Garros reiterated his position, his words becoming cautious and careful: "I think we can be friends. At the very least, it should be a partner. ”

Su Hao picked up a piece of armor from the table next to him and put it on his arm, turned around, and looked at him deeply: "This kind of thing is not as simple as talking about it. I rarely trust others. I don't see the possibility of cooperation between us. ”

"You are not a god, and you cannot be omniscient and prophetic of everything."

The expression on Garros's face was a little strange: "There are many things in this world that are beyond your expectations, and even more terrifying than you imagined. When faced with danger, everyone wants help. You're alone, and even if you have the help of the main army of Iron Warriors, you still won't be able to fight all the troubles alone. ”

Su Hao stopped his injured movements and slowly stroked the smooth steel armor shell on his arm, he frowned: "What do you mean?" ”

"I have to admit that you do have a talent for business that is hard for ordinary people. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed that the land under my feet was Konoha Town. ”

Garros had obviously expected Su Hao to ask, "We all know what space exploration is all about. My family also owns several spatial territories, and the production from there has sustained my family until now. The Empire is like a giant spider that spews spider silk from countless spatial realms, constantly obtaining nutrients and making itself strong. Including your Konoha Town, it is also an endpoint of the Empire's source of nutrition. From this point of view, you should be safe. Because it is impossible for a spider to sit on a carefully woven cobweb and be damaged. However, even spiders need to sleep and rest. It can't take care of every corner at all times. To be truly safe, you must rely on a cobweb that is strong enough to withstand impact from any direction. ”

Su Hao thought for a few seconds, and his voice was heavy: "Brito's family wants to snatch my space domain?" ”

"The existence of zircon is not a secret."

Garros looked at Su Hao's eyes seriously, a smile on his face. It can be seen that it is only now that Su Hao really has the willingness to talk to him head-on. That's exactly what Garros wants.

"A blue-grade vein is enough to be the greatest source of wealth. After all, the Clemen family is an aristocratic family, and in the matter of Brito, they have lost a family heir. What's more, as long as you get Konoha Town, it means that you have a stable foundation for the source of zircon. If it weren't for the restrictions of imperial law, they would have swallowed it up a long time ago. ”

Su Hao's voice became a little strange: "They actually want to occupy this place? ”

"As long as there is no problem with the law."

Garros's expression and voice were stern: "If it were changed, I would do the same." Only if the real person gets the stolen goods will the thief be sentenced to imprisonment by the court. Without evidence, robbers can succeed in killing. He will take for granted the benefits that are not his own. If there is no accusation, no evidence, and no one wants to investigate the murder and robbery to the end, then every qiē becomes natural, and every qiē behavior becomes reasonable and legal. ”

Hearing this, Su Hao Huoran raised his head, looked at Garros, and said solemnly: "Thank you!" ”

After the last battle with the dark creatures, Su Hao has been waiting for revenge from the Brito family. However, things didn't go as he imagined. The Clemen family has remained silent and does not seem to want to pursue this at all.

Su Hao knew that this was not normal. This is equivalent to having one more time bomb around you that you don't know when it will be detonated. It was precisely because of this that he did not refuse Dai Xiaolou's dispatch of the legion combat team in the space domain. In this way, the zircon mine is at least safe, and he can also shrink some of his manpower to increase the combat power of Konoha Town.