"Whew....... As the curtain was drawn, a beam of clean sunlight shone into the room, and Orin Stanlini, who was lying on the bed, squinted weakly, and his somewhat cloudy eyes were filled with many worries, and the viscountess who was sitting on the edge of the bed was also frowning and preoccupied.

"It's been two weeks, father. The eldest son, Noah, stood by the window, tied the curtain together, and tied it to the buckle, and the shame and helplessness in his heart made his words a little restrained.

"Honey, you go out first. Let me talk to Noah alone. Orin patted his wife Mandy's hand lightly, and after her wife stood up, lowered her head and kissed Orin's forehead, she slowly walked out of the room, gently closed the door, sighed, and turned to leave.

"Sit here, my son. Orin gestured to his son.

"You are the eldest son, our first son, and our favorite child. I know you're not keen on the affairs of the castle, and your two younger brothers, neither of whom you like to take care of the affairs of the castle. Speaking of this, Orin sighed, his three sons have inherited his easy-going temperament, do not like to fight with others, and appear to be a little weak in character.

"It's me who is so incompetent, Father, I ......" Before Noah could finish his words, Orin interrupted him with a wave of his hand.

"I don't have much time. I hope you will be able to take care of your brothers and sisters after I leave, Carouston needs a true leader. ”

"I'm going to do my best. ”

Looking at the eldest son in front of him, who looked like he was young, Orin slowly closed his eyes and said, "Tell me, tell me what has happened recently." ”

Noah sat up and said slowly, "Last night Luma brought news from Segovia, and Sir Burges, while greeting his father, inquired about the mercury production. I asked Burroughs, and in this month, plus the accident the day before yesterday, there have been six accidents in the mercury refining room, and the aging iron pipe burst has injured several workers, although the workers in the refining room have not gone on strike, but they are afraid to work, and their efficiency and output have been seriously affected. If you want to change to a new iron pipe, Caroston can only do it in the blacksmith shop in the south of the city, but now there is only a group of apprentices left in the blacksmith shop, and the old blacksmiths who can make iron pipes have all been requisitioned to Ambel, and they have not yet returned. ”

Noah paused for a moment, then said, "So far this month, the plan is to produce 75 units, but as of this morning, including those sent away, a total of only 30 units have been produced. This year's mercury deficit is very large, and in the nearby towns, there are only three of us in the mercury refining room, and if we fail to deliver the goods on time, according to the contract, we will have to pay Sir Burgess a large amount of liquidated damages. ”

"Because of the shortage of mercury, we suspended the supply of the Magic Guild in the east of the city, at first there was nothing to do, but because it is difficult to delay the preparation of the second-level Magic Guild, Master Giroud has already approached Burroughs several times, the order for the Magic Guild was signed in September, and he hopes that we can restore the supply as soon as possible. ”

Noah said this, and his tone became quieter and quieter, "I asked Hall to go to Dax a week ago, and if it goes well, I should be able to come back in a few days." ”

When Orin heard "Dax", his brows furrowed slightly, and he let out a "hmm" in his nose, motioning for Noah to continue.

"We've caught a dozen Kana scouts on the southwest border this month, and we're missing three scout cavalry. The situation has been chaotic lately. I heard that there were traces of undead in a sea city in the east, but the empire did not verify it immediately, and the undead had already attacked several fishing villages and towns. This is news from Baron Bobby, you know, he always gets a lot of first-hand information. ”

"After lunch, you take a few men and go to Segovia as fast as you can, and greet Sir Burges, and tell him that we will deliver the goods as soon as possible. When you come back, see if there are any skilled blacksmiths in Segovia, hire them at a high price, and then rush back as soon as possible, and hide them so that they don't be discovered. The matter of the castle, let the stewards go to Luma and tell Cole to keep an eye on Luma and stop spending his short life in brothels and taverns!

"Let Burroughs transfer half of the materials in the mercury refining room to all the windmill workshops inside and outside the city overnight, and refine all the mercury in the next week, and supply it to the magic guild as soon as possible. That's all, there you go. After Noah fed his father some warm water, the viscount, who was in a poor state of mind, closed his eyes, stopped talking, and motioned for his son to do something.

After Noah left his father's room, he went into action, found his two younger brothers, Luma and Cole, told them, and then greeted his mother, and then took his two henchmen out of Caroston and galloped south along the avenue.

Segovia is about 150 miles east of Caropers, about 150 miles from Caroston, and it takes six days for a caravan to make a round trip, but if you want to report the news, you can get there when it gets dark.

Standing on the tower of the castle and looking at the eldest son who had gone away, Viscountess Mandy clasped her hands on her chin and muttered prayers. After her husband fell seriously ill, many bad signs appeared in the castle, and one by one the bad news enveloped the entire city of Carouston like a dark cloud. The most beloved daughter of the castle also traveled far for the Viscount's body in search of the ethereal ring of life. For a period of time, she has always had inexplicable heart palpitations, as if something bad is about to happen, and bursts of inexplicable panic have always made her sad. At the moment, she can only pray that this will pass as soon as possible.

Sitting in the center of the city administration, Burroughs with crystal lenses buried in proofreading a financial list, in front of dozens of unwaxed sealed parchment rolls waiting for proofreading, this month's financial work is extraordinarily much, in addition to the normal work content of the month, he also has to count the financial data of the whole year, these data have a good reference and reminder for next year's work plan. This year's troubles are much more than in previous years, Lord Viscount's body has been bedridden under a cold wind in winter, he has found a lot of doctors, seemingly ordinary illnesses have not been cured for a long time, and the mage priest of the Magic Guild has also come many times, but the condition is getting more and more serious, and now he can't even hold a pen, and it turns out that many of the affairs that Lord Viscount himself is taking care of can only be handed over.

During this time, Burroughs was overwhelmed by a series of accidents in the mercury refinery, and he was running between several aristocratic buyers and chambers of commerce. Although everyone was quite understanding and did not rush the order, the time did not allow it to continue to delay, and the accumulated arrears have reached a very headache amount.

Lowering his lenses and rubbing his sour eyes, Burroughs stood. He hasn't been sleeping well lately, waking up several times a night, and once he wakes up, it's hard to sleep well. The matter of his son Hall going to Dax was what Noah told him afterwards, and it was useless for him to refuse.

Dax is in the northwest of Carouston City, but Carouston does not have a direct trade route to Dax, so he has to take a long detour through Finney City and then change lanes to Dax, and these two city-states are subordinate to the Duchy of Dunslemont, in the current unstable situation, it is a risky thing to go to the Duchy of Dunslemont rashly, not to mention that Dax and Carouson have no trade relations, and the reason for this is only known to the viscount and several cronies, including himself. The only thing he could do now was pray for his eldest son to return from Dax.

Burroughs' thoughts were interrupted by one of his men who had come to report the news, and he walked briskly to him: "My lord, the convoy of the Goben Chamber of Commerce has returned from the city of Finney today, and they say that they have been attacked by several waves of thieves on the border of the principality, and three guards have died. ”

Burroughs' heart jumped, and he calmed down, and asked him, "Has Knight Egger been to see it?"

"Knight Egger has seen it, and the wound was caused by a crossbow arrow. The Castle had submitted an application for the castle to send someone to exterminate the thieves, and the news had spread to the other chambers of commerce in the city in the morning. ”

"I see, you go and ask Knight Egger to come to the city center. ”

"Yes, sir. After receiving the order, his men walked away quickly.

Looking at his departing men, Burroughs felt uneasy, the caravan had been traveling from Caroston to Finney, along the border of the two vast empires of the Arissanret Empire and the Junn Empire.

Although the relationship between the two empires is harmonious, there is no peace between the principalities under the two different empires, and there is a lot of friction on the border line all year round. To the southwest of the Duchy of Zereva and Dunslemont is the Duchy of Lopsius, which is the most powerful of the seven principalities of the Junen Empire.