Viscount Lane left Uncle Raul's house and soon returned to his personal estate on the outskirts of the Upper City of Steel.

Tonight, because the distance was too long, Viscount Lane had no way to rush back to his castle, so he could only spend the night in a small manor on the outskirts of the Steel City.

At the same time, there is another purpose for staying in the small manor, which is to facilitate the reporting of those who have collected information related to Murray.

Sitting in the study on the second floor of a small building in the manor, I flipped through all kinds of relevant information and information placed in front of me.

An elderly butler sat aside, carrying refreshments specially prepared for the viscount.

Seeing Viscount Ryan busy at his desk, the old butler didn't bother the Viscount, and stood by quietly waiting.

When the night outside the window became thicker and it was already approaching the middle of the night, Viscount Lane finally looked up from the table.

The old butler immediately stepped forward, put down the prepared teacup, and poured a cup of dark red tea at a suitable temperature from the teapot.

Obviously, he has been standing for a long time, but the tea in the old butler's hand is not cold, and the snacks prepared are also very fresh.

Picked up the colored porcelain teacup, blew it gently, and then took a sip, the dark red tea entrance, the warm tea instantly spread on the tip of the tongue, exuding the unique mellow fragrance of the tea, as well as the slight bitterness of the tea.

"Goodong" flows slowly in his throat, slowly drinking the mellow tea in his mouth, squinting his eyes and savoring the sweetness of the tea.

"Huh" breathed a sigh of satisfaction and Viscount Lane turned his head to the old butler and said, "Horn, the tea you make will always be so delicious." ”

The old butler replied respectfully: "As long as the Viscount likes it, Horn will always serve the Viscount and cook delicious strong tea for the Viscount." ”

Viscount Ryan immediately smiled when he heard this: "Hehehe, Horn, you and Raul are simply two extremes, how good it would be if Raul could be as loyal as you? With the two of you by my side, I don't have to fear the Empire and the Holy See." ”

The old butler Horn immediately said respectfully: "Viscount Miaozan, Horn is already old, and it is Horn's fault that he can't share his worries for the Viscount. ”

After two more sips of tea, he smiled and said to the old housekeeper beside him: "No, no, no, no, you are not at fault, you are doing a good job." ”

Raise your head and drink the tea in the colored porcelain cup, and after putting down the cup, you will pinch the dim sum in the matching colored porcelain plate at the corner of the table.

Instead of putting the snack in his mouth, he pointed to the information on the table and said, "Horn, do you think this Murray is credible?"

The old butler Horn lowered his eyebrows, his eyes faintly revealed a ray of essence, and he hesitated for a moment and said in a deep voice: "Your Excellency, in fact, judging from all indications, this little guy from the Dragon Kingdom is very likely to be the one who killed Jack, do you really plan to activate him? And completely let him do whatever he wants?

Viscount Lane put all the bite of the snack in his mouth, chewing on the snack as he motioned for Horn to continue.

Horn continued: "Actually, the only handle in the hands of His Excellency the Viscount is the lives of Raul and the old and sick people in the factory, as well as the witch, but these may not be able to really persecute the young man from the Dragon Kingdom. ”

Hearing this, Viscount Lane's eyebrows suddenly lifted, and he was obviously aware of the problem that Horn said.

Horn is very good at observing words and feelings, and he has already seen the changes in the viscount's expression between his low eyebrows and pleasing eyes.

He paused deliberately, and then continued: "Although Raul and the Dragon Country Boy have lived together for five years, and they have feelings for each other before, no one dares to guarantee how deep this relationship can be, is it really going to bind that teenager?"

"In addition, some of the young man's words, his subordinates think that they are exaggerated, the power of the Sunflower Choir and the Tavern Association is deep-rooted, and he dares to say that he can strengthen the Brotherhood of Bad Boys and clean up the two gangs that have controlled the underground world for many years, it is really a bit of a shame, or that he doesn't know the empire, and he doesn't know the gangsters of the empire, but he just takes it for granted. ”

"But from any point of view, his so-called promises are obviously unbelievable, and may be nothing more than some small tricks he plays in front of you, the viscount. ”

"In the end, he said that he was going to build four factories, which is really a very suspicious thing, I am afraid that there will be some of his selfish intentions, and he did not let us know, Viscount, you must not be on guard. ”

Horn's tirade just made Viscount Ryan eat the snacks on the small plate, and he also added tea to the Viscount during the process.

After eating the snack, he finally took a sip of tea, and squinted his eyes very contentedly for a moment: "Horn, what you analyzed is very reasonable, but I still have to use him, or rather, I can only choose to cooperate with him, otherwise we will not be able to resist the secret encroachment of the empire and the Holy See, and when the time comes, we will not need the imperial army to suppress the territory, and we will be disintegrated internally." ”

Horn continued to stand with his brow bowed and his ears bowed, not bothering the Viscount, much less trying to argue anything, like a quiet listener.

Viscount Ryan continued: "Over the years, we have tried everything we can, even secretly supporting the Brotherhood of Bad Boys, but all our efforts have had little effect, the choir and tavern are constantly expanding, and most of the nobles in the Upper City of Steel have actually become vassals of their two gangs. ”

"Those aristocrats who are full of faith and doctrine are actually a group of profiteering, and they will never stand on our side if they can't give us more and better benefits in their eyes. ”

Speaking of this, Viscount Lane's voice unconsciously raised a few points, obviously angry at the style of those earthly nobles who belonged to him.

In fact, what lord can not be angry about such a thing? The nobles of their own land actually acted against themselves for the sake of profit.

This is the method of the empire and the Holy See to gradually annex private territories, that is, to take advantage of the greed of those territorial nobles, gradually divide and disintegrate the subordinate relationship between them and the territorial lords, eat away at the lord's power little by little, and finally completely empty the territorial lords, so as to solve the lords without blood and take back the private territories to the empire.

It must be admitted that this method of the empire has been very effective, and it has taken back many large and small private dependencies.

Even half a year ago, with this method, a marquis was successfully elevated, and a large area of the territory that originally belonged to the marquis was recovered.

Through such means, the empire has reaped a lot of sweetness over the years, so it will continue to be so unscrupulous and secret.

Viscount Lane sighed helplessly: "Even if we lords with territories know, we can't completely eradicate the gangs. ”

At this time, Horn finally spoke up and agreed: "Yes, gangsters are needed at all times, and if there are no gangs to maintain the underground world, Viscount your territory may also be turbulent. ”

Nodding his head, staring at the exquisite colored porcelain cups on the table, Viscount Ryan suddenly whispered in a deep voice: "I don't know what kind of method the Dragon Kingdom can use to maintain the stability of the entire country? ”

The night in the manor outside the window was charming, but Viscount Ryan in the window buried his head on the table again, and continued to comb through the mountains of various information, and the old butler stood quietly beside him, everything complemented each other like that.

In the bottom of Viscount Lane's heart, he hoped that the young man from the Eastern Dragon Kingdom would bring changes to his territory and solve the dilemma he was facing now.