A four-story old red brick building in the north of the town is the council of elders and the council of elders, the council of mages. The building is not large, but it is more than 500 years old, and although it has been renovated and decorated many times during this period, the exterior still retains the simplicity of the town when it was first built, and it is here that many decisions were made that eventually influenced the entire kingdom.

On the fourth floor, each of the sixteen archmage-level elders had a separate office. There are thirty offices on this floor, and now naturally half of them are empty. But in the heyday of the Mage Association, the fourth floor was not only occupied, but there were also archmages who could not apply for offices.

Judging from the number of archmages, it can be seen that the power of the mages of the Sequoia Kingdom is no longer in its prime.

Another proof is that for more than 100 years, as the Mage Guild has become more and more powerful, the number of mages has been decreasing year by year. At present, there are less than 600 registered mages above level 8 in the kingdom.

The decline of the Mage Guild is only a superficial phenomenon, and in reality the income of the Guild has not decreased. Although the number of mages has decreased, and the number of goods such as enchanted equipment provided has also decreased, the guild has managed to triple the price of enchanted equipment over the past few years, while the price of wheat in the kingdom has only increased by five percent during the same period. As a result, the interests of the elders in the association have increased several times, because the cake is not small, but there are fewer people who cut the cake.

Many archmagers don't like to work in this building, and almost never show up except for meetings. But there are also people who like it here, and prefer to sit here and enjoy the taste of power precipitated by history.

Ryan sits in the office almost every day.

As the most outstanding magical genius of the Sequoia Kingdom in recent years, Ryan deservedly became the youngest elder of the association, and even became the vice president of the association last year, and the outer robe was also changed from the elder's red robe to a dark gold robe with special significance.

In the entire Mage Guild, there are only three Dark Gold Mages. That is, the president of the association, Ryan, and an eighteenth-level archmage. The Grand Magister was the most powerful Magus in the Society, but he had not been in Lausanne for many years. His magic tower was built on the northern border, and is said to be guarding a huge magic crystal mine, where an entire tribe of dwarven slaves are mining for him.

Ryan sat in his office, holding a cup of black coffee, looking intently at the report in his hand. At his desk, a middle-aged mage stood upright, his golden robe indicating that his status in the guild was not low.

"Ten sets of enchanted equipment have been seized?" Ryan asked.

"Yes, Your Excellency. And these are ten sets of equipment that can arm a warrior from head to toe! ”

"Something, take me to see it. ”

The golden-robed mage said, "It's already downstairs, please come with me." ”

A moment later, in a gloomy warehouse, the golden-robed mage personally opened the two sealing boxes and displayed the equipment inside. Ryan first picked up a long sword, and with a burst of magic power, the sword body immediately rippled with aqua blue magical light.

"Yes, the finest fine-grade long sword, from the technique, material to workmanship are impeccable. What do you think of the quality of this long sword?"

"It should be similar to the fine products exported by the association. The golden-robed mage said cautiously.

Ryan laughed, threw the sword back into the enchantment box, and said, "Boutique? Even if I enchant it myself, I can only do this kind of thing! In my opinion, only the work of the old man Bank, who studies enchantment every day, can surpass it in the entire association." But how many enchanted products does Bank produce a month? The contents of these two boxes are enough for him to make in a year. ”

The golden-robed mage was startled by Ryan's words, and his gaze as he looked at the Demon Sealing Box became a little strange.

Ryan asked, "All these things came out of that Richard's hand?"

"Yes! I've followed it up in detail. The equipment was sent back by Baron Chakter, and it is said that it was used to change the clothes of the Earl of Burr's personal guards. Baron Chakett was an active member of the Project Crossing Line and is still in the Bloodstained Lands. Needless to say, the source of this batch of equipment must be Richard. ”

After a pause, the golden-robed mage said worriedly: "Your Excellency, I heard that in the Bloodstained Land, Richard sells magic equipment at a lower price than the cost of the association! ”

But the golden-robed mage didn't expect this comment to be appreciated by Ryan.

Ryan sneered and said, "Is it really strange that the cost is lower than that produced by the association? It's not that Richard's selling price is low, but our cost is too high! Think about it, what is in the cost of a piece of magical equipment produced by the association? A kilogram of Lafite iron, the purchase price of the association is three times higher than the market price outside. For example, Master Moxi's sharp attributes, the magic array is ready-made, and he only needs to consume a magic power equivalent to a sixth-level magic and spend three minutes before and after, and it can be completed. And this will bring him an income of five hundred gold coins. Hmph, the thing that earns 500 gold coins in three minutes is something I'm willing to do!

The golden-robed mage was shocked, he didn't expect Ryan to dissect it so thoroughly, and so ruthlessly. For a while, he didn't know how to respond. Past experience has taught him that such conversations are full of opportunities and can be fatal pitfalls.

Ryan slowed down a bit and said, "In fact, more than a hundred years ago, the quality of the enchanted equipment produced by the Association was much better than it is now, and it was not even much worse than what we were looking for. And at that time, the price was lower than Richard's price in the Bloodstained Land. However, that was more than 100 years ago. ”

The golden-robed mage didn't know how to answer, so he had to answer vaguely yes, and then asked, "Your Excellency, what should Count Burr do with these goods?"

"Did Richard find out what he was doing?"

The golden-robed mage stubbornly said, "It's being investigated!" At present, there are clues that Richard seems to have some connection with the Principality of Baiyan. But as you know, the Mage Guild in the Principality of White Rock doesn't have a good relationship with us. So it can only be done in secret, this ...... It takes time. ”

Ryan nodded and said, "Take your time with this matter, he can't run there anyway." But the matter of Count Burr can't just be left at that!I remember that the Guild had a rule that the purchase and sale of large-scale magical equipment within the kingdom must go through the Guò Guild, right?"

"That's true. ”

Ryan's voice turned cold: "In that case, you bring a group of people and secretly bring Count Burr to Lausanne for trial in the name of the association, and the crime is smuggling magic equipment!"

The golden-robed mage was taken aback, and hurriedly said, "President, it is a big deal to capture the nobles on the ground!"

Ryan asked rhetorically, "Didn't there be a precedent just a few years ago?"

"That's different! That time it was just a small baron, and this time it was an earl! A bad one, this matter is likely to provoke the royal family and other great nobles to intervene. ”

Ryan sneered: "No, Burr is a neutral nobleman. Neutral nobles have no factions, but they also have no patrons. All we need to do is arrest him, the most the others can do is protest, do they really dare to stand up to the Mage Guild? Now is the time for the Guild to show its strength!"

The golden-robed mage was in a state of flux, and finally knew that Ryan's ambitions were by no means limited to the Mage Guild.

Richard spent a rare half a month of peace.

His daily life consisted of drawing and meditating, recovering his magic with all his might. The tranquility of his life made Richard draw the costumes faster, and fifteen days later, Richard had created eight pieces, and his magic had been restored to level 12.

The situation in the Bloodstained Lands was calm, and Richard's followers split up to eliminate the horse bandits that threatened the trade routes. This trade route was almost full of gold, and a large number of horse bandits smelled the gold coins and flocked to it. They did not dare to move the super-large caravans formed by the nobles, but they coveted the various small caravans that passed on the trade routes. And there were also many people with ulterior motives hidden among the horse bandits, such as the remnants of the Red Cossacks.

The huge benefits of the trade route are enough to make people crazy, the horse bandits in the bloodstained land are fierce and cruel, persuasion is of course useless, and intimidation has no effect, so Richard issued an order that within a radius of fifty kilometers on both sides of the trade route, as long as the horse bandits are found, they will be killed. After killing too much, the surviving horse bandits will naturally become smarter and know that they can't touch Richard's cheese.

The Iron Triangle Empire was furious that all its strongholds in the Bloodstained Lands had been uprooted by Richard, and had sent envoys to demand that the Sequoia Kingdom hand over Richard. Of course, it is impossible for the Sequoia Kingdom to agree, in the bloodstained land, the interests of half of the nobles of the kingdom have been tied to Richard, and the growth of these nobles, although it may slowly affect the balance of power in the country, but on the whole, it is still conducive to the growth of national strength, how can the kingdom cut off its arms. The Iron Triangle Empire actually knew the result for a long time, but in order to appease the nobles in the country, it knew that it was useless to do it.

This is politics, this is diplomacy.

The Reich and Richard had actually fought two wars. In the battle of the Blue Water Meat Grinder, Sarenwell's descendants suffered heavy losses. In the two battles before and after, the Count of Rambert, who was quite powerful in the empire, was vulnerable in front of Richard, and the blue camp and caravan guards were the elite of the earl's command, and they were all wiped out. Of the eight other strongholds that Richard had removed, three belonged to Count Rambert. Before and after, Lambert had lost more than 4,000 elites under Richard, and also lost two Sanctuary powerhouses. Not to mention the earl, even for a duke, this kind of loss will cause sleepless nights.

But now the Iron Triangle Empire has a lot of troubles of its own. Li Shilongtu fell into the quagmire of the Giant Dragon Cult, and the battle to open the sea to the east did not go well. In this situation, it is really difficult for the empire to officially start a war with the Sequoia Kingdom, and the consequences of the three-front battle are difficult for the Iron Triangle Empire to bear. Moreover, although the economic benefits of the trade routes of the Bloodstained Lands were enormous, the seizure of access to the sea was of greater importance to the future of the empire.