In the courtyard, after reading the letter sent back by Red, Roy had a thoughtful look in his eyes.

"Ferocious Animals...... The mountain bandits who attacked the Chiling granary...... Some of the eccentric Red Ridge Lords, Lord Thunberg, ......"

Roy knows something about ferocious animals.

In layman's terms, ferocious animals can be seen as a transitional stage between ordinary animals and magical beasts.

From the mouth of Fran, the daughter of the Duke of the Border, she learned that due to the influence of the magic tide that broke out in the Star Lake's magic veins, a large number of animals will mutate this winter, and there may even be magical beasts that will appear and attack the territory, so Roy is very concerned about this aspect.

Warcraft is an unusually powerful animal individual. Their strength, the weakest of which is silver, is able to use magical power with attributes.

In a way, Warcraft is an animal version of the witch. It's just that compared to witches, the production of Warcraft is more difficult, and because the materials on Warcraft are extremely precious, they are an important main material for making various high-variety weapons and equipment, so as soon as the Warcraft in the empire appears, it will be attacked by extraordinary knights.

And the ferocious animals, because they have been corroded by the magic power in their bodies, have become extremely violent and ferocious, and their size is far beyond their peers, and most of them have the strength of bronze.

Compared to Warcraft, there are far more ferocious animals.

Every year, the people of each territory who die in the winter of the beasts are countless.

Ferocious animals and demonic beasts are generally only seen in the dead of winter.

After the Harvest Festival, the magic power of the veins around the world has escaped, and although it is not as severe as the outbreak here in Star Lake, it is enough to give birth to many ferocious animals.

It stands to reason that there are still nine days left before winter, and the ferocious animals shouldn't have appeared so early, could it be that they are affected by the outbreak of the Star Lake's magic veins?

Roy pondered silently.

It seems that this year's cold winter beast disaster will be more serious than he imagined......

This made Roy more and more eager to improve the strength of his knights.

The area of the Black Stone Collar and the Iron Mountain Collar is very large, and with just a few of his witches, if there are really fierce animals coming from all directions, they are really lacking in skills.

Even if he and the witches eventually kill the ferocious animals and even the monsters, the people who died tragically will not be resurrected, so many knights as basic units are necessary.

After thinking for a while about the "Knight Training Improvement Plan" after Red returned, Roy turned his mind to Chiling.

The lord of Chiling is Lord Reiner Thunberg, a bronze two-star knight who is nearly 50 years old.

In this world, in addition to the promotion to the legend, there can be a large physical transformation, the knight's extraordinary road from bronze to gold, although the physique and fighting spirit are increasing, but the lifespan has not changed much, and even the knight of this world because of the erosion of the body by magic, as well as the dark injuries left over from the battle, the life span is lower than the blue star in his previous life, the average life span of the knight is less than 60, this is still not counting those knights who died on the battlefield.

The 50-year-old "old" Lord Thunberg, the lord of Chiling, is far less physically functional than when he was young, although he has the strength of the bronze two-star, but whether he can beat the bronze one-star is difficult to say.

Blue Star Hua has the saying that "fists are afraid of being young and strong", and it is the same reason for the knights of the Glow Empire.

But no matter how much the strength of Lord Thunberg, the lord of Chiling, is weakened, the foundation is there, how can it be much stronger than the official knights, and it will definitely be too late for the mountain bandits to rush to the rescue when they attack the granary, no matter how bad it is, they can catch up with the mountain bandit team carrying a large amount of food and leave them in the Red Ridge.

But the reality was that the bandits had stolen a lot of food from a lord with a bronze horseman.

Well...... How to put it, this phenomenon is like a skinny mouse, under the nose of a seasoned cat who is good at catching mice, stealing food less than half a meter in front of it.

It's just ridiculous to the extreme.

In Roy's opinion, there are two possibilities for such a thing to happen.

First, the physical condition of Lord Thunberg, the Lord of Chiling, was far worse than outsiders imagined, and he had reached the point where he was extremely inconvenient to move and even bedridden.

If this is the case, it can explain why it has been so long, a lord of bronze strength will still be wreaking havoc around his territory by mountain bandits.

It is one thing for the bandits to occupy a favorable position, but Lord Thunberg's inaction is the main reason.

But Roy felt that was unlikely.

It was mentioned in the letter sent back by Red that he had met Lord Thunberg the previous year, and at that time, although he was half gray-haired, he was still full of energy, and normally speaking, he would never be so weak in three or five years.

And the second possibility is "acting".

All the nobles in the province of Rafahang are nominally subordinate nobles of the Frontier Duke, and they are required to pay a fixed tax to the Frontier Duke every year, which is eventually handed over to the Empire by the Frontier Duke.

Unless there are special circumstances, this tax must be paid.

But mountain bandit raiding is different.

It was snatched away, which is a force majeure factor and a kind of natural and man-made disaster.

In this case, it is difficult to say whether the "stolen" grain was in the mountain bandits, or whether it was "filled in his pocket" by Lord Count Sang.

Two lives, Roy sees this clearly.

In fact, this kind of thing is not new, nine of the ten nobles are thinking about how to "reasonably evade taxes", and the remaining one is thinking about how not to pay taxes.

In normal times, the border duke will most likely turn a blind eye, but this year is different!

Now that Glow is facing off against the two empires of Kolai, the border situation is tense, and none of the nobles in Rafah Province have "avoided taxes", and all of them have obediently paid their dues, even a little more than the quota.

At this time, whoever dares to touch the brow of the Duke of the Border is simply self-defeating.

It is impossible for Lord Sang, the 50-year-old Lord of Chiling, not to understand this truth.

In that case, why is this happening?

Without an on-the-ground look, Roy, lacking more intelligence, was unable to make a valid judgment.

But no matter what happened to Chiling, it had nothing to do with him.

As long as you can buy back the food needed by the people of the Black Stone Collar and the Iron Mountain Collar to survive the winter from Chiling, it will be enough.

Although there were some small twists and turns in the process, for now, it was a sure thing for Red to buy back the grain, and even because he hunted a ferocious animal, he could get more food than expected.

That's a good thing.

Just as Roy was about to put down the letter paper in his hand, suddenly, a cold voice came into his ears.

"Roy, wait, let me see this letter."

It's Ace.

At some point, she had come from the roof to Roy's side.

A faint fragrance flowed into his nose, and Roy handed the letter directly to Ace, and asked with some curiosity, "Is there anything wrong with this letter?" ”

Ace didn't answer immediately, just squinted slightly, staring at the letter in her hand, a faint blue light emerging from her palm, enveloping the letter.

Then, under Roy's gaze, an extremely faint black mist flew out of this seemingly ordinary letterhead.

"This is?!"

Roy's eyes widened slightly.

"Pollution." Ace said in a solemn voice, "Pollution from the witch. ”

"This wisp of pollution is very faint, if it weren't for my very keen awareness of the pollution aura, coupled with the perception of the crown level, I would almost not have noticed this wisp of aura."

Roy's brow furrowed.

If he had opened the [Infinite Desire] just now, he would have been able to feel this breath of pollution, but who would be fine enough to open his talent just by reading a letter!

"Did a witch do anything to this letter?"

Roy said in a solemn voice, and as he spoke, a faint doubt appeared in his eyes.

There are no witches serving in Chiling, and the appearance of this wisp of pollution means that there are wandering witches eyeing Red and others. But how could just buying food attract the attention of the witch?

"Nope." Ace shook her head: "This smell of pollution is very, very light, I speculate that Mr. Red should have been in contact with something related to witches, and his body was contaminated with this smell of pollution, and then when he wrote the letter, this smell of pollution also flowed onto the letter paper." ”

"In fact, even if this amount of pollution is ten times more, it will not affect ordinary people."

"Is that so......" After listening to Ace's explanation, Roy's eyebrows relaxed slightly, but he still frowned.

Red and the others have a connection with the witch, which is not a good thing for them.

If, just in case, the wandering witch has malicious intentions towards Red and the others, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Although there are five witches gathered around him, Roy knows very well that the vast majority of wandering witches are not good people.

Including Ace and Lilia.

Before they came to the Black Stone Collar, they were absolutely ruthless.

Of course, now that they are their own people, nothing in the past is important.

The key point now is that the food purchase trip of Red and the others may be interfered with by the unexpected wandering witch.

This is something that Roy cannot tolerate.

Red's trip to buy grain this time is too important, if something goes wrong, the Black Stone Territory will be better, and many of the people in the Iron Mountain Territory will starve to death and freeze to death this winter.

Imagine in a bad place, if something happens to Red, then Roy Ke will directly lose the "big butler" and be directly cut off in the management of territorial affairs.

After thinking about it, Roy quickly made a decision.

"Ace, let's go take a look, Lilia, you'll take care of the house."

"Okay." Ace on the side nodded slightly.

"Lord Roy, I'll go with you too, it's safer to have multiple people." Lilia spoke.

Roy shook his head: "Ace's perception of this polluted aura can allow us to quickly find the wandering witch, and there must always be a strong enough combat force in the mansion to guard it." ”

"Your talent is very strong, and if you really have a strong enemy attacking, you can also hold on for a long time, enough to delay until we come back."

Lilia's talent can take all the witches into the shadow world together, and in this state, the general legend will come, and he will also be blind.

Hearing Roy's words, although Lilia was still a little unwilling in her eyes, she could only nod obediently in agreement.

As Roy said, if Ace and her were gone, it wouldn't matter if no one stayed at home to protect the three witches.

But at the end of the day, I'm still too weak......

Lilia thought silently.

If she breaks through the crown position, with her natural ability, she is actually the most suitable person to go out with Lord Roy.

Thinking of this, Lilia's heart became more and more eager to make progress in the basic meditation method.

When the nine runes in the first stage are completed, she will be able to start breaking through the "crown position"!

The situation was urgent, and after a simple arrangement, Roy headed towards the direction of Chiling in the north under the leadership of Ace.

……

Chiling.

The sky was just dawning.

Many knights of the Blackstone Grain Purchasing Team had already gotten up early, waiting for the staff of the Chiling side to load the grain.

Both Red and Steward Chiling walked out of the hall with smiles on their faces.

A fresh and ferocious animal, but a very precious goods, whether for personal use or for sale, is a good choice.

Therefore, after informing the lord Lord Thunberg, the steward of Chiling directly purchased the carcass of the black giant bear at a price higher than the market price and converted it into grain.

And Red was happy that he had bought much more food than expected.

It was a deal that was extremely satisfying for both parties.

In fact, now, Red has also come back to his senses.

The so-called "looting" of mountain bandits is most likely just a pretense, which is essentially Lord Thunberg's "personal pocket", otherwise, it is impossible for Chiling to sell so much grain to Heishi Ling.

Even the dark point thinks that the "beginning of the mountain bandits" of the white oak collar is not without the secret operation of Lord Thunberg.

But so what?

is still the same sentence, everything about Chiling has nothing to do with him, he is just a buyer, and Chiling is a seller, and the two sides are in a trading relationship, that's all.

Because of the large amount of grain purchased, it took a lot of time to load, and when the final shipment was completed, it was close to 12 o'clock at noon.

A full forty carts of grain lined up in a long line on the wide streets.

After saying a polite farewell to the Chiling steward, Red and the knights led a long line of grain purchasers towards the outside of the city.

After Red and the others left, the Chiling steward couldn't wait to walk towards the kitchen in the backyard.

The ferocious black giant bear that was bought is now in the backyard, waiting to be dismembered by the chefs.

Once the processing is complete, the best parts can be sent to the Lord's Mansion and presented to Master Thunberg.

As everyone knows, Lord Thunberg is old and frail, and there are many dark wounds in his body that he suffered when he was young, but now with the essence of the black giant bear, I believe that his physical condition will be much better.

And for the merit of presenting the flesh and blood essence of the black giant bear, the steward is naturally the one who deserves it.

Perhaps, with the credit for purchasing the Black Giant Bear this time, he can also be rewarded with Master Thunberg's advanced breathing method!

This is an incomparable temptation for the stewards who have been trapped in the peak of official knights for many years.

I hurried all the way into the kitchen backyard, but as soon as I entered the place, the steward sensed that something was wrong.

In the past, it was filled with the sounds of kitchen knives cutting and chefs talking to each other, but now, the entire kitchen backyard is silent.

It's quiet to the point of seeping!

Realizing that something was wrong, the steward subconsciously wanted to turn around and run away, and shouted a warning, but before he could open his mouth, three silver rays of light passed through his eyebrows, neck, and heart at the same time.

The light in his eyes gradually faded, and the steward made a light "ho" twice, and then collapsed to the ground, completely losing his vitality.

In the corner of the backyard, a figure in a hooded robe raised her hand, and three silver rays of light flew back into her palm, and it could be seen that her hands exposed to the air were covered with white bandages, and through the gaps in the bandages, a touch of silver and white could be faintly seen.

"The direct contacts of the Chiling side have been cleared, Subject 003 has been destroyed, and the built-in mechanical invasion core has been recovered."

As if reporting, as if uploading some information, the slender figure in the gray robe gradually disappeared into the air, leaving only corpses all over the ground.

Outside the Red Mountains, mountains and forests.

At the top of the dense tree, a burly gray-robed figure stood quietly, his eyes indifferently and coldly staring at the Black Stone Grain Purchasing Team that entered the mountain forest, as if he was looking at the poor creature that had stepped into the mouth of the beast's blood.

"...... Uproar"

A light breeze blew, and the body of the burly gray-robed figure disappeared in place, like a bloodthirsty ghost, stretching out its deadly claws towards the grain purchase team!

(End of chapter)