April 18, Hollier City.

The temperature gradually warms up, and the activities of residents in the city begin to increase. On the 8th, 18th and 28th of each month, a certain size of market will be organized in the city square, and this is the largest trading place in the entire Iversta.

At this time, farmers living in villages near Hollier will come to sell them with excess grain or native products, and the nobles will also purchase luxury goods brought by caravans from other cities in their exclusive areas. Compared with the "shopping centers" in modern society, such markets are of varying quality and messyness, which can be called "hobomoji". However, for people in this era, this is one of the few opportunities to trade and make profits.

Not only the civilians, but also the nobles who lack entertainment programs are looking forward to such a day. The ladies choose jewelry or gold and silver utensils transported from the south of the kingdom, the knights gritted their teeth to buy some of the forged weapons by famous blacksmiths, etc. This is a scene that will appear in every fair.

However, when the market began on April 18th, the appearance of a shop quickly attracted the attention of most people - a business under the banner of "Palling" actually started to sell various products produced by "Wooden Elf"!

A while ago, people had heard that aristocrats had purchased "wooden elves fruit wine", but such high-end consumer goods were beyond the reach of civilians. But when they saw the things sold by this merchant, civilians who had some copper coins in their pockets immediately surrounded them. They thought they could not afford to buy them, but suddenly they found that the things sold by the merchant were not as expensive as they imagined.

So after a brief hesitation, they quickly bought affordable and beautiful fruits, grains and wooden tools...

Not long after, the noble butlers and the heads of various guilds rushed over after hearing the news. They did not believe that there would be wood elves' items to be circulated on the market, but after seeing the unique herbs and magic crystals of Jingyu Forest, they also started to buy special purchases without hesitation. In less than two hours, the total sales of the store exceeded the total of other merchants in the market!

After some "local specialties" were sold out, the business even took out more than a dozen bottles of fruit wine that were priced at sky-high prices, but they were also sold out within ten minutes...

Before noon, they sold all their items, and the coins they earned were almost equal to the sum of taxes from the four villages.

Such a hot scene naturally alarmed the other nobles - ordinary people saw the gold coins earned by this business, but the nobles saw the potential for amazing profits behind this business... They immediately sent someone to inquire, but found that the final background of this business was actually the Russiflon family.

So most of the nobles closed their mouths, while those guys who had other intentions in their hearts quietly chose to wait and see.

In the afternoon, Housekeeper John reported these situations to Duke Angma who was resting with his eyes closed, but the old man was not very happy and asked in a deep voice: "Have the matter between Parring and Jingyu Forest been fruitful?"

"The Knights of Wellington have investigated some clues, and it is currently speculated in the letter that it may have something to do with Viscount Juan..."

"Juan?"

Angma was a little surprised by the name. He thought for a moment, but found that he had not heard of the name for a long time. The other party's presence in the territory of Everta was almost zero, so many years later, Angma even forgot that there was such a viscount in the territory.

"At present, it's just speculation that the Wellington Knights are chasing the bandits, but the other party is obviously under the protection of some people, or... they are subordinates of some nobles themselves, so it's difficult to find traces."

"knew."

The old duke sighed tiredly - the joining forces of these nobles made him feel a little worried. Not to mention the tax issues, some guys have already begun to blatantly prepare to fight against him...

They knew they were facing a financial crisis and did not help, but they took the opportunity to take the blame and even put forward various harsh conditions - and in Angma's view, they were all ways to quench thirst by drinking poison and quenching thirst, and it was impossible to agree.

Angma had no other choice to raise funds to support the increasing military expenditures by himself, so he had to let the business that could only knock down the front desk in May appear in advance.

"I hope this will have some effect..."

Angma sighed and reached out to pick up the letter that Bishop Rubens had just sent yesterday - this is probably the most surprising message to him in recent days: After giving up his advanced course, his daughter Sally joined the team to eliminate pagans, and grew rapidly within two months, becoming one of the most concerned talents of the "Temple" right now!

However, looking at Rubens' praise for Sally, Angma couldn't feel much pride in his heart. As a father, his only hope was to make his daughter safe and happy, but Roddy now has no idea of ​​life and death. His daughter is on the front line of danger. Angma, who is alone here, has a sense of loneliness of "old and nowhere to rely on".

After the Housekeeper John stepped down, Duke Angma closed his eyes and thought about what he had experienced in the past six months after "awakening", but his heart became increasingly uneasy... The threat of the orcs in Roddy's mouth had been verified, and the undead was obviously ready to move, but what worried him the most was the internal problems within the kingdom itself.

"What are the remaining eyes of these guys except gold coins and territory?"

Only one person would say the complaints of the nobles, but he did not expect that the housekeeper John would suddenly return to the study. The Duke looked at him unexpectedly, but saw John handing over a bright red envelope, his voice undisguisedly excited: "Master... it is the news from Sora's post, signed by Roddy!"

Holding this letter that had not been opened, the duke who had originally looked decadent and exhaled slowly, and the depression that had always enveloped his eyebrows was almost wiped out - it was at this time that he truly realized a fact: Unconsciously, Roddy had become the only help in his eyes that could save Iversa...

Or, the main force.

*******

April 19th.

South of Iversta, Taromir City.

It is one hundred and seventy miles away from Hollier City. It is logically not too bad to develop, but in fact... because Taromir is surrounded by two large forests, the scale and economic level of the city seem to be far behind Hollier City, and it is even worse than that of some large towns.

The streets and alleys here are filled with a slump. Even in the most prosperous streets, there are not many people. The Mercenary Union and the Blacksmith shop are deserted, and the Pharmacists' Guild has not even developed a resident here, because in their opinion, there is no value here.

Geographically, the city and its nearby territories were isolated, and both commercial and its own output were lower than others - resulting in not only low taxes, but also keeping its lords unknown in the Iversa Territory...

And this viscount lord who is always overlooked is Juan.

The Viscount House is far less luxurious than other nobles, and it can even be called "simple" - except for a few oil paintings, there are no extra decorations in the house, the carpets are old, and even the tables and chairs have extremely obvious wear and tear marks. This is not because they are not maintained enough, but because they have existed for too long.

At this moment, Viscount Juan, with a hooked nose, was leaning on a black cane, listening to the reports of several subordinates in black robes behind him:

"Master, the harassment of Palling has been completed. Wellington is investigating this, but we have no evidence."

"The team tracking Jingyu Forest has confirmed the route of the caravan... There is no clue to the search for Captain Kevin."

"Master... This is a letter from Bishop Flak."

Regarding these situations, Viscount Juan only thought for a little while and gave an answer without hesitation: "Palling's attack will stop first, Wellington is not that easy to mess with."

"The Jingyu Forest is preparing to gather troops to operate, let Kevin's affairs be put aside first."

He raised his hand to take the letter, and he narrowed his eyes, and the anger on his face flashed. After his eyes slightly moved away, he said in Gujing Wubo's voice: "Since Bishop Flak thinks I am not capable enough, let him do it himself."

"Yes, Master!"

Several men in black robes took the order and left. In the empty study, Viscount Juan tightened his palms slightly, but cursed himself: "A idiot who is greedy for me..."

It is hard for ordinary people to imagine that among the many nobles in the Iversa Territory, this Viscount, whose presence is almost zero, is actually a staunch supporter of the "Virgin Cross" among the Karen nobles.

There were not many nobles who had malicious intentions towards Angma, because they could all extract a lot of benefits from this duke - but they did not know that all the events against Angma since the spring were all instructed by Viscount Juan!

As a lord whose financial income is much more difficult than the Duke, like all other nobles, he really hoped that Angma would die sooner and then take advantage of the opportunity to get a share of the pie... However, he, who could have endured it for a longer time, had to start this series of layouts and plans in advance because of the task of Cardinal Goethe, the "Viridian Cross".

Goethe needed him to investigate in-depth the reason why the "executioner" Kevin died in Jingyu Forest, and sent a bishop of the "Viridian Cross" to assist in his actions - of course, the so-called "assistance" is "surveillance", and Juan did not have much opinion on this.

However, Bishop Frack was obviously stubborn and completely acted domineeringly regardless of the fact of resource difficulties - this made Viscount Juan feel resentful, but due to his identity not being expressed.

However, the letter just now completely made him feel a little angry... The bishop actually said goodbye without saying goodbye, saying that he was planning to lead the team to Jingyu Forest in person to find clues!

"Okay, just go, just go, just help me to restrain Wellington and Titus."

Juan was not interested in cooperating with the bishop. After thinking about it, he wrote a beautifully worded letter to Goethe, but at the same time he issued an order to "take the opportunity to take down the Wooden Elf Village."
Chapter completed!