Soul of Burning Steel

Since the conflict between the northern empire and the orc tribes living around the northwestern Tataros Plateau more than four hundred years ago, the shadow of war has never escaped from this huge country.

Although the civilization of the orcs is underdeveloped, they are brave and good at fighting, without fear of death and pain. Inspired by shamans and ancient ancestors, any orc, even an underage female orc, can become a warrior. Their physique They are far superior to humans, so that in the face of these primitive creatures with bone sticks and stone spears, human soldiers in excellent iron armor can't have the slightest advantage.

No one could have predicted that this primitive tribe extermination war, which was optimistically estimated to end in about three months, actually lasted for nearly 500 years. During this long period of war and truce, the primitive tribes The orcs quickly imitated human civilization. They tried to plow the fields, plant pastures to raise cattle and flocks, they built workshops and simple temples for worship, and learned from human craftsmen to make iron armor and build fortresses. Even the wise men among them thought about magic. mystery.

The war changed the orc race forever, and it did the same for the Northern Empire.

The nobles in the northwestern part of the empire suffered a great blow due to the two-year invasion of the orcs. Several families that had existed since the founding of the country disappeared completely, and large tracts of unowned land were vacant. It is also rapidly tilting towards the direction of military industry. Countless large and small workshops and mines have been opened in various places to undertake the supply of military supplies.

The best of these workshop owners and mine owners, as well as the fighters who performed extremely well in the army and fighting the orcs, became the new owners of the vacant land in the northwest region. The main force also made his family's industry gradually become a part of the empire's economic lifeline.

The annual beast tide in the south and the continuous war in the northwest have made Nuoda's empire unable to develop with peace of mind, and it has also caused most of the emerging nobles to decline in just a few decades, until another The family replaced them.

But even so, for more than four hundred years, some families still survived. They have now become behemoths, controlling most of the empire's minerals, construction, metallurgy, transportation, textiles, and enchanting industries. In terms of economy, the old-school aristocrats who are farmers are far behind by these later generations, but this is a world with fighting spirit and magic after all. In terms of individual strength, the old-school aristocrats with perfect inheritance experience still occupy the upper hand.

A reckless pioneer who is determined to forge ahead, and a calm and prudent ruler, this is the difference between the two.

The Radcliffe family that Joshua belonged to was also a part of the emerging nobles back then. The exploration of the Great Ajax Mountains in the north was precisely to find new mine veins and resource sources for the increasingly intensified war.

But now, the orcs are extinct, and the war that lasted for more than four hundred years is over.

The deformed economic system of the empire is constantly returning to normal. The most obvious is that the demand for minerals and metallurgy has dropped sharply. There are rumors that the current emperor Israel is even planning to reduce the number of private soldiers of the northwest nobles within a few years, and close the Mostly dangerous makeshift mines and workshops.

Power and money are the lifeblood of a family. Without power, there is no way to guard money, and without money, there is no way to cultivate power.

This move by Israel undoubtedly touched the core interests of most of the emerging nobles-the arrival of peace means the disappearance of the war policy, and their importance has rapidly decreased, losing the largest empire, the military. The closure of many buyers and a large number of production facilities will undoubtedly bring incalculable economic losses.

If it was an empire in the ordinary world, then this time might be the beginning of a civil war, but in the Mycroft Continent, no one dared to challenge the majesty of the legendary powerhouse. The emperor said one thing, but no one dared to say the other thing. Israel was able to personally conquer and crush the orc king's court. He certainly didn't mind taking down one or two stupid nobles who dared to challenge the majesty of the royal family to make an example of others.

Nobles can only accept it all.

It was early morning at this time, and a knight drove slowly on the outskirts of Seti, not far from the emperor. He passed through the fields full of damp water vapor and came to a quiet small town. There was a sparkling river at the entrance of the town. The knight walked across the smooth stone bridge, crossed several streets, and finally stopped at the gate of an ordinary manor.

The knight got off his horse and reported his intention to the servant of the manor. The white-haired servant glanced at him, and then on the simple armor, the old man saw the extremely low-key coat of arms.

'iron hand'

The Iron Fist of the Empire, the coat of arms of House Fertao.

So, he nodded politely, and then went back to the house to report to the steward. Soon, a stern-faced steward walked through the manor and took a letter from the knight.

Not long after, the door of a room deep in the manor was knocked, and Clayman Seward woke up from his sleep.

Although he woke up unexpectedly, Kleiman wasn't angry about it. The middle-aged man with long dark brown hair took two seconds to completely escape from the illusion in his dream, and then began to think calmly.

If there is nothing important, his deputy will not disturb his sleep on weekdays. Since he disturbs, it means there must be something important. The middle-aged man with such a logic in his mind quickly dressed and walked out of the room. He immediately saw his deputy waiting for him. As the largest ore supplier in the northwest region of the empire, the spokesperson of the Seward family in the imperial capital, as the second son of the family, Kleiman believed very much in this deputy who had assisted him for many years. He did not pretend to be serious, but yawned. Complained: "What's the matter? I haven't slept well for almost two months."

"A letter from Fertao's family." The deputy, who seemed to be about fifty years old, replied immediately: "The great knight Nack personally sent it, and it should be related to 'that incident'."

"They haven't finished their exploration yet?" Kleiman took out an amethyst vial from his pocket, sniffed it, and an extremely fresh and refreshing smell flooded his nostrils, allowing him to fully enter the working state: "It's been half an hour. It's been a month, isn't there any result yet?"

Having said that, Kleiman frowned, and said angrily, "They didn't make a move?"

"No, it's a shot, but the situation is a bit weird. Nake feels that something is wrong. He said that his master is not sure about the situation."

"Except for the ability of the eldest son of the new generation of the Fertao family, the others are all useless. The new nobles are all such guys, and they don't know how to train the next generation at all." Kleiman said disdainfully, although he He is only the second son of the family and cannot inherit the title of the Seward family, but he is the spokesperson of the family in the imperial capital and controls most of the secrets of the industry. Even his eldest brother must rely on him to manage the entire family smoothly in the future.

Having said that, Kleiman still took the envelope from his deputy, opened it, roughly scanned the contents, and then twisted his expression.

"What did they do?!"

The future number two of the Seward family let out a deep roar, with a trace of fear in his anger: "Kill them all?! These dwarves, mixed-blood idiots, their heads are made of stone Is it?!"

The ancestors of the Fertao family used to be mixed with dwarves, so most of the family members are not tall, and it is precisely because they have dwarf blood and human wisdom that they can become one of the largest weapon suppliers in the empire.

Seeing this, the deputy took the letter paper from Kleiman's hand. He also glanced roughly at it, and then took a deep breath: "My God—this is not in compliance with the rules!"

"Of course." Kleiman subconsciously took out the amethyst vial, which contains a high-concentration refreshing potion. It is the favorite of mages who like to stay up late to study. He inhaled before calming down: "Radeke The Reeve family is unruly and trying to grab the cake of the weapons market at this difficult time for everyone, it is normal for those dwarfs to want to threaten, but they have gone too far this time."

Today, it is the long-lost peace time of the empire. After the war with the orcs, the empire's weapons and ore markets have shrunk as a whole. Many workshops cannot receive orders and are on the verge of bankruptcy. The Suward family is okay. The ore industry they operate has a lot of demand even in peacetime. Although it is a bit uncomfortable, it is not a big problem. However, nobles like the Fertao family who started with casting weapons are different. Now, they are in an unprecedented moment of crisis.

But the Radcliffe family made the situation worse at this time. The Northland family has obtained the royal charter and is one of the special ore suppliers directly under the five legions. Even if the war is over, there is no way to affect their business. As if he was still not satisfied, he actually started producing and selling finished weapons and armor abruptly at a time when all the new nobles were extremely difficult, and grabbed business from other families that were already very difficult.

Cutting off people's wealth is the enemy of life and death. This sentence is the same all over the world. The Fertao family who were most affected must be going crazy. This can be seen from the actions of their spokesperson for the imperial capital. It worked out—he'd been trying to harass the Radcliffe family's shop and estate lately.

"One, two, three... six people."

Kleiman rubbed his forehead fiercely, he looked very distressed: "Seven gods, he killed more than half of the Radcliffe family's spokesperson in the imperial capital... This is no longer a temptation or a threat , is a naked provocation!"

Kleiman also dislikes the unruly Radcliffe family, but being cautious by nature, he prefers to find a time to settle all this at the negotiating table—of course, he doesn’t think Fair There is nothing wrong with the behavior of Tao's family, but they killed too many people, which is also against the rules.

Although the Seward family is located in the northwest, they are real old-fashioned nobles. They pay attention to politeness and will only do something if they are sure that they cannot be obtained through negotiations and transactions.

Assassination, threats and bribes against the spokespersons of competitors were originally part of the noble struggle. If it is said that near the borders of the empire such as the North Land or the Southern Fortress, the struggle of the nobles is likely to develop into a bloody battle, but this will not be the case around the imperial capital. However, generally speaking, the assassination of the spokesperson is the most intense warning and provocation. Killing six at once is basically equivalent to a war in the border areas.

"Didn't the Radcliffe family express anything?" Thinking of this, Kleiman turned his head and asked his deputy. He said in disbelief, "Can those Northlanders bear their temper?"

He knew that the young lord of the Northland was the youngest Jiyi, and was even called a future legend by His Majesty the Emperor. It was unimaginable that he could endure such a loss with his character.

"This is the strange thing." The deputy replied quickly, and at this time he had read the contents of the letter paper: "The store is operating normally. Although people are dying one by one, there is no counterattack. You know, many people We were ready to be assassinated, and we temporarily hid in the countryside—that’s why the Fertao family asked us, they wanted to know what was going on.”

This attack undoubtedly got the acquiescence of Kleiman. To be precise, if several mining and metallurgical aristocrats had not jointly targeted the Radcliffe family, the Fertao family would not have dared to provoke them so easily. Although he was a strong man of extreme intent, Joshua's reaction made the other party very puzzled.

"They think that the Earl is afraid?"

Taking the letter paper from his deputy again, Kleiman saw the end. He gritted his teeth and even laughed angrily: "Arrogant dwarf...that is a very strong man! He just returned from the holy mountain and the mad dragon. If you come back from the battlefield, you may kill more dragons than the weapons you forged in your lifetime!"

Before that, the nobles of the empire got some news from the court. They knew that Joshua had left the empire, so the Fertao family dared to take action against Alfonso Carlos, but just about a week ago, The news from the Far South shocked everyone—the soldier's departure was actually invited by the Church of the Seven Gods. During this time, he had been fighting the mad dragon in the Holy Mountain of the Far Sea, and gained countless victories.

Although I don't believe that Joshua didn't respond to the successive deaths of his spokespeople because he was afraid, but the middle-aged man didn't know what was going on. He leaned against the wall in some distress, his brain constantly run.

Is it possible that you are really afraid? He thought so, of course, not because he was afraid of the Fertao family, but because he was afraid of some big figures at a higher level.

The move against the Radcliffe family this time was not entirely a retaliation for the other party's unruly business grabbing. Kleiman himself violated the family's rules and cooperated with the family patriarch, the old Marquis Seward. The dwarfs provided the poison. He vaguely guessed from the scattered information in his father's mouth that it seemed to be because of the instruction of a certain important person in the royal court, but Kleiman couldn't figure out who would target Joshua in the royal court.

The Radcliffe family has always been a clear-cut royal party, which can be seen from the fact that they can get orders from the five major legions. Joshua himself has a personal relationship with Brandon, the heir of another royal party, the Chaos family. Mi, the former teacher of His Majesty the Emperor, Master Nostradamus also opened a mage academy in the Northland, not to mention His Majesty Israel himself admired Joshua very much.

In any case, it is impossible to involve him in the internal struggle of the palace, unless...

Kleiman took a deep breath, he had been reluctant to think deeply in this direction, but now he felt a chill spreading down his spine.

Unless, this matter involves the issue of the heir to the empire.

From the beginning to the end, neither Kleiman, nor his deputy, nor the group of Fertao's family felt that the assassination of an ordinary businessman was a big deal. They were afraid, but they were only afraid of themselves. Taking too many shots and killing too many at one time will cause the Radcliffe family to lose face, and it will be regarded as a provocation for a formal war.

Benefits are more important than anything else. They want to settle all this at the negotiating table. The assassination of the spokesperson is just a more intense notice. This is the way the nobles fight—Kleiman is very comfortable with all this. He has been here for so many years. And I also think it will continue like this, but there are always some accidents in life.

For example now.

Outside the manor, thunder suddenly sounded, and Kleiman didn't pay much attention to it, but in the next moment, he suddenly felt a shock all over his body, and all the pores on his body tightened with fear.

The space seemed to be distorted, and the entire manor immediately tilted—an extremely swift dark red ripple ran across the entire corridor from top to bottom, breaking a crack, and the sound of crunching, twisting and cracking became one piece, the middle-aged man and his body The deputy hurriedly leaned against the more stable side of the corridor, and they watched all this blankly.

The estate is divided in two.

The buildings on the other side collapsed, and Kleiman saw the early morning sun and breathed the dewy air.

And a figure, suspended in mid-air, held a large silver sword in his hand, his eyes were red as fire, and looked down at the crowd.

The high temperature enough to burn steel spread from his whole body. The middle-aged man looked at everything beside him in fear—the broken corridors, broken walls, furniture, and potted plants were all turned into flying ash under the high temperature, and the air was shattered. The high temperature distorted, and rushed to the sky with these sparkling red sparks.

The shadow of despair spreads.