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The messenger had to bow his head even lower, for the message he carried was not good news at all.

The convoy from the Shireck Consortium that started from the Northern Ridge iron mines had been raided on a road nearly devoid of bandits, and not even a single survivor returned.

The perpetrator remained unknown, but those invaluable goods, the steel that was extraordinarily costly during wartime, had vanished into thin air.

The entire convoy disappeared without a trace. Earl Fisello of Northern Ridge personally led his troops in the search, putting a wide area around under martial law, which prevented the investigators organized by Shireck himself from gaining access.

Everything seemed logical, yet so bizarre; in short, Shireck was unlikely to unravel, in a short span of time, where exactly the soldiers escorting the shipment and those pricey ingots of iron had gone.

Of course, they also didn\'t know that these iron ores had already been mixed into a group heading for Brunas, departing Northern Ridge with over two thousand migrants, and arriving undetected at a small coastal town.

"My lord..." Upon seeing an enraged Gis about to smash another new glass, the messenger tentatively spoke with a twinge of distress, "Should we, on our end..."

With a dark countenance, Gis ultimately refrained from immediately throwing the glass in his hand to the floor. Instead, he muttered ominously, "Fisello! I will make sure you learn, you learn exactly what befalls those who offend the Shireck Consortium!"

"Convey my message to the envoy from Suthers Kingdom! Tell him I want Ronin Alice alive! After they\'ve captured Wolf City, have them bring her to me! I want to personally \'educate\' her! Then sell her off to a brothel! Bastard!" He ordered sternly to his confidant standing by.

Everyone knew that Lord Earl of Northern Ridge had a beloved daughter. She was unparalleled in beauty and extraordinarily intelligent, managing many of the Earl\'s enterprises.

Many noblemen coveted Alice\'s beauty, but no one had ever broached the subject of marriage to the Earl of Northern Ridge. It was a strange affair in the Leite Kingdom, with tangled truths far deeper than most realized.

Since the Earl of Northern Ridge sided with the common folk and refused to engage in the corruption of the nobility, the established nobles were unwilling to associate with Fisello.

Although their children lusted after the Earl\'s daughter\'s beauty and also coveted the property of Northern Ridge, they all knew it was not the time to get involved with Northern Ridge.

Forming a marriage alliance with Northern Ridge, which was bound to become a target of collective reproach, would surely bring trouble upon oneself—indulging in lust is one thing, but recklessness is completely another.

These young nobles weren\'t fools. Although they were shameless and lecherous, they were extraordinary in certain respects and had clear logic... Even if they were not the brightest, their elders would ensure they behaved within reasonable bounds, dominating men and bullying women, instead of losing their minds to lust and bringing unnecessary trouble upon their families.

In fact, these young nobles knew well what they took pride in amounted to nothing in front of Ronin Alice.

Their so-called dashing looks were mere fireflies to the moon when compared to the far and wide renowned beauty of Alice, not even in the same league.

And their considerable wealth, their usual method of attracting women by flaunting their riches, obviously wouldn\'t move Alice, for as the sole heiress of Earl Fisello, managing the family enterprises, she was far richer than them.

As for bullying others and resorting to force, these young nobles didn\'t even dare to contemplate it. The elite and formidable reputation of the Northern Ridge Legion was well known; to force themselves upon Alice on Northern Ridge territory, they would need more brazenness and capability than their parents could probably dream of.

Thus, they all waited, for the demise of the Earl of Northern Ridge. Then, they would comfort the Earl\'s daughter in her time of vulnerability and fragility, scheming to coax Ronin Alice into their beds and inherit all of Northern Ridge, becoming the new Lord Earl—that was the respectable thing to do.

Thinking of the portrait showing Alice\'s profile, a lewd expression emerged on Gis\'s face: "I will let every man in this world taste his daughter\'s flavor! I will ensure that whenever the Ronin Family is mentioned, all that comes to mind is a prostitute!"

His confidant, lowering his head slightly as if consenting to an easily accomplished task, replied simply, "Yes!"

In his view, those marked by Gis, the venomous snake, were nearly as good as dead. There were no nobles the Shireck Consortium couldn\'t topple, no one they couldn\'t kill.

Gis, having regained his composure, sat in silence with a dark expression, pondering what this matter represented.

Earl Fisello had always been law-abiding, which was precisely why he could be schemed against—the saying "a gentleman can be deceived by righteous means" applied to him.

And now, this very Earl, who had seemingly always acted honorably, started to resort to unsavory methods. It just showed that out of desperation, even a rabbit will bite, and a dog cornered against a wall will leap over it.

A confidant stood by the side and spoke, "He actually hijacked all the iron ore we mined... It seems he also knows that if he doesn\'t take some action now, it will be too late."

With a great war imminent and dark clouds gathering, Earl Fisello, who was very sensitive to warfare, could surely sense the coming crisis.

In such a circumstance, it made sense for him to take actions to save himself. But what use was there in plundering some steel ingots and copper ingots at this time?

Although Northern Ridge had small workshops for repairing firearms, they did not have the capability to mass-produce firearms. Besides arming some peasants with illicit weapons, such a large quantity of metal didn\'t appear to have much use.

However, from another perspective, using these metals to make some shells and bullets was indeed feasible. Perhaps Fisello\'s hijacking of these materials was to stockpile more ammunition.

But even with ammunition, what good would it do? Once Suthers\'s grand army arrived, what waves could Fisello, who had lost the backing of his kingdom, possibly make?

Even if Fisello conducted warfare like a deity, once the war reached a stalemate, the agriculture of Northern Ridge would collapse due to the delay, the stockpiled ammunition would be exhausted, and with just 1500 men, what could he do then?

After much contemplation, Gis believed that Fisello was simply struggling in vain at this point, with no real hope of turning the situation around.

Yet, for some reason, he felt restless, always sensing that something was amiss with Fisello acting out of character.

As he wracked his brain, trying hard to piece together all the details, one of his subordinates walked in, bowed slightly, and reported, "My lord, we just received news from the Minister of Taxation. Fisello... has not paid the taxes due to the capital on time!"

"Taxes? He\'s delayed his taxes? This isn\'t normal either..." Gis, stroking his chin and squinting, muttered once again.

Fisello did not often delay his kingdom\'s taxes. In fact, he only stood up for the farmers by temporarily withholding some taxes during the autumn harvest. Even so, Fisello had always paid the kingdom\'s taxes in full, which is why his reputation had always been good.

But now, in this critical period, Gis still smelled something unusual in this delay.

"He\'s preparing for war... and it\'s more urgent than before!" Gis muttered to himself, "He now has a hefty sum of money in hand and many strategic materials... iron ingots, copper ingots, as well as pig bristles, leather, in addition to the food from Northern Ridge... surprisingly not a small amount."

"If he manages to put these to use, won\'t we have to replan everything? That won\'t do! How could you not die..." Gis paced the room as he walked.

"You! Go to the workshop and have them tamper with a batch of firearms! Ensure that none of these firearms work!" he quickly stopped pacing, turned to his subordinate who had just reported the news, and gave his orders, "Then pull some strings to make sure this batch of goods definitely ends up in Northern Ridge!"

"So you\'re preparing for war? Then I\'ll provide you with a batch of unusable firearms! Hehehehe... I want to see what you\'ll use to fight against the grand army of Suthers Kingdom!" Gis placed the wine glass he had been holding onto the table with a sense of smugness, wearing a self-satisfied smile on his face.

He knew that Fisello had been requesting new firearms and various materials for some time, even writing to His Majesty the King, claiming that the border situation was tense and Northern Ridge was actively preparing for war.

The kingdom had previously not agreed to Fisello\'s requests, so no new weapons had been allocated to him.

Now, Gis planned to give Fisello a surprise: He intended to supply Fisello with a batch of defective weapons, to teach him what "adding insult to injury" truly meant.

Meanwhile, at the same time, one of Gis\'s trusted men dismounted from his carriage in front of Baron Stela\'s estate not far from Brunas, straightened his clothes, and handed his name card to his attendant.

The gatekeeper at Baron Stela\'s estate glanced at the name card with Shireck\'s insignia, did not dare to neglect, and immediately hurried off to find Baron Stela, who had not yet awoken, "My lord! My lord! Someone from the Shireck Consortium is here, just outside the door! He wishes to see you!"