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The situation is serious!

A few soldiers under the command of a knight are really not a big deal. For the long border between the two forces, the death of a few people is really not worth mentioning.

However, an earl was attacked, which is completely different!

There are no dukes in the Gold Coin Federation. The highest titles are two marquises, and below them are fourteen earls. Five of these fourteen earls are their vassals, and the other nine are independent. This is the result of political struggles when the country was founded. In fact, the nine independent earls are very strong. Although they are not as strong as the marquis one-on-one, as long as two or three join forces, they are enough to overwhelm a marquis. The nine families help each other and form the "local aristocracy" in the aristocratic faction, and often conflict with the "central aristocracy" with the two marquises as the core.

Despite this, when facing the merchant faction, they are still comrades in the same camp.

Even if... they want each other to die, it would be best if the whole family died, and there is not even a illegitimate child left.

"Who attacked me?" The attacked earl was wrapped in bandages and looked seriously injured. He leaned on the couch in the living room where the temperature was adjusted by magic and people were comfortable enough. He frowned and looked at the staff in front of him.

"I think it might be an assassin from the capital." A thin staff said, with a little cold light flashing in his eyes, and a fierce look flashed from time to time.

Among the earl's staff, he was not the best, but he was very decisive. In the words of the earth, he could make decisions without hesitation at critical moments, and then he could withstand all pressure and execute his decisions to the end.

In the past years, he had succeeded and made mistakes. Generally speaking, he rarely made mistakes. In most cases, his judgments were correct.

Although... his ideas were a little extreme, and his methods of doing things were sometimes a little cruel, in the earl's opinion, no matter what, being able to do things and daring to do things is a good thing!

Anyway, in this gold coin federation, he can withstand the sky falling, so what is there to be afraid of?

It is precisely because of this idea that the Earl used to do things carelessly, and he would do it if he could, and he was never willing to spend more effort.

However, today, he doesn't think so.

The assassination last night made him feel a deep crisis.

Yes, the Earl is in a high position and has power, ruling several cities and towns. As long as he gives an order, more than a hundred light knights can be summoned, and well-trained troops can be assembled. About two thousand. If the requirements are relaxed and militias are included, it will not be difficult for him to gather tens of thousands of troops.

In the Gold Coin Federation, he is undoubtedly at the top of the pyramid of power. Even the two marquises can't do anything to him, and even the Golden Crown (Goddess of Wealth) Church has to be polite to him. As for ordinary civilians, they have to be respectful in front of him. When he is in a bad mood, even looking up at him may be whipped.

So he has always felt that he is very safe.

But last night, he suddenly discovered that everything he relied on was not so reliable.

When the assassin almost broke through the guards' blockade and stabbed him with the sword, he even felt his heartbeat stop for a while.

After everything was settled, he suddenly realized that he was extremely panicked and helpless.

It turned out that he was not as safe as he thought!

So although he was only slightly injured - to be more precise, he hit the corner of his mouth because of panic - he still asked the priest to use advanced healing spells on him, and wrapped himself like a mummy with the best bandages, as if this would make him feel more at ease.

At the same time, he increased the guards of his mansion to five times the previous number, to the point where there was a guard every ten steps and a sentry every five steps. As for his own room, there were nearly a hundred soldiers guarding it in turn, and four senior adventurers led the team to ensure that no matter what the situation was, they could respond in time and would never let the assassin get close again.

After all this, he finally felt relieved and felt that he was safe again.

After ensuring his safety, one of the biggest bosses in the Gold Coin Federation could not help but get angry.

Who was it? Who sent those assassins? Who wanted him dead?

However, he thought about it carefully and found that there were more possible targets.

As one of the most powerful nobles in the Gold Coin Federation, he naturally had many enemies. Some were his old opponents who had been fighting for many years, some had suffered from him and wanted revenge, and there were... In short, there were too many to count.

He thought about it for a long time, but he couldn't come up with a reliable answer, so he had to call all his staff.

To be honest, he didn't want to find someone to help him figure it out. Yesterday's assassination made him feel very insecure. He was not willing to discuss this matter with outsiders, even his relatively trusted staff.

But his wisdom was limited, and he really didn't have any good ideas, so he had to give up the plan of relying on himself.

After listening to what happened and asking the guards for details, his staff members' first conclusion was that the assassin was most likely from within the aristocratic faction, or in other words, from the central aristocracy.

After hearing this guess, the Earl did not express his approval or disapproval, but just snorted and looked at the other staff members again.

One person's wisdom is short, but the others are long-term. He wanted to hear what the other staff members thought.

"I don't think it came from the two marquises." Another fat staff member obviously had a different opinion. He touched his neatly trimmed short beard and said, "The current stage is the confrontation between the nobles and the merchants. We must not make chaos internally at this time. Even if the two marquises don't understand this, their subordinates will remind them. So the assassin should not be sent by them."

"You mean, it may come from the merchant faction?" A younger staff member who didn't even have a beard asked with his eyes lit up.

The fat staff member shook his head: "The merchant faction would not send assassins. Now everyone is at peace and it's good for each other. On the contrary... what benefits can they get by assassinating the adults?"

All the staff members fell into deep thought.

Those who can become staff members are all relatively smart. What the fat staff member can think of, other staff members can naturally think of. Just as he said, now whether it is within the aristocracy or between the aristocracy and the merchant faction, what they want is to maintain stability. How could anyone take advantage of the current situation to cause trouble and lose their composure?

This is unreasonable!

In the silence, the thin staff member who spoke first said coldly: "Even if we can't find the source of the assassin, you can't be frightened in vain!"

The staff members looked at him, waiting for his explanation.

"No matter where the assassin comes from, we can insist that it comes from the capital." The thin staff member's eyes flashed, "In short, let's get some benefits first!"

Chapter 1