It was a thin blond young man with a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, looking very elegant. He was standing at the back door of a tavern, and he subconsciously turned his head after hearing the footsteps, and then saw Joshua. He was a little confused at first, but after he reacted, he laughed excitedly - but before the blond young man could say hello, a hand like an iron pliers pinched his throat.

"Chris, I didn't expect to see you here."

He picked up the blonde young man with one hand and pressed it heavily on the wall of the alley. Joshua turned his right hand and inserted the spear into the ground, showing a kind smile: "It's been a long time since I saw you. How are you doing recently?"

"Hmm——Cough——”

"Oh, I forgot that you can't speak like this." Joshua relaxed the power in his hand a little.

"Well... cousin, what are you doing?"

The blonde young man named Chris, whose face was originally red, returned to a little normal. Although he was choked, he didn't look very scared: "There is no need to treat me like this as soon as he meets me, right?"

"Just rely on the word cousin, if we don't kill you on the spot, we will have a good relationship." Joshua was not moved at all: "I don't think about what your father did."

As the dialogue says, the blonde young man Joshua met in the alley is the son of his cheap uncle, his cousin, Chris Radcliffe.

He was so lucky that he was a little doubtful if it was a trap.

"Even so, our relationship is not so bad."

The blonde young man tried to defend himself: "At least he shouldn't have looked like he was going to kill me as soon as he met."

After hearing this, Joshua couldn't help but nod. In fact, this cousin and Joshua had a good relationship. They played together in the snow field when they were young, and they had a bit of brotherhood.

But even so, he still didn't let go.

"No matter what the relationship was before, Chris, we have never had any friendship since your father planned to grab the title." He said very simply, and Joshua was too lazy to care about why Chris was here. He gave two straightforward requests: "It just so happens that you must tell me how many guards there are in the lord's mansion and who is the helping hand behind your father. I will give you ten seconds, and if I can't explain it clearly, I'll wait for me to kill you."

After saying that, he stared at his cousin's eyes and began to count down: "10."

Looking at Joshua, Chris's cyan pupils were tightened behind his glasses, and his head was covered in cold sweat. He was not stupid. It was obvious that Joshua was serious. If he didn't get the answer he wanted in ten seconds, this ruthless guy would undoubtedly cut off his neck bone despite his past friendship.

"There are twenty-four guards in the lord's mansion, fifteen silver is low, and three silver is high." He decisively reported the news he knew. The blonde young man was calm in the face of danger and sweated coldly and said quickly: "I don't know the help behind him, but there is a guess - by the way, in fact, I don't support the lord at all, I sneaked out!"

Speaking of this, Chris spoke very fast, afraid of being interrupted by Joshua: "Look, my brother, I was very happy when I met you at first. I believe you can see that I am indeed not in the same group as them!"

“…and that’s right.”

No one would lie in this situation. Joshua's expression calmed down a little, but his hands were still not relaxed: "But even so, it would be more convenient for me to treat you as a hostage than forcing me to break in. If you are injured by accident, you will blame your father."

"Wait! The mastermind who obtained the title this time is not my father at all. He is just a pawn. Those real black hands cannot take my life seriously!"

Chris breathed a sigh of relief when he found that Joshua did not immediately break his neck, but after hearing the following sentence, he immediately became anxious: "Think about it carefully, how could my father's son, who was not aristocratic, know that he was the death of his uncle so soon?"

Speaking of this, the blonde young man looked very serious: "On the second day after my uncle's death, a large group of people suddenly appeared and surrounded my family. They negotiated with my father for a long time, and then set off together - but neither I nor my father believed this group of people. There was no good thing in this world to help in vain. My escape last night was also due to my father's hint and indulgence. Otherwise, with my black iron-level strength, how could I leave quietly?"

"But no matter what, he undoubtedly wanted to be an earl."

As a legendary warrior, with the blood flow and the slight movement of muscles, Joshua could clearly know whether the other party was telling the truth or lies. Hearing this, he let go of his hand, put Chris down, and then shook his head in the cough of the blonde young man: "If he didn't want to be it, no one would come. Even if he was used as a pawn, he would definitely be willing to be used."

Speaking of this, he would sit on the ground and pull up Chris and ask seriously: "You said you have some guesses about the origin of that group of people, then tell them all."

"Wilson's."

After touching the neck with obvious marks and straightening the glasses, Chris' tone of voice was a little scared, but very clear. He said decisively: "The four major earls in the Northland, only Wilsons in the Gate, have the motivation to attack you. They are a forging family that operates fine weapons and magical jewelry. However, due to the lava pool, there are more and more dwarves in Moldavia. Although the magical jewelry has not been affected, the weapons are being suppressed in all aspects. This is a direct dispute of interests."

“It’s really boring.”

Joshua felt that the reasons were almost the same. Moldavia had a good relationship with dwarves in all generations, so fine processing ore was the main industry. However, recently, due to the increase in the number of dwarf blacksmiths willing to hire, they also began to try to enter the field of forging and selling weapons and armor, which undoubtedly affected the business of the Wilson family.

There are not many ways to make money in the Northland. Although it is boring, this reason is enough to make the Wilson family do it. Speaking of which, only the aristocrats of the Earl level can bring out dozens of silver knights and hundreds of soldiers.

If Moldavia had not had to face the Black Tide and his main forces were in the Black Forest Forest, Joshua could actually have pulled out more than a hundred silver knights, but now, he could only face the enemy alone.

Thinking of this, Joshua suddenly asked curiously: "Chris, you don't seem to like your father's decision. You must know that even if you are used as a pawn, it will be the title of Count. When your father really succeeds in the throne, even the Wilson family cannot really control it. At most, it will regain market share - don't you want to be the count in the future?"

"Not everyone wants to be a noble, Joshua." Sighed, the blonde young man pushed his glasses and shook his head helplessly, "Everyone has his own pursuit."

"I like alchemy, I like business, I like relaxed and leisurely life - life in the north is too difficult, different from the peaceful south. It is cold and uninhabited here. There is a dark tide every winter. My father and I are not strong enough. We cannot lead a team to kill powerful monsters. It is better to be a civilian in the south than to be a noble here."

Speaking of this, Chris' expression was very serious. He sighed to Joshua: "Listen, I have a fiancée in the south and my own alchemy laboratory. Here, I have nothing but my hometown. Nobles are privileges and responsibilities - I was simply crazy and wanted to come to this place to fight the dark tide before and explore the mountains later. There is nothing to do. Be a noble in the place where the bears can be cold to death in winter!"

Joshua: "...I suddenly don't want to compete for title with your father after hearing what you said."

Chris said the truth. For Joshua, who grew up here, the Northern Mountains are indeed a beautiful scenery, but for Chris, who has lived in the south of the prosperous empire since childhood, said that both the atmosphere and the humanities here are really different from him. A coming-of-age ceremony is to kill the bears with empty hands, and if you can't do it, you will be embarrassed to say hello to others. How can he live a genius territorial territory?

"Anyway, cousin, I fully support you in this matter." Chris pretended not to hear Joshua's words, and his expression was cold: "If you succeed, then my father will take care of you."

"It doesn't matter if you kill it?"

"It's not me who killed me. In fact, he betrayed my mother, but I was the only son. Our relationship was nothing more than that." Chris didn't look like a joke: "Of course, it's better to stay in the same bloodline and save his life."

"You are treating your father like this? It's true that he is his own son..."
Chapter completed!