In the face of the questioning eyes of the aristocrats, as well as that shocking question from that earl, though Marquis Yug’s expression was as calm as water, he was cursing and swearing in his heart.

  If he had a choice, of course he was unwilling to suggest making peace with the merchant party. But now, did he have any other choice?

  Last night, he received a letter from his sister. It was a magic message telling him about some extremely secretive information.

  Though his sister was very prudent with her choice of words, it was evident that she did not have much confidence. When he compared her the information to his, Marquis Yug could affirm that her speculation was right.

  He was positive that the aristocratic party did not send anyone to attack the trade caravans and civilians of the merchant party. And he also guessed that the attack on the soldiers and lords of the aristocratic party stationed at the border was not a deed by the merchant party.

  Previously, he thought that since everyone was so angry, they might as well just fight things out. Anyway, the main forces to dispatch an army were the local aristocrats. Even if they lost the fight, as a central aristocrat, his loss was very limited. So he chose to be a member of the war-advocating party and was inclined towards fighting a small battle with the merchant party.

  But in contrast to his sister’s information, as he carefully thought about it for a long time, he got so scared that he broke out in cold sweat.

  If war were to happen, he was afraid this would not be a “small-scale war,” and he could forget about wanting to maintain “limited losses.”

  What the person behind the scenes who was pushing for this war wanted was not a small-scale war at all. He wanted a raging and aggressive war that could engulf the entire Commonwealth of Gold Coins!

  Though he could not understand that person’s rationale for doing such a thing, it was not important. What was important was that as someone benefiting from the existing order within the Commonwealth of Gold Coins, he absolutely could not allow the Commonwealth of Gold Coins to stage an extensive civil war!

  That not only meant that he would incur a great loss, but it also meant that there would be great danger.

  The higher one stood, the harder one would fall. That was a given.

  The Yug family had been the apex of the Commonwealth of Gold Coins, and there was no way they could go up any further. But there was a high possibility of them falling instead—he was sure that despite how bright and dazzling his family was now, there were many people plotting behind the scenes, wanting to stab them in the back or even wanting to utterly destroy the entire Yug family and then hold a grand banquet to feast around their dead bodies.

  \r \r \r

  He would not allow such a thing to happen! If anyone brought untoward accidents to the Yug family, whether a mortal or god, that person would be his enemy!

  So he called all the core members of the family together before dawn and held a secret meeting. Then he put his oldest son under house arrest by confining him in a secret chamber. He personally contacted the leader of the various heads of the aristocratic party and spoke to them about the matter of making peace with the merchant party in a most straightforward manner.

  This would certainly taint his image as well as mar the prestige of the Yug family. But at that moment, he could not be bothered.

  Now, the conflict between the merchant party and the aristocratic party was only on the level of “friction” or “minor conflict.” If they did not calm things down now, when the raging fire of war commenced, even the Yug family would not be able to do anything.

  Looking at the many aristocratic heads projected as images by magic communication, he sighed quietly to himself and said, “Dear all, just as the saying goes, that was then, and this is now. Previously, I advocated war most fervently because I felt that I could reap some benefits from the war. But now, I just received some important information! That was the key to changing my mind.”

  “What information?” asked Marquis Gordan in a low voice.

  “The Republic of Northwest has sent a joint exploration team to explore a mine with the merchant party.”

  “We already knew of this, so what’s so great about it?” an earl said with a laugh.

  Marquis Yug sneered and continued to say, “They discovered Mithril in the mine.”

  “A Mithril mine…… is also not a big deal,” said that earl who had just spoken.

  An expressionless Marquis Yug said, “It has been verified that that Mithril wasn’t generated from ordinary silver ore that has been immersed in magic. It is naturally-occurring Mithril that was formed when the Main Plane came into existence.”

  The earl, who had spoken twice earlier on, fell silent. The other earls could not hold back their gasps. Even Marquis Gordan had to frown.

  “is this news reliable?” he asked.

  “Of course, it is,” Marquis Yug said lightly.

  Telling them this piece of news would suffice. He would certainly not divulge the other more important pieces of news to these people.

  That involved the Yug’s family’s biggest secret. So long as that secret was carefully guarded, he could protect his family’s survival for at least a thousand years, or even much longer.

  After a while, Marquis Gordan said in a low voice, “Do you know the quantity contained in the reserves of that mineral vein?”

  “What do you take the scouts under my command for?” Marquis Yug laughed and asked in reply, “Do you think you will ever be able to get another good night’s sleep if you know that they can even find out the exact amount contained in the reserves found in that mineral vein?”

  Marquis Gordan laughed dryly and said nothing more.

  There were conflicts between the local aristocrats and the central aristocrats, so of course, there were also conflicts among the central aristocrats themselves. Marquis Gordan and Marquis Yug had been longtime rivals. They belonged to the kind of rivals that “yearned for you to meet death.” The fact that the spies under Marquis Yug’s command were able to get ahold of such confidential information was enough to make Marquis Gordon somewhat uneasy. If they were able to further inquire about top-secret information about the reserves of the mineral vein, then they might not have any difficulty in acquiring confidential information about him.

  At least…… they would be a little closer.

  Seeing that the atmosphere was getting a little awkward, an earl who was quite close to Marquis Gordon hastily changed the subject, “The value of a mineral vein containing naturally-occurring Mithril is worth a fortune. This will greatly strengthen the relationship between the Republic of Northwest and the merchant party. If we strike the merchant part at this point in time, we’ll easily attract the attention of the Republic of Northwest. It’s indeed…… not appropriate at all.”

  “Yes, they must be very nervous right now. Once hyped up, they tend to overreact. Their heightened emotions might only start to ease up after everything is settled, that is, when that mineral vein is mined and the silver is verified,” said another earl. “Even if they want to fight a war, they will also have to wait until then.”

  With that, all eyes fell on Earl Good Horse.

  “Good Horse” was not actually the surname of Earl Good Horse. The origin of this name had to be traced back to the founder of the family. That earl’s name was “Good Hauss,” and he was nicknamed “Good Horse.” Later, though their family’s official name was Earl Hauss, the name of “Good Horse” was so popular that it became a nickname that people commonly used to address them.

  Of course, this was also because they were bothered by it. On the contrary, they might even be proud of this title.

  At present, it was this “Good Horse,” Earl Hauss, who was in conflict with the merchant party. Originally, he wanted to use his assassination as a pretext to demand some compensation from the central aristocrats. He had not expected the merchant party to make a move against him first and accuse his soldiers of crossing the border to attack the trade caravans and civilians. At that time, he had not even started on negotiations with the central aristocrats about the substantive issues.

  Earl Hauss, who was already in a bad mood, was subjected to further distress. He could no longer hold himself back and flew into a rage. Without another word, he chased the messenger of the merchant party away.

  As a result, the merchant party actually assembled their army at the border, as though they had braced themselves to fight a major war.

  The “Good Horse” family had never been afraid to fight and always went all out. If he chose not to attack another party, the other side should be thanking the gods while counting their blessings. Yet now, they actually had the guts to come find fault with him?!

  To borrow a famous saying of Brother Illidan, who was whitewashed by the gaming company, Blizzard, after Sui Xiong had traversed the world, “You are all trying to meet your doom!”

  So he did not hesitate to gather his military force and horses to confront the merchant party.

  Over the past few days, there had been two small-scale skirmishes between the two sides. Though the losses incurred were small, the anger was building up.

  And at this very moment, if the aristocratic party wanted to make peace, his attitude would become the key.