The Lord Of Blood Hill

Chapter 628: Exchanging Intelligence

The Crystal Goblet merchant group holds enormous weight within the Lumir Trade Alliance, with annual profits easily exceeding ten million gold coins.But the merchant group does not belong solely to the Marquess of Dienbos's family. It is an asset of the entire great family.

From the family head down to the knights, all of them hold shares in the merchant group.

The profits look astonishing, but after several hundred shareholders divide them, the actual ruler of the Dienbos family, Marquess Lierul, does not earn as much as it seems.

An annual dividend of two million gold coins is already an incredible fortune.

Counting income from other industries, including a portion of taxes from the land, Marquess Lierul earns over three million gold coins in net income each year.

By reason, taking out one million gold coins to support his niece, who is also his liege, should be possible.

But in reality, Marquess Lierul no longer has that much money.

He earns a great deal every year, but his expenses are equally large.

The elite private legion alone swallows one-third of Marquess Lierul's household income every year.

Add castle maintenance, food, clothing, daily expenses, purchases of extraordinary materials, salaries for subordinates, city defense, and territorial construction, and every place needs money.

If he can have a surplus of three to five hundred thousand gold coins in a year, that is already a good year.

Over the years, the main line of the Dienbos family has indeed accumulated plenty of wealth.

But to complete the Ika Kingdom's plan, Lierul has emptied the family treasury.

After all, staging an otherworldly popular referendum still costs money, especially when votes need buying. All kinds of noble appeasement, surrendering benefits, and paying cash as rewards are required.

In short, winning hearts alone cost several million gold coins.

Then Marquess Lierul still had to prepare for Lumir possibly turning hostile in a mutually destructive manner, so he temporarily conscripted another two legions.

Only after the war ended did he dismiss part of those men.

That was another enormous expense.

Put simply, even the landlord nobles are tapped out.

Once he understands the situation, Henwell thinks for a moment. "I can lend you the money. The interest will not be as high as their thirty percent. I only want ten percent annually."

The Grand Princess asks, "And what is the price?"

Henwell says, "I want to know a piece of intelligence."

The Grand Princess immediately waves her hand. "No need to say it. I will pay thirty percent annual interest. I will borrow two million gold coins from you and repay it within five years."

Henwell scratches his head. "I have not even said what intelligence I want. You are refusing already? This is a large sum of money."

The Grand Princess shakes her head. "You are the lord of Blood Hill, a person already able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the kings of various countries."

"If there is intelligence you care about but cannot find, then it must be important, and even more expensive."

Henwell curls his lip. "Maybe this intelligence matters only to me and is not worth mentioning to you."

The Grand Princess smiles. "Henwell, perhaps the intelligence you want is not important to us."

"But keeping you from knowing intelligence you are interested in is even more important to us."

Tsk.

This woman is formidable.

She is different from the young men of his own generation. She sees the essence of the matter at a glance.

Young wolf cubs are easier to fool. These old foxes are another matter.

In the end, Henwell can only agree to lend out the money.

The details of the following cooperation no longer require Henwell to appear. Chick and the others will handle them in his place.

Just as Henwell thinks everything is finished and prepares to leave, the Grand Princess lightly waves a hand, and everyone else in the room rises and leaves.

The Grand Princess simply stares at Henwell, and he understands what she means. "Wizet, wait outside for a while."

After only the two of them remain in the room, the Grand Princess puts away the noble, calm, and serene expression on her face.

Her entire air changes abruptly, and an unsettling presence spreads from her.

The chill gradually entering her eyes is even more frightening.

Now she is no longer the Grand Princess of the Ika Kingdom. She is the Veil's external professional, the Lady of Calamity.

Henwell shows no surprise at all. He swirls the red wine in his cup. "Lady."

"Speaking to me directly at this time and in this place is risky."

The Lady of Calamity asks in a cold voice, "Henwell, how strong are you? I want to know whether you killed the Abyss Sin Shepherd."

Henwell says, "As before, what will you offer in exchange for this intelligence?"

The Lady of Calamity says, "The intelligence you wanted earlier."

Henwell shakes his head. "No. That would eventually expose your identity."

"This concerns the secret of royal bloodline. If you say it, you will be noticed."

"We can discuss it openly, but you cannot privately exchange that intelligence with me behind Ika's back."

"Also, the intelligence you want to know is expensive. It concerns whether I live or die. You need to offer a higher price."

The Lady of Calamity says, "Then I will give you a piece of intelligence concerning your life."

Henwell nods lightly. "Tell me. I will judge whether it is worth it."

"Someone wants to kill you."

"Many people want to kill me."

"Not people from this continent. Professionals from the Abundant Continent."

"They arrived two years ago and are now screening the people who took part in the Sunflower Fortress incident one by one."

Henwell becomes interested. "Oh? Why? Because of the Abyss Sin Shepherd's death?"

The Lady of Calamity does not answer and instead insists, "Did you kill the Abyss Sin Shepherd?"

Henwell frowns and thinks for a while, then nods lightly. "Yes. But that was an accident."

"In another situation, I could not have killed him. I might even have had to flee for my life."

The Lady of Calamity waves a hand. "That is not important. I only need to know you have the ability to kill a Glory Rank."

"Now I will tell you about the outsiders."

"In truth, I do not know many specifics, but I know there are two of them, a man and a woman."

"Although they have not reached Glory Rank, they can join hands to kill a Glory Rank. My teacher told me that personally."

"They are not members of the Veil, nor are they people of the Empire or the Church. They come from an assassin organization called Compass."

"They accepted a commission to investigate the truth of the Abyss Sin Shepherd's death."

"It was only after they arrived that the Veil learned the Abyss Sin Shepherd had not hidden away to recover, but was already dead."

"Others did not know, but I know very clearly that in that castle, only you had the chance to kill him."

"You should thank me for saving your life."

"Those two have powerful methods. They can enter a person's memories and look for clues."

"If my teacher's position had not been high enough, they would already have searched my memories."

"It will not be long before they investigate you."

"When that time comes, you had better have Glory Rank combat power. Otherwise, you may very well die."

Although Henwell looks shocked, he is not worried in his heart.

For a long time to come, he will be staying inside Peace Haven.

Forget assassins comparable to Glory Rank. Even true Glory Ranks do not frighten him inside Peace Haven.

What Henwell worries about now is another problem. "Dramatist Jeremy may also have guessed that I killed the Abyss Sin Shepherd."

"Where is he now? I must remove this hidden danger first and buy some time."

The Lady of Calamity shakes her head. "He is carrying out an important mission and is directly protected by the higher-ups."

"Also, he has too many Veil secrets in his head. The higher-ups will not allow those two assassins to search him."