In the slums of the East District of Zijinlan City, several soldiers disguised as down-and-out vagrants seemed to be wandering around aimlessly, but in fact they were looking for suspicious people among the poor.

In the underground sewer in the west of the city, a disgusting smell filled the entire space.

The dark and damp ground was filled with disgusting creatures such as unknown insects, and there were mud slimes swimming in the dirty and smelly wastewater.

Under the control of the hunter, several earth rats dispersed along the waterway and began to look for the cultists.

The actions of these two groups of soldiers were exactly what Count Cass had instructed the captain of the guard to do before he left.

Their purpose was not to fight the cultists immediately, but to explore these two places for any traces of the cultists.

Count Cass believed Annuo, but Annuo only said that those places were most likely strongholds, and he did not confirm it.

As the soldiers began to move, Earl Cass brought Anno to the residence of Duke Howell Ingram.

Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, Baron, and Duke are the highest-ranking titles in a human country, and their family background is very rich.

When in the Royal City of Nigar, the noble that Annuo interacted with the most was Prince Test, and he did not have much interaction with other dukes and marquises.

This was Annuo's first visit to the Duke's mansion.

It is truly magnificent, and the entire manor covers an area of ​​several square kilometers.

But this is not the key point, the main thing is strength.

The soldiers guarding the Duke's manor were at least level four in strength, and there were two hundred of them seen along the way!

As expected, the Roland Empire has the strongest overall strength. The Duke is much stronger than the nobles of the kingdom.

Following Count Cass, Annuo also saw several noble men and women in gorgeous clothes practicing swordsmanship on the lawn of the manor.

The names showed that they were all from the Ingram family.

But Anno did not see Sonny Ingram, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Howell, among them.

According to the intelligence, Sony, who does not live in the Duke's Mansion, is the only high-ranking cult member, and the rest of the Ingram family are not cult members.

As he was walking, An Nuo suddenly felt a pair of eyes staring at him.

He turned around and saw that a male knight with long white hair had appeared next to the group of noble men and women.

“Level seven!”

After taking a look, An Nuo looked away.

After the soldier who reported returned, Annuo and Count Cass walked into the castle.

"That young man is Baron Anno of the Kingdom of Nigal. Why did he come to see the Duke?"

The seventh-level knight Tel was a little confused.

As the actual master of Zijinlan City, the Duke naturally received the news of what happened at the city gate last night, and the seventh-level knight Tel was also qualified to know this news.

According to intelligence, Count Cass and Baron Anno from the Kingdom of Nergal, who is also the president of the Adventurer's Guild, had a meeting after they dealt with the incident of cultists injuring people at the city gate.

Then Count Cass went back and contacted several nobles in the city and began to collect large amounts of food and daily necessities, saying that he had negotiated a big deal.

"This deal was negotiated with Baron Anno, right? But what is their purpose in coming to the Duke now? Do they want to continue the business?"

In fact, Cass took Annuo to visit the Duke of Ingram, which was almost what Tel guessed.

Sonny Ingram's identity is too special.

As the Duke's eldest daughter, she is now around thirty years old.

Sony got married when she was less than 20 years old, but her husband died just one month after the marriage.

After her husband's death, she returned to Zijinlan City and lived in a small manor, starting a business relying on her relationship with the Duke.

Sony has a good business sense. In a few years, she has expanded her business and turned it into the largest chamber of commerce in Zijinlan City.

If such a strong woman were to become involved with cultists, it would have a huge impact on the reputation of the Ingram family.

That's why Cass looked embarrassed when he heard Anno say that the cult's third base was the manor where Sony lived.

If things went wrong, he would likely be hostile to the Duke.

Cass and Anno's plan was to approach Sony in a normal way, under the pretext of Anno buying supplies.

The purpose of coming to the Duke's Manor today is to say hello first.

Sony will definitely be keeping an eye on the developments at the Duke's Manor, and it won't be long before she knows what's happening here.

Compared with rashly going to the door, this approach can greatly reduce Sony's vigilance.

Soon, Anno saw Duke Howell.

A strong man who is over fifty years old but still energetic, and also a peak level six warrior!

Howell walked up to Earl Cass and laughed, "Earl Cass, we haven't seen each other for a while. Judging from your physique, it seems that you haven't listened to my advice and exercise every day."

Hearing this, Earl Cass smiled awkwardly and said, "I've been busy lately and haven't had time to exercise."

"Busy making money? That's good too. Being a noble requires not only the ability to eat, drink and have fun, but also the ability to make money."

Seeing Duke Howell speaking carelessly, Annuo thought to himself: Just as Count Cass said, Duke Howell is a generous and straightforward person.

But the more this happened, the less Annuo could state his purpose directly.

If Anno walked up to Duke Howell now and said, "Your eldest daughter may be connected to the cultists in the city."

In the next second, Howell might punch him.

"This must be Baron Anno of the Kingdom of Nigal."

Howell turned around and looked at An Nuo, then said with a smile, "Welcome to the Violet City of the Roland Empire. I heard you are here to do business?"

"Your Excellency the Duke, that is why I am here."

Anno immediately followed the original plan and said to Howell: "There have been many wars on the Dwarf border recently. It is winter now, and I want to buy a batch of daily necessities and food to support the allies.

In Zijinlan City, the number one chamber of commerce is still the Jinlan Chamber of Commerce under the name of the Duke.

Time is tight, so I want to buy this batch of supplies from the Jinlan Chamber of Commerce. The transaction amount is about one million gold coins!"

"Supplies worth one million gold coins?"

Duke Howell couldn't hold it in for a moment.

Who are you preparing to go to war with by buying so many supplies?

At this time, Count Cass stepped forward and explained in a low voice: "Baron Anno bought it at twice the market price!"

“Oh~!”

Duke Howell suddenly realized.

In this way, one million gold coins can only buy supplies worth more than 300,000 gold coins.

This way it looks a lot less.

There is profit to be made at market price, and if it is twice the market price, the profit will be huge.

Howell looked at Anno with a hint of a smile on his face.

In addition to being a baron, Anno is also the president of the Adventurer's Guild.

According to Howell's idea, Annuo must have accepted the commission from the Dwarf Kingdom to purchase supplies from the human country and transport them to the border of the Dwarf Kingdom.

"It's because of the war on the border of the Dwarf Kingdom a month ago! If you want to support your allies, the Jinlan Chamber of Commerce can sell this batch of goods, but you need to discuss the price with Sony."