Chapter 733 (1/2)

The situation was serious!

It was really not a big deal if it was just a few soldiers under the command of a knight. For the long border between the two forces, a few deaths were simply not worth mentioning.

However, an earl had been attacked, which was a completely different story!

There were no dukes in the Commonwealth of Gold Coins. The highest in rank were the two marquises. Beneath them were 14 earls. Among these 14 earls, five were courtiers of the two marquises while the other nine were independent. This was the result of the political strife during the time of the founding of the Commonwealth of Gold Coins. In truth, the nine independent earls were very strong. Although they were not on par with the marquises when it was one-on-one, the combined force of two or three of them was enough to overwhelm a marquis. The nine of them kept watch and helped one another. Together, they formed the “local aristocrats” within the aristocratic party, which was always getting into conflicts with the “central aristocrats.” The two marquises were the core of the latter group.

Even so, when in a confrontation against the merchants, they still stood their ground as comrades from the same camp.

Even though… among themselves, they truly wished for the death of the other party. The best would be that the entire family was cleanly wiped out, where not even an illegitimate son was left behind.

“Who was it that attacked me?” asked the earl who had been attacked. He was wrapped in bandages, looking seriously wounded as he rested on a soft couch. Sitting in this comfortable living room, he was relying on magic to adjust his temperature. His brows tightly locked into a deep frown as he looked at the few staff members before him.

“I think it could be an assassin from the capital,” said a thin staff member. There was some coldness flashing in his eyes, and from time to time, a murderous gaze would flash by.

Among all the staff under the earl, he was not the most outstanding one. But he was very decisive. Using words in Earth’s lingo, it meant that he could make decisions at critical moments without hesitation. Then he could withstand all kinds of pressure to execute his decisions to the end.

In the past years, he had accomplished success, but also made mistakes. Generally, the mistakes he made were few. In most cases, his judgments were correct. Though… his way of thinking was a little extreme and his means of doing things seemed slightly vicious at times, to the earl, it was good to be able to do things with nerve!

Anyway, in the Commonwealth of Gold Coins, he would be able to hold out even if the sky collapsed. What was there to be afraid of?

It was precisely because he had such a mindset that the earl had always been relatively sloppy in the way he did things. If he could muddle his way through anything, he would do so. He was never willing to put in additional effort.

Today, however, he no longer thought so.

The assassination last night made him feel as if he were in a deep crisis.

Yes, the earl was paramount and powerful, ruling over many cities big and small alike. There were even more towns and villages under his rule. So long as he gave an order, just the number of knights he could gather would be more than a hundred. In addition, the number of trained soldiers he could gather for his army would be around two thousand. If he loosened up on his requirements and even the militia could be involved in the recruitment, then it would be no difficult feat for him to muster an army as big as tens of thousands of soldiers.

In the Commonwealth of Gold Coins, he was unquestionably at the peak of the pyramid of power where even the two marquises could not possibly do anything about him. Even the Royal Crown (i.e., the Goddess of Wealth) had to be courteous to him. This was even more so for the ordinary civilians who had to be extremely deferential toward him. Whenever he was in a bad mood and they happened to lift their heads and look him in the eye, they would most likely suffer whiplash.

This was why he had always felt that he was safe.

However, last night, he suddenly realized that everything that he had relied on all this while was in fact, not that reliable.

When that assassinator almost broke through the barrier of guards to pierce that sharp blade through him, he could even feel his heart stop beating for a moment.

When everything had been settled, he suddenly awoke to his reality. That was when he felt extreme fear and helplessness.

So it turned out that he was not as safe as he thought he was!