“Smory City…”
Looking at the city in front of him, Gray frowned slightly. He did not expect that the medicinal materials would eventually enter Smalli City.
Smalley City, in the territory of Sidney, is the city where the Smalley family, one of the two Earl families, is located.
It was not that he suspected that the robbery of the Fergus family's medicinal materials was related to the Smalley family.
As a large city with a population of more than 100,000, Smalley City has bustling commerce and a mixed population, making it very suitable for processing large quantities of medicinal materials.
It is normal for the robbers to intercept and transport it here and sell it through the channels here.
It may not necessarily be related to the Smalley family, and it may even have nothing to do with it. No one would foolishly take robbed things back to their own territory to deal with them.
"Master Gray, what should we do now?"
Lord Harry looked at Gray in embarrassment. Although he was good at tracking, he was only limited to a certain extent.
Now that the medicinal materials have been transported into Smalli City, even he can do nothing. After all, there are so many carriages coming in and out of Smalli City every day, and even if there are clues, they have been suppressed.
"Set up at the hotel in the city first, and then you and I will go visit the Smalley family."
There was really no good way, so Gray could only see if he could get some useful information from the Smalley family.
As the ruler of Smalley City, the Smalley family's intelligence capabilities here are naturally extremely powerful. Maybe they can get information from them about which pharmacies in the city have had a large amount of medicinal materials coming in and out in recent days.
After settling in a hotel in the city and freshening up, Gray put on aristocratic clothes, took Lord Harry with him, and headed to Smalley Castle.
After revealing their identities, Gray and Lord Harry were introduced into a living room.
then.
A full hour passed, and except for a servant who came up to bring tea, no one else was seen.
The expressions on the faces of Gray and Lord Harry changed from initial expectation to strangeness, then from strangeness to confusion, until they turned ashen now.
If by now, they still don't understand that they have been "sidelined" by the Smalley family, then they have a problem with their IQ.
Even if Earl Smalley is delayed for something, or is away for something, someone else should come over to greet him, right
But more than an hour passed, and there was not even a single person to say hello. This was absolutely inappropriate in any family.
"What happened? How did the Fergus family offend the Smalley family?"
Gray was confused.
The Fergus family and the Smalley family are too far apart, their territories are not adjacent, and they rarely interact with each other. Although there is almost no communication, it is absolutely impossible for them to become enemies.
But why did the Smalley family target him like this when he came to visit? Is it because...
Smalley family back garden pavilion.
Earl Smalley and Vincent Smalley, the next successor to the Smalley family's title, were sitting in the pavilion, drinking tea leisurely.
A man dressed as a servant came over. Vincent Smalley, who had slightly long brown hair and a handsome face, looked at him and asked.
"How's it going? Have you left?"
"not yet."
The man dressed as a servant replied.
"Humph, the Fergus family."
Vincent Smalley had a sneer on his lips.
"It's really funny. We are so close to the Ford family, and now we have the guts to come visit our Smalley family."
There is naturally a reason why the Smalley family treats the Fergus family coldly, and the reason is that the Fergus family and the Ford family have become too close in recent months, and there are even reports of preparations for a marriage.
The Ford family and the Smalley family, as the two largest families in the Marquis of Sidney territory after the Sidney family, are bound to have competing interests, and open and covert fights are common.
The Fergus family and the Ford family were too close, which naturally aroused the extreme dissatisfaction of the Smalley family. As a descendant of the Fergus family, Gray came to visit the Smalley family. Naturally, the Smalley family would not give Gray any advice. Good look.
Now that the Fergus family is already involved with the Ford family, they naturally don't care about making the Fergus family hostile.
Besides, with the background of the Smalley family, how could they care about turning against the Fergus family.
Not to mention whether the Fergus family can become an earl family has not yet been truly determined. What is not determined can be reversed at any time.
Even if the Fergus family becomes an earl family, the Smalley family will not be afraid of the Fergus family because they have been an earl family for many years.
"Forget it, send them away, just say that I am out patrolling the territory and not in the castle."
Earl Smalley frowned slightly and waved his hand to signal to the servant.
If the Fergus family hadn't gotten too close to the Ford family, he might still be interested in meeting this "genius" whose reputation spread throughout the Sidney Territory. As for now, he had no interest in meeting him at all.
He had also heard about the robbery of the Fergus family's medicinal materials. According to his estimation, this Gray Fergus came to visit for a request from the Smalley family, so he couldn't see him.
"Yes, sir."
The servant took the order and left.
"Master Gray, the Smalley family has gone too far!"
Walking out of Smalley Castle, Lord Harry's face was ashen.
Gray also had a gloomy face, suppressing the anger in his heart.
This is the first time since he came to this world that he has enjoyed the "cold bench" treatment.
"Let's go back first."
Gray said with a frown.
The Fergus family has no grudges against the Smalley family, so the reason should be the Fergus family's recent interactions with the Ford family.
Before coming, he had never thought about the trouble this would cause, but he dismissed the thought as soon as it passed.
The Fergus family and the Ford family did have some interactions, but it was just a normal communication between nobles and did not mean forming an alliance, at least as far as he understood.
But obviously the Smalley family doesn't think so. I'm afraid they already think that the Fergus family has completely fallen in favor of the Ford family between the Smalley family and the Ford family.
However, he has no intention of explaining this kind of thing. Now that his strength is no worse than that of the Smalley family, he cannot lower his profile to explain to the Smalley family.
Moreover, the Smalley family did not give him a chance to explain. From the beginning to the end, he had never met Earl Smalley.
Back at the hotel, Gray asked one of the guards to return to report the situation, and then called Lord Harry into the room to discuss.
"There is no need to count on the Smalley family. We have to rely on ourselves to obtain information. Lord Harry, do you have any good suggestions?"
Gray said with a frown.
Lord Harry frowned and thought for a moment before speaking.
"Master Gray, there is a method you can try."
"what way?"
"We have entrusted the mercenaries from this city to investigate for us. They are local gangsters in Smalley City. They must be very well-informed and must have channels to find out the information."
"Mercenary?"
Gray eyes.
It is true that mercenaries are among the civilians and are very well-informed. Since the Smalley family cannot work, entrusting mercenaries from local forces to help investigate is indeed a good choice.
Thinking of this, Gray called the hotel clerk over and tossed a few silver coins. The clerk's eyes suddenly lit up.
He led them out of the hotel and into the old area of the city. After going around and around, they came to a slightly old house.
"who?"
Two men wearing leather armor were leaning in front of the door. Seeing Gray and the others arriving, the two stood up lazily and looked at the three of them suspiciously.
"I want to issue a commissioned task..."
After waving the hotel clerk away, Gray spoke.
The two of them looked at Gray, and then looked at Lord Harry behind Gray. They looked at each other, and one of them, the tall and thin man, waved his hand and signaled.
"You guys come with me!"
After entering the door, they entered a place similar to a courtyard. In the courtyard, there were almost twenty men dressed as mercenaries, carrying sandbags and huge pieces of wood to exercise.
Without the blood method, the way for ordinary people to become stronger is to exercise the body through squeezing to achieve the purpose of becoming stronger.
"Captain, they want to issue a commission."
The tall and lanky man led Gray and the two of them to a man with bare arms and sweating profusely.
The man took a towel and wiped his sweat, then led Gray and the two into an extremely simple living room.
"What commission do you want to issue?"
Someone brought tea to Gray and Lord Harry, and the man with bare arms looked at Gray.
Although Gray was the younger of the two, he had already judged from their clothes and their postures that Gray was the one in charge. As the leader of a mercenary team, he still had this insight.
"Just a few days ago, the medicinal materials of our caravan were robbed. After our tracking, the medicinal materials were delivered to Smalli City."
"I would like to entrust your mercenary team to investigate the whereabouts of this batch of medicinal materials and find out what force has handled this batch of medicinal materials."
Gray spoke.
"The whereabouts of large quantities of medicinal materials, and we need to find out the forces handling them..."
The man with the bare arms frowned, thought for a moment, and then gritted his teeth and said.
"Our mercenary team can accept this request, but it is very difficult and dangerous to investigate the forces handling it."
"You may even die at any time, so the price of remuneration will be very high, and half of the remuneration needs to be paid in advance."
"How many?"
Gray asked directly.
The investigation will be difficult and there may be fatalities. After all, the opponent is a force capable of killing high-ranking blood warriors.
"100 gold coins."
"Okay, but I hope it can be done as soon as possible."
Gray had nothing to bargain with. For him now, 100 gold coins was nothing, and this commission was indeed very dangerous.
"This is no problem."
Leaving behind a deposit of 50 gold coins, Gray and Lord Harry left. He was not afraid that these people would not do anything with the money, unless they were not prepared to stay in Sidney.
(End of chapter)