"My lord! My lord!" When Tang Mo returned to his factory from Brunas, Tagg stumbled towards him in a panic.
Tang Mo frowned; he had never seen Tagg so agitated. Wes at his side instinctively grasped the pistol at his waist.
A knight following Tagg was also somewhat disheveled. He scrambled to Tang Mo's side and hoarsely shouted, "My lord! My lord! The Earl has been assassinated!"
"What? What's going on?" Tang Mo was stunned, then looked incredulously at Tagg beside him, who stood there mournfully, his eyes already brimming with tears.
"Tell me clearly, what exactly happened!" Tang Mo was still somewhat bewildered, unwilling to believe the messenger's words.
"My, my lord! Count Fisheo was assassinated in Ice Crystal City, he has... he has already passed away." The knight, breaking into tears, managed to say.
He continued sobbing, "My lord, Northern Ridge is now headless, it's already become a complete mess."
"What kind of joke is this! How could someone assassinate Lord Earl Fisheo?" Tang Mo still didn't believe the news and coldly stared at the knight as he asked.
The knight knelt on one knee, drew a letter from his bosom, and handed it to Tang Mo: "My lord! This is something the young lady asked me to deliver."
Tang Mo snatched the letter and saw the Northern Ridge wolf seal on it, also recognizing the familiar handwriting on the envelope.
He recognized the writing on the envelope, indeed, it was Alice's handwriting, who often corresponded with him, so he opened the envelope and read Alice's handwritten letter.
The writing was somewhat untidy and crumpled; it was evident that Alice must have been very distraught while writing it, crying and in a state of panic.
The letter was short, but it spoke of many things. Although Count Fisheo's death was a huge blow to Alice, the 17-year-old girl still used all her willpower to convey everything she knew to Tang Mo.
After reading the letter, Tang Mo folded the paper and put it in his pocket, by now nearly certain that Fisheo had indeed died, and that his death had been very sudden.
It has to be said, the death of Fisheo was both a coincidence and an inevitability. Tang Mo's arrival postponed Fisheo's death, but it also accelerated it...
Because of Tang Mo's arrival, Fisheo acquired new weapons, thus winning the battle of Northern Ridge and consequently delaying his own demise.
However, the rapid military expansion after taking Ice Crystal River created vulnerabilities in the security system around Fisheo, leading directly to his death.
There was no choice; in order to supply Tang Mo with enough steel, Fisheo hijacked the Shireck Consortium's steel, which led to severe losses in Fisheo's intelligence system targeting the Shireck Consortium, indirectly causing its failure.
After losing early warning intelligence, Fisheo didn't have time to rebuild his intelligence system and had to grit his teeth and deal with the battle of Northern Ridge first.
This war had far-reaching effects; it not only exhausted Suthers with one battle but also claimed a large swath of land south of Ice Crystal River.
During this war, Fisheo saw the potential for military reform led by Tang Mo's weaponry on the horizon, therefore he sent many of his trusted officers to Brunas.
This further dispersed Fisheo's trusted subordinates—some were spread out across new territories, some were divided among the expanded military, and some were sent to Brunas for training.
As a result, the rapidly expanding Fisheo Consortium naturally found itself short-staffed. The expansion led to fewer and fewer trusted people remaining by the Earl's side, exposing cracks in Fisheo's security system.
A lack of early warning intelligence, overly diluted defensive forces, and the complacency of victory dulling the vigilance of some, ultimately gave the assassin their opportunity.
Ice Crystal City was a newly occupied territory, its population was exceedingly complex to begin with, and it was there that something happened to Lord Earl—it seemed sudden, yet also predictable.
Nevertheless, Tang Mo found the result difficult to accept. In reality, assassinating a noble is not a simple matter, and its impact can overturn many things.
After all, nobility is nobility, and there are some unwritten rules and underlying practices among them. Avoiding assassinations is one such "implicit rule" that is rather daunting.
Because once assassinations are used to kill a noble, it could entice others to opt for this straightforward and convenient method of solving problems.
If everyone starts using this simple method against their enemies, the personal security guarantee for the nobility becomes incredibly fragile.
For this reason, even though both the King and Shireck previously wished for Fisheo's death, neither of them resorted to assassination, this seemingly straightforward method.
Of course, it wasn't because they truly abided by the rules so strictly, but because in Wolf City, or rather in Northern Ridge, assassinating Fisheo was quite a difficult task.
Although that was the case, from another perspective, it meant that no one was willing to break such rules of the game through assassination, as it would also put themselves in danger.
In any case, assassinating an earl was definitely a major event, and one that would certainly draw hatred. The death of a noble could provoke the enmity of other nobility, and even cause unrest within a kingdom; it was an extremely unprofitable affair.
If the assassination of an earl were exposed, and someone caught a grip on it, one could even lose everything and be jointly executed by all the nobility.
Until the end, it might involve the mastermind behind it all, along with all the conspirators being killed for vengeance. This wasn't a threat, for there were precedents.
It was precisely because of such instances that everyone continued to play within a relatively safe gaming environment, so it wouldn't lead to an atmosphere where everyone was on edge, nor to a point where one couldn't sleep at night.
"How dare they… lay a hand on an earl!" Tang Mo clenched his fist, his tone full of rage.
He was now a noble himself; an assassination attempt on a noble was practically a threat to him.
"My lord… You must avenge Lord Earl Fisheo!" Tagg said through tears, his lips quivering, full of hatred.
"I have known Lord Fisheo for many years; he was a good man. If you ever get the chance, my lord, please help him find the assassin and bring that person to justice!" Wes also spoke with anger.
Tang Mo bit his teeth and fell silent for a long time before looking at the two: "We have plenty of time for revenge; right now, we need to help Lord Earl stabilize Northern Ridge and make sure his heir takes control of his legacy, to ensure the continuation of the Ronin Family."
"You're right, my lord," said Tagg, startled, then immediately agreed. "Northern Ridge must be in chaos now."
"How should we proceed, my lord?" Wes, standing by Tang Mo's side, also asked.
"I'm going to Northern Ridge!" Tang Mo looked up at the two and said: "I'm going there to help Alice reclaim what's hers."
"Gather everyone! I need to call a meeting!" Tang Mo ordered and without looking back, he walked into his own factory.
On both sides of the factory's main gate hung two new flags, standing vertical. The flags were red, as if they had been dyed with fresh blood.
On this blood-red flag was embroidered Tang Mo's clan symbol, or rather the emblem of the Great Tang Industrial Group—a dragon.
It depicted the head of a dragon, symmetrical and angular in its design, abstracted and flattened.
This pattern was unprecedented in this world; when Tang Mo said it was a dragon, even Wes and the others found it hard to accept.
They believed only those mythical creatures that breathed fire in legends could be called dragons. And in this world, there was no shortage of family emblems using dragons, but they had never seen such a strangely shaped dragon.
They couldn't accept a dragon with catfish whiskers or deer antlers; in short, Tang Mo's dragon seemed quite out of place from their understanding of dragons.
But Tang Mo insisted on using this totem as his family emblem, so in the end, everyone had to accept it as the symbol of Great Tang Industrial.
By the time everyone had entered Tang Mo's office, they had already heard about the incident at Northern Ridge.
Tang Mo glanced at Roger, then began: "There's trouble in Northern Ridge. Lord Earl has been assassinated. He owed me a favor and was our ally, so we should do something for him."
After finishing, he commanded, "Roger, Redman, Li'ao, Bernard, and Luff, assemble the troops and ensure the security within the territory. If anyone attempts to take advantage of this and attack Brunas, you should bury them all here!"
"Yes!" Redman, Bernard, and Luff, dressed in grey-green military uniforms, immediately stood at attention and saluted, while Roger and Li'ao also nodded and accepted the orders.
Tang Mo nodded slightly then continued with his orders, "Tagg, Wes, you're coming with me to Northern Ridge..."
"My lord, how many soldiers should we bring?" Wes had a bad feeling and asked directly. It was very unusual for Bernard, Luff, and Redman, who were high-ranking commanders in Tang Mo's security forces, to remain in Brunas at such a time.
"Tagg! Rally all the Northern Ridge students from the school! Tell them about the earl's murder and assemble them to follow me!" Tang Mo did not answer Wes's question but instead turned to Tagg.
"Yes!" Tagg was taken aback but still faithfully executed Tang Mo's order.
"Just bring them!" Tang Mo looked at Wes, "And my personal guard."