# Chapter 6: The World in Nightmares
"Interesting."
Joshua's eyes swept up and down as he roughly read through the letter sent by Alfonso. After finishing, his deep voice echoed in the study. The warrior discovered that this letter from the merchant indeed had nothing to do with the auction, but it was still crucial... at the very least, it let him know some things happening in the Imperial Capital right now.
Some things concerning his family's business.
"Someone is targeting me? That is indeed somewhat interesting."
Reading it a second time, Joshua leaned back in his chair, which was fitted with comfortable leather cushions, and fell into deep thought.
As everyone knew, whether commoner or noble, merchant or craftsman, for the vast majority of people in this world, money was always of utmost importance. The Radcliffe family, to which Joshua belonged, was no exception.
For this border military family rooted in the Northern Lands, because they needed to maintain a standing force of over two thousand soldiers year-round and upkeep the massive Black Forest Fortress defense line, the tax revenue from their territory was completely insufficient to cover expenses. Even setting up checkpoints to collect tolls from passing adventurers and merchant caravans meant little. What truly kept the entire territory functioning was actually the Radcliffe family's mining industry, spread throughout the central and northern parts of the Empire.
Due to their cooperation with the Rune Dwarves of the Northern Lands in mining the precious mineral veins of the Great Aias Mountains, the quality of the Radcliffe family's refined ores had always been excellent, and the quantity was considerable. They had long been the top choice for major weapon and construction merchants. Basically, no matter how much they produced, they could sell it all. Coupled with the Empire's intentional or unintentional support, the Radcliffe family had even become one of the main raw material suppliers for the standard weapons of the Empire's five major legions. It was precisely for this reason that Joshua had been appointed as Vice Commander upon joining the Black Crow Legion.
With these stable sales channels, at least there was no need to worry about the family suddenly declining. They could even look forward to a brighter future—while Joshua's father was still alive, the old Count was no longer satisfied with the meager profits of selling raw materials and had planned to enter the finished weapon industry.
With the entire Northern Lands' Rune Dwarves as their technical backing, and possessing excellent volcanic mineral veins themselves, the Radcliffe family absolutely had the capability to forge superior swords and armor. Under the old Count's orders, the ore shops bearing the crest of the Sword-Holding Hand, spread throughout the Empire, began to also sell weapons and armor on the side.
And this naturally infringed upon the interests of others, especially the original weapon merchants.
This was the source of the targeting.
"Thinking carefully, the Wilson family's attempt to support that cheap uncle of mine seems to be precisely for this reason."
Muttering to himself in a low voice, Joshua shook his head: "Indeed, when a raw material supplier decides to produce and sell their own products, who knows how many enemies they'll make. No wonder these people planned to take over my industry while taking advantage of the unstable situation in Moldavia."
The letter Alfonso, who was currently in the Imperial Capital, had sent to Joshua was about this matter—roughly because of the war with the Orcs, a large number of shop owners dispatched by the family did not believe that Joshua, before his transmigration, could survive this great battle. Danilia had already successfully gained the goodwill of many people before returning to the Northern Lands to contend for the title.
Therefore, after Joshua easily killed that cheap uncle of his and formally inherited the Count's title, those shop owners who had already sided with Danilia, fearing retaliation, immediately sold their shops to the Radcliffe family's competitors, who naturally took over without hesitation.
Added to the fact that Joshua had gone to Moldova to assist the Skarant family not long after inheriting the title, and hadn't discovered this situation in time, the Radcliffe family's five shops in the Imperial Capital were now reduced to only two. Fortunately, the situation elsewhere was better, without such large-scale transfers. Overall, the loss was not significant, but it was a major blow to their reputation.
"Short-sighted and foolish. Siding with Danilia wasn't some great crime; in the end, they were still serving the family. I'm not a demon. If they were willing to continue working well, why the hell would I replace an experienced shop owner with local connections over something like this?"
Shaking his head, looking at the letter, Joshua's eyes narrowed slightly. He let out a cold laugh: "But now... this is betrayal."
And betrayers never come to a good end.
The warrior stood up from his chair. He picked up a pen and casually jotted down a few notes: "It's time to find an opportunity to visit the Imperial Capital... and let me see which families dare to oppose me."
Committing the names of the few families who dared to openly acquire his family's businesses to memory and writing them in his notebook, Joshua then looked at the final paragraph of Alfonso's letter.
[...Therefore, I beseech the Count to grant me the corresponding authority to manage your industries in the Imperial Capital. I have confidence in stabilizing the situation, and even in reclaiming the two shops that have already been transferred.
To earn your trust, I am willing to swear by the honor of the Carlos surname, and lead my entire family to pledge allegiance to you, to the Radcliffe family.
Your faithful servant, Alfonso Carlos.]
"This guy really knows how to seize an opportunity. You know, in a place like the Imperial Capital, the shop owners managing a store basically have to be trained from childhood, or are even close relatives by blood... An outsider, the head of a local merchant caravan, thinks he can secure a piece of property in a place as valuable as the Imperial Capital with just a few words?"
The image of that middle-aged man with a scar on his throat surfaced in his mind, and a smile appeared on Joshua's face: "Although he's seen that I indeed need someone who understands business to stabilize the situation right now, and deliberately used things like swearing allegiance as a guarantee, I like this straightforwardness."
The warrior didn't dislike this simple and direct approach. Wanting to climb up is human nature; a person must have desires in their heart to strive and struggle. Since Alfonso was optimistic about him and willing to board his ship, why not give him a chance? He was willing to collect strange items for him, so naturally, he would also work diligently for the warrior.
"Huff..."
Suddenly, from one side of the study, a soft breathing sound came.
The warrior turned his head and looked behind him. Sure enough, the silver-haired girl was lying on her side on the sofa by the wall, having fallen asleep again.
Walking slowly closer, Joshua looked down. Ying was lying sideways on the beast-hide sofa, her eyes tightly shut, her long eyelashes trembling with her breath. The Divine Mechanism girl's breathing was steady, and her expression was relaxed; she seemed to be sleeping very comfortably.
"...If you want to rest, you should go to your room."
Shaking his head with a sigh, Joshua didn't know what to do. He gave a wry smile: "There's no need for battle right now. Why do you keep following me around? You should just get a good sleep."
Not intending to disturb his weapon's rest, Joshua put away the letter in his hand, sat back down in the chair at his desk, and continued processing the remaining correspondence.
But Ying, who was deep in her dreams, slightly furrowed her brows.
She was dreaming.
—A bizarre and terrifying nightmare.
A dim, lightless sky, the sun vanished without a trace. The land, obscured by clouds and shrouded in darkness, stretched towards the end of the world. A faint red light, like a nearly extinguished ember, formed a small point, flickering at the edge of the horizon.
This was what Ying saw when she opened her eyes in her dream.
Beneath her was a dead, silent land. The black soil emitted a putrid stench, devoid of any sign of life.
High above, a twisted, bizarre canopy of clouds obscured the sky. It slowly changed its shape, making the patterns it formed increasingly strange, radiating some kind of evil power.
The silver-haired girl in the dream looked around blankly at her surroundings.
In this dream, Ying's perspective was in mid-air. She could clearly see the entire panorama—from the end of the sky to the far side of the earth, whether it was mountains, hills, forests, rivers, or the ruins of cities, all were shrouded in a dense gray mist. This thick, suffocating mist, mixed with black dust, gradually coated everything on the earth with a turbid, stone-like crystal shell, while viscous rain fell from the twisted clouds, spreading chaotic power across the entire world.
The power of Chaos enveloped the whole world, causing everything to tend towards absolute disorder.
Water no longer flowed, wind no longer blew, trees no longer grew, the sun and moon no longer rose or set...
—Naturally, fire no longer burned.
The fire of this world had already been extinguished...