"Are you alright?"
Bernal showed his usual warm smile as he greeted Gray.
"I'm, I'm fine."
Gray shook his head. When the dagger had been knocked away by the burly man, his right hand had been sprained a little, but it wasn't serious.
On the contrary, the thick smell of blood on his body made him very uncomfortable. However, after taking the blood of a blood fiend twice, he had a certain level of resistance to the smell of blood.
However, he still didn't understand what was going on. What kind of power was behind the scenes that wanted to kill him?
To be able to send out two high-ranked blood warriors, their power was definitely not small. At the very least, an average baron's family wouldn't be able to afford two high-ranked blood warriors.
On the other side, Viscount Fergus had already walked to the burly man's side.
"Leiden Heck, it really is you."
The burly man's figure was too obvious. The moment he saw the burly man, Ferguson had already guessed his identity.
"Fergus … Viscount, what a scheme. And that person … He's not an ordinary person either. To actually be able to resist … the temptation of a noble title."
The burly man was bleeding profusely, and there was a large puddle of blood under him. The soil had already been dyed red. He looked weakly at Viscount Fergus as he spoke.
Evidently, he had already figured out why Viscount Fergus would appear here.
"Then you can only blame yourselves for finding the wrong person. The Fergus family would never betray their own people."
Viscount Fergus said with a cold expression.
"Indeed … I didn't expect …"
The burly man laughed self-mockingly.
"Did the Oliver family instruct you to do this?"
Viscount Fergus didn't want to discuss this matter any further and directly asked in a cold voice.
"No … it's …"
The burly man shook his head with difficulty.
"Do you think you can fool me?
What, you want to take the blame for the Oliver family before you die? "
Viscount Fergus snorted coldly, clearly not believing the burly man's words.
"Cough, cough. Since you know … I'm about to die, then don't … waste your energy."
The burly man coughed a few times and spat out a few mouthfuls of blood. He grew weaker and weaker until he finally stopped breathing.
Wind Blade was a powerful skill that could only be used after one's strength had reached the level of a Ferocious Warrior after practicing Wind Wolf.
This was the killing move that Viscount Fergus relied on. Even a Ferocious Blood Warrior could be seriously injured or even killed by this attack, let alone an upper-level Blood Warrior.
"Dead …?!"
Looking at the dead burly man, Gray's face turned pale. Something was churning in his stomach, but he forced it down.
This was the first time he had seen someone die in front of him. However, it was the soul of an adult after all. He forced himself to endure, and in the end, he managed to endure it.
He shifted his gaze to the side. In order to divert his attention, he thought about the conversation between Viscount Fergus and the burly man.
He was quite concerned about the content of their conversation. Firstly, from the burly man's words, the other party seemed to have found a mole in the Fergus family to assist them in completing this assassination.
Listening to the two of them, this mole did not become their mole as the burly man had thought. Instead, he reported this matter to Viscount Fergus, and Viscount Fergus took the opportunity to set a trap and lure the burly man and the others out.
Gray already had some guesses about the person who had been chosen as the mole. Although he did not understand why it involved a noble title, he had come to hunt because of Bernal's invitation. Therefore, Bernal was definitely the mole.
Now that he thought about it, Viscount Fergus had forced him to participate in this hunt. His actions could be said to be rather strange. It turned out that he had such a plan in mind.
"I can clearly feel that Bernal has a deep enmity towards me. I just didn't think that he would actually make such a decision at such a crucial moment …"
Gray's impression of Boral had changed quite a bit. He had originally been on guard against him as the mastermind behind the scenes, but he had suddenly discovered that Boral was not the mastermind behind the scenes. Furthermore, he had actually thwarted an assassination attempt on him. Gray's feelings were inexplicably complicated.
"Listening to the burly man's words, Bernal and I seem to be involved in a noble title. Could it be that Viscount Fergus intends for me to inherit the title?"
Gray was surprised by his own conjecture. He had read many books in the library during this period of time, and knew that illegitimate children did not have the right to inherit. If he wanted to pass the title to an illegitimate child, there would definitely be a lot of resistance. He did not think that Viscount Fergus would actually intend to do so.
"Putting aside whether or not Viscount Fergus intends to pass the title to me, why would the Oliver Family target me?"
He could not come to a conclusion about the title for the time being, so Gray did not think too much about it for now. In fact, he had never considered inheriting the title. He was thinking about the 'mastermind behind the scenes' he had heard from the two of them.
"Is it because the Oliver Family has an old enmity with the Fergus family, or is it because of some other reason?"
"Moreover, why would the assassination attempt be on me, an illegitimate child, and not Bernal, the first successor to the title?"
Gray thought hard.
"My greatest advantage over Bernal is probably my talent for cultivation. In other words, the Oliver Family is targeting me because of my talent for cultivation."
"It's very likely that the Oliver Family does not want me to mature, and is preparing to kill me before I can mature?
But is the reason really so simple? "
Although he had already guessed the reason why the Oliver Family wanted to assassinate him, Gray felt that it was not that simple. He kept feeling that there was a deeper reason, but with the amount of information he had, it was not enough to make a judgment.
He looked at Bernal and asked.
"Brother Bernal, what kind of family is the Oliver Family?"
"The Oliver Family is a viscount family in the east of our territory. Like us, they were also enfeoffed by the Sidney Marquis family."
Bernal looked at Gray with a complicated expression and explained.
"This man is a lord enfeoffed by the Oliver Family. That's why Father is certain that the Oliver Family is behind the assassination attempt."
"Is the relationship between our family and the Oliver Family very bad?"
Gray asked with a frown.
"It's not good or bad. The various families often work together, but they are also often enemies. This is very common among noble families."
Bernal nodded and then shook his head.
"I see …"
Gray did not fully understand, but he could roughly understand the meaning.
The relationship between nobles was sometimes close, but sometimes it was as if they were mortal enemies. Everything was driven by benefits, so it was very difficult to come to a conclusion about the relationship between two noble families.
However, with the information he had, it was still not enough for him to determine the deeper reason why the Oliver Family wanted to assassinate him.
* Rustle rustle rustle! *
Following the sound of bushes being pulled apart, a man with a small mustache walked over. When he saw Viscount Fergus, he bowed respectfully and greeted him.
"Lord Viscount."
This man was Lord Lynd, who had been stopped by a high-ranked Blood Warrior. He was not surprised by Viscount Fergus's appearance. Evidently, he had already heard of the plan.
"Mm."
Viscount Fergus nodded slightly and asked.
"He escaped?"
"Yes. After hearing the sounds of fighting here, he turned and fled. I was unable to stop him."
Lord Lynd replied, and then his gaze turned to the corpse of the burly man beside him.
"It really is Leiden Heck …"
He quickly recognized the burly man's identity and turned to the viscount, asking, "What's the matter?
"Lord Viscount, how should we deal with this matter?"
"Tell all the families in the fief to gather at the castle tomorrow and follow me to the Oliver Family. They actually dared to assassinate a member of the Fergus family. We must make the Oliver Family give us an explanation for this!"
A dangerous aura emanated from Viscount Fogus as he snorted coldly like an enraged lion.
"Young Master Gray, Miss Caroline, that's great! You're both fine!"
Not long after, Sia, who was in the same group as Gray, came over with a large group of guards along with the other nobles.
After parting ways with Gray and Caroline and discovering that they weren't being pursued, Sia immediately ran to the rendezvous point outside the Shattered Stone Forest to call for reinforcements to save Gray and Caroline.
Hearing her words and knowing that Gray and Caroline were being pursued, all the nobles present were extremely worried. After all, if anything happened to Gray and Caroline, they would definitely be implicated. Thus, they brought their own guards to rescue them without any hesitation.
Ian Ricardo, in particular, was extremely worried. He was the one who had initiated this hunt. If anything happened, he would definitely bear the responsibility.
"Greetings, Lord Viscount …"
Someone with sharp eyes saw Viscount Fergus and hurriedly bowed.
The others also hurriedly bowed when they saw him.
Knowing that Gray and Caroline were being pursued, all their attention was on the two of them. Instead, they didn't immediately notice Viscount Fergus.
"Thank you for coming to rescue Gray and Caroline. But don't worry, the assassins have been killed."
Fergus restrained the anger on his face and maintained his usual dignity as he spoke.
"It's what we should do …"
The nobles all said respectfully.