Sword of Dawn

Page 249

After a polite remark, he looked Cohen Rollen up and down: "Mr. Deputy Head, this should be the second time we have met."

"Yes, the last time I served as Her Highness Veronica's guard was two years ago," Cohen Rollen nodded, and looked at the bustling scene around the pier square with admiration, "I must admit, here The change is so amazing that even if I saw it with my own eyes, I would not recognize it."

It seems that everyone who has been to the southern border will express the same emotion after visiting here again, and Gao Wen has long been used to it.After a few short greetings, he still brought these envoys to the autumn palace, which was specially designed to receive guests, as usual, and after that, there was a routine welcome banquet.

This banquet was not grand, and some of the envoys who were still seasick obviously did not have much appetite to enjoy the delicious food and wine at the banquet. As soon as the banquet was over, the members of the mission whose greatest role was to serve as the "campaign background board" were taken to rest by the waiters, and Cohen Rollen, who was on a mission, requested a private meeting with Gawain just after the banquet was over.

In the lounge next to the Qiu Palace banquet hall, Cohen was sitting on a dark red leather sofa, and Gawain was sitting opposite him.

Amber, who served as the "surface guard", stood obediently behind Gao Wen's chair, wandering into the sky with a serious face.

After a few courteous conversations, Cohen got down to business: "My lord, the materials specified by the elves have been prepared for more than half, and will arrive in the southern border in the near future, including the consumption of the engineering team itself and the first batch of magic materials. I don't know how your preparations are progressing here?"

Gawain smiled: "While you are busy discussing who to send, my people are already preparing to build a road across the Black Forest."

"...The matter has come to this point, we are willing to admit the short-sightedness and prejudice of the nobles of the royal capital. You are right to be vigilant about the wasteland," Cohen heard the sarcasm in Gao Wen's words, but he accepted the sarcasm frankly, " We know that the Kingdom has encountered some problems, which are serious and may even disappoint you, but please believe that most of the nobles are hoping that the situation will develop in a good direction."

Gao Wen looked at Cohen Rollen quietly for a moment, and suddenly asked: "Who do you mean by this sentence? Is it Silver Castle? Or the East Territory?"

Cohen Rollen met Gawain's gaze: "...I only represent everyone who wishes Ansu peace and prosperity."

"It's empty talk."

After a brief silence, Cohen Rollen said suddenly: "My lord, I have some private things to say, please keep others away."

Gao Wen's face was calm, but Hu Po who was standing behind couldn't help but said, "Hey, your request is a bit too much, but here..."

"It's okay," Gao Wen raised his hand and interrupted Amber's words, "Stand back, everyone—I'm curious what the vice-head of the Knights wants to say."

Amber pouted, waved to the nearby waiters and guards, and then left the lounge with everyone.

Then, after two seconds, he came back from strolling incognito, stood next to Gao Wen and winked and made faces at Gao Wen.

Gawain ignored the half-elf's actions, while Cohen Rollen, who was sitting across from him, could not see Amber in the invisible state at all. The deputy head reached into his arms after confirming that there was no one else around, and took out the amber. A letter sealed with a magic seal.

"Forgive my little concealment—I have nothing private to say, and I have come to deliver you a letter."

"Letter?" Gao Wen was really surprised this time. He picked up the letter curiously, guessing who wrote a secret letter to himself, and this secret letter was obviously kept secret from the entire envoy group. Before this moment, I am afraid that only Cohen Rollen himself knew of its existence, "The mark of the royal family..."

On the seal of the letter was the sword and shield emblem of the Ansu royal family.

Gawain cast a questioning look at Cohen Rollen, who bowed slightly: "The people on the throne of Silver Castle send their greetings to you."

Sitting on the throne of Silver Castle is Ansu's titular crown prince, Welsh Moen.

This is a bit interesting.

Gawain restrained his unexpected emotions, waved his hand to break the seal on the envelope, and took out three neatly folded letter papers from inside, while Amber, who was standing next to him, immediately turned his head aside with exaggerated movements, expressing that I will not peek.

"I salute you, the founder of the kingdom, let me talk to you as the heir of the Moren bloodline, this should be the first conversation between us - unfortunately, it is separated by a piece of letter paper and a half With a distance of two kingdoms, I can only choose as simple and straightforward language as possible, in order to let you understand my attitude and my true intentions as much as possible.

"I know the existence of the Mithril Oath Board.

"I know your inheritance qualifications."

The beginning of this letter already surprised Gao Wen.

He concealed the surprise in his heart with a calm face, and looked up at Cohen Rollen who was sitting opposite, but the other party had no expression on his face, and it was impossible to judge whether the deputy head knew the contents of the secret letter.

Gawain settled down, lowered his head and continued to read the rest of the letter.

After this, Welsh Moen did not continue to discuss the special "emergency succession qualifications" of the first grand dukes such as Gawain, but turned to talk about the noble situation within the kingdom, the intricate relationship between the royal capital and the nobles, and the various enfeoffments. The restraint, spying, balance and friction between territories.

In the three pages of letter paper, Wales used two pages to talk about these things, and in just two pages, he almost stated the characteristics of all the real nobles in the contemporary Ansu Kingdom, and even clarified the general characteristics of these powerful nobles. pedigree.

Even the best master of heraldry, the most profound aristocratic historian, and the most senior court advisor may find it difficult to fully understand these extremely complicated things, let alone sum up a system from them, and finally To condense it on two pages of letter paper—this requires not only extraordinary wisdom, but also long-term research and observation, as well as a special talent for grasping and combining key information from massive amounts of information.

Gawain took a deep breath, Wales Moen, it is impossible for him to be a mediocre and mediocre royal family as rumored.

He saw the end of the letter.

"...Duke Cecil, you should have realized that the kingdom you and your comrades founded 700 years ago has undergone long-term changes, just like a beautiful and luxurious city built on a barren field , those simple, simple, and upright pioneers of the past, their blood has evolved into such a large and complex group...

"It's just like this Silver Castle, huge and gorgeous, but under the dome, there are countless dark secret passages and dirty corners, and it's like a long-entangled thread ball, trying to separate even a straight thread from it. The lines are even more difficult.

"My brother--you know who I mean--he saw this early on, and he tried his own way to unravel, or rather destroy, this thread and sweep away the accumulation of 700 years of this kingdom For this reason, he did not hesitate to take risks.

"Unfortunately, he was part of the ball of thread, as was I.

"Luckily, you are outside the regiment.

"Wales Moen, descendant of Charlie Moon, salute you again."

Gao Wen looked at each letter on the letter paper word by word. At the end of the letter paper, he saw a line of words written in a special font:

"Burn after reading"

As his eyes scanned the letters, the three pages of letter paper immediately burst into flames.

Gawain quietly watched those letter papers burn to ashes, and the ashes were completely decomposed into basic elements by the arcane flames that lit up immediately. Len: "Your allegiance is to Welsh Moen."

"His Highness has left Silver Castle for 20 years, but there are still a small number of royal nobles who are loyal to him."

"Do you know what he said in the letter?"

"I don't know, it's not the knight's job to spy on the master's letter."

Gao Wen quietly looked at the deputy head of the Knights for a while, then looked away, and said unhurriedly: "You can return to life after you go back, just say I know."

Cohen Rollen stood up and bowed with the most standard knightly salute: "Yes."

Chapter 0577 Heading to the Wasteland

After sending off the deputy head of the Royal Knights, the spacious reception room became quiet.

Gawain sat in his seat and fell into a brief thought, while Amber's figure gradually emerged from the air. The half-elf glanced at Gawain with a curious expression on his face: "It turned out to be the letter from that Welsh Moen? What did you say?"

Gao Wen raised his eyelids: "Did you really not peek before?"

Amber put her hands on her hips and said confidently: "Of course, I can do such an immoral thing as peeking at other people's letters?"

This guy who sneaks around all day, cowards and dances is actually quite moral in an inexplicable place?

Gao Wen shook his head: "You better not know."

"Tch, if you don't say it, don't say it," Hu Po curled her lips, and her figure gradually disappeared in the air, "I'm going to watch those special envoys, you can continue to be in a daze."

As the breath of amber gradually dissipated from the room, Gawain just let out a soft sigh: "In the end, he was the one who saw through this quagmire..."

The special envoy of the royal capital did not stay in Cecil City for too long.

In the final analysis, the symbolic meaning of these messengers coming here is also greater than the actual meaning-the elf messenger has completed all the information delivery, and Gao Wen himself has been the No.1 advocate of guarding against the wasteland and consolidating the frontier from the beginning As for repairing and supplementing the magnificent wall, as long as the northern leaders have prepared supplies, there is no need for negotiation and negotiation here. Saint-Sunil sent a group of envoys here, more just to go through the process.

On the afternoon of the second day, after all letters and to-do items were handed over, the envoys led by Cohen Rollen reboarded the inland express passenger ship "Wavebreaker" and left Cecil City.

Come in a hurry, go in a hurry.

And the first batch of materials that Saint-Sunil and the Eastern Territory jointly promised and prepared together arrived at the Baishui River Wharf on the 30th of the Harvest Moon as scheduled.

Six large inland river cargo ships were loaded with cloth, metal, oil and all kinds of magic materials. The full warehouses made people feel that the nobles of Anzu had finally been generous—in order for the stingy nobles to take out these Victoria and Edmund probably used a lot of tricks to suppress the bottom of the box.

On the pier where the goods were unloaded in the dock area, Amber watched the packed magic materials being piled up on the ground one by one, and they piled up more and more until they piled up like a mountain. She became excited all over: "Oh my god... How much is it worth..."

"It's all going to be used for the barrier repair project," Gao Wen glanced at Amber with shining eyes, "not a single brick is allowed."

Amber looked Gao Wen up and down as if she couldn't believe it, her voice was full of surprise: "You really want to use it all for the project? Don't you plan to deduct some? There are so many! And no one dares to supervise you, so deduct it No one knows at all, right—didn’t you always say that the territory needs to be developed, and the resources are not enough?”

"I don't want to take advantage of everything," Gao Wen stroked Amber's hair, "cutting corners on the magnificent wall is digging my own grave."

After Gao Wen said this, he walked away, and Amber, who stayed where he was, heard Rebecca talking to herself: "What the ancestors said makes sense..."

Amber glanced at Rebecca: "You think everything your ancestors say makes sense."

Rebecca looked serious: "No, the ancestors seemed very reasonable when they talked about things related to grave digging."

Amber looked at Rebecca with admiration: "... No wonder you get beaten every so often."

On the other side, Gawain found Heidi and the others who were waiting for him at the edge of the pier.

"After this batch of supplies arrives, I'm going to set off for the wasteland," Gawain said to Hetty, "You and the government affairs office will be responsible for the principality's internal affairs, military affairs will be handed over to Byron and Philip, and the rest of the ministries will also be responsible. There are respective responsible persons and emergency plans, and it is good to follow the development plan formulated before.”

"You really want to go in person?" Hetty bit her lips, and finally couldn't help but said, "It's actually not necessary..."

"No one knows the wasteland better than me, and I also want to confirm the situation of the Great Wall and the wasteland with my own eyes," Gawain interrupted Hetty. He looked at the other side with a smile on his face, " What, no confidence? Worried that you won’t be able to manage all of this?”

If someone else asked the same question, the best answer would undoubtedly be no. Hetty would show her usual maturity and composure to respond to all doubts about her abilities.

But the person in front of him is his ancestor, the pillar of the Cecil family, the person who supported and led this land from eight hundred refugees and a tent to today. See through at a glance.

"...I do have some worries." Hetty nodded slightly.

"You can do well," Gawain patted Heidi on the shoulder, "When the Cecil family was in its worst decline, you alone supported the family to persevere, and now, the operation of the entire government affairs hall is also You are well organized and you are more capable than you think."

Hetty really wanted to say that the territory she helped Rebecca manage back then was just a viscount territory, but now the Cecil territory is the entire southern duchy. With a smiling face, her heart quickly settled down.

"I see," she lowered her head, "I won't let you down."

"Just don't let the people down, it's not easy for them to live a good life," Gawain nodded, "Don't worry, I will set up magic net relay devices along the way, even on the edge of the wasteland, I will maintain the relationship with the territory." In addition, most of the road construction projects of the Pathfinder have been completed, we will have a convenient road through the Black Forest, with modern vehicles and roads, and you will soon find that seemingly remote wasteland In fact, it's not too far from you."

This day is the 30th of the Harvest Moon, fifteen days before the Harvest Festival.

After two days of preparations and staff transfers, the first batch of materials sent to the south was loaded on advanced magic transport vehicles, and a large-scale convoy—the technical crystallization of Cecil Magic Industry—went through the Pass the stronghold in the Dark Mountains, and set off from the South Gate Fortress, heading towards the wasteland of Gondor.

Gawain personally led the team. In addition to the accompanying magic combat soldiers, Soldering also led an elite steel ranger as a guard to set off together. The team will soon catch up with Tuo who has gone deep into the Black Forest. Pathfinders, and join the Pathfinder engineering team and the White Knight Guards. The materials carried by the convoy will be used to build the last advance base on the border of the Black Forest, and then move forward...

It is the border of the wasteland, the corrupt plain.

……

"Open the gate!! The convoy passes!!"

Accompanied by the shout of the gate controller, the magical machinery let out a low roar, and the heavy gears and hinges dragged the equally heavy steel gate to slowly open. Among the rocks at the southern foot of the Dark Mountains, there was an area covered with armor and forts. The "rock wall" opened its portal armed to the teeth, and one after another large transport vehicles drove out. On both sides and front and back of the transport vehicles, several vehicles covered with light armor plates and around them could be seen. The "multifunctional chariot" with a thermal energy ray gun firing port and a magic energy crystal fixed on the top is moving forward as an escort.

At the rear of the convoy, you can see several magic cannons pulled by the chassis of a tractor.

Accompanied by the sound of whistles and the roar of engines, the convoy drove along the hardened road to the direction of the Black Forest.

On the edge of the Black Forest, an extraordinarily tall giant tree is standing quietly among the twisted and festering vegetation - this kind of tree with the name of "giant" can be nearly [-] meters high, and in the Black Forest, the corrupt and crazy The magic energy further promoted the mutation of these towering giant trees—its hideous canopy stretched in all directions, and there was not a single leaf on the thin and crooked branches. Against the background of the cloudy sky, the canopy looked like a bunch of shriveled limbs , pointing frantically at the sky.

The convoy drove into the Black Forest.

The branches and leaves of the giant tree trembled, making a rattling sound, and on its topmost branch, a mass of black mist suddenly condensed, and a huge, corrupted crow with festering flesh on its feathers and half of its skull exposed emerged from the tree. emerged from the mist.

The crow's dark eyes were fixed on the direction of the convoy, and a hoarse human voice suddenly came out from its rotting vocal cords: "Gauvin Cecil has left his territory...he went to the Great Wall himself. "

Then the crow turned its head, as if something in nothingness was talking to it, it listened attentively, and continued to make a voice in its throat: "The north is more important, the north is more important... I know, I know. I will continue to stare, But I'll just stare at it from afar..."

The crow said, and listened again. It seemed to hear something that annoyed him, and suddenly flapped his wings angrily: "You ask me why I stare at it from afar?! Do you know those crazy Sisi? How dangerous are the Er people! Do you know how scary those lunatics are!!

"Do you know how they build roads? Do you know how they 'explore' the forest? Do you know how they wade through those traps and monster lairs!?

"Those lunatics, those Cecilians with nothing but destructive impulses in their minds, they are definitely the projection of the devil in this material world, the product of the devil and the active volcano - listen, Dorne was blown to death, 'rot poison Boll' was also killed, as well as the eighteen plague beasts and six corrupt beasts they domesticated, and Padol, damn it, Padol just wanted to take a closer look, who would know that Cecil People bombed the whole bush - I'll just watch from a distance, I want to stay as far away from those crazy people as possible! Even those sons of the storm whose brains are disturbed by the sound of the deep sea tide are better than those Cecilians Much calmer!!

"If you have any objections, then send someone to replace me—I'd rather go to the Abyss of Flesh to serve hard labor... Oh, damn it!!"

The crow's continuous cursing suddenly stopped, and "it" looked in horror at the outer wall of the steel-covered fortress in the distance, and saw that several forts on its upper floor suddenly turned in their direction in unison.

"Those lunatics may have found me!!"

The crow flapped its wings and flew away, and almost at the same time, the continuous roar broke the dead silence of the Black Forest, tearing through the chaotic sky and the mist in the forest.

A large cloud of explosion smoke enveloped the corrupted woodland in the distance. In the artillery control room of the South Gate Fortress, the great architect Gordon carefully watched the scene presented on the holographic projection, watched the smoke rise, and watched the large expanse of trees disappear.

The power of the fixed fortress cannon is astonishing.

The mechanical sergeant in charge of controlling the turret reported: "The main turrets on the upper defense wall have all been successfully activated, and the No. [-] turret on the upper level needs to be calibrated. The observation device is working well."

"Okay, record the data, and test the auxiliary guns at all levels in one hour. George, you take two assistants to see the specific situation of the No. II turret."

Arranging the work in an orderly manner, Gordon breathed a sigh of relief.

When he first started building the South Gate Fortress, he was still very nervous and worried. This corrupted area with a bad reputation was terrifying, and the cracked hole that was open at that time, with almost no protection and shelter, was even more difficult to sleep and eat. Ann, but his initial nervousness and apprehension had completely evaporated as the work progressed and the southern wall and turrets were put in place.

Indeed, as the lord said, although the Black Forest is dangerous, it is no more than that in the face of the power of Cecil's magic industry.

"Nothing happened again today," a mechanical sergeant sighed in front of another console next to him, and the content of his emotion was exactly what Gordon thought, "Another peaceful day."

"Don't relax your vigilance," another mechanical soldier reminded, "There are still monsters in the Black Forest, maybe there will be completely crazy monsters to attack the fortress."

"Don't worry, I won't let up."

The vigilance of the soldiers is really strong.

Gordon couldn't help sighing in his heart, but at the same time he murmured——

The monsters in the black forest... seem to be getting less and less...