Sword of Dawn

Page 176

Kamel looked at the bewildered faces of Gawain and Amber, and suddenly felt a little at a loss: "No, you can forget about it, Amber. Lord, didn't you tease children when you were young?"

Gao Wen: "..."

How does this make him answer—he certainly has a memory of teasing children, but who can make such a big turn in this situation!

"I want to know how I'm going to take care of her," Wright said, worrying about something else. "I've never had that experience."

When Pittman heard this, he immediately leaned forward with a smile on his face: "Then you've found the right person when you find me. I used to take care of children with someone..."

Before the little old man could finish speaking, Gawain interrupted loudly: "Wright, think about it clearly - what Pittman brought out back then was amber..."

Amber was still following Pittman with a smiley face a second ago, but now she stared: "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with me?!"

"Don't make any trouble, Emily is just a child." Gawain glanced at Pittman and Amber imposingly, staring back at the shame of the old and young's territory, and then looked at Kamel, " Let me tell you—Emily is no longer a normal human child, what does she need for her growth and development?"

Kamel nodded, and said to Wright: "It's good to let this child live by your side temporarily. According to my observation, she can already sustain herself, but she still needs a small amount of holy light from you as a supplement. Besides energy, She doesn't need to drink or eat. In addition, she needs to have proper contact with other people, which will help her rebuild her mind as soon as possible and reduce her anxiety. Finally, you have to observe her state at any time, when her When the energy body is unstable and suddenly extremely agitated, you should use your own power of holy light to comfort her, or check whether there is too strong energy source interfering around. If you encounter a situation that cannot be resolved, come to me. "

Wright carefully wrote down these precautions, and only after remembering them all, he raised his head, exhaled softly, and turned his face to look at Emily who was still lying on his shoulder: "You Don't worry, I will protect you this time."

Gawain also smiled. He walked forward slowly and extended a hand to the little girl: "Son, welcome to Cecil."

……

After leaving the church, Gawain did not return to the Lord's Mansion, but brought Amber to the White Water River.

It's getting to midsummer, but Ansu, as a northern country, has always had a cool climate, especially beside the Baishui River. Even at noon in summer, there is often a cool breeze. Gawain stood on the bank of the river on a high On the concrete platform, while blowing the cool breeze, while looking at the direction of the mechanical bridge.

The huge mechanical bridge connects the two banks of the Baishui River. On the opposite side of the mechanical bridge, the farmland in the north bank development area is covered with waves of wheat. It can be vaguely seen that there are pipelines extending from the river to the bank farther away. Wen knew that was where the pumps for the North Shore Frontier were located.

With the manufacture of various magical machines, advanced mechanical pumps have long replaced the earliest waterwheel devices in the territory, but to this day, there is still a waterwheel running in the western part of the south bank, that is for Remembrance of the earliest difficult days of the Frontiers.

"Aren't you going home to look at the wheat?" Although Amber obediently fulfilled her duties as a guard and followed Gawain to the river, her mouth could not rest at all, and she stood by the side for a while. , she couldn't help muttering.

"It helps me think." Gao Wen said casually.

Emily appeared in his mind.

Whether Emily is now "resurrected from the dead", Gao Wen couldn't figure it out for a while, whether it was the guidance of the Holy Light or a pure coincidence, he was not interested either, he was just seeing Emily's soul After changing the body shape, I couldn't help but feel a little confused, so I just wanted to find a place to think quietly.

Soul, entity, spirit body (or energy body)... Where is the boundary between these?

If counting from the age of satellites, Gawain may have been in this world for a million years. If counting from the time when the coffin was uncovered, he has also been active in this world for more than a year. Despite the constraints of thinking in the previous life, the weirdness of this world—or the "unreasonable" things still bother him from time to time.

Kamel, who was once a human being, became a mana creature after receiving the energy infusion from the giant deer Amon. 90.00% of his body is composed of so-called "arcane energy". After being influenced by the holy light, the soul survived independently and became a spirit creature. The whole body was formed by the holy light, and what made up their bodies was "energy".

Can energy have form and quality?Can energy be seen and touched?Can the boundary between energy and matter be so blurred?

The concept of the previous life told Gao Wen that energy is invisible and intangible. It exists, but human beings can only confirm its existence through various phenomena produced by energy. It can be transformed into matter, but that is an extremely difficult task. But in this world, everything is completely different.

In the realm of magic, the boundaries of the material world are so blurred... How did those unimaginable changes come about?

Gawain's eyes fell on the wheat waves in the distance - those wheat waves, those flowing water, those soils, those things that really exist, can suddenly change their forms, and they don't have to follow E=mc2?

The foundation of this world... How is it formed?

While thinking, Gao Wen suddenly thought of the magic tide, the substances that transformed in the magic tide, and the magical environment that changed after the magic tide passed.

Is the magic tide... the moment when the boundary between energy and matter is the most blurred?

He doesn't know how to explain the confusion and thinking in his mind to the native creatures of this world. Even a top scholar like Kamel may not be able to understand what is going on with the other world view in his mind, but He did indeed find a little bit of clues in the difficult friction between the two worldviews—then a little bit of clues that might be related to the essence of this world. He instinctively felt that the changes that happened to Kamel and Emily could not Simply cover it up with the words "all this is due to magic". Behind these changes...maybe the most essential secret of this world is hidden.

Amber was standing by the side, looking at Gawain's pensive look, she keenly felt that Gawain was getting agitated on a problem that was almost a dead end, she didn't know what the problem was, but she still said: "Amy Li is alive, all in all this is a good thing, right?"

Gao Wen woke up from those difficult problems that are impossible to get the answer at present. He froze for a moment, then laughed and looked at Amber: "It's really rare that you can speak clearly. Yes, it's always a good thing no matter what. .”

Chapter 0426

The huge sun disc gradually sank near the distant mountains, and the jagged front line of the mountains stretched in the distance, like an irregular spine rising above the ground, and the brilliance of the setting sun cast a hazy line on this spine. It is a hazy bright edge, and as the huge sun sinks slowly, the color of this bright edge is becoming deeper and more dreamy.

It's a wonderful view - only from the tallest tower of the Rock Fortress can such a magnificent view be seen in its entirety.

However, Jazz Maryland at the moment was not in the mood to appreciate the beautiful scenery in front of him.

On the tower of the fortress, Sir Maryland was looking away from the mountains on the west side, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a huge beast with strong wings, a mighty white plume, and a blue-black belt. Fly from afar.

I hope there is good news - the general guarding the fortress couldn't help but muttered in his heart.

After a while, when the sun sank by another third, a soldier finally hurried up the tower and handed a sealed document to Sir Maryland: "General! From the capital reply!"

Sir Maryland immediately took the document, quickly tore it apart, and looked at the exquisite and gorgeous words line by line, while his brows frowned little by little during the process.

The soldier who delivered the document had followed Sir Maryland for many years and knew every expression of Sir Maryland. At this moment, he couldn't help but ask, "General...what does it say?"

"The masters of the royal capital are finally willing to send a cavalry battalion over..." Sir Maryland said irritably, "There is only one cavalry battalion."

"A knight brigade?" The soldiers were surprised, "A hundred knights and their retinues? That's all?"

"It's eighty knights and their retinues." Sir Maryland threw the documents aside, gnashing his teeth, "Do you think that the cavaliers sent by Saint-Sunil City will be full?"

"What's the use of that?!" The soldiers exclaimed in disbelief, "There are more than this number of knights who died in the first round of sky fire explosion on the gravel ridge..."

"Of course I know, but it's useless for us to say anything," Sir Maryland interrupted the soldiers. He looked at this trusted confidant, shook his head and sighed, "In fact, there were no reinforcements at all. This cavalry team is all supported by the Prince of Wales in a private name, just to maintain face."

The soldier asked subconsciously: "Why..."

However, Sir Maryland did not respond to him. This high-ranking knight who had served the royal family directly for many years and had a decent reputation, but now frowning all day long, just waved his hand vigorously, then turned around and left the tall palace. tower.

Walking down the spiral downward stairs of the tower, and walking through the narrow "Sword Gallery", Jazz came to the south wall of the fortress. He walked forward along the wall, and in the middle of the wall, he saw a familiar figure.

Viscount Carroll was standing on the edge of the city wall, looking into the distance ecstatically.

This once high-spirited young aristocrat, known throughout the southern border as chic and suave, has long since lost his heroic appearance. Although he has put on a clean and tidy satin coat again, and his face has returned to health, there is an indescribable feeling. The deep pressure haunted him, making him stand there like a weather-beaten statue.

Viscount Carroll seemed to have aged 20 years overnight. He stood there wearing a thin coat in the midsummer season, looking at the south motionlessly, until Sir Maryland stood behind him, he did not respond at all .

Sir Maryland had to break the silence: "My friend, you are looking south again."

Viscount Carroll trembled, seeing that it was Sir Maryland, he shook his head with a wry smile, raised his hand and pointed to the rolling hills to the south: "Go from there, there is a road in the woods, and you can reach me in three days on horseback." The lovely Midsummer Manor... three more days to go, and it will be my castle..."

Sir Maryland looked into Viscount Carroll's eyes seriously: "My friend, this is a dangerous idea. The south is quite dangerous now!"

"I know, I know, the Cecil family is taking over the land in the entire southern border, manor after manor, and driving out the knights and retainers we left behind from the castle... I'm afraid there are already many knights and vassals. The retainers are all loyal to their new master," Viscount Carroll sighed, and slowly retracted his gaze from a distance, "The south is both my hometown and a nightmare for me. I have been dreaming these days, dreaming of returning to the castle, and then Burned in the castle..."

Sir Maryland shook his head: "Perhaps you should learn to reduce the pressure on yourself like Viscount Consco and Viscount Mary Orland."

"Use alcohol and potions to decompress yourself? Or go to the city to find a few high-class prostitutes? I don't want to die in a wine tank or on a woman's belly," Viscount Carroll shook his head in pain, and then seemed to suddenly remember What, a gleam of light appeared in his eyes, and he grabbed Sir Maryland's hand, "That's right! Sir, I just saw a griffin messenger flying into the nest tower. Is there news from the capital?"

Sir Maryland looked at the southern nobleman in front of him who had some friendship with him, and didn't know whether he should tell him the truth, but finally he said: "The king has no extra reinforcements...Only the Prince of Wales Morne sent in his own name A cavalry of knights."

Viscount Carroll's eyes widened, and he was stunned for half a minute before he exclaimed a little out of composure: "That's all?! Are all the nobles in the capital dead?!"

"That's all," said Sir Maryland quietly, looking into the viscount's eyes and calming him with his eyes, "my friend, watch your demeanor—you are like a gambler who is about to lose everything. "

"I've lost everything!" Viscount Carroll scratched his hair, "The entire southern border has completely fallen into the hands of the Cecil family. Don't those people in the capital really know what this means? Have they forgotten? The original purpose of this rock fortress? Are they really not worried about the Cecil family rushing to the Holy Spirit Plain to settle old scores with them?!"

"The mission of the Rock Fortress is to guard the Holy Spirit Plain and defend the Cecil family. Mr. Viscount, I swear in the name of the family that even without reinforcements, my Knights and I will complete this mission," Sir Maryland said solemnly, " Calm down, don't forget the strength of the Rock Fortress itself and the strength of thousands of elite knights and warriors. We also have sufficient material reserves and water from the Dorgon River. From the very beginning, this fortress was designed to withstand huge attacks designed for pressure standards."

The expression on Viscount Carroll's face seemed to ease a little, but he was still quite worried: "...you have never faced the explosion of sky fire, you don't know how terrible those things are, once they advance to the plain under the city wall, All the people in the city can be killed out of the range of the trebuchet... I have calculated the possible range of those weapons and observed the flight trajectories of those magic devices. The trebuchets and city walls of the Rock Fortress cannot defend of."

"The Rock Fortress has special defense methods," Sir Maryland comforted Carroll, "don't worry, even if those 'sky fire explosions' fall from the sky as you said, we have a way to deal with it."

"I hope so..." Viscount Carroll sighed. This period of time was probably the most sighed time in his life. After he calmed down a little and the initial excitement subsided, he noticed that Sir Maryland didn't say anything just now. A clear detail, "Sir, is it true that the capital can't even send a real reinforcement? Even if the army in the capital cannot be mobilized because of the turbulent situation, what about the noble soldiers in the Holy Spirit Plain and the troops from the Western Region?"

Viscount Carroll can understand the royal family's move to pay more attention to the east in the face of the double crisis of the rebels in the east and the chaos in the south, because no matter in terms of political sense or actual threat, Prince Edmund and Silas Rowe The Duke of Lun, the eastern rebels who have already rebelled all over the country are much more serious than the southern crisis. No matter how the situation in the south deteriorates, the news to the royal family is probably nothing more than the nobles in the south who are separating their territories. Noble War", if not for the rise of the Cecil family in this war, I am afraid that the royal family, which is currently in deep crisis, would not even pay attention to this "small problem", but even so, with the more than 40 people in the South The news that a nobleman was wiped out by the Cecil family spread to the royal capital, so the royal family should express something, right?

A rising Cecil who can wipe out all the coalition forces of nobles in the entire southern border in a short period of time, once they break through the blockade of the Rock Fortress, enter the Holy Spirit Plain, and set foot on the King's Road, who would dare to bear the consequences?

Facing Viscount Carroll's question, Sir Maryland could only let out a long sigh: "Sorlingburg, an important town in the eastern part of the Holy Spirit Plain, has fallen—Prince Edmund's army has entered the hinterland of the kingdom."

Viscount Carroll's eyes widened.

Sir Maryland didn't continue to speak, but turned around, looking at the rolling mountains on the west side of the city wall with some ecstasy.

The sun has gone down.

……

Whenever the sun goes down, the magic spar street lamps and other large and small urban lighting facilities in Cecil City will automatically start under the control of photosensitive runes. The avenue goes all the way to Shuanglin Village, illuminating the whole city like stars shining on the earth, and whenever these bright street lights are on, Gao Wen will always come to the window on the second floor of the Lord's Mansion habitually, looking at the Outside.

Those neat and bright magic spar lamps always reminded him of the city street lamps in his previous life, and reminded him of the tent that was lit between the camp and the fence when he first came to this pioneering land. Torches and braziers.

The place illuminated by the light is the place where civilization reaches. Even if the world is changed, even if the carrier of light changes from electric lamps to crystals, at least this point is still common.

But even when the lights are bright, there's always something moving in the shadows.

Like Amber stalking out of the shadows in the corner.

"Where?"

Gao Wen had sensed the presence of amber in the room long ago, and before the shame of the elf touched the silver seal on the desk, he suddenly broke the silence.

Amber jumped out of the shadow stealth state in a little embarrassment, and gave Gao Wen a dissatisfied look - today's stealth plan failed again, which would obviously spoil her good mood.

Although she never succeeded.

"I don't understand, how can you enjoy such a boring thing so much," Gawain looked helplessly at the half-elf, "What's the matter?"

"Secret report, Rock Fortress."

Chapter 0427 The War Machine Working Again

The long-awaited news finally came for Gao Wen.

After receiving the information that Amber handed over, he glanced at it quickly, and couldn't help showing a smile on his face: "All the surviving nobles who escaped have arrived at the Rock Fortress, just as we expected—they can only stay in the Rock Fortress." Temporarily taking refuge, the Plain of the Holy Spirit did not accept them. And the fortress is currently isolated and helpless, without support from the royal family and the Plain of the Holy Spirit."

Amber felt incredible: "The people in the capital really gave up the Rock Fortress so easily? That's the Rock Fortress!"

"They didn't give up, but had to put it on hold for a while," Gao Wen explained happily, turning the information into ashes, "The Eastern Legion led by Duke Silas Loren is the most powerful army in Ansu. They have broken through the east gate of the Holy Spirit Plain in a short period of time, and have taken root in the important town in the east of the plain. As long as they lay down a few more key fortresses, they will be able to attack San Sunil along the King's Road. The rebels in the east The purpose is very clear, they are here to overthrow the Second Dynasty, and this is the biggest threat to the people in the capital."

Then Gao Wen paused, and after a short thought, he continued: "But they definitely don't want to hand over the Rock Fortress. I can probably guess what the people in the capital are thinking—they will use the Rock Fortress. Strong walls and soldiers to resist and delay. The Rock Fortress lies in the mountain gap between the southern border and the Holy Spirit Plain. The unique terrain makes it almost impossible to besieged. Cecil's army can only attack in the south, and the Rock Fortress can The Holy Spirit Plain in the north has received a steady stream of supplies. At the beginning of the design, this fortress was built to withstand long-term high-intensity attacks, so in the eyes of the king, this will be a long-term war. As long as the Rock Fortress If you can persist for long enough, the royal family will be able to breathe a sigh of relief from the crisis in the east, and then the army in the west and even the mountain army in the north can go south to support..."

Amber blinked: "So we have to knock down the fortress before the capital reacts..."

"Go and call Byron, Philip, Soldering, and Hetty, yes, and Rebecca too." Gawain nodded, "The intermission for the remnants of the nobles is over. gone."

A moment later, Cecil's military commander, chief of interior affairs, and chief of technology came to Gawain's study.

Before Gao Wen opened his mouth, they guessed the reason for being summoned here, and after Rebecca entered the room, she was still looking around curiously: it is rare for her to be called by her ancestors to attend military meetings, this girl thought She didn't understand what was the use of participating if she didn't know anything about it, but this didn't prevent her from becoming particularly happy.

Byron looked at Gawain expectantly, "Lord, are we finally going to attack Rock Fortress?"

"Why are you looking so happy?" Philip next to him couldn't help muttering, "I didn't realize you liked fighting so much before."

"Don't mention it, I promised Pea that I would bring her a gift after I knocked down the Rock Fortress. It's been almost half a month since the cowhide was blown out."

"Ahem," Gao Wen coughed twice and interrupted the communication between the two language art workers, then nodded slightly, "As Byron said, the intermission of this war is over. Philip, preparations for the north how was it?"

The young knight took a half step forward: "Lord, we have been transporting various light and heavy artillery components and industrial parts to the Carroll area for the past half month, and using the existing magic net in the Carroll area to build an arsenal and manufacture weapons and ammunition , currently there are 120 'Justice' railguns and [-] seven 'Persuador' light railguns on standby in the northern region, with sufficient ammunition. There are also [-] soldiers from the [-]st Combat Corps and [-] soldiers from the [-]nd Combat Corps Soldiers stand by in the north."

"That's enough." Gawain nodded slightly. In order to receive the land of nobles in the southern border and maintain the basic order in several control areas, he had to leave a certain army in the southern border to maintain the situation, and he didn't want to use the traditional Using the crowd siege tactics to attack the Rock Fortress, the currently assembled troops in the northern region are sufficient in his opinion.

Then he looked at Solderling: "Can the Iron Rangers participate in actual combat now?"

"Blood is always for recruits," replied the High Ranger. "They have waited a long time for this day."

"Very well, there are missions suitable for you," Gawain nodded, "Your mission is to cooperate with our internal response in Rock Fortress..."

After explaining the mission of the Iron Rangers, he turned to Hetty again: "About the food reserves and the recent propaganda work..."

Gawain confirmed the situation in the territory one by one and assigned tasks to everyone, but he never mentioned Byron. After a while, the middle-aged knight who was born as a mercenary finally couldn't help it: "Lord, What about me? What is my mission?"

Gawain looked at Byron and pondered for a while: "You do have a mission, and it's very important, but I have to confirm another thing first... Rebecca, the progress of the rainbow light device at Kamel's side how's it going?"

"Rainbow Device" is not the final name, but the name of the ongoing project. Although this project belongs to Kamel, Rebecca is the highest person in charge of the entire Institute of Magic Technology. Knows well.

Hearing Gao Wen's question, Rebecca, who was a little distracted, suddenly came back to her senses, and then showed a bit distressed look: "It's still a heat dissipation problem... With such a large energy-gathering structure, the accumulated heat is too late. Exported out, we are trying to use the magic circle of the ice and snow system to forcefully suppress the temperature of the energy-gathering structure, but so far we have not found an ice and snow rune base material that can operate stably under strong interference - the previous cooling rings were burned down quickly .”

"That is to say, apart from the heat dissipation problem, the Hongguang device can already operate?"

Rebecca nodded: "Yeah, both prototypes work—just not for a few seconds."

Gao Wen nodded slightly, then turned around and looked at the huge map hanging on the study wall.

The Rock Fortress is indeed completely different from the "Stone Fortress" in most parts of the southern border. It is a fortress in the true sense, armed with powerful magic technology. It has a powerful magic barrier, and this magic barrier It can also absorb the magic power of nature to continuously repair itself. As long as its operation cannot be interrupted, the effect of the giant cannon bombarding the fortress will be greatly reduced.

According to Kamel, the rainbow light device that relies on pure magic to damage the target is a weapon that is more suitable for dealing with magic shields than the magic crystal cannon, so no matter what, he hopes to use this new weapon when attacking the rock fortress.

In his mind, a surveillance image from a high-altitude satellite emerged.

The topography of the Rock Fortress and the surrounding area was clearly presented in front of his eyes. He saw the Dorgon River flowing southward from the Holy Spirit Plain, and the mountain pass in front of the Rock Fortress was divided into two. , one of which flows into the southern border and becomes the life artery of the southern border: Baishui River.

Gawain turned around and looked at Rebecca: "Maybe we can broaden our thinking, the problem of heat dissipation is not so difficult to solve..."

Rebecca didn't turn the corner right away - because her geography teacher was not good at martial arts, so her geography grades were not very good, and naturally she couldn't think of what Gao Wen was thinking: "Do you have an idea?"