Cecil arranged the most comfortable accommodation for the guests from the capital not in the Lord's Mansion, but in an independent building under the Government Affairs Office near the Lord's Mansion. It is said that this building was built specially to welcome important guests, and was called "Autumn Palace" by the Cecilians because it was completed this autumn.
This novel arrangement once again made the visitors feel the uniqueness of the Principality of Cecil.
The Duchess Victoria was leaning lazily on the soft and comfortable couch, relaxing the muscles of her limbs that were a little stiff from the fatigue of the journey and the dinner, and carefully observing all the furnishings in this room. Frankly speaking, the furnishings here It doesn't match the word "luxury". Although the things are exquisite, they are completely different from the rooms in Silver Castle, but the things here are still impressive.
All the lighting facilities here rely on magic crystals as the core. This cheap and simple light-emitting device is difficult to popularize due to the need to continuously inject magic power, but in Cecil it is a thing that can be seen everywhere in the streets and alleys; the room is as warm as spring, But the fireplace on the west side was not lit. Obviously, the fireplace is not a heating facility, but just a decoration. The real heating here is solved by something called "magic energy heating system"; Large and brightly colored curtains, the weaving method of the fabric is very strange, the stitching is simple, and even has a cheap feeling, but its neatness is amazing, as if a skilled old weaver is weaving without sleep It seems like such a cheap and simple fabric...
The black-haired maid Maggie stood behind Victoria, massaging the tense muscles on the hostess' shoulders with gentle movements, feeling the muscles under her fingers relax a little bit, the black-haired maid said softly: "You have been observing Everything here."
"Really? So obvious?" Victoria's tone rose slightly, and her body stretched out more lazily. She can maintain the most perfect state in any unofficial occasion, but at this moment is the time for her to relax, she sighed He took a deep breath, "I regret that I didn't bring a mediocre noble from the royal capital to act as a 'Flower Guardian'. He can replace me and ask questions about every new thing. There are too many here that I can't understand. things, but I've asked too many 'why's along the way."
"There are indeed many novel things here, but they seem to be just various magical devices, which are not more advanced than the magical organs you arranged in Winter Castle, isn't it?" Maggie said her opinion, "Sey The Silers use magic spar lamps for lighting, as does the inner court of Winterhold, their gates can open automatically, and the same is true for your mage tower, ah, they also have magic vehicles that can drive automatically, which can run no faster than dragon blood horses Hurry up, it's no match for your white-feathered griffin."
Obviously, in the eyes of this black-haired maid, her mistress was confused by Cecil's dazzling "tricks", so that she paid too much attention to those novel and interesting magic devices, but Victoria shook her head: "No, Maggie, you don't understand that the Cecilians don't surprise me with any of their magical devices. What really surprises me is that they have thousands of each."
Maggie's fingers pressing on the hostess' shoulders paused for a moment.
"Grand Duke Gawain is pushing extraordinary power to everyone, he is breaking the boundaries between extraordinary people and ordinary people, the scary thing is that not only is he qualified to do this, but he has also done it," Victoria sat up , his expression became serious, "I don't understand how he did it..."
The black-haired maid didn't answer, and the duchess didn't expect to hear an answer from the maid, she just shook her head: "Maggie, bring those 'newspapers', I want to read them again."
"yes."
A stack of newspapers was delivered to Victoria. Looking at this kind of thing that was also unheard of elsewhere, she couldn't help sighing softly: "Should we start by letting the common people know how to read..."
The envoys from the capital of the north have never come into contact with [ .] this kind of thing called newspaper, but it has already entered the sight of every ordinary person in the southern border, everyone can afford it, and it is so cheap that it is unbelievable. Many nobles in the north It seems that the "confidential" intelligence information is openly disseminated in the Principality of Cecil, including the price of food, the appointment and dismissal of officials in various places, and the construction of new towns. Let the common people discuss it, as long as they learn basic literacy in school.
Others in the mission probably haven't noticed this kind of thing called a newspaper, but Victoria noticed it as early as when she left Rock Fortress and passed through Kant City. The excited Duchess ordered someone to buy a copy, and then she was deeply shocked by this thing.
Her eyes quickly scanned the content about prices, construction, and current affairs news, but she thought of the difficult experience she had in obtaining statistics on transit merchants before leaving Pompeii.
But compared to these contents, what the Duchess cared more about were the critical articles about current events in the newspapers.
"Maggie... do you know? If we have this in our hands, we don't have to consider whether the nobles and citizens will support the Crown Prince of Wales when he is crowned," Victoria raised the newspaper in her hand, her tone full of helplessness, "We can even Let the people in the east begin to doubt their lord and prince."
"Are you trying to distribute something like that in San Sunil... or the Plain of the Holy Ghost?"
Victoria's voice was full of exhaustion: "It's useless, our people are illiterate, and the nobles in the Holy Spirit Plain and the capital will not allow farmers to put down their hoes and run to read and write, and question them after they understand the truth."
She only said half of what she said, but didn't say the rest: If she hadn't seen a lot of information about Luan City with her own eyes, her own thoughts were actually similar to those of the royal capital and the nobles of the plain...
No, it would be better to say that once the nobles in the royal capital and the plains knew what happened in Luan City, they would be even more afraid to let the people know how to read.
A breeze blew from the side, and Victoria stopped talking with Maggie. She looked towards the corner of the room and nodded slightly: "Raven, you are back."
A figure in black soft leather armor emerged from the air. It once belonged to Francis II, and now under the command of the Duke Regent, the Royal Shadow Guard "Raven" bowed to Victoria: "Duchess, there is no one around this building." Strange."
"It seems that our founding hero is upright," Victoria nodded, but her eyes could not help but glanced at the "newspaper" in her hand, and then she looked at the Royal Shadow Guard not far away, "Have you found out anything?"
"Besides us, there seems to be another group of visitors in this city. I heard that they are a group of businessmen, but they live some distance from the 'castle', and they have to cross the outpost in the middle. We were afraid of being discovered, so we didn't go. Investigate."
"A group of businessmen..." Victoria said lightly, as if talking to herself, "It is rumored that the founding hero really likes 'doing business'... He relied on the power of businessmen to rise rapidly."
Dark Crow lowered his head: "Do you want to track down the situation of those merchants?"
"No need, it's not wise to disturb the host's other guests," Victoria shook her head, then her eyes suddenly fell on Raven's shoulder, her voice turned slightly colder, "Besides, you have already been discovered."
"... Ah?!" Raven was startled, and then noticed the hostess' gaze. The royal shadow guard immediately turned his head, and finally noticed something strange on the back of his shoulder. A small piece of paper was found in the gap.
Seeing the content on the note, the royal shadow guard's expression changed drastically:
"Yo, take a walk? The Shadow Goddess's own daughter stays."
"Duchess" Raven immediately prostrated herself on the ground, with shame and trembling in her voice, "I... I was careless..."
A blood-clotting ice pick seemed to have formed on the back of his neck, and the Royal Shadow Guard felt his nerves and blood getting colder, but in the next second, the feeling of bone-chilling cold receded like a tide, He heard the voice of the Duchess from ahead: "Get up."
Dark Crow broke out in a cold sweat and stood up as if he had been reborn. Victoria, who was facing him, sighed: "Grand Duke Gawain Cecil once trained the first batch of Royal Shadow Guards from Anzu, and he must have the most powerful guards around him." The shadow master works for him, and it is normal that you are not an opponent. After canceling all the hidden operations, the shadow master who never showed up just gave us a warning this time, but when Cecil speaks publicly, I am afraid It's not just a warning anymore."
Raven breathed a sigh of relief, even though he really wanted to say that he should know the "daughter of the Shadow Goddess" who left a note on him, the other party is not a shadow master at all, and he might be better than a goose in a frontal fight, But as an adult with normal intelligence, he would rather the mistress could overestimate the power of that half-elf as much as possible...
"Since you have been discovered, let's do something else," Victoria continued, "Leave the city first, follow our second batch of convoy into the city the day after tomorrow, and then go on activities in Cecil City Wherever you are allowed to visit, I want you to focus on three things."
"Please tell me."
"Observe how Cecil manages 'people', and understand why their efficiency is so high; observe what ordinary people here usually talk about, and understand what the Principality of Cecil is in their eyes Finally, observe their market, I want you and other shadow guards to record everything sold in their market, including the approximate price changes, and then inquire about the origin of those things and the daily sales situation, and The way they manage the market."
"yes."
The dark crow disappeared into the air. After a while, Maggie looked at her mistress: "You mentioned the Cecilian market at the end... Do you want to understand how Duke Cecil's business works?"
"That's one of the purposes," Victoria nodded, "but more importantly, it is to understand how strong Duke Cecil is after he conquered this land. Our entire route from Rock Fortress to Cecil City is It has been planned, and what we can see is also a planned market, which is the only means for us to understand other areas in the southern border."
How many cars and boats does Duke Gawain have, how many cities have been completely controlled by him, how many areas are directly connected to the roads of Cecil City, how many gold coins flow on this land every day, and these gold coins can support How many troops... These things can be estimated from the market.