The sky was gloomy, and the turbulent wind was blowing from the direction of the plain, engulfing the cold air that hadn't completely subsided into the city. Under the dim sky, the Earl of Pompey stood on the terrace of the family castle, feeling even more gloomy than the sky.
More and more rumors are spreading between cities and villages, and the contents of the rumors are particularly disturbing. Some people say that a terrible plague has broken out in the giant wooden crossing area, and some people say that the Royal Army has suffered a disastrous defeat. All kinds of news were in chaos, and even nobles like the earl could not get accurate information from the north—and this was the most disturbing point.
The terrace of the castle has a wide view, overlooking the entire city and the large plains outside the city. The slightly fat Earl of Pompeii is wearing a warm thick coat and leaning on a cane, looking into the distance in the cold wind. His gaze first swept across the hills and woods in the northerly direction—not long ago, a strange team from the Rock Fortress passed by the edge of his territory and headed north all the way. The team was led by an elf ranger, Riding in strange magical vehicles and carrying strange equipment, they did not explain their mission and destination, but they carried the passage document signed by Duke Gawain Cecil.
Earl Pompey did not dare to stop him.
But judging from the well-trained performance of that team and their direction of advancement, it is not difficult for Mr. Earl to guess that their actions may be related to the recent changes in the situation in the north.
His eyes moved along the hills and plains, and the sparkling Dorgon River came into his sight, followed by the distant mountains and the hazy rock fortress between them, the majestic fortress. The fortress was still shrouded in a dense magical shield, and the mountains and walls together blocked all prying eyes to the south.
Since the Cecil family regained control of the southern border, that land has closed its gates—of course, its physical "gates" will be opened every once in a while, and there is even a Rock City that will be open to visitors, but from the symbolic In a sense, the "gate" of the southern border has been closed since the end of the unification war until today.
The monitoring and control system that the Kingdom spent a hundred years building was completely cut off. Now no one knows what the resurrected founding duke is brewing in his kingdom, and no one knows what happened to that land in the past. What kind of changes have taken place in the past two years, people can only rely on the absurd and bizarre stories from businessmen and adventurers, as well as a few glimpses seen in Panshi City, and apart from guessing about the customs of the southern border In addition, another focus of the troublemakers is the gate of the Rock Fortress-when will that gate be opened, and under what circumstances will it be opened
This is probably a more difficult mystery than the current situation in the north.
Perhaps when that door opens, my "field earl" will come to an end.
Adjacent to Rock Fortress, the whole family is within range of the fortress's guns, lacking the support of the royal family, and lost almost all the troops in the last Southern War, and now the economic lifeline of the territory is still firmly controlled by merchants from Cecil, Earl of Pompeii It has been a long time in this torment-like situation, but now it is very open.
He was looking at the direction of the Rock Fortress in a trance. The extraordinary vision allowed him to vaguely see the scene of the fortress and the mouth of the Dorgon River even without the help of Eagle Eye. In this ecstasy, he suddenly Seeing a scene that shook his mind—at first he thought he was wrong, but soon, he clearly confirmed what he saw through Eagle Eye.
The main gate of the estuary to the west of Rock Fortress was opened—in the past, only a side gate would be opened there to allow merchant ships to enter and exit, but at this moment, the entire Dorgon River estuary has been opened.
Three large ships with "two wings" spread out, without sails or paddles, and riding the wind and waves are sailing on the Dorgon River, heading north all the way.
Earl Pompey's eyes widened, and the magic brilliance of Eagle Eye shone in front of his eyeballs. He looked there clearly and saw three large ships followed by a series of small boats. He saw the fortress The turret at the top is rising from the hiding place, and countless soldiers are seen running above the city wall...
The main gate of the Rock Fortress was still closed at this moment, but the Earl of Pompey suddenly realized one thing—
The southern border, the door is open.
…
In the city of Saint-Sunil, the inner and outer urban areas are still bustling and lively. The arrival of the Recovery Festival and a timely rainfall a few days ago let people see a sign of a good harvest this year. The city official opened the market in advance. Many celebrations were held, and even the poorer civilians in the outer city participated in the celebrations—the bustling and bustling scene seemed to completely cover the long-term haze over the kingdom, the civil war in the plains, and the destruction of the wasteland barrier Mutations, all this unsettling stuff is masked by superficial celebrations.
However, in the depths of the royal city, in the Silver Fort, the people in charge of this country have already smelled the turbulence in the air.
On the upper level of the castle, in a study room covered with dark blue velvet, Wales Moen was sitting upright behind the desk, and Baldwin Franklin was standing next to him. The white-haired and robed mage of the royal family, the old mage was reporting the situation with guilt on his face: "... still can't contact the Mountain Corps, His Royal Highness, Your Excellency, the magic communication with the giant log crossing has been interrupted, and the Duchess of Wilder There was no response to the subpoena…”
Wales' face sank, and the Duke of Franklin standing next to him asked on his behalf: "The magic message is broken, where is Fenghuo?"
"All beacons are not lit, my lord."
After a short silence, Franklin nodded: "...Okay, thanks for your hard work, Master Rotas."
The old mage left, and the Duke of the West looked down at Welsh who was sitting on the chair: "We should send another group of Griffin messengers, and at the same time send another group of knights to pass through the 'Valley Corridor'—perhaps it is the magic power that often exists in spring." The surge is affecting the effect of the messenger spell."
Wales nodded without expression: "You can arrange it as you see fit, Duke Franklin—I'm a little tired."
"Then, leave this matter to me," Baldwin Franklin bowed slightly, put his hands on his chest, and said with impeccable etiquette, "Please rest at ease, Your Highness."
The Duke of the Westlands left the room, and Wales Moen sat quietly behind the desk for a while. His eyes swept over the documents that had just been sent in front of him and needed to be checked by himself. After a slight pause, he continued to move to the side, and finally landed On a stack of documents on the desk.
The crown prince thought for a moment, reached out and took out the materials, and put them in front of his eyes for a closer look.
Some key content on the information slipped past his sight:
The activities of the believers of the end of all things... Dark rituals... Several small-scale epidemics in the area around the giant wooden crossing...
These materials are not timely, and many of them are even information from the end of last year. Due to the difficult roads in winter and the inconvenient passage of couriers, they were not sent to Silver Castle until today.
Wales knew that the Duke of Franklin must also have a share, but he must have not had time to read it—after all, compared with the "nominal crown prince", the Duke Regent who really needs to deal with state affairs is much more busy. The "little things" of sacrifice do not deserve to be at the top of the list.
While flipping through carefully, Wales? Moen's brows slowly frowned.
Outside the study door, a figure in a holy white dress with a faint holy light floating around stood briefly. Veronica's hand was already on the doorknob, but before turning the handle, her movements stopped suddenly .
The faint illusory heartbeat sounded into the ears of this "princess saint". She raised her head and glanced towards the southeast, and a deep solemnity suddenly appeared on her face that had always been indifferent.
"Someone took the forbidden path," Veronica said softly, as if talking to herself, "something has changed..."
Without hesitation, she canceled the visit to communicate with her brother and sister, and turned away from the door of Welsh Moen's study. With a flash of light, her figure directly turned into the purest holy light, and disappeared into the castle. in the hallway.
A moment later, this pure holy light flowed into the Holy Light Cathedral next to the Silver Castle, and condensed and descended through the holy light cloud top on the top of the cathedral, before coming to the Holy Seat of Pope Saint Ivan III.
There was no one else in the Great Hall of Light, only the Pope himself was sitting in the center of the focus of the holy light, piously meditating and silently praying. The arrival of Veronica interrupted the prayer of St. Ivan III. The old man slowly opened his eyes, and those turbid eyeballs were quickly filled with pure light: "Veronica, the most devout child of the Lord—didn't you go to visit His Royal Highness Wales in the castle?"
"Your Majesty, I suddenly heard the revelation of the Holy Light," Veronica said softly with a worried expression, "Shadows are gathering, and some people are challenging God's authority and trying to pollute the Lord's land."
The old face of St. Ivan III didn't seem to change, but the cloud of holy light that enveloped the entire Great Hall of Light suddenly surged. Behind the Pope's holy seat, the image of light that spread and grew like trees Expanding in an instant, the "fruits" hanging at the ends of countless branches opened their "eyes", as if a powerful existence hidden at the other end of the world suddenly cast a glimpse of this world—Veronica before this He had already quietly turned his gaze away, and did not look at the "Tree of Holy Light" behind the pope. After a while, the "tree" returned to its initial state.
Then, St. Ivan III's expression began to change. He opened his eyes slightly: "This is a serious act of blasphemy. Where did it happen?"
"On the battlefield where the Kingdom Army and the Eastern Territory confront each other, there are evil heretical sects that have turned it into a ritual site, and a large number of crusaders sent there by the church have been polluted by the power of darkness."
Speaking of this, Veronica paused slightly, raised her eyelids, and stared at St. Ivan III: "...Your Majesty, it's time to get ready to defend the glory of the Lord."
Amidst the surge of holy light in the Great Hall of Light, St. Ivan III's vision was slightly dazed, and then he whispered as if dreaming: "It's time to get ready to defend the glory of the Lord..."
…
Praying to the gods seems to be getting less and less effective.
In the wilderness in the southeast of the Holy Spirit Plain, Belk Lauren trudged through the dirt and gravel with one foot deep and one foot shallow.
His cloak was already torn, and only a few rags remained on the shoulder buckle. The light armor was mottled and cracked, and it was covered with the vicissitudes of life after several fierce battles. It reminded them of their existence with subtle and sharp stings, but Belk still did not stop, still advancing in the wilderness.
Because he didn't know where the deadly pollution had spread, and he didn't know how far those monsters could chase.
After wading across a small stream, Belk stopped. He raised his head to look at the sun, determined the direction, then took out a small God of War charm from his arms, and began to pray briefly to the god he believed in. To pray for spiritual and physical blessing and recovery.
Yet this prayer had little effect.
It seems that the exhaustion and pain accumulated in the past few days have exceeded the limit of the blessing of the gods.
Belk sighed, put away the small talisman, and then looked around.
There was no human habitation in the vicinity. In fact, he hadn't encountered any human traces for so many days.
He is indeed deliberately avoiding inhabited places, because he is worried that the places where people have been polluted by the "curse of crystal clusters", but he has not encountered any merchants and travelers along the way... Either this is pure Coincidence, or something more dire.
Belk shook his head, throwing those too bad associations out of his mind, he knew that he still had a long way to go, and he couldn't scare himself before reaching his destination.
He was going to the south, to the Principality of Cecil.
The road leading to the northern region has been occupied by those crystal cluster giants, and the road leading to the eastern region is similar. The only options left are the western region and the southern region. These two directions may not have been polluted, but in After some thought, he finally decided to head south.
There was no reason. In such a bad situation, intuition was the best reason. Intuition told him that he should go to the southern border and send the warning message to the southern border, so that the guardians there would know the situation of the giant log crossing as soon as possible.
Duke Gawain Cecil has warned this country more than once, and now it is time to repay.
Belk took a breath, calibrated his direction, and walked towards the southern border.