The chaotic and illusory sky covers the earth with monotonous colors, and the scenes that have been separated from the colors show a state of lack of layering in the field of vision, which is indescribably weird. The breeze blows, and the fine black dust is rolled up in the wind. Dust There seemed to be countless pairs of prying eyes hidden in the eyes—Standing in this world full of black and white, Victoria's always indifferent and alienated face inevitably showed a trace of surprise.
And the person who surprised her was right next to her, that half-elf with an overly active personality was standing there with a proud expression on his face, his long black hair fluttered slightly in the air like smoke, and there was a hint of light in his golden eyes. Smiling, a lingering cloud of shadows condensed on the lower body, as if the whole person had turned into an elf in the shadow world, subtly blending with this black and white world.
"... Incredible power," Victoria looked at Amber silently for a few seconds, and praised softly, "You are the most powerful shadow master I have ever seen, no wonder the Raven was defeated by you twice. Cecil Sure enough, none of the Duke's subordinates is simple."
"It's okay to praise me a few more words, usually it's rare for someone to praise me like that," Amber smiled triumphantly, "By the way, I have an impression of the Raven you mentioned, the one I kicked out of the Shadow Realm twice Right—if you have a chance, you have to persuade him. If it doesn’t work, you should practice a two-handed sword and a long-handled hammer. The way of shadow may not be suitable for him... "
Anyone who is familiar with it knows that once Amber's mouth starts to bb, it will quickly digress, and basically few sentences are meaningful, but Victoria is obviously not quite used to the rhythm of this half-elf, and she was a little dazed on the spot, probably because she didn't know. How should I continue this topic, but fortunately, Amber's BBs are intermittent, and if she doesn't get a response in a short time, she will skip her thoughts—the half-elf moved her hands and feet, and looked up at the distant place. A half-collapsed castle in a strange stacked state, said in a tone of a criminal preparing to commit a crime: "Don't waste time, start working—there should be the shadow reflection of Tulip Castle over there."
Victoria raised her head and saw the castle at the end of the road: black and white fragments were stacked on the gray-black ground, and some recognizable castle walls could be seen among the ruined walls. In this weird and chaotic world of shadows, The half-destroyed Tulip Castle presents a clear sense of chaos. Part of its structure seems to have lost material details, while another part of the structure overlaps and accumulates in a way that violates the laws of nature. The entire castle is lost like a failed painting. Coordinated, only the mage's tower and some auxiliary towers that are still in good condition are still clearly erected at the back of the castle.
This is the first time for Victoria to enter the shadow world—as a frost mage, her attainments in the way of shadow are limited to some theoretical knowledge. "The half-elves are powerful in shadow arts. She followed behind Amber, relying on the blessing of swiftness, wind and other spells to keep up with the opponent's footsteps. At the same time, she couldn't help asking curiously: "Why did you follow Duke Cecil?"
Amber was sprinting through the Shadow Realm like a fish entering the water, and the black smoke wrapped around her body was flying freely in the air. She turned her head slightly after hearing Victoria's words, with a playful smile on her face: "Why? Want to poach someone?"
Victoria shook her head solemnly: "No, that's not what the nobles did. If I really wanted to hire you, I would directly negotiate with Duke Cecil, and at the same time seek your opinion on more formal occasions. I'm just curious now. "
"Ah, being open and aboveboard...but Lao Zong...Gao Wen is different," Amber laughed, "If he wants to poach talents, and if he wants to poach talents that are obviously impossible to obtain through direct negotiations, then he will definitely do it secretly. Lobbying money to buy public opinion and popular support will use all kinds of means.”
Victoria once again felt that the topic was too much to continue, so she could only shake her head: "...our style of doing things is a little different."
"So I'm more suitable to be with Gawain, not with an 'orthodox' nobleman like you," Amber said casually, "Didn't you just ask me why I followed Duke Cecil? Actually, it's nothing, I dug His grave was found by the person concerned and he was arrested. In fact, I dug the grave just to hide."
Victoria looked at Amber in astonishment, as if to confirm whether the other party was joking.
"I can't believe it, right? But it really is like this," Hu Po said nonchalantly. "Actually, I was quite unhappy when I was detained at first. What I thought was to pretend to agree, and then take advantage of Gao Wen's inattention. I stole his money and ran away, but then I found one thing: I couldn’t beat him, I really couldn’t beat him, and I couldn’t run away, so I had to stay. It turns out that my original decision was quite right—the second year Wages have gone up."
Victoria listened to all this expressionlessly, but her slightly flickering eyes showed that she was not as calm and indifferent as she appeared on the surface. She took a deep look at Amber and said in as peaceful a way as possible: "I have never Having heard someone describe their allegiance to a nobleman in this way, you are...really...special."
"... Duchess, you made a mistake," Amber suddenly stopped at this moment, staring at Victoria, "I have never been loyal to Duke Gawain Cecil, I have never been loyal to any nobleman and his blood family."
Victoria's indifferent expression was broken, and she looked at Amber in astonishment.
"I'm not a descendant of a nobleman. Half of my extraordinary power comes from natural talent, and half comes from a thief who was executed by the church and the nobles. Naturally, I am not qualified to swear allegiance to the nobles, because I don't even have a surname, and I don't even have a family name." This kind of qualification is needed,” Amber said unhurriedly, “At first, Gao Wen gave me a salary of one gold coin a month, so I was responsible for this one gold coin. Later, when the salary increased, I was responsible for the increase.” The wages are responsible, and later he established the city of Cecil and unified the Kant area. He let the serfs redeem themselves with work, let the common people walk in the middle of the road, and let the merchants not have to kowtow to the knights. I like all this, and my job is Sustaining it all, so I start taking responsibility for my work.
"Later, he established the Principality of Cecil, where all the citizens could study and work. From the year before last to last year, no one died of starvation in the winter of Cecil City, so I pledged my allegiance, and in my heart Secretly pledged allegiance to the Principality of Cecil.
"Duchess, I'm not an aristocrat. Even if Gawain gives me a noble title in the future, I probably will never be able to become a standard aristocrat in your group of rules. I have no allegiance to Duke Cecil, I have no allegiance to the Cecil family, no Allegiance to any so-called honorable bloodline and title, although I respect everyone in the current Cecil family, it is only because they are worthy of respect, but I am not loyal to them, and they have never asked me to be loyal.
"If you have to say it, we have only one common goal of allegiance—our allegiance is to what Gawain Cecil built, not to himself.
"Ma'am, if you can't tell the difference, I'm afraid we'll never be the same."
Victoria quietly looked at the half-elf in front of her. After entering the Shadow Realm, this half-elf lady seemed to have changed not only her temperament, but also her personality. What I really want.
"I'll try to understand." Victoria said calmly.
"That's your problem. To be honest, I don't like nobles, most of them don't like them, but recently there are two more exceptions in my eyes, one is you, and the other is Belk who ignited the beacon fire," Amber said. Turning around, he continued on his way and said, "I used to always feel that the noble virtues spoken by the nobles were bragging, but at least from you, I saw something that actually existed—but then again, Duchess, individual Not representative of the whole, I still don't like the aristocracy."
Victoria followed the footsteps of the half-elf again. She remained silent for a while, neither defending the aristocratic system, nor explaining the blood inheritance to the half-elf who seemed to have a deep prejudice against the noble group in front of her. Even though she used to be very concerned about these things, at this moment, she didn't want to justify them at all.
After being silent, she just asked a question: "In the winter of the past two years, did no one in Cecil City really starve to death?"
"Of course, we have a complete population statistics and management system, and every death and birth of the population is registered."
"...how did you do it? Without the aristocracy..."
"Are you talking about food supply or population management?"
"Both."
"Oh, let's start slowly." Amber raised her head and glanced at the collapsed castle not too far away. "Maybe we should start with the relationship between land and people..."
…
On the northern plain of Red Maple City, on the banks of the Gorgon River, Gao Wen stood on a watchtower in the frontline camp, watching the busy scene in the direction of the pier.
Cannon fire and flames dispelled the corruption and pollution on this plain. The Cecil Legion successfully occupied a large pier that once belonged to the local lord. The stone trestle bridge was built, turning this place into a temporary military pier. At this moment, tanks lined up neatly were heading towards the reinforced trestle bridge, and a phalanx of heavily armed soldiers lined up to board the ship.
On the Gorgon River, the three Cecil battleships are performing guard missions away from the trestle bridge, while a series of escort gunboats converted from civilian ships or light gunboats rushed out of the rear shipyard are patrolling the wide river. , and several sturdy ships with wide decks and stable hulls were attached to the edge of the trestle bridge, carrying soldiers and chariots who boarded the ships.
Those cargo ships that don't look like warships at all are remodeled military cargo ships deployed from the rear—although they are said to be converted for military use, but due to time constraints, they are actually just some key parts of the hull added. Steel plates, a set of shield generators welded on the hull, and a set of magic net terminals that can establish a connection with the "Pioneer" are installed in the cabin, and there is not even a basic weapon system (the weapon system needs to be added It means large-scale transformation of the power ridge, and the capacity of the shipyard is not enough), their safety depends entirely on the escorting warships.
These "armored strong transport ships" were originally intended to transfer refugees from the northern region, and they began to be remodeled at the beginning of the ground forces' advance to the north, but when they were finally remodeled, Gao Wen found that there were almost no How many refugees were available for transfer, so these ships were used to transport various supplies to the front line, and today, they ushered in a new task: set sail with the Cecil fleet, fully loaded with tanks and soldiers to San Souni The defense line, guard that important portal.
This force going up the Gorgon River will arrive at San Sunil several days earlier than the main force on the ground.
Footsteps came from behind, Philip came to the observation deck, saluted Gawain and said: "The Iron Rangers have sent Duchess Victoria and Amber to the vicinity of Tulip Castle, and the soldiers have visually confirmed that the mage tower is indeed still there. Run, and if all goes well, word will be sent to Saint-Sunil today."
"Very good," Gawain nodded, "When they come back, the ship should be almost loaded here, so they can just board the ship and set off."
Philip hesitated for a moment, and couldn't help confirming again: "Do you really want to go with me in person?"
Gao Wen laughed: "I've already arrived here, so what's the difference if I go a little further north?"
"But the task that this vanguard has to perform is arduous and dangerous—in order to support the capital as soon as possible, it has to separate from the main force on the ground. After arriving in Saint-Sunil, it has to fight alone for at least five days without the support from the rear. In the end. In the worst case, San Sunil will be breached before the vanguard arrives, so that the vanguard will be sent directly to the deepest part of the monster's encirclement—even with the cover of the Pioneer, Aurora, and Morningstar Withdrawal, the loss of troops will be extremely heavy."
"That's why it needs a strong ground commander." Gawain glanced at Philip. "You have to stay behind to command the main army, and I will be the one who remains."
"... indeed."
"I will go to San Sunil to organize the defense line first. With the fire support of three main warships, there will be no problems in the north." Gawain smiled and patted Philip on the shoulder. "You just need to continue to advance according to the plan. Set up Coastal defenses, to prevent those monsters from further contaminating the west coast, and finally, we meet at Saint-Sunil—close this blockade."
After finishing speaking, he exhaled lightly, and said lightly: "As for whether the king will fall before then... Victoria firmly believes that Padvin and Wales can keep Saint Sunil, so I will trust her just once."
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