Sword of Dawn

Page 477

Diana nodded, and stepped back half a step almost silently: "Then I will leave first."

In the next second, her figure disappeared into the room.

Hadiron blinked, looked at the door that was still open, and muttered helplessly: "At least close the door..."

Before he finished speaking, he heard a familiar voice from the corridor outside the door: "This is because she saw me coming this way."

In the next second, a tall figure in a black court dress walked into the study room, smiled and nodded to Hadiron: "It seems that you are very busy."

Hadiron glanced at Matilda, who was visiting unexpectedly, "Why did you show up at this time? Don't you have to deal with those restless noble representatives and those merchants who can't calm down?"

"It's over-it's not worth my time to calm their emotions for more than two hours," Matilda said casually, "so I'll take a look at your situation, but it seems that the work on your side needs to be completed." Will it take a long time?"

"Ms. Diana just brought me a new list." Hadiron raised his eyelids, and there was a hint of fatigue and helplessness in the deep eyes inherited from Rosetta Augustus. "It has to be dealt with." of."

Matilda's eyes fell on Hadiron's desk, and then she looked away.

Hadiron glanced at his sister, and said casually: "If you want to inquire about Andersa, then I suggest you go to Ms. Diana—the rogue is better than me in terms of intelligence. But I I don't think there will be more detailed information from her. Now that our intelligence network on the western front is blocked, and the Cecils are very strict about Andersa's information, we can only know some public information... She is still alive and well, and the Cecils have not treated her and other surrendered soldiers badly, so I think you can feel at ease."

"I know that even considering political interests, the Cecilians will entertain 'important hostages' like Andersa, and I'm not worried about this," Matilda said, unable to bear the pressure of her hand. He rubbed his eyebrows, then gave Hadiron a slight look, "But I'm very dissatisfied with your random guessing of my thoughts."

"Ha, my fault." Hadiron immediately raised his hands, and took another serious look at Matilda, "Indeed, I shouldn't guess your mind—and you shouldn't just let others guess yours." mind, isn't it?"

Chapter 0995 Gamblers

Hearing Hadiron's words, Matilda subconsciously wanted to frown, but this movement only appeared in her heart, and was covered up by her indifferent expression.

"There is still a tense atmosphere in the city, but the order in factories and markets has begun to gradually restore," she came to Hadiron, and said casually, "Because of the royal family's intervention, those merchants who try to speculate during the chaotic period And the nobles who tried to transfer their assets were killed in advance, and the supply of food, cloth, and medicine is no longer a problem... More than half of your credit for this."

"In special times, we need to use some special means to make some guys 'be honest'." Hadiron smiled lightly, "It is human instinct to pursue profit, but some people's instincts are too out of control. Yes Alright, Miss Huang, I heard that there was a confrontation between the Knights Protecting the Country and the 11th National Regiment, has the matter been resolved?"

"We found a group of commanders and soldiers in the 11th Legion who were mentally contaminated, and there were a few people who were hyperactive due to shallow beliefs. They were the source of the confrontation—they were all sent to treatment," Marty said. Erda said, "As for the others... After Grand Duke Ferdinand showed up, the situation quickly calmed down."

"Duke Ferdinand..." Hadiron showed a thoughtful expression, "He is the most respected person among the military aristocrats, and the Knights of the Protectorate under his command are absolutely loyal to the royal family and completely isolated from the God of War sect. Standing up is more effective than a hundred generals."

Matilda nodded lightly: "As long as the army is under effective control, the military nobles remain loyal, and the faith pollution in several core legions is removed in time, the situation will be eased quickly—and we still have The large number of battle mages are completely unaffected by this 'plague', and the Royal Mages Association has always stood by the royal family. If these two forces do not get out of control, the order will not get out of control."

Hadiron's eyes fell on the list next to him, and the corner of his mouth curled up a little: "This is also the primary guarantee that these lists can be properly 'handled'."

He knew that when a series of crises broke out suddenly, there was a lot of pessimism in the country. Some people who knew too much inside information even once thought that the Augustus family would never recover from a fall, and that the Typhon royal family was over— ——The government order can’t get out of the Obsidian Palace, the frontline army is out of control, the “spiritual plague” appears in the capital, and the people in the parliament are in panic. It seems that the situation has reached the point of complete collapse, and the royal family of this country can’t do anything about it...

Hadillon actually understands these pessimistic and even extreme emotions, but he himself never agrees with them.

Because a large number of armies, including the Knights of the Protectorate, the Obsidian Custodian, and the Rogue, are still firmly in the hands of the royal family, and due to the deliberate control of the Typhon royal family over the years, these armies are not affected by any church, and there are royal mages. The association has always stood on the side of Obsidian Palace. The contemporary president of the association and almost all high-ranking mages are firm royalists—and these mages not only possess powerful force, but also master technology. They are rapidly purifying the entire country. Communication network, a key link to quickly fill in the loopholes in the communication system.In addition, the powerful nobles headed by Ferdinand Wendell also have reliable loyalty, and have already distanced themselves from the Church of the God of War, either explicitly or secretly...

Typhon faced a crisis, but the situation never got out of control, the Augustus family was just caught off guard.

During this crisis, the only thing that kept young Hadiron feeling out of control, feeling constantly restless, were the Cecils who seemed to have calmed down.

The enraged Cecilians are very dangerous, but they may be even more dangerous after calming down and silently occupying the Winter Wolf's line of defense—the frightening thing is, all this is beyond Typhon's control.

He shook his head, rubbed the slightly sore brows, and Matilda's voice came in the next second: "Perhaps, some people can be entrusted to me..."

When Matilda couldn't finish speaking, Hadiron shook his head, raised his eyes, and his eyes fell on the face of the imperial sister, and said with a serious expression: "We all know why this matter must be entrusted to me. .”

Matilda frowned, but didn't speak - she understood what Hadiron meant, and out of tacit understanding, they didn't go further on this topic.

At this moment, a slight humming sound suddenly sounded, and an earring worn by Matilda flashed and rang slightly. The conversation between the siblings was interrupted, and Hadiron quickly realized : "Father is looking for you."

"It seems so..." Matilda touched her earlobe, nodded to Hadiron and said, "Then I will leave."

……

Not long after, Matilda said goodbye to Hadiron, walked through the long and deep corridors and rooms in the Obsidian Palace, and came to a study in the inner court, where her talented father sat beside him. On the favorite high-back chair——When Matilda entered the room, Rosetta Augustus was reviewing several documents. He looked up from those documents and saw his daughter Then there was a slight smile on his face: "It came a little earlier than I expected."

"I happened to be at Hadiron's side," Matilda said frankly, "I came as soon as I received your call."

"Hardiron...he should be very busy recently," Emperor Rosetta said casually, "So, what did you talk to him about?"

"It's just a discussion about the recent domestic situation," Matilda said, and then she paused, and couldn't help but say, "The list, more lists... To be honest, it looks a little uncomfortable."

Rosetta looked at her, and shook her head after a few seconds: "Believe me, Matilda, I would like to see that list grow more than anyone - but it's what we have to do after all. Things. There are still a lot of things that need to change in this country, and this crisis has exposed those Shen Ke rotten accumulations. If we do not take this opportunity to eradicate them, then we will face longer difficulties in the future. And accumulate more serious hidden dangers.”

"Of course, I understand," Matilda said immediately, "it's just... I always feel like I'm doing nothing."

"...Standing aside is the best way for you to 'participate' right now." Emperor Rosetta took a deep look at Matilda, and then he seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying softly, "Remember, child, you Don't get your hands dirty, especially not on this one."

Matilda's heart skipped a beat, and she couldn't help opening her eyes slightly.

In fact, she knew that her father would speak out about this matter sooner or later, but she never thought that it would be put on the table in this way under such circumstances.

Rosetta Augustus continued after a short silence: "Matilda, you remember, if you want to shoulder a country, then everything you do must focus on The long-term future—think longer-term than anyone else, and take into account all the costs and possible impacts from the very beginning. But this time, all you have to do is keep your hands from getting dirty, You have to appease the nobles with a perfect posture, meet with the representatives of the citizens, and announce the follow-up welfare, production, and supply policies. You must be the maintainer and builder of order, and those unpleasant things... To be done by someone else.

"Even though you make a lot of things and decisions, you have to maintain this 'cleanliness of decency'.

"Matilda, those lists—and the purge work outside the list, we all know that they are to wipe out the moths of the empire, to quickly stabilize the situation and resist internal and external threats, but many people don't pay attention to these long-term As a result, they will focus on the horror and tension in the process, and the 'excusable victims'... In fact, they may even be right in thinking, because these purges themselves, regardless of the ends and the means It's not honorable, and if it's misused, it's even a disruption of order. Whatever the immediate and short-term effects of these actions, they're bound to be controversial in the long run -- and that controversy can't be yours on the head."

Having said that, he took another deep look at Matilda, with a smile on his face: "Do you feel like I'm protecting you too much?

"Matilda, many years ago, I faced a situation similar to today's...or even worse, because I had a much larger list than today, and I had to deal with people such as Today, those speculators and selfish nobles are much more cunning and insidious, but I could only do all these things with my own hands back then.

"The consequence of doing it myself is that I have made more compromises, more trade-offs, left more leeway, and more enemies that cannot be directly eliminated, because only in this way can the entire country be prevented from being torn apart. I use For more than ten years, I have repaired these cracks, and used tinkering to promote many imperfect New Deals. Even so, there are still many people who secretly hate me, and as time goes by, the hatred will deepen—the time is up Today, I have to put these people on a new list again, and I have to face many new opponents who have been influenced by them.

"It's a waste of energy and time, Matilda, and I don't want you to go down my road again.

"So, your hands must be clean."

Matilda listened quietly to her father's teachings, and a thought suddenly popped up in her mind—her father, who is as strong as steel, has seldom talked to herself so much at once in recent years.

"I see what you mean," she nodded, "but Hadillon..."

"He knows what he's doing, and I'm sure you can see it too," Rosetta said in a deep voice. "It may not be fair to him...but this is the responsibility of the royal family."

Matilda sighed.

"Let's talk about business now," Rosetta changed the subject, "I called you here because I have something to say."

Matilda immediately became serious: "Please tell me."

Rosetta reached out to the side drawer - he took out a thick document from it, put it on the table and pushed it towards Matilda.

Matilda took the document curiously, and the first thing she saw after opening it was a line of large printed letters—"About the plan and long-term significance of establishing the Typhon memorandum library".

She continued to flip through a few pages, and soon discovered that a considerable part of the follow-up content was actually a bibliography, a large number of bibliographies.

"This is..." There was a faint guess in her heart, but she couldn't be sure of her own thoughts. She looked at her father with a surprised and puzzled expression.

"We want to secretly build a memorandum library—to include everything about Typhon. Scholars have sorted out all the history books and technical books, and further search and sorting work is underway. According to the plan, More books will be included later, eventually forming a huge encyclopedia. In addition, the collection and arrangement of works of art such as poetry, drama, architecture, and painting have also started, and now this work will be handed over to You carry on."

Matilda finally couldn't help interrupting Rosetta: "Your plan...is it a preparation..."

"Just in case," Rosetta said calmly, "if we fail, someone needs to ensure that our tradition and history continue."

"Could the situation have become so critical?" Matilda couldn't help asking, "It seems that everything is under control..."

"It's true that things are not at their worst yet, but we're walking on the edge of a precipice where it could get worse - and if that happens, the work of preserving history and culture must start now."

Matilda listened carefully and thought about it, and then she suddenly realized that what her father was really worried about was not the high gods at all, but people: "Do you think those Cecilians will take this opportunity to carry out a destructive war?" war? And you think they are capable of it?"

"I admire and am willing to support Gawain Cecil and the 'claims' he declared, but we can never completely trust our enemies. As for whether they have this ability...Matilda, if they have this motivation, they can I have recently discovered their motivations for doing so, and even their specific actions."

Matilda fell into a brief thought, and said in a deep voice after a few seconds: "... If the situation you are worried about really comes to an end, then even if we sort out and preserve these books, they will probably only become Sebastian books. The collections in the Museum of the Silians - just to show off their successful conquest."

"So this is the worst solution, not even an effective countermeasure," Rosetta said lightly, "If this crisis passes through safely, we will naturally have time and space to slowly solve the problem, but Right now... there's not much we can do."

Matilda stared at her father for a long time before finally lowering her head: "...I understand, father."

Rosetta gave a faint "um", and then there was a short but suffocating silence in the study, until Matilda couldn't help but want to speak, Rosetta suddenly said: "I think I'm too Are you pessimistic?"

Matilda hesitated, but still nodded: "... yes."

"Indeed, I am a little pessimistic, especially not long ago we were immersed in the confidence of our strong national strength and proudly planned the glorious future era, my pessimistic thoughts now seem particularly unreasonable... But, Matilda , I'm taking a big gamble.

"A ruler should not be a gambler, but I have always encountered situations in my life where I have to be a gambler, and according to my experience, facing a gamble...it is better to be pessimistic than blindly optimistic."

Chapter 0996 Directed Ignition

On the front line of Winter Wolf Castle, the flames of war have been ignited on this land and are still burning.

On the east side of the line of defense, a fierce battle had just ended in the long and narrow river valley area. A group of Typhon superhumans tried to covertly attack the supply line of the Cecils from the river valley, but during the march, they disturbed a group that happened to be temporarily stationed nearby. The mobile corps - fierce battles broke out between the two sides in the encounter. The organized superhuman army and ordinary people armed with steel machines set the whole area on fire. Three hours later, the remnants of Typhon retreated, and Cecil, who suffered some battle damage, The Corps rested on the spot at the commanding heights of the river valley and continued to guard until the arrival of reinforcements from the rear.

A young officer with bronze skin came to this battlefield that was still smoking. The cold north wind howled and blew across the valley, carrying the pungent smell of scorched earth and carbonized flesh in the wind. All this made this young man who was deeply trusted by Maryland couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly.

He looked up towards the end of the ramp, and saw three wrecked tanks lying in the explosion crater. Thick smoke was still billowing from under the twisted and bent armor plates. Soldiers at the event—soldiers sweeping the field and packing bodies into body bags.

The Typhons hadn't been able to take all the corpses with them when they retreated—these dangerous remains would have been better taken back and burned completely, and left them here without knowing what trouble would happen.

A company commander wearing second-generation magic armor with a blue coat of arms on one shoulder came to the high ground, and he saluted the bronze-skinned young officer: "Mr. The job is over."

"Well," the young officer known as Payne nodded, then frowned slightly, and his eyes fell on the destroyed chariots, "...the Typhons are gradually mastering the battle against chariots in small-scale conflicts There is no need to rely on legion-level spells, and their extraordinary troops can also fight our tanks."

"It seems to be true—their tactics have improved rapidly, and they have been learning from us," the company commander nodded. "Now they no longer use melee troops to attack tanks head-on, but rely on various supernatural The hunter units cooperate with each other to fight in small groups - when conditions permit, they will use various magic traps; When the two bombardments arrive, the mage quickly casts spells with the help of cover, traps the chariot with mud spells or rock spells, and at the same time uses counter spells such as arcane impact to try to destroy the magic circulation inside the chariot, and stalkers perform close-range blasting , or rely on multiple mages to cooperate with the attack...

"At present, these tactics of the Typhon people often need to be at the cost of relatively large casualties, and can only deal with small groups of tanks and multi-purpose tanks, but it is a fact that their tactics are constantly improving-and they are still doing There are some powerful 'new gadgets' like those explosives used by stalkers, and they're a big threat."

"...Is the mixed army formed by extraordinary people so difficult to deal with..." Payne couldn't help frowning, "It's obvious that they were helpless against our steel chariot in the encounter not long ago..."

"Before the war with Typhon, we have never seen this kind of opponent who can use extraordinary people like ordinary soldiers," the company commander said bluntly, "even the historical files of Changfeng Fortress did not mention it. This kind of mixed forces and tactical changes—this should have been developed by Typhon in recent years."

"We haven't seen the 'Extraordinary Army', so we were caught off guard," Payne couldn't help but sigh, "and Typhon has never seen the 'Ordinary People Legion' using steel machines, so they were also caught off guard... This is a battle An eye-opening war for both sides."

His eyes swept across the battlefield, and Typhon's black banner fell on the cold ground, stained with mud and ash, and the red lines on its surface were particularly eye-catching.

Typhon felt sincerely grateful to usher in this war when he was at his weakest—this kind of thinking might not be enough for "chivalry", but Payne knew that the era of chivalry was over.

After thinking for a moment, he withdrew his gaze and looked at the company commander beside him: "Have those corpses been preliminarily checked? What's the result?"

"Yes, the inspection has been carried out, and the results are basically in line with General Philip's prediction," the company commander said immediately, "Several enemy commanders showed signs of body mutation, which can be identified as 'fully infected'. The bodies of the knights and some auxiliary soldiers also showed super-human strength and resilience, and they can be identified as "spiritual aliens". The above-mentioned enemies are all sane. As for the accompanying mages...they don't seem to be polluted by the spirit of the God of War. "

"...So, among the Typhon troops sent to attack the Winter Wolf's line of defense, the proportion of mentally polluted personnel is increasing, especially the officer class..." Payne nodded slowly, and said in a deep voice, " When the Winter Wolf defense line fell into our hands, only about half of the officers who came to counterattack were mentally polluted..."

"Isn't this normal?" The company commander was a little confused. "This shows that the pollution is spreading in Typhon's army, and more and more soldiers and officers are affected by the mad god—their infection is on the verge of getting out of control."

"No," Payne shook his head with a serious look on his face, "You've made a mistake—although we call this a 'spiritual plague', its pollution speed and scope are actually It was limited from the start, and such a rapid infection is now unlikely.

"This 'spiritual plague' uses the belief in the God of War as the basic medium. According to the analysis of the scholars above, only when the belief in the God of War reaches a certain degree of piety can humans be infected by it—so if you are not a devout believer in the God of War , then you will not be infected anyway, and if you believe in God of War devoutly, then you have been affected as early as the first few days of this 'plague' outbreak."

The company commander listened to his officer's explanation, and finally reacted slowly: "In other words, the number of 'infected' in Typhon's army should have entered a stable state a few days ago, theoretically speaking, this should not happen. An abnormal increase...but what happened to the sudden increase in infected people?"

"...I don't know," Payne shook his head, looking into the distance, "but we should figure it out soon."

……

To the east of Winter Wolf Castle, in the snow forest near an unnamed mine, several hazy figures were swiftly walking between the trees and the snow.

Those figures are as flexible as beasts in the forest, and their whole bodies are shrouded in some kind of ever-changing magical halo. Under the effect of magic, their figures are almost completely integrated with the surrounding environment. A fleeting silhouette—they quickly crossed the border of the snowy forest, detoured around trails that even hunters seldom used, and finally stopped at a secret hiding place deep in the woods.

A giant tree that had been dead for an unknown amount of time fell here. The huge trunk just formed a wooden wall that sheltered from the wind and snow after weathering and decay. There were also several warriors in white light armor and white smocks guarding here. When the team that went to investigate the situation returned, these soldiers first instinctively raised their vigilance, but soon they confirmed the identity of the comer through the identification marks they carried with them, and they all relaxed a little.

"Safe, you can turn off the curved light field."

A deep voice sounded out of nowhere, and then the figures returning from outside the snowy forest lifted their camouflage one by one, revealing the same attire as the remaining soldiers in the hiding place.

This is a team of Iron Rangers that went deep into the territory of Typhon—in this snow-covered season, they put on equipment that is easy to operate in snow-covered areas, and all of them carry curved light fields that can hide their bodies generator.

They have been active in this area for two days, and at the same time, there are several other teams active in several other nearby areas.

"Where is Chief Soldering?" The team leader who returned from outside the snow forest glanced at the obvious hiding place, and asked casually curiously, and the moment his words fell, a magnetic voice almost came from his eyelids. From the bottom of the box came the message: "I'm here."

The blond-haired Solderin stood up from a nearby stake—the soldiers didn't even realize his existence until he made a sound and moved!

The high-level ranger of the Silver Elf can appear "invisible" in front of ordinary people without using any supernatural skills. This incredible ability made the team leader a little awed, and then he hurriedly gave a military salute to Soldering Said: "Sir, we came back from Pine Forest Town, and the operation went smoothly."

"Tell me about your findings," Soldering said—his elegant demeanor always seemed to contain a hint of melancholy. "The other teams haven't responded yet, and you are the first to complete the investigation."

"Yes, sir," the team leader nodded immediately, "The informant's information is accurate. We saw that several buildings in the Typhon Barracks near Pinewood Town had changed the coat of arms on the outer wall. Judging from the shape , that should be the resting place for noble officers and honored knights. In addition, we also saw several large-scale personnel coming in and out, and there was an army gathering at an intersection in the southeast. Judging from the flags and coat of arms, it should be from A certain national knight order in the central region..."

Listening to the squad leader's well-organized report, Soldering nodded slowly: "Very good, you have seen something very important."

"Unfortunately, we can't go any further to the southeast," the team leader shook his head regretfully, "The magic guard over there is too tight, and there are mage eyes everywhere—magicians don't need money, even the village entrance There are mages standing guard, and our curved light force field may fail there."

"...It's not that magicians don't want money, but that Typhon has always been very rich." Soldering pouted, and couldn't help but commented with a sentence that Gawain once said, "That's how the ability to make money is."

While speaking, this handsome blond elf seemed to have a more melancholy look on his brows, but soon he shook his head: "In the next communication, I will combine the information you have detected with the information collected last time. And sent to the rear, during this period of time everyone rested for a while - after that we will move the place again."

After the confession, the high-level ranger turned around and left the hiding place, and nimbly came to a nearby big tree. He used the leaves that never fell in winter to hide his figure, and half-vigiled and half-rested among the branches. sat down.

"Sir, is he in a bad mood today?" The squad leader couldn't help but glance over there, and said to the comrades beside him, "It feels like he's frowning."

"He's been like this lately, it's okay," a Iron Ranger soldier said casually, "Elves, it is said that they are very emotional, maybe seeing the snow scene here, the dead trees, the barren mountains, etc., they will feel emotional... "

The team leader thought for a while, then nodded in agreement: "Oh, it makes sense..."

The warriors muffled their conversations, but they still did not escape the keen ears of the elves.