Sword of Dawn

Page 430

Accompanied by a slight rustling sound, several other gray elves also came out from the nearby bushes or trails. They gathered in one place and began to check today's harvest.

A gray elf companion came to the man with short hair and said casually, "Rupert, I'm going to move to the city tomorrow."

The short-haired gray elf opened his eyes wide in surprise: "Why?"

"Haven't you heard? The patriarch is calling on the young and strong clansmen who yearn for a new life to gather in big cities," the partner explained, "We have a lot of orders for alchemy raw materials with the Cecil Empire, scholars Many large medicine fields and distillation and ripening factories have been established around the city, and the work in the city is much more respectable than picking fruit and honey in the forest."

"...I've heard, but I'm not going. I've lived in the woods most of my life, and I'm not used to the hustle and bustle of the city."

"I knew you would say that." Another companion walked over from the side and patted the short-haired gray elf's shoulder. "We will miss you—we will visit you when we are free."

"You also want to..."

"We are all going to try our luck—the patriarch is always smart, we decided to follow her call, what if everyone can live a better life?"

The partners left one by one, and finally only the short-haired gray elf was left standing at the intersection by the dense forest. He stood blankly for a while, and then came to the side of the path. From a high place, he looked into the distance with slightly hesitant eyes——

Outside the dense forest, in the open space on the edge of the forest, a beautiful city stands quietly beside the "Windini River". It is the royal city "Windsong" that the gray elves are proud of.

The industrious gray elves have taken root in this moss forest for thousands of years, and this ancient city has also taken root here for thousands of years together with the gray elves, and the changes made by the wise Angelica family in the last two centuries Let the city glow with a new brilliance - the gray elves who were accustomed to aloofness in the moss forest suddenly realized their talents in the business field, and the prosperous herbal medicine and alchemy rough processing business suddenly made Windsong a success. The most important commercial node in the northern part of the Ogure Tribal State.

More and more gray elves have changed the habits handed down from their ancestors, walked from the forest to the city, and traveled all over the western continent by trade routes. It brought unimaginable wealth to Moss Forest.Today, Windsong is more prosperous than at any time in history. The newly built urban area is inhabited by merchants and representatives from various races. Ms. Wenna Baizhi, the patriarch of the gray elves, sits at the center of the city, just like her Like a wise father, he leads this land to become richer and stronger every day.

However, not all gray elves have given up their traditions. In the vast moss forest, which is covered with dozens of dense forests, there are still many gray elves sticking to the habit of staying out of the world and being with nature. , when more and more roads and towns occupied the important nodes among the dense forests, and opened up trade routes leading to the human world in the jungles, these traditional gray elves gradually became like hermits in modern society, becoming The alternative in the general trend of civilization, continuing to maintain the previous life... also seems more and more out of date.

"Maybe... it's time to get out of the forest..."

……

A tall Red Valley courier came along the road along the Ventini River and entered the city before noon.

The familiar city scenery made the courier feel relaxed. Wearing a blouse with the imprint of the Baizhi family, he led the horse through the bustling market in the south of Fengsong, surrounded by the ups and downs of vendors shouting in different dialects. The bustling streets are surrounded by various shops and colorful flags fluttering in the wind.

Small gray elves can be seen everywhere, and tall orcs, red valley people, humans, and even dwarves and goblins are mixed among pedestrians. In this market, which is mainly used for small and medium-scale medicinal material transactions, merchants from all over the world ask Thinking about the price, thinking about tomorrow, fighting each other under the rules, playing with every copper coin in his pocket generously and stingily.

The messenger passed through the busiest section of the market, and a group of soldiers was passing by the intersection at the end of the market. The shiny armor and the powerful mechanical crossbow made these small soldiers look majestic.

A carriage that entered the city in the morning was being stopped by several businessmen for questioning. The emblem of Cecil was hung on the carriage. A human merchant with a serious accent stood in front of the carriage, bragging to others about his journey on this long road. What I saw and heard on the business road, the handymen who carried the goods were busy behind the carriage, and someone told a vulgar joke in an inaudible eastern dialect, which caused the others to laugh non-stop.

A gray elf merchant was selling loose cloth at the end of the market, the "woven cloth" originally from Typhon, which the Cecilians had transported here on magical trains-although large transactions were blocked. The upstream merchants control it, but scattered goods can still be circulated to small merchants.

A few short and sturdy dwarves gathered in front of the cloth booth, and they stretched out their hands to twirl the plain and cheap-looking cloth. One dwarf frowned, but his companion was impressed by the low price, and started Bargain with vendors.

The messenger crossed the bustling street and walked towards the longhouse of the leader. He passed the square in front of the longhouse and saw that something was being built on the largest square in Windsong City. A group of workers composed of humans and gray elves It was busy there, and a huge crystal device had already been erected. The metal base under the crystal device was shining in the sun, and rune substrates waiting to be assembled could be seen on the ground everywhere in the square.

Curious children were making noise at the outer edge of the square, and there were not a few citizens gathered to watch. A few tall orc mercenaries were working with the guards of the square itself to maintain order. Those who were covered with hair and looked like tigers Or a strong warrior made of a cat-like animal and a human, carrying a terrifying axe, but can only show a helpless wry smile to the overly enthusiastic citizens.

The leader's long house stands on the other side of the square, with the flag of the Ogure tribal country hanging on the tall tower and balcony. The messenger walked through the square and looked curiously at the crystal device not far away that seemed to be almost completed. .

A deep but slightly soft voice came from the side: "The magic obelisk brought by the Cecils—it is said that when this thing is erected, most of Windsong City can use the bright obelisk. The magic spar street lamp is now available, so we don’t have to worry about the old streets on the west side of the city burning because of the overturned lampstand.”

The courier followed the sound and saw a female orc warrior talking to him. The other party had cat-like eyes, ears, hair and even a tail, but his face and figure had obvious female characteristics—this This uncoordinated and rough appearance is the embodiment of beauty among orcs.

"Ms. Morelina, I brought letters from the east," the courier smiled, "transnational letters."

The female orc probably smiled, her sharp teeth gleaming, she raised her finger and pointed in the direction of the leader's longhouse: "The ancestors bless you, Mr. Todd - the patriarch is inside, she must have been waiting for these letters for a long time .”

The messenger thanked him, passed the soldiers on the edge of the square, walked through the ramp between the longhouse and the square, and arrived at the gate of the longhouse. There were already servants waiting here, and led him into the longhouse.

After walking through the long corridor and coming to the lord's reception room on the second floor, he came to the leader of the gray elves, Wenna Baizhi—the sunlight was pouring into the room through a row of neatly arranged diamond-shaped narrow windows on the wall. The various furnishings in the house cast bright and dark patches. The wooden desks, cabinets, armchairs, and shelves all looked a size smaller than the furniture commonly used by humans. The female gray elf, who was as short as a child, Sitting on a high-backed chair that was still too big for her, she smiled at the messenger: "Todd, I've been waiting for you for a long time—I thought you would take the train that transported alchemy potions yesterday and come back by the way." .”

"Sorry, it took a little while to go through the customs clearance procedures in Shilin City. The Cecilians are adjusting the workflow of their government affairs hall, and the clerks over there are not yet proficient—" the messenger lowered his head, and then came from the He took out a large and thick package and handed it to the gray elf patriarch, "This is the letter you've been waiting for."

"I don't really blame you either—compared to a few years ago, letters are sent from the human world to the moss forest much faster now," Wenna smiled, and took the package in her hand. After weighing it up, I couldn't help but twitch my brows, "Oh... that kid still writes so much..."

The messenger couldn't help showing a smile: "Miss is good at expressing feelings with words."

"You just come over there and tell me—how is Meili's child doing well in Cecil?" Wen Na blinked, not in a hurry to open the thick stack of letters, "Her adaptation to the human world live?"

"From what I've seen, she's doing as well there as she was in Windsong," the messenger nodded. "It's not so much that she adapted to life in the human world, but that the Cecilians did treat foreigners equally. attitude - Cecil City is friendlier than I imagined, there are many people of different races and different countries visiting the city, even the Typhons who theoretically have a tense relationship with Cecil. All kinds of races gather There, just like the scenery in the market in Windsong City, everyone lived well there and would not be made things difficult because of their race or habits.

"Of course, the law there treats everyone equally—even elves and even dragon descendants who are regarded as distinguished guests and allies by the Cecils will be arrested and imprisoned for breaking the law. In a way, we are more You can rest assured that the eldest lady is safe—she has always been a well-bred child who respects laws and rules."

The messenger analyzed these things so calmly and methodically, obviously, his identity here is not just as simple as a "messenger".

"Dragonborn?" Wen Na raised her eyebrows, "We did receive the news of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Cecil Empire and the Holy Dragon Principality... But we didn't expect those closed Dragonborns to walk out of the mountains so quickly. I still Thought no real dragonborn visitors would show up in Cecil cities until at least next year."

"We once tried to knock on the door between the mountains of the Holy Dragon Principality, but we were unsuccessful due to the long distance and different customs. Now it seems that Cecil's merchants are indeed better at 'knocking' than us. It's better," Todd said, "As far as I can see, the dragonborn are not all closed and conservative, at least the dragonborn living in Cecil City look no different from ordinary people - and they get along with the Cecil people And it's pleasant. Let me see...they also have a very amusing way of saying hello to their better friend Cecil..."

The "messenger" recalled a little bit, and stretched out his hand to gesture: "Oh, that's right, raise your hand, pretend to be holding a wine glass, and then shout: 'Friend! Frost resistance potion! Dun dun dun!' , and finally make a gulp action..."

"This..." Wenna Baizhi stared at the scene drawn by the messenger Todby in a daze, and shook her head in confusion after a long time, "The customs of dragonborn are really incomprehensible... as expected, they can survive in such a cold place Race."

Then she raised her head: "But these details are not important, the key is that now we also have the opportunity to do business with those dragon descendants—maybe I need to discuss this with Schwak, you can inform him, Let him come in the evening."

"Yes, chief."

Messenger Todd left the room, and Wenna Bai Zhi put her gaze on the thick pack of letters. After staring at them for a while, the gray elf leader finally stretched out her hand, and at the same time He sighed for a long time: "Oh... After all, it was born by myself... It will be fine when it is connected to the magic network signal of the Cecil Empire..."

The first letter was pulled out and opened, and Wenna's eyes came into view with the beautiful characters:

"Mother, I have been living in Cecil City for a while, it is indeed an incredible city..."

……

"What an incredible adventure of a lifetime..."

Gao Wen put down the thick ancient book in his hand, couldn't help rubbing his eyes with his hands, and whispered to himself.

In the past few days, he basically studied this ancient book when he had time, and now he finally finished reading the records about Mordir Wilde's adventure career.

He has gained a lot of knowledge lost in history, and on the map hanging in the study, there are many more noteworthy marks, large and small.

After several days of reading, what he most wanted to say was that exclamation.

Mordir Wilde... is indeed the greatest adventurer in this world, and I'm afraid there isn't one of them.

The news to the Northern Territory has already been sent out. Victoria Wilde already knew the news that the lost treasure of the family was recovered. In addition to expressing surprise and gratitude, she also expressed that she would take the book with her when she came to the imperial capital to report on her duties before winter. Before that, this book will be kept on Gao Wen's desk for a while.

This book must be returned to the Wilder family - Gawain does not intend to keep it for himself.After all, the most important content in a book is the knowledge it carries, and this knowledge can be made into a copy. The precious original entrusts its owner's longing for the deceased, and should be returned to the original owner.

But before Victoria came to the imperial capital, before returning the book, Gao Wen felt that it was necessary for him to find someone to confirm the details of the content mentioned in the book.

After relieving the fatigue from long-term reading behind the desk, Gao Wen raised his hand and glanced at the ring of mithril on his finger.

It's been a while since I talked to that Miss My Little Pony, I don't know if she's interested in Mordir Wilde's adventure records...

Chapter 0908 The Price of Knowledge

The changes in this city... are really dazzling.

Melita Purnia walked out of the temporary residence, and the lively and bustling "Pioneer Avenue" rushed towards her face like a bizarre drama.

Respectable citizens of Cecil and business travelers from north to south came and went on this wide street that could accommodate twelve carriages abreast. In front of the shops and stores along the street stood staff recruiting customers. The sound of music, the voices of all kinds of people, the crisp bells of the two-wheeled vehicles, all kinds of sounds are mixed together, and the lights behind the large window are bright, and the various products that are popular this year seem to be the witnesses of this prosperous new world. They lined up those shelves indifferently, watching this bustling human world.

It was nearly dusk, and the setting sun was shining from the direction of the western mountains and forests, covering the urban area with a faint golden glow.

Once upon a time, dusk was the point when cities in the human world gradually cooled down. However, here, everything is completely different—this is the time for workers to take turns to rest after a busy day, when students leave school, and when the night market opens. The shops are getting ready to open, and the citizens are starting their most leisure time of the day. Only at this time will a comprehensive commercial street like "Pioneer Avenue" be fully bustling.

"I don't know what's going on..." Melita stretched gracefully in the sunset, muttering softly, "I hope this communication won't be too harmful to your health..."

She walked towards the city center, walking through the bustling human world.

A few young people walking together approached them. These young people were dressed in clothes that were obviously foreigners, talking and laughing along the way, but they all slowed down when they passed by Melita. They looked in the direction of the agent in some confusion, as if they had noticed that there was someone here, but they didn't see anything, so they couldn't help feeling a little nervous.

Melita smiled softly, walked past these suspicious young people, and whispered to herself: "Dragonborn... still retain a certain degree of feeling for the same race. Anyway, It is also a good thing to get out of that big mountain, the time when this world is prosperous is always precious..."

Several young dragon-born international students on the street hesitated and discussed on the spot. They felt that the aura that suddenly appeared and disappeared suddenly was very strange. One of the young people looked up at the intersection of the street, his eyes suddenly lit up, and immediately turned to Walk over there quickly: "Mr. Sheriff! Mr. Sheriff! We suspect that someone has illegally used invisibility spells!"

Melita, who had just walked not far away, immediately quickened her pace: "Tch... the first thing you learn when studying abroad is to report..."

Cecil Palace stands imposingly in the center of the "Royal Quarter" in the city centre.In fact, this building is no longer the tallest and largest house in the city, but the imperial flag flying high above the building makes it always have an "aura" that makes the Cecilians awe-inspiring.

The heavily armed soldiers stood proudly on the sentry post at the gate. Melita lifted her concealment effect and walked towards the soldiers calmly. The latter immediately adjusted her standing posture cautiously—but before the soldiers asked , The door not far away was opened first, and a young girl wearing a black and white maid uniform with a dark gold emblem of a senior lady on the chest and cuffs came out from inside.

"Let her in," the senior lady greeted the soldiers, "it's His Majesty's guest~"

"Miss Betty?" The soldier looked back at Betty suspiciously, and then at Melita, "Okay, I understand. But registration is still required."

"Of course," Melita nodded, "Melita Pernia, senior agent of Mithril Treasury, special advisor and friend of His Majesty Gawain Cecil—just register like this."

After passing through the checkpoint at the gate, Melita followed Betty into the "palace" that was expanded and remodeled from the Lord's Mansion. She asked casually, "Are the soldiers at the gate new? They were on guard before." The soldiers should remember me, and I seriously registered for my last visit."

Betty thought for a while, then shook her head confidently: "I don't know!"

Looking at this head maid who is still full of energy (she is no longer a "little maid"), Melita was startled for a moment, but soon smiled slightly, and her mood became more and more cheerful.

She originally came here for a short-to-medium-term observation mission... But before she knew it, the people and things she observed seemed to have become a rather interesting and important part of her life.

In this way, she came to Gawain's study with a brisk and good mood. In the study room covered with velvet carpet and world map, she bowed slightly to the ruler of the empire sitting behind the desk, and said with a smile The opening remark that has been said many times: "Good afternoon, Your Majesty, Melita Purnia, the senior agent of Mithril Treasury, is very happy to serve you."

Gao Wen raised his head from a pile of documents and books, glanced at the agent lady in front of him, and after signaling Betty to leave, he asked casually: "Today I mainly ask you about something, first of all, let me inquire. Is there an ancient metal giant tower near your Tarrond? Probably to the west or northwest..."

Then Melita almost fell over with a smiling expression.

"What's the matter?" Gao Wen immediately noticed the strange expression on the agent's lady, "Is it difficult for me to answer this question?"

Immediately afterwards, he discovered another strange thing, and couldn't help asking curiously: "Huh? You didn't wear a veil today?"

Melita tried her best to maintain a calm smile, and adjusted her breathing while answering: "I... I am also a woman after all, and I want to change my outfit occasionally."

Then she took a deep breath and said with a wry smile: "Your question...isn't to the point of breaking a taboo, but it's about the same. Rather than asking such a scary thing at the beginning, you can... come first Would you like to transition to an ordinary topic?"

"Oh," Gao Wen nodded clearly, and changed the question, "Have you eaten?"

Melita didn't realize what the inexplicable greeting meant, but she subconsciously replied, "... I ate it."

"That's good," Gawain said casually, "It seems that there is indeed a giant metal tower in the west of Tarrond?"

Melita adjusted her breathing, with curiosity on her face: "...can I ask first? How did you know the existence of this tower?"

"I got a travel book, which mentioned a lot of interesting things," Gao Wen casually pointed to the "Modir's Travel Notes" on the table, "A great adventurer once came close to the Dragon Kingdom by chance—he walked around After the big storm, he came to the Arctic region. In the travel notes, he not only mentioned the giant metal tower, but also mentioned more surprising clues, do you want to know?"

Melita immediately sensed something from Gawain's expression, and she became cautious in every word she followed: "A human who has entered the vicinity of the dragon kingdom? How can this be... What else is mentioned in the travel notes?" ?”

"Your name was mentioned," Gawain looked into the other person's eyes, "it was clearly recorded that a giant dragon accidentally destroyed the adventurer's ship and took him to the place where the tower was to make up for his mistake." On the Iron Isles, the dragon calls herself Melita Purnia—a member of the Council of Tarrond..."

Every time Gao Wen uttered a word, Melita's eyes seemed to widen even more. In the end, Miss Dragon finally couldn't help interrupting him: "Wait a minute! Did you mention my name? Are you Said, the adventurer who left his travel notes said he knew me? Seen me in the Arctic region? How..."

Gao Wen nodded: "It seems that you have no impression of this, do you?"

"I... have no impression," Melita said with a puzzled look on her face. She never imagined that one day, she, a senior agent who was always in charge of providing consulting services, would become the party who was full of confusion and needed answers. What human adventurers have you encountered near Tarrond, let alone bring people near that tower... This is against the taboo, do you know? Taboo..."

"Okay, I probably understand, we'll talk about this in detail later," Gao Wen noticed that the agent's mental pressure seemed to be rising sharply, and in "Sudden Death" (only for Melita) With rich experience in the field, he immediately paused the topic, and directed the conversation to the follow-up, "This travel book also mentioned another concept, an unfamiliar term... Do you know what 'sailer' means?"

Melita was actually relieved when she heard Gao Wen change the subject, but she couldn't exhale the breath successfully——when the word "voyager" directly entered her ears, she only felt that the words in her mind There was a "boom" in her body and in the depths of her soul at the same time, and amidst the unbearable roar, she also heard Gao Wen's follow-up words: "...What does the legacy of the Voyager refer to? Is it a product of knowledge? Does it have something to do with a certain 'secret' that your dragon clan is keeping..."

For the first time since she became a senior agent, Melita tried to block or refuse to answer these questions from the client, but Gao Wen's words seemed to have some kind of magical power and directly penetrated the security agreement she had preset for herself—the fact Proving that this human being is really weird, Melita found that she couldn't even shut down part of her nervous system urgently, and couldn't stop thinking about related questions and "answering impulses". She instinctively began to think about the answers, and when the answers emerged... In an instant, her "noumenon" folded in the gap between the elements and the present world immediately sent an overwhelmed detection signal——

The agent lady staggered on the spot, her face turned extremely ugly in an instant, and an abnormal shadow like a dragon's wing appeared behind her.

Gao Wen was taken aback by this unexpected strong reaction, and immediately stood up from behind the desk: "Are you alright?"

Melita waved her hands in pain, and reluctantly walked two steps to the desk. She supported the desk to stand firm again, and then she looked a little bit lost, muttering to herself: "It exploded... [-] The one that exploded..."

"What exploded? What thirty-eight thousand?" Although Gao Wen heard the other person's words clearly, he didn't understand what it meant. "Sorry, it seems to be my fault..."

"No...you didn't do it on purpose, and this may be reimbursed..." Melita waved her hand again, and whispered with a wry smile, "Okay, I have to do my duty, your question...I can only answer part of it. The so-called Voyagers are an ancient civilization that has left this world, and their heritage is the root cause of the past "Rebellion against the Tide". Yes, the "Ultimate Book" you found... I I said that it is used to steal knowledge. What the Reverse Tide Empire used it to steal is the legacy left by the sailors. Those legacy must not be leaked out, let alone be grasped by lower-level mortal civilizations. What I can tell you is There's only so much left."

The ancient civilization that has left this world...the root cause of the tide against the tide...a heritage that cannot fall into the hands of low-level civilizations...

Melita said that she could only answer part of the answer, but the few key points she answered were enough to answer most of Gao Wen's questions!

In fact, as early as when he read Mordir's travel notes, he had already vaguely guessed the meaning of the so-called "sailer", guessed what those heritages and giant towers referred to, and Melita's answer completely confirmed it Concluded his conjecture: the "navigator" mentioned by the Dragon Clan refers to the mysterious "God Killing Fleet", that is, the ancient civilization that left a lot of satellites and orbital facilities in space!

However, the "Reverse Tide Empire" in ancient times triggered a huge crisis after coming into contact with the legacy (knowledge) of the "God Killing Fleet", which eventually led to the Rebellion. One time was the first time he got positive and accurate information about the "God Killing Fleet" from Melita.

In general, Melita's answer is actually just to confirm all the things that Gao Wen had guessed or had circumstantial evidence before, and connected some original independent clues into a whole. It's just the beginning of a series of problems, but for Melita... it seems that these "little problems" have brought unexpected troubles.

This made Gao Wen feel a little sorry.

"Sorry, my question was reckless," he immediately apologized to Melita - he didn't care about the so-called "ruler's airs", not to mention that she was his first dragon friend, a sincere apology is necessary to maintain friendship Condition, "We can stop here if you feel it is necessary."

"It's okay," Melita shook her head immediately, she adjusted her breathing, and once again became the elegant and steady senior agent of Mithril Treasury, "My professional ethics does not allow me to do this—continue to consult, I'm doing fine."

"Well, I will pay attention to my next question, and try not to involve the 'dangerous area'," Gao Wen said, while sorting out the questions he had prepared in his mind, "It should be no problem for me to ask you for a name. Right? Probably someone you know."

Melita breathed a sigh of relief, and even showed a relaxed smile again: "Of course, of course it's no problem."

Gao Wen nodded: "Do you know a dragon named Enya?"

Melita's face suddenly changed.

The [-] one also exploded.