Sword of Dawn

Page 347

She uses a very standard, citizen-style pronunciation, and uses more solemn, upper-class titles—because no matter what her life has been like in the past ten years, her mentor has always been a man from the imperial capital with outstanding knowledge. She is a high-level mage who has been well educated, and she has not learned other ways of speaking under the mentor's door.

The rural habits she had been exposed to in her childhood had long been blurred in her mind.

The old couple seemed to be taken aback for a moment when they heard Mary address them, then they nodded cautiously and repeated dryly: "Okay, okay, that's great..."

After everyone sat down on a few sofas, the living room soon became awkwardly quiet.

Mary tried hard to think about what she should say to ease the atmosphere, and it took a long time to form a complete sentence: "Is everything... all right at home?"

"Okay, okay...the food is enough," the hunched man nodded again and again, "Are you okay too? Are you enough food?"

"...I have no worries about food and clothing," Mary said awkwardly, "Do you... still live in the country?"

"Where else can I go?" said the wrinkled old woman. "The house and land are over there, and the cattle."

"How did you get here?"

"The sorcerer sent someone to pick us up," the old woman glanced at Daniel cautiously, "The carriage we're riding in is a big one."

Then she looked at the robe on Mary's body again, and couldn't help showing a trace of awe in her eyes—it seemed that this awe had been deeply engraved in her bones, so that as long as she saw something similar, even if she knew what was in front of her, she would feel awe. People are her own blood relatives, and she can't help but get nervous: "You are a mage now..."

"Yes, I'm about to be promoted to the middle class..." Mary said, but she wasn't sure if the old couple in front of her could understand what the middle class meant.

"Okay, you...you are promising," the hunchbacked man nodded again, with a flattering smile, he glanced at Daniel next to him, and then looked away, "You were taken by the mage It's your luck to leave, your sister and brother are not as lucky as you..."

Fortunately... Mary suddenly felt that she didn't know how to deal with this word.

The available topic of conversation seemed to end quickly, or rather, the topic didn't exist from the beginning.

Mary felt more and more uncomfortable, and she believed that the old couple in front of her did the same.

They are strangers, related by blood, but separated by thousands of miles. They sit in a place that seems to be very close, trying to talk about topics that both of them feel comfortable with, but they can't even pretend.

Soon after the second awkwardness and silence began, the old woman began to look at the door frequently, and her husband became more and more embarrassed-they didn't know how to hide their emotions gracefully, and Mary could see through them at a glance their thoughts and feelings.

Sitting in this "luxury" place for such a long time, this old couple from the countryside is already restless. They didn't feel any joy of reuniting with their daughter from Mary. Those who come here, every minute they are here is a torture.

They occasionally sneaked a look at Daniel, and there was even a hint of begging in their eyes.

Mary stood up on her own initiative.

"Let's go here," she whispered, "I... still have some magic experiments to do."

"Oh, oh, good," the old woman stood up immediately, "Then...then go do your thing."

"How many days are you going to stay here?"

"No, no," the old woman hurriedly waved her hands, "The livestock at home still need to be looked after, and we don't feel at ease if we leave it to other people for too long."

Mary didn't say much, just nodded slightly, and then left the room as if escaping.

It wasn't even until she hid in a nearby side hall that she realized that she had recklessly abandoned her mentor—and if this had been done a year ago, she would have incur terrible punishment.

Just as Mary realized that she had made a mistake, the door of the side hall suddenly opened, and Daniel stepped in.

The old mage in black robe just glanced at Mary quietly, and said casually: "I arranged for them to rest elsewhere for a day, and I will send them back tomorrow.

"If you don't want to see them again, you don't have to see them for a while.

"After that, I will send someone to take care of their lives."

Mary lowered her head and whispered, "...Thank you."

"No need."

"Teacher, I... am I pretty bad?" Mary raised her head boldly and looked at her mentor, "They are my parents..."

Daniel interrupted her indifferently: "They didn't want to come at first. They didn't want to come to meet you until the apprentices I sent showed their identity as mages and gave them a reward."

Mary was a little dazed: "The reward..."

"It's not anyone's fault." Daniel said calmly.

"Teacher, did you foresee such a situation long ago?"

"Yes," Daniel said without any change in expression, "but this is your own choice, and it is also a situation you must face, so I did not intervene."

Mary bit her lip, then lowered her head, looking at the robe on her body and the silver badge representing the rank of a mage near the collar of the robe.

It is not only the separation of more than ten years that creates the gap.

"Mentor, is there really that much of a gap between extraordinary people and ordinary people?"

"In most places, that's it."

Mary hung her head and did not speak for a long time.

Daniel turned around and left the room without disturbing his apprentices.

He still has tasks assigned by his master to do.

……

In Alder South, a dark alley in the Eastern District, a man with a messy beard, dark eye sockets, and an unremarkable appearance was staggering through the alley.

The man smelled strongly of alcohol, and he was holding a cloth bag containing food in his hand. His hair seemed to have not been taken care of for a long time, and the worn clothes on his body were similar to the standard of living of most people in this neighborhood.

The winter sky always darkens early, and the dim sky has shrouded Aldernan, and the sparse magic spar street lamps are lit up from far to near, illuminating the old and dilapidated streets in the East District.There are few pedestrians on the road, and those who go to work in the factory have not yet returned home. Occasionally, people who appear on the side of the road, if they are not unemployed people with suspicious appearances, are mostly low-level prostitutes who have just come to the street with heavy makeup.

A drunken man was walking on the street. Suddenly, an inexplicable palpitation came to his heart, which made the man in the shabby coat stop.

He seemed to be holding on to the wall next to him just because he was drunk and uncomfortable, but his right hand was calmly pressed on his waist, and he quietly held a spike made of gold in his hand.

There is a magical shimmer of light flowing on the surface of the spikes.

A homeless man with a scruffy beard walked past him, and when the two of them passed each other, the homeless man suddenly turned his head and looked over.

In the eyes of the drunken man, the image of the tramp suddenly twisted and squirmed, and transformed into a figure in a black robe with a face hidden in shadow.

A voice came to his ears: "Meet at No. 14, Black Iron Lane."

The drunkenness in the man's eyes had completely disappeared. He put away the golden spikes calmly, feeling another will quietly beating in his brain, and said in a low voice while changing direction under his feet: "Yes, Bishop."

The man turned and left the alley, and there had never been a scruffy bearded bum on the road he walked, as if it was just an illusion from beginning to end.

……

A dazzling light pierced through the darkness and illuminated a plain shrouded in clouds. The plain was barren and dry, and the desolate building ruins and plant debris were buried by wind and sand. Between the sky and the earth, countless shadowy figures are trekking on the plain.

Their expressions were numb and their eyes were blank, as if this journey had no purpose and no end.

And in the distance of the plain, at the end of the light, stands a splendid city, the city hall is towering, resplendent and resplendent, like a perfect city in myths and legends.

In the sky full of dark clouds, two figures suddenly appeared.

One figure was wearing a long white dress, holding a flickering lantern in his hand, and the other figure was tall, thin and elegant, with black hair and a refined monocle.

"Bishop Selina," the elegant man wearing a monocle said to the woman carrying the lamp beside him, with a slightly respectful tone, "This area is the largest overflow projection discovered so far, and it is also the only one discovered so far. The overflow projection generated in the 'imaginary area' completely out of the dream city."

"It looks like a ruin here, a ruin that has existed for an unknown number of years," Selina Geerfen frowned, "All the previous overflow projections showed cities or towns that were functioning normally, while ours The hysteresis device has also successfully controlled the time flow of the No. [-] sandbox to a level that is synchronized with the real world. In theory, such an area that has been deserted for so long should not appear in the sandbox... Archbishop Yuri, what do you think?"

"Perhaps, the historical process in No. [-] sandbox has been split, and time is no longer distributed linearly," Archbishop Yuri thought, "or maybe the world inside it has expanded to such a large scale that some areas are operating normally. , some areas have literally been deserted for hundreds of thousands of years."

"...Unfortunately, this is just an overflow projection. All the interference we do here can't affect the operation of No. [-] sandbox."

Selina Geerfen said softly, she stared at the plain shrouded in darkness below, then fell silent for a moment, and gently waved the lantern in her hand.

The entire piece of overflow projection dissipated silently in the shaking of the lantern, returning to the basic black and white two-color grid lines, and the gray mist covering the sky.

"Call that Daniel next week," Selina said to the elegant man beside her, "I want to talk to him personally."

"So fast?" Archbishop Yuri couldn't help being a little surprised.

"Yeah, faster than expected—because that Daniel seems to have noticed some problems and is conducting some investigations in private. It just so happens that we can talk to him."

Chapter 0755 Daniel's investigation

In the south east area of ​​Alder, in a street in the deepest part of the city, the lights are dim.

This is the darkest and occluded area of ​​the entire imperial capital, a place that seems to have been forgotten by the upper class. The huge Aldernan is like a hill piled up on top of each other. like wounds hidden in the depths of darkness.Advanced magic technology, prosperous new-style commerce, and increasingly glamorous burghers, all these things have nothing to do with the deepest streets and alleys in the south east of Alder——

It was only half a city away from Obsidian Palace, but it seemed farther away from civilized society than the more distant mountain cities.

And in this alley far away from the various official eyeliners of Aldernan, a man with a messy beard, sunken eyes, and a worn-out coat was hurrying past the doors of low, dilapidated houses.

Hasty and undisguised footsteps sounded, and some prying eyes appeared from the doors and windows of those houses. At this hour of night, those who dared to walk alone in the deepest part of the Eastern District could always attract the prying of curious people, but those The eyes that were drawn to the street by the sound of footsteps soon became confused.

Because they see nothing, the streets are empty in their eyes.

But the footsteps did happen.

The sights of those hiding behind the doors and windows gradually became tense and fearful. The superstitious residents remembered the horror legends about ghosts wandering around and dark wizards after nightfall, and hurriedly withdrew their eyes one by one, closing the closed doors and windows even more. It's a little stricter.

In this way, the man walked through the whole street openly, and came to the door of No. 14 Heitie Lane.

He stood still in front of the dark-painted door, pressed his hand on the door panel, sensed the movement inside, and turned the key after confirming that there was nothing abnormal in the house, and pushed the door open silently.

He saw warm lights in the room, a figure in a black robe with a blurry face sitting on a chair in the room as if he had already arrived, a raging bonfire was burning in the corner of the room, the clean and bright floor, tables and chairs were well furnished spotless.

The man quickly entered the room, closed the door, and bowed in front of the blurred figure: "I salute you, Bishop Daniel."

"There is no need to be polite, Grando." Daniel, who was wearing a black robe with a blurred face, waved his hands, and the voice rang directly in the ear of the man named Grando, "This place is safe, we can talk with confidence."

"Yes, Your Excellency." Grando bowed his head deeply.

"I asked you to investigate, how is the investigation going?" Daniel asked quietly.

"Yes, my subordinates have completed the preliminary investigation," the Eternal Sleeper believer named Grando immediately replied respectfully, "As of last week, the several lower-level believers you ordered me to contact and ask have sent feedback, and they all said They have never sent any distress signals on the Internet, nor have they lost any memories—at least, they don’t remember them themselves.”

Daniel nodded: "That's all?"

"No, there are more," Grando hurriedly replied, "The subordinates also have doubts about the feedback of these lower-level believers, so they secretly contacted and hypnotized the people around them when conditions allowed, and gained some experience from it." Different information... According to the memories of those people, the above-mentioned believers have basically experienced trance, long-term sleep, and even short-term personality changes in the past period of time."

"Personality mutation?" Daniel immediately noticed the keyword, "Is there a possibility of mind replacement or mind parasitic?"

"My subordinates have already confirmed that there is no such possibility," Grando shook his head, "I have contacted those believers several times since then, and observed their minds in various states such as waking and hypnosis. It still belongs to itself, the consciousness is complete, and there is no sign of subconsciousness that has been pieced together or cut."

A hoarse and low voice came from under Daniel's hood: "Is everything normal?"

"Yes, everything is normal." Grando said respectfully.

"Everything is normal, but the biggest abnormality..." Daniel said in a low voice, "The trance, prolonged sleep and sudden change in personality are in themselves evidence that the mind has been affected, and it will definitely leave traces in a short period of time. If their minds appear to be normal under such circumstances, then on the contrary..."

He stopped suddenly, and the disciple of the Eternal Sleeper named Grando couldn't help asking with curiosity and nervousness: "Master Bishop, you..."

He stopped abruptly before he finished speaking, and his eyes fell into a momentary blankness. At the moment when his eyes lost focus, the warm lights in the room, the burning fireplace in the corner of the room, and the neat furnishings disappeared instantly. not see.

The room was pitch black, with not a single candle, no burning fireplace, and in fact no furniture of any kind except a chair by the window.

The man named Grando stood quietly in this empty, dark room, at the door, with blank eyes for a full 2 ​​minutes.

After 2 minutes, his eyes blinked, and the room instantly returned to its previous warm and bright appearance, and Bishop Daniel in black robe reappeared on the armchair in front of him.

A chill ran down his spine, and Grando shivered for a moment. He realized that he had just received a detailed "examination" by the powerful bishop of the Eternal Sleeper in front of him, and couldn't help but speak nervously and fearfully: "My lord ,I……"

"Your memory has been modified," Daniel said bluntly, "This is the end of the investigation of this matter, don't go any further."

"...Yes," Grando said with a drop of cold sweat dripping from his ear, full of fear, "Thank you for reminding me."

"Well," Daniel nodded, "In addition, try not to connect to the spiritual network for a long time in the near future, and if you must connect, keep the shallow connection and do not go deep.

"Finally, the archbishop of the Supreme Bishops Conference may contact you in the near future to inquire about your recent investigations. You don't have to hide it for me when the time comes, just tell us frankly."

Grando couldn't help showing a surprised expression, and instantly realized the truth of the modification of his memory, and blurted out: "My lord, could it be that the archbishops are the ones who modified my memory and covered up the truth..."

As soon as he spoke halfway, he closed his mouth vigilantly, and continued to ask in a low voice: "My lord, what happened to the spiritual network recently?"

"Don't ask too much," Daniel interrupted him indifferently, "Knowing too much is not a good thing."

Another chill hit, Grando couldn't help swallowing, and cautiously stopped talking.

Then, all kinds of things in his field of vision shook suddenly.

The lights disappeared, the fireplace disappeared, and all the furnishings disappeared. No. 14 Black Iron Lane became a dark and empty room again. The man named Grando blinked and woke up fully. He found himself standing at the door of the room, One hand stretched behind him, still maintaining the posture of closing the door casually.

The powerful and mysterious Bishop of the Eternal Sleeper has left, gone from Grando's mind.

……

In the Master District of Aldernan, in a well-lit and well-decorated villa, Daniel was sitting in an easy chair in the study, holding a book in his hand, flipping a page casually.

The artificial nerve cord behind him sat quietly and submissively, with only the ends protruding from the hem of his clothes and wiggling slightly near the back of the chair.

"...It's time to think about how to respond to a certain archbishop's inquiry," the old mage sighed silently, and said to himself, "I just don't know which one I will face..."

The Supreme Council of Bishops is indeed trying to hide some huge secret, and this secret definitely involves a lot and has a huge impact. They are closely watching all the information flow related to this secret.