Sword of Dawn

Page 297

"The chief rune master of the empire."

"...Ah, that sounds good."

"You are dying." Jenny said slowly and clearly, looking into the mentor's eyes.

The shriveled body moved a bit on the ground, its head lifted slightly, and then quickly lowered: "It looks like this...so are you here to enjoy this scene?"

Jenny shook her head slightly, and said word by word: "It is the magic equipment that broke through the crystal cluster army's defense line. They are all based on the Ravencrest constant and rune logic."

She has rehearsed this sentence countless times in her heart to ensure that she will not say a word wrong, and similar words have been brewing in her heart as early as a year ago-but when she really had the opportunity to say these words When she came out, she found that she didn't have the slightest pleasure, and all she felt was emptiness.

The old mage, whose vitality was almost exhausted, was silent for several seconds before responding in a low voice: "I know, I guessed it when I saw the 'magic net'."

"I didn't come here today to see your end," Jenny stared at the old mage with a low tone, "You owe us an apology—me and Mr. Ravencrest."

The room fell into silence. After a minute of silence, the old mage's voice sounded hoarsely: "It seems that I was indeed wrong..."

He suddenly coughed violently. After half a minute of coughing, more vitality left his body, making his voice hoarse and deeper: "...but I won't apologize."

Jenny looked at this person who was approaching death every second in surprise, her lips moved twice: "You..."

"Extraordinary... can't apologize to slaves..." the voice said intermittently, "This is...principle..."

The surprise in Jenny's eyes gradually receded. She looked up and down at her mentor again, and then the room fell into a long silence again.

A few minutes later, the chief rune master of the empire breathed a sigh of relief, as if letting go of some burden in her heart, she supported herself on the ground with her hands, and slowly stood up——

The ground here is still as cool as I remember.

She lowered her head and looked at William Boken: "I see."

Then she turned around, as if preparing to leave just like that.

"Aren't you going to do it?" A hoarse and deep voice came from behind, "This is not difficult for you today."

Jenny didn't look back: "You are already dying."

"But you might feel better that way."

Jenny took a deep breath and exhaled slowly: "This is my principle."

"...Oh, that sounds good."

"Farewell, mentor, thank you for the two bags of wheat."

Jenny walked out of the secret room, and the soldiers serving as personal guards stepped forward immediately: "Master?"

"Let's go, go to Silver Castle to report. In addition, after the death of William Borken, this mage's tower was nationalized."

"Yes!"

The soldiers quickly responded to the order, while Jenny glanced at Mark, who was nervous and dazed, and several apprentices and assistants who were also nervous and dazed not far behind Mark.

After getting to know the soldiers, they finally fully understood the situation. Some of them are now almost waiting for Jenny to speak with the mentality of waiting for a trial.

"Go to the government affairs office to report later, the era of classical mages is over-whether you can survive in the new era depends on your own abilities."

Jenny just left such a sentence, then turned around and left this place with the soldiers.

In the secret room where the magic hub is located, the stream of magical magic gradually dimmed and calmed down.

In the gradually dissipating light, the shriveled body soaked in the pool trembled slightly, and began to crack and turn into debris.

After all the debris fell into the pool, a hoarse and distorted voice sounded in the empty room: "I'm... sorry..."

In Silver Castle, Gawain saw Jenny who came from the southern border in the study.

"I thought you would choose revenge," he was quite surprised after hearing the soldier's report, and said to Jenny in surprise at this moment, "or at least... vent."

"I thought about it, but I found that I really don't have such a character," Jenny smiled slightly, shaking her head and said, "For Mr. Ravencrest, these are meaningless, only those roaring magic The guide machine and the formula numbers printed in textbooks are the best commemorations for the dead."

Gao Wen took a serious look at Jenny. On the face of this white-haired girl with a scar on her cheek, all he saw was calmness and indifference. Obviously, a certain haze had left her.

"Since this is your choice, that's fine. William Borken is a lucky man. He died in the old age, which is much luckier than many die-hard nobles who survived the battle of the city," he said. Shaking his head, "Let's not talk about this, sit down, we have a lot of things to do in this city, I want to explain it to you."

Jenny sat down on the high-backed chair next to the desk, with a smile on her face: "I'm ready—Rebecca told me before I came here that I should bring as many books about classic spell models as possible." go back."

Gao Wen thought for a while, recalling the spectacular scene he saw when he walked into the Royal Library and the library of the Mage Association, he smiled and spread his hands: "Then you will definitely get what you want—here It's a treasure trove."

……

Silver Castle is indeed a treasure house. In various senses, the accumulation of the Moen royal family for hundreds of years has allowed ordinary people to accumulate unimaginable heritage in this castle-any storage room in it is enough for someone from the southern border The half-elf instantly dazzled.

But Amber resisted the attraction of those jewelry storage rooms with her strong willpower (of course, Gawain's deterrence helped her resist the temptation), and now all her attention is immersed in the mountainous and heavy piles of the Moen royal family. Inside the numerous court collections.

In a room deep in the Silver Castle, Amber was rummaging through a large pile of book scrolls, and several officers of the Military Intelligence Bureau and several court scholars were busy with her.

"This is the internal library of the Moen royal family, including the royal family's secret files, as well as the private collections of successive kings," a gray-haired court scholar followed Amber, chattering, "What are you looking for?" If something can't be found outside, it's probably here, but if it can't be found here... then it probably doesn't exist..."

"That can only prove that the collection in this dilapidated place is not complete." Amber looked up at the old scholar, and waved her hand impatiently, "Stop busying yourself at your age, find a place to rest, in case you The university student from the school was drawn with a bang, and someone must slap me on the wall..."

The scholar stepped back helplessly, while Amber continued to search among the bookshelves, but after less than half a minute, she suddenly stopped, turned her head to stare at the empty space between the bookshelves, raised her legs About to fly--

Before she kicked it out, a figure quickly emerged from the air, and hurriedly dodged aside.

"If you stay a little later, I'll kick it out." Amber glanced at Raven, "What are you doing here?"

"Let me report the situation," Dark Crow stood at a safe distance, and reported to the new boss in front of him, "The list of all Royal Shadow Guards has been sorted out, including everyone's areas of expertise and service experience."

"Okay, just send it to my office. I'll study it slowly when I get back. Both the Military Intelligence Bureau and the Iron Rangers are short of people. As long as you retrain well, you can all come in handy."

Dark Crow breathed a sigh of relief, lowered his head: "I am willing to obey the order."

Then he looked at the busy scene around him, and couldn't help but ask, "You haven't found what you're looking for yet?"

"Of course, why else am I still here," Amber rolled her eyes, "There are so many, God knows when I'll find them..."

Dark Crow thought for a while: "What exactly are you looking for?"

"A surname that is not recorded, a nobleman that no one knows...probably a nobleman," Amber said casually, "His name is Sally Randolph, a transcendent, but there is no information about this surname."

As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly stopped touching her chin and stared at the dark crow: "You haven't heard of it, have you? It's not always said in the story, drama or something..."

"Sorry, I haven't heard of this name and surname either..." Raven shook his head, but before Amber rolled his eyes, he continued, "But if the person you're looking for is a 'hidden knight'...then Maybe there will be clues in the secret file of the Royal Shadow Guard."

Chapter 0665 Clues and Progress

"The Hidden Knight?" It was the first time for Amber to hear this term—after all, she had just roughly straightened out the aristocratic structure of the Old Kingdom until now, and she was only concerned about those obviously more secret and more special titles and titles. Confused, "What are you doing? A stalker with the same hands as you?"

"...That's not the case," Dark Crow had just been in actual contact with this new boss for a few days, and it seemed quite difficult to adapt to the other party's speaking rhythm, so he responded after a moment of surprise, "The Hidden Knight is the private and secret nobleman. Collectively referred to—the royal shadow guards who have made special meritorious deeds, transcendent beings who have taints but are protected by the king, and the "dark hands" who are directly loyal to the king himself. Those whose identities cannot be disclosed for various reasons are called 'hidden knights'.

"The king will bestow surnames on these people as a recognition of their merits and loyalty, but these surnames will not be recorded in the normal heraldry list and noble genealogy, only the direct members of the royal family and a small number of people who are responsible for managing the list will Knowing that these people exist. And generally speaking, more than half of the Hidden Knights are the Royal Shadow Guard-the reason is self-evident."

When it came to the end, there was a hint of pride on Dark Crow's face. There is no doubt that he is also a "secret nobleman" with a "secret surname".

However, Hu Po is very disapproving of his pride: "Ansu's royal family...not working hard on production development and national system, but working hard on these shady fields. It's really the same as what the old zongzi said, 700 It has been a year, and you must have new tricks on the basis of the Royal Shadow Guards."

"Old Zongzi?" Dark Crow heard this novel word for the first time, subconsciously repeated it, "What do you mean?"

"Code, don't use it casually, you can easily be killed if you use it wrong," Amber waved her hand indifferently, then looked Raven up and down, "Let's not talk about that, it seems that you are also a secret knight, right? Surprisingly...you can be a hidden knight?"

The doubts in these words are obvious, Dark Crow's face is slightly embarrassed, but he really can't explain to a "master" who kicked himself out of the Shadow Realm three times in a row, that he is actually a good player in the way of shadows—— The shadow talent of the half-elf lady is really unreasonable. In front of her, she, a stalker who ranks in the top of the royal shadow guard, is like a new apprentice.

It seems that as long as this half-elf lady continues to serve as my boss, then I won't be able to get ahead on the path of shadows... If it doesn't work, consider the suggestion that Duke Gawain Cecil once made, go back and practice Two-handed swordsmanship?

Amber didn't know what Raven was thinking for a moment, but she was obviously very dissatisfied with the other party's daze: "What are you doing? I'm talking to you!"

"Ah, yes, I... am also a hidden knight, because I have made some contributions during the period of allegiance to the royal family," Raven said hurriedly, and quickly skipped the topic, "If you want to find A man with a noble name who is not listed in the normal noble lineage may be a hidden knight."

"I think he made up his surname...but what if..." Amber smacked her lips and looked up at Raven, "You have a directory over there, right? Why don't you find it quickly?"

"Yes!" Raven immediately took the order and left quickly.

After the former royal shadow guard left, Amber glanced at the books and files on the shelves around her, as well as the subordinates and scholars who were busy between the shelves. She smacked her lips and her ears drooped slightly. Say something.

"Director..." A nearby military intelligence officer approached cautiously, "Then...shall we continue to look for it?"

"Of course keep looking!" Hu Po glanced at the subordinate angrily, "Who knows if there are any clues in the 'Secret Knight' directory, if there is no clue, why don't you still look here?"

The officers of the Military Intelligence Bureau quickly returned to work, and the dark crow who went to get the list didn't make Amber wait too long.

Just ten minutes later, the former royal shadow guard returned to the archive room with several heavy and thick books.

"These are the directories of the hidden knights who have been secretly conferred by the royal family in the past few decades, as well as some of their information," Raven said while placing the large books, old and new, on the table next to Amber, "Earlier The archives of the archives are kept in another archive, and if the materials are before Brumaire... it is even more difficult to find, there is a lot of confusion and mistakes. If you need it, it may take some time and people to slowly sort it out. "

"No need for now, he's just an ordinary human being, decades... decades is enough," Amber looked at those thick books, her always confident tone suddenly seemed hesitant, as if she had a premonition As if, looking at those black covers, she seemed to see an unshaven and decadent face that had been blurred in her memory, "Look here first, here first... you guys, just leave it alone Those bookshelves! Come and help me find them!"

Several subordinates responded immediately: "Yes, Director."

"Be careful, don't break it. Some of the books are very old," Amber urged while distributing the books to the subordinates, "Remember, Sally Randolph."

Soon, there was only the slight and cautious sound of flipping books in the archives room.

Amber climbed onto a high reading chair, and slowly flipped through the book in front of her, confirming word by word the name appearing on it and the portrait attached between the pages, she almost held her breath, but a Hours later and still nothing.

But a member of the Military Intelligence Bureau suddenly shouted: "Director! I found it!!"

"Bring it to me to see!"

Amber took the roster handed over by her subordinates, and before the words "Sally Randolph" came into view, the first thing she saw was a lifelike portrait drawn between the pages of the book with recording spells ——It was a young man under the age of 30, with black hair combed neatly behind his head, wearing a dress, not outstanding in appearance, but there seemed to be a hint of cynicism in his eyes.

Amber looked at the portrait quietly for a moment, and said softly to herself: "Ah... so you were once young..."

"Is it him?" A subordinate came over and asked cautiously.

Anyone can see that the person who appeared in the royal family's secret information must be related to their chief.

"It's him, my adoptive father." Amber muttered in a low voice, and then quickly scanned the relevant information of "Sally Randolph" - which mentioned the young man's background, mentioned his Family members and some resumes, these materials are extremely brief, and have already become worthless with the passage of time, but Amber still reads them very seriously, until she noticed a black heraldry stamp at the end of the materials, and the stamp of the seal A few words following the poke: Defected or missing, delisted.

"What does this mean?" Amber pointed to the stamp and words, and looked up at Raven.

Dark Crow looked over his head, frowned slightly, and seemed to hesitate, but he still said: "This stamp shows that he was once a Royal Shadow Guard, and his defection or disappearance... means literally. But for the Royal Shadow Guard In other words, going missing would be considered a defection - we knew so many secrets that if we lost contact without being able to prove that we were indeed dead, we would be considered 'hidden dangers'."

"Defected...he is a defected royal shadow guard?" Amber muttered to herself, "but why did he defect..."

Dark Crow looked at the roster in front of Amber for a while, and suddenly said: "If it is the action record corresponding to this roster... there should be one, and I have seen it. Please wait a moment, I will look for it."

This time, he returned faster than before, and after just a few minutes, he returned here with a file that was obviously quite old.

"Here, Surrey Randolph's last mission record before his disappearance—thankfully, it didn't involve any court struggles and was not destroyed." Raven handed the information to Amber, pointing to a line of words that was already a bit blurred on it. Said, the latter immediately took it and read the above content in a low voice:

"...in 690... went to the Dark Mountains to search for Gondor's heritage, but did not return. No evidence of death was found, suspected of defecting."

That's all about Surrey Randolph's final assignment as Royal Shadowguard.

"Dark Mountains... He went to the Dark Mountains, but he didn't return to the capital, so he is suspected of defecting?" Hu Po frowned, her thoughts changed sharply, "No... if according to the rules of the Royal Shadow Guard, he is real He defected... In 690, he lived incognito in the southern border for more than 20 years..."

She flipped through all the memories of her adoptive father in her mind, trying to draw a clearer outline from those memories to explain the trajectory of her adoptive father's life and the choices he had made—

A royal shadow guard who won the king's trust and was even exceptionally granted the title of a secret nobleman. He went to the dark mountains to find Gondor's heritage, and then defected without warning. He lived incognito in the southern border for more than 20 years and adopted a half-elf adopted daughter. , and a druid with a bad style was deceived, and finally he was caught because he went to the church to steal a book, and was executed by the local nobles and bishops. His death was meaningless, like a crappy thief...

The turning point of everything seems to have happened in the "Dark Mountains".

Sally Randolph went there to find the heritage of Gondor, and now Amber knows very well - there really is a heritage of Gondor there!

There's a stronghold of disobedience there!

Has Surrey Randolph found the fort?What did he find in the fort?Or was it because he failed to find anything that he had to simply live in seclusion in the southern border?

Judging from logic, Amber thinks that the second possibility is not great. A royal shadow guard who can be canonized by the king cannot defect for such a reason, while the first possibility...

According to the information held by Amber, Cecil's explorers have been active in the rebellious fortress so far, and have not found any traces of third-party intrusion. Except for Cecil, no one else should have entered that ancient fortress.

But this conclusion is not [-]% reliable - because the Fortress of Rebellion is too big, and many areas are hidden or in a state of being unexplorable due to various reasons, so far the commanders of the exploration team dare not say that they have mastered it. Half of the area of ​​the disobedient fortress, even Kamel, the "disobedient", does not know how many divisions there are in that fortress, how many different project teams are occupying different laboratories, and how many kinds of disobedience are being carried out. The gods, an attempt to fight against the tide of magic.

Amber shook her head vigorously, suppressing all the complicated thoughts, then grabbed the documents on the table, jumped off the high reading chair and ran to the door of the archive room.

Dark Crow couldn't help shouting from behind: "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find the old rice dumpling!"

After saying these words, Hu Po's figure had already disappeared outside the door.

Dark Crow scratched his hair, looking bewildered—so what does the code word "Old Zongzi" mean?

At the same time, in the study room of Silver Castle, Veronica/Ophelia was reporting to Gao Wen part of the progress of rebuilding the church management organization.

"We have spread the oracle, and the middle and lower class believers firmly believe in the oracle, and have not questioned the various restructuring measures...

"The upper-level priests are a little sensitive, and the right to interpret the classics has touched their interests, but the situation is within a controllable range.

"Stopping the heresy trial will help ease the relationship between the Church of the Holy Light and other sects, and help restore domestic order, but there is also the possibility that the oppressed alien believers may have prejudice and resentment towards the restructured Church of the Holy Light. One thing we need the publicity support from the Government Affairs Department...

"The patriarch is starting to incorporate and reorganize the original Holy See Knights, because these knights have been severely reduced in number, and they are in urgent need of reorganization and reconstruction, so the process is going smoothly."

"Let's stop here for the church report first," Gao Wen said after Veronica's report came to an end. "Let's talk about something else."