Sword of Dawn

Page 139

Veronica noticed the change in her father's expression: "Father, this is..."

"You can read it yourself," Francis II handed the secret letter to his daughter, "this is something you can read—because it will probably be passed to the Cathedral of Holy Light soon."

Veronica frowned and took the letter paper curiously, and the content on it jumped into her eyes:

"...The conflict between the believers of the Holy Light and the believers of the Blood God in the Holy Spirit Plain is becoming more and more serious... On XX, XX, armed conflict broke out between the believers of the two sides in Boulder City, and the radical Blood God believers smashed the statue in front of the Church of the Holy Light... The next day , the believers of the Holy Light retaliated, and the Church of the Blood God was burned down.

"Lord..." Veronica sighed in astonishment and sorrow, and drew the emblem of the Holy Light on her chest with her hand, "Even if you want to maintain your faith, why do you need to do this?"

Francis II glanced at his daughter, shook his head and said, "Keep looking down."

Veronica looked at the second half of the secret letter, and couldn't help but gasp:

"...The regional bishop of the Blood God Sect led the believers to fight back. On the way to the Church of the Holy Light, he was severely injured by a back arrow and broke out when he was dying...Mutated into a flesh and blood monster. There were a large number of witnesses at the scene...

"The lord of Boulder City and the regional bishop of the Church of the Holy Light jointly killed monsters... Afterwards, they searched the Church of the Blood God, found a secret room under the church, and found a large number of bloody sacrificial traces... There are also signs of the death of all things and records of various blasphemy Notes of knowledge, evil speech...

"...All the Churches of the Blood God in Boulder City have been sealed off...Half of the believers have been expelled..."

"A person at the level of a bishop in the area is actually a believer in the Death of All Things Society..." Veronica murmured to herself with an incredulous expression, "They have infiltrated to such a degree..."

"So you should understand, my daughter," Francis II said with a bad face, "understand why I have been saying that Ansu is not ready for a war with Typhon at all...especially this year. "

Veronica was silent for a moment, and returned the letter in her hand to the old king: "Father, how are you going to deal with this matter?"

"The royal power does not interfere with the divine power, and the divine power does not interfere with the royal power. This has always been the rule, but now someone is shedding blood for it, and the king must do something," Francis II said in a low voice, "We have been searching The whereabouts of those cultists, even started to investigate every nobleman, began to investigate the supernatural beings registered in the royal family, but ignored the Holy See... The Holy See, which was thought to be the least likely to be corrupted by the cultists, has also become a breeding ground for evil."

Francis II clenched his fists and couldn't help knocking on the table: "Veronica, the church must be inspected, but... I can't let this further affect the stability of the kingdom."

"Father, I can assure the cooperation of the Church of the Holy Light. Any rational follower of the Holy Light will understand this-it is good for everyone to find out the cultists who are hiding around," Veronie said. Ka said with a solemn expression, the power of the Holy Light was agitating around her, creating a holy halo, "I believe that other sects will actively cooperate after learning what happened in Boulder City... No one wants to Cultists lurk in their own homes."

Chapter 0334 Rock Crack Fortress

The ancient castle where the Glenn family lived for generations stood quietly before Gao Wen's eyes.

It is located on the top of the mountain, next to a steep cliff, years of wind and rain erosion and collapse even made the cliff almost begin to sag inward, and also let the castle on it present a disturbing and crumbling posture, and the castle itself is even more old It is to aggravate every visitor's fears in this regard-but in any case, a fortress standing on the top of a mountain, close to a dangerous cliff, does indeed bring a shocking beauty.

Gao Wen started to look at the castle from the time when he was still at the foot of the mountain. It wasn't until the carriage finally climbed up the hill along the wide ramp and came to the castle that he sighed softly: "The hearts of the Grenn family It's quite wide..."

Amber next to him was stunned: "You sighed this all the way?"

Gawain looked at the half-elf girl inexplicably: "What do you think?"

Amber opened her mouth, held back for a long time but couldn't think of any other words, so she followed Gao Wen and raised her head with emotion: "The Ge Lan family's hearts are very generous..."

"Okay, don't be emotional, go and call the door."

The heavy black gate of Glenn Castle opened slowly in front of Gawain. As the oak gate inlaid with purple steel and copper runes opened to both sides, Gawain's eyes swept across their surface.

He saw mottled scars and some scorched marks, although they had been modified, they were still faintly visible.

Behind the gate is a brightly lit long hall—a red carpet is spread from the main entrance to the stairs at the end of the long hall. Maids and attendants stand on both sides of the red carpet, and a tall middle-aged butler stands at the front. He bent down and stretched his left hand like a swan's wings, guiding the distinguished guests through the gate.

The mistress of the Gülen family stood in the center of the long hall.

She is a tall but too slender woman, about 30 years old, with long black curly hair, deep eye sockets, and a slightly pale complexion, but the years have not had time to leave vicissitudes on this lady's face , she is still a beautiful woman who can attract attention in the banquet hall.

At the same time that Gao Wen was walking forward, the lady also came forward just right.

Everything was well-mannered and well-regulated, which reminded Gao Wen of the Fort Konder he visited last time. However, there was only a chaotic and illusory dream in Fort Konder. What is there here?

Gao Wen showed a slight smile: "I hope my presumptuous visit will not cause trouble to the neighbors."

"Your arrival has brought unprecedented glory to this land." Ropeni Grant bowed down and saluted Gao Wen according to her title. Gawain noticed that what this lady was doing was a man's aristocratic audience Etiquette, but there is no surprise in my heart.

After the Gulen family lost their male master, this widow took on the role of male master. She is the lord of this land, and there has been no news of remarriage so far, which is enough to show her attitude—— At this moment, she greeted the Duke with the etiquette of a gentleman's audience, which is also a "language" that only nobles can understand.

Gawain raised his eyes and looked towards the end of the long hall. As expected, on the vertical wall between the two curved staircases, he saw a huge portrait of a handsome black-haired young man in a black coat and a snow-white shirt, standing in the painting with a light smile on his face, and a white candlestick and the same white "death chrysanthemum" can be seen in front of the portrait.

That should be the previous Viscount Glenn. It is not surprising that his portrait hangs here, but the white candlestick and death chrysanthemum are quite unusual—for many contemporary nobles, the loyalty of marriage is limited to On the premise that both parties are still alive and their respective families are stable, once one of the two parties dies, the one who is still alive (whether it is a husband or a lady) will naturally find a new marriage partner as soon as possible after a short period of mourning. The performance of "disloyalty", because timely and wise marriage is precisely the necessary means to maintain the strength of the family and support the development of the territory. A widow or widower who has been married many times can even be described as hot in some cases——

Ansu's huge, complicated, bloated and dirty aristocratic genealogy and land transfer history were formed in such "marriage wars".

Gao Wen withdrew his gaze from the portrait of Viscount Glenn, thinking of the information that Amber had investigated in his mind, then he turned his head and smiled slightly at Ropeni Glenn: "Ma'am, you must have known that Kant was included in Cyprus. The news about the Syl family, and His Majesty's new entrustment—the Cecile Territory has been linked with the Glenn Territory, and I am here this time just to visit our new neighbors."

"It's in line with the rules that I should take the initiative to visit you," Ropeni Glenn showed a slightly stiff smile, as if the smile had been away from her for so long that it became awkward to mobilize the muscles on her face, "it's just I left the territory a few days ago, and it was only a few days before I came back here..."

"Rules," Gao Wen waved his hand, "We made the rules back then, so as long as I don't care, you don't have to care about the rules."

After a short and innocuous polite speech, the Viscount Ropeney invited Gawain and his personal entourage (Amber) to the drawing room of the castle. Lan led the best harp players and bards to join in the fun.

After the afternoon tea, there will be a rather grand ball in the castle, and the dinner will be held in the middle of the ball.

To be honest, Gawain is not interested in the ball, and he is not interested in any welcoming ceremony, but these are necessary procedures - and the ball was held for him and for him in name, but in fact a The Duke has nothing to do in this kind of "small castle" ball, and no one would dare to invite him. The real meaning of the ball is to become a social platform for the nobles and nobles who come here admiringly.

Using the duke's visit as a sign, Luo Penny can invite the surrounding lords, large and small, to come as guests, and even invite nobles who are more powerful than her to come here. As long as she can successfully hold this banquet, the reputation of the Glenn family will definitely be strengthened. Skyrocketing, even if the nobles in the southern border are not too fond of the surname Cecil, they will face up to the ability displayed by the Viscountess Glenn in the process of holding events-holding large and small events on occasions that are not suitable for bright knives. Small banquets and dances are the usual means for nobles to show their strength.

Both Gawain and Amber were not interested in these twists and turns, but the latter was at least very satisfied with the fact that "there were a lot of people standing behind him serving him to eat".While eating the snacks brought by the maid, the half-elf lady murmured to Gawain: "Look at the house, and then at you, in such a big Duke's mansion, you probably don't have as many maids and attendants here. "

"Why do I want so many people around to watch me eat? I don't think it's bothering me," Gao Wen was chatting with Ropeni Grant before, and at the moment when the Viscountess went to confirm the situation of the banquet hall, he chatted with Amber Get up, "Speaking of which, eat slowly—there's another meal tonight."

"God knows what the 'dinner' is, a radish decorated with feathers or raw meat surrounded by colored stones? I have seen the 'ceremonial dinner' at the formal banquet of the nobles, it is not as good as the cake baked by Betty," Amber said to her mouth Stuffed a small piece of cake in it, swallowed it hard and winked at Gao Wen, "Hey, have you found any clues? Do you have that... sense of disobedience in a dream?"

"No." Gao Wen didn't expect Hu Po to really not forget his business when he was eating Hesse. He shook his head after taking a look at him, "But I think this place is different from the original Fort Kundera. This place should indeed be Not affected by real dreams."

Amber looked at Gao Wen curiously: "How do you know?"

"Do you still remember our experience in Fort Kant?" Gawain patiently explained, "Viscount Kant lives reclusively, the castle never holds any banquets, and hardly invites any guests. What kind of event is this kind of opportunity to hold? This is because the more outsiders in the "real dream", the greater the chance of the dream collapse, and the awake people will impose a very heavy burden on the ritual spells of the eternal sleeper-but that Ge The Viscount Lan obviously has no worries in this regard."

Amber nodded: "She invited many people to visit you..."

Gawain casually knocked on the half-elf lady's head: "This castle does not have the weird atmosphere of Kantland, it is open to the outside world, which basically cuts off the possibility of large-scale dream illusions covering the castle. Of course "We will have to observe the specific situation to be sure."

Just at this moment, the Viscountess who went to inspect the banquet hall returned to the room, and she sat down in front of Gao Wen: "I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

"Don't mind, I'm admiring the collection here," Gao Wen said casually, his eyes casually sweeping over the oil paintings and wooden carvings displayed to the guests in the living room, "very good collection."

"These are all left by my husband," Luo Peini said lightly, "he loves art, especially painting, and some of them are even painted by himself."

Gao Wen stood up and casually walked to a painting depicting a large area of ​​farmland and houses: "It's rare to see someone painting farmland on canvas."

In this era, "painting" is a kind of high-end and luxurious artistic enjoyment. Basically, only nobles, churches and rich people have the ability to spend money on it, so the audience of painting is only those "upper class people". The content can be described as tedious, basically only various portraits, religious paintings and paintings depicting the life of the castle court.

“It’s the work of my husband,” explains Roperney Grant, “who likes to draw what he sees outside, even if it’s a dirty cowshed and a dilapidated barn.”

"I see." Gao Wen turned around with a smile on his face, "It's pretty good."

At this moment, an attendant suddenly pushed open the door of the living room, and quickly walked towards the Countess Luo Penny.

Gao Wen noticed that the attendant had a nervous expression on his face.

"Madam," the attendant stopped in front of the countess, and said quickly, "Miss Patty said she didn't feel well..."

Ropeni Grant's expression changed instantly.

0335 - Patty Grant

Hearing the content of the attendant's report and seeing the change in the expression on Ropeni Grant's face, Gawain immediately guessed what happened.

As he knew and speculated——Patty Glenn was the daughter of the lord of Glenland, and the little girl must be in a bad state now. The reason why she connected to the spiritual network of the Eternal Sleeper was that I'm afraid it's also related to her physical condition.

Gao Wen concealed the turmoil in his heart, and there was pure curiosity on his face: "Ms. Gu Lan, what happened?"

"Please don't worry, you can just wait here for a while," the Countess Luo Penny controlled the worried look on her face, she bowed slightly to apologize to Gao Wen, and said in a low and fast tone, "I need to leave for a while, Will be back soon."

Gao Wen thought for a while, then nodded: "...Please feel free to deal with your affairs, don't worry about us. But if there is anything that needs help, I am always happy to help."

Viscount Luo Penny quickly thanked her, and then hurriedly followed her attendants out of the living room.

Gawain watched the other party's figure disappear behind the door, but until the end he controlled the urge to inquire further, and he didn't bring up any idea of ​​meeting the other party's daughter - because that was too abrupt.

Patti Grant should only be a child around ten years old, and he, Gawain, is a frontier duke who has just been resurrected not long ago and is currently opening up wasteland in the Great South. It is really suspicious to suddenly want to see the other party's daughter under such circumstances. It’s a bit too much, I can’t pull other single mothers to say, “My fellow, I heard that your family has a daughter?”——If I really want to do that, I will definitely lose my fame for the rest of my life...

In order to avoid arousing Luo Peini's vigilance and resistance, he had to make his words and deeds more natural, so Gawain just silently watched the Viches leave the room, knowing that he would always find a chance to meet that "Patty Grant" one sided.

After waving his hand to silence the noisy harps and lyres, Gawain began to walk around the reception room with interest, observing the collections and creations from the former Viscount Glenn, while looking at those quite personal unique things, while recalling various accounts and rumors about the former Viscount Glenn in his mind-these things are only a few years ago, and the longest is only a dozen years ago, but they have already become chaotic in this era. The absurdity of note-taking habits and some ulterior distortions, like dark stories handed down from hundreds of years ago.

In those various versions of the stories, the former Viscount Glenn was a mental patient who was plagued by evil spirits or genetic diseases. He had the characteristics of wisdom and madness at the same time. , but he squandered his wealth recklessly, ruining the tradition and reputation of the family, and causing chaos in the territory. He used to be a leader among the younger generation of southern nobles, and was the ideal lover in the hearts of countless noble ladies, but in the end he was I fell into the thirst for forbidden knowledge, and even died in the magic laboratory...

Gao Wen kept piecing together the true and false stories in his mind, and most of those stories were the result of the investigation by the amber sent. The elf nodded: "Are you full?"

"I'm full, I'm full!" Hu Po patted her stomach in a very unpromising way, "Look at your expression and tone... you must ask me to work again, right?"

"It's not a very troublesome matter," Gawain smiled. "You go to the gate of the castle and look at that door..."

……

Before the evening dance began, Roperney Grant finally appeared in front of Gawain again—of course, Amber returned to Gawain's side one step earlier than her.

There was a trace of exhaustion on the countess's face, but her emotions had obviously calmed down. After seeing her, Gawain asked curiously and naturally: "I heard what the attendant said just now, Patti Grant yes……"

"It's my daughter," the Countess Luo Penny smiled faintly. It seemed that the smile on her face would be softer and more natural only when she mentioned her daughter. "Her body is not very good..."

"I hope she can recover soon," Gao Wen said. "If there is a chance, I would like to see that child—there is a very good druid in my territory, maybe it can help."

The expression on Luo Peini's face was softer, and her tone of voice when she spoke to Gao Wen was a little more sincere than before: "Thank you for your kindness, but I'm afraid no druid can cure Patty's illness. Of course, you can go see her , I think Patty should be very happy to know such a legendary figure as you—she often heard your stories when she was a child."

The dance started as scheduled.

In the largest banquet hall in Glenburgh, the dining tables are filled with food and wine, and the performers provided by the Glenn family are playing soothing and beautiful Ansu court music on a wooden platform in the corner of the hall, gentlemen and ladies in costumes They walked into the banquet hall and started their aristocratic socializing in this prosperous and luxurious place, and these small and medium-sized nobles or noble heirs from around Glenland did not ignore the person sitting on the platform at the end of the hall—from time to time someone put He turned his gaze to the place above the ground, looked at Duke Cecil and Countess Glen who were talking on it, and guessed what they were talking about.

Gao Wen was actually just chatting with Luo Penny. After seeing the specifications of the dance, the texture of the tableware used, the number of musicians and their costumes, he smiled and praised: "It was a good dance."

"It is a great honor to receive your opinion like this," replied the Vitesse, "I have done my best to make this ball worthy of you."

Gao Wen just nodded lightly, and at a certain moment after that, he noticed a change in Ropeni Grant's eyes when she looked at the noble members in the hall.

It was deep hostility, contempt, a flame that bordered on hatred.

This change in eyes was well hidden. If Gao Wen hadn't caught it, he might have overlooked it with his power of observation.

A smile appeared on the corner of Gawain's mouth, and he said in a very casual tone: "How many of those who appeared here today also appeared at Count Karlov Hossman's banquet hall ten days ago?"

Ropeni Grant's expression seemed to be stiff for a moment, but all her abnormalities were fleeting, and in the next moment, she spoke calmly: "It seems that even after 700 years have passed, what happened on this land Things still can't hide from your eyes."

"No, there are many, but I just happened to know about one or two of them after the fact."

"...Count Hossman used disgraceful means to steal your wealth. Fortunately, Glenn was not involved in it." The Viscountess said after two seconds of silence, and calmly avoided Gawain's initial question. , did not lead the topic to those noble members gathered here.

But Gawain himself didn't come to pursue this matter, he just mentioned something casually, looked at Ropeni Grant's reaction, and then pretended to forget about this topic, and suddenly said a sentence: "Your The husband, in my opinion, is a remarkable man."

"...that amazing man, just left me with a mess."

Gao Wen smiled slightly, and turned his head to look at the southern nobles who were dancing in the banquet hall, speaking elegantly, as if they were stage actors. Suddenly, his sight was caught by a crack in the door of the banquet hall Indistinct shadows attract.

He couldn't see what it was, but he knew that there was someone in the crack of the door—because Ropeny Grant, who was next to him, had stood up and looked at the same place with a look of surprise and nervousness and worry.

The Viscountess seemed a little at a loss: "Your Excellency, please allow me first..."

Gao Wen had already stood up at this time: "Don't worry about it, let's go."

The Viscountess left her position almost immediately. She quickly passed through the side of the hall and walked towards the gate of the banquet hall, while Gao Wen followed naturally.

Someone in the banquet hall noticed this scene in surprise, but after Luo Peini waved her hand, the music continued to sound, and the nobles who participated in the ball did not leave, but many people's attention had clearly reached the gate, and followed Luo Peini and Gawain's figure.

Luo Peini pushed open the door of the banquet hall, and Gao Wen stood behind her and looked out.

A wooden chair with wheels was parked in the corridor outside the door, a slightly panicked maid stood behind the chair, and a small, curled up figure sat inside the chair.

That small figure is a girl, she is wearing a white, specially cut "clothes", the dress has only one sleeve, and the waist also has a big opening, because the skin of the person wearing it is fragile and festered, I'm afraid Can no longer touch any fabric; she sits in a chair in a crooked posture, where several straps hold her body in place to prevent her from rolling down; under her skirt, one leg has been pulled from the knee The truncated, shriveled and shriveled stump was lying powerlessly on the chair; half of her torso seemed to have been scorched by flames, her skin was scorched and wrinkled, and layers of scars formed after cracking and scabs could be seen everywhere, a twisted and weird Flesh clings and grows on the blackened and wrinkled half of her body: an arm she once had.

She was tied to the chair like a tattered doll, her head was supported with difficulty, and kept shaking slightly, as if it was difficult to fix her neck at any angle.

But she still had a pair of bright eyes, which were staring at Gao Wen curiously.

A third of her face was covered in ugly, twisted purple scars, but she still smiled and looked happy:

"You are so tall!"

Then, she added: "Just like Dad said in the story!"

Gawain squatted down in front of the chair so that the little girl didn't have to struggle to raise her head. He looked at the bright eyes of the other party, only these eyes were still exactly the same as the lively girl in the Dream City.

"Hi, Patty."

Chapter 0336 Changemaker

The little girl looked at Gao Wen in a daze, and asked curiously, "Do you know my name?"

Gawain smiled, and lightly stroked the little girl's hair: "You seem to know me too."

"You are Gawain, a great hero from long ago!" The little girl said happily, but there was a hint of hoarseness in her voice, which was very different from the clear and melodious voice in the dream world, "Dad told me about you before. The story of... the maids are saying, you have come to the castle..."