This is a dark age. The once glorious light of civilization is scattered on the ground. The iron-like divine authority and royal authority bind the land and people like chains. There are demonic tides in the wasteland in the distance and ferocious beasts in the wilderness nearby. Survival is something that requires great courage and effort.
But this was also an era of "innocence" - the iron-clad aristocratic order maintained the iron-clad "aristocratic spirit", and the rule makers were intoxicated in their own "glory" and "orthodoxy" , stubbornly implement those dogmatic morals and rules, and the existence of extraordinary people has established the law of "strength is better than wisdom". Everyone is accustomed to using their strength to distinguish themselves on the frontal battlefield. As a result, clever calculations became superficial and stagnant for thousands of years.
So people of this era are destined to be unable to deal with an old Yin B who has been hanging in the sky for tens of millions of years outside the battlefield.
Of course, Gawain himself thinks that every one of his plans is quite upright...
Hetty has been following Gao Wenxue for two years, but she still often can't keep up. She couldn't change her ancestor's thoughts for a while: "You...are you going to do business with the Eastern Legion and the King at the same time?"
"They have gold coins and resources, and we With industrial products, this is a very profitable business," Gao Wen said matter-of-factly.
Hetty was a little hesitant: "But the Eastern Legion has most likely secretly colluded with the cultists... If we sell the potion to them, will it be equivalent to helping those cultists of the death of all things..."
Gawain looked at Hetty: "First of all, don't forget that before the outbreak of the civil war, some retailers from the Cecil Chamber of Commerce had already been in contact with the East, and they had been doing small-scale potion business. , It’s just not expanded. Secondly...do you think they really benefited from selling the potion to the East?"
After thinking about it for a while, the previous question came to mind? The vanished faces of the batch of "friendly trading partners" whose industrial products were dumped by Cecil...
Ah, the grass on Viscount Carroll's grave should be one foot high, right? It seems that Count Horsman's body has not been completely assembled yet...
"Expand your horizons and broaden your thinking," Gawain said unhurriedly - although Hetty in front of him was already an adult, But I don’t know if it’s because he is called ancestor all day long. Recently, he really likes to educate people more and more. “Don’t be limited to immediate interests. There is a lot of knowledge between gains and losses.”
“ I understand," Hetty nodded seriously, "I will contact Padrick."
"Let Padrick organize a group of businessmen who are smart enough and relatively low-key to take charge of this. We have to do business with everyone, but some businesses cannot be done with too much fanfare." Gawain nodded, "In addition, send someone to the weapons design institute to study how to do 'foreign trade weapons'... …”
…
While Gawain and Hetty were discussing plans for the “foreign trade” of the Principality of Cecil, deep in the dense forest on the west side of Cecil City, a special team was walking quickly and cautiously among the vines and bushes.
In various stories, ancient forests that have been formed over thousands of years are often full of dangers. The deeper you go, the more so. In areas that have not been touched by human civilization, there are countless hidden treasures that have been abandoned by their parents. The scary legends that people use to scare children - bloodthirsty wolves, weird wizards, moving ancient trees, and cruel witches. It seems that all the things that can make ordinary people tremble will live in the hinterland of the forest, and at any time Ready to devour everyone who enters it.
Of course, the depths of the real forest will not be as absurd and bizarre as described in the story, but there are indeed many dangerous factors here. In the vast shadows sheltered by the towering ancient trees, wild beasts and Poisonous insects are the main residents, and in some more special areas - such as near the magic focus, there are even monsters and spiritual creatures lurking that can make even well-trained soldiers and knights afraid of them.
So you have to be extra careful when moving here.
The soldier wearing black light armor stepped on the thick fallen leaves and dead branches to the observation position. He pressed his hand on the side of the fully enclosed helmet and adjusted the mode of the tactical eyepiece. After a while, this A warrior gestured to his teammates behind him: "Safe."
One after another, black-armored warriors came out from behind the bushes, followed immediately by another man who also wore light armor but did not wear any Solderin was wearing a helmet, and the one who came out behind Solderin was Rebecca, who was wearing a short mage robe for easy movement and holding an iron staff in her hand.
“Ha——” Rebecca stood on a rock protruding from the ground and exhaled while looking at the situation in the distance, “I have never been to such a deep place...”< /p>
Solderin glanced at the Dame, but did not remind her to pay attention to her safety - when she first entered the forest, he also reminded her, "The mage's constitution is weak, so do not leave the protection of the warriors." But after watching the girl kill an attacking forest wolf with his own eyes, he realized that the women of the Cecil family were still as strong as they were seven hundred years ago.
After putting on the magic armor, this girl who is suspected of being a mage may be able to kill everyone except him...
"Stay vigilant, switch observers—— Shielders, be on alert." Solderin instructed the subordinates beside him, and then looked down at the amulet in his hand - a faint glow was floating on the surface of this magical item from his hometown. , which shows that the team is very close to the magic focus in the forest. In this position, the probability of monsters appearing will be much higher.
Then he looked at Rebecca—this team’s action today was initiated by the Viscountess, and the target of the action naturally had to be determined by the other party.
"We are not far from the focus of magic, right?" Rebecca jumped down from the stone and came to Solderin, "Wow - your pendant is spinning.Light! "
"Strictly speaking, this is already the area of influence of the magic focus," Solderin nodded, "The monster you are looking for should be nearby. "
"Well, I also heard that it is in this area..." Rebecca nodded, and then sighed, "It's better to grow up... When I was a child, my father and aunt never let me run away. Go to the depths of the forest..."
"The depths of the forest are very dangerous and are not a place for children," Solderin said seriously, "Even we silver elves do not allow children Ran casually into the heart of the forest.
Rebecca curled her lips and stepped forward: "Anyway, my aunt made up a lot of stories for me at that time to scare me, saying that there were such and such things hidden in the forest." Things... witches, wizards, ghosts, fallen elves and mages, trees that can run and jump, bears bigger than houses, etc..."
Thor While ordering the team to move on, Delin glanced at Rebecca who was walking next to him with a slight smile. Although this descendant of a friend had a somewhat unique mind, his childhood was not much different from others. The adults used ghost stories to scare him when he grew up. As an old friend of Gawain, he could not help but show a trace of care as an elder when he saw Rebecca. At this moment, he couldn't help but say: " You must be quite scared after hearing those stories, right? "
"Huh? Rebecca was stunned for a moment, then shook her head, "No - after hearing this, I ran into the forest to play." "
Solderin stumbled on the spot - as a silver elf, he almost fell out after growing up in the forest: "Why? ”
Rebecca said matter-of-factly: “Think about it, so many weird people and animals live in the forest, how lively the forest must be - I like to join in the fun the most. . ”
Solderin walked very steadily this time, but a Steel Ranger soldier walking next to him staggered...
Solderin almost looked at it The team member tripped over a dead branch, and then looked at Rebecca in astonishment - he found that he couldn't figure out what was wrong with this girl's logic: "You... Okay, then go play in the forest. What happens next? "
"I didn't run very far when I found a few wolves, fought with them and lost - and then I was discovered by the knights in the castle and took them back," Rebecca said. , couldn't help but let out a sigh, "I was really beaten that time... Later I realized that my aunt told me those stories not to tell me that the forest was lively, but to tell me that the forest was dangerous. "
Solderin: "..."
I don’t know whether the girl was talking about being beaten badly by a wolf or being beaten badly by an elder after returning to the castle, but according to rumors ...Mostly the latter.
After a while, the team reached deeper, and the chatter between Rebecca and Solderin gradually stopped.
The air was filled with excitement. A moist smell mixed withSmelling the slightly fishy smell of the soil, the Steel Ranger soldier who was observing the situation in front made a cautious gesture, and the entire team stopped covertly next to a dead giant tree.
Rebecca and Solderin cautiously moved forward for a distance, then poked their heads out from behind the bushes and looked at the situation on the other side.
In the depths of the dense forest, in the perennially dark area sheltered by the huge canopy of trees, large areas of muddy puddles and the ground covered with dead branches and rotten leaves form a hidden kingdom of monsters, with several huge and similar monsters. The black beasts of ligers and tigers were resting in the open space. They occasionally raised their eyelids to glance around, and their eyes as big as copper bells were filled with the brilliance of arcane magic.
No ordinary beast dared to approach this place occupied by monsters. In that vast forest clearing, apart from the dangerous demonized wild beasts, the only living creatures were a few pools of mud. And the gray-brown ooze monster slowly crawling in the rotten leaves - these weak and non-aggressive monsters are devouring the mud and rotten leaves. They are so low-level that they are almost natural phenomena and are obviously not worthy of being driven away by wild beasts.
Solderin counted the number of those wild beasts and breathed a sigh of relief: this magic focus was formed recently, and the gathered monsters were not very difficult to deal with.
The Iron Ranger soldiers quietly raised their weapons - high-power thermal ray guns, arcane missile launchers, and small individual howitzers. These deadly weapons were pointed at those in the distance. Monsters, and those wild beasts who are not good at perception are still ignorant of all this.
"Be careful, only kill the wild beast, don't spread it to the side," Rebecca said in a low voice, "Don't use the howitzer."
Use the howitzer The soldiers regretfully put away their weapons and replaced them with conventional thermal ray guns. Solderin understood Rebecca's words somewhat: Do not use weapons that are too powerful. This is obviously to prevent damage to this natural place. Although Rebecca can only rub fireballs, she is still a mage and has a need for magic focus.
It seems that in addition to the wild beasts, the target of this viscountess today should also include the focus of magic here - what is she studying recently?
Solderin decided to ask after the mission was over, but now... he had to deal with those reckless beasts first.
After a short and whispered command to fire, the Iron Rangers launched their attack.
The sound of heat rays and arcane missiles piercing the air suddenly broke the peace of the dense forest, followed by the angry roars of the demonized beasts and the dying wails that followed. .
The battle lasted only a minute - not even a minute.
The wild beast is indeed a dangerous monster - but that is for ordinary old-style soldiers and poorly prepared low-level knights. For steel who are armed to the teeth, use magical weapons, and use sneak attack tactics Ranger warriors, these powerful but slow-moving monsters are justIt just takes one or two rounds to focus the fire.
The fierce and near-miss battle ended, the sound of weapon firing gradually calmed down, and finally a dying beast struggled and fell to the ground, and a rapidly flying enchanted feather arrow penetrated it. His head ended all the killings. Holding a short bow (he was still accustomed to using this weapon that had been with him for many years), Solderin led the soldiers out of the natural bunker and towards the clearing in the forest, with Rebecca following closely behind.
A rustling sound rang around, and Solderin looked towards the direction of the sound - the frightened ooze monsters were trying to escape from this place, but judging from the speed of their wriggling, it was probably still possible. It will take a long time to get out of sight of the soldiers.
"Wow - you are very powerful," Rebecca praised with satisfaction as she looked at the results of the battle, "Killed them all!"
"My soldiers They are well-trained," Solderin smiled reservedly, "Is it time to collect samples?"
"Ah, yes," Rebecca nodded, and the surrounding soldiers immediately came to the reckless ones. Around the beast, ready to peel off samples according to the instructions, but then Rebecca waved her hand, "Go and catch those ooze monsters."
"Go and catch..." Solderling just said After repeating one word, she froze, "Huh?"
"Catch the ooze monster!" Rebecca blinked, "Why are you still stunned?"
Solderin looked confused, but at least he ordered the Steel Rangers who were also confused to quickly carry out the order - to catch the ooze monsters that were still slowly crawling towards the distance - and He himself looked at Rebecca in confusion after giving the order: "You brought us here...just to catch those ooze monsters?"
Rebecca nodded: "Yes. "
For the first time, Solderin felt that his brain was a bit lacking: "What's the use of catching that thing?"
"As long as you use it properly, even an ooze monster can be killed. They also have their own value," Rebecca said mysteriously, her eyes falling on the Steel Ranger soldiers in the distance - they easily caught those crawling around in the mud. A low-level monster, but it looked quite embarrassed because it was covered in mud. "In your eyes, ooze monsters are just a puddle of moving mud, but in my eyes... they might be industrial raw materials."< /p>
"Industrial raw materials..." Solderin couldn't connect the useless ooze monster with the magical magic industry. However, looking at Rebecca's shining Eyes, but he inexplicably felt a kind of persistent power, so that he never said a word of doubt, "Okay, I look forward to your results. But the ooze monster has caught it... What should we do with these reckless beasts?"
Rebecca looked around at the dead ferocious demonic beasts (although they were extremely ferocious, but they died unjustly), and thought for a moment: "Can they be eaten?"
" ...Although I have never eaten it, I heard that the ribs of Mangju are delicious and the bone stew is very nutritious.”
"Then cut a part and take it home," Rebecca slapped her hand, "I want to make soup for my ancestors!"