After another ten seconds of silence, Amber broke the silence again. The half-elf lowered his head, and his voice was as soft as a whisper: "...So, I don't have to look for the whereabouts of my biological parents anymore. Right, old man?"
"We just want you to live like a normal child, and normal children have parents - in the early stages of realizing that you will soon completely forget yourself. After the memory, Sally Randolph and I lied to you, saying that we picked you up from the forest and that your parents were missing." Pittman's voice was low and he shook his head slightly, "Hey, maybe we should put this If you lie more thoroughly, you won't care about your biological parents for so many years."
"Have you always known the name 'Artificial Man No. 36'?"
"After Sally Randolph died, I found scholars in ancient writing and asked them to help translate the meaning of these letters..." Pittman sighed and said slowly, "But this is actually no longer the case. It makes sense. After reading his notes, I can guess your origin even if I can't understand the letters... That's why I once wanted to bring this secret into the coffin."
Amber sips. He pursed his lips and said, "Fortunately, you didn't bring me in, otherwise I would have troubled you even if I dug you out again."
Pitman spread his hands, showing a helpless look: "I don't know. "Who did you learn this temper from?"
Amber's lips moved, but she didn't make any sound. She just looked down at the yellowed and worn-out diary, and muttered after a long time. One sentence: "This is at least an answer..."
Gawain stretched out his hand and gently brushed her head: "Are you okay?"
"I didn't cry."
p>"I didn't say you cried..."
"...It's okay," Amber shook her head, but still didn't avoid Gawain's hand, "It's just... ...This answer is different from all the answers I have imagined."
"As an outsider, I can't plan your life or decide your thoughts, but from my perspective...all of this. It's all in the past," Gawain looked at Amber. "Whether it's the people who created you or the things mentioned in Sally Randolph's diary, they are all in the past tense. These people and things together have shaped you today. , since you are still alive and well, you should look forward."
Amber suddenly took a deep breath and exhaled it for a long time, then she raised her head and rolled her eyes at Gawain. : "You actually don't know how to comfort people at all, you know?"
Then before Gawain could speak, she laughed at herself and shook her head: "But I am an android... so maybe I just want to take advantage of you."
She seemed to adjust her mood very quickly. Although she looked a little different from her usual cheerful state, she still laughed and said with a smile. Some kind of relief: "You're right, it's time to look forward. Whether it's an artificial man or something else, at least I finally found this answer, andNo matter how you look at it, knowing the secret that your adoptive father has kept hidden for so many years is quite profitable. "
Gawain glanced at the half-elf: "But there are still many mysteries about you. Do you still plan to keep looking for them? "
"Keep looking, of course, keep looking," Amber shook her head vigorously, her ears twitching slightly in the air. "The truth may be scary, but I am more afraid of the unknown. To put it bluntly, Even if I die in the future, I have to find a way to die, right? "
"This is not like what you would normally say," Gawain couldn't help but say, "according to your style, even if you are going to die in the future, you have to find a way to escape, just in case you survive. . "
"So to put it bluntly, it must be a situation where you can't run away," Amber put her hands on her hips and said plausibly. Then she took another look at the diary on the table, with a serious look on her face. He thought, "And after seeing this, I really want to understand some things, especially the incident that caused my adoptive father to take risks and lose his life..."
This led to Sari· Randolph took a desperate risk and lost his life.
Of course Gawain knew what the amber was referring to - in order to steal a book hidden in the southern cathedral, Ben had successfully survived in anonymity for decades. Sally Randolph took a risk and was captured by the extraordinary people of the Holy See. He was jointly sentenced to death by the local nobles and the bishop.
What kind of book would that be? Is Daofu so attractive?
Gawain and Amber's eyes fell on Pitman at the same time: This old man who has hidden a lot of secrets may know something.
"Here we are. Let’s not hide any secrets today,” Gawain said, “What on earth did Sally Randolph want to steal from the church back then? Is it really just a book? "
"It's really just a book," Pitman smiled wryly and spread his hands. "It's an ancient book that dates back almost five or six hundred years ago. I don't know its specific name and location. content, but it should be a notebook or a miscellany of observations and experiences. Its author mentioned many secret places and ruins scattered in the world in the book, including a place suspected to be the Shadow Fortress-Sarri hopes to find Amber's life experience from it. , find the secret behind Shadowkeep. "
"Just for this? Is he going to risk his life just because of this? Amber's eyes widened, "Can't we just let this kind of thing rot in history?" What was he going to find? "
"You are right, this is really the stupidest of all the stupid things he has ever done. I still scold him severely in my dreams to this day, but neither of us expected this at the time. "This little thing could kill him." Pitman shook his head slightly. "The church where the book was stored was just an ordinary regional church, but that day there were a few ascetic monks from Luan City visiting. Sarri's mistake was not as simple as knocking over the candle enshrined by the lord. He was caught red-handed near the church's reliquary. "
Pittman shook his head and sighed: "InThat day, his good luck came to an end. "
Gawain frowned: "Is that book still in that church now? ”
“It is said that after that incident, the priest of the local church dedicated most of the books to Luan Cathedral to make up for its ‘neglect of precautions’. I don’t know that Surrey Is the book I'm looking for among them...most likely. "
After a moment of silence, Gawain said lightly: "Luan City now belongs to the empire and is a training facility for the white knights. "
"It was once the headquarters of the Southern Church, and the collection of books there was huge," Pittman reminded. "Books have always been valuable property, and the church was most keen to plunder such property, especially in the South. After the decline of the Cecil family - more than half of the books in the Southern Territory for a hundred years were piled in the library of Luan Cathedral. "
"It doesn't matter, we can look for it slowly," Gao Wen said casually. "We need to sort out the collections of books in churches and academic facilities across the country, and summarize and collect knowledge in various fields. Now is the time, we can Let’s start with the library of Luan Cathedral - Wright said that the path of the Holy Light requires a sound mind and body. Those white knights who are trained in the cathedral cannot only practice cross-country with heavy loads and catch wild bears in the mountains and fields every day. Well. "
"But we don't know what that book looks like," Amber couldn't help but say, "We don't even know the title..."
"Then first After sorting out all the notes and experiences, in a church library that mainly contains religious classics and books on the supernatural realm, there should not be many 'miscellaneous books' that are eligible to be included. "
Both Amber and Pitman nodded, agreeing with Gawain's idea.
After thinking for a while, Gawain said: "Besides, about that' Shadowkeep', maybe there's someone out there who can help answer our questions. ”
“Who? "
Pitman didn't react for a moment and asked subconsciously, but Amber's eyes flashed next to him and he instantly thought of the answer: "That Ophelia? "
"If Sally Randolph's information is correct, the Shadow Fortress should be another disobedient base, and Ophelia Norton was responsible for more than one disobedient fortress," Gawain laughed. He nodded, "Among the projects that the ancient rebel was responsible for...could there be amber involved? "
...
In the largest banquet hall on the first floor of Silver Castle, the lights are bright and elegant palace music is floating in the air.
Qualified The nobles who entered the "infield" for the dinner were walking through the gorgeous castle hall. They were wearing the most gorgeous dresses, with the most appropriate smiles, and used the richest social experience to deal with this event that was destined to be recorded in history. A banquet in the history books, but compared with the castle banquets in the past, the nobles who appeared in the venue today seemed much more restrained and nervous——
The establishment of the new empire changed everything in this country, and severalThe aristocratic system that has not changed for a century will also be turned upside down with the signing ceremony after the banquet. Although those who can come here at this moment are the "positive progressives" from the old aristocracy who support the changes and the New Deal and have accepted the new order, but After all, this is an era that they have never been exposed to before. Facing a new social structure and an elusive future trend, these "newly promoted imperial nobles" will inevitably have the mentality of walking on thin ice.
They smiled in the banquet hall, but tensed their muscles. They invited their partners to dance, but every step seemed to be stepping on a tightrope and the tip of a knife. They talked with ease, but in fact Every word I said was brewing ten times in my stomach. Every time I heard a word, I looked at every face in the hall.
The three grand consuls talking at the end of the hall were the focus of many nobles' attention. The nobles passed by the "Triumvirate" as casually as possible to try to hear some useful intelligence, but This is not easy - if important matters are really discussed, the grand consuls will naturally deploy soundproof barriers, and if they approach too uninterestedly, it will obviously arouse the disgust of the grand consuls, which is very difficult for nobles with rich social experience. Words are unacceptable.
So some nobles focused their attention on the "little princess". Her Royal Highness seemed to dislike the formal atmosphere in the court and spent most of her time outside. There is news. Well-informed people found out that the princess was an innocent and lively girl, so many people wanted to get close to Rebecca - but it turned out that this seemed to be much more difficult than getting close to the Triumvirate.
A beautiful lady wearing a lavender palace dress had just returned to the internal banquet hall. With a frustrated look, the lady complained to an acquaintance: "Her Royal Highness the Princess asked me if I could He used leaves to break grasshoppers, and then asked me if I knew how to solve the magic interference equation - I could hardly answer any of the questions, which was extremely rude."
A man in a dark red dress. The gentleman glanced at the lady sympathetically: "Countess Lentini, haven't you tried to open the topic with the women's swordsmanship that you are good at? Her Royal Highness is said to be a person who loves fighting skills."
"Oh, don't mention this!" The Countess reacted particularly fiercely, "Of course I tried it - and then Her Royal Highness pulled a sword from the guard next to her and threw it over, asking me to give her one - —The evening dress I wore!"
"Ah, that was a disaster," the gentleman in the dark red dress shrugged, "but you are at least luckier than the Earl of Bahrain."
< p>"Earl of Bahrain?"The Earl of Bahrain standing next to him turned blue, as if he was particularly frightened: "I heard that Her Royal Highness the Princess is good at fireball spells, so I wanted to start the topic with this - she was very happy , and then made a fireball as big as a door panel... My reaction was very disgraceful."
The two nobles of the royal capital suddenly had a common topic and sighed together, but their sighs soon faded. Being beaten by an almost wailing voiceBroken: "You are all luckier than me!"
Lentini and Balin turned their heads at the same time and saw a young nobleman with short blond hair and a gentle face grabbing a stack of coins with a collapsed expression. Paper stood there, looking extremely frustrated.
"Mr. Finley, what are you..."
"Who told me that Her Royal Highness the Princess likes mathematics? My friendship with him is over!" The young noble waved his hand. paper, "I said I was good at mathematics, and Her Royal Highness the Princess gave me a stack of papers! Who can tell me what is written on it?!"
......
Elegant Palace music was flying in the hall, and the joyful music whitewashed the superficial joy. Veronica Moen stood quietly in an inconspicuous corner, her eyes scanning those who were walking through the hall, dancing, talking, and laughing. The crowd was like an expressionless audience, watching a drama that she had memorized.
But when the conversation about failing in front of Princess Rebecca came, the corners of the expressionless viewer's mouth still turned up a little.
"Today is probably the most exhausting banquet in their lives for them," Veronica turned her head, smiled and said to Gawain and Amber, who were walking towards her, and said to them. Pittman, who was behind the two of them, nodded slightly and said hello, "They met the most unconventional royal family members."
"Nobles are always used to spending too much money on useless areas. They have too much energy, so they live very tiredly," Gawain said casually, "Of course, Rebecca's education is also a problem."
Veronica smiled slightly: "I am quite worried. I like that child's character...it's a bit like me back then."
"...It's completely unimaginable."
"Time has changed a lot of things, and you should be aware of this. "Experience," Veronica said, "Then the Emperor of the Empire did not show up at the banquet, but instead came to see me, the former princess who was in an embarrassing situation."
Gao? Wen got straight to the point: "Do you know Shadow Fortress?"
"...I know, it was a project that was abandoned by me."