It's snowing.
Cord stood behind the large floor-to-ceiling windows of the office with a pipe in his mouth, looking out the window at the falling snowflakes and the factory buildings that looked slightly hazy amidst the dancing snowflakes.
In this northern country, the first snowfall always comes very early, and even before winter officially arrives, early snow often arrives in advance.
In the past... not that long ago, premature snow was often seen as a bad start and even associated with death.
The early cooling means the early termination of outdoor activities, and it becomes difficult to store fuel. Civilians will have to use limited food and fuel to fight a longer winter. For even a piece of firewood and a piece of bread, For poor people who are careful about their budget, one day longer winter is often a matter of life and death.
So people even have a special name for this kind of snow that falls early: White Death.
But that was the past, at least in most areas of the South. In Cord's eyes, the scenery with the first snowfall was gradually covering the impression of the "White Death" in his mind - the scenery was not bad.
I just hope that the coverage of this snow will not be too large, especially the Holy Spirit Plain... After all, there are still many areas in this country that cannot withstand the power of the White Death.
Cord bit his pipe, and a red light flashed dimly in the pipe. The rich smoke slowly dispersed, and his thoughts spread involuntarily along with the dissipated smoke.
The wind blows snowflakes and slaps large pieces of crystal glass. This crystal clear material has always been associated with expensiveness and scarcity in the past, and it is rarely produced in such a large size - manufacturing The technology of cheap, large-scale white crystals has long been monopolized by the Typhon Empire. Transportation difficulties coupled with Typhon's deliberate blockade resulted in the standard window size of various buildings in the Anzu era never exceeding half a meter. It was not until a year ago that Cecil's alchemy factory successfully cracked the technical secret of the Typhon people to make cheap white crystal, and large-sized crystal glass gradually appeared on various buildings in the south.
With the emergence of large-sized crystal glass, coupled with the new architectural style brought by Gawain Cecil, a new architectural element such as "floor-to-ceiling windows" gradually became popular this year.
As for how the technicians of the alchemy factory cracked the Typhon technology despite the lack of samples and information... As a businessman, Cord had no idea about this.
The rare free time did not last long. A rhythmic knock on the door interrupted Cord's thoughts. He heard the voice of his eldest son Parr coming from behind him: "Father, someone is looking for you." You."
The big businessman turned his head: "Representative of Marlin Trading Company?"
On this snowy day, the other party came very early.
However, the young man at the door shook his head: "No, it's a young man from the north who calls himself Firm. He said that he has something very important that he wants to show you. He also said youWill definitely be interested. ”
“Young people from the north? "Corder blinked in surprise, "It's not easy to travel long distances on this freezing day. Maybe I took the Highlander to come to the south to try my luck..."
The big businessman muttered , with some emotions in his heart
It was not unexpected for him to have a stranger visit him. As the owner of the increasingly famous Coder Family Management Company, and as the president of the Carroll Area Business Association. Leader, he always has visitors, and among them there are some brave young people with dreams. The new order brought by His Majesty Gawain seems to have brought a kind of vitality to the entire land. In the vast sea of people, there are always young people. The most courageous, they hold novel ideas and seek various opportunities in this rapidly changing land, and there is no doubt that there are opportunities here in Code.
But. Most of the time, brave young people are just brave. They lack knowledge and experience, so that many of their brilliant ideas cannot be used. However, Cord will still receive these young people as much as possible - from businessmen to From a profit perspective, Code Family Services must create an image that accommodates innovation and attracts talents. Only in this way can it continue to recruit talented people. From a personal emotional perspective, those with novel ideas and the courage to challenge Cod couldn't help but think of himself, his reckless first business trip when he was young, and his renewed passion for challenge in the past two years.
But he didn't expect a person from the north. Strangers from other places will also come to visit... I'm afraid that young man made some inquiries after he came here.
The partner who made the appointment for negotiation has not yet arrived, so I don't want to meet the young man. It doesn't matter.
"Let him come in," Cord nodded, "Tell him in advance, it's only twenty minutes. ”
“Yes, father. "
The eldest son Parr exited the room. A moment later, a young man wearing a blue coat and blond hair appeared in front of Cord.
As a habit, Cord looked at it first Take a look at this young man's clothing and temperament -
The relatively decent coat is made of woolen material. Although it looks older, it is clean and well-maintained; his smile is gentle and polite, with a habitual look He should be humble, without any aura or aristocratic details.
He should be a citizen of an upper-middle-class family, well-educated, maybe he has served a nobleman, or he may be engaged in a profession that requires him to frequently interact with people of higher status than himself. , The financial resources obviously afford the ticket for the Highlander, the middle class ticket.
"Hello, very nice to meet you, Mr. Codd," the young man said with a smile on his face. A hint of excitement came, "I'm from Barron, you can call me Firm..."
"Nice to see you too, Mr. Firm - please close the door," Cord clicked He nodded and gestured with his chin to the seats reserved for guests, "Please feel free to do so. ”
Film quickly closed the door., and then sat down on the high-backed chair covered with soft cushions, he heard the famous businessman asking: "Mr. Firm, I don't know much about the north. Barron is... "
"Oh, it's a town near St. Sunil, not that famous," Firm said with a smile. Since he had been taught by his father since he was a child, he had seen many people in the old capital. He knew the importance of keeping a smile since he was rarely out in the market, but he was still young after all, so his nervousness and excitement could not be concealed well. He spoke much faster than usual, "It's on the west side of the royal capital. Fortunately, we were not affected by that war..."
"Mr. Firm, let's talk about your purpose of looking for me first," Cord interrupted, "From Saint-Sunil to This is not an easy journey. What is the reason for you to come so far away from home in this winter?"
"Yes sir, it is indeed very far, if it is not the Highlander? 'The speed is much faster than ordinary ships. I'm afraid I'm still on the Gorgon River now, and I may even have to trek half a way on the shore - after all, the river is about to cease navigation," Firm said as he opened the He picked up a small box he carried with him and placed the contents solemnly on the table in front of Cord, "I came to you to show you something... I asked some questions over there in Rock City. People, they all say that if you have novel ideas and things, you can try your luck with the president of the Carroll Chamber of Commerce. You are always willing to help young people, generous and discerning, and you often buy their good ideas... ”
Cord didn’t pay too much attention to the compliments in the other person’s words, but turned his attention to the small box, but the contents in the box made him frown.
It is just a piece of crystal, a shadow crystal. Judging from the shape, it should be an artificial crystal produced in the south. The grade does not seem to be high, but as a magic item, it should still be quite expensive in the north - see Phil The way Mu was careful about this crystal, he knew that this thing must be very precious to this young man from the north. It was probably his most valuable possession.
After all, the North is not like the South, where magic-related items are still quite scarce and valuable. Although recently, new lines of communication formed by mechanical ships and magic vehicles have begun to use magic items in the South. And various cheap artificial crystals are transported north, but due to the limited quantity, this still cannot change the high price of magic items in the north in a short time.
But no matter what, the photo crystal is not a rare thing to Cord... So, what is valuable should be the things recorded in it?
He raised his head and looked at the young man standing in front of him: "What is the content here?"
"Yes, sir, please let me show it to you..." As Philm spoke, he took out a few metal plates with runes from the box - they were several rune base plates, but they did not have formal steel seals and standard buckles. Perhaps they were those in the north. Established during the Ansu ReformImitations produced in a small factory - Philm put these things together, and then fiddled with them for a long time, finally making these substandard magic devices operate successfully, and then he used the piece of magic equipment produced in the South The photo crystal was placed at the magic focus of the pile of things, "It's almost ready, it's almost ready, sir."
Corder wanted to say that he had an advanced magic network terminal here, with The new model with a universal slot can directly play the contents of the image crystal without such a fuss, but in the end he watched the young man complete all these operations with curiosity and patience.
He saw that the low-quality crystal finally gradually lit up, and then a picture appeared above the crystal.
A man wearing bright and exaggerated clothes stood in the projection and loudly praised someone outside the screen.
A woman in a long skirt walked in from outside the screen and argued with the man.
After a funny dispute, a third person came to the center of the picture. He seemed to be trying to mediate the conflict, but was attacked by both men and women...
Corder stared blankly at the projected picture. It was not until the short plot ended and the picture started to play repeatedly that he finally murmured to himself: "What is this..."
"The Lady of Butterfly Manor, ah, that is a very popular play in the Royal Capital in recent years...I mean the Old Royal Capital, in the Old Royal Capital," Firm spoke quickly He said with high spirits and all the tension seemed to have dissipated, "Of course, of course, it's just a short section, and I made some adjustments... Because after all, the crystal is not a stage... Ah, sir, actually I should make a longer section. , there is a very exciting fight and debate behind it, but there is no way, the Royal Capital... The magic network terminal in the old Royal Capital is only allowed to be used for less than ten minutes at a time, and I still spent a lot of effort to manage it. The staff helped me to record the scene with a photo crystal... And I don’t dare to let my father know about this..."
Corder felt that his mind was running very fast, and his thoughts were just Subconsciously asked: "Your father?"
"Yes, his name is Barna, he is a very famous playwright in Saint-Sunil and surrounding areas, and he has his own troupe... But No one here must know..." Firm said with pride and embarrassment in his voice, "We often perform for the nobles, but now... you should know that the nobles don't seem to have the energy to come to our performances. , and there aren’t that many nobles in Saint-Sunil... If my father knew that I had made his most proud script like this and brought his actors to the square to 'perform', I'm afraid he wouldn't be very happy..."
"Child," Cord suddenly interrupted Firm's somewhat rambling narration. He stared into the young man's eyes with burning eyes, "How did you think of it? I mean Record the drama on crystal..."
"I went to see the coronation ceremony of His Majesty the Emperor," Firm laughed,A little shy, "But I was standing far away at the time, and I could only see the huge image that suddenly rose up in the square - and then someone told me that it was the magic network terminal from the south, and it was different from the illusions created by the mages. Yes, there seem to be a lot of magic network terminals in the south, and they are placed in the streets and alleys..."
At this point, the blond young man paused slightly awkwardly before continuing: "Sir, our The troupe is in a bad situation now - everyone is in a bad situation. Half of the theaters in Saint-Sunil are closed."
The war in the north changed the lives of many people.
That's why there is the "Highlander" and the various human behaviors that Firm saw on the ship.
The stubborn father was still waiting for the nobles to return to the theater, but the brave young man ran out, wanting to see the world in a distant place and see the place where those incredible magic devices were born.
Perhaps those nobles would patronize those gorgeous and elegant theaters again after they recovered, but Code looked at the crystal that was still playing images repeatedly in front of him, and he knew that something was about to change.
He even trembled a little.
He is not the only one who can think of installing heating runes on iron plates and putting ice cones in food storage boxes.
How much can this thing be worth?