Since the coronation of His Majesty Gawain and the entire country has become a whole again, the Government Affairs Department has issued an order:
Carry out a comprehensive sorting of all books and files in the country and carry out protective maintenance of all knowledge. repair.
The significance of this work is to sort out the technical data that have been scattered in the human world since the pioneering era, in order to curb the impact of human civilization and technology; to protect historical evidence and records of various regions in the Old Kingdom , in order to end the past situation of chaotic records, mixed and distorted history and legends in various places; to collect and organize all church classics, to further integrate and transform the religious forces in the empire, and to weaken and eliminate the knowledge monopoly of the missionary class.
There are countless scholars, priests and clerical staff who have devoted themselves to this undertaking that may affect the empire for the next hundred years. Unlike those vigorous engineering projects that attract countless attention, their work seems Low-key and boring:
Endlessly entangled with outdated ancient books, sorting out case files from a large number of repetitive, fragmented and even self-contradictory texts, moldy ancient books and dusty old books Some of the long scrolls record powerful technologies from the ancient Gondor era, while others are just crude words and sentences written by a poor noble poet, and all of these things were buried in the piles of old papers across the country. Worn beyond recognition by court struggles, ecclesiastical struggles, and feudal wars, it was almost forgotten.
The centuries-long decline of civilization and the chaotic medieval aristocratic system have destroyed too many things, and too many treasures have been turned into dust in the process.
As one of the participants in this undertaking, Severn Terry’s work actually started earlier: not long after Luan City was taken over by the Cecil family, he worked here and These books span several centuries.
Lu'an City, as the former headquarters of the Holy Light Church in the South, was the largest cultural center and "knowledge hub" in the South at that time. The priests who monopolized the divine power and a large amount of knowledge continued to collect books from all over the South to this church. They have been doing this for a full hundred years since the Second Dynasty in the city's large and small libraries - in an era when books were equal to treasure, this was what almost every noble and church would do.
The tireless "plundering" behavior of the missionaries in the old days led to the increasing decline of other areas in the South, but on the other hand, Severn Terry had to admit: it is this greed that Looting and collecting allowed many precious classics to be preserved in the overall chaotic and declining environment of the Southern Territory.
Seven Terry stopped in front of a towering bookshelf. He raised his head, his eyes swept between the large books with deep covers, and gradually moved upward until they reached That majestic and thick stone dome.
This is the last library in Luan City that has not yet been archived. Most of what is stored here are manuscripts of books collected from various eras and """The Book of Faithlessness", similar books are not taken seriously in this city, so the storage conditions are also relatively poor. The ancient magic circle used to filter the air in the library is running with difficulty like a broken bellows, and there are many books on each bookshelf. The blessing effect of delaying the mildew and weathering of books was also incomplete. Many precious materials that could have been preserved slowly turned into wreckage in an environment that never saw the light of day. In order to save these precious books, the best in the Luan area Book repair craftsmen, scribes, and grammarians are all gathered together. Even so, the progress of work here is still the slowest.
But fortunately, there is progress every day, and there are more and more precious things. The information was discovered and repaired, or copied, copied, or stored in new media before being completely destroyed.
At this moment, a church attendant wearing a gray short robe walked quickly from the side. He walked over and bowed his head respectfully in front of Severn Terry: "Archbishop, we found a book that looks a little strange. ”
Archbishop, this is a new title after the reorganization of the church, used to replace the previous cardinal or diocesan archbishop. Severn Terry never thought that he would one day sit in such a position, but considering When all members of the Episcopal Conference of St. Sunil were martyred in one day, most of the bishops in various regions were expelled, and the middle-level and above-level clergy in the southern diocese were undergoing a major reshuffle, he, who was both qualified and progressive enough in the city of Luan, There is no way that a priest can be promoted to Archbishop within a few years.
“Some strange books? "Seven frowned and said, "Take me to have a look. ”
A book is spread out on the workbench between the bookshelves. The dust and mildew on the surface have been cleaned. The smell of some kind of alchemical potion is wafting in the air. There is also a book beside it. The neatly arranged medicine bottles, copying utensils, scrapers, dental plates, pieces of parchment and other tools used to repair ancient books make the books on the table look like a corpse to be dissected - surrounded by autopsy tools. The tinkers and scribes were waiting for the corpse to tell its secrets.
Seven Terry shook his head, shook off the random thoughts, and turned to the tinker next to him. After confirming the condition of the book, he sat down, carefully opened the pages, and asked the person next to him: "What did you find? ”
“This is a pieced together book—the collectors don’t seem to know the complex and profound origins behind it. Instead, they treat it roughly like a country biography and combine several unrelated books. The fragments were rudely blended together," a gray-haired scholar said standing nearby. "At first we only noticed a few country tales at the beginning and the annotations made by a down-and-out nobleman on the page, and almost missed it. What follows..."
Crudely put together books - Severn Terry is no stranger to such situations. Down-and-out nobles in remote places would do this, and they themselves are no better than those in the fields. No matter how smart the farmer is, he still has to maintain his aristocratic dignity and "smart image". Collecting and organizing the fragments of those incomplete books into a volume isOne of the ways they show off their knowledge and aristocratic heritage - however, the real repair work of fragments is something that only knowledgeable scholars can do. What those unlearned and unskilled guys can do is just restore some of their own knowledge. It's just a bunch of tattered books that I can't understand.
The Archbishop shook his head, skipped the boring weird stories at the beginning, and turned the pages back. The scholar on the side came closer and pointed at the corners of some pages or the inconspicuous gaps between the pages. Location: "Pay attention to these, here...and here, these patterns..."
"It looks like some kind of heraldry...shield-shaped border, thorns, frost symbols..." Sai Wen Terry's brows gradually frowned, "It's the coat of arms of a noble, an upper-class noble, but the recorder deliberately transformed it, and it seems that he didn't intend to reveal his identity. We need a heraldry scholar, or an expert in noble genealogy."
"Mr. Berkland has just identified these patterns, Your Excellency the Archbishop," the scholar said. "After restoring the patterns in reverse according to the rules of heraldry, we confirmed that this is the emblem of the Northern Wilder family."
"The Duke of the North?" Severn's expression suddenly became serious, "Did these pages of the book be left by a member of the Wilder family?"
"It's still a relatively core member— —Excellent in heraldry, and qualified to use family crests at will. In addition, we also detected faint magic marks in the pages - these parchments are six hundred years old, but the magic power inside them is still there. It has not completely dissipated, which means that the one who left them may even be one of the earliest northern dukes."
Seven Terry couldn't help but exclaimed: "Six hundred! Years?!"
"Yes, the results of the alchemical reaction surprised us - it is a miracle that they can survive under poor storage conditions, but I think this It has something to do with the magic power that has not completely dissipated from the pages." The scholar nodded, "However, although the pages are generally intact, the writing inside is severely worn and stained. We are trying to repair this."
"...Maybe we need to report this matter, Duchess Victoria will be interested in it," Seven Terry breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, "In addition, this book can be found What's the origin? I'm curious about why it ended up here."
"I can only find out part of it. The collection records here show that this book was donated from a small church in the southeast. It was nearly stolen there, and the priests of the local church thought it was not suitable to keep it in the chapel, so they dedicated it to St. Louis Cathedral. Apparently, the book was not well received after it was dedicated. Pay attention."
Seven Terry frowned slightly again as he listened to the report of the person next to him.
......
The wind blew past my ears, and the summer sky seemed high and open. A dim black shadow jumped on the top of each building, and finally stopped. On a bell tower in the Master District,In the shadows, an amber slowly emerged.
The "half-elf" girl sat on the outer edge of the bell tower in a posture that seemed very thrilling to an outsider, enjoying the pleasant wind and overlooking the city with a smile.
She likes the feeling of jumping between rooftops, but the reason is not the "occupational diseases that are difficult to cure" that Gawain often teases. What she really likes is the openness and peace she feels during the jumping process. Unrestrained - the sky is endless and the wind is blowing by your ears. This feeling may frighten many people, but it makes Amber feel at ease and enjoy it inexplicably.
She had never considered whether there was any reason behind this preference, but now that she thought about it carefully, she felt that it might be because she had lived in a dark and closed place without seeing the light of day for a long time. It's a place...
Compared with the monotonous Shadow Realm, this colorful "real world" is more interesting.
Amber opened her small bag, took out the various snacks she collected on weekdays, spread them out on the narrow platform outside the clock tower, and began to enjoy this rare moment of leisure (fishing).
The avenue leading to the Imperial Academy extended diagonally below her, and all kinds of passers-by could be seen on the road.
There are locals wearing summer clothes, mainly shirts, trousers or simple skirts, there are also foreign visitors in various costumes, there are ordinary citizens with busy lives, and there are also people wearing imperial uniforms. Students in college uniforms - among the bustling crowd, Amber even saw gray elves with gray hair and stalwart orcs who were as tall as children. They spoke various dialects and even foreign languages with weird accents. Traveling back and forth in this prosperous imperial capital in a foreign country - for study, for wealth, or just to gain more knowledge.
Since a series of diplomatic actions last year have achieved results, in the context of increasing economic and cultural exchanges, the once isolated and rigid mainland countries have finally loosened up. More and more people are talking every day. Visitors to this first international city in the new era, or to several other prosperous cities in the empire, brought benefits unimaginable to the merchants of the old era, and the benefits... made more people interested in the new era. Times are changing rapidly.
Everything goes in a cycle.
The Empire’s Minister of Intelligence and the Supreme Council of Internal Security sat on the high tower, eating melon seeds and overlooking everything.
"There are more and more people in this city, and there are also many weird land races." A voice suddenly came from behind Amber, "You have weird wisdom on land. There are so many species..."
Amber was startled by the sudden sound and almost fell off the tower with his snacks: "Oh my god!"
Finally able to stabilize her body, she turned her head and glanced, and saw Tier's face peeking out from the shadow of the attic where the big clock was placed at the back - and behind it was Miss Siren's upper body and a Big Tuo coiled upCome on snake tail.
"You scared me to death!!" Amber stared at the deep-sea salted fish in shock. This was one of the few times that as a shadow master, she was startled by someone else suddenly appearing. What’s worse is that she didn’t even notice Till was behind her before, “What are you doing there!”
“Looking for a place to sleep,” Till yawned, “Betty I was leading someone to wash and change the water in the sink in my room, so I went out to find a place to sleep..."
"I almost fell in," Amber glared at Tier again, "I followed You tell me, your behavior of casually occupying public facilities for sleeping must be prohibited by law..."
"I don't believe that you can fall to death from this height - last time I saw you falling from I jumped off the magic energy broadcasting tower in the city center and shadow-walked to the ground sixty times without losing my hair. From that height, I could fall to death three times. It was so miserable that I was shattered all over the ground." Tyr said with a look on his face He said proudly, then ignored Amber's subtle expression, arched forward, stuck his head out of the clock tower, and murmured while looking at the scenery below, "It's so lively... in Antavi Well, we haven't seen such a lively scene for a long, long time."
"Antavien... I remember that is the capital of your siren," Amber quickly adapted to Tyr's words. The rhythm of the topic, "Actually, I have always been curious, what kind of society do you Sirens have?"
Tear glanced at Amber: "As expected of the Minister of Intelligence, do you want to collect intelligence?"< /p>
"Just chatting," Amber rolled her eyelids, "You think too much."
"It doesn't matter," Tire said casually, "If you want to listen, I can Let me tell you a little bit."