Gawain and others were sent out of the hall of the upper temple. The high-ranking dragon priest Herago personally sent them to the door. Then two priests also wearing luxurious robes came out from nowhere, carrying They walked towards the long connecting bridge that led to the elevator.
The first half of the journey seemed particularly quiet. It seemed that the solemn atmosphere in the temple still had a residual influence, or maybe Amber and Veronica felt that this place was still under the watchful eye of the god, so they were cautious. She didn't dare to speak casually, but halfway through, Amber finally couldn't help it anymore. She glanced at the dragon priests who were silently leading the way, like two tool men, and then secretly poked Gawain's arm: "Hey, are you there? I feel a little strange..."
Gawain glanced at her: "What's weird?"
"Why did we stop talking about this all of a sudden..." Amber said in a low voice, especially cautiously. "I always feel that the Dragon God still has a lot to say...and he also specifically emphasized that we should visit Tallond first..."
"Since he allows us to visit, we will visit it. , isn’t it good?” Gao Wen said nonchalantly, “As for whether he has anything he wants to say but hasn’t said yet... that’s his business.”
Hu Huo blinked and looked at Gao Wen. Wen looked back at the temple, which was still magnificent under the starry sky, with a thoughtful expression on his face and then quickly gave up thinking.
She patted her cheeks and seemed to quickly put the confusion in her mind to the back of her mind. At the same time, she muttered: "Hey... I always feel like it's night, and I can't help but feel sleepy..."
Gawain's pace slowed down a bit. He glanced at Amber and saw that the half-elf had cheered up and put on his usual smile that seemed to always be cheerful.
......
"My lord," Heragore returned to the splendid temple hall and bent down in front of the gods, "they have left."
"You seem to have accumulated a lot of questions?" Enya has returned to the holy throne that reappeared in the center of the hall. He lowered his head and looked down at his priest. "There is no need to be restrained today. Just say what you want to say."< /p>
Heragor looked up and hesitated for a moment before speaking: "My lord, why did you talk to them about... something that happened 1.87 million years ago? Such secret ancient knowledge. , should not be in the plan..."
"Some ancient secret knowledge, the gods keep it secret from mortals because mortals can't bear it. However, after meeting today's guests...I found that I might be able to Tell me more," the god's voice came slowly, with a little joy, "I thought that only 'Gawain Cecil' was special, but I didn't expect that the three of them were special. The listeners were not like ordinary mortals. It's so easy to be 'damaged', which makes me happy."
He paused for a moment, then sighed: "It's been a long time since I talked to someone so easily... so. I'm looking forward to my next one-on-one meeting with Gawain Cecil."
Heragor raised his head in surprise: "Are you going to meet that human king alone next time?"
"A ghost that has survived for thousands of years is just a ghost after all, wandering across the border from the dreamland into the real world. The person is essentially just a resident of the shadow world, but an 'uninvited guest' disguised as an ordinary human being who even I can't understand... is much more interesting," the god said unhurriedly, "Next I want to talk to him alone this time, and I also want to know what interesting new opinions he will have after seeing all the details of Tallond with his own eyes.
"Heragor, later. Just leave the job of accompanying the guests to the young blue dragon. You only need to pay attention to the guests' movements and ensure their safety. Don't bother them if you don't need to. "
Heragor lowered his head again: "Yes, my lord. "
Dragon God Enya simply hummed, and then he suddenly raised his head, looking in the direction of Loren Continent, and his face became a little serious.
" So fast..." He sighed softly and said to himself, "Fortunately...it's not too much beyond expectations..."
...
The Foggy Moon is approaching After that, the temperature dropped rapidly in most parts of the northern part of the continent, and Winter Wolf Castle, located on the northern border of the empire, was the first to bear the brunt. The cold wind from the north crossed the gentle hills and plains, blowing all the way through the wilderness and river valleys. It began to roar day and night to harass the highlands and passes where the Knights were stationed. It seemed that overnight, everything in the pass area was withered, the grass and trees were withered, and the breath of winter came to the land.
Andesa. · Wendell wore a light and warm knight's uniform and walked through the streets of the market with only two followers. The cold wind blew her gray-white hair at the temples, making her squint her eyes slightly.
"Winter came a little early this year..." the Wolf General said softly, "I wonder if the Greenwood Valley and Long Branch Manor areas have been affected..."
A follower responded immediately : “The empire’s grain stores have been abundant in recent years, and the supply of cotton and cloth has been sufficient in the past two years. Presumably, except for the mountainous areas in the west that are close to the polluted areas, no place in the country has to worry about how to survive the winter. ”
Andesa didn’t say anything, just nodded. On a city street not far in front of her, a small troop carrier with the emblem of the Typhon Empire was passing through the street, escorting The battle mages of the vehicle floated in front of and behind the troop carrier. The merchants on both sides of the street were inevitably disturbed. Then curious passers-by stretched their necks and pointed at the direction in which the troop carrier left. Another merchant started again. Attracting customers and selling exotic goods from south to north.
This year's winter did come a little earlier, and even the temperature during the same period this year was much lower than in previous years. However, in this place relying on the winter wolf. The town, which was built as a fortress and was half military and half civilian, seemed to be much more prosperous and lively than in previous years.
The increasingly stable peace situation and expanding trade activities between the two countries.The movement has finally shown its influence. Whether the hawks are willing or not, cross-border merchants and goods are increasingly appearing in various places, becoming the main theme of the relationship between Cecil and Typhon.
Even in the Winter Wolf Castle, which is located on the border, even if the imperial soldiers are always tense, they cannot prevent civilian commercial activities from becoming more prosperous - after all, this is also from Alder South's will.
As the commander of Winter Wolf Castle, Andesa had not expected all this, but now she must accept it calmly.
“It’s a lot more lively here this year, General,” an attendant said from the side, “and according to the news from the country, big cities like Aldernan and Talenkins are now even more crowded. It's very different - it is said that the companies invested by Cecil people have brought many novel things. Do you plan to go back and see it this year?"
"I don't plan to use this vacation yet. "Andesa said casually, and then she glanced at the attendant who had just spoken, "Are you also interested in the new things of the Cecil people?"
The attendant suddenly looked embarrassed and nervous: "I...General, I'm not this..."
"It doesn't matter, the new things they bring are indeed very attractive, and most of them are very beneficial." However, to the entourage's surprise, Ander But Sha didn't mean to blame at all. The wolf general just showed a thoughtful look, "I'm just sorry...none of these things were originally created by us Typhons."
She looked towards In the direction of the market, on both sides of the streets that were just renovated last year, you can see new street lights and magic network devices for transmitting energy. These technologies all come from Cecil. They were first introduced from Cecil by businessmen and technology communicators. He brought it to the territory of Typhon, and was later brought here from the country by merchants and experts from this country. These things are evidence of the two countries' growing ties, which some people are excited about and others are inevitably anxious about.
As far as Andersa knows, those magic network devices used to transmit energy are one of the things that are currently causing domestic experts the most anxiety, because as of now, one of the key raw materials for making those obelisks—— The rough crystal of Holm - is still firmly in the hands of the Cecil people. Although the scholars of the Imperial Manufacturing Association have successfully solved many technical difficulties of the obelisk, as long as the source of the Crystal of Holm is revealed by Cecil, If people control it, the Typhon people's magic network will never be completely autonomous. The speed of laying the magic network will be limited by the Cecil people's crystal rough export quota, and Typhon...
Tips Feng had to spend a large part of his annual export profits to buy those rough crystal stones - a commodity that the Cecil people never discounted at all.
It is said that His Majesty the Emperor is already paying attention to this matter, and after learning about the discovery of the Holm crystal rough stone, he sent a large number of exploration teams to the mountains on the border of the western contaminated area to search for the Typhons. My own Hom mineral vein... At present, those exploration teams do not have any definite information.Good news comes.
Hopefully they can gain something.
As for Andesa herself... Facing more and more "Cecil things" in the country, she is neither a cheerful person nor an anxious and panicked person.
She only followed Aldernan's orders and safeguarded Typhon's interests.
At this moment, the voice of one of the followers came from the side, interrupting Andesa's thoughts: "The people who passed by just now should be the supplementary soldiers of the Mechanized Mage Group, right?"
Another follower looked towards the end of the street, towards the direction in which the troop carrier was leaving, shook his head and sighed: "The mages are all rich people, even the mages in the army are the most wealthy. Qian's troops... the knights are still riding."
"His Majesty the Emperor and his military advisers have their own arrangements," Andesa suddenly spoke, interrupting the discussion of the two attendants. "And the fact that the knights have not changed their uniforms is not a financial problem - it's just that most legion-level combat techniques rely on traditional military formations and equestrian skills, which cannot solve this problem. Putting the knights in chariots can only weaken their Combat power."
The two followers nodded immediately, and then one of them couldn't help but look in the distance - this time in the direction of the barracks: "This is the second batch of supplements this week. Soldiers."
"...The war priest is under 'protective observation', and some knight officers have also been rotated in advance. We need to supplement the soldiers to maintain the combat effectiveness of Winter Wolf Castle..." Ender Sha frowned slightly, then shook her head, "Okay, the following topic is not suitable for discussion here."
The abnormal situation of the domestic God of War Church is already a secret that cannot be concealed. Due to obvious national interest considerations, Aldernan has recently issued several orders in succession and made temporary adjustments to several main armies. At Winter Wolf Castle, Andersa's main energy recently has been spent on adjusting the deployment of the legion, removing hidden danger units, maintaining the internal stability of the legion, and consolidating border defense capabilities. She had to transfer many God of War priests and devout soldiers who had followed her for many years from their posts, and even sent some upright and innocent knights to the rear. It was called protective observation, but in fact it was almost house arrest.
Doing these things is not easy.
In addition to facing the pressure in her own heart, she also has to face the emotions from her subordinates - it's okay to say soldiers, soldiers of the empire have obedience as their first mission, and it's okay to say knights, too. They only need to use honor and loyalty to enlighten and comfort them, but those priests...
Most of them are very good people, brave and upright people, and they have not made any mistakes at all, but she must let them endure it. unfair treatment. At the same time, those priests are not entirely soldiers. The battle priests are equivalent to the "reinforcements" that the Church of War provides to the various legions of the empire on a voluntary basis. They accept orders from the officers, but now this order is implicitly targeting their beliefs... to appease them. Emotions have become Andersa's biggest headache recently.
And all this is not all the bad news recently.
The second bad news is the death of the goddess of magic.
Andesa still can't believe what she has seen and heard in the past period of time - a funeral, a funeral held by humans for gods, a joint statement from two empires , the eulogies written by the two emperors themselves, nationwide mourning activities, and the ceremony of scattering "holy ash"... Andesa is not a believer, but these things are still beyond her cognition and thinking habits, so that Even to this day, she still finds it unbelievable when she thinks about it.
The fall of the goddess of magic undoubtedly had a great impact on the huge group of mages in the empire, although the "funeral" quickly diverted the public's attention in some unexpected way and diverted attention. Despite the pressure brought by the fall of the gods, the mage community is still feeling uneasy, and the aftermath is still lingering until now. There are a large number of battle mages in the empire's major legions, and most of the middle- and high-level officers are believers of the goddess of magic. Although their status as soldiers gives them a stronger sense of responsibility, they will not be unable to perform their responsibilities due to depression or wavering beliefs. , but they are still human beings after all...
The only thing Andersa feels lucky about now is that the battle mage troops suffered less impact from the fall of the gods than she expected - because in addition to the Except for high-level officers, the vast majority of ordinary battle mages and lower-level commanders are not believers of the goddess of magic, and they are not even light believers.
They were trained in batches by the empire from schools - training starting from childhood, unified templates and unified curriculum, completely practical training methods, and almost no courses related to belief formation.
These battle mages trained in batches have no feelings for the goddess of magic. This is the only comfort that Andesa has recently suffered from a headache. She even can't help but produce some things that may be a bit rebellious to outsiders. Thoughts——
If religious beliefs can be completely eliminated from the army, it may be a good thing. Let the gods return to gods and the people return to people. The troubles in this world will probably be reduced by half. .