A series of amazing things are happening in this two-hundred-year-old imperial capital - some people are being purged, some mistakes are being corrected, some abandoned plans are being restarted, and some people are leaving their homes. They left and disappeared from this world. Others suddenly received secret orders and were activated and started to move again like seeds that had been dormant for ten years...
And all of this was It was shrouded in the extremely thick and long fog of Typhon 739.
Count Dürer stood in the mansion belonging to his family. He stood on the balcony on the third floor and looked out at the foggy street through the wide crystal glass window. Today's fog has dispersed slightly. A little closer, so he could see the scene across the street clearly - the spire and porch of the Church of St. Jorum Ares stood in the fog, but on this day that was usually used for worship, there were no civilians in front of the church. stay.
The boldest civilians stayed dozens of meters away from the church door, looking at what was happening on the street with timid and frightened expressions.
About a large group of Obsidian Custodes and a large number of rogue battle mages in black robes are gathering in front of the church. Many scattered ones can also be seen on the paths around the church and near various secret intersections. Soldiers, Count Dürer saw that the commander of the Forbidden Army group was ordering people to open the door of the church - the priest in the church was obviously not cooperative, but after some unfriendly "communication", the iron-black door The door was still forcibly broken open.
The heavily armed Obsidian Imperial Army and battle mages rushed in.
Some of the civilians watching the excitement in the distance were exclaiming, some held their breath, and some of them might be believers of the God of War - they looked in pain, cursing and shouting. They shouted something, but no one dared to actually step forward and cross the defense line formed by soldiers and battle mages.
The chaos lasted for a while. Even from a distance, Count Durer could sense more than one violent fluctuation of magic power in the church. He saw some flashes of light in the dark doorway. This made him subconsciously tug at the buttons on his chest - then, the flashes, noises, and magic fluctuations in the church ended, and he saw that the soldiers and mages who had just entered the church were withdrawing in an orderly manner, and some of them Injured, some others escorted a dozen war priests and priests wearing priest robes to come out.
The civilians gathered in the distance became even more restless. This time, a soldier finally stood up to stop the commotion, and another soldier pointed in the direction of the church door - Count Dürer saw the Forbidden Army commander. The official was the last one to walk out of the church. The tall and burly man seemed to be carrying something wet on his shoulders. When he walked outside and threw the thing to the ground, Count Dürer could vaguely see what it was. something.
It was a large mass of rotten flesh and blood that was obviously mutated. Even with the mist blocking it, he could still see the flesh.There were tentacles squirming around the flesh, and ferocious faces constantly emerging from the blood.
The crowd shouted in horror, and a battle mage began to use a loudspeaker to loudly read the conclusion of the search for the Church of St. Jorum God of War. Several soldiers stepped forward to summon blazing flames with magic balls, and began to publicize the search results. After purifying those dirty and terrifying flesh and blood, Count Durer suddenly felt a strong nausea. He couldn't help but cover his mouth and took half a step back, but he couldn't help but look towards the street again, looking at the strange things. Horrible scene.
The blazing flames had begun to burn, and a roar that did not sound like a human voice suddenly sounded for a while, and then quickly disappeared.
Picking out evil spirits from churches, performing flame purification on the streets, and publicly trying heretics and demons... Count Dürer never thought he would see such a scene again in his lifetime. In his mind, such a scene only appeared in history books - in the era when human civilization was at its most precarious, the country was not yet stable, and all kinds of dark, depraved, and twisted forces were still entrenched in this land. Something similar will happen.
Great Typhon, when did you become so critical?
Count Dürer frowned and felt a little out of breath. He also had this feeling of suffocation when the Parliament was temporarily closed before. At that time, he thought he had seen the most dangerous and most dangerous thing in the country. It was a tense moment, but now he finally realized that the real threats to this land were far hidden deeper - obviously, the rulers of the empire were aware of these dangers, so they took the series of actions they are taking now.
He no longer cares about the parliamentary matters at all. He only hopes that the measures taken by His Majesty the Emperor are effective enough and timely enough to pull the country out of the quagmire.
At this moment, footsteps came from behind, and a familiar breath appeared behind Count Durer. Without turning around, he knew that the other person was an attendant who had followed him for many years, and asked casually: "What happened?"
"My lord," the attendant stood two meters away and lowered his hands respectfully, but there was a hint of nervousness in his tone, "Viscount Cornelian of No. 16 Maple Street left this morning. He was taken away...by the Obsidian Forbidden Army..."
Count Durer's fingers twitched subconsciously, and after two seconds he breathed out softly: "I understand. "
"Are you going to meet Count Burne Turan tomorrow?"
"...Cancel the meeting. I will ask Dawn to bring an apology in person. "The situation," Count Durer shook his head, "Does Kalia know about this?"
The attendant immediately replied: "The lady already knows - she is worried about her fiancé's situation, but she doesn't." With your permission, she is still in the room."
"...Let her continue to stay in the room. There is nothing anyone can do about it," Count Durer closed his eyes and said a little. He said complicatedly, "In addition, tell him that Viscount Cornelian will come back safely - but from now onThere will be no more ‘Viscount’ Cornelian. I'll reconsider the marriage, and... forget it, I'll go talk to her myself later. "
"Yes, sir. "
Count Durer nodded, and at this moment, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw new movements on the street opposite.
He saw A black magic vehicle came from a distant crossroads. The emblems of the royal family and the Obsidian Imperial Army were hung on the magic vehicle.
A sense of unreasonable tension and panic suddenly surged from the bottom of my heart. Coming up, Count Durer clenched his fists subconsciously. Although he did not think that he had any stain or misdeeds that would cause trouble at this period, his eyes were still fixed on the car - almost to the point of Every ridge, every wheel, every piece of crystal glass was engraved in his mind and he stared at it as it came from the direction of the intersection, getting closer to the gate of his mansion.
He felt that his heart was about to beat. His intense concentration even gave him the illusion that the car had begun to slow down. The sound of blood beating in his ears was heard, and then, He saw the car driving past without slowing down, passing his mansion and heading towards another house.
Until then, Count Durer realized that he was already very long. There was no time to breathe, and he suddenly gasped for breath, which even triggered a violent cough. The attendant behind him immediately stepped forward and patted his back, asking nervously and concernedly: "Sir, sir, are you okay? "
"I'm fine, cough, cough, I'm fine," Count Durer said while coughing. At the same time, his eyes were still chasing the black magic car that was almost driving into the fog. When he felt a little uncomfortable, After he felt relieved, he couldn't help but show a weird smile, "It seems...no one can really block his way this time..."
"Sir? The attendant was a little confused, "What are you talking about?" "
"Nothing," Count Durer waved his hand and loosened the buttons on his collar. "Go to the wine cellar and get the bottle of platinum Fez wine that I have collected. I need to calm down. ..."
...
Hadilon sat in his own study room in the Obsidian Palace. The smell of incense was refreshing, and the decorative hangings on the nearby walls The shield shone brightly under the magic crystal lamp. The young commander of the Obsidian Forbidden Army looked at his desk - on the dark red table, a list was spread out in front of him.
"Again. A name..." He muttered softly, picked up the pen next to him, and crossed out a name heavily, but his brows became more wrinkled as the name was crossed out.
Gently A sudden knock on the door interrupted Haldilan's thoughts.
The prince raised his head and looked in the direction of the door: "Please come in. "
The door opened, and Diana, dressed in a black maid dress and with long black hair, appeared in front of Hardilon.
"Ah,Ms. Diana..." Hardilon couldn't help but smile and sighed after seeing the head maid, "No wonder I can't feel the breath outside the door. Who is it... Is something wrong? Don't tell me it's a new list..."
"Yes, Prince Haldilan, this is a new list," Diana nodded lightly, took a few steps forward and handed over a new list. The magically encapsulated and solidified document was placed on Hadilon's desk. "Based on the intelligence collected by the rogues over the years, we finally locked in a group of people who have been sabotaging the New Deal, or have been controlled by the Church of the God of War, or have some relationship with external forces. Those who colluded - still need to be interrogated, but the outcome shouldn't be much different. "
"List, list, new list..." Hadilon took the document with a wry smile and glanced over it hastily, "Actually, even if many people don't investigate, I know they will appear on this. For more than ten years, they have been working tirelessly to manage their own power and erode the dividends brought by the New Deal. This kind of sabotage is almost always on the table..."
He stopped mid-sentence. He stopped, took a second look at a few names, and curled his lips.
“Did he secretly collude with Cecil again... accepted the bribe in cash or shares, or was caught. Political handle... There is indeed no shortage of such people in the proud and glorious 'upper class' society. "
"There should be more clues behind these people - however most of our investigations have failed before they started," Diana said expressionlessly, "The people who contacted them Very alert, all connections can be cut off in one direction, and these bribed people are just the last pawns. They don't even know each other's existence, so in the end we can only catch these most insignificant spies. "
"I have heard about the Cecil people's military intelligence agency and their 'intelligence operators'... We have dealt with them several times," Hardiron said casually, "It is indeed a very difficult opponent. It is much more difficult to deal with than the secret agents of the High Mountain Kingdom and the Shadow Brotherhood. And I believe your words. These people are only a part of the people who have been exposed. There will only be more people who have not been exposed - otherwise it would really be Sorry for the name Military Intelligence. "
As he spoke, he placed the list next to him.
"I will personally handle this part of the list involving nobles. Every name here should be able to Get a good price at the negotiating table. "
Diana nodded and took half a step back almost silently: "Then I'll leave first. "
The next second, her figure disappeared into the room.
Hadilon blinked, looked at the still open door, and muttered helplessly: " At least close the door..."
Before he finished speaking, he heard a familiar voice coming from the corridor outside the door: "This is because she saw me coming this way. "
The next second, a tall figure wearing a black palace dress walked into the study, smiled and nodded to Hardilon: "Look at it.Son, you are very busy. ”
Hardilon glanced at Matilda who suddenly came to visit with some surprise: “Why did you show up at this time?” Don't you have to deal with those restless noble representatives and those businessmen who can't calm down? "
"We've dealt with it - it's not worth spending more than two hours to appease their emotions," Matilda said casually, "So I came to see your situation, but it looks like How long will it take for your work to be completed? "
"Ms. Diana just brought me a new list," Haldilan raised his eyelids, with a hint of exhaustion in his deep eyes inherited from Rosetta Augustus. and helplessness, “all have to be dealt with. ”
Matilda’s eyes fell on Haldilon’s desk, and then she looked away.
Hadilon glanced at her sister, He said seemingly casually: "If you want to inquire about Andesa, then I suggest you go to Ms. Diana - the wanderer is better informed than me in terms of intelligence. But I don’t think there will be more detailed information from her side. Now our Western Front intelligence network is blocked, and the Cecil people have very tight control over Andesa-related information. We can only know some public information. ...She is still alive and well. The Cecil people did not treat her and other surrendered soldiers badly. I think you can feel more at ease. "
"I know that even for political interests, the Cecil people will entertain an 'important hostage' like Andesa, and I am not worried in this regard," Matilda said He couldn't help but press his hand between his eyebrows, and then glared at Hardilon, "But I'm very dissatisfied with your behavior of casually guessing my thoughts. "
"Ha, my bad," Haldilan immediately raised his hands and took another serious look at Matilda, "Indeed, I shouldn't guess your thoughts - and neither should you. You should let others guess your thoughts, right? ”