It was curfew time. Dean moved along the street at full speed. He avoided the patrolling soldiers in advance by relying on his keen hearing. It didn't take long for him to reach a small town on the outskirts. It was a run-down town. The soldiers on duty had a meager salary. They were chatting and dozing at the entrance of the town. After the curfew, they were too lazy to care about anything else.
Dean came to the butcher's house, put on a mask, and still bought an iron back pig. The head of the butcher's house was a middle-aged man who had already recognized Dean. He was not surprised to see Dean dressed like this. He suspected that Dean was a thief, so he politely handed the iron back pig that had been slaughtered in advance to Dean. His youngest son did not sleep. When he came out and saw Dean, he screamed in fear and was scolded by the butcher. His wife immediately took the child to the room and closed the door. Only whispers came out. Ordinary people could not hear them, but they could not escape Dean's ears.
Dean listened to his wife's words while trading. Seeing that no one was talking about him behind his back, he was relieved. He put the Ironback Pig into a sack with thick thread and turned to leave. The middle-aged butcher was deeply awed by the power shown by this action. He remembered Dean's warning more and more. He didn't dare to expose the trade between the two. After all, if this matter was spread out, he would also be punished by the law.
Dean followed the river outside the town and left the town from the side. He didn't see any patrolling soldiers along the way. After entering the wilderness, he quickly went to the fortress where he had repeatedly sneaked into. Today was different from usual. Looking from afar, there was obviously a team of soldiers on the fortress. The smell of different people was much stronger. Dean observed for a moment, found a gap, and climbed over the wall with ease.
After sneaking out of the fortress, Dudi immediately went along the wilderness to the dilapidated building.
Dudian saw splitter in the tungsten steel cage as he came to the basement of the building. The latter also saw him and stood up from its sleeping position. Its scythe-like arms touched the tungsten steel cage. Ding! Ding! Ding! It sounded like countless swords were hitting against each other.
Dean took out a dagger and, as usual, cut the Ironback Pig into several pieces and threw them to it.
The little splitter looked at the ironback pig that was thrown into its stomach and happily enjoyed it. It didn't take long for the whole ironback pig to enter its stomach. After eating, it sat down and rested again. It seemed as if it knew that there wouldn't be any more food.
Dean was happy to see that it didn't roar at him. He didn't carry splitter's blood shell so he didn't have the smell of splitter. But the little splitter seemed to know him. Even if he was close to the cage it didn't arouse its fierceness.
Dean smiled as he sat beside the cage and chatted with it for a while. Although he knew that it couldn't understand him, but because of this, he was able to open his heart and speak his mind without any scruples.
In this bleak and cold night, in this dilapidated house on the barren mountain, a man and a beast were whispering to each other.
Dean said goodbye to splitter after half an hour. He blocked the hole outside the basement and left the broken house. He went in another direction towards the death passage that he had rented.
There was a fortress in the middle of the passage to the giant wall. It was guarded by knights of the Holy Church to prevent the hunters from sneaking into the city. After all, it was difficult to rely on the military fortress to prevent the hunters from sneaking into the city. Especially the hunters who had special lurking abilities.
Dean stopped in front of the light fortress. He took out a high-powered telescope to observe the situation. Everything was as usual. It seemed that the destruction caused by the little splitter was just an illusion.
He hesitated for a moment and gave up the idea of taking the risk. He turned around and left. Only now did he realize how difficult it was to be alone. If he had an acquaintance in the Holy Church, all he needed to do was call, and he could sneak over. This was what other consortiums had. This was the foundation of their power.
Dean went diagonally to another fortress. It was the King King's Fortress that had been breached by the barbarians.
It took him more than an hour to reach the King King's Fortress. He saw some scattered barbarians along the way. They were marching towards the direction of the King King's Fortress.
Dean didn't attack. Although he couldn't find any information about barbarians in the library and knew very little about barbarians. But he knew that the spoken language of barbarians was different from that of the fortress. It would be difficult to interrogate them. If he met a high ranking barbarian then the other party might know some of the living area's language and know enough about barbarians, then he would be able to kidnap them.
Dean smelled the thick smell of blood from the grassland by the time he was ten kilometers away from the King King's Fortress. It was pungent and choking. It wasn't difficult to imagine how many soldiers had been sacrificed in the war. He sneaked about eight kilometers into the fortress. He could see the outline of the fortress from afar. He saw that one of the tall walls had collapsed. A lot of hazy black figures swayed and entered the fortress through the gap.
Dean's eyes lit up. He didn't expect that the military wouldn't be able to take back the fortress. Moreover he didn't hear the sound of military drums and fighting. Did the military give up the fortress?
"Behind this is the plain, which leads directly to the living area of the commercial district. There are nobles and rich merchants living there. The military should be carrying out the final defense on the wall of the residential area. Once the wall is breached, the barbarians will be like wolves in a flock of sheep. The casualties will be uncountable." Dean's eyes lit up. Although the military should be able to hold on but the barbarians couldn't be underestimated. In any case, the first people to be sacrificed were the nomadic civilians who lived on the plain. Although there were only some scattered villages and small towns but the population was at least tens of thousands. If the military didn't counterattack then it meant that the residents of the plain would be abandoned by the military.
Dean's eyes narrowed as an idea came to his mind. He turned around and quietly left.
It was early in the morning when Dean returned to the hotel. He woke up the coachman and went directly to the Temple.
Dean went straight to the Temple and bought 100 kg of materials. He found another thing: "How much do you need to exchange for gold coins?"
The person behind the counter was still the same youth. Dean was wearing a mask but he recognized him: "It will only cost 10 gold coins for one drop."
Dean immediately said: "Give me two bottles."
The youth was slightly stunned before he bitterly smiled. "With your authority, you can only purchase one thousand drops at a time. That's the amount of one bottle."
Dean frowned: "Alright, I'll give you one bottle."
The youth's mouth twitched. He knew that Dean had recently developed a new invention so he didn't lack money: "Alright, fill out the form and I'll apply for it for you."
Dean filled out the form, paid the money and turned to leave.
Dean got off the carriage and went to the thirteen castles. He asked the coachman to wait for him. He was stopped by the staff of the Temple: "Hello, are you Mr Dean?"
Dean nodded.
"This is the invitation letter for you." The staff respectfully handed out a letter.
Dean was surprised as he took the letter. There was no signature on it. He didn't open it on the spot. He took out the letter and glanced at it. It was a letter from the 13 castles. They were inviting him to participate in the symposium held in March. The date was three days later. The invitation letter was sent three days in advance. Most of them wanted to give the architects a buffer time so as not to delay the creation of the invention too suddenly.
Dean put away the letter and picked up the bag of letters on the ground. He was ready to go back to the castle and slowly open it.
…
…
Ryan Castle. Second floor.
Three figures came to Old Fulin's study room and knocked on the door.
The door opened. Sander was the one who opened the door. Old Fulin had arranged a middle-aged maid to stay in the hall because of his old age. Sander was personally in charge of his daily life.
"Come." Sander smiled as he saw the three.
The three were flattered: "Greetings, young patriarch."
Sander smiled and invited the three into the room.
Old Fulin was sitting on a rattan chair in the study room. He smiled as he looked at the three of them: "Your friend Dean has sent you a letter. He wants you to help him. He is short of manpower. You have been with me for a long time. You have seen the basic etiquette, preferences, rules, clothing brands and luxury items of the aristocracy. Now Dean needs you. I hope you can assist him."
The three were Barton and the other two. They nodded as they heard Old Fulin's words.
Old Fulin smiled: "Go and say hello to him for me."
"Yes." Barton replied.
The three left the study room and went downstairs. They sat in the carriage of the Ryan family. Barton lowered his voice: "We can finally do big things with Dean."
"Well." Joseph grinned: "It's uncomfortable to live in this aristocratic house. In the future, we can't call him Dean anymore. Otherwise, we'll expose our roots."
"Well, in the future we will call him Mr Dean or master. Although we came out with him but without Dean there wouldn't be the life we have today. In the past I wouldn't have thought that we would be able to use silk to make rags, milk to wash our faces and even a small stone would be worth hundreds of thousands of copper coins. Compared to now we are simply raising pigs." Kroen's face lit up as he spoke.
Barton smiled and said, "You're wrong. The pigs here eat much better than us. They have meat for every meal."
Joseph laughed: "Dean, oh no … I should call him young master. He said that he will lead us to great things in the future. Now he is a senior architect of the 'Temple of Elements'. He reports to us every day. He is like a dazzling pearl. We didn't make the wrong choice. We will have good days in the future if we follow him."
Kroen smiled: "We can't run away from good days. But don't forget the reason why young master brought us here. The first reason is that he trusts us. The second reason is that we have a clean background. It's convenient for us to do things. The last few times young master asked us to do those things. I guess it will be the same in the future. If we make a mistake, then … "
Barton's expression turned serious as he said, "What we're doing is shameful. If we're exposed and arrested, we can't drag the young master into this. Without him, we wouldn't be here today, and there wouldn't be a Barton!"
Joseph and Kroen looked at each other. Kroen said: "Do you think we are the kind of people who would betray our brothers?"
Barton's expression softened: "Of course I understand you. Let's not talk about this. We are almost there. Be careful of the walls."
"Well." Joseph nodded: "He should be watched by all parties. There are many spies of other consortia outside the castle."
…
…
"Master, three people have come to see you." Nicholas entered the room and reported.
Dean casually said: "Let them in."
"Yes." Nicholas turned and left. After a moment he came back with Barton and the other two.
Dean stopped reading the letter and looked at the three of them. There were obvious changes in the three of them after a long time. They were no longer timid like they used to be. Their clothes were relatively plain but they had their own temperament. At first glance it was hard to associate them with the 'slums'. But if he looked closely he could see the flaws in their bodies. For example, Barton had a small lump on his neck. This was an obvious change caused by radiation. Kroen's left hand only grew to his elbow. Half of his sleeve was empty. He was a disabled person.
Dudian knew that Nicotine should have noticed it as well. He looked at the three calmly: "Long time no see. Sit down."
Although Barton and the other two knew that Dean had the same origin as them, but now that they saw him, the latter's temperament made them feel restrained. It was difficult to call him by his name like before. Barton sat on the chair next to Dean and said: "Dean … Master, what do you want from us?"
Dean glanced at him. He didn't correct Barton's address. Instead, he was quite satisfied. Of course, it was not because of his vanity, but from this small matter, he could see that the three of them had indeed grown up. Their characters were a lot more cautious. They didn't recklessly expose their close relationship. He immediately asked: "Barton, do you believe in Holy Church?"
Barton was startled. He didn't understand why Dudian was asking this question. He glanced at Nicotine and honestly said: "I'm skeptical …"
Dean couldn't help but smile as he heard this. Nicholas also smiled and curiously looked at Dean. Dean smiled: "From now on you will believe in the Holy Church."
"Ah?" Barton blinked in confusion.
Dean smiled: "I mean you will enter the Holy Church and become a knight of the Holy Church."
Barton was startled: "Master, I also want to do that but they won't want me … I …"
"Leave it to me." Dean smiled: "You are only responsible for wholeheartedly loyal to the Holy Church after you enter the Holy Church."
Barton suddenly understood. "Young master, are you planning to place me within the Radiant Church and have me serve you there?"
Dean shook his head: "You just need to do what I say and wholeheartedly loyal to the Holy Church. You don't need to think about anything else. You will never know me again. Do you understand?"
Barton was somewhat at a loss. He seemed to understand, but at the same time, he didn't. He wanted to ask, but after some hesitation, he held back and said, "I understand."
Dean nodded in satisfaction: "What about you? Do you want to be a mighty general?"
Joseph was taken aback. "Young Master, you want me to join the military?"
"Smart." Dudian smiled: "Just like Barton, you should develop well in the military and forget about me. You just need to think about how to be a good general."
Joseph and Barton looked at each other. Although they were at a loss, they nodded: "I know."
Dean looked at Kroen: "You will follow me."
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