It was a cloudless winter night with stars twinkling in the sky. The starlight from the distant space shone through the large floor-to-ceiling glass window into Gwen's room. The slightly silvery starlight swept across the furnishings in the room and left a long shadow on the floor. Gwen put on his pajamas and came to the floor-to-ceiling window. He raised his head and stared at the night sky for a long time.
He was completely awake and finally confirmed that he was not dreaming. The cold night made him more awake. At the same time, he recalled the image data sent to him by the satellite.
In the somewhat distorted image, he saw a few vague shadows. One of them was close to him and looked like some kind of aircraft. It seemed to be passing by the satellite at high speed. Gwen did not know if it was an illusion, but he always felt that the thing was "sneaky". The other shadows were a little farther away. Some of them were triangular, and the last one was extraordinarily large. Its outline... made Gwen think of many things.
"What the hell is that..."
Gwen muttered subconsciously. At the same time, he focused his mind again and tried to communicate with the surveillance satellite in space.
The connection was very smooth. With the focus of his mind, Gawain soon felt that his field of vision had entered the satellite's altitude. He 'opened his eyes' and manipulated the optical sensors of the surveillance satellite to search around, trying to find the uninvited guests. However, in the limited field of view of the surveillance satellite, he found nothing in the end.
Those things might have left. Anyway, it could not be an illusion. After all, the image data was there. Things like the surveillance satellite could not produce an "illusion".
After thinking for a while, Gwen changed the direction of the spiritual connection. Accompanied by a slight dizziness, he came to a higher position with a wider view. He entered the surveillance system of Firmament Station.
The field of vision of the Firmament Station was slightly different from that of the surveillance satellite, and it was more controllable. Gawain hoped that this thing had recorded more information, but he did not hold out much hope.
Fortunately, it was not all in vain. When he accessed a recent video of Firmament Station, a giant shadow suddenly flashed in front of him.
Gwen immediately stopped the video and then rewound it frame by frame. After a slightly difficult operation, he finally captured a clearer silhouette. When he saw the shape of the giant shadow, he was finally sure that the association he had when he saw the blurry image sent by the satellite was correct.
That thing... looked like an extraordinarily strange Giant Dragon. It was mechanically built, covered with a sophisticated and biological alloy shell, and mounted with an engine under its wings.
Even Gwen, who was conceited and had a good imagination, had never imagined such a thing.
After confirming the surveillance record again, Gwen exited the connection with the space facility. He stood in front of the wide floor-to-ceiling window, thinking.
Something appeared in space... The impact on him was no less than when he first heard the report of the deicide recorded in the Eternal Slate. Since he uncovered the coffin, he had rarely felt so nervous and even a little confused. But after confirming that one of the things looked like a "Mechanical Giant Dragon", he was nervous and had many more messy thoughts. He thought of Tarlonde who suddenly lost contact with him, Melita Pânia whose condition was unknown, and the Dragon God Enya who seemed a little strange before he left. In his wild imagination, he had countless guesses and ideas...
No matter what happened to Tarlonde, no matter what happened in space, at least in Cecil City tonight... Gwen rarely had insomnia.
...
When the first ray of light shone in the lush ancestral forest, the glorious and ancient Elven Empire gradually woke up from the night.
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation The Elven Royal City in the depths of the forest was bathed in the morning light. The beautiful city with many white walls and streamlined roofs was like a dazzling jewel embedded in the dense forest. Rows upon rows of houses were connected by tall, slender, high-strength bridges. A sparkling river flowed through the city. In the middle of the river, in the center of the city, the pure white Elven Royal Palace was supported in the air by 177 curved skeletons that looked like ribs. It hung over the river and overlooked the entire city.
On the bridge at the highest point of the Elven Royal Court, Bersetia Morgenstern was walking slowly along the royal trail inlaid with fine elongated crystals. Her high-ranking maids and trusted courtiers followed closely behind.
A breeze blew from the direction of the forest, and a low humming sound came from the sky. Bersetia looked up and saw a huge shadow slowly drifting across the sky to the west. The Starry Temple was flying over the Royal City in low-speed cruise mode. From this angle, she could see the bottom of the ancient temple. She saw that the high-strength alloy armor belt was lined with anti-gravity engines. Some of the engines had been extinguished, while others were releasing a constant pale blue or pale white halo. Streams of magic flowed in the base of the Starry Temple like blood flowing in arteries.
"Is the routine maintenance of the Starry Temple over?" The Silver Queen whispered to herself. "It took a long time this time. Winter is almost over."
Velania Silverstar, the high-ranking astrologer behind her, immediately replied, "Yes, because this time we are trying to use the magic net power unit and arcane containment device shared by Cecil and his people to enhance the core power of the Starry Temple. This involves the dismantling and modification of the deep engine compartment of the temple. The work is bigger than the previous years, so it took a longer time."
"A bold modification with many opponents. But fortunately, everything went well in the end." Bersetia nodded. "Now those voices of opposition have finally disappeared."
"In fact, I can understand those who opposed the opening of the deep engine compartment," the high-ranking astrologer said with some emotion. "They are experienced scholars like me, but they are more cautious. They actually recognize the magical technology developed by humans, but there is a great risk in hastily modifying the core structure of the Starry Temple. They are just worried that the risk is out of control."
"Don't worry, I don't blame those people. Their original intention was to protect the wealth of the Empire." Bersetia smiled, her eyes slowly moving toward the Starry Temple that had flown over the city. "In the past two years, I had to sit on the 'Seat of Command' for almost half of the time. The painful roar of those ancient machines kept me awake at night. Now that I know that their pain can be reduced, it is really something to be happy about. Astrologer, is the modification effective?"
"It is not enough to restore the glory of the Starry Temple, but it has stopped the decline of the core power system. As you can see, the additional energy units have reduced the pressure on almost all the systems, especially some of the aging anti-gravity engines have a chance to breathe. This means that we have a chance to do a more thorough repair. "Velania had a smile on her face. The respected astrologer was obviously in a good mood." Now I can't guarantee that I can fix it, but it is indeed a good start. "
"So it is a wise move for us to cooperate with Cecil. Humans are more creative than us, and they have found a way that no one has ever walked before," Bersetia said as she stopped walking. "So, we should also respond to another invitation they sent a few days ago."
Standing behind Bersetia, Valentian Kingu, the Imperial Grand Secretary, whispered, "The invitation to witness the signing of the peace agreement between Cecil and Typhon at Sentinel 112 in the northeast …"
"And the invitation to join the 'Alliance of Civilized Communities.'" The Silver Queen glanced at her Grand Secretary. "This is the more important thing."
"… The parliament has discussed it, and there are still some dissenting voices." The Grand Secretary chose his words carefully. "The main issue is whether this unprecedented 'alliance' of all races and countries is stable and reliable, whether what Gwen Cecil promised is feasible, and whether the benefits, risks, and responsibilities we have to bear after joining the alliance are equal. Especially the last one, the parliament members have discussed it very … "
"Arrogance," Bersetia said lightly.
The Grand Secretary was a little surprised. "… Your Majesty?"
"It's just arrogance," Bersetia said. "For 700 years, the Silver Empire has become the most powerful country on the continent. We have taken on the role of the former Kingdom of Gondor and dominated many things. This has begun to be imprinted in many people's minds, so it is difficult for them to accept that the leadership of a matter falls into the hands of others."
"… Your comments are pertinent, but too harsh," the Grand Secretary said helplessly. "Most of the parliament members' starting point is still based on the interests of the empire."
"Of course, this is the premise of their existence, and I quite believe it." Bersetia nodded. "So I also believe that they will soon come to a conclusion. I won't rush them on this point. But you … Valentian, I want to hear your opinion on this matter. "
The Grand Secretary pondered for a moment, then looked up. "I am inclined to accept Cecil's invitation. Not only should we accept it, but we should also actively approach this new alliance and try our best to show the influence and size of the Silver Empire in the process of its formation to ensure that we will have an important seat in this new alliance in the future."
"Oh?" Bersetia glanced at Valentian with a little surprise. "I didn't expect you to be so serious about this matter."
"In the past two years, the Kingdom of Kaolin has established a trade route with the Tiphon Empire. All the trade routes have shown incredible development. On the other hand, we have also been communicating with the Tiphons and the Cecils in economic and technological terms. You have seen the feedback we have received. All kinds of signs show that the order of the entire Lorien Continent is being reorganized. The human countries that had fallen apart are re-establishing close relations. This time, even the dwarves, orcs and other races in the west and the dragons in the north are being pulled into this new order …" The chief secretary was silent for a moment before he organized his words and said, "In the past two years, the Kingdom of Kaolin has established a trade route with the Tiphon Empire.
"This new order has taken shape, and the trend is irreversible, especially now that even Cecil and Typhon have chosen to coexist peacefully after the war. This means that the last obstacle to the integration of north and south and east of the Lolun Continent has been removed. For the Silver Empire, we can't just destroy this trend for no reason, but we can't be unaffected by it either. Since the old tradition of being independent has to be changed, we might as well join it. With the influence of the Empire, we can ensure that we have an important seat in this new alliance and continue to maintain the stability of the Silver Empire's position in the southern part of the continent. "
Bersetia listened carefully to Valentian's thoughts. In fact, Valentian did not go into too much detail. After all, this was just a walkway outside the Elven Court, and not the royal council hall where the Silver Queen dealt with government affairs. Even so, he explained the distribution of interests behind the whole thing very well.
A smile finally appeared on the Empress's face.
"Very good, Valentian." She nodded approvingly. "You've said it well."
"It's just some immature views." Valentian lowered his head. "Besides, there are actually many members of the council who have similar views as me."
"This shows that there are still many smart people in our council," Bersetia said with a smile. Then she changed the topic. "All in all, no matter what the outcome of their discussion is, there is no doubt about one thing — the peace agreement between Cecil and Typhon requires the elves to be the witnesses. We have done something similar 700 years ago, and there is no reason to refuse this time."
"Yes," Valentian said. "Everyone has reached a consensus on this point."
"Then let's start preparing from now on." Bersetia nodded. "I'll go to Sentry 112 personally to be the witness."
As her voice trailed off, Velania Silverstar immediately showed a surprised expression. However, Valentian, as the Grand Secretary, did not react much. It seemed that this minister who had followed the Silver Queen for many years had expected Bersetia to make such a decision from the beginning and had already prepared a countermeasure. He just nodded and said, "Understood, I'll arrange this matter."
"Very well." Bersetia showed a satisfied expression. Then she glanced at the sky at the end of the city. The glorious giant sun had completely risen over the forest, and the corona covered with wood grains was shining gently on the royal city. "The stroll time is over. You all go to the council hall first. I'll be there later."
The Grand Secretary, the high-ranking astrologer, and several other officials immediately took a step back and said in unison, "Yes, Your Majesty."
The officials left, and only the Silver Queen and her two high-ranking maids were left on the walkway hanging high in the sky.
"Let's go," Bersetia said to the maids beside her. "Don't let the courtiers wait too long."
The two maids followed her footsteps, and after a short walk, one of the maids finally could not help but ask, "Your Majesty, are you really going to the north personally?"
Bersetia slowed down and glanced at the maid who had been with her since childhood. She was very close to her, and a smile appeared on her face. "Aren't you looking forward to seeing Uncle Gwen?"
"This … Not really. It's just a little unexpected. The sentry in the north is much farther than the sentry post when the Sacred Covenant was concluded 700 years ago."
"The fallen humans have come back together again. This is worth a long journey," Bersetia said slowly, a look of contemplation gradually appearing on her face. "And … there are some things I want to confirm with my own eyes."
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