Andesha looked at the monarch she swore allegiance to with a hint of astonishment.
At first, she did not find anything wrong with Emperor Rosetta's words. Almost any nobleman of Typhon who was in control of the situation and understood the changes in the Empire over the years could see that the war between Typhon and Ansu was inevitable. But soon, she realized that Rosetta's words were deeper than that.
Gwen?? Cecil would eventually become enemies with Typhon.
All this time, Rosetta?? Augustus had always regarded Ansu as prey. But now, a hunter had appeared among the prey, a hunter who was equally hungry.
"Your Majesty, if that's the case, why are we still working with him?"
"There are many forms of war, and 'cooperation' is one of them," Rosetta said calmly. "The Empire can gain too much from this cooperation. Cecil's people have something we urgently need, but at the same time, we have something they urgently need … We plot against them, and they plot against us."
Andesha lowered her head slightly, thinking about the deeper meaning behind the emperor's words.
"The 'magicite industry' created by Cecil's people is changing the operating rules of society. I can't see what it will become in the end, but I can feel that the existing order built on land and agriculture will soon be broken by factories and machines. In this field, Cecil's people are already ahead of us, but they have their advantages, and so do we," Rosetta continued. "Send this car back to the Empire, send it to the Imperial Craftsmen's Association, and dismantle it into parts. No matter how much it costs, we must understand how it works. We can't build a better car for the time being, but we must at least build one that can run as fast as it.
"Also, inform Duke Ferdinand to summon the palace's advisors to calculate the production and demand of iron ores, magicite materials, grain, and cotton in the country, and plan the earliest transportation routes.
"Organize the scholars in machinery and magicite technology. From now on, let them work and live with the workers building the roads, and prepare to become 'workers'. Cecil's people will most likely not allow our mages and scholars to participate in the technical aspects of building the 'railway', but they will definitely recruit workers.
"Draft an order for me and ask Duke Severn to start the preparations for the 'bank' …
"Instruct the council to assess the risks of all matters …"
Risk … This word flashed through Andesha's mind. At the same time, she memorized every single one of Emperor Rosetta's orders.
The giant sun was hidden behind the chaotic and dirty clouds. The light that leaked out from the clouds gradually approached the western horizon. The sky quickly darkened, and the bright magic crystal lamps in the camp lit up one by one. The bright magic crystal lamps released a constant light, making the small camp like a lighthouse in the chaos. The light was so bright that it reflected the hazy and magnificent wall.
Rosetta? Augustus returned to his palace and sat quietly on a high-back chair. In front of him were many reports and documents related to factories, roads, and cotton production.
The night was getting darker. The Emperor glanced at the sky outside the window and leaned back slightly. He closed his eyes and rested for a short while.
The endless and tranquil darkness seemed to have shrouded his senses and spirit in an instant.
Rosetta? Augustus opened his eyes and saw that he was in a magnificent palace.
The palace was extremely luxurious. The pillars were tall, and the dome was magnificent. All the walls and roofs were painted with exquisite paintings and colorful patterns. Narrow windows with pointed roofs that were in the style of Typhon were embedded on both sides of the walls. The crystal glass of the windows was also decorated with intricate patterns.
A spacious hall appeared in front of Rosetta. The hall seemed to be able to accommodate a thousand people for a ball, but in reality, there was no one in the palace.
An indescribable silence shrouded this magnificent and spacious building. There were no attendants, no guards, and no one. Only the faint, dusk-like light shone in from the high and narrow windows, casting shadows of light and darkness in the palace hall.
Rosetta quietly looked at the empty palace in the dream. His expression was indifferent. After a short silence, he stepped forward.
The moment he took a step forward, countless low and indistinct murmurs and murmurs suddenly came from all directions.
The omnipresent sound was mixed with fragmented conversations and laughter, and also seemed to be mixed with suppressed crying and screams. It was as if the empty palace was suddenly full of people. Those invisible visitors and residents came and went in the empty corridors and halls. In Rosetta? The people around Augustus were talking, laughing, cursing, and crying, but Rosetta, who was surrounded by these voices, just walked forward quietly, as if ignoring all the noise.
Finally, a clear whisper appeared in the chaotic murmurs and murmurs. It was hoarse and low, and it went into the ears of Emperor Typhon. "… Ah … You're here again … You don't know how to surrender …"
Rosetta continued to walk forward. As he moved, the spacious hall silently shattered, and a deep and long corridor appeared in front of him. There were also narrow windows on both sides of the corridor. The dusk sky shone through the narrow windows on the opposite side of the wall. Between the light and shadow, portraits could be seen hanging silently on the wall.
Rosetta saw his brother, his father, and his uncle …
Everyone who had inherited the bloodline of the Augustus Family and had left this world quietly hung here. Through the cold oil paintings, they looked at him with cold eyes.
The one closest to him was his eldest son, who had died young.
The young man who was frozen in the painting looked at Rosetta and suddenly said, "Father … Aren't you going to stop and rest?"
Rosetta did not stop and continued to walk forward.
The low whisper sounded again. "Death lies on both sides of this road. Death lies at the end of this road …"
Rosetta gradually walked into the depths of the corridor. The surrounding light was getting dimmer and dimmer. The portraits on both sides began to become older, fading, and more indifferent. The Augustus from the ancient era looked at Emperor Typhon walking in the corridor with malice. The low whisper continued to sound.
"… Why don't you stop and rest? You don't have to challenge this impossible mission …
"The truth is so painful … Why don't you just throw it to the back of your mind. Sometimes, living in ignorance is the blessing of mortals …
"Those Augustus before you, they were as stubborn as you, but what happened to them? None of them succeeded. They went mad, all of them went mad … You shouldn't have seen it, but since you have seen it, why don't you accept this curse … "
At the end of the corridor, all the maddening whispers and murmurs suddenly disappeared. Rosetta quietly raised his head and looked at the portraits hanging at the end of the corridor.
It was the beginning of the "Augustus" surname as the ruler of Typhon. It was the beginning of this ancient family. The earlier Augustus had disappeared with the passage of time in the destruction of the Ancient Kingdom of Gondor. Even if their names were passed down, they did not leave behind an image in this "palace".
In the dim light, Rosetta saw a few portraits: Roland?? Augustus?? Bertormund?? Augustus?? Thalia?? Augustus …
At the end of these portraits arranged side by side, he saw Bertilla??? It was Augustus' position. However, in the center of the dark frame, there seemed to be a layer of shadow that did not dissipate. It completely covered the face of the Saint who had been active seven hundred years ago.
Rosetta looked at the portrait calmly for a while, then withdrew his gaze and broke the silence for the first time, "Bertilla?? Is Augustus really still alive? "
In the depths of the empty palace, there was no sound in response to his question.
Rosetta seemed to have expected this result. He just showed a mocking smile and turned back to the direction he came from.
The whisper sounded again, "Why haven't you gone mad?"
Rosetta's footsteps paused slightly, and his voice was low, "We have resilience beyond your imagination."
The palace began to shake violently, as if the dream was about to end.
Rosetta looked up and watched the deep and long corridor collapse and fall apart. In the darkness behind him, the low whisper turned into a distant sigh, "Sigh …"
That sigh seemed to contain endless regret and helplessness, which was very different from the murmurs that made people go crazy and contained malicious intent from before.
The last supporting structure of the entire palace completely collapsed after this sigh, turning into nothingness.
After the walls completely collapsed, the scene outside the palace was reflected in Rosetta's eyes. He saw a city, a city that was rapidly collapsing. Countless towering towers and majestic walls disintegrated in the violent shaking. A huge crack appeared in the earth, and the entire city was swallowed by the earth in an instant. In the midst of the constantly collapsing things, in the depths of the earth, the last scene he saw was a transparent dome. Indescribable starlight floated in the dome …
…
The giant sun rose in the east and set in the west. Day and night alternated, and the stars rotated.
The ancient constellations were solemn and indifferent like the gods watching the world, watching the passage of time, watching the busy mortals.
Frost Constellation crossed the highest point of the sky, and winter began to unleash its final power in the last month of the season. The cold wind whistled, and the earth froze.
With the support of construction machinery and various other advanced technologies, the main building of the 'secondary tower' in Cecil's Pinnacle Base was completed a month ahead of schedule. A series of 'purification devices' that extended from the secondary tower to the north were also completed. After this, the installation and debugging of a series of later magic devices would become the main work of the magisters.
The exchange of technology between the Silver Empire and the Cecil Duchy was finally on track. After the initial run-in and small project tests, the elven magisters in the south of the continent and the human magic researchers in the north of the continent established a preliminary understanding. The Cecil Duchy and the Silver Empire respectively set up more signal relay towers and amplification devices in the areas under their control. In a more stable and efficient communication environment, the researchers of the two races crossed the entire continent and began a series of technology exchanges and cooperation projects through long-distance communication.
Ansu Year 738, the 35th day of the Cold Month, Gwen received a magic network communication from Heti.
"The emissaries sent by Typhon have arrived in Cecil City." With her long hair tied up, the elegant and steady grand consul of the duchy reported the situation seriously in the holographic projection. "As per your order, they will be arranged to visit the operation of the eastern line of the magic train the next day."
"They have finally arrived … But it's understandable. After all, it's such an important project. Rosetta? Augustus and his think tanks have evaluated many times before finally making the decision. "Gwen sat behind the desk. The unique sound of a heavy transport vehicle came from outside the window. A batch of rocks, soil, and monster specimens collected from the wasteland had just been loaded and were ready to be sent to the research department in Cecil City." How's the situation in the duchy? "
"Everything is stable. The last batch of exiled Knight in the north has surrendered. All the magic monitoring and sensor devices in the border areas and key urban areas have been completed and activated. According to the plan, the next step is to spread the sensors to the villages and towns."
Gwen breathed a sigh of relief.
At this point, the social security of the Duchy of Cecil was finally completed.
The so-called "Magic Monitoring and Sensing Device" was a special facility set up by the government office and developed by Kamal. Its idea came from the ancient Gondor Empire, and its technology was the product of the modern "Magic Detection Spell" and the magic network communication technology. Its greatest function was to sense all spellcasting within its range and send back an alarm immediately. The "Supervisors" of the government office's public security department could see the location of the node that sent out the alarm from the city's sand table, and from there, they could quickly lock on to any unauthorized spellcasting activity.
Of course, this system was not to prohibit Extraordinaires from casting spells. As long as they carried a special 'spellcaster permit', the Extraordinaires could cast spells normally by relying on the runic array in the permit. This permit had to be obtained from the government office, and it had to undergo periodic inspection, rune renewal, and qualification assessment. In this way, the Extraordinaires in Cecil had to be registered. Of course, there was some resistance at the beginning of the system, but due to the great results of the unification war, almost 90% of the Extraordinaires in the entire southern territory were under the control of the duchy. There were not many Extraordinaires who were not under the jurisdiction, so it was successfully implemented in the end.
This system had been in place since the middle of last year, and now it had gradually taken shape.
Effective management of all Extraordinaires sounded very advanced, but in fact, this idea was not advanced at all.
Not to mention the Kingdom of Gondor a thousand years ago, Typhon, which was just one border away from the duchy, had already achieved the registration and professional management of Extraordinaires many years ago. Their special team of 'engineering mages' was a clear proof.
The Tiphons used a large number of mage towers and a large number of royal mages who were loyal to the empire to register and sense the Extraordinaires in most of the city areas. They also set up a large number of training facilities to create more loyal and obedient "full-time spellcasters". This method was very costly, but relying on the strong and powerful "power of money", the Tiphons finally achieved all of this.
Ansu was one step behind in this aspect, so Gwen had to use more advanced technology and a more advanced system to make up for the disadvantage of latecomers. At least within the duchy, he had to achieve more effective management of Extraordinaires.
Of course, those facilities and systems had loopholes, and there would always be people who would find a way to decipher the magical fluctuations. High-tier or Legendary-class Extraordinaires could also use their powerful abilities to block the monitoring of magical sensors. Deciphering and anti-deciphering, monitoring and anti-monitoring, the confrontation in this aspect would never end. But regardless, as long as the new management system was effective, the Southern Realm would be safer. At the very least, those cultists who wanted to sneak in and perform evil rituals at any time and place would not be able to sneak in so easily.
From now on, any cultists active in the Southern Realm, whether they were the Eternal Sleepers or the Apocalypse, would face the situation of being handcuffed to radiators by law enforcers just by chanting a spell.
…
After hanging up the communication, Heidi stretched her back with all her might and moved her slightly sore neck.
The cold wind was howling outside the window, and the snow from two days ago was still on the roofs of several buildings. Crystal clear ice hung down from the windowsill, showing the cold outside.
Warm air flowed along the ventilation duct and blew out from the air circulation ports on both sides of the office, maintaining the comfortable temperature in the office. Even in this cold weather, the temperature in the room was still comfortable enough to make people feel sleepy.
In fact, Rebecca had already fallen asleep on the sofa next to her.
Heti helplessly looked at her niece who was sleeping soundly and could not help but shake her head.
"… She still wants to chat with the ancestors … She fell asleep before the call went through …"
She muttered a few words, but did not wake Rebecca up, nor did she really want to blame her.
She knew that Rebecca was really tired recently. In order to exchange technology with the Silver Empire, to organize and prepare for a series of new projects, this simple-minded girl had not had a good rest for half a month.
This child needs a good sleep.
Heti found a blanket from the side and gently covered Rebecca with it. This reminded her of when Rebecca was a child. This restless girl was always a master of kicking quilts. Even if she arranged two maids to watch over her, they could not catch up with Rebecca's speed of kicking quilts …
As if she felt something, Rebecca, who was lying on the sofa, slightly arched her body and muttered vaguely, "… Ancestor … I will understand … the elven runes …"
After muttering, she suddenly giggled in her sleep, as if she had been praised in a dream.
Heti looked at Rebecca's movements and could not help but smile. Then she stood up and glanced at the calendar hanging on the wall not far away.
The cold month, the 35th day.
25 days before the end of winter.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
