The chaotic and illusory sky shrouded the monotonous land. The colorless scenery presented a state of lack of layering in the field of vision, suffused with an indescribable strangeness. A breeze blew, and the wind rolled up fine black dust. The dust seemed to hide countless pairs of prying eyes. Standing in this world full of black and white, Victoria, who had always been indifferent and alienated, could not help but show a trace of surprise on her face.
And the person who brought her surprise was right next to her. The somewhat overly active half-elf stood there with a smug look on her face. Her long black hair fluttered slightly in the air like smoke. There was a smile in her golden eyes. Her lower body condensed a cloud of shadow that did not disperse. She seemed to have turned into an elf of the Shadow Realm, ingeniously blending in with this black and white world.
"… Incredible power." Victoria quietly looked at Amber for a few seconds and whispered in admiration. "You are the most powerful shadow master I have ever seen. No wonder Raven was defeated by you twice. None of Duke Cecil's subordinates are simple. "
"It's not a problem to praise me a few more times. It's rare for someone to praise me like that." Amber smiled triumphantly. "I have an impression of Raven you mentioned. The one who was kicked out of the Shadow Realm by me twice. If there is a chance, you have to persuade him. If he can't do it, it's better to practice a two-handed sword or a long-handled hammer or something. The Path of Shadow may not be suitable for him …"
Those who were familiar with Amber knew that once she started to blabber, she would quickly stray from the topic. Basically, not many words were meaningful. However, Victoria was obviously not used to the half-elf's rhythm. She was a little stunned on the spot, probably not knowing how to continue the topic. Fortunately, Amber's blabbering was intermittent. If she did not get a response in a short period of time, she would skip the topic herself. The half-elf stretched her limbs, looked up at the half-collapsed castle in a strange state, and said in a tone of a criminal preparing to commit a crime, "Don't waste time, let's get to work. That should be the shadow of Tulip Castle."
Victoria looked up and saw the castle at the end of the road. The black and white fragments were piled up on the grayish-black ground. Some of the castle walls could be seen among the ruins. In this strange and disordered Shadow Realm, the half-destroyed Tulip Castle showed a clear sense of chaos. Some of its structure seemed to have lost its material details, and other parts of the structure overlapped and piled up in a way that defied the laws of nature. The whole castle was like a failed painting that had lost its harmony. Only the intact mage tower and a part of the attached tower were still standing clearly at the back of the castle.
This was the first time Victoria entered the Shadow Realm. As a frost mage, her attainments in the Path of Shadow were limited to some theoretical knowledge. This mysterious and strange world opened her eyes. It also made her sigh at the power of the half-elf named "Amber" beside her in the Shadow Realm. She followed behind Amber, relying on spells such as Hastening and Wind-blessed to keep up with her. At the same time, she could not help but ask curiously, "Why do you follow Duke Cecil?"
Amber was like a fish in water, moving quickly in the Shadow Realm. The black smoke wrapped around her body was wantonly flying in the air. After hearing Victoria's words, she turned her head slightly with a playful smile on her face. "What? You want to poach me? "
Victoria shook her head solemnly. "No, that's not what nobles do. If I really want to hire you, I'll negotiate directly with Duke Cecil. At the same time, I'll ask for your opinion on a more formal occasion. I'm just curious now. "
"Ah, open and aboveboard … But Old Zong … Gwen is different." Amber laughed. "If he wants to poach talents, and it's obvious that he can't get them through direct negotiations, then he will definitely secretly lobby for money, buy public opinion, and win people over. He will use all kinds of means to win them over."
Victoria again felt that the topic was a little difficult to continue. She could only shake her head. "… Our style of doing things is a little different."
"So I'm more suitable to be with Gwen, not with an 'orthodox' noble like you," Amber said casually. "Didn't you just ask me why I follow Duke Cecil? Actually, it's nothing much. I dug up his grave and was caught by the person involved. Actually, I just wanted to hide in the grave. "
Victoria looked at Amber in astonishment, as if to confirm whether she was joking or not.
"You can't believe it, right? But it's true, "Amber said nonchalantly." In fact, I was quite unwilling to be detained at first. At that time, I wanted to pretend to agree, then steal Gawain's money and run away when he wasn't paying attention. But then I realized one thing: I couldn't beat him, I really couldn't beat him, and I couldn't run away either. So, I had to stay. It turned out that my decision was right. The next year, my salary was raised. "
Victoria listened to all this with a blank face, but her slightly flashing eyes showed that she was not as calm and indifferent as she looked. She looked deeply at Amber and said as calmly as possible, "I've never heard anyone describe their loyalty to a noble in this way. You … are really … very special."
"… Duchess, you've got one thing wrong." Amber suddenly stopped and looked at Victoria. "I've never been loyal to Duke Gwen Cecil. I've never been loyal to any noble or his bloodline family."
Victoria's indifferent expression was broken. She looked at Amber with some astonishment.
"I'm not a descendant of a noble. Half of my extraordinary power comes from my talent, and the other half comes from a thief who was executed by the church and the nobles. Naturally, I'm not qualified to swear allegiance to a noble because I don't even have a surname, and I don't need this qualification," Amber said slowly. "At first, Gwen gave me a gold coin a month, so I was responsible for this gold coin. Later, my salary increased, so I was responsible for the increased salary. Later, he established Cecil City and unified the Kant area. He let the serfs redeem themselves with work, let the civilians walk in the middle of the road, and let the merchants not have to kowtow to the Knight. I liked all this, and my job was to maintain all this, so I began to be responsible for my work.
"Later, he established the Duchy of Cecil, where the citizens could study and work. From two years ago to last year, no one starved to death in the winter of Cecil City, so I pledged my loyalty. In my heart, I secretly pledged my loyalty to the Duchy of Cecil.
"Duchess, I'm not a noble. Even if Gwen gives me a noble title in the future, I'll probably never be a standard noble in your pile of rules and regulations. I'm not loyal to Duke Cecil, not loyal to the Cecil family, not loyal to any so-called noble bloodline or title. Although I respect everyone in the Cecil family, that's only because they deserve respect. I'm not loyal to them, and they've never asked me to be loyal to them.
"If I have to say, we only have one goal in common. What we're loyal to is what Gwen Cecil built, not him.
"My Lady, if you can't tell the difference, then I'm afraid we'll never be on the same side."
Victoria quietly looked at the half-elf in front of her. After entering the Shadow Realm, this half-elf lady seemed to have changed not only her temperament, but also a little bit of her personality. But the words she said … might be what she really thought on a daily basis.
"I'll try my best to understand," Victoria said calmly.
"That's your problem. To be honest, I don't really like nobles. I don't like most of them. But recently, there are two exceptions in my eyes. One is you, and the other is Belk, who lit the fire beacon. "Amber turned around and continued on her way." I used to think that nobles were just bragging when they talked about their noble virtues. But at least from you, I can see something real. But then again, Duchess, an individual cannot represent the whole. I still don't like nobles. "
Victoria once again followed the half-elf's footsteps. She remained silent for a short while, neither defending the aristocratic system nor explaining the meaning of bloodlines to the half-elf who seemed to have a deep prejudice against the nobles. Although she used to care about these things, at this moment, she did not want to defend them at all.
After a moment of silence, she just asked a question. "In the past two winters, no one in Cecil City starved to death?"
"Of course, we have a comprehensive population statistics and management system. Every death and birth of the population is recorded."
"… How did you do it? Without the aristocratic system … "
"You mean food supply or population management?"
"Both."
"Oh, then we'll have to talk about it slowly." Amber looked up and glanced at the collapsed castle not too far away. "Maybe we should start with the relationship between the land and the people …"
…
On the northern plains of Maple City, on the banks of the Gorgon River, Gwen stood on a lookout tower in the frontline camp, watching the busy scene in the direction of the dock.
Artillery and flames dispelled the corruption on the plains, and the Cecil Legion successfully occupied a large dock that once belonged to the local lord. After intense renovation work, the engineers widened the road on the basis of the old dock, reinforced the stone trestle bridge, and turned it into a temporary military dock. At this moment, there were neatly arranged tanks driving to the reinforced trestle bridge, and heavily armed soldiers lined up to board the ships.
On the Gorgon River, three Cecil's main warships were performing a guard mission far away from the trestle bridge, and a series of guard gunboats modified from civilian ships or light gunboats rushed out from the rear shipyard patrolled back and forth on the wide river. Several sturdy ships with wide decks and sturdy hulls were attached to the edge of the trestle bridge, carrying the soldiers and chariots boarding the ships.
Those cargo ships that did not look like warships at all were modified military cargo ships deployed from the rear. Although they were modified for military use, due to the limited time, they were actually just adding some steel plates to the key parts of the hull, welding a shield generator on the hull, and installing a magic network terminal in the cabin that could establish a connection with the 'Pathfinder'. They did not even have a basic weapon system (adding a weapon system meant a large-scale modification of the power spine, and the shipyard's production capacity was not enough). Their safety was completely dependent on the warships escorting them.
These 'armored transport ships' were originally intended to be used to transfer refugees from the northern area, and they had started to be modified when the ground forces pushed north. However, when they were finally completed, Gwen found that there were not many refugees in the polluted area to be transferred, so these ships were used to transport all kinds of supplies to the frontline. Today, they had a new mission: set off with the Cecil fleet, carrying chariots and soldiers to the Saint Sunil defense line, guarding that important gate.
This army that went north through the Gorgon River would arrive at Saint Sunil a few days earlier than the main ground forces.
Footsteps came from behind, and Philip came to the observatory. After bowing to Gwen, he said, "The Steel Rangers have sent Duchess Victoria and Amber to the vicinity of Tulip Castle. The soldiers have confirmed that the mage tower is indeed still operating. If everything goes well, the news will be sent to Saint Sunil today."
"Very good." Gwen nodded. "When they come back, it should be almost done here. We can board the ship and set off."
Philip hesitated for a moment and could not help but confirm again. "Are you really going to go with them personally?"
Gwen smiled. "I'm already here. What's the difference if I go a little further north?"
"However, the mission that this vanguard has to carry out is difficult and dangerous. In order to support the Captical as soon as possible, it has to leave the main ground forces. After arriving at Saint Sunil, it will have to fight alone for at least five days without any support from the rear. In the worst case scenario, Saint Sunil will be taken down before this vanguard arrives. This way, the vanguard will be sent directly into the deepest part of the monsters' encirclement. Even with Pioneer, Aurora, and Morning Star covering the retreat, the losses of the vanguard will be extremely heavy. "
"Therefore, it needs a strong ground commander even more." Gwen glanced at Philip. "You have to stay behind to command the main army, so I'll be the one left."
"… Indeed."
"I'll go to Saint Sunil first to organize the defense line. With the firepower support of the three main battleships, there won't be any problems in the north." Gwen smiled and patted Philip's shoulder. "You just need to continue advancing according to the plan. Set up the defense line along the coast and stop those monsters from further polluting the west coast. Finally, we'll meet up at Saint Sunil and close this blockade line."
After saying that, he let out a light breath and calmly said, "As for whether the King's City will fall before then … Victoria firmly believes that Bai Dewen and Wales can defend Saint Sunil. I'll trust her this once."
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