Winter had arrived.
The fog that covered the entire central and northern regions arrived as expected. The lingering fog and the increasingly cold aura began to envelop Oldenheim. In the vast, pale gray fog, the magnificent capital of the Empire became blurry and hazy. The world was like an oil painting soaked in water, and everything was no longer so clear.
Obsidian Palace stood high in the fog like a giant made of huge stones, overlooking the capital of the Empire.
Rosetta Augustus opened the letter in front of him and read every line with a calm expression.
Ferdinand Wendell stood beside the Emperor's desk. He saw the emblem of the Empire of Cecil's sword and plough on the top of the letter. The lines of the emblem itself and the horizontal lines on the paper were neat and beautiful.
Typhon's ruler took a long time to finish reading the letter, which wasn't very long. Then, he pondered for a moment and said softly, "The tuition fee has finally become acceptable."
"This is a good start, Your Majesty," said Ferdinand in a deep voice.
Rosetta nodded slightly and said, "Gwen Cecil believes that there is a need for the two countries to establish deeper exchanges. The old era of armed confrontation should be over. A more prosperous and affluent society is what this era should really pursue."
Ferdinand looked at his monarch quietly and asked, "What do you think, Your Majesty?"
"At least there is one thing that I agree with. The old era is indeed over." Rosetta's lips seemed to have a hint of a smile as he said, "We need to do something that is more suitable for the new era …
"Ferdinand, Gwen Cecil has always emphasized that his new Empire has a friendly and open new system. In that case, do you think … they will welcome some guests from Typhon?"
Ferdinand was silent for a few seconds before he slowly said, "Then, we'll have to give it a try to find out."
With a smile on his lips, Rosetta reached out and took out a letter from the side. He picked up a pen and wrote a line of powerful words:
To Emperor Cecil:
I admire your insight, and I agree with your understanding of the times. Perhaps it is time for us to discuss how to live in this new era …
The tip of the pen moved on the paper, and the soft swishing sounds danced in the quiet study. Ferdinand turned his gaze to the window amidst the quiet atmosphere, and saw that the fog shrouding Oldenheim was moving slightly under the sunlight like a silent and gentle sea. The golden rays of the sun rose and fell slowly on the surface of the sea.
There was an unnatural smell mixed with the mist. Mary couldn't help but sneeze when the smell wafted over.
The black-haired female apprentice stood at the intersection in front of Viscount Hermil's mansion. She frowned and looked at the mist drifting slowly in her sight. The strange smell in the mist affected her mood.
Perhaps the smell wasn't that unbearable, but Mary's nose was quite sensitive. She felt that the smell was like some sort of harmful smoke, spicy and slightly foul.
She raised her head and saw that there was an even thicker mist above her. The sunlight shone through the mist, but the light was weak and diffused. Obsidian Palace stood in the mist in the distance, and only a blurry outline could be seen.
The mist shrouding Oldenheim was like an oppressive and deep sea. The sea was filled with unpleasant smells. This place was prosperous and prosperous, but in winter, it didn't seem to be as comfortable as the weather and sunlight of her hometown. At least, there weren't a bunch of chimneys that constantly emitted exhaust gases there.
The female apprentice waved her hand and summoned a layer of wind shield, blocking off the seemingly harmful substances in the mist. A slightly envious and respectful voice came from the side, "A spellcaster like you is still the best. Even the flowing air will listen to your orders."
Mary turned her head and saw that the person talking to her was an attendant in a smock. This was an attendant sent by Viscount Hermil to accompany her. Before her teacher came back, this humble man would listen to her orders.
But Mary was not used to being able to order others around, nor was she used to being flattered. She just shook her head and said in an equal tone, "But if it weren't here, I wouldn't have to create a shield to filter the air. This should be the freshest time of the year."
The attendant smiled helplessly, "… Sigh, the mist this winter is indeed a little strange."
"But I remember that it wasn't like this last year." Mary recalled the scene when she first came to the imperial city with her teacher. "It wasn't like this the year before."
"If you had come to the imperial city earlier, you would be more surprised by this winter." The attendant spread out his hands, "We locals are more aware of the changes here."
Mary looked at the attendant and casually said what she heard, "I heard that the strange smell in the mist is all because of the chimneys — the pyrotechnic acid and chemical factories. The smoke emitted by them can't be dispersed, so it becomes the smelly mist."
The attendant smiled bitterly and shook his head, "You can say that, but we don't dare. The factories are run by adults. They don't like people talking about their machines and chimneys."
Mary was thinking about something and seemed to want to say something. But the door of the mansion not far away had already opened, and an old mage in a black robe walked out.
The young female apprentice immediately left the attendant and went to greet her teacher.
"Teacher, are we going home directly?" Mary asked respectfully, holding Daniel's arm.
"No, let's go to the Association of Craftsmen first to get something." Daniel glanced at his apprentice, "Not bad. You know how to use the wind shield. Otherwise, you'll get sick in this bad weather. Your brain can't turn around."
Mary lowered her head, but she did not refute or feel depressed. Instead, there was a faint smile on her face.
She could not remember how long it had been since her teacher used such understatement to "criticize" her.
Mary and Daniel boarded the limited-edition magic car and set off for the Imperial Association of Craftsmen. In the car, Mary could not help but mutter, "The winter here is worse than the countryside. It's much colder here, and there's also choking fog."
Daniel looked coldly at the complaining female apprentice and spat out a few words, "Not presentable."
Mary quickly shrunk her neck and looked like she was ready to be lectured.
However, her teacher did not lecture her as usual. Instead, he did not say anything for the next few seconds. Mary could not help but curiously raise her head, only to see her teacher quietly looking at her.
She was a little confused, but she did not dare to ask until Daniel took the initiative to speak, "Mary, do you want to go back to the countryside?"
"Me? No, no. "Mary was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly waved her hand," I just … just said it casually, teacher. I don't want to … "
Daniel calmly looked at the flustered female apprentice. When she was busy explaining, he shook his head and interrupted her, "I've found your parents."
All of Mary's movements and words instantly stopped. She looked at her teacher in a daze. First, she took a few seconds to understand what he said, then another few seconds to think about what kind of expression she should make. She thought her expression must be very funny because she could feel her face was stiff. She did not even know whether she should be happy or sad. It was as if she was listening to a foreign concept, but this concept was related to her.
Her parents.
Her parents who had completely forgotten what they looked like.
"They're in the countryside, and they don't live too far from the town. They moved after you went missing, but it's difficult for civilians to move very far away. As one of the chief wizards of the empire, it's not difficult for me to find them. "Daniel calmly continued," You also have a brother and a sister, but your brother died a few years ago during the plague. Your sister is married, but she has no children. "
Mary stared at her mentor. She stared at this old man who had been twisted, cruel, tyrannical, and terrifying for many years. She stared at him as he calmly talked about things related to her. In those tawny eyes, there was no longer any coldness or loss of control. Instead, there was only her own bewildered face reflected in them.
She mumbled, but even she did not know what she wanted to say, "Teacher, I … I don't know …"
Daniel interrupted her again, "If you want to see them, I'll bring them here. If you want to go home, go home."
"… I don't know."
It was a weak and inappropriate answer. If it was in the past, she would have been severely reprimanded or even punished. But today, Daniel just nodded faintly, "I understand. I'll give you time to think about it."
Mary lowered her head. After a long silence, she finally spoke again, "How have they been all these years?"
"Not really hungry."
"That's good."
Daniel looked at Mary. After a long time, he muttered, "Not presentable."
Having said that, he withdrew his gaze, as if he was no longer paying attention to Mary's movements. His spirit, however, slowly sank. While maintaining his basic awareness and reaction to the real world, the old mage quietly connected to the hidden mental network.
In the mental network, the City of Dreams created by the Eternal Sleeper was bright and sunny.
A gentle breeze blew across the wide street, ruffling the golden leaves that fell just right by the roadside. The curtains hanging from the palaces and towers swayed in the wind, showing off their magnificent texture. Daniel, who had transformed into a middle-aged, elegant mage, appeared on the street. He walked forward with the crowd coming and going.
His spiritual tentacles had spread out, secretly connecting with the minds of the Eternal Sleeper believers nearby, extracting the latest and useful information.
Most of the information was filtered out by him: in this increasingly huge network, there were too many bored Eternal Sleepers posting meaningless content. Those meaningless content made the clerics in charge of the network complain. The great master called this behavior of posting meaningless content "water posts". Although Daniel could not understand the meaning of the term created by the extraterrestrial wanderers, he could tell from the master's attitude that it was not a compliment.
It was said that the clerics in charge of managing the flow of information were already studying how to control the flood of meaningless information. Daniel was interested in this, but before that, he still had to complete the task given by his master.
After eliminating the meaningless information, he focused on the recent operation of the mental network and the recent activities of the Eternal Sleeper Cult.
He 'heard' and 'saw' some information:
The cult's activities in the Cecil Empire were getting more and more difficult. The ubiquitous magic monitoring towers and more and more security officers were squeezing the space for illegal Extraordinaires to live;
The Nightmare Archbishops in the upper echelons had recently conducted a new round of gathering computing power. A large-scale project seemed to require more computing power to maintain. Some of the Eternal Sleepers in the lower echelons were discussing this matter. They seemed to feel that this order to gather computing power was getting more and more frequent, and they were slightly complaining about it;
The Son of Storm had made his last contact with the land not long ago, and then there was no news at all;
Some of the Eternal Sleepers lamented that the situation of the three major cults in the past had fallen apart, and lamented that the changes in the world were beyond expectations;
Pieces of information flashed across Daniel's mind and vision. He walked casually on the street with a calm expression, as if he was just an ordinary passerby.
A golden leaf fell from nearby and swirled behind Daniel. The leaf flipped in mid-air and suddenly turned dark. Numerous jagged cracks appeared on the edge of the leaf, and then it disappeared.
But no one seemed to notice this' imperfect scene '.
Another meaningless message floated up from an unknown node group. Daniel casually glanced at this' watery post '.
It seemed to be a boring rumor or a ghost story.
Some nameless believers mentioned that there were some strange phenomena in the mental network recently, and claimed that they suddenly encountered an abnormal void when wandering in the Capital of Dreams. Some said that they suddenly saw people in front of them disappear into thin air when they were walking on the road. They were not disconnected, but seemed to be swallowed by something. Some believers even thought that they lost some of their memories when they were online after leaving the network …
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