The black-haired head maid in a black dress walked down the corridor illuminated by soft light. The rhythmic sound of her boots hitting the ground rang in Lord Beaumier's ears. The crisp sound even calmed his chaotic mind a little. When he realized that his mental state was gradually improving, the noble could not help but look at her. "Miss Diana, thank you for your mental comfort..."
"It's nothing. After all, you were not in the right state to meet His Majesty just now," the head maid said indifferently. She then stood in front of the door. "Go in, His Majesty is already waiting for you."
Unknowingly, they had come to the end of the corridor.
Lord Beaumier, who was standing at the door, could not help but gulp as he looked at the black and golden wooden door in front of him. This meeting room in the bedroom area was very special. With his title, there was almost no chance for him to come here. But now, Rosetta the Great had sent her own head maid to receive him, and even let him have an audience here …
This made all kinds of guesses in the lord's mind.
Then, he calmed himself down and gently knocked on the door. After getting permission, he pushed the door open and stepped in.
In the room covered with a soft, thick carpet, bright light spilled from the roof, illuminating the furnishings in the reception room. The Emperor was sitting on a high-back chair by the window, turning his head to look at him.
"Close the door, Lord Beaumier." Rosetta Augustus nodded to the late-night visitor in front of him. "Then, sit on this chair and tell me why you chose to see me so late."
Lord Beaumier immediately turned around and closed the door. He then turned around and took two steps forward to sit opposite Emperor Rosetta. He felt sweat on his forehead again, and his heart was pounding. It was finally time for him to speak, but he found that the courage he had accumulated before he stepped out of the house had been mostly used up along the way. Now, every breath he took was weakening his will, and his fear of death slowly took over.
Emperor Rosetta's deep eyes quietly looked at him. Lord Beaumier's heart quivered. Under the gaze of that pair of eyes, he temporarily mustered up his courage and broke the silence with a particularly hoarse voice. "Your... Your Majesty, first of all, I beg for your forgiveness. I have disobeyed you... I can't guarantee that I can finish my words, so please remember every key word I said.
"Your Majesty, the Throat of Aulandale! Gwen Cecil intervened! The lair of the cultists! The Eternal Sleepers! "
A soul-piercing chill instantly spread up his spine. Lord Beaumier felt his entire cervical vertebrae tingling as his brain buzzed. Death was coming. He had triggered the alarm. His brain must be dying quickly, and he was about to pay the price for his greed for power and mystical knowledge many years ago...
The only consolation was that the countless rehearsals in his mind before he left the house had worked. In the shortest time possible, he successfully said all the key words before his brain died. He did not make any damn "last words". This way, even if His Majesty did not understand all the content he wanted to convey, he could at least conduct a series of investigations based on the key words, and then...
That terrifying alien wanderer was stopped outside the gates of the Empire.
Lord Beaumier quietly leaned back in the chair, closed his eyes peacefully, and waited for death to fully come.
A few seconds later, he found that he was still breathing, but death had not come as expected.
His brain was throbbing, and his heart was a little uncomfortable, but it did not look like a sign of death. Instead, it seemed to be caused by pure nervousness.
Lord Beaumier opened his eyes in confusion. He looked down at his body and muttered subconsciously, "This... I'm not dead?"
"It seems so." Rosetta the Great's voice came calmly. Finally, the confused Lord Beaumier regained his sense of self. The latter looked up and saw that Rosetta was quietly looking at him. Her expression was indifferent but with some kind of … playfulness. "Lord Beaumier, you seem to be alive."
Then, before poor Beaumier could ask any questions, Rosetta waved to the side and said, "Diana, the lord needs a glass of refreshing iced wine."
The black-haired head maid came out of nowhere in the next second, holding a glass of wine that was constantly cooling. Lord Beaumier did not seem to realize what had happened until he took the glass. He subconsciously thanked the head maid and instinctively took a sip of the wine. The cold taste finally allowed him to regain some ability to think. "Your Majesty, I..."
"Answer my question first." Rosetta looked into Beaumier's eyes. "Were you shrouded in fear of death just now? You have some kind of curse on you that can kill you, and it will automatically activate when you say a key word? Its operation is related to your mind, or something that can monitor your thoughts and words? "
"Yes... yes, Your Majesty." Lord Beaumier answered honestly. "It should be like this, but why..."
"This room blocks all mental spells." Rosetta adjusted his sitting position in the chair and said indifferently, "In fact, it blocks almost all magical effects, including curses rooted in the body, remote mental monitoring, psychological cues that lead to suicide, and all damage spells that can be activated at any time."
Lord Beaumier's eyes slowly widened, and there was undisguised disbelief on his face.
Rosetta ignored him, and turned to a corner of the room and said, "Madam Windsor Mappel, thank you for your protection, but please continue to maintain the effect of the shelter. We are still not sure if the 'curse' on Lord Beaumier will be delayed."
Only then did Beaumier notice that there was a fourth person in the room. The Legendary-level president of the Association of Mages seemed to have been standing there all along, but it was not until Rosetta spoke that Beaumier saw the elegant lady in a lavender dress slowly walk over.
In her hand was an arcane magic ball that seemed to be completely condensed out of magic. The surface of the magic ball was flowing with runes, and it was the invisible power that it emitted that protected the entire room.
Bewildered, Lord Beaumier subconsciously muttered to himself, "Why..."
"Since the day before yesterday, four people have died mysteriously while trying to 'report'." The one who answered was Windsor Mappel, who was holding the magic ball in her hand. The Legendary-level mage looked at Beaumier, her eyes full of arcane energy seemed to be able to see through all secrets. "The details are surprisingly similar. Before they died, they seemed to have tried to say something to others, or convey some information through hints or riddles, but just as they put their thoughts into action, their brains were burned."
"Two of them died in the Obsidian Palace, and the other two went to find Duke Ferdinand and Duke Severn," Emperor Rosetta continued. "Perhaps there are more similar cases, but they have not reported it yet, or they did not even have time to go to the person they wanted to confide in, and they accidentally said some key words at home and died."
Beaumier was dumbfounded, and a look of lingering fear appeared on his face.
So he did not even have the chance to say the key words that he had in mind... Fortunately, he did not dare to turn the thoughts in his mind into words and actions when he was practicing at home, and only did a superficial simulation in his mind...
"After such an incident, the think tank of the Royal Association of Mages immediately analyzed the possible causes, and we believe that some kind of crisis has occurred. At the same time, a large number of insiders are trying to warn the Royal Association of Mages, but all of them are under the control of some kind of mind monitoring spell, or have been planted with a self-activating curse," Windsor Mappel said unhurriedly. "Currently, spies of the Royal Association of Mages and the Rogue Army are secretly monitoring the entire Oldenheim, looking for potential 'alarms', and trying to bring them to this room while ensuring their survival.
"But you came here of your own accord, Lord Beaumier, so this is an unexpected gain for us."
Rosetta nodded and looked into Lord Beaumier's eyes. "Fortunately, Lady Windsor's powerful power successfully blocked the potential curse, which proves that part of our judgment is correct, and you, Lord Beaumier... now prove that another part of our judgment is also correct. Tell me in detail what you mean by those key words, and what kind of crisis is threatening my empire? "
Lord Beaumier blinked, and after fully understanding the situation, he finally calmed down completely. With a kind of indifference and a hint of relief, he smiled bitterly and said calmly, "Your Majesty, I was once bewitched by power and knowledge, and accepted a 'gift' that I should not have accepted. I... am an 'Eternal Sleeper'.
"Your Majesty, in the Throat of Aurandale, there is a secret lair, which is shrouded by a powerful mental signal field and a large-scale dream barrier, and has always been ignored by everyone..."
...
North of Oldenheim, south of the Shadowy Swamp, a black-painted magic-powered train was quietly parked beside a newly built platform.
This was the earliest completed magic-powered train station in the Typhon Empire, and also one of the transportation hubs to the neighboring Cecil Empire.
Back in the Ansu era, when the Cecil Empire was still the "Cecil Duchy", the related projects had already started. At that time, Duke Cecil and the Typhon Empire signed a trade agreement, and through a railway line at the foot of the Gloom Mountains, it was connected to the Typhon Empire. That was the beginning of "modern trade" between the two empires, and today's station was an extension of the old railway line, and also one of the projects of the "Cecil Railway Investment Company" in the Typhon Empire.
A high-powered magic-crystal lamp hung high on the lamppost in the middle of the platform, casting light to dispel the darkness around the station, and also illuminating the surface of the black mechanical python. The huge and heavy steel machine looked like a dormant behemoth under the night sky, its cold and rigid lines outlined by the artificial light. The staff patrolling the station and repairing the machine walked around under the light, and from afar, they were as small as ants coiling around the behemoth.
For Typhon, where the magic-powered train and railway project had just started, this advanced and expensive sophisticated thing was still far from the stage of large-scale civilian use. Most of the time, it was only used as a transportation line for the industrial cities in the hinterland of the empire to devour raw materials, as well as a means of transporting goods with Cecil. Moreover, it was late at night, and the only civilian train on this line had stopped, so there were very few people on the huge platform.
Two staff patrolling the platform were doing a handover in front of the train. This was the last train of the day, and it was about to depart for Cecil, carrying Typhon's textiles and alchemy raw materials. Other than that, there were no other trains tonight, so the staff appeared to be lazy.
A figure flashed past the rear of the train and entered the huge industrial machine in a flash.
The lights in the corresponding area seemed to be malfunctioning, as it was exceptionally dim, and the patrolling staff could not see a single person.
Yuri, wearing a black coat and wearing a monocle, walked quickly in the steel 'corridor'. He passed through the connecting gate and freight carriages with many crates, and in the shadows near the crates, a few pairs of eyes looked up from the darkness and quickly lowered down.
As he stepped into the last carriage, more gazes came from the side.
"Everyone has boarded the train," Yuri said concisely in a low voice. "There are still fifteen minutes before departure. To prevent checkpoints and Typhon's people from boarding the train, we must try to avoid making any noise until the train stops at Baisha Station, and we must not cross the penultimate carriage. Everyone, get ready."
"I've already told them," Venti's soft voice came from the side. "How's the situation outside?"
"Don't worry," Yuri whispered. "There are several key people in charge and half of the frontline technicians here who are Cecil's people. The technical handover and training cycle is not over yet, and Typhon's people need Cecil's people to teach them how to control these huge and complex machines and how to manage the railway system. So tonight, everyone who comes into contact with this train is reliable."
Venti sighed softly, and then slowly swept her eyes across the carriage. She recalled the shock she felt when she first saw the arcanotech machine, and the 'station' outside that was full of incredible technology. She could not help but whisper, "This is really an unimaginable creation …"
"Yes, if it were not for the conditions, I would really like to study how this thing works," Yuri Chalvin exclaimed. "Hopefully, when we get to the 'other side', there will be a chance …"
"I would prefer to meet Miss Gypsy the Witch and watch the magic network broadcast," Venti chuckled. "It is said that … there is a singing 'program' there, and tens of thousands of people will hear it at the same time."
Yuri immediately shook his head. "Don't think about it. I'm afraid your singing will drag people into an eternal sleep."
Venti immediately retorted. "I can also sing normally, Archbishop Yuri."
"Archbishop … let's give up this title from now on," Yuri sat down on a nearby crate and said in a low voice. "Just call me by name, forget the past, or simply call me 'Sir' or 'Madam'. It's not a bad idea …"
"That's a good idea." Venti nodded gently. "But Mr. Yuri, you are sitting on Mr. Magnum's head. I'm afraid he has already started cursing."
"I can't hear it anyway." Yuri gently patted the crate under him with an indifferent expression. "And this is just a 'body'."
Venti shook her head helplessly, and then opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but her expression changed slightly in the next moment.
Almost at the same time, Yuri's expression also changed slightly.
All the Eternal Sleepers above the rank of Bishop received an emergency notice from Meghul III.
Abnormal minds have left the Network of Eternal Sleepers.
The 'informant' had appeared.
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