Sword of Dawn

Hediwan didn't expect that the lady thief would dare to yell at him, and his face immediately turned ugly: "Shut up! It's extremely rude! You know what it is to offend the nobles like this..."

Gao Wen hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over: "Don't quarrel, don't quarrel, Amber didn't lie, we did resolve the crisis together just now—of course it's really her fault that she scolded you for having big breasts..."

The scene was quiet for a while, and Rebecca raised her hand cautiously: "My lord ancestor, just now Amber said such a compliment in total, and you rejected it..."

Hetty looked hopeless.

Gao Wen: "..."

Fortunately, Hetty is also a person who understands the general situation, so she didn't dwell on these small issues for too long. After Gao Wen explained what happened before, all misunderstandings disappeared.

What Gawain and Amber saw and heard in the Shadow Realm surprised everyone, and even Knight Byron, who knew nothing about magic, couldn't help but listen to it for a long time.

After all, this is an unimaginable experience for ordinary people.

"You can actually enter the Shadow Realm?" Hetty's first concern was indeed Amber's special ability. She sized Amber up and down several times suspiciously, as if she wanted to read the answer from the half-elf lady's face, "Only Only a small number of high-level wizards of the shadow system or the "chosen" of the gods of the shadow system have this ability, how did you do it?"

Amber turned her face away: "I am the Goddess of the Night Goddess, okay?"

Hetty stared at her: "Don't make trouble, can a God Chosen be slapped on the ground by Byron with an ordinary steel sword?"

"Forget it, don't ask any more questions," Gawain finally stopped Hetty's pursuit, "I have already promised her not to pursue these things—she will naturally say it when she wants to."

The ancestor of the world is the biggest, and even Gao Wen spoke like this, so Hetty could only choose to die.

"Bury the dead first." The fog dissipated, and the warmth returned to everyone. Seeing that everyone had recovered a little bit of strength, Gawain got up and went to the soldier who died due to his broken soul, " He fought bravely and deserves to be buried like a warrior."

The two surviving soldiers looked at Gao Wen in surprise.

Gao Wen was a little puzzled: "Why, what did I say wrong?"

"After he became a serf," Knight Byron walked over from the side, "it was the viscount who promulgated the decree, so that serf children like him have the opportunity to enter the territorial army and serve as a redemption—but he has only served for half a year, so He is still a serf now, and such an identity cannot be buried as a soldier."

Gawain frowned and looked at Rebecca: "Is that so?"

Rebecca immediately became nervous as if she had done something wrong: "Yes... I'm sorry! But I think the serf system is really...not very reasonable, so let them redeem themselves by serving, I know it's against the rules, But……"

Gao Wen's brows slightly relaxed: "No, I don't blame you."

Then he bent down, fumbled to take out a coin from his arms, and stuffed the coin into the breast pocket of the dead soldier, placing it next to his heart.

The coin was placed by Charles I himself when Sir Gawain Cecil was buried 700 years ago.

The moment Amber saw the coin, she realized what it was, and immediately covered her eyes: "Oh my god... at least half the manor..."

But Gawain himself didn't notice this, he just finished these things according to the rules in his memory, and then he clapped his hands and stood up: "Now someone has redeemed the debt of his soul, bury him."

Byron hesitated slightly: "But the rules..."

Gao Wen glanced at him: "I am the rule."

Chapter 0016 Premonition

Only a few hundred meters away from the place where everyone was attacked, Gawain found the cabin that had been reduced to ruins.

It fell between the trees, and from the scorched marks, it can be judged that it was destroyed by a fire from the inside out, but the fire did not spread to farther places—perhaps a rain saved the forest in time .Knight Byron checked the remaining traces around the wooden house and judged that the fire should have happened more than half a month ago.

Hetty detected the already very thin magic power reaction at the scene.

"What we saw in the Shadow Realm should be a reflection," Gawain said as he looked at the ruined wooden house in the clearing, "This wild mage has lived in seclusion in this place for many years. This place is outside the territory, and even Orion will not come here, so no one knows that there was a hermit living here."

"The question is...how did the accident happen?" Hetty frowned, "There is only one weak magic focus here, and the strength of the wild mage living here is also very low, even if one of his magic experiments got out of control and burned down Without this house, it is impossible to create a long-term projection in the shadow world, and also generate such a powerful mist of wraiths... All the magic power required for this cannot be provided by a mere wild mage."

"Perhaps this notebook can answer your doubts." Gawain said, handing a dilapidated notebook to Hetty.

That was the note I got from Betty in the Shadow Realm. It was not only the diary of the unknown wild mage, but also a research note.

Heidi opened the second half of the notes according to Gawain's instructions, and read carefully.

"...Ansu 729, fire moon, XX day. It has been half a year since I moved to this place, and I found a magic power focus on the edge of the Cecil family's territory, although the intensity is not at all comparable to the public magic power focus of the City of Thousand Towers In comparison, it is enough to support my laboratory. The elemental power here is single and stable, and Annie's condition should be relieved.

"Ansu 729, Harvest Moon, XX day. Annie's condition seems to have improved, and she hasn't had another seizure for a long time—but I don't know if the environment here has an effect, or my ritual and potion are true. It is effective. The magic focus here is too weak. Even with the help of the augmentation circle, the effect of my ritual will be greatly reduced. Maybe I should reconsider the formulas I have deduced before... Although those people in the secret society always Laughing at my calculations, but anyway, I have already left the secret society, they can't control this place...

"Ansu 730, Brumaire, XX day. Those formulas and derivations are completely in line with expectations! No, it should be said that the development of the facts is as I calculated - under the new way of increasing, the power of the magic focus is greatly increased Enhanced! With the help of extra magic power, I can finally start the next stage of treatment for Annie. Although she has hardly relapsed in the past few months, the treatment must continue, because she can no longer bear any more troubles...

"Anzu 731, cold moon, XX day. After the treatment, Annie was able to get up and walk around, and even made a meal for it! There was fried sausage and vegetable soup, which I felt like I hadn't eaten in 100 years Such a delicious thing—although the sausage has been mushy, and I forgot to put salt in the vegetable soup... It turns out that my treatment plan is effective, and as long as this magic power focus here can continue to supply magic power steadily, Annie's recovery will be improved. Will be around the corner..."

After that, the content of the diary was more about the daily life of the writer and her daughter. Hetty quickly skipped this part of the content until a messy record appeared on the last few pages:

"Ansu 734, Frost Moon, XX day. Annie is ill. Damn it!!

"I don't know what's wrong, all the treatments are going according to plan, every step of the ritual is perfect, and the potion is also - it's been used for several years, and there has never been a problem! But Anne still has the disease, and the disease Worse...more than ever before. I must find out as soon as possible. I will take down all the details, all... I will find out. Anne will be all right...

"Ansu 734, Frost Moon, XX day. Annie is still not getting better, the new medicine has no effect, she is still getting weaker, and... is gradually moving away from this world. This morning I saw her hands She became transparent like a mist, and there were many blisters on her face. This world is rejecting her, pushing her to the shadow world, what should I do...

"Ansu 734, Brumy Moon, XX day. That damned sun, its dark red pattern seems to be mocking my weakness! I finally found the problem, but I can't solve it at all... Elements are enriching , is abnormally enriched, and the magic power is surging, this weak magic power focus can't hold the excess magic power at all, even if I withdraw those amplification circles, it won't help. At this time, it is wise to keep Anne away from the place where the elements are enriched , but she has stayed in this place for too long, her body resonates with the elemental environment here, this resonance continues her life...but it will kill her again!

"Ansu 734, Brumaire, XX day. The magic power in the whole area is not right, it is churning violently, and the border of Cecil Territory seems to have fallen into the legendary sea of ​​magic power. I can no longer reverse the changes in Anne Well, half of her body has left the material world now. In the morning, she even said that she saw the whole room turned into black and white. Maybe... I can only find another way...

"Ansu 735, Fire Moon. The long preparations are finally over, and Anne's weakness has reached its limit.

"This is my only chance, there is no other option.

"Since I can't let Annie survive in the material world, I might as well choose another path.

"The shadow transformation ceremony is recorded in the book, but the magic power required is too huge to imagine, but for me, it may not be impossible. I used the new amplification formula and the magic circle drawing method, and will use the The power of the surging magic power. The magic power in this area is in an abnormally active state. The energy accumulated in the magic power focus has been suppressed by me for several months, and it is finally enough today. Next, just wait until the sun rises to the center, the magic power When I am at my strongest, I can begin to transform.

"Annie, hold on, Dad will save you, and Dad will accompany you to the Shadow Realm, we will live there for a long time, and you will never be hurt again."

The diary ends here.

Hetty was about to close the diary when Gao Wen suddenly pointed to the corner of the last page: "There are actually a few more words here."

Hetty quickly looked intently—there was a group of black ink stains in the corner. At first, she thought it was the dirt caused by knocking over the ink bottle, but after careful identification, she realized that it was actually fingers stained with ink Scribbled down:

"The magic is out of control... the sun is red..."

Hetty repeated these words inexplicably: "The sun is red...how could the sun be red?"

"Could it be the last time the red spots erupted?" Rebecca said as if remembering something suddenly, "it was more than half a month ago, and there were many more red spots on the surface of the sun than usual. If this wild The mage's sanity was not very clear at the time, maybe he would think that the sun is red..."

Hetty blinked, as if she accepted Rebecca's statement, and then she shook the note in her hand: "With this note, it can explain a lot of things clearly. It seems that this unknown mage wanted to give himself To cure his daughter, he set up a large-scale magic array here, and later came up with the crazy idea of ​​transforming himself and his daughter into shadow forms to extend life, but his transformation ceremony was out of control due to the surge of magic power. It led to the fire half a month ago, it also led to the formation of the mist of wraiths, and what the ancestors saw in the shadow realm..."

"These are not the main points," Gawain suddenly interrupted Hetty, "whether it is the fog of wraiths or the wooden houses in the shadow world, you can find direct explanations in the notes. What I want you to read is the notes mentioned in the notes. The two details we got - one is about the dark red pattern on the surface of the sun, and the other is about the large-scale red spot eruption on the surface of the sun."

Hetty noticed the serious look on Gawain's face, and then became a little nervous: "Ancestor, these two things..."

Gao Wen waved his hand: "In addition, the magic power surge that the wild mage mentioned in his diary, as mages, you two should have felt it too, right?"

Heidi and Rebecca looked at each other, and nodded at the same time: "Recently, there have been a few magic surges in Cecil's territory, but it's normal for magic to surge - all magic in the world comes from the sun. , and the sun is changing every moment, the magic power on the ground will naturally fluctuate, and although the magic power surges in the territory have been frequent recently, they are not to the point of concern."

Gawain looked at the two of them, and said slowly: "In 1736 in the Gondor calendar, large-scale dark red patterns were observed on the surface of the sun from various places in the empire. In 1738, the largest red spot eruption in history was observed. Nearly half of the surface area was covered by red patches. In the same year, 26 provinces in the empire reported a large-scale surge of magic power—the scale of the surge was not large, but the scope covered nearly two-thirds of the country. In 1739, the bloody day was in the sky, and the whole country was shrouded in a dark red sky. However, no disaster broke out at that time. Instead, a large number of babies with excellent magical talents were born. Possessing a natural affinity for the elements, newborn testing agencies around the world even experienced a situation where the supply of resonance stones was in short supply, so court scholars announced that the day was called the "Magic Dawn". But it was also in the same year that the largest magic power near the capital of Gondor The energy supply facility "Deep Blue Well" had a big explosion. The reason for the explosion was that the magic focus of the Deep Blue Well was suddenly filled with chaotic and powerful magic power. The extraction circle could not handle these chaotic forces, which eventually caused the furnace core to melt... "

Gao Wen stopped, but Hetty continued with a pale face: "...In 1740 in Gondor, the tide of magic broke out, and the most powerful human empire in history was destroyed within a few months..."

Chapter 0017 Tanzania Town

After Hetty finished speaking, almost everyone at the scene swallowed subconsciously.

Except for Betty - the little girl didn't understand at all.

Rebecca couldn't help but think of the monsters that destroyed the family territory, and those monsters were the products of the demon tide.Before that, she once thought that those monsters wandered from the wasteland of Gondor, passed through the magnificent wall, and invaded the territory of Ansu—after all, the Territory of Cecil is located on the southern border of Ansu, which is closely related to the wasteland of Gondor. Very recently, if there is a problem with a Sentinel Tower that causes a hole in the Great Wall, then it is conceivable that some monsters will come out.

But now, Rebecca couldn't help but think of the worse possibility - what if those monsters didn't come from the wasteland of Gondor, but were naturally produced in Cecil Territory?

What if those monsters... meant a new wave?

"This...are we a little too nervous?" Amber was the first to break the silence, and the half-elf lady managed to squeeze out a smile, pointing to the note in Hetty's hand, "It's just a diary left by a wild mage, If the content of the record is not clear, should we directly associate it with Mochao?"

Gao Wen didn't refute her, but nodded, "Well, it's also possible that I'm too nervous."

After all, it was just a random analysis based on the inherited memories in his mind. Although it was really cool to recite the historical events of 1 years ago as No. 700, he himself felt that it was a bit sensational after the recitation.

"That's right," Amber saw Gao Wen nodding, and immediately followed with a sigh of relief, "Your old man has been dead for 700 years, and your brain is still not turning around - I know you experienced the demon tide back then, probably at that time The psychological shadow is too... oops!!"

Rebecca tapped the half-elf's head with her staff and stared, "Don't be rude to your ancestors!"

Gawain looked at Rebecca's staff strangely, thinking that this little girl didn't feel rude when she beat up her ancestor with the "Sabbath stick" not long ago...

"No matter how credible these things are, they must be reported to His Majesty the King when we arrive at Saint-Sunil," Hetty said while returning the notebook to Gawain, "As for how much the King will believe... that's all. It’s beyond our reach.”

Gao Wen silently put away his notes, suppressing all kinds of complicated thoughts in his heart.

Then he raised his head and looked up at the huge "sun" in the sky.

There is no tree canopy above the clearing in the forest, the sky is open, and a huge sun is rising to the highest point of the day at this moment. The huge but oppressive crown of light is bringing light, heat, and magic power to this world.

Perhaps it is this last element that brings to this world a very different order of nature from that on Earth.

Gawain's eyes wandered on the surface of the giant sun. Those faint lines should be storms on the surface of the gas giant planet. He tried to find those ominous dark red patterns, but in the end he found nothing: those lines were probably really just a flash in the pan. all gone.

However, the sense of urgency in Gao Wen's heart did not disappear, he just temporarily suppressed it in his heart, and silently planned the way to go in the future.

First of all, let's get a foothold in this world, even though it's just a dilapidated old family... But it's better to have a starting point than to travel to the barren mountains and wild graves.

After passing through the dense forest, the journey seemed much smoother. Probably the "law of conservation of character" really existed. The group never encountered monsters or strange "natural phenomena" attacks, and they set foot on the road smoothly. Passed the official road, and successfully encountered a small caravan on the way.After paying enough money, Gao Wen and his party finally got rid of the embarrassment of crossing mountains and mountains with their legs, and were able to sit in the caravan's carriage to Tanzan Town.

The owner of the caravan is a fat northerner who came to the southern border from the rich land of the kingdom to sell local specialties and herbs. It is said that he originally planned to go to Cecil to make the last transaction, but halfway Hearing of the terrible disaster that happened in Cecilland, he had to turn back halfway.For Gao Wen and others with a murderous look, the fat businessman was a little wary and resistant at first, but Hetty finally persuaded the cautious caravan owner with two pieces of gold, and even let the caravan The boss gave up all his carriages.

Jin Jin is indeed the most eloquent business negotiator (convinced).

On the seventh day after leaving Cecil Territory, the gate of Tanzan Town finally appeared in front of everyone.

This was Gawain's first close contact with a human town in this world—of course, when he first left Cecil Territory, he climbed up the mountain and took a look at his nominal manor estate, but at that time the entire Cecil region had been destroyed. The elemental power of the riots turned into ruins, and a blue dragon that came out of nowhere sprayed a mouthful of salt soda into an abstract painting. It really didn't show any local customs, and the Tanzania town in front of me... He didn't feel very good to be honest.

It can even be said to be a little disappointed.

The town of Tanzanite is huge - that's what Rebecca said.Probably because it is located on a plain, fertile land, and close to the river, this place is one of the most populous towns in the southern region, with nearly 1 people living on this triangular flat land.The Baishui River comes from the west, splits into two in front of Tanzan Town, and runs through the north and south sides of the town. A mine, that mine is the most important source of income for the entire town.

But this is such a place with fertile fields, mines, and a river that can be used as a navigation route. No matter how you look at it, it is a place with a treasure of geomantic omen. After entering the town, what Gawain saw the most were sallow and emaciated civilians. As well as countless low and dilapidated wooden houses, as well as dirty streets that exude various odors.

Since the civilization of this world is far from being developed enough for humans to crush nature, all kinds of monsters and beasts are collected in zoos, and there are often conflicts in border areas, so the entire town is protected by a low city wall. The dilapidated civilian areas are piled up inside the city walls, huddled together layer upon layer like moss and sores. There is a wide avenue from the city gate to the center of the town, but the scenery on the avenue is not much better.

Gawain sat on the caravan and looked at the scene on the street outside. He saw those poor people in short shirts walking on both sides of the street. Only a small number of people wore shoes on their feet, and most of the rest were tied. Wearing rags, there are even poor people who can't even tie rags mixed in, while those walking in the middle of the street obviously have much cleaner clothes and have shoes on their feet.

They didn't communicate with each other, and they didn't even conflict. They just walked their own paths quietly, as if they were separated by a world.

Even though they live in the same town and walk on the same road, they are as distinct as people from two worlds.

Gawain searched Cecil's memory, but found that there was not much to refer to in this part: Gawain Cecil was born in the glorious Gondor Empire, and grew up in a wealthy place. There is no such scene; later the Gondor tide broke out, and Cecil led the people to fight a bloody road to the north. Everyone shared joys and sorrows along the way, and there was no distinction between high and low; To build a kingdom in the world, everything starts from scratch. Even the founding princes and the king himself had the experience of putting down their swords and going to the fields to help the plow. How did they see this scene?

And then... and then Gawain Cecil died on the southern border. This hero who died young at the age of 35 never lived long enough to witness the division between the rich and the poor in the country he created that day.

So he can only ask "his descendants" for advice, and ask what the rules are on the road.

"There are serfs walking on both sides of the road, and there are slave laborers in the mines," Hetty explained, "There are also poor free people in the outskirts, and they are not allowed to walk on the road—because they There is no way to donate money. Those who walk in the middle of the road are decent 'citizens', as well as merchants or mercenaries from outside. These people can walk in the middle of the road if they can afford to pay various taxes. "

Gao Wen remembered the few coins that the fat businessman gave to the gate guard when the caravan entered the gate - that must be the tax for entering the city.

Then he thought of the soldier who had been buried in the forest—the son of the serf.

It was the result of Rebecca's favor that he was able to take up the sword and die for the lord, but even if he died for the lord, he was not allowed to be buried in the way of a warrior: because he had not redeemed himself, he even The sword has not been redeemed yet.

"My lord ancestor, is there any question?" Noticing the uncertain expression on Gawain's face, Hetty asked with some doubts.

Gao Wen withdrew his gaze from the car, and shook his head slightly: "No, there's no problem."

He just instinctively resisted these things with the mentality of a time traveler, but it is not yet time for him to criticize and "correct" this.

Because he doesn't understand the world well enough.

After a short thought, he looked at Hetty: "What are you going to do next?"

Hetty obviously has a plan: "Go to the lord here first, Viscount Andrew is quite a talkative person, and it should be relatively easy to contact Philip Knight through him. If everything goes well with Philip Knight, we can find The people who broke out that day were gone. Then it depends on the situation, whether to resettle the people in place first or go directly to the capital. What happened in the Cecil Territory is not enough to send one or two messengers. Rebecca must go to meet the king in person. Just explain the situation."

Gao Wen didn't think there was any problem (mainly because he, an "ancestor" who has traveled through time and still has a gap with modern people in the 700s, really couldn't think of any suggestions): "Then let's do this first."

Chapter 0018 Viscount Andrew

If there is any place in Tanzanite Town where Gao Wen is not so disappointed, and where he can experience a little bit of an exotic style with both classic and elegant beauty, it is only in the wealthy area in the north of the middle of the town—— —Several roads and a wall separate this place from the slums outside, and decent people with heads and faces live in this relatively clean and tidy place.

There are beautiful two-story small buildings here, each of which is built with light gray stone and cedar wood. On the balcony extending from the second floor of the small building, dried fish and cured meat are drying, which are symbols of wealthy people.

Although Tanzania is generally just a town, far from the size of a city, people living in rich areas will call themselves glorious and proud citizens.

They were big men who were free, could pay the taxes, and had decent jobs in the towns—that is, ranchers and mine foremen.

And today, as in olden days, these respectable people stand on their balconies where dried fish and cured meat are drying, discussing recent events with their neighbors—everything that is even remotely interesting is worth talking about , and the most worth talking about recently is undoubtedly the big event that happened in Cecil's territory.

Tanzania Town and its surrounding areas are the fief of Viscount Andrew, and Cecil and Viscount Andrew are neighbors. Although there is a large desolate area between the prosperous areas of the two territories, they still have official channels, so Even in this era of poor information exchange, what happened in Cecil Territory spread throughout Tanzania Town early on.

First, a group of people like refugees fled to this place under the leadership of a knight and a dozen soldiers, and then the news spread that Cecil Territory was completely submerged and destroyed by a large number of monsters and elemental tides.