Sword of Dawn

The standard smooth aristocratic speech - leaving no flaws, not exceeding the rules, and showing a certain degree of respect.

Rebecca opened her eyes wide: "Could it be that the right of permanent development recognized by the founders of the country and the ancestors of all countries will not be recognized by the current King?!"

Gao Wen smiled and glanced at this immature junior: "Of course he doesn't want to admit it—in fact, he probably won't admit my identity, even if Charles I comes out to prove that I'm real, then Perhaps His Majesty the King and his staff will still pray from the bottom of their hearts that I can die on the spot, and then be buried back in the ancient tombs in the southern border of the kingdom."

"Why?!" Rebecca felt that her three views had been challenged, "You are the founding prince! You are enshrined in the temple! Kings and nobles remember you every year, don't they want you to come back and help the kingdom again? Is it?"

Just as Gao Wen was about to explain, he heard Amber yelling across the table: "Because they lost three days off!"

While yelling, the half-elf lady deliberately winked at Gawain, which caused Hetty to stare angrily.

"Don't listen to her nonsense, that was a joke I made on her," Gawain waved his hand, "The real reason... Hetty and Mr. Andrew should have already figured it out, right?"

Hetty sighed: "The king will remember the hero, because the hero's image and prestige can be used to consolidate his rule, but he will never want the hero to come back. Once the hero returns, those images and prestige will no longer be Something he can control..."

Because of Andrew's presence, Hetty still had some more outrageous things to say: especially when the king originated from an illegitimate child, and his name was not right.

"So the issue we have to consider is actually clear." Gao Wen looked down at the pioneer sword on his waist, "That is... to make my permanent pioneering right take effect."

Chapter 0021 Closing the deal

After accepting the banquet from Viscount Andrew, Gawain and his party were temporarily accommodated in a guest room in the castle—at Gawain's special request, there were clean and tidy rooms available for the two soldiers, maids Betty and Amber.

Anyway, this Viscount Andrew's castle is very big.

After dismissing the waiter, Hetty couldn't help asking a question: "Ancestor, do you think Viscount Andrew can be trusted?"

Although they are "neighbors" with adjacent territories, Hetty is well versed in the aristocratic ethos, which is neither integrity nor honor-although they usually emphasize these two points the most, what they lack is exactly these, Especially in this barren and savage southern border area far away from the political center, the way of life of the nobles is even more unbearable.Now that the Cecil family has completely fallen to the bottom, apart from the sudden emergence of an old ancestor as a bonus, Hetty really has no confidence to take the lead in the confrontation with other nobles.

"Reliable? I haven't considered this question at all," Gawain's answer surprised Hetty, "I didn't know what Viscount Andrew looked like a few hours ago."

Rebecca next to him was startled: "Huh? Then you talked to him so much..."

"Because it's necessary," Gawain looked at Rebecca, "It's not an exaggeration to describe it as the end of the road—not to mention the need to support those who are in distress, look at your own pockets, Do you still have money for the next meal? So we must seek help. That Viscount Andrew is just a choice—except for him, can you find anyone you know in the southern border? And speaking of him How reliable... I don't know him or his family, and I even heard about his territory from you two days ago, so how do I know if he is reliable?"

Rebecca felt a bit overwhelmed: "Then why do you think he will definitely help?"

It was not Gao Wen who answered, but Amber who had been lying on the table and stuffing grapes into his mouth. The half-elf rubbed his mouth and rolled his eyes at Rebecca: "Stupid, because he doesn't want to lose money. "

"Don't want to lose money?"

"When that knight Philip came to Tanzania with refugees, that Viscount Andrew had already made his decision," Amber said unhurriedly, "he can completely close the city gate and wait for those refugees Retreat on your own or starve to death outside—don’t talk about the mutual aid law. In this remote area, the kingdom’s laws are not as effective as the merchant’s gold coins. Since the viscount accepted the refugees, it means that he wants to start from Sisi. He has this idea and believes that the Cecil family has the ability to repay the debt. You see, the transaction was established at that time, but today... just expanded the scope of the transaction, Just made it clear."

Rebecca was dumbfounded at Amber: "You... how can you still understand these things? Is the threshold for thieves so high these days?"

Amber gritted her teeth: "Is this very profound? I don't understand your nobles' logic and a lot of rules, but at least I understand the principle that thieves don't leave empty space - when it comes to interests, your nobles and that Is there any difference between thieves who don’t want to go empty?”

Rebecca was furious immediately, pulled out her staff and summoned a head-sized fireball: "You don't care about your mouth anymore, believe it or not, I will really hit your face with a fireball!"

Amber seemed to be determined that this immature lord lady would not play for real, and she provoked with a playful smile: "If you have the ability, you can shoot a Frost Arrow~~"

As soon as she finished speaking, she felt a chill in her ears, a Frost Arrow almost flew past her ear tip, and froze a piece of ice on the wall behind her, and Hetty who was not far away On the other hand, he maintained the posture of raising one finger, his expression indifferent: "The Frost Arrow you want."

A drop of cold sweat fell on Amber's face, the horror caused by the close distance between the Frostbolt and the skin just now even surpassed the Frostbolt itself - she couldn't help but wonder how high the magic control skills were to be able to achieve such precision .

Rebecca twitched the corners of her mouth slightly: Aunt Hetty's offensive magic really failed to hit people as always, and the strokes moved...

Gao Wen clapped his hands and ended the short-lived farce: "Okay, let's count them as our own for the time being, so restrain yourself."

The old ancestor's words are still effective. Whether they like it or not, Hetty and Rebecca put away their staffs to express their obedience. The deterrent effect of the arrow is really great), Bian Pian Zui also stopped making a sound.

But at this moment, there was a knock on the door outside the room, and after getting Gawain's permission, the little maid Betty opened the door and walked in.

"Master, Mrs. Hetty, Miss Rebecca," Betty called one by one, skipping over Amber, "Knight Philip is here."

"Oh, I'm waiting for him," Gawain nodded, and then noticed the frying pan in Betty's hand, "Wait...why are you still holding it?"

Betty blinked, thought for a while and said: "Because...they haven't arrived home yet, so I put them around casually for fear of losing them."

Gao Wen covered his forehead: "You...well, you can do whatever you want."

After a while, the knight Philip who led the refugees led by Cecil to break out entered the room.

To Gao Wen's surprise, this was a rather young warrior: he looked to be in his early twenties, with short pale blond hair, deep eye sockets, and a straight nose. As a warrior, his heroic temperament and tall and straight figure are enough to make him stand out from ordinary people.Since it was normal time, the other party was not wearing armor, but a normal suit, with a long sword on his waist, and unremoved bandages could be vaguely seen on his exposed arms and neck.

He did break through with injuries.

"My lord, ma'am," Knight Philip immediately saluted Rebecca and Heidi after entering the house, "I'm glad to see that you are safe and sound."

"Knight Philip, get up," Rebecca quickly helped him up, "It's thanks to you that those soldiers and civilians can be saved."

She noticed the bandages on the opponent's body: "These injuries..."

"I suffered during the breakout, but it's much better," Philip said hastily, "Viscount Andrew arranged for me to have a priest and a pharmacist. But..."

The young knight showed a look of embarrassment, with shame and annoyance on his face.

"You mean the gold and silver that you were asked to take out of the castle," Hetty said proactively, "Don't take it to heart - those things are originally for emergencies, we told you when we asked you to take them away, It's all at your disposal."

"Please don't worry, the gold and silver confiscated by Viscount Andrew is only part of it." Philip's face brightened, and he said in a low voice, "Before entering the city, I divided part of the property into several trusted soldiers for safekeeping." , and some were buried outside the city. I was worried that if Viscount Andrew was too greedy, at least part of the money would be left to feed everyone, or to allow the soldiers to fend for themselves..."

Gao Wen nodded slightly. This is a young man with both courage and brains. He was able to lead a mere dozen soldiers to guard a large group of civilians who had no fighting power to break through the siege, which showed his bravery. It was even more difficult to think of how to preserve the property entrusted to him by the master as much as possible when he knew that he could not compete with the nobles, and even thought of arranging for the soldiers to fend for themselves.

So he showed a look of approval: "Good job. How many people survived?"

Philip actually saw Gawain in the room from the very beginning - after all, the latter's size is really eye-catching.Hearing the other party's question at this moment, he finally had the opportunity to ask: "Could it be that you are..."

"It seems that Viscount Andrew has already told you," Hetty nodded, "This is the ancestor of the Cecil family, the founding Duke of Ansu, Li..."

Before the other party finished speaking, Gao Wen quickly interrupted: "Okay, okay, I don't need to talk about the name of the old middle school student, it sounds like goosebumps..."

Before he finished speaking, Philip had already knelt down on one knee in front of Gawain: "Duke Gawain! I... I heard the news, but I really didn't expect it to be true! You are a role model for all knights , I have been..."

"Okay, okay, why isn't it over yet!" Gawain quickly pulled Philip up again. As an outsider who occupied someone else's body, he was really embarrassed like never before. "Tell me first, how many people survived?"

Philip finally managed to control his excitement, and his face sank following this topic: "There were only more than 1000 people who broke out that day, and after subtracting those who were attacked by monsters, fell behind due to serious injuries, and died of diseases, they finally arrived alive. There are less than [-] people in Tanzan Town..."

"How much is it?"

"Three people in 870—except for me, 16 of them are regular soldiers, [-] are militiamen, and the rest are all civilians."

Rebecca swayed slightly.

"Is this the last number of survivors in Cecil Territory..." Hetty muttered to himself, "I really didn't expect..."

Gawain patted Heidi on the shoulder: "Do you know how many people there were when we first ran out of the hinterland of Gondor more than 700 years ago?"

Hetty looked at Gawain: "At that time..."

"There are tens of thousands of people," Gao Wen sighed, "so today's situation is really quite a headache."

Hetty: "..."

At the same time, in Viscount Andrew's office, the Viscount was writing a secret letter.

The secret letter was written directly to the king.

Due to the existence of the wasteland of Gondor, Ansu regarded the southern border as the kingdom's most important barrier area at the beginning of the founding of the country. Even though the southern region has been peaceful for a long time, some regulations that have lasted for hundreds of years still continue in this area, such as ——Every noble, big or small, in the southern border is a direct vassal of the Ansu royal family. They all have the right to directly talk to the king, and also have the obligation to directly report affairs to the king.

"To Your Majesty the King, your immediate vassals send you greetings.

"You should have known about the catastrophe that happened to Cecil Territory in the south, and now there is a new incident here. This matter is unprecedented, but I have personally confirmed that it is true.

"The ancestor of the Cecil family, the founder of Ansu, Gawain Cecil, the head of the seven generals, has recently returned to the world.

"I saw with my own eyes a light descending on the wasteland of Cecil Territory, and all the invading monsters were wiped out by the light, and then there were giant dragons (about the dragon, I will give a detailed report separately), you I went to investigate in person, and together with Viscount Cecil, I saw the scene of the resurrection of the heroic spirit..."

Chapter 0022 Looking up at the sky

After making a special imprint on the secret letter, it was rolled up and sealed meticulously. After all this was done, Viscount Andrew let out a light breath, recalling whether he had missed or made mistakes.

There should be no more—the previously agreed content has been written in the secret letter, and the writing is very true and reliable. Viscount Andrew is quite confident in his ability to fabricate stories. He feels that anyone who sees the secret letter will Believe that he is really a witness of "that thing".

All that remains is to see if the old king far away in the capital is willing to believe this matter itself.

No, it should be said that he wants to admit the authenticity of this matter.

This was a somewhat risky move, but Viscount Andrew was not a person who resisted taking risks—if he hadn't taken risks, he would have never been able to stand out from the seven siblings and become the heir to the Leslie family.

He just didn't expect his new adventure to be tied to the Cecil family.

The family that was already in decline, withdrew from the political center of the kingdom 100 years ago, is so thin that it is about to die out naturally in modern times.

Viscount Andrew has always been very concerned about his "neighbors". This is not only because the territories of the two sides are adjacent and there are many trade contacts on weekdays, but also because the decline of the Cecil family has become more serious in the past two years. If the original progress continues, basically in Andrew's lifetime, he can expect to double the territory of the Leslie family - the little girl who hastily inherited the family business is not a qualified lord at all. Although she worked hard, she is Surely he can't keep his family business.

It's just that fate made a joke for everyone, and it was in a way that no one could have imagined: when he heard that Cecil was destroyed by monsters, Andrew was completely dumbfounded; He was still ignorant when the magic wave creatures were very close; he was also ignorant when he heard a merchant who entered the city mention a dragon appeared; when Rebecca Cecil and Hetty Cecil brought When a man claiming to be their ancestor entered the castle... Viscount Andrew showed great composure and acceptance.

That's because he finally got used to it.

But after finishing talking with the "Master Ancestor" and returning to his dormitory, Viscount Andrew felt that he had made the right decision.

A dying aristocratic lineage and a land that has been burned to the ground are worthless, and no matter how much you squeeze it, you won’t be able to squeeze out any water. If you want to recover the cost, it’s better to change from a greedy squeezer to a generous good neighbor, Moreover, the existence of that "Master Ancestor" is even more crucial - Viscount Andrew has now [-]% believed in the authenticity of this matter - whether Cecil's family has that old ancestor is completely two concepts.

He sealed the secret letter into a silver tube, and wrapped a circle of magic silk around the silver tube, and then handed it to the old steward standing beside him: "Give it to the best ranger courier—set off on a griffin, let the courier After a messenger arrives, deliver it to Silver Castle before the Cecil family arrives."

The butler took the silver box and was about to turn around and leave when Viscount Andrew stopped him: "Wait a minute, and you go to the silver vault—return the gold and silver belonging to Cecil's family as they are."

"Yes, Lord Viscount. But is it okay to just return it as it is?"

"It's enough to return them as they are. When they leave, I will prepare a little more in the name of travel expenses."

The situation has changed. The "fee" charged for that ridiculous greed before has now become a hot potato. Returning it as it is is only the first step, but it cannot be overdone all at once.

Viscount Andrew seriously weighed in his heart, and hoped that the ancient man 700 years ago could understand his sincerity.

The night is dark.

Gawain put on his nightgown, pushed open the balcony door of his room, and came to the balcony on the second floor of the Viscount Castle.

There is no moon in the night of this world. In the deep sky, there are only stars that are more dense than on the earth. Those twinkling stars bring a cool brilliance to this land. Every starlight is special to Gao Wen strangeness.

Ever since he came to this world, he has loved looking up at the sky—whether it is day or night.During the day, look at the huge but not too dazzling "sun", and at night, look at the moonless night.

His eyes moved among the stars, trying to find a static and special celestial body among the twinkling stars.

But this is doomed to be a futile attempt.There are so many stars, and he doesn't have enough information and calculation data, it is impossible for him to find the position where he looked down on the earth, and even if he finds it, he has no way to distinguish it from the sky full of stars.

But he just couldn't help it, because he knew better than anyone that there were secrets hidden in the sky of this world.There's something there, maybe some kind of surveillance device, a satellite, a space station, or a ship.Although it is very likely that it has stopped now, it cannot be ruled out that there are other things that have not stopped still hanging in the sky.

He used to be part of that monitoring device - this was the closest guess Gawain came up with after thinking about it for many days.

If he didn't have the experience of looking down on the earth, if he passed through Gawain Cecil as soon as he arrived here, then he would not have this cognition at all, and would not have the corresponding pressure, but he is Knowing something, and being a modern-minded earth soul, he couldn't help his curiosity about the sky...and worry.

What is that hanging in the sky?What effect will it or they have on the earth?Will it or will they hang there so peacefully?What purpose did it or their makers—if there were makers—have?

All this gave Gao Wen a sense of urgency that could not be understood by outsiders, as if a person on earth suddenly knew that there was an alien spaceship parked in the orbit above his head, even if the spaceship was 10,000+ years or even a few years old. It has been motionless for 10 years, and it is difficult for people living on the ground to settle down.

You have to understand it or their ins and outs to sleep soundly.

And even without this worry, Gawain couldn't turn a blind eye to the sky just out of curiosity.

"Say you look up at the sky every day—either the sun or the stars."

Suddenly a girl's voice came from behind him. Gawain looked back, but saw the half-elf lady thief sitting on the railing of the balcony with her back turned to the outside, looking at him with a smile, her legs dangling under the railing. Swing back and forth, not worried about falling.

Gao Wen glanced at her: "It's not very polite to sneak up on other people's balconies in the middle of the night to scare people."

"The night is my world, there are shadows everywhere, I can go wherever I want," Amber swayed on the railing, her body melted into the shadows, and appeared on the other side of the balcony the next moment, "And you are 700 The great hero from years ago, are you still afraid that someone will suddenly talk to you at night?"

Gao Wen didn't have the nerve to admit that he did have goosebumps just now...

"By the way, what are you looking at every day?" Amber saw that Gao Wen didn't say a word, so she changed the subject, "Looking at the sun during the day is to identify the direction, but looking at the stars at night is astrology? Do you know astrology?"

"What do you think there will be in the sky?" Gao Wen asked the other party.

"Heaven? Isn't it just the stars and the sun?" Amber replied casually. Interests - I believe in the Goddess of Shadow and Night, that is, Ms. Ye. Ms. Ye's divine kingdom is in the deepest part of the starless night, which is completely different from the sky in the real world. I just close my eyes and pray every day It's a godsend!"

"Are you really a believer of the Goddess of the Night?" Gawain glanced at Amber in surprise. Although he has no beliefs, he still knows a lot about the world's religions from Gawain Cecil's memory. , those various gods and sects of all sizes opened his eyes, but at the same time kept them at a distance, but he didn't expect that the thief in front of him, who seemed to have nothing to do with piety, turned out to be a person of faith.

"Believe it casually. Anyway, Ms. Ye neither asks for offerings, nor does she know how to give oracle, and she doesn't need to pay regular visits to worship or sacrifice. It doesn't cost me a copper coin. Why don't I just believe it?" Amber said casually in the real Hearing the rebellious words of the believers, "And the way of shadow is somewhat related to the power of Ms. Ye. Sometimes I feel that I can really become a little bit stronger after praying-although it turns out that it is produced after drinking too much." illusion."

Gawain curled his lips, and decided to ignore this half-elf who had no clue.

It's a disgrace to the elves—no matter what her other half bloodline is, it's also a shame to the corresponding bloodline.

"Hey, why don't you talk anymore?" Amber didn't intend to let him go, "You haven't said anything yet, what are you looking at?"

Gao Wen squinted at her: "Have you ever heard a saying that after death, a person's soul will return to the sky, wandering among the stars, and each star is actually the soul of an ancestor..."

"I have never heard of it. I heard that after the death of a person with faith, his soul will be taken away by the corresponding god he believed in, and then he will be happy in the kingdom of God, while the soul of a person without faith will be taken away by the god of death after death, and then The wife of the god of death combed out all the memories with an iron comb, and then threw them back into the world—so some people say that all beings in the world are believers of the god of death by default regardless of their beliefs," Amber Barabara said, "but your This saying is also very interesting, people will go to heaven after death? Is this a religious saying 700 years ago?"

Gao Wen was a little embarrassed: "No, this is..."

"Ah, that's right! You were dead before!" Amber looked at Gao Wen with wide eyes as if she had discovered a new world, then came to him with a sway, leaned over and asked anxiously, "Did you die that year?" After that, he went to heaven where he was? What is it like to die? Tell me about it!"