Sword of Dawn

Only then did Solderin open his eyes, and said unhurriedly, "Do you think the rumored ancient duke who died and resurrected is true?"

"To be honest, I don't believe it," the mage was stunned for a moment, then shook his head, "The resurrection of the dead has only been heard in fairy tales, but mages are a pragmatic group. This kind of phenomenon that cannot be explained by theory can only be seen with your own eyes." See, or I don't believe it."

"Is that so..." Soldering was noncommittal, and continued after a moment of silence, "But the Gawain Cecil 700 years ago was best at doing things that challenged the norm. I really think... he Have the ability to climb out of the coffin after 700 years."

The mage listened inexplicably: "My lord?"

"Don't worry," Soldering shook his head, "Didn't I send two soldiers before—I'm waiting for news from them."

As if he was waiting for Soldering's words, the two soldiers sent out to investigate the situation returned to this hiding place as soon as he finished speaking.

"My lord," one of the returning soldiers hurried up to Soldering, "We found an open-pit mine halfway up the mountain! And it's under construction!"

"Strip mine under construction"?The mage beside Solderin was stunned for a moment, "In this big winter?"

Solderling swept away his previous indifferent appearance, and he became more energetic: "Bring the map—where is the approximate location of the mine?"

Someone next to him handed over a rough topographic map, and the soldier returning from the investigation roughly described the location of the mine: "In this place, between the two mountain ridges, there is a large open field-the mine is very large, God knows how long it took to dig for it to be so big. There are a lot of people working in the mine, and there are many soldiers guarding the surrounding area, so we didn’t dare to approach because we were afraid of being exposed.”

Soldering immediately lowered his head and recognized it on the map: "The team that lost contact before had an accident on this route...the mine is at this location...as expected."

Several knights in the team had come over at this time, and they quickly understood what Soldering meant: "Did the team that had the accident accidentally bump into the guards around the mine?"

"It should be so, but this is good news." Soldering raised his head, "This shows that the pioneer lord did not block the entire mountain area, and the missing team crashed into the opponent's stronghold due to bad luck. "

"But in this way, the lord here should have raised his vigilance..."

"Yes, he must have raised his vigilance. The security of the mine and surrounding areas will definitely be tighter than before, but we have to go and have a look." Soldering pointed to the general direction of the mine on the map, "It will start in winter, Mining in the deep mountains requires a huge price, and there are very strong guards around this mine, this place must be very important!"

The mage accompanying the army also realized the importance of the open-pit mine, and couldn't help but said: "Even the royal family of Ansu specially made a 'Founding Duke' and sent it here for development, maybe it was for this mine... Are they covering up?"

Soldering put away the map: "Extinguish the campfire, cover up the traces, let's find out what the Anzu people are doing in this mountain range."

Because of the lessons learned from the past, the team led by Solderin approached the open-pit mine hidden in the deep mountains in a more cautious manner. They avoided all mountain paths where there might be patrols, and walked among the steep rocks and vines. Relying on the blessing of elf magic, the whole team completed this incredible leap, and finally lurked at a best observation point near the mine.

As the scouts said, it is indeed a very large mining field - it is hidden in the deep mountains (it is not hidden), I am afraid it has been developed for a long time before it has such a scale (it was bombed for two and a half days), a large number of unfortunate mines Under the supervision of soldiers, the slave workers carried out mining operations against the cold wind (they all waited in line for a long time at the government affairs hall to register), and in places that cannot be seen around the mine, God knows how many guards are still hiding this secret Ansu troops at the mines (only a few patrols).

It seems that there are tons of secrets hidden. I am afraid that there is an ancient seal that can summon evil gods buried under the mine.

"I can't get any closer. There are several sentry towers around the mine, have you seen them?" Soldering reminded the mage beside him, "You can summon a mage's eye to see if you can sneak around under the watchtowers and see Know exactly what those people are digging in the mountains."

"Understood." The mage nodded and silently recited a brief incantation, and then a shimmering mage's eye, which could hardly be seen in daylight, emerged from the air beside him.

The mage manipulated the magic eye and slowly approached the quarry. When his field of vision passed by those sentry towers, he couldn't help being curious: the soldiers on the sentry towers were holding a strange-looking metal tube in front of their eyes and looking around. What it is?

There is no magical reaction, so don't worry about it.

The mage manipulating the magic eye put the soldiers on the sentry tower aside, and focused on controlling the mage's eye to slowly bypass the base of the sentry tower, but at this moment, a strange "click" sound suddenly came from nearby , which surprised him, and the spell guidance was interrupted.

And before the crackling sound, Soldering had already sensed the auras that suddenly appeared in all directions. He instantly realized that he and his people had been exposed, so he stopped lurking and jumped up directly. At the same time He had already lifted the short bow that he carried with him, and three feathered arrows surrounded by light green cyclones had been placed on the bowstring at some point, without aiming at all, he raised his hand and shot three arrows in a row, aiming at the most powerful arrow in his perception. At the same time, he loudly warned: "Get ready to fight!"

Immediately afterwards, there were three crisp bangs from a distance. It was the sound of a feathered arrow wrapped in magic power being blocked by a personality. Solderin and the Typhon warriors who had just reacted raised their heads and saw a A tall, fully armed man was standing on a huge boulder in the distance, holding a long black sword in his hand, his eyes were sharp and steady, while behind him and around him, soldiers stood up one after another—— —The soldiers quickly formed a siege network.

Gawain looked at the blond elf standing between Typhon's soldiers from a distance, a little surprised and a little funny: "I really guessed it right, Soldering - why are you here?"

Compared with Gawain's relative calmness, Soldering was closer to shock when he saw Gawain. He stared at the familiar figure, and the indifferent and indifferent image he had maintained for a long time almost didn't hold back: "You yes--"

"The memory of elves shouldn't be bad, right?" Gawain spread his hands, "Has the old boss forgotten?"

"Are you really that Gawain Cecil?" The high-ranking elf ranger's face quickly calmed down, his eyes became particularly serious and sharp. He didn't put down the short bow in his hand, but put a feather arrow on the bowstring again, "You Did he really come back from the dead?"

He was asking questions, but he didn't mean to put down his weapon at all. Not only that, but the Typhon fighters around him were also ready to fight one by one—although they had already heard that their commander and The Ansu lord in the distance was an old acquaintance, and they also realized that the Ansu lord might be the legendary hero 700 years ago. The loyalty of the empire still made them clenched their swords and staffs almost reflexively.

Chapter 0257

Gao Wen was a little surprised at the moment, but since he had discovered some clues before, he wasn't too surprised.

He just looked at the blond elf man who was wary of him in the distance, and some memories related to him appeared in his mind—the memory from Gawain Cecil 700 years ago, he knew clearly I know the origin of this elf, and how this elf accepted the employment of humans as a freedom fighter, and once became Gawain Cecil's subordinate in the mixed legion, although these memories are not his own Yes, but after nearly a year of integration and adaptation, he has been able to put himself in it very skillfully when extracting the memory of Gawain Cecil.

Even the relatives and friends of Gawain Cecil would not be able to see the sense of disobedience from his reaction, let alone the elf named Solderin.

But even so, Soldering still didn't have the slightest intention to put down his weapon. He clenched the short bow in his hand, and his eyes quickly scanned the surrounding Cecil combat soldiers. Ordinary people with a lot of magic power, but the equipment on these people has a strange, automatic magic power reaction. He has never seen this type of soldier, and there is no corresponding unit in the army of humans or elves. But he guessed that the missing troops were wiped out by these soldiers.

The elf ranger's reaction was expected by Gawain, and the latter laughed: "Although it would be embarrassing to meet again in this situation, I'm still very happy to see my acquaintance from 700 years ago appear in front of my eyes—so Deerling, bring your men down and put down their weapons, there is no need for us to make matters worse."

Solderin frowned. He knew the strength of Gawain Cecil. If the one on the opposite side was genuine, the team he led would not be able to leave here even without the strange soldiers around him. Surrender also has the knowledge of surrender. He was silent for a moment, and slightly relaxed the bowstring in his hand by a little that was barely noticeable to the naked eye: "Will you let these soldiers go?"

"They are Typhon soldiers. I know the changes in this era, so I can't let them go," Gawain noticed the change on Solderin's bowstring, so he said flatly, "Normally, I would let them go." Solve them all without leaving any hidden dangers, but since you are here, as long as you are willing to cooperate, I can guarantee their survival."

Gawain was sure that after his words fell, those Typhon soldiers who held their weapons tightly relaxed their muscles to varying degrees - no one wanted to seek death, even these soldiers who were extremely loyal to the Typhon Empire were the same. Silly, naturally knowing that it would be meaningless to violently resist under such circumstances, it is perfectly appropriate to use Solderling's favor to give them a step to surrender-and this is also a step for Solderin.

The elf ranger breathed out, although he knew that if it was the Gawain Cecil in his memory, the other party would understand what he meant, but he didn't really relax until then, but before he put away his weapon, he still couldn't bear it. Zhu made one last questioning: "I still can't believe you're real—how do you prove you're the real Gawain Cecil?"

Before Gao Wen could speak, Hetty, who was standing beside him, couldn't help it: "How can you question the identity of the ancestor again and again?!"

Gawain raised his hand to calm Heidi, and then looked at Soldering with a half-smile: "Are you sure you want me to identify myself?"

Soldering looked at Gawain quietly, his expression unchanged.

"Well, that's what you meant," Gawain spread his hands, "I know the real reason why you 'never exert your power above [-]%', and I also know that this reason is to let you leave the Silver Empire and live on the mainland. The original reason for traveling around, you once went to the great wizard Baldiga for this reason, and the field that the great wizard is good at is..."

"Okay, you don't have to say anything," Soldering let go of the bowstring, and waved his hand to order the soldiers behind him to disarm, "I believe you are the real Gawain Cecil—I am willing to let you do it, and I also believe you Will keep my promise to ensure the safety of these soldiers I brought with me."

The soldiers of Typhon disarmed one by one. The feeling of surrendering without a fight really annoyed these elites, especially the three knights, who were even more angry, but their reason forced them to accept this fact ——This is already the best result.

The resurrected Gawain Cecil turned out to be real, and he was standing a hundred meters away from them. In this situation, they even had to be thankful that their commander was an old acquaintance of the enemy. Saved their lives.

On the other side, Gawain couldn't help heaving a sigh of relief - after knowing the existence of Solderin, he hoped to solve the problem without bloodshed. He knew the strength of this elf ranger, a high-level ranger, even if it was limited to himself Talent cannot break through to legend, and its combat power is also quite terrifying. Gawain's current strength may still be able to deal with Soldering, but he may not have the energy to protect others in battle. Once the Cecil Combat Corps and this When Zhi Tifeng fights elites, damage will be inevitable.

Unavoidable casualties on the battlefield are one thing, such avoidable casualties are quite another.

The captives were confiscated one by one and had their hands tied. Extraordinary people like mages and knights added an extra layer of rope made of magic silk thread just in case, but Solderin avoided this kind of treatment—anyway Ordinary ropes and shackles can't control a high-level ranger, and it's safer to have Gawain in the team to hold the line in person than any other means.

Before being taken away, Solderling took one last curious look at the still-busy open-air excavation site, which he ultimately failed to figure out what was being dug.

On the way back to Cecil Territory, Amber (paddling all the way) has been looking at Soldering curiously. This half-elf who looks reckless stared at the high-ranking ranger so uncomfortable that Solderin couldn't bear it. He frowned: "Is there any problem?"

Amber carefully glanced at Gawain and Hetty who were not far away, and whispered to Soldering in a low voice: "I'm just curious, are you old Zongzi's friend?"

Soldering was taken aback by this inexplicable coinage: "What does Lao Zongzi mean?"

"It's Gao Wen," Amber said carelessly, "he told me that the ghoul dug out of the coffin is the old rice dumpling—but obviously he taught me this, and he still won't let me say that about him... "

Before Huber could finish her sentence, she felt someone knock on her head quickly, and Gao Wen's voice came from the side: "Do you think I can't hear you if you lower your voice?"

"Old Zongzi, why is there no sound when you walk... Oh, it hurts!"

Soldering stared dumbfounded at Gawain beating on Amber's head, and suddenly felt as if he saw the Gawain Cecil he just met in the wasteland of Gondor back then—the Gawain Cecil at that time He was also careless and unmannered, and he could quickly get along with anyone in the team—whether they were humans or mercenaries of foreign races. This free and easy look is indeed very similar.

Only in the second half of the memory, after Ansu Liguo and Gawain Cecil became the Duke of the South, this free and easy gradually disappeared. The heavy responsibility and some kind of pressure made this legendary knight who rose on the road to the Northern Expedition overtake. He became more and more serious and unsmiling. In Solderling's last few memories of Gawain Cecil, he couldn't remember that the other party had such a relaxed and cheerful appearance.

After lying in the coffin for 700 years, instead of laying down the mentality back to 25?Or have you experienced life and death and seen through something?

Solderin believed more in the latter.

A person who has become a legend, has created great achievements, and experienced a round of life and death, there is no need to pretend to be deep.

His conjecture stumbled into the truth by mistake. Gawain's unrestrained mentality was indeed derived from the life and death and incredible experiences he experienced, but the years he experienced far exceeded the imagination of the elf ranger...

After returning to the territory, Gawain directly handed over the captives to Knight Philip who was waiting in the barracks. He decided to imprison them temporarily, beat them up and send them to mines for mining or to the construction site on the north bank for infrastructure construction— ——After the spring of next year, they can be allowed to go to the north bank to open up wasteland. Anyway, there are jobs everywhere in the territory, and the territory has developed to this day, and they are not afraid that these people will cause any trouble.

The mercenary mage caught before was sent to the machinery manufacturing plant after being "educated" to serve as an assistant to Nicholas Dan. Mr. Dan's forbidden magic field is simply incomprehensible for mages below the middle level Lore, that mercenary mage is very honest now, and he even received the excellent production bonus for the first month.

As for Soldering, Gawain took him directly to the Lord's Mansion.

To get information, you still have to start with this "old acquaintance".

Solderling walked into Gawain's "castle". The moment he entered the hall, a warm breath came over his face. The cold winter wind outside was completely isolated from the outside. This building did not look very tall. The warmth inside the magnificent "castle" made Soldering feel incredible.

The environment here makes him feel very comfortable.

The silver elves are a species that live in the tropical south of the mainland. Although the entire silver empire will not fall into the heat due to the influence of high mountains and magical swirls, they are still more adaptable to the warm living environment in general. Although Solderin is in the mainland Having traveled in the north for many years, he has already adapted to the relatively cold climate here, but he would still be very happy if there is a warmer environment.

What made him strange was that he didn't see any heating devices like fireplaces in the hall.

"This place is heated by 'heating channels'." Gawain saw that Soldering was looking for a fireplace in the hall, and explained casually, "I invented a heating method. There is a copper furnace deep in the mansion. The heater is heated by fire runes, and then the heat is sent to the various rooms through the heat pipes and brick channels around the heater. The walls here are interlayer and the roof is also insulated - living in a cold castle Much more comfortable. Recently I'm planning to improve this thing so that it can heat an entire block."

After listening carefully, Soldering looked at Gao Wen in surprise, "When did you understand these things?"

"I have some special experiences." Gawain smiled slightly, and at the same time led Solderling towards the study. "I haven't seen you in 700 years. I think we have a lot to talk about."

Soldering followed up with a smile: "Indeed."

After arranging Amber to guard the door, only Gawain and Soldering were left in the study. It could be seen that with no one else around, this seemingly indifferent elf ranger relaxed a bit.

Gawain took a seat behind the desk, and motioned for Soldering to find a seat beside him, then looked curiously at this "friend from 700 years ago": "How did you get to Typhon?"

"It's just traveling around," Soldering replied casually. "I'm just a free ranger. After my employment period in a country expires, I will naturally find a new employer."

This is obviously not the whole reason, but Gao Wen didn't delve into it, but smiled: "Speaking of which, it seems that you are still traveling, isn't that problem still solved?"

"I almost gave up," Soldering sighed helplessly. "Thinking about it, the potion concocted by Master Baldija doesn't work. There is probably no one in this world who can help me."

"Actually, you are quite good, no one can see your true strength - you even have a name that sounds very prestigious, 'Blonde Soldering', a popular lover who just leaves way..."

Solderin glanced at Gao Wen: "Would you like to change it for you?"

Gao Wen suddenly touched his hairline subconsciously: "Forget it, my hairline finally stabilized recently..."

Solderling sighed, and suddenly felt that it would not be too pleasant to reunite with his old friend after 700 years.

"It's very hot in my house, don't you take off the wig?"

"No!"

Chapter 0258 This topic is a bit wrong

The dangerous monsters in the barren mountains and the magic radiation in the wasteland of Gondor are not the biggest problem that an elf ranger who is far away from home has to face, but the gradual hair loss is——Solderin Frostleaf's last words.

Well, Salderling didn't say these words, but Gawain believed that these must be the most sincere words from the heart of this high-ranking elf ranger.

He knew Solderin—or Gawain Cecil knew Solderin, that was on the way to the great pioneering 700 years ago, when the elf ranger was just a few years away from his hometown and was on the mainland The unknown man who traveled to the north, although he had the strength of a high-level ranger, but he didn't have such a great-sounding title as "Soldering the Blonde" at that time, and he was unfortunately in the Gondor Empire at that time , After the sudden rise of the demon tide, this elf ranger was trapped in the wasteland of the human empire, and lost contact with his homeland.

The human Northern Exploration Army rescued the elven ranger who was acting alone in the chaos, and Gawain Cecil incorporated him into his command.

After that, the two fought side by side for many years. It was not until the last few years before Gawain Cecil's death that Soldering left the human army and continued to travel in the northern part of the mainland as a free mercenary.

Few people know why Soldering left the Silver Empire alone, and no one knows the purpose of this high-level ranger traveling on the mainland, and today, 700 years later, no one knows this powerful freedom. Why the mercenary fighters never arouse their strength to more than [-]% in battle? Only Gawain knows this secret - because Solderin is wearing a wig...

This unlucky child ran out just to find folk remedies to cure his hair loss...

To be honest, when these related memories came to mind, Gao Wen almost tensed all the muscles on his face so that he didn't laugh on the spot. If he wanted to laugh, his own image would be finished first, and secondly, he would not be able to laugh. I want to rebuild my friendship with Soldering - the boat of friendship will not only capsize, but will even hit the two people's faces after more than 20 circles in place, and then they will start shopping on the spot...

So he tried his best to keep his attitude calm, and according to Gawain Cecil's attitude towards Solderin in his memory, he casually recounted the past with the elf ranger: "Do you still remember how I discovered your secret at that time? ?”

"I didn't know that one of the top commanders of the human coalition would even scratch his hair when he was fighting with someone." Soldering mentioned that there was still some energy left in 700 years, and he gave Gawain an unhappy look, " Fortunately, no one was watching at that time, otherwise I would have blood spattered five steps with you..."

Gawain spread his hands: "You can't beat me again."

"You couldn't beat it back then, but now?" Soldering looked Gawain up and down, "I can feel that your strength has declined a lot."

"You can't beat it now," Gao Wen responded calmly with the guiding ideology of being passable on the face regardless of whether he was honest or not, "You might still have a chance when I first woke up, but now I've recovered to a point. "

Soldering became quiet, and stared at Gawain without blinking. He stared at Gawain for a long time, until the latter suspected that the elf's orientation had finally gone wrong, and he broke the silence: "I still can't believe it." , You actually came back to life... I heard the news in Typhon, but at first I thought it was a farce created by the Ansu royal family for some purpose, and I still cursed the illegitimate king in my heart I finally lost face and started using my country's founding hero as a political tool...I never thought you were real."

After a pause, he shook his head and continued: "At first I wanted to come directly to check the situation, but I really couldn't find a chance."

Gao Wen glanced at him: "So you led the team to infiltrate this time just to take this opportunity to confirm my authenticity?"

"This is part of the purpose," Soldering replied frankly, "I received an order. The people on Typhon's side didn't know that I had friendship with you 700 years ago. They appointed me to be the commander of the infiltration operation in the direction of the Dark Mountains." Officer, so I'm here - I'm going to see if 'Gauvan Cecil' is real, and if not, I'll kill that impostor myself... Honestly, I'm almost [-]% sure that you is fake."

Gao Wen was taken aback: "Why are you so sure?"

"I was there when you were buried," Soldering looked into Gawain's eyes, "I heard the news that you were killed on the southern front when I was traveling in the Holy Spirit Plain, and then I went directly to your territory , just in time for your final burial. Because of the experience you and I fought side by side, your wife allowed me to observe your...remains closely. I can confirm that you were really dead at that time, and your soul also left the body. Body - I can be sure that my perception is not wrong, the elves' ability to perceive life far exceeds that of you humans."

The expression on Gawain's face changed slightly, but there was a huge turmoil in his heart - he suddenly realized how much the appearance of this elf "old friend" meant to him, and he realized that this was a real witness of Gawain Cecil's life, and even those who witnessed the latter's death, what he said is more reliable than any later history books, and more accurate than any third-party narration!

Although he inherited most of Gawain Cecil's memory, he always believed that there were gaps and distortions in the memory he inherited, so would this elf make up for this part of the gap?

However, in order to avoid Solderling's suspicion due to his abnormal behavior, Gawain did not immediately reveal his memory problem, but temporarily suppressed the turmoil in his heart, and followed Solderling's words to ask other, Also intriguing: "What was my condition? I mean when I was in my coffin."

Discussing the body of a person who died face to face is obviously a strange experience. Even Soldering, who has traveled on the mainland for 700 years, couldn't help shaking his mouth, but he still answered seriously: "You You died from exhaustion. Your guards tried their best to snatch your body back, so you have almost no external injuries. The cause of death was the exhaustion of your body organs. Because I was not on the battlefield at the last moment, I will not know the specific process of your death. I don't know."

At the end of the talk, the expression on Solderling's face was a bit sad and ashamed. It was obvious that he had always harbored resentment for not being able to fight alongside Gawain Cecil at the last moment. This kind of vague guilt It has been with him for about seven centuries—as a long-lived elf, it is inevitable that he will be entangled in this kind of mood when dealing with short-lived humans. Gawain can only sigh in his heart when he sees this, with a relieved smile on his face: "OK Don’t be so entangled when everyone is dead.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he felt that something was wrong, so he quickly changed his words: "If everyone is alive, then there is no need to worry about it."

Solderling's face twitched, but Gao Wen forcibly continued the topic: "What about the rest of the funeral?"

"Your funeral went very well - it was very solemn and memorable. King Charles himself drove the first and last nails, and all the dukes and marquesses of the kingdom were present. At the end of the funeral, the elements The power of the four elements once appeared briefly, and the incarnations of the four elemental forces stayed outside your tomb for a short time, and scholars believe that this is the sign that the contract between you and the elements has officially ended."

Gao Wen finally grasped a key point: "You said that the incarnation of the four elements appeared at that time?"

"Yes, at least I saw the wind element appear briefly with my own eyes. The wall outside the tomb was shrouded in gas clouds at that time," Soldering nodded, "It's just that the incarnation of the element did not communicate with humans, they just It appeared for a while, probably less than a minute."