Sword of Dawn

Film looked at Kord's actions in some confusion. Before he asked, he heard the big businessman on the opposite side say: "Have you figured out how to name this new thing you created?"

"I call it 'Phantom Drama', sir." Film said quickly.

"Okay, I'll write it down."

After writing quickly for a while, Cod packed one of the letters, sealed it with wax paint, wrapped it with a special magic thread, and handed the other unsealed letter directly to Film: "This is a letter of proof, You take it and your "Magic Shadow Drama" to the Government Affairs Office, find the "Patent Registry", the sooner the better. In addition, this letter is a letter of introduction, you take it to the Magic Network Communication Bureau, and find the Grand Consul He Your Highness Dee, or go to the Magic Technology Department to find His Highness Rebecca... Believe me, they will see you."

Film, who was born as a commoner and whose family has served the nobles for generations, was taken aback when he heard Kodd's words. He couldn't believe the name he heard, and he couldn't believe that he might meet the two highnesses of the empire— —The development of the matter was completely beyond the imagination of the young man, and he even exclaimed a little.

After being re-confirmed by Kodd, Film was sure that there was nothing wrong with his ears. Then he lowered his head and glanced at the certificate written to the "Patent Registration Office" of the Government Affairs Department. He saw himself on it. name--

To the Patent Registration Office of the Government Affairs Office:

This is to certify that Mr. Film from Barron Town in the Holy Spirit Plain is the creator and owner of the technology of "Magic Shadow Drama"...Mr. Film should fully have the right to benefit, use and dispose of this technology (creative idea) rights and enjoy all corresponding honors.

Cord Baldwin, Carroll Business Association.

Cord let out a long breath, a strange sense of relief haunting him.

"Sir..." Film looked at the supporting documents in his hand. Even if he didn't understand the new laws about technology, even if he didn't understand the operating rules of the "Cecil Order", he was aware of what was behind these two documents. The significance of this and Cod's intentions, the young man from Barron said with hesitation, "How should I repay you?"

Kord looked at Film, and in those light-colored eyes, he saw sincerity and a trace of anxiety.

"I have only one request," said the big businessman slowly, "one day, when your phantom drama develops, when your 'theater in the crystal' is everywhere, I hope that the beginning of each of your works Give me half a minute—until the day Codd Family Network shuts down."

"Half a minute?"

"Yes, to display my wares—that's what I'm asking for."

"Of course, sir, there is no problem." Film said quickly.

Cord nodded slightly.

Perhaps the standard answer for a knight is no need to repay.

But he is a businessman.

A fine businessman.

The young man from Barron stood up, carrying two letters in his pocket, and took his suitcase. With a down-to-earth and relaxed smile, he said goodbye and left.

Cord watched the young man walk towards the door, and when the other party was about to step through the door, he stood up suddenly: "Mr. Film."

Film stopped in confusion and turned his head: "Yes, sir?"

"Welcome to the southern border," Cord said loudly with a smile, "Gold is everywhere here."

Film was stunned for a moment, and after he realized it, he also smiled back: "Yes, Mr. Corder, thank you."

Quiet in the office.

Cord left the desk and walked slowly to the French windows.

The snowflakes are still falling one after another, and the north wind blows in, the snow dances like a veil, and the factory buildings and roads are gradually silvery.

The sky is getting darker, and on the road leading to the city center, the magic spar street lamps are gradually lit up, and the shadows of passers-by in winter clothes and black cars are gradually thinning out. Only the magic net terminals at the end of the road and near the square are casting light as usual, Showing images.

"Good luck, young man."

……

Leaving Kede Family Business, Film returned to the avenue with a somewhat joyful mood, burning in his chest with anticipation for the future, as if making this cold snowy day even more lovely.

He saw a figure standing not far away, and snowflakes hovered around that figure, churning and flying like elves.

"Hi! Fendil!" Film quickly stepped forward and greeted him, "I thought you had already left..."

Fendil, who has short silver-white hair, laughed and looked at Film who was full of smiles: "I have nothing to do, so why not wait here for your good news - judging by your expression, it should indeed be good news?"

"Yes," Film looked away from the flying snowflakes around Fendil—he knew the identity of the other spellcaster when he was on the boat, but Fendil's character was different from what he had seen. Other spellcasters are different. After the initial tension dissipated, he was only admiring and envious of Fendil's magical ability to control ice and snow. .”

"Oh?"

"He gave me two letters, one to the Office of Government Affairs, saying that he could prove the ownership of the 'Phantom Drama' to me, and another letter, asking me to take it to the imperial capital, saying that he could meet Ruibei Princess Ka and Princess Hetty..."

"Ah," Fendil said softly, then turned his head and glanced at the gate of Corder's Family Information Company, "This Mr. Corder... is indeed an upright person."

"What did you say?"

"No, it's nothing." Fendil shook his head with a smile. "It seems that we can walk together for a long time—I'm going to the imperial capital too."

Film showed a rather happy look: "Really? By the way, I never asked, what exactly are you doing in the south?"

"I'm here to study," Fendil smiled and spread his hands, "My aunt thinks I should learn something that I can't learn at home—she's always using other people's children to stimulate me."

"Ah... that's really a disaster."

"Who said no?"

Chapter 0730 Winter

Winter is here.

The fog covering the entire north-central region arrived as expected, and the lingering fog and the increasingly cold atmosphere began to envelope Aldernan. In a haze of light gray mist, this magnificent capital of the empire became blurred and hazy. Like an oil painting soaked in water, everything is no longer so clear.

Obsidian Palace stood high in the mist like a giant cast from monolithic stone, overlooking the capital of the empire.

Rosetta Augustus unfolded the letter in front of her, reading each line of text with a calm expression.

Ferdinand Wendell stood beside the emperor's desk, and he saw the emblem of the sword and plow of the Cecil Empire on the top of the letter. The lines of the emblem itself and the horizontal lines on the paper were neat and beautiful.

It took Typhon's ruler a long time to read the not-so-long letter, then he pondered for a while, and said softly: "The tuition fee has finally become acceptable."

"This is a good start, Your Majesty." Pei Dinan said in a deep voice.

Rosetta nodded slightly: "Gavin Cecil believes that it is necessary for the two countries to establish more in-depth exchanges-the old era of confrontation with swords and guns should be over, and a more prosperous and affluent society is the true reality of this era. something to pursue."

Ferdinand looked at his monarch quietly: "Your Majesty, what do you think?"

"I agree with at least one point, the old era is indeed over," Rosetta seemed to have a smile on her lips, "We need to do something more suitable for the new era...

"Miss Ferdinand, Gawain Cecil has been emphasizing that his new empire has a friendly and open system, so do you think...they will welcome some guests from Typhon?"

Pei Dinan was silent for a few seconds before slowly saying: "Then you will only know if you try it."

With a smile on the corner of her mouth, Rosetta stretched out her hand, took out a piece of letter paper from the side, and wrote a line of powerful words with a pen:

To Emperor Cecil:

I admire your insights, and I agree with your understanding of the times. Maybe it's time for us to discuss how to...

The nib of the dip pen was moving on the paper, and the soft sound of the brush was gently dancing in the quiet study room. In this quiet atmosphere, Ferdinand turned his eyes to the window, and saw the fog covering Aldernan slightly bulging under the sunlight. It is like a silent and gentle sea, and the golden color of the sun is slowly undulating on the surface of the sea.

There was an unnatural smell in the fog, and when the smell came, Mary couldn't help sneezing.

The black-haired female apprentice stood at the intersection in front of Viscount Hemir's mansion. She frowned, watching wisps of mist slowly drifting in her sight, and the mixed smell in the mist affected her mood.

The peculiar smell may not be so unbearable, but Mary's nose is relatively sensitive, and she feels that the smell is like some kind of harmful smoke, with a bit of pungent smell.

She raised her head and saw that there was a thicker fog above. The sun was shining through the fog, and the light was diffuse and weak. The Obsidian Palace in the distance stood in the fog, and only a few hazy outlines could be seen.

The fog covering Aldernan is like a depressing and deep sea, filled with unpleasant smells, this place is prosperous and rich, but in winter, it seems far less comfortable than the wind, clouds and sunshine of my hometown—at least There, there isn't a whole bunch of chimneys spewing exhaust fumes.

The female apprentice waved her hand and summoned a layer of breeze shield, which blocked the ingredients in the mist that seemed to be harmful to health, and a slightly envious and submissive voice came from the side: "It's still a powerful spellcaster like you. The air in it will obey your command."

Mary turned her head and saw that the person talking to her was a servant wearing a blouse—this was the servant sent by Viscount Hermiel, who came here specially to accompany her. Before the mentor returned, this humble man would obey her orders .

But Mary is not used to this kind of identity that can be assigned to others, nor is she very used to being complimented by others. She just shook her head and said in an equal tone: "But if it is not here, I don't need to make a shield at all. Filter the air - it's supposed to be the cleanest time of year."

The attendant smiled helplessly: "...Well, there is indeed a strange smell in the fog this winter."

"But I remember that it wasn't like this last year," Mary recalled the time when she and her mentor came to the imperial capital together, "it wasn't even the year before last."

"If you had been to the imperial capital earlier, you would be even more surprised by the scene this winter." The attendant spread his hands, "We locals are more aware of the changes here."

Mary looked at the attendant, and casually said what she heard: "I heard people say that the strange smell in the fog is all because of those chimneys—those rock-burning acid chemical plants. Turned into a foul-smelling fog."

The attendant smiled wryly and shook his head: "You can say that, but we dare not—the factories are run by grown-ups, and they don't like people talking about their machines and chimneys."

Thoughts appeared in Mary's heart, and she seemed to want to say something, but the gate of the mansion not far away had been opened, and the old mage wearing a black robe and hunched body had already walked out of it.

The young female apprentice immediately left the attendant behind, and stepped forward to meet her mentor.

"Mentor, shall we go home directly?" Mary asked respectfully, holding Daniel's arm.

"No, let's go to the Manufacturing Association first to get some things." Daniel glanced at his apprentice, "It's okay, you know to turn on the breeze shield, otherwise you will get sick sooner or later in such bad weather—your The brain is always unable to turn around."

Mary lowered her head, but neither argued nor was she frustrated, instead she smiled faintly.

She can hardly remember how long it has been since her mentor "criticized" herself with such an understatement.

Boarding the limited magic vehicle issued by the Empire, Mary and Daniel set off for the Imperial Manufacturing Association. In the car, Mary couldn't help muttering: "The winter here is much colder than in the countryside, and it's much colder. And the choking fog."

Daniel gave the female apprentice who was complaining indifferently, and spit out a few words: "Don't go on stage."

Mary shrank her neck quickly, pretending to respectfully listen to the lesson.

But the instructor didn't teach her as usual, but didn't make a sound for the next few seconds. Mary couldn't help but raised her head curiously, only to see that the instructor was watching her quietly.

She was a little confused, but she didn't dare to ask until Daniel took the initiative to ask, "Mary, do you want to go back to the country?"

"Me? No, no," Mary was stunned for a moment, and then hurriedly waved her hands, "I just... just said it casually, Teacher, I didn't think..."

Daniel looked at the flustered female apprentice with a calm face, and shook his head to interrupt the other party when the other party was busy explaining: "I found your parents."

All of Mary's movements and words stopped instantly. She looked at her mentor a little blankly. First, she took a few seconds to understand the other person's words, and then spent a few seconds thinking about what expression she should make— ——She felt that her expression must be very funny, because she could feel her face was stiff, and she didn’t even know whether to be happy or sad. She seemed to be listening to a strange concept, but this concept was related to herself of.

her parents.

Her parents who had completely forgotten what they looked like.

"They are in the country, and they live not too far from that town. They have moved after you were lost, but it is difficult for civilians to move far. As one of the chief mages of the empire, I found them and did It's not difficult," Daniel continued calmly, "You still have a brother and a sister, but your brother died of illness when the plague broke out a few years ago, and your sister is married but has no children yet. "

Mary stared fixedly at her mentor, at this old man who had been distorted, cruel, tyrannical, and terrible for many years, watching him calmly talk about these things related to her, in those yellow-brown eyes There, there was no longer any coldness and out of control, only her own bewildered face was reflected there.

She muttered, but she didn't even know what she wanted to say: "Teacher, I... I don't know..."

Daniel interrupted her again: "If you want to see them, I'll pick them up, and if you want to go home, go back."

"……I have no idea."

This is a weak and inappropriate answer. In the past, it would have been severely reprimanded or even punished, but today Daniel just nodded lightly: "I understand—I'll give you time to think about it."

Mary lowered her head, and after a long silence, she finally spoke again: "Have they had a good life these years?"

"Not very hungry."

"That's good."

Daniel stared at Mary, and after a long time, he muttered: "Not on stage."

After saying this, he withdrew his gaze, as if he no longer paid attention to Mary's movements, but his spirit slowly sank. On the premise of maintaining basic attention and reaction to the real world, the old mage quietly connected to the secret psychic network.

In the mind network, the dream capital created by the eternal sleepers is sunny and sunny.

The breeze blew across the wide street, blowing the just right golden leaves on the side of the road. The drapes hanging from the palace and towers swayed in the wind, revealing a gorgeous texture. Daniel appeared in the form of a middle-aged elegant mage. On the street, follow the flow of people coming and going, and walk forward.

However, his spiritual tentacles have spread out, secretly connecting with the thoughts of the nearby Eternal Sleepers Cultists, extracting the latest and useful information.

Most of the information was filtered out by him: In this increasingly large network, there are too many boring eternal sleepers posting meaningless content, and those meaningless content made the priest in charge of managing the network complain—great The master called this behavior of posting meaningless content "water stickers". Although Daniel couldn't understand the meaning of the words created by the wanderers outside the territory, he could also judge from the master's attitude that this was not a compliment.

It is said that the priests responsible for managing the flow of information are already studying how to control the flood of meaningless information. Daniel is somewhat interested in this, but before that, he must first complete the task assigned by the master.

After excluding those meaningless information, what he focused on was the recent operation of the spiritual network and the recent activities of the Eternal Rest Church.

He "hears" and "sees" some intelligence:

The activities of religious orders in the Cecil Empire are becoming more and more difficult, and the ubiquitous magic monitoring towers and more and more security officers are squeezing the living space of illegal transcendents;

The Nightmare Archbishops at the upper level have recently conducted a new round of solicitation of computing power. It seems that a large-scale project needs more computing power to maintain. Some middle and lower level eternal sleepers are discussing this matter. They seem to think that this kind of solicitation calculation Force commands have become more and more frequent recently, and have a slight complaint about it;

The Son of the Storm made the last contact with the land not long ago, and then completely disappeared;

Some eternal sleepers are lamenting that the situation where the three major sects stood together in the past has fallen apart at some point, and lamenting that the changes in the world are beyond expectations;

A piece of information flashed across Daniel's mind and vision, and he walked casually on the street with a calm expression, as if he was just an ordinary passerby.

A golden fallen leaf fell from nearby, spinning and falling behind Daniel. The fallen leaf flipped in mid-air, and suddenly became pitch black, with countless uneven shaking cracks on the edge, and then disappeared.

But no one seems to have noticed this "imperfect scene".

Another meaningless message surfaced from an unknown node group, and Daniel casually glanced at this "water post" message.

It seems that they are just some boring rumors, or strange stories——

Some unnamed believers mentioned some strange phenomena in the mind network recently, and claimed that when wandering in the dream capital, they suddenly encountered an abnormal void, and some people said that when they were walking on the road, they suddenly saw the people in front of them disappear out of thin air—not Disconnected, but seems to be swallowed by something out of thin air, and some believers think that they have lost some memories of the network after leaving the network...