Sword of Dawn

"Don't worry, I will do well."

Rebecca looked at Hetty, then at Gawain, and scratched her hair a little confusedly: "What did you say last? Rune theory? Why can't I understand..."

"It's normal not to understand, because you didn't go with us this morning." Gao Wen leaned back, leaned on the chair, and looked at the iron-headed fireball with a smile, "Rebecca, I'll find you I made a friend, she is good at the same field as you..."

Before Gao Wen could finish speaking, Rebecca's eyes lit up: "She can also shoot three big fireballs in a row?!"

Gawain: "...Um, I'm not talking about the ability to launch big fireballs."

Rebecca rolled her eyes half a circle, and wanted to ask if she could climb trees, dig out bird nests and roast grasshoppers since she didn't know how to make big fireballs. When Wen Ze saw the girl's expression, he deeply realized the fact that no matter how talented the child in front of him was, he couldn't change his temper (and his head was caught by the door), so he had to say: "The friend I'm talking about is not a companion. What you are fooling around with is researching with you - her name is Jenny Perot, she is a member of the [-]-person Aid and Reconstruction Group, a fourth-level rune teacher, she has the same high talent in mathematical calculations as you, and she researches The way of magic also has many complementary and commonalities with you..."

In order to prevent the girl from losing control of her mind again, Gawain told all about Jenni Perrault in one breath.

And Rebecca listened in a daze, and finally slapped her hand suddenly: "You said that she has developed a technique that relies on calculations instead of spells to construct rune blueprints?"

Although the process was tortuous, Gao Wen didn't explain too much at this time: "Almost the same meaning."

"Hey! I want to meet that person!" Rebecca really showed a very happy expression, "I think she is so amazing!"

Gao Wen was very happy to see that Rebecca was very interested in this matter, but he still reminded him before the silly roe deer ran away: "Don't delay the development of the magic engine and 'cement'."

"Don't worry! I know!"

"Then that's the end of this discussion," Gawain nodded in satisfaction, then looked at Amber, "Amber, make another trip and call Knight Byron."

Amber looked reluctant, but her figure gradually faded in the air: "Oh, what a hard life."

Soon, Knight Byron, who was resting in the barracks, was brought into the tent. The middle-aged knight who was born as a mercenary saluted Gawain: "My lord, are you looking for me?"

"Are you familiar with the serf market and refugees?"

Knight Byron froze for a moment, then nodded, "I am very familiar with serfs. Before, I went to buy slaves from other nobles on behalf of Miss Rebecca's father. As for refugees... I can't say whether I am familiar with them or not. They're wandering, savage-like people, in the old mines and the abandoned Gorring's Mill further north of Tanzanite..."

Gao Wen interrupted him: "I don't want those who have already fallen into bandits, but those who are innocent for the time being."

"Refugees are not innocent, but I think I understand what you mean. You want those who are still wandering around towns and villages, and haven't given up trying to earn a living in the civilized world?"

As expected of someone who used to be a mercenary, dealt with all kinds of poor people, and struggled in the gray area, Byron immediately understood Gawain's request, and immediately made a suggestion: "My lord, if You are really going to recruit refugees, so I have a suggestion: why not try to go to Tanzan Town to issue a mercenary commission, and say that you want to buy a large number of slaves—buy slaves at a price of less than [-]% of the market price. This will not compare Sending announcers to post notices everywhere, and communicating with noble lords everywhere will cost more money, and the efficiency will be particularly high.”

Chapter 0113 Gawain's Morality

The suggestion put forward by Byron made everyone present a little confused, especially Hetty. She asked directly: "Buy slaves at a price of [-]% of the market price? And in the form of issuing mercenary commissions? How could anyone be willing to do this? Accept? Not to mention the abnormally low price, the mercenaries' remuneration may have to be taken out of this [-]%... This is a loss-making business for those mercenaries."

Facing this question, Byron just said lightly: "So we have to add an additional one: slavery and contract are not required."

Heidi and Rebecca looked at each other, and Amber had already understood that the half-elf thief was about to say something, but she didn't expect that it was Gawain who spoke before her: "In this case, the mercenaries will capture the refugees and make them slaves." Sell ​​money."

Amber glanced at Gawain in surprise, as if she didn't expect the duke to know about such a thing, while Knight Byron nodded in surprise: "A strong man with complete slavery contract procedures and a clear Serfs or slave laborers usually need [-] to [-] small silver coins inlaid with flowers, or [-] or [-] silver shield coins, and the biggest cost is actually their slave status. Because they have their identity records, they must Buying from formal channels, in addition to the money for buying slaves themselves, slave owners, lord tax officials, local churches, slave markets, and even "slave labor associations" composed of rogues will also take a cut in the middle layer by layer. It is several times or even ten times the price, but refugees...the refugees do not need to pay, no one will protect them, and they do not have any identity information, and their disappearance or death will not attract any attention."

Speaking of this, Byron paused for a while, as if to give Hetty and Rebecca some time to think, and then continued: "Under normal circumstances, nobles will not buy slaves without slavery contracts, because such slaves are both Without the guarantee of birth, it will appear that the nobles are stingy, poor and of low taste, and once this kind of slave is killed or taken away by other slave owners, there is no way to get compensation. But even so, there will still be people who send out to buy cheap undocumented slaves entrustment—this is a kind of default black rule, which actually refers to... refugees."

Hetty clutched her chest. Although she was already a model among nobles who were close to commoners, she had never been in touch with the deepest dark truth: "How could such a thing happen?"

"Not only are there, but they are found every year and everywhere, ma'am," said Knight Byron in a deep voice, "in some immoral mercenary circles, this kind of refugees are called 'long-legged money'. They will even secretly circulate the shelters of refugees’ gathering points as paid information, staring at those displaced people like sharks and hyenas, just waiting for someone to buy cheap undocumented slaves—usually in large quantities—they will rush in."

Rebecca subconsciously clenched the iron staff in her hand, her knuckles even turned white from the force, she said in a low voice as if talking to herself: "Mercenaries... I listened to their stories in the tavern, The story of them destroying robbers, killing monsters, and exploring in ancient castles and secret places, I thought that was the life of mercenaries, but..."

"Master Viscount, when you are in the tavern, the mercenaries in the tavern are no longer mercenaries." Knight Byron gave Rebecca a deep look, "Not all mercenaries will do what I just said. What you said is indeed the life of some mercenaries, but there is one more thing—the hands of mercenaries are destined to be unclean, it's just a matter of how much evil they do."

Then the middle-aged knight raised his head and looked at Gao Wen: "My lord, what do you mean? Regarding the release of the commission..."

Gawain looked at the knight with a half-smile, and the other said the darkest truths to everyone. In fact, the subtext was already obvious, but he didn't want to expose this half-way knight who seemed to have a past. : "I'm not going to save the money."

Both Hetty and Rebecca were visibly relieved.

"We are not short of money. The gold and silver in the treasury are enough for the entire territory to spend for a long time, but if we save money by promoting evil, the debts on our souls will not be so easy to redeem," Gao Wen He said unhurriedly, "Just follow the normal process, go to the neighboring territories to post notices and send people to read them out, negotiate with the nobles who can get on the line, rent chariots and horses to prepare dry food, and if you buy serfs, follow the normal channels. Buy, don't be stingy with money, I have only one request: Make sure that everyone who is about to come to this land understands one thing: no matter what they have done before, they must obey the laws here."

Byron stroked his chest and bowed his head: "This is their duty."

Gao Wen nodded: "You are good at dealing with people in this field, so this matter is fully entrusted to you. If you need any money, you can go to Hetty to collect it, but you must have a clear account and plan. In addition, if If you have a channel, it’s best to find out where the refugees gather.”

Since the infrastructure work is on the right track and there is some leeway in terms of manpower, the coin minting work in the territory has started on a small scale. A few days ago, Gao Wen designed and ordered people to mint the first few coins, and sent these coins to the nearby Tanzania Town and in several other distant towns, it was notarized with merchants and nobles, and the coins are now available.

After Byron and the others left, only Gawain and Amber were left in the tent. The latter kept looking Gawain up and down with weird eyes, making Gawain feel uncomfortable: "What are you looking at?"

"Letting those mercenaries who only care about money to catch refugees and send them over is obviously much less troublesome and labor-saving than sending people yourself to conduct publicity and search, and to prepare dry food for horses and horses. I thought you would definitely choose A more practical solution—haven't you always called yourself a pragmatist?"

"I'm indeed a pragmatist, but I'm not a villain. I can imagine how those mercenaries will capture refugees as slaves. I can imagine how many people will be killed on the spot in the process. ? How many people will be separated from their wives? How many people will die of starvation and disease during the rough "transportation" of those mercenaries? Even though I deliberately emphasized in the commission that the health of the "slaves" must be guaranteed, how many people do you think? Do mercenaries really listen? And these things may not be done by me, but I prompted them, which violates my code of conduct."

"But do you know, even if you don't do it, someone else is doing it. The stingy farmers and black mines will find mercenaries to buy undocumented slaves every year. The amount they buy is enough to fill your small camp for several years. Second-rate."

"So I am going to destroy this status quo and build a new order. Not only my own actions must follow these guidelines, but every piece of land I build must follow these guidelines-whether they are slave owners, mercenaries , ruffians, thieves and profiteers, or any hereditary aristocratic professional powerhouse. I don’t do evil—they don’t allow it either.”

Amber opened her mouth, looked at Gao Wen in astonishment, and said after a while, "You speak loudly...but why are you so obsessed with protecting the weak? It's really because of those so-called 'classic aristocratic virtues' or 'chivalry' ?”

"No, it's just basic morality."

Amber insisted on picking something wrong as if she was deliberately angry: "You are so naive, how can you change so much by yourself? You must know that in this world, the law of the jungle is the rule, and it is morality for the strong to override the weak. "

Gawain looked at Amber, and suddenly couldn't help laughing: "That's right, the strong prey on the weak. This is indeed the rule of this world, even the rule of nature. The strong should make rules, and the weak can only obey."

Amber blinked: "Then you..."

Gao Wen's smile became even more irresistible: "So, haven't I already started to formulate the rules?"

Amber: "...you can still operate like this!?"

At the same moment, Veronica was staying in her prayer room on the White Oak, which had sailed away from Cecilland and was sailing on the Whitewater River.

She is still dressed in a simple white nun dress, her light golden hair is draped softly behind her head, without any extravagant decorations, she kneels in front of the statue of the God of Holy Light, with her hands folded on her chest, imitating the holy emblem There was an image of two intersecting rays of holy light, and filled with light elements hovering and dancing around her, like translucent little angels surrounding her, guarding this extremely devout follower of the holy light.

She prayed devoutly, so that the light gradually shrouded the statue of the God of Holy Light whose face was blurred and could not be distinguished with the naked eye. After finishing a prayer, she opened her eyes and looked at the burning fire in front of the statue. Big candles.

The flame of the thick candle jumped a few times, suddenly changed from orange yellow to pure white, and the flame expanded several times at once, turning into a beam of pure flame. The flame shivered and contracted, gradually forming the image of an old man .

The old man was sitting on a chair. Although he looked dignified, he was obviously old and weak. If there were any believers of the God of Holy Light here, they would probably recognize at first sight that this was the current Holy Light. The supreme ruler of the church, Pope Saint Ivan III.

Veronica lowered her head slightly: "Your Majesty the Pope."

From the flame came the slightly distorted voice of the Pope: "My child favored by the Holy Light, have you returned?"

"Yes, I have left Cecil Territory, and now the fleet should be approaching the mouth of the Dorgon River."

"Is everything going well on this trip? Is that Gawain Cecil the enemy of our lord?"

Veronica pondered for two seconds, and replied softly: "Everything is going well, Gawain Cecil is indeed the legend 700 years ago, not a ghost who stole the body of a hero and lived in the world. He speaks freely under the light, and is a man of noble character."

"Then, that's good. I have heard the voice of the Lord frequently in recent years. He wants me to teach the righteous way of the Holy Light to the world. It is really a matter of concern that Gawain Cecil is recovering at this time. But now that you have confirmed that he is not the enemy of the Lord, then I am much more at ease."

Veronica folded her hands and bowed her head deeply: "The righteous way of my lord will surely spread throughout the world."

The candle is gradually burning out, and the power of the divine spell is coming to an end, the voice from the flame becomes weaker: "Come back as soon as possible, don't delay on the road, in case the dirty world affects your pure holy light, come back To the Cathedral of the Holy Light..."

The flame died, the candle was only a few pale ashes, and the pope's breath was far from the place.

Veronica waited for a few more seconds before slowly standing up and quietly staring at the statue of the God of Holy Light.

She spoke softly, as if talking to herself:

"That's an unbeliever, isn't he?"

"Yeah, not only has no faith, but also contradicts the way of the Holy Light."

"He seems to be only against God, not the Holy Light..."

"In short, it is neither a servant of the Holy Light nor a minion of darkness."

"very funny……"

"very funny."

Chapter 0114

When the White Oak that Veronica was on was sailing on the wide waters of the Dorgon River, when the first brick kiln in Cecil Territory emitted smoke and dust, when the powerful nobles and king's advisors in San Sunil City While chattering about the current situation in the south, the situation on the border, and the contradictions between the dragon wizards and magicians in the north, the most powerful knight lord of the Typhon Empire, Grand Duke Ferdinand Wendell, was in deep worry.

In his mansion in the imperial capital, he stood on the tall tower, looking down at the majestic imperial capital below him, and occasionally looking at the dark palace shrouded in majesty.

This is Typhon's capital, Aldernan.

The name of this city comes from the ancient giant language, which means "Millennium City". Although it has only been a mere 200 years since it stood on this land as the new imperial capital, the proud imperial people undoubtedly believe in the greatness they have built. The city will stand on the land for at least a thousand years like the giant dynasty recorded in the myth - and everything in this city seems to show this proud spirit.

In this city, there are countless towering spiers, and countless statues of heroes carved from huge stones. They rise from the ground and point straight to the sky as if they are challenging the sky. Between the buildings is the "Empire Avenue" which is neatly planned and wide enough for ten carriages to drive side by side. The Empire Avenue stretches out, outlining neat and vigorous areas throughout the city.

The whole city is like a complex geometric figure with a full structure and sharp edges and corners. Everything is planned in an orderly manner. It is completely different from the chaotic, obsolete, and crowded old capitals of other kingdoms, because this city is indeed brand new: The old imperial capital 200 years ago sank into the ground in a big collapse. His Majesty the Emperor, who had been prepared for a long time, built a new imperial capital on this plain before the disaster broke out, and named it "Aldernan" (Millennium City).Due to the strength of the empire and the careful planning at the beginning, Aldernan has become one of the most magnificent and magnificent cities on the mainland since its establishment. For a long time, Grand Duke Ferdinand also deeply believed that he could live in such a great city. proud to live in such a great city.

But today, he felt a sense of crisis pervading from the bottom of his heart, which made him unbearably uneasy even looking at this bustling capital city.

That talented emperor, Rosetta Augustus the Great, seems to have made up his mind to start a big war with Ansu. He dismissed all the ministers who opposed the war, and even drove out the Earl of Winterhold, who advocated peace. After leaving the palace, his attitude was unprecedented.

To be honest, Grand Duke Ferdinand is not worried about the direction of this war. He believes in the imperial army, just as he believes in his own martial arts and swords. He knows that the Anzu Kingdom in the northwest is an old and weak country. The same ancient history, but was tied by this history, and turned into a sluggish and dying old man. Their army and weapons that had not improved for hundreds of years were no match for the soldiers of the empire. On the other hand, the Typhon Empire— —Several successful military system reforms and administrative reforms have made this country glow with unprecedented vigor and vitality. Whether it is military soldiers, officials at all levels, or domestic people, Typhon is far stronger than that dying neighboring country. There is absolutely no need to worry about the outcome of the war.

What Ferdinand was worried about was only His Majesty the Emperor, and what he was worried about was the state of Rosetta Augustus himself.

His Majesty the Emperor has always been a majestic and decisive person, but he is not yet arbitrary. He will listen carefully to the opinions of every minister, even if these opinions are not enough to shake his determination, he will listen patiently, and will not directly dismiss them. With all the opposing voices, he valued the blood of every nobleman, and he definitely couldn't do anything to humiliate a real and powerful earl in public and drive him out of the palace, but now...he has done both.

Duke Ferdinand thought of the scene when he saw Emperor Rosetta Augustus last time. The majestic Emperor sat on his black iron throne, covered by the shadow of the back of the throne and the crown. Although he patiently listened to the words of his most trusted duke, he replied with a lack of interest, as if he didn't even want to say a word.

And when Ferdinand left, he clearly heard His Majesty the emperor talking to himself in front of a water basin, as if there was an audience hidden in the water basin, talking to the emperor .

Looking away from the distant palace, Pei Dinan sighed deeply.

He thought of the curse that ran in the blood of the Augustus family—the curse that only appeared 200 years ago and only a few people knew about it.

They will hear voices that ordinary people cannot hear, they will see things that ordinary people cannot see, and they will understand taboo knowledge in a way that ordinary people cannot understand. thought and layout, but in the end...

Their spirits will be dragged into the invisible world, leaving only a mad body in this world.

When I saw Emperor Rosetta last time, His Majesty was thinking clearly and speaking normally, but Ferdinand was deeply worried—a sign of madness might have appeared in that king.

He turned around and pulled a rope by his hand, and the copper bell summoning the servant jingled, and the door of the terrace was pushed open, and a servant in a blue blouse appeared in front of Ferdinand.

"Master," the attendant lowered his head, "what's your order?"

"Bring my coat, and get the carriage ready. I'm going to see the Earl of Winterhold."

……

The northern foot of the Dark Mountains, New Cecil Territory.

Gao Wen was inspecting the newly built brick kiln factory, and with him, there was Nicholas Egg, who was recently busy "supplementing local knowledge" in the territory.

Brick kilns equipped with magical catalytic and rune trigger devices are lined up in the open space. Driven by the "Magic Net No. [-]" buried underground, they are undergoing the first "trial firing".

Since there is still no more accurate temperature control and reliable transportation device, and the current construction capacity of the territory is limited, Gao Wen did not directly take out the "magic tunnel kiln" he had imagined, but prepared to use it first. For simple transformation of traditional kilns, first solve the "whether there is a problem" to carry out the transition at the current stage.

However, although the kiln adopts a relatively primitive form, considering future expansion and transformation, the magic net buried underground in this brick kiln factory is still built in strict accordance with high standards, and its power is even higher than that of the steel factory— — It’s just that Gawain has no way to determine the specific power of the two sets of magic nets because the work of digitizing magic power is still unclear.

Feeling the orderly flow of magical power in the surrounding air, the bright Nicholas egg swayed in the air, and a metal trilling voice came from inside the sphere: "It must be admitted... Although everything is primitive, But this world is really interesting, and these flowing energies, and the way you make tools and use tools, are unimaginable in my worldview."

"This is the difference in the rules of physics," Gao Wen sighed in agreement, "Actually, you should feel lucky—you, a 'traveler' from a different world with different rules, survived unharmed after falling into this world It is a great fortune to survive without self-disintegration due to different rules."

"Traveler? You use this word well," Nicholas said in a buzzing voice, "You are really my bosom friend, not only can you understand, you can agree with my experience, and you can always think of the same things as me—— To be honest, this is what I was most worried about when I realized that the rules here are different from my hometown. At that time, I was afraid that my body would suddenly disintegrate. After all, even the material structure of the two sides is different. , but then I figured it out—if I really wanted to disintegrate, then I would disintegrate as soon as I fell into this world. Since I was fine at the time, it meant that I had a big fate, and I was worried about a ball..."

"Then do you want to understand the reason why you can survive safely?" Gao Wen asked with a smile.

"Then who knows," the metal ball dangled left and right, "I've even forgotten my own name, so I still have time to think about it?"

"To be honest, how serious is your 'amnesia'?" Gao Wen frowned, and asked a question he had been curious about for a long time, "You still remember some common sense in your hometown, such as the environment, physical rules, history, But have you forgotten everything else?"

The metal ball thought for a long time before opening its mouth: "Tsk, the fact is so, what can I do? The most terrifying part of amnesia is here: you don't even know what you have forgotten. All I can remember now is some common sense in life. But these common senses belong to another world, I still remember a set of languages, but it is also useless here..."

As he talked, he seemed to be in a great loss, and gradually fell silent, until half a minute later he sighed in a very human way: "Alas... Actually, I am also working hard, trying to figure out who I am. Who, what exactly do I do, what can I do, and what I am good at, but you can't imagine the difficulty in the middle - if you are in a familiar world, it's okay, the things around you can give some hints, but in Here, everything is completely unfamiliar to me, and I can't find anything that can help me recall the past. These days I have been wandering around the camp just to see your production and life. I used this to find something I could do, but what was the result? There was no result—I didn’t seem to be able to do anything, and there wasn’t any job I could get my hands on...I didn’t have any hands either!”

Gao Wen stroked his chin: "Then guess what you did in your previous life?"

"Where does this lead me to guess?" The metal ball seems to want to spread his hands, but he has no hands, so he can only dangle, "I don't have the slightest impression of being engaged in a certain job or being good at something, is it possible I didn’t have to work, study, or even go out in my previous life?”

Gao Wen couldn't help but looked the metal ball up and down, and his heart trembled: Hearing the description of this ball, maybe he was a fat man before crossing? (fog)

As for why it is a fat house - look at the shape!

Chapter 0115 Rotating Wheels and Bearings

In fact, to be honest, after encountering this metal egg, Gao Wen finally realized how lucky he is in his current situation—he did not lose his memory, he fell into a world dominated by humans, and he still has the ability to smoothly integrate into the current world. His identity (although this identity is somewhat horrifying and supernatural) and a satellite perspective that may be useful, and most importantly, he has memories from Gawain Cecil.

The last point is particularly important. It is precisely because he has memories from two worlds at the same time that he can more easily face the time and space where the physical rules are greatly different from those on the earth. When times come, use “out of this world” experiences to tide you over.

However, Nicholas Egg can't do this at all. Compared with Gawain's situation, the situation of this metal ball is simply another extreme:

He has amnesia, he has no experience and knowledge that can be effective in this world, he was arrested as a test object as soon as he came here, and most importantly, he fell in the style of an egg-shaped creature on the side of the scary upright ape. on the ground...

If it is said that Gao Wen has entered the difficulty of hell if he wants to farm and climb science and technology in a world with very different physical rules, then this ball simply smashed through the ceiling of all the kings in hell, and then rolled and fell into the king of hell. Inside the big pot, the bottom of the pot is still spicy durian.