Sword of Dawn

"Is it still the basic spells and spellcasting theory information of each faction?" Hetty asked subconsciously. Gawain asked her to collect this information most often.

But Gao Wen's answer surprised her: "No, it's about my biography."

"About your... biography?" Hetty blinked in confusion. This request is really weird. In the whole world, only myself, an old ancestor who suddenly jumped up from life to death, can make it, " What form are you referring to? The official biography of a hero released by the kingdom?"

"Not only that kind, but also various folk versions, I want any kind of thing that describes my life." The clues of the secret voyage in Cecil's memory can only make this kind of general request, "even unofficial gossip, even absurd stories about country people scaring children."

Hetty's expression became strange: "What do you want these things for?"

Gao Wen just wanted to make up a reason, such as being interested in the changes in people's thinking in the past 700 years, when suddenly an amber popped up from the shadow beside him, and this amber was still in balabala: "He is free, he wants to see this Who in the past 700 years wants to hack him... or just to see how everyone praises him, and feel refreshed..."

The moment Amber popped out of the shadows, Hetty had already picked up the staff and made a gesture of flattening the sand and falling wild geese, but the half-elf lady had also improved her memory since she was beaten a lot last time. The moment Blind BB finished, he ran behind Gao Wen, used the latter as a cover in front of him, and poked out half of his head provocatively: "rua—I don't believe you dare to face your ancestor... oh my god pain!!"

Before she could finish the second half of the sentence, Gao Wen dragged her out by the ear. Gawain was very curious as he dragged, "What do you think, that you hide behind the person in search of safety after making arrangements for others? Is it possible that I won't hit you?"

"Oh my god, I was wrong, wrong, wrong!" Amber almost jumped up and down, "My ears are going to cramp, my ears are going to cramp!"

Then the tent was filled with a cheerful air...

A few days after sending out the messenger, a reply from Viscount Victor Kant was sent to the territory of the Cecil family.

The old viscount expressed great enthusiasm for Duke Gawain's willingness to visit, and kindly invited Gawain to visit the ancient castle and manor that the Kant family is proud of, so, on the second day after the messenger returned, he had already prepared Gawain prepared and embarked on a journey to Kant Territory.

He set off in a carriage and deliberately did not bring any followers. Apart from the groom driving the carriage and two soldiers, he only brought Amber, who served as his personal bodyguard, and Knight Philip, who had just escorted the refugees back to the territory not long ago.

When the silhouettes of villages, towns and farms on the edge of the Kant Territory appeared at the end of the road, the sky gradually darkened, and the cold wind swept across the land with the breath of moisture and soil. The wind brought the signal of the coming rain, as if At the end of the frost moon and before the foggy moon comes, this land will usher in a generous rain.

After this rain, the short autumn of the Kingdom of Anzu came to an end, and then came the long winter of the Northern Kingdom, first with a foggy, cold and foggy month of sixty days, and then sixty days. In the cold moon of the day, the nationwide snowfall will continue intermittently until the recovery moon arrives. Even the "Southern Territory" where Cecil Territory is located will be covered by frost and snow.

After all, the entire Ansu Kingdom is in the north of the mainland.

I don't know whether the refugees in the wilderness will have time to arrive in Cecil Territory to accept asylum before the coldest day, whether the winter construction plan in the Territory will be realized as expected, whether the border between Ansu and Typhon will be Go to war this winter...

Gawain pulled the cover on the side of the carriage. In the gradually gloomy and darkening sky, he could already see Kant Castle standing on a hillside in front of him. The ancient stone building rose from the highest place on the territory Rising from the ground, several dark spiers pointed directly at the cloudy sky, while on the vast land below the castle, there were row upon row of town buildings.

Now night and cloud are approaching at the same time, and the early darkening of the sky has gradually lit up sparse lights in the town. Gao Wen counted the number and distribution of those lights, and judged the wealth and order of this land.

There are more lights than imagined, and they can be seen all over the town.

A drop of rain slanted through the baffle of the carriage shed, and landed on Gao Wen's face. Along with the raindrops, the bleak cold wind came in. Amber wrapped herself in the blanket in a corner of the carriage, dazed. Muttered quietly: "Gao Wen, close the window..."

Gawain smiled, and put down the baffle, the sound of rain gradually gathering on the roof of the carport made of waterproof wooden boards.

The carriage galloped through the fertile and harvested farmland in the Kant Territory. In the direction the carriage came, the road leading to the outside of the territory was gradually covered by the rain curtain, becoming blurred and unrecognizable...

Chapter 0173 The Uneasy Wind

It started to rain heavily.

The cold air flow brought more and more cold rain. According to the weather in this area in previous years, this may be the last rainfall before snowfall, and Kantland has always been the place with the most abundant rainfall in the entire southern region, and this moment is no exception.

The raindrops have already formed a rain curtain, hanging in the sky obliquely along the wind, splashing in the wilderness, also in the town, and splashing on the outer wall of the ancient castle of the Kant family. The mottled and concave dark red spires and black exterior walls flowed down, presenting a shiny texture like black oil in the increasingly dim skylight.

But the thick outer wall of the castle cuts off the sound of wind and rain outside, and also cuts off the ever-increasing cold breath. In the lobby of the castle, magic spar lamps illuminate all corners. The shadowy situation disappeared for some reason, and now the entire castle is brightly lit under the reflection of magic lights. Coupled with the burning fireplaces and braziers everywhere, the entire family castle is full of light and warmth.

The servants were cleaning the tables, chairs, lamp stands, and statues everywhere, making all these things with history and family glory shine in the lights. They talked about the increasingly cold weather outside, and about the The crops and medicinal materials were harvested, and they were also talking about the distinguished guests that the Viscount would entertain today—the entire castle had been cleaned two days ago, and everything had become brand new, so the identity of the guests was not ordinary.

Then they saw the old butler of the castle, old Mr. Carter, who was old but still strong-legged, rushing down the stairs of the hall, followed by the head of the maids and butlers, and they ran like a gust of wind across the hall. , ran to the door, and the head maid was still shouting to the clumsy maids: "Put away the bucket!" "Don't leave the rag on the counter." "Silly girl, go back to the kitchen! Can't Let the Duke see a low-level maid in a dirty skirt standing in the hall, do you understand?!" "Everyone go back to their places! The guests are coming!"

Viscount Victor Kant walked down the stairs on the second floor. When the butler was about to touch the door, he happened to stand in the center of the hall. This position allowed him to welcome the distinguished guests with open arms in the most appropriate way. It will embarrass the guests to wait too long, and it will not make the owner of the castle eager to look like an inferior servant.

The old butler came to the gate, took out a handkerchief and wiped his hands carefully, while silently counting the time in his heart, estimating when the knock on the door would sound based on the time when the guards in the tower delivered the message and his own speed of action.

When he silently counted to thirty, there was a knock on the door.

It would be unseemly for a distinguished guest like the Duke to knock on the door for the second time—even if it was only the Duke’s coachman or guard who knocked on the door, but he could not open the door immediately. Before the second knock sounded, he ordered the soldiers on both sides of the gate to pull the wheel.

The extremely heavy "family door", which can withstand 82 strikes of battering rams, opened under the power of hinges and roulettes, and the heavy creaking sound seemed to carry the majesty of the Kant family for 300 years.

And a man with 700 years of majesty walked through the gate, and the cold wind and rain rolled into the hall behind him.

Immediately, some servants stepped forward to take the cloaks or hats that the guests took off, and some servants ran out to meet the carriages parked outside. Gawain led Amber and Knight Philip into the main hall of Fort Conde. He saw a man with hair The old nobleman who was almost completely white, had many age spots on his face, and was wearing a black and red long coat opened his hands to welcome him. This Viscount Victor Kant was older than he thought, but his legs and feet were obviously still good.

"Ah, today this castle welcomes the most honored guest ever, a living legend!" Viscount Kant said loudly, "I'm sorry to let you visit in such bad weather—if I can control the sky The spell will do just fine."

"Actually, I like rainy weather very much," said Gawain. He didn't accept the Viscount's hug, but just shook hands with him. This was not indifference, but the rule of meeting between high and low ranks: low ranks must show a certain degree of enthusiasm and respect, but unless the two parties have a clear affiliation relationship, the high-ranking person must not accept it, but should return it with a certain degree of politeness. These messy traditions are troublesome to death in Gao Wen's view, but it is not necessary to abide by them at this time. Will drop a piece of meat, "I have seen the fertile land of Kant before the rain fell, and after the rain fell I saw a good rain scene, which is quite worth it."

"It's best if you are satisfied," Victor Kant smiled, with a calm and calm smile, like a very normal, elderly and well-educated old gentleman, "I have prepared a reception for you." The banquet is in the dining room behind this hall."

Amber stood behind Gao Wen with her head down all the time. She was not used to such a serious and "aristocratic" occasion, so she kept quiet rarely, but when she heard "eating", her voice The ears still betrayed themselves, and the pair of pointed ears from the elf blood immediately trembled, turning around the head like a radar, as if searching for more information related to "eating".

Gao Wen agreed with a smile while secretly looking at the appearance of the old Viscount in front of him.

Aged, but still healthy, with a calm smile, and a gentle demeanor with a little ease, there is absolutely no aura related to cultists in him.

But this cannot be used as a basis for judgment.

Smiling, he accepted the old viscount's banquet invitation, and led Amber and Knight Philip to the depths of Kant Castle.

……

At the same time, in the Silver Fort in Saint-Sunil City, the old King Francis II was frowning at the sealed letter in front of him.

These secret letters all come from the "royal nobles" who were directly conferred by the king in various parts of the kingdom. There are also such figures around the territories of the three border dukes, or more directly, "eyeliners". The monarch system has been going on for 700 years, and it is an important reliance for the Ansu royal family to control the entire country. The civil strife and the second dynasty's "illegitimate child weakness" once made this system useless, but after a century of reconstruction, especially Thanks to the compromises made by several dukes for the stability of the kingdom, this information network belonging to the king is still operating as effectively as it did during the first dynasty.

Most of the nobles directly entrusted by the king are located in the south, while a small number are distributed in other parts of the kingdom. On weekdays, the secret letters sent back by these eyeliners all report the situation in their respective lands, and those situations are very different. , basically have nothing in common, but the secret letters sent recently have shown a tendency to make Francis II feel uneasy——

Reports of various dark sects active are increasing and increasing everywhere in the country.

Although until today, these increased reports only accounted for less than [-]% of the country, but they are so widely distributed, which is enough to make the old king worry.

Anzu does have a rotten system, but kings are basically smart people.

Now, what he has in front of him is a secret letter from Viscount Andrew Leslie in the southern region. The content of this secret letter is more important than what other nobles from all over the world have reported:

In the town of Tanzania, there were cultists of the Death of All Things. The cultists once sneaked into the castle and used magic to control some people. Thanks to the support of Duke Gawain Cecil, the Duke eradicated the cultists entrenched in this land.

The old king would not know that Viscount Andrew Leslie had concealed many truths in this secret letter, such as the Eternal Slate that had fallen into Gawain's hands, and the details that he himself was controlled by cultists. The criticality of the matter has been consciously reduced a lot—but even so, the information revealed in this secret letter is still enough to scare the old king.

The cultists who only dared to act in the dark had actually directly invaded the mansion of a real noble this time!

No matter whether they used living sacrifices or dead bodies for rituals, they would not make the real nobles nervous, because those behaviors happened to the "untouchables", and those cultists seemed to abide by the bottom line of the game. Never put my hand into the aristocratic system, but now... the wind has changed.

It happened at such a time, when the relationship between Ansu and the Typhon Empire was at its most tense. Originally, Francis II was a little relieved when he knew that the Typhon Empire would not launch a war this winter, and thought that he could take advantage of He took this opportunity to further strengthen the border armaments and lay a good foundation for the war, but now he suddenly felt that those cultists probably didn't want him to have this leeway.

Just when the old king was frowning, a warm feeling suddenly filled the whole room.

He looked up a little unexpectedly, and saw Veronica, who was wearing a white priest's robe, walk into the room.

The "Saint Princess" walked towards her father with a smile and a little coquettish look: "Father, I asked Lord Aiden, and he said that you are still in the study."

"Veronica, my daughter... why are you here today?" Francis II looked at Veronica in surprise. Although his daughter still retains her status as a princess, she has already officially converted A believer of the God of Holy Light, she spends most of her time in the Holy Light Cathedral and rarely returns to Silver Castle.

"Have you forgotten? Today is the day I leave the cathedral and come to see you in the castle," Veronica said with a smile, drawing the emblem of the God of Holy Light on her chest, "I can't even serve the Lord." Forget about serving your parents, this is the teaching of the Light."

"Look at my brain," the old king couldn't help but slapped himself on the forehead, "I remember the wrong date!"

"It's okay, the burden of the kingdom is on you, you should take the responsibility of the king first," Veronica said while noticing the tired look on Francis II's face, she raised her hand and summoned a holy Guang, using magic to relieve his father's mental pressure, "Father, what happened?"

Francis II sighed: "Heretics, the Church of the End of All Things, the Order of the Eternal Sleepers, and other fragmented sects like the Blackstone Sect and the Followers of the Abyss. Every one of them started looking for trouble."

Hearing the word "cultist", Veronica, who is a devout follower of the Holy Light, couldn't help but frown immediately: "May the Holy Light save those poor people who are attacked by mobs... Heretics are always spreading everywhere, it's a pity Except for the Holy Light Sect and the God of War Sect, the divine arts of other sects are too weak against the sorcery of those heretics."

Francis sighed: "Don't worry, those evil people dare not make trouble in the royal city."

Veronica glanced at the secret letters with special seals from all over the kingdom, folded her hands on her chest, and said devoutly: "The Holy Light will protect Ansu."

Chapter 0174 Lilith Kant's Visit

Since it was planned to be a guest in Kantland for a few days, Viscount Victor Kant arranged a resting place for Gao Wen and his entourage after a rather sumptuous welcome banquet.

Gawain didn't feel very good about this ancient castle.

Although its interior is filled with light and warmth, and the magic spar lamps that can be seen everywhere, as well as the newly wiped doors, windows, tables and chairs all dispel the depression caused by the nightfall, but Gao Wen still has an unpleasant feeling in his heart. He seemed to be able to see the depths of the castle through the bright windows and the whitewashed walls—behind those bright coverings, there were dark, cold stones, slippery moss, and vertical and horizontal cracks. There are shadows and germs that thrive in those dank crevasses.

After a brief conversation with Victor Kant, Gawain returned to his room on the grounds that he needed to rest first after the journey.This is a guest room specially set up for distinguished guests. It has the same gorgeous furnishings and a warm fireplace as the master bedroom of the castle. On both sides of his room are the rooms where Amber and Knight Philip rest. There is a lounge for playing chess and entertainment, and a place for drinking tea and reading books.

The rain outside the window was still falling, and there were signs of the wind getting stronger. Gawain came to the window and looked at Kant Castle in the rainy night through the expensive artificial crystal.The meandering water flow formed an ever-changing trajectory on the window sash, which also made the outside scene not only hazy, but also distorted. In this hazy and distorted vision, he could see several towers of Kant Castle on the opposite side. Standing tall in the night.

The bases of the towers had lighted windows that vaguely outlined the building, but their upper parts were so dark that they almost blended into the darkness of the night.

Gawain frowned and observed those towers carefully. After concentrating, he suddenly saw an obvious crack in the middle of one of the towers.

The fissure seemed to be wriggling and growing in the darkness, quickly spreading to the entire upper half of the tower, and they widened little by little, leaking a light like blood from the fissure—the tallest tower was here The blood-colored fissure appeared to be fragmented, and it collapsed little by little in a slow-motion manner, with many people's exclamations and howls mixed in.

Gao Wen quickly woke up, the sound of wind and rain came into the house again through the window, and he saw that the high tower on the opposite side was restored to its integrity once again, and the previous cracking and shouting disappeared like a dream.

But Gawain would not really regard it as an illusion, he immediately frowned, wondering in his heart: "Is there some kind of large-scale illusion in the castle?"

A sound of light footsteps suddenly came from outside the door, seeming to be heading towards this room. Gawain quickly straightened his expression, as if nothing had happened, and he went to open the door when there was a knock on the door.

The door opened, and a lady in her 30s, wearing a long white dress and holding a lantern in her hand, stood outside. Standing there cautiously, he looked at Gao Wen with a bit of restraint and nervousness on his face.

Gao Wen looked at the other party calmly, and then showed curiosity: "Ma'am?"

"Hello, are you Duke Gawain Cecil?" The lady at the door said in a very low voice, as if speaking louder would make her breathless.

Gawain nodded: "I am Gawain Cecil, who are you, ma'am?"

"Victor Kant is my husband," the frail lady who seemed to be only about 30 years old whispered, although her voice was very low, but her tone still had the elegance that a noble lady should have, "I am the owner of this castle." Mistress, my name is Lilith Conder."

"Viscountess?" Gawain looked at the other party in surprise. He did not expect that Viscount Kant, who seemed to be very old, would have such a young and beautiful wife, but thinking of the "tradition" of the nobility, his surprise It didn't last long, but I was just curious why I didn't see each other at the banquet before, and I didn't hear the old viscount mention her, "Did you not attend the previous dinner?"

"I am weak, and my illness prevents me from eating with many people and coming out to greet guests during the day," Lilith Kant said apologetically, "I know you will come to visit the castle, but my husband Insisted that I should rest until evening—now that I was in better spirits, he asked me to come and say hello to his guests."

Then she hung the lantern on the hook next to the door and bowed slightly to greet her: "Welcome to you, the great Duke Gawain Cecil, and please forgive me for not being able to fulfill my responsibilities as the hostess of this place before."

"Ah, don't mind," Gao Wen had various guesses and doubts in his mind one after another, but the expression on his face was still very calm, "Do you only come out for activities at night? Oh, I know something The knowledge of medicine may be helpful to your health."

Lilith Kant showed a pale smile: "My husband hired the best pharmacist for me, but my weakness is not only due to disease, but also because of my natural constitution, which cannot be treated with medicine. But Thank you very much for your concern, Your Excellency the Duke."

Gawain had no intention of inviting the Viscountess in front of him into the house, because the other party was visiting alone, and such an invitation would be impolite—even if this was the castle of the Kant family, he just stood at the door and exchanged pleasantries with the other party. After a few words, the lady said goodbye and left.

After the other party left, Gao Wen's eyes became sharp in an instant.

The lantern in the opponent's hand!

That is exactly the magic lantern that Gawain saw in the dream, located at the bottom of the Kant family castle as the ritual center, it was Gawain Cecil as a gift to the then dream bishop Selina Geer 700 years ago Divided the lantern!

But Gawain didn't point it out on the spot, and didn't take any action, because he didn't feel any magic fluctuations from the lantern, which meant that the lantern was "fake"—either it was a fake, or the lantern had been Transformed by magical power, its true core of power is still sleeping somewhere in this castle, and acting rashly in this situation is likely to only cause bad things.

At this time, a voice from the side interrupted Gao Wen's thinking: "Eh? Old...Gao Wen, what are you doing standing at the door?"

The door next door was pushed open, and half of Amber's head poked out from the door frame, looking at him curiously.

And she didn't wait for Gao Wen's answer, and then she shook her hand excitedly, holding a deck of cards in her hand: "I found a set of 'King's deck' in the room! You put the poker face next door Call us over to play cards!"

"I intend to call you here, but I don't intend to play cards." Gawain looked at the half-elf helplessly, and then knocked on Philip's door.

After gathering everyone in his room, Gao Wen mentioned the lady who visited just now: "Just now I saw Victor Kant's wife, Lilith Kant, she looks very strange..."

After listening to Gao Wen's description, Amber's sharp ears twitched immediately: "Then the old man married a wife who could almost be his granddaughter? Hey -- you nobles are really shameless."

Then her thoughts diverged: "It's better that I have elven blood like me. If I don't tell others, I won't dare to guess my age. Even if you marry me when you are seven hundred years old, you can go out and shy." Tell people with a straight face that I am actually the same age as you..."

Cavalier Philip, who was always serious, looked at Amber almost in horror. The way the half-elf girl ran the train with her mouth full of words knocked the poor upright knight into a coma again.

And Gao Wen's answer to Amber was to knock it down on the head: "Speak the business!"

"We haven't heard of the existence of such a 'Viscountess'," said Knight Philip seriously, "and that Viscount Victor Kant didn't mention it, which is very abnormal—even if the Viscountess couldn't come out to see her because of her illness." Guest, the Viscount himself wouldn’t even mention it, right? And there are so many servants and servants in the castle, and no one has privately mentioned that there is a mistress here... This is too strange.”

"If you want to put it that way, I was chatting with people in the castle before." Amber rubbed the head that Gawain had knocked on, and also participated in the serious discussion, "Although they didn't mention that the castle has a mistress, but They mentioned that the old viscount had a son named Belm, but he left the castle when he was very young, saying that he traveled to the central region, and he didn’t look like he came back for decades..."

Gao Wen stroked his chin: "Haven't come back for decades? Is this a trip or someone sold it!"

Amber rolled her eyes: "Maybe she went to be a hostage to some noble family in the central region who has interests in exchange? Don't you nobles like this?"

"Don't talk nonsense, we weren't in fashion back then," Gao Wen immediately said seriously, "At that time, we relied on self-consciousness when we signed the covenant, and we didn't rely on any tricks of exchanging hostages."

Knight Philip immediately expressed admiration: "That's what an upright and honest person should do."

"No, the main reason is that the old pigeons who founded the country were generally irritable. At that time, whoever said nothing was going to be beaten by the nobles of the whole country-sometimes the king would go there to beat him when he was free, because the transportation was inconvenient. In the end, sometimes the old pigeons of the founding of the country came to beat people in an endless stream for a year in a row, so they really dare not violate the covenant..."

Philip: "..."

"Oh my god, why did the founding nobles who were so upright and honest back then become what they are today?" Amber was yearning for the era Gao Wen described, and she shook her head regretfully thinking of the current atmosphere, "In short, that The heir of the Kant family named Belm has indeed traveled, because he often sends letters back—if there are no accidents, after the death of the old Viscount Kant, Belm Kant will end his travels and come back to inherit the family business. "

Chapter 0175 Investigation

The rain stopped the next day, but the sky was still overcast.

Kantland is shrouded in a long cloud, and the last rain before winter is always reluctant to leave. In the next few days, this land should receive several medium-scale rains, and Such abundant rain is extremely beneficial to the specialty of the territory - potions.