Chapter 520 Going to the South

It was a massive snowfall.

The fluttering snowflakes stretched from the dark mountains to the north of the rock fortress. Nearly one-third of the southern land was dyed pure white by the first winter snow, and beyond the rock fortress to the north, on the vast land of Ansu, A few areas in the east and the entire northern region also ushered in a huge snowfall - a snow seems to have changed the entire world overnight, the active human society quickly hibernated in the cold winter, the Holy Spirit Plain fell into silence, and the eastern front line was silent. The army turned into a confrontation, the border trade in the west was suspended, and the grand duke of the north had come to the nobles closest to the rock fortress.

In the family castle of the Count of Pompeii, the fire is burning in the fireplace. The precious golden oak is used as firewood, and the flames exude a calming fragrance. The bright fire of the fireplace illuminates the meeting with the golden red carpet. In the living room, the gold and silver utensils and lampstands cast flickering and flickering light and shadows. Between the light and shadows, the round fat face of the Count of Pompeii is filled with a flattering and slightly nervous smile. .

The great nobleman on the edge of the plain leaned forward: "Your presence really reassures me - since the fortress in the south changed hands, I haven't slept peacefully for a day. Those Cecilians are in the fortress. There's a whole bunch of magical devices built on it, and I don't know if my poor castle will collapse one night..."

Duchess Victoria Wilder was wearing a snow-white long dress with a light blue pattern. Her silver-white hair was pulled up high behind her head, and two strands of golden silk woven in her hair hung down beside her ears. Glittering in the firelight of the fireplace, she glanced at the Count of Pompeii in front of her: "As far as I know, since the rock fortress changed hands, Duke Cecil has neither expanded nor attacked your territory. "

"...It's true," Count Pompeii wiped his forehead—he wasn't sweating, but in front of Duchess Wilder, known as the "Queen of the North", no one would not be nervous, this The Duchess is the most powerful field noble in the kingdom, and she has a severe and cruel reputation. More importantly, she also controls the Silver Castle now, while the Count of Pompeii has not only lost the nominal fief of the Rock Fortress, but is still there. In the process of supporting the Rock Fortress, he lost a lot of family knights and soldiers, which made him carefully maintain his relationship with the southern border and seek assistance from the capital as much as possible. One step out of the rock fortress, but they keep building up the north wall of the fortress, which is disturbing."

"It seems that the founding hero didn't want us to 'disturb' him..." Beside Victoria, wearing a white priestess robe, Veronica, who was calm and serene, suddenly broke the silence and said softly.

Victoria nodded slightly and looked at the Count of Pompeii: "Apart from building fortifications, what are the Cecil people doing?"

The chubby Mr. Earl thought for a while: "They demolished the southern city wall of the Rock Fortress - or blew it up, and then did not repair it - and built a 'Rock City' on the south side of the fortress,

They prohibited people from crossing the Rock City, but the Rock City itself was open to merchants and envoys. "

"Is the Rock Fortress transformed into a fortress city with a trade function..." Victoria pondered, "So, have you been to Rock City?"

"I... I was busy with my territorial affairs, so I couldn't go there in person," Count Pompeii wiped his smooth forehead again, embarrassed to say "I didn't dare to go", "but I have been paying attention to it and sent I have been to the messenger. The city of rock is full of magical devices built by the Cecilians, and there is a huge market. They opened the gates of the Gorgon River and allowed the merchant ships of the Holy Spirit Plains to dock at the dock next to the market area. That market attracts a lot of merchants—you know, merchants basically die if they see money..."

Victoria didn't respond, just glanced at the Count of Pompeii in front of her.

This is also the descendant of a great knight who once had great military exploits. However, after so many generations of pampering in the peaceful Holy Spirit Plain, the spirit of bravery and courage has long since disappeared in this bloodline - but as the owner of this land , The Count did at least a little bit to understand the situation of the rock fortress as much as possible.

The sound of the wind and snow outside the castle has gradually ceased.

Duchess Victoria stood up, and Maggie, the black-haired maid standing beside her, immediately stepped forward to tidy up her slightly wrinkled dress. The northern ruler looked at the Count of Pompeii, who also stood up, and said lightly: "Do your best to count the trade with the Holy Spirit Plain in the past year from the southern border, count how many businessmen contacted them, count the businessmen they sent, and the main commodities they purchased after the rock fortress changed hands. ."

Count Pompeii's round face really showed a trace of sweat this time: "This... ok, I will do my best..."

It is not easy to count a few reliable numbers from those messy piles of paper, and many merchants who walk the road or bribe soldiers will not appear on the tax collector's list at all. As the ruler of this land, the Count of Pompeii can't even tell how many merchants come and go in his territory every month - but since the Duchess has given an order, he must do his best.

It seems that tonight is going to be a sleepless night.

Seeing Count Pompeii's embarrassed look, Victoria sighed again in her heart.

Statistics, registrants, normative laws... At a meeting of the Silver Fort seven years ago, the Duke of Eastland had put forward these concepts, he had learned these things from the Typhons, and he had worked hard to make the Ansu people I also learned them, but now that seven years have passed, the Eastern Territory has become a rebel army, and the request made by Archduke Silas Loren in the Silver Castle has not yet spread to the southern part of the Holy Spirit Plain...

Silas Lauren...isn't there any hope for you?

Verolia Wilder left the inner court of the castle, and after passing through the mottled ancient outer wall corridor, she came to the top terrace of Pompeii Castle.

The snow has stopped, but there are still snowflakes falling from time to time in the night sky. It is the snowflakes accumulated on the tower and the roof that are scattered in the night wind. These snowflakes fluttering around the terrace, automatically avoiding the more than ten Duchess Victoria's side. The range of meters is like awe.

Compared with the Winter Castle, which was built on the top of the mountains and overlooked thousands of miles of ice and snow, the proud family castle of the Count of Pompeii is short and shabby, but it still occupies the best terrain and has an excellent castle. Terrace, standing on the terrace, in front of Victoria's vision is the rolling mountains of the southern border, and the rock fortress in the mountains.

In the middle is an almost unobstructed plain.

No wonder the Count of Pompeii had trouble sleeping and eating.

In the dark night, the rock fortress was the brightest source of light in the dark mountains. With the keen eyesight of an extraordinary person, Victoria could see that the light was formed by a large number of lights set on the city walls and towers - those The lights are oriented in all directions, they can illuminate the level, and can also interfere with the attacker's line of sight when the enemy is trying to attack, making it difficult to target the shooter or mage on the wall stacks and sentry towers.

In addition to those light sources, the entire rock fortress was shrouded in a layer of shimmering shields, which made the details of other areas of the entire fortress shrouded in a hazy veil, making it difficult to distinguish.

"Is that the big shield of the Rock Fortress..." Veronica's voice came from the side, the "Virgin Princess" had come to Duchess Wilder's side at some point, and she was looking at the Rock Fortress. The direction, surrounded by the faint holy light as before, "I heard that on the 58th day of the Fire Moon, the Cecil people used some kind of powerful magic to destroy the shield... I didn't expect them to fix it so quickly. ."

"The big shield is an important barrier of the rock fortress, and the Cecil people will definitely repair it as soon as possible. Moreover, as long as there is no substantial damage to the charging and projection structure, it is easy to repair the shield if it is penetrated. of."

"Is that so..." Veronica said softly, she raised her head and looked at the south in a trance, "...I don't know much about things in the field of magic..."

Listening to this apparently unconcerned response, Duchess Wilder just smiled indifferently, and then she stood on the terrace of the castle with the "Virgin Princess" in this night when the snow stopped, quietly admiring on this peaceful winter night.

On the second day, the weather was fine.

In the main hall of the castle, the Count of Pompeii handed a scroll of parchment, which still smelled of ink, into the hands of Duchess Victoria.

This scroll of parchment roughly counts the trade situation in the southern border in the past year, as well as the business exchanges after the rock fortress changed hands. And the results of a group of consultants who even guessed.

With such information, even with Victoria's ingenuity, it is impossible to estimate that there is much valuable information.

However, looking at the red eyes of Count Pompeii and the listless appearance of several advisors on the scene, the Duchess knew that this was the best outcome.

At least the Count of Pompeii can come up with this thing, instead of asking himself "what is statistics" like those real country nobles.

"Go back and rest, Count," Victoria's words reassured the Count of Pompeii, "we will bring good news."

"Your wisdom is Anzu's greatest luck," the fat earl said sincerely, bending down, "I wish you a smooth trip."

Victoria nodded and turned to leave, while Veronica deliberately took a few steps behind. The princess said beside the Count of Pompeii, "Don't take such a battlefield farewell tone, as a noble of the kingdom, take out some Be brave—that's our ancestors, not man-eating beasts."

The Count of Pompeii showed a somewhat embarrassed and ashamed smile and lowered his head: "As you said."

The Duchess of the North and Her Royal Highness, the Princess favored by the Holy Light, both left, and the fat Count of Pompeii stayed where he was, but he couldn't help but say a shameful sentence in his heart:

Growing up, the one who hit him the most was his grandfather...

Grandfather is still like this, and now an ancestor from another family who has been separated by dozens of generations and has no blood relationship has picked up a weapon... Then why not hold back and beat people to death?

The convoy of envoys from the royal capital left the castle of the Count of Pompeii, and after the winter snow, which was completely unsuitable for going out, the carriages and horses drove onto the snow-covered Kingdom Avenue.

Sitting in the gorgeous carriage, Victoria Wilder raised her hand, and an orderly wind blew out of thin air, wrapping around the convoy, blowing away the snow on the road, and blocking the cold of winter.

The knights of the escort caravan struck the shields hung by the saddles with their long swords and praised their mistress loudly, while the soldiers in red and blue livery blew their horns at the front of the line, and the military band followed. Music, with inspiring beats and tunes, the messengers from Saint-Sunil step in the direction of the rock fortress.

Cecil City, in the lord's mansion, over the magic web communicator in front of Gawain, a half-length projection of the rock commander and commander of the Second Legion - Knight Walder Perich, the venerable old knight standing Straightforward: "Lord Duke, the envoys of the Royal Capital are approaching the rock fortress."

"Get ready and receive it seriously," Gawain nodded slightly, "The convoy sent to greet you has already departed."

Then he paused, with a smile on his face: "Don't be slow -- they're big business."