Chapter 730 Winter

Winter is here.

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

The Obsidian Palace stood high in the fog, like a giant cast from boulders, overlooking the capital of the Empire.

Rosetta Augustus unfolded the letter in front of him and read every line of it with a calm expression.

Ferdinand Wendell was standing by the Emperor's desk, and he saw that above the letter was the emblem of the sword and plow of the Cecil Empire. The lines of the emblem itself and the lines on the paper were neat and beautiful.

It took the ruler of Typhon a long time to read this not very long letter, then he pondered a little, and said softly: "This tuition fee has finally become acceptable."

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

Rosetta nodded slightly: "Gawain Cecil believes that it is necessary for the two countries to establish more in-depth exchanges - the old era of confrontation with knives and guns should end, and a more prosperous and prosperous society is the real era of this era. things to pursue."

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

"At least one thing I agree with, the old era is indeed over," Rosetta seemed to have a smile on the corner of his mouth, "We need to do something more suitable for the new era...

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

Pei Dinan was silent for a few seconds, and then slowly said: "Then only try to know."

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

To Emperor Cecil:

I admire your insight, and I agree with your understanding of the times. Maybe it's time for us to discuss how in this new era...

The tip of the dipped pen moved on the paper, and the fine sound of the brush danced gently in the quiet study. In this quiet atmosphere, Pedinan turned his eyes out of the window and saw the fog that enveloped Aldenand was surging slightly in the sun. Moving like a silent and gentle sea,

The golden color of the sun rises and falls slowly on the sea.

An unnatural smell was mixed 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 Hermel's mansion. She frowned and watched the mist slowly fluttering in her sight. The peculiar smell mixed in the mist affected her mood.

The odor may not be that unbearable, but Mary's nose is more sensitive, and she feels that the smell is like some kind of noxious smoke, with a little stench in the pungent.

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 faint outline could be seen.

The fog that envelopes Aldenan is like a depressing and deep sea, filled with unpleasant smells. It 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 aren't a whole bunch of chimneys that keep emitting exhaust gas.

The female apprentice waved her hand and summoned a layer of breeze shield, blocking the elements 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 spellcaster like you who is powerful and flowing. The air will obey your command."

Mary turned her head and saw that she was talking to a squire wearing a smock - this is a squire sent by Viscount Hermire, who came here to accompany him. Before the teacher came back, this humble man would obey his orders. .

But Mary was not used to the status of assigning others, nor the compliments others gave her, she just shook her head and said in an equal tone: "But if it wasn't here, I wouldn't have to create a shield at all. Filter the air - this should be the cleanest time of the year."

The attendant smiled helplessly: "...Sigh, the fog this winter does have a strange smell."

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

"If you have been to the imperial capital earlier, you will be more surprised by the situation 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 because of those chimneys - those burning rock acidification factories, the smoke from them can't be dissipated, so It turned into an unpleasant fog."

The attendant shook his head with a wry smile: "You can say that, but we dare not—the factories are run by adults, and they don't like people talking about their machines and chimneys."

Thoughts arose in Mary's heart, as if she wanted to say something, but the door to the mansion not far away had been opened, and the old mage wearing a black robe and hunched over had walked out.

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

"Teacher, do we want to go home directly?" Mary asked respectfully, supporting Daniel's arm.

"No, first go to the Workers' Association to get some things," Daniel glanced at his apprentice, "It's okay, know how to turn on the breeze shield, otherwise you will get sick sooner or later in such bad weather—your The mind can't always turn around."

Mary lowered her head, but neither refuted nor depressed, but with a faint smile.

She could hardly remember how long it had been since her mentor had "criticized" herself with such understatement.

Taking the magic car that was limited by the Empire, Mary and Daniel set off for the Imperial Workers' Association. In the car, Mary couldn't help but mutter: "The winter here is not as good as that in the countryside, it's much colder, and And the choking fog."

Daniel glanced indifferently at the female apprentice who was complaining, and spit out a few words: "Not on the stage."

Mary hurriedly shrank her neck and acted respectfully listening to the lesson.

But the tutor didn't teach her a lesson as usual, but didn't say anything for the next few seconds. Mary couldn't help but raised her head curiously, but saw the tutor was watching her quietly.

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

"Me? No, no," Mary froze for a moment, then waved her hands hastily, "I just... just said it casually, mentor, I didn't think about..."

Daniel looked at the flustered female apprentice calmly, and shook his head when he was busy explaining, "I found your parents."

All of Mary's movements and words stopped for a moment. She looked at her tutor sluggishly. It took a few seconds to understand the other party's words, and then she spent a few seconds thinking about what kind of expression she should make— - She felt that her expression must be funny, because she could feel her face was stiff, she didn't even know whether to be happy or sad, she seemed to be listening to an unfamiliar concept, but it happened to be related to herself of.

her parents.

Her parents, who had completely forgotten what they looked like.

"They're in the country, and they don't live too far from that town. They've moved after you got lost, but it's hard for commoners to move very far. As one of the chief mages of the empire, I found them and It's not difficult," Daniel continued calmly, "you still have a brother and a sister, but your brother died of the plague a few years ago, and your sister is married but has no children. "

Mary looked fixedly at her mentor, at this old man who had been twisted, cruel, cruel, terrible for so many years, watching him calmly say these things about her, in the tawny eyes. Inside, there is no longer the slightest ruthlessness and loss of control, only her own dazed face is reflected there.

She whispered, 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 indecent answer. If it were put in the past, it would definitely be exchanged for severe reprimands and even punishment, but today Daniel just nodded lightly: "I understand - I will give you time to think about it."

Mary lowered her head, and after a long silence, she finally spoke again: "Have they been doing well all these years?"

"Not very hungry."

"That's good."

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

After saying this, he took his eyes back, as if he no longer paid attention to Mary's movements, but his spirit was slowly sinking. Under the premise of maintaining basic attention and reaction to the real world, the old mage quietly connected to the secret mind network.

In the spiritual network, the dream capital created by the eternal sleeper is sunny and the weather is clear.

The breeze blew through the wide streets, and the golden leaves on the side of the road were blown. The curtains hanging from the palaces and towers swayed in the wind, showing a gorgeous texture, and Daniel appeared as a middle-aged elegant mage. On the street, with the flow of people coming and going, step forward.

However, his mental tentacles have spread, secretly connecting the thoughts of the nearby Eternal Sleeper believers, extracting the latest and useful information.

Most of the information was filtered out by him: in this growing network, there are too many boring sleepers posting meaningless content that makes the priest in charge of the network complain-great The owner called this behavior of posting meaningless content "water stickers". Although Daniel couldn't understand the meaning of the words created by the foreign wanderers, he could also judge from the owner'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 eliminating the meaningless information, he focused on the recent operation of the Mind Network and the recent activities of the Eternal Sleep Religion.

He "heared" and "saw" some information:

The cult activities in the Cecil Empire are becoming more and more difficult, and the ubiquitous magic monitoring towers and more and more sheriffs are squeezing the living space of illegal superhumans;

The upper-level Nightmare Archbishops recently conducted a new round of computing power solicitation. A certain large-scale project seems to need more computing power to maintain. Some middle and lower-level eternal sleepers are discussing this matter. They seem to feel that this kind of solicitation is calculated. Force's orders have become more and more frequent recently, and have a slight complaint about it;

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

Some sleepers lamented that the situation in which the three major sects stood together in the past did not know when they had fallen apart, and lamented that the changes in world affairs exceeded expectations;

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

A golden leaf fell from the vicinity, and fell behind Daniel in a swirling motion. The leaf flipped in mid-air and suddenly turned pitch black, with countless jittery cracks on the edges, and then disappeared.

But no one seems to notice this "imperfect scene".

There was meaningless information floating up from an unknown node group, and Daniel glanced at this "water sticker" information at random.

Seems to be just some boring rumors, or weird stories—

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