The Desik Empire is located north of the Morro River and east of the Grand Canyon, in the northern part of the continent. The whole country, the northern and western regions, is almost uninhabited wasteland, and the south is the only agricultural area in Desik, which produces crops that are not rich for half the year. And the eastern part of the empire, the part near the Long Sea, is rich in minerals and densely populated, and is the industrial core of the entire Desik.

In the eastern region, there are the largest coal, iron and copper mines in the whole continent, and the unique mineral resources combined with the abundant water resources of the Morro River system, Desik established a large industrial city here Black Harbor City. This is a small port city by the Morro River, since the development of mining, here all year round smelting ore, the whole city is black puff stained by exhaust gas and soot, so everyone calls it Black Harbor.

When the Kaiser appointed Archduke Edward to expand munitions production, De Sik established the second arsenal of the empire in Black Harbor to produce all kinds of munitions, and Black Harbor was the destination of General King and Earl Norton.

On this trip, General Jin dispatched a squadron of fifty garrison soldiers to accompany him, and the group traveled through the entire eastern border of Desik, and finally came to the city by the Morro River after walking for more than ten days.

Before approaching the city, General Jin felt a pungent stench in the air, a scorching smell, the stinging people wanted to sneeze, the trees on both sides of the road, sprinkled with countless black puff particles, the whole city looked from a distance, dark and gloomy, and two towering stone towers could be faintly seen.

As a senior general of Desik, General Jin knew that the two "stone towers", in fact, were called "blast furnaces", which were specially used to smelt coal and iron ore into steel. This technique was painstakingly found by the Desik people from ancient records, and the famous Desik scimitar was made of this steel.

Although the blast furnace in the smoke and dust is not as famous as the "Tower of Babel" in Manning City, which is also a towering building, it is also a landmark building in the northeast of the mainland.

A group of people, dressed in fine costumes, waited early on the side of the road outside the city of Black Harbor. From a distance, all the clothes were covered with a layer of dusty smoke. "What are you doing, fool wasting time", General Jin couldn't help but think.

The people waiting were the officials of Black Harbor City, including the Eastern Border Commander and the Black Harbor City Lord. They received a notice from White Rock City that the Prime Minister and the Central Garrison General would come to Black Harbor City to review the accounts and output of the Second Arsenal of the Empire in recent years. This notice made the leaders of Black Harbor City panic, no, they were all waiting on the side of the road early in the morning, looking at the belated group of samurai and the two luxurious carriages they were surrounding.

"Phew!" the coachman had to stop the carriage, and the crowd of greeters crowded into the middle of the road, blocking the way. General Jin in the car said in his heart, "These people are really good, and they still have the heart to coax themselves at this time." He lifted the carriage curtain and looked out secretly, but the expectant eyes made General Jin a little uncomfortable.

"Leave them alone and go into town. General Kim, who lowered the curtain, instructed the coachman.

Hearing this answer, the coachman was obviously stunned, and there were big men on the other side, but he still faithfully carried out General Jin's instructions, picked up the horsewhip, whipped it on the horse, and hurried straight to the city.

Another carriage, escorted by soldiers, also started and followed.

The big and small officials outside the city looked at each other with a smile, and the big people from Baiyan City seemed to play their cards out of common sense, and everyone looked at the county guard and the city lord.

"The Second Arsenal of the Empire, built three years ago in Black Harbor under the direct orders of Archduke Edward, was entirely in the service of the Desik army, specializing in the manufacture of assault weapons such as crossbows, siege ladders, vertebral vehicles, and arrow towers (Note 1), as well as the manufacture of leather armor, spearheads, and large quantities of iron arrows. Two adults, this is the account of the factory in the past few years, please take a look. An old man, standing respectfully in front of General King and Earl Norton, holding a paper account book in his hand.

The old man was the head of the arsenal, a baron. In Black Harbor City, there are seven or eight large and small mines, but there is only one arsenal. So, Archduke Edward sent one of his confidants, Baron Cedric, to Black Harbor.

Although he came to Black Harbor for other purposes, he could not relax his work on face. The Earl of Norton immediately took the account book handed over by the baron, sat down and began to review it slowly, while General King, who met with the security captain of the factory, asked about the security of the factory.

The Black Harbor Arsenal has not been established for too long, but thanks to the unique mineral advantages of the local area, the output here has been about 50% higher than that of the First Arsenal in White Rock City from the beginning (Note 2), and the Earl of Norton carefully reviewed the ledger and found that the main production here is a large number of offensive weapons, among which the proportion of heavy equipment is quite high. In addition, a large number of cavalry equipment is also being produced.

The day of Baron Cedric's anxiety, the head of the arsenal, passed quickly, and the Earl of Norton examined it quite carefully, but did not raise any objections, and the Baron secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, wondering if he would send a box of gold coins to the Prime Minister in the future.

As night fell, the billowing smoke from the factory towers of Black Harbor City gradually dissipated, and all kinds of firelight ignited, reflecting Black Harbor City as if it were day. Under the lights, huge steel buildings, like terrifying monsters, highlight the uniqueness of the city.

The Commander of the Eastern Realm, the Lord of Black Harbor, and the Earl of Cedric of the Arsenal held a grand banquet at the Lord's Mansion in the city to welcome the arrival of the two great figures of the imperial capital. General King and the Earl of Norton were not in high spirits, and after a few sips of wine, they left the party on the grounds that they were tired.

As soon as they left the door of the reception, King and Earl Norton got into the same carriage, and their clear eyes did not have the fatigue of the reception just now. "Let's go now, No. 28 Wharf Street," General King instructed the coachman, and closed his eyes.

It was late at night, the streets of Black Harbor were quiet in the dark night, and the workers who had been busy all day had fallen asleep. On the street, only the crisp sound of horses' hooves on the stone pavement could be heard.

The dock street of the Black Harbor is a long street near the Morro River in the Black Harbor, and there is a row of riverside buildings on the side of the street, and not far away, the Black Harbor Pier. However, this section of the Morro River does not smell good, and the black sewage discharged from the factories in the city pollutes this section of the river. Even the streets along the river are dirty and smelly, and sewage overflows on the streets, and if you step on it, you can bring a foot of soot.

General King and Earl Norton were clearly not on their feet, and they would both stand silently in front of a small dilapidated wooden building, a small two-story building, with the windows facing the street that were in tatters, the window frames about to fall, and some spiders blatantly webting at the gate. Next to the gate is a small wooden sign with a few words written in red handwriting: "Dock Street - No. 28." ”

The two glanced at each other, but General Jin stepped forward and knocked lightly on the door, "Dodo!"

No one answered the door, a breeze blew, and with the "crunch" sound of sour teeth, the door suddenly opened by itself. General King's eyes lit up, he glanced back at Earl Norton, turned around and stepped in, Earl Norton also followed into the room, they didn't notice, the door behind him, somehow closed automatically.

From the outside, the hut looks so dilapidated, but inside there is a cave. An old but luxurious red carpet spreads all over the house, and at intervals there is an oil lamp that illuminates the room. On the walls, there are all kinds of landscape paintings, and the Earl of Norton, who has studied them a lot, has already seen that there are many famous works among them. In the room at the end of the corridor, a strange blue light came from the gap in the hidden door.

"Who will be waiting in the house?" the question crossed their minds.

There was no one in the room, just a strange blue magic lamp, yes, a magic lamp that shimmered with hedron light. On the territory of Desik, it is quite rare. This room is like a study, with bookshelves on both sides filled with dense books, writing tools on the table, and goose quill pens that have not been stored in the pen holder.

It's as if someone was working one second and then gone. Except for the absence of people, everything here indicates that this is a study.

The two confused big men looked at the room carefully, and couldn't find anything special. Still General Jin was careful, he walked to the desk, there was still a piece of letter paper that had not dried thoroughly, General Jin picked up the letter paper, leaned under the magic lamp and looked at it, there was not much handwriting on the letterhead: "The undercurrent of the empire is not a source of water, the darkness rises, and the continent changes drastically." "The end is a green Steppenwolf head.

The text explains two things, the Desic Empire is about to be in chaos, and what is causing all this is the rise of darkness, maybe an individual, maybe an organization, Kim and Norton, they don't quite understand. General Kim just stared at the last of the Steppenwolf Head Crest, "Lord Norton, do you know what this green wolf head means?"

Earl Norton didn't speak, staring at the wolf's head crest, and after a long time, he sighed deeply, "I'm afraid, I know who the person who left us the letter is."

General King and Earl Norton's chariot did not stay in Black Harbor for long, and they came and went in a hurry. The county guard, the lord of the city, and Baron Cedric saw them off outside the city.

"Where they went last night, I don't believe they came all this far just to see the ledgers. "It's the Eastern Realm Commander who is questioning.

"I sent someone to follow them," replied the Lord of Black Harbor, "and they went to a dilapidated house on Dock Street. ”

"Broken house, what are they going to do there?

"The most bizarre thing is that our men later went in too, and then they were inexplicably unconscious, and it was not until this morning that they were found and thrown on a cargo ship leaving the port, and they were almost taken away. When they returned, I sent to the house, which was dilapidated and felt like no one had lived in it for twenty years. ”

The county guard's eyes lit up for a moment, and then dimmed for a moment. "These big people from the imperial capital, I don't know what the purpose is, I only know that the anger of Archduke Edward is not something we can afford, so let's do something. ”

Note 1: They are all common siege weapons and equipment.

Note 2: It refers to the Royal Arsenal in White Rock Castle, and the Arsenal in Black Harbor was called the Second Arsenal after it was established to distinguish it.