The emissaries from Typhon had departed, the reception rooms of the Oak Hall had fallen silent, and the Silver Empress Belsetia had reached the large floor-to-ceiling windows, looking in the direction of the town through the crystal glass—the lush roadside plants were dyed golden in the setting sun, the pedestrians and vehicles on the main road were dwindling, the brightly armored ranger guards were marching past the sentry in front of the main gate, and two eagle knights were skimming over the northern walls, casting shadows on the bell tower in the distance.

"The people of Typhon seem to be anxious to bring about the opening of ports and trade projects along the Shores of Return and the Grey Eye, and although they have been talking about these things for the past six months, they don't seem to be in such a hurry at that time," said Valentian Jingu, a tall, thin and serious man in a gold-rimmed robe on a red background, standing not far behind the Empress, and bowed his hands respectfully, "Although this matter is in our favor, is there something strange behind it?" ”

"Perhaps the biggest surprise is in the two secret conversations between Gawain Cecil and Rosetta Augustus," Belsetia said lightly, without looking back, "I'm a little curious about what they talked about......

Valendian immediately responded: "Understood, I'll arrange it." ”

"No, Elaine will be back soon." Belsetia said, and almost as she spoke, an undetectable gust of wind suddenly swept up in the corner of the room, and a slender figure emerged from near the corner of the room wrapped in green vines.

Elaine Vanna, a high-ranking elven maid, stepped out of the air and walked quickly behind the Silver Empress, "I'm back, Your Majesty. ”

"How's it going? Did you hear the news? ”

Elaine lowered her head: "As you expected, Cecil took the initiative to release a small part of the rumors - Typhon and Cecil will jointly restart the route around the continent, and the countries of the mainland can also participate in it." ”

"Restart the Circumcontinental route? Typhon and Cecil 'together'? Belsetia finally turned around, and she stared at Elaine, "The news has been released...... That is, Rosetta Augustus agreed? ”

"So far...... Yes," Elaine paused and continued to bow her head, "and it looks like they're on a consensus that doesn't stop there. ”

“…… The council had predicted that Typhon and Cecil would have some kind of 'delivery' of territory or resources in the process of concluding the alliance," Valentian was equally surprised, but he quickly adjusted his expression and looked at the empress to whom he was allegiant, "Your Majesty, our predictions have been seriously skewed, and Gawain Cecil is asking for more than we thought. ”

"He actually chose this time to forcibly push for the resumption of the Circumcontinental Route......" Belsetia didn't seem to hear Valentian's words, she just whispered as if she were talking to herself, "Is he worried about Typhon's recovery......

"It is also possible that they are worried that the Silver Empire will completely fall to the Typhon Settlement," Valentian said on the side, "Since the dispute over the Blue Rock Hills was resolved, the Kaolin Kingdom and Typhon have reconciled, and the scale of our trade with Typhon has also expanded rapidly, this matter may have aroused the alarm of Cecil's side, and in the case of the high cost of land and the inability of air transportation, opening up the eastern route is the best way for them to prevent the Typhon settlement area from continuing to mature." ”

"Valendian, I think he wants more than that," the Silver Empress glanced at her first minister and shook her head slightly, "but that's not the point for us, it's about how Emperor Typhon would agree to this...... He should be well aware of the situation in his own country, and agreeing to Cecil's plan for the Circumcontinental Route at this point in time is nominally a joint cooperation, but in essence it is equivalent to relinquishing control of the entire route, and at least for a few decades......"

"Maybe it's an overwhelming deterrence, or maybe it's an irresistible temptation, and that's probably what Cecil and Typhon haven't made public," Valentian's expression became serious, "Are we going to respond to the conditions of those Typhon's emissaries just now?" The Typhonians apparently wanted to gain as much share and voice in the southeastern route as possible before the Circumcontinental Entente came into force, which would be very beneficial to us – but it could also cause displeasure on Cecil's side. ”

The Silver Empress looked at her first minister, as if she felt that the other party's question was unnecessary: "Does this need to be considered?" Of course we have to respond, we've been waiting for the Typhonians to give in for more than half a year - but we can still raise the price a little more, and trust me, the room for concessions prepared by Typhon is far from over. As for Cecil's dissatisfaction......"

A slight smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, and the sun was pouring into the room from the window as it approached dusk, covering her behind and under her feet like a cloak: "He's Gawain Cecil, and he won't be dissatisfied." ”

……

Gawain's secret conversation with Rosetta Augustus was only a fragment of the eve of Conference 112, and in fact, during the entire preparatory phase of the meeting, similar meetings and confidential conversations were going on in rotation in this 112 stronghold—

Nearly all of the delegates at the conference were aware that the world would change in a matter of days, and that countless intelligence officers and think-tank advisers were busy collecting and aggregating information from all sides like ant colonies under the bushes, and extracting valuable information from this vast amount of information to send to the next level of information, and those who had sufficient eye and accurate judgment (or thought to have the ability to do so) were stimulated by this information. Constantly liaise with their allies or rivals, and constantly prepare chips to gather intelligence in the hope of gaining some initiative in the upcoming conference.

The reception rooms and conference rooms in the Emerald Hall have become extremely busy, and some rooms in the various pavilions have also become lively, and from morning to night, I don't know how many large and small meetings and mediations are staged in these rooms, and in some areas where the talks are particularly "dense", there will even be such an awkward and delicate situation - the delegates have completed a round of secret talks, pushed the door and entered the corridor, just in time to see the king or the first minister of the neighboring country come out of the next room, or awkwardly or warmly say hello, The delegates, who had just taken a breath in the hallway, regrouped, turned around and walked into different rooms to move on to the next round of negotiations......

I don't know if any of the delegates went to the wrong room during these tense and busy days of preparation, messing up the list.

On the other hand, while the representatives of the small and medium-sized forces were busy, the three most influential forces that attracted everyone's attention suddenly quieted down - Cecil, Typhon, Silver, and the three empires quickly disappeared after the initial high-level contacts, and only ordinary diplomats maintained normal exchanges in private, and the three empires sat and watched the other forces busy, as if waiting for the conference to come.

Some of the representatives of the powers were a little uneasy about this, but many more people no longer had the energy to pay attention to the movements of the three empires - they had become more and more aware of what a powerful behemoth the new alliance would be in contact with each other these days, and how to find a better "position" in this behemoth for the representatives of small countries who did not have the ability to influence the structure of the great powers was obviously the most worthy of their attention.

Time flew by in such an undercurrent situation, and the scheduled meeting date finally arrived. Reading Temple

The first rays of the morning sun lit up the crystal spire set at the top of Stronghold 112, the large pale green crystals burned brightly in the sunlight, the bells rang all over the town at the same time, and in the undulating bells, elite ranger soldiers in silver light armor and feather-smocking helmets appeared at key intersections, and magic vehicles with flags hoisted in advance gathered in front of the main pavilions - these vehicles were provided by Cecil as the initiator of the conference, Except for the matching flags, the standards in all other aspects are completely the same.

In fact, in addition to these magic cars, most of the materials for the entire conference are also uniformly configured, of which the Silver Empire, as the organizer, bears most of them, and the rest is shared by Cecil and Typhon, this "consistency" is a special arrangement made by Gawain, which has his own intentions-

This kind of "consistency" is completely different from the old tradition in which the talks of various forces are equal to the "rules" of showing off their strength, and it is also a simple manifestation of some basic concepts in the "community of shared future".

Of course, some of the delegates today may only find these arrangements novel and outlandish, and may not necessarily appreciate Gawain's intentions, but before the end of the meeting...... They'll feel it.

In the days leading up to this, delegates had been informed of the process and were quickly put on their own vehicles, but to the surprise of many delegates, they did not make it to the Emerald Hall, the largest assembly hall in town, or other large facilities, but drove straight out of the city.

In a magic guide car with the national emblem of the Oguray clan hanging, the petite Wenna Bai Zhi stretched her neck to look out the window, she looked at the direction of the front and rear convoys in surprise, and after retracting her gaze, she couldn't help but look at an elf affairs officer sitting in the co-pilot seat in front: "The venue is outside the city?" Aren't they the halls in the city? ”

"Yes, outside the city," the blonde elf with long eyebrows and pretty eyes turned his head and smiled at Venna - although the silver elf and the gray elf have been separated for a long time, at least they are both "elves", and as a distant relative of the clan, the affairs officer has a very friendly attitude towards Wenna, "It has been written in the process manual that the venue is in the 'Ring of Oath', and there is no place in the city called 'Ring of Oath'. ”

"But I don't see that there is no place to hold meetings outside the city," Wenna's curiosity and confusion did not diminish in the slightest, she looked out the car window, the town was not large, and the car she was riding in was almost at the gate of the wall, and outside the gate covered with energy shields, all she could see was a large expanse of wilderness, and the dark plains at the end of the wilderness, "I can only see a wasteland—could it be that the 'Ring of Oaths' is hidden by some kind of enchantment?" ”

"Not really," the commissioner shook his head, "the Ring of Oath is not a pre-existing structure, and it requires the power of our Empress to appear in this world - sorry for the confusion this may have caused, but due to the large number of participants in the meeting, the limited capacity of the existing facilities in Colony 112, and a few additional considerations, we had to make this arrangement. Rest assured, though, even outside the outpost, elite rangers and combat druids can still ensure the safety of all delegates, and while this is the border of civilization, the wasteland is actually a long way from the survival zone. ”

"We're not worried about the wasteland, at least I don't," Camila, the orc leader who sat next to Vinna, said suddenly, a slight grunt coming from her throat, "I just thought you should have told you about this arrangement sooner rather than later—I thought the meeting was going to take place in the city early today." ”

"Sorry, it was our mistake."

"Ah, it doesn't matter," Camila waved her hand, her long furry tail curled up and rested on Wenna's shoulder, and she herself peered out the window on the other side, her tan eyes glowing with curiosity...... It's the first time I've seen it at such a close distance. ”

"Control your curiosity, curiosity kills cats and orcs." Wenna gently patted her tail off her shoulder, and casually said as she looked at the front of the convoy, where the open wilderness was already approaching her.

……

Outside Colony 112, in the open and flat wilderness, the arriving vehicles had gathered in a dedicated parking area, and in an open field near the parking area, the Silver Empress Belsetia was standing next to a boulder, escorted by several high-ranking druids and elite rangers.

On the surface of the roughly square boulder, the mysterious and complex druid runes had been engraved in advance, and as the sunlight shone on the stone face, those runes also glowed with a sparkling magical brilliance.

It's not just the elves standing next to the boulder.

Gawain and Amber and Rebecca were also standing beside Belsetia, and farther away from them, they could see a number of Cecil men dressed as technicians - these technicians were currently debugging a number of magic devices, including vehicle-mounted cascading magic net devices, mobile magic energy obelisks, and several magic web terminals of various models, all of whom had meticulous expressions and even a certain sense of mission in their demeanor.

This meeting will be transmitted to the neural network through the equipment in their hands, transmitted back to the Cecil Empire, and finally spread throughout the empire through the magic web, and even to some of the networked areas of the Oguray Tribal State and the Holy Dragon Principality - although this is far from being called a "world live broadcast", the live broadcast range of this event has reached the record since the birth of the magic web communication, and everyone who is lucky enough to participate in it will undoubtedly have a sense of historical participation.

Gawain withdrew his gaze to look at the live broadcast equipment, he looked at the representatives of all parties who were arriving at the scene one after another not far away, and finally looked at Bedsetia beside him, with a smile on his face: "Does this atmosphere bring you a sense of familiarity today?" ”

"No," Belsetia whispered in a low voice, smiling back, "I was busy stealing food from the back when that meeting was held seven hundred years ago, and it was all up to Valendian to keep order, don't you remember?" ”

“…… I remembered Valentian's face darkened," Gawain recalled, shaking his head and saying, "Later, I looked for you with him for a long time, and finally dragged you out from under the table. ”

When it comes to the past, they look at each other and smile, and the atmosphere becomes relaxed.

Behind them, Valentian's pointed ears twitched unconsciously, and his face seemed to darken a little......