Fly.

The black-haired maid echoed in her heart with the words of the hostess.

This is not a command, but a blessing.

She looked at the two swords in her hand, snapped them around her belt, and walked towards the edge of the terrace, moving faster and faster.

Eventually, she leapt off the edge of the terrace—a gust of wind and snow appeared at the right time, enveloping the leaping figure and lifting her up into the sky.

In the midst of the fluttering snowflakes, a large shadow rushed into the southern sky, but the shadow flashed so quickly that anyone who noticed the vision thought they were hallucinating.

If you ride the wind, the deformed and degraded wings can also fly.

Victoria watched quietly as the sudden wind gradually dissipated into the sky, and looked at the huge body that swept through the lead-gray clouds in the distance, her eyes reflected a fluttering snowflake, and she sighed softly:

"It's not good for you to hide it at all—especially given that the Wilde family has been dealing with the Holy Dragon Principality for hundreds of years."

The duchess then withdrew her gaze to the sky and gazed at the walls of the castle district not far away.

Now, it is time to fulfill the responsibilities of the Duke of Protectorate.

……

An astonishing number of humanoid monsters surged from the direction of the Holy Spirit Plains, and the terrifying army of crystalline giants bulldozed countless fortresses and fortresses along the way, Ellon City, Windy City, and Valley Corridor were attacked one after another, and the improvised noble army rushed to respond to the battle and suffered heavy losses......

A steady stream of bad news came from the southeast, and in addition to getting closer and closer information about attacks and more and more damage lists, the tired royal intelligence department continued to receive terrible news about the appearance of Kingdom Army equipment in the monster army and the transformation of front-line soldiers into crystal giants.

The city of Saint-Sunil had entered the highest level of martial law, and an atmosphere of terrible tension hung over the city, with heavily armed knights and soldiers patrolling between the walls and outposts all day, the citizens closing their doors and not daring to go out into the streets, and almost all the nobles canceling the feasts on their days off and the hunting in the suburbs.

Every day, messengers in blue and white robes and on fast horses run into the city, or griffon knights skim the sky; Every day, more soldiers would come and go at the city gates, reservists urgently called up, and knights who went to the front to support; Every day, new news circulates in the market.

In the Silver Castle, the nobles of the kingdom gathered in the Golden Oak Hall, and the urgency of the situation finally made these gentlemen and ladies who were accustomed to speaking in a certain elegant tone give up their reserve, and they discussed fiercely, proposed one plan after another, exchanged the latest information, and the atmosphere was enthusiastic, anxious, and fear and exhaustion enveloped most of the people.

Finally, when the fire reached Saint-Sunil, they became active.

"They've begun to attack the Valley Corridor - our two fortresses there are under attack at the same time, and those monsters are not only outnumbered, but also far superior to our soldiers!" A tall, thin royal nobleman said in an almost shrill voice, "If we can't stop them in the valley cloister, then there are no fortresses or fortresses that can stop them!" ”

Another stood up and said in a loud voice, "We should send the Knights of Blackiron Castle and Fort Chanier as well, the local Knights of the Valley Corridor alone will definitely not be able to stop the enemy......"

"I'm still saying that we can't send more Knights out," at this time, the supreme commander of the Royal Knights, Cromwell, who has dwarven blood? Count Hakusan stood up, "We should gather the effective elite together and shrink the defense of St. Sunil City, this is the only plan that is possible to defend......"

The stocky Count of Baring couldn't help but stand up: "What's the use of this kind of hold?!" To be trapped is to wait for death, do we still have reinforcements!? The situation is already very clear, the main forces of the Kingdom Army and the Mountain Knights are finished! No one will come back from the plains of the Holy Spirit to support us, we have no reinforcements!! ”

The hall fell silent for a moment, and the dead silence and oppressive atmosphere almost condensed into substance, and the Count of Baring mentioned this obvious but unwanted fact so directly, that many people who wanted to speak lost the courage to speak.

Cromwell? Bai Shan's eyes widened, his beard trembling, but he also understood that the words of the Count of Baring were irrefutable—his shrinking defense might indeed be the only effective way to defend the city, but the necessary follow-up of shrinking the defense was to be able to wait for reinforcements, or to be able to polish the enemy's morale and soldiers—but now the fact was that the morale and soldiers of those monsters were probably far superior to those of Saint-Sunil, and the reinforcements were ......

The main forces of the Kingdom Army and the mountain corps should really be finished.

The head of the Royal Order couldn't help but slam the table.

Even if he is the best he can do at the moment, all he can do at the moment is to propose a trapping plan that barely prolongs the survival time of Saint Sunil, and there is still no follow-up siege plan.

At this moment, the door of the Golden Oak Hall was suddenly opened, and an officer wearing the armor of the Royal Knights ran into the hall.

In the past, no one would have been able to break into the Golden Oak Hall so casually, but now, apparently, no one cared about that.

Cromwell? Bai Shan recognized the officer who broke in, and a terrible premonition suddenly rose in his heart: "What happened?" ”

"The cloister of the valley is lost, Count North is missing on the battlefield, Count Barrier is killed in battle," the officer's voice trembled slightly, "Knights...... The Knights and the Holy See Guard, which had just arrived to support, were wiped out......"

There was a gasp in the hall.

Now, they don't have to discuss whether or not to support the cloisters of the valley.

"We ...... We have nothing to do," muttered a royal nobleman in a dark blue velvet coat with his hands on the table, beads of sweat on his face, "The defense line of the valley cloister is also gone, and they are only two days away from the royal capital......

"There really aren't many fortresses or fortresses left to stop them now," another voice said, "and the next one is Saint-Sunil." ”

Cromwell? Bai Shan said in a deep voice: "Now is the time to immediately shrink the forces and consolidate the defense of the royal capital. ”

"But holding on is not the way to go, Your Excellency," said a royal nobleman in a white haircoat and a brown coat, "we may be able to move west—and then use the strength of the West and the remaining fertile areas of the Whitsunday to regain our footing, and then slowly plan for the future......

"Moving north is also a solution, the cold north may be able to stop those monsters, and there are mountain barriers in the north......"

"The Legion of the Western Frontier is already on their way to the royal capital, and with them, it's too early to abandon St. Sunil......

Bodewen? The Duke of Franklin was silent, as if he was pondering a feasible defense plan, or weighing the advice to abandon the royal capital, and no one could guess from his deep and reserved expression what the Duke of the Westlands was thinking.

In contemplation, he glanced up and saw Wales? Moen sat at the head of the long table with a heavy face, and the crown prince seemed to be watching it all quietly, his eyes deep and expressionless, and no one could guess what was going on in the prince's mind.

Even Bertwin? Neither can Franklin.

On either side of the long table, the people who really held the power of the royal capital and the remaining armies of the kingdom did not participate too much in the noisy discussions.

Do they have some people's attention on Bodwen? Franklin, others are watching Wales? Moen.

Outside the castle, a procession that had been scheduled to go to the cloister of the valley stopped before leaving the city, and a silent Order of the Holy See also stopped at the sudden order.

No one knows what the future fate of this royal capital will be, only that its darkest day has arrived.

At the same time, in the Cathedral of the Holy Light, in the Hall of Light, the low voice of prayer had come to an end, and the glorious Holy Light was still rippling in the aftermath of the energy, and in the Holy Light Cloud that enveloped the dome of the entire hall, the faint sound of holiness and ethereal spirit continued for a long time.

"We have lost a great number of papal knights and battle officers," said a white-bearded archbishop to the Holy See in the center of the hall after prayer, "and they are the best and most devout believers, loyal and fearless warriors of the Lord, and we should bestow the names of saints on the most distinguished martyrs." ”

"Their glorious martyrdom is the greatest devotion to the Lord, they have fulfilled their oath to the Light, they have protected the kingdom and the people of the Lord, and they truly deserve the name of saints," said the Pope. The elder voice of Ivan III came from the Holy See, "Go and draw up the list, and the deeds of loyalty and purity should be revealed." ”

Another bishop stepped forward: "Your Majesty, the profane army is approaching this holy city, how should we respond?" ”

"The Lord has inspired me to fight to protect it," saint? Ivan III's voice barely hesitated, "This is a test of our faithfulness – the days of darkness have come, and the first Light was lit in the darkest of times, and now we should fulfill our vows to the Lord." ”

The bishops in the Great Hall of Light suddenly said in unison: "The first light is illuminated in the darkest hour...... Fulfill your vows to the Lord. ”

On the Holy Throne in the center of the hall, St. ? Ivan III's old face seemed to have an illusory glow, his eyebrows lowered, and he prayed softly: "It's time...... Faithful to the Lord......"

At the side of this pious pope, Veronica? Morn simply stood silently, as if in silent prayer, the light pouring down from the cloud of light around her, brighter and more brilliant than ever.

"Dark enough...... will be bright enough......"

The holy princess pursed her lips and whispered in a voice that only she could hear.

……

Ansu has been plunged into a near-catastrophe.

However, the trade route between Cecil and Typhon miraculously unfolded as planned, and it developed rapidly from the beginning.

This seemed strange to Emperor Rosetta of Typhon.

It seems that the marvelous "principality" has completely resisted the man-made natural disasters that happened around them, and even entered a state of rapid development in the wars caused by this natural disaster, and their merchants, machines, vehicles, everything are constantly crossing the border and entering Typhon's territory through specially opened trade channels, and the huge amount of cotton textiles and industrial goods that Typhon exported to them are completely swallowed by them.

Typhon's restoration of the Great Wall had been completed ahead of schedule, and Rosetta had returned to his imperial capital, sitting in his study in the Obsidian Palace, where His Majesty the Emperor was carefully looking at the intelligence collected by the advisory team, on which all the key data on the trade between Ansu and Typhon were accurately and distinctly summarized, as well as some of the information that the intelligence officers had managed to obtain from Ansu.

"Industrial production has developed rapidly because of the war......

"The reason is that a large number of industrial industries are linked to the military, and they have generally used magic machines in the field of warfare, and the demand for the military has stimulated the entire industrial system......

"Cecil himself does not seem to be involved in direct warfare, they are fighting outside their homeland......

"Cecil swallowed a staggering amount of cotton textiles, but he didn't know what they were using them for, and he could only be sure that some of them were used for battlefield attrition......

"The Cecil's inexpensive magic products for daily use have been greatly welcomed in the Empire......"

Rosetta? Augustus put down the information, a pensive look on his face.

Trade between the Empire and the Cecil went unexpectedly smoothly and well.

In the process, the Empire seems to have reaped the expected huge benefits, exporting a large amount of cotton textiles, making huge profits for the textile mills in the Aldernan region, and the Empire has also gained the advanced transportation technology of the Cecil, and the Engineers' Association has recently made great strides in the project of replicating the magic car......

Everything seems to be moving in a good direction.

And yet Rosetta? Augustus, however, vaguely felt a quagmire, an invisible quagmire.

At this moment, the voice of the attendant came from outside the door: "Your Majesty, Master Daniel has arrived. ”

Rosetta? Augustus immediately sorted out his expression, he casually put the information aside, and cleared his throat:

"Please come in, Master."