Gawain and the others were escorted out of the hall of the upper temple, and the high-ranking dragon priest Hragore personally carried them to the door, and then two priests, also dressed in rich robes, came out of nowhere and led them to the long bridge that led to the elevator.

The first half of the journey seemed extraordinarily quiet, as if the solemn atmosphere in the temple was still having a residual effect, or Amber and Veronica felt that this place was still under the gaze of the god, and they didn't dare to speak casually because of caution, but halfway through Amber finally couldn't help it, she glanced at the dragon priest who was silently leading the way in front of her, like two tool men, and then secretly poked Gawain's arm: "Hey, do you think it's a little strange......"

Gawain glanced at her: "What's strange?" ”

"Why is this suddenly stopped...... Amber whispered with caution, "I always feel that the dragon god has a lot to say...... And he made a point of letting us visit Tallund first......"

"Since He let us visit, wouldn't it be nice for us to have a visit?" Gawain said indifferently, "As for whether he wanted to say something but didn't say...... That's His business. ”

Amber blinked, looked at Gawain, and then looked back at the temple that was still magnificent under the stars, a thoughtful expression on her face that quickly gave up.

She patted her cheek, seemingly quickly putting the confusion behind her, and muttered, "Hey...... I always feel like it's night, and I can't stop wanting to get sleepy......"

Gawain's pace slowed a little, and he glanced at Amber to see that the half-elf had picked up his spirits, and as usual, he was smiling as if he would always be giggling.

……

"My lord," said Hragore, returning to the golden temple hall and bending before the gods, "they have departed. ”

"You seem to have accumulated a lot of questions?" Enya had returned to the reappeared throne in the center of the hall, and he looked down at his priest, "Don't be restrained today, just say whatever you want." ”

Hageor glanced up, hesitated for a moment before speaking, "My lord, why did you talk to them...... What happened 1.87 million years ago? Such a secret ancient knowledge should not be in the plan......"

"There are ancient secret knowledge, the gods keep it secret from mortals because they can't bear it, but after seeing today's guests...... I realized that I might be able to say more," the god's voice came slowly, with a little pleasure, "I thought that only Gauvin Cecil was a little special, but I didn't expect all three of them to be special. Listeners are not as 'corrupted' as easily as ordinary mortals, and that's something to be happy about. ”

He paused at this point, and then sighed, "It's been a long time since I've spoken to someone so easily...... So I'm looking forward to my next one-on-one meeting with that 'Gawain Cecil.' ”

Hragor raised his head in some surprise: "Next time you want to meet with that human king alone?" ”

"The ghosts that have survived for thousands of years are only ghosts after all, and the wanderer who crossed the boundary of the dream realm into the present world is essentially nothing more than a resident of the Shadow World, but an 'uninvited guest' disguised as an ordinary human and even I can't understand it...... It's going to be much more interesting," said the god unhurriedly, "and I'm going to talk to him alone next time, and by the way I'm wondering what interesting new things he will think of after seeing the details of Tallund with my own eyes."

"Hagere, leave the work of accompanying the guests to the young blue dragon, you just need to keep an eye on the guests' movements and make sure they are safe. Don't bother them if you don't have to. ”

Hragor bowed his head again: "Yes, my lord. ”

The dragon god Enya snorted simply, and then he suddenly raised his head, his gaze turned in the direction of the Loren continent, and his face became a little serious.

"Is it so fast...... he sighed softly, and said to himself, "it's alright...... Not too much to ...... expected"

……

After the foggy moon approached, the temperature in most parts of the northern part of the continent dropped rapidly, and the Winter Wolf Castle, located on the northern border of the empire, bore the brunt, the cold wind from the northern region crossed the gentle hills and plains, blew all the way through the plains and river valleys, and began to roar day and night to harass the highlands and passes where the knights were stationed, as if overnight, everything in this pass had withered, the grass and trees were withered, and the winter breath came to the earth.

Dressed in a light and warm knight's suit, Andesa Wendell walked through the streets of the market with only two retinues, her gray sideburns blown by the cold wind, making her eyes squint slightly.

"It's been a little early this winter......," the wolf general said softly, "I wonder if the area around the Green Forest Valley and Changzhi Manor has been affected......

An attendant immediately responded: "The Imperial grain depot has been abundant all these years, and the supply of cotton and cloth has been sufficient in the past two years, so there must be no need to worry about how to survive the winter except for the mountainous areas in the west near the polluted areas." ”

Andesa didn't say anything, just nodded, and not far in front of her, a small troop carrier with the emblem of Typhon's empire was running over the street, and the battle mages escorting the vehicle were floating in front of and behind the troop carrier, and the merchants on both sides of the street were inevitably disturbed, and then curious passers-by craned their necks and pointed in the direction in which the troop carrier was leaving, and some merchants began to solicit customers again, peddling strange goods from north to south.

It is true that this year's winter came a little earlier, and even the temperature at the same time this year was much lower than usual, but in this half-military and half-civilian town built on the fortress of Winterwolf Castle, everywhere seems to be much more prosperous and lively than in previous years.

The increasingly stable peace and expanding trade between the two countries finally showed its influence, and whether the hawks wanted it or not, merchants and goods across the border were increasingly appearing everywhere and became the leitmotif of the relationship between Cecil and Typhon.

Even in the Winterwolf Castle, located on the border, even if the Imperial soldiers were forever on their nerves, they could not stop the prosperity of civilian commerce - after all, it was also from Aldennan's will.

As the commander of Winterwolf Castle, Andresa, although she had not expected all this, must now accept it calmly.

"It's a lot of buzz this year, General," said one of the attendants, "and, according to the news from the country, the big cities like Aldenan and Tarengins are now very different—the company in which the Cecil has invested is said to have brought many novelties, and you are going to return this year?" ”

"I'm not going to use this vacation yet," Andesa said casually, then glancing at the attendant who had just spoken, "You're also interested in those new things about the Cecil?" ”

The entourage suddenly showed an embarrassed and nervous look: "I...... General, I'm not this ......"

"It's okay, the new things they bring are really attractive, and most of them are very beneficial," but to the surprise of the entourage, Andesa didn't mean to blame, the wolf general just showed a thoughtful look, "I'm just sorry...... None of these things were originally created by us Typhonians. ”

She looked in the direction of the market, and on both sides of the street, which had been renovated the previous year, she could see new street lamps and magic web devices for transmitting energy—all of which had been brought to Cecil by merchants and technology exchangers, first from Cecil and then from home by traders and experts from the country. These things are evidence of the growing ties between the two countries, and some people rejoice about it, while others inevitably feel anxious.

As far as Andesa knows, the magic net devices used to transmit energy are one of the things that are most anxious for domestic experts at the moment, because as of now, one of the key raw materials for the manufacture of those obelisks - the Holm Crystal Rough - is still firmly controlled by the Cecil, although the scholars of the Imperial Industrial Association have successfully solved many technical difficulties of the obelisk, but as long as the source of the Holm Crystal is controlled by the Cecil, the Typhon people's magic net will never be completely autonomous. The speed at which the magic net can be laid will be limited by the Cecil's export quota for rough crystals, and Typhon ......

Typhon had to spend a large portion of his annual export profits on the rough crystals—a commodity that the Cecils never discounted.

It is said that His Majesty the Emperor was already taking this matter seriously, and after learning of the discovery of the rough Holm Crystal, he sent a large number of exploration teams to the mountains on the border of the western contaminated area to search for the Thophons' own veins of Hom...... There is no definite good news from the exploration teams at the moment.

Hopefully they will get something out of it.

As for Andesa herself...... In the face of more and more "Cecil things" in the country, she is neither a person of joy nor of anxiety and panic.

She only followed Aldenan's orders and defended Typhon's interests.

At this moment, the voice of one of the entourages came from the side, interrupting Andessa's thoughts: "It should be the supplementary soldiers of the mechanized mage wargroup that passed just now, right?" ”

Another attendant looked at the end of the street, looked in the direction where the troop carrier was leaving, shook his head and sighed: "Mages are all rich people, and even the mage warbands in the army are the richest troops...... The knights are still riding. ”

"His Majesty the Emperor and his military advisors have their own arrangements," Andesa said suddenly, interrupting the discussion between the two retinues, "and the Knights' lack of costume change is not a matter of funding—it's just that most of the legion-level combat skills rely on traditional military formations and equestrian skills, and this problem cannot be solved, and letting the knights sit in the chariot will only weaken their combat effectiveness." ”

The two attendants nodded suddenly, and then one of them couldn't help but look into the distance—this time in the direction of the barracks: "This is the second batch of reinforcements this week." ”

“…… The War Priest is under 'protective observation', and some of the knight officers have also been rotated in advance, and we need to replenish the troops to maintain the combat effectiveness of Winterwolf Castle......" Andesa frowned slightly, and then shook her head, "Well, this topic is not suitable for discussion here. ”

The anomalous state of the Church of the God of War in the country is already an unconcealable secret, and out of obvious national interests, Aldenan has recently issued several orders in succession to temporarily adjust several main legions. In Winterwolf Castle, Andesa's main energy has recently been spent on adjusting the deployment of the legion, transferring hidden units, maintaining the internal stability of the legion, and consolidating the combat strength of the border defense. She had to transfer many of the God of War priests and pious soldiers who had followed her for many years from birth and death, and even sent some honest and innocent knights to the rear, which was called protective observation, but in fact it was almost house arrest.

It's not easy to do these things.

In addition to facing the pressure of her own heart, she also had to deal with the emotions of her subordinates - the soldiers of the Empire had made obedience their first duty, and the knights had to enlighten them with honor and loyalty, but the priests ......

Most of them are good people, brave and upright, good people, and they have done nothing wrong, but she has to make them suffer unfair treatment. At the same time, the priests were not exactly soldiers, the battle priests were equivalent to the "reinforcements" of the Church of the God of War to support the various legions of the empire, they received orders from the officers, but now this order was faintly aimed at their faith...... Calming their emotions has become Andessa's biggest headache lately.

And that's not all the bad news in recent times.

The second bad news is the fall of the goddess of magic.

Andesa still can't believe what she's seen and heard in the past—a funeral, a human funeral for a god, a joint declaration from the two empires, eulogies written by each of the two emperors, a nationwide mourning, and a ceremony to scatter the ashes...... Andesa was not a believer, but these things were still beyond her cognitive and habit of thinking, so much so that even today, she still feels unbelievable when she thinks about them.

The fall of the Goddess of Magic undoubtedly had a big impact on the empire's large group of mages, and although the "funeral" quickly diverted the public's attention and channeled the pressure of the fall of the gods in some unexpected way, the mage community remained volatile, and the aftermath has not yet faded. There are a large number of battle mages in the Empire's major legions, and most of the mid- and high-ranking officers are followers of the Goddess of Magic, and although their military status gives them a greater sense of responsibility and will not be unable to fulfill their responsibilities due to depression or wavering faith, they are still human after all......

The only thing Andesa was glad for now was that the Battlemage troops had actually been less affected by the Fall of the Gods than she had expected - because with the exception of mid-to-high-level officers, the vast majority of ordinary Battlemages and lower-level commanders were not followers of the Goddess of Magic, not even shallow believers.

They were cultivated in batches from schools by the Empire—from childhood, with a uniform template, a unified curriculum, a fully practical approach to training, and little to no faith-building curriculum.

These mass-trained battle mages have little feeling for the Goddess of Magic, which has given Andesa the only comfort she has recently had in her headaches, and she can't help but have some thoughts that may seem a little rebellious to outsiders-

If religious beliefs can be completely eliminated from the army, perhaps it will be a good thing, so that the gods can return to God and the people to men, and the troubles in this world will probably be reduced by half.