The huge sun wheel gradually sank near the distant mountain range, and the jagged mountain front extended in the distance, like an irregular spine bulging on the earth, and the light of the setting sun plated a hazy bright edge on this backbone, and as the huge sun slowly sank, the color of this bright edge became deeper and more dreamy.

It's a wonderful view – one that can only be seen in its entirety from the tallest tower of the Rock Fortress.

However, at this moment, Sir Maryland was not in much of the mood to enjoy the beautiful scenery in front of him.

On the tower of the fortress, Sir Maryland was retracting his gaze from the mountains to the west, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a giant beast with strong wings, mighty white feathers, and a blue-black strap, flying from afar.

I hope there is good news—the general who guarded the fortress couldn't help but say silently in his heart.

After a while, when the sun had sunk a third more, one of his own soldiers finally hurried up to the tower and handed a sealed document to Lord Maryland: "General! A reply from the royal capital! ”

Sir Maryland took the paper at once, quickly opened it, and looked at the finely ornately worded text on it line by line, his brow furrowed a little in the process.

The soldier who delivered the paperwork had followed Sir Maryland for many years and understood every expression of Sir Maryland, and couldn't help but ask at this moment: "General...... What does this say? ”

"The lords of the royal capital are finally willing to send a brigade of knights...... "Sir Maryland said with unconcealed irritation, "there is only one brigade of knights. ”

"A brigade of knights?" The pro-soldier was surprised, "A hundred knights and their servants? That's it? ”

"It's eighty knights and their servants," Sir Maryland tossed the paperwork aside, gritting his teeth, "do you think the knightly brigade sent by the city of Saint-Sunil will be full?" ”

"What's the use of that?!" The soldiers exclaimed in disbelief, "There are more than ...... knights killed in the first round of heavenly fire explosions on Gravel Ridge."

"Of course I know, but it's useless for us to say anything," Sir Maryland interrupted his own soldiers, and he looked at this trusted cronie, shaking his head and sighing, "In fact, there were no reinforcements at all, and this knightly brigade was all supported by the Prince of Wales in his personal name, just to maintain face. ”

The pro-soldier subconsciously asked, "Why......"

However, Sir Maryland did not respond to him, and the high-ranking knight, who had served the royal family for many years and had a decent appearance, but now he was frowning all day, only waved his hand vigorously, and then turned away from the tall tower.

Walking down the spiraling staircase of the tower, and through the narrow and cramped "Sword Gallery", Sir came to the southern wall of the fortress, and he walked along the wall, and in the middle of the wall, he saw a familiar figure.

Viscount Carol was standing on the edge of the city walls, staring into the distance.

The young nobleman, who had been in high spirits and had a reputation for dashing and dignified throughout the South, had long since lost his heroic appearance, and although he had put on his neat satin coat and his face had regained his health, an indescribable pressure entangled him, and he stood there like a statue battered by the wind and rain.

Viscount Carroll, who seemed to have aged twenty years overnight, stood there in a thin coat near the height of summer, looking motionless at the south, until Sir Maryland stood behind him, and he did not react in the slightest.

Sir Maryland had to break the silence with a voice: "My friend, you are looking at the South again. ”

Viscount Carroll shook a little, and when he saw that it was Sir Maryland, he shook his head with a wry smile, and raised his hand to point to the rolling hills to the south: "From there, there is a road in the woods, and it will take you three days to ride a horse to my lovely Midsummer Manor...... Three more days to walk and it's my castle ......"

Sir Maryland looked Viscount Carroll in the eye solemnly: "My friend, this is a dangerous idea, the south is quite dangerous now!" ”

"I know, I know, that the men of House Cecil are taking over the entire South, manor by manor, and driving out all the knights and retainers we have left behind from the castle...... I'm afraid there are already quite a few knights and retainers who have been loyal to their new master," Viscount Carol sighed, slowly retracting his gaze from afar, "The South is both home and nightmare for me, and I have been dreaming about returning to the castle and being burned to death in the castle these days......"

Lord Maryland shook his head: "Maybe you should learn to be like Viscount Conscoe and Marie??" Viscount Oran, like that, take some pressure off yourself. ”

"De-stress yourself with alcohol and potions? Or go to the city to find a few high-class prostitutes? I don't want to die in a vat or in a woman's belly," Viscount Carol shook his head in pain, and then, as if suddenly remembering something, a glint appeared in his eyes, and he grabbed Sir Maryland's hand, "Yes! Sir, I just saw the griffon messenger flying into the nest tower, is it news from the king? ”

Sir Maryland looked at the southern nobleman in front of him, who had some friendship with him, and didn't know whether to tell the other party the truth, but finally said: "The king has no extra reinforcements...... Only Wales?? A brigade of knights sent by Prince Moen in his personal capacity. ”

Viscount Carol's eyes widened, and he was stunned for half a minute before he exclaimed in a gaffe: "That's all?!" Are all the nobles of the royal capital dead?! ”

"That's all," said Sir Maryland quietly, looking into the Viscount's eyes and calming him down with his eyes, "my friend, watch your demeanor—you are now like a gambler who is about to lose everything. ”

"I've lost everything!" Viscount Carol grabbed his hair, "The entire southern realm has completely fallen into the hands of the Cecil family, do those people in the royal capital really not know what this means?" Have they forgotten the purpose of this rock fortress in the first place? They really weren't worried at all that the Cecil family would rush to the Plains of the Holy Spirit and settle old scores with them?! ”

"The mission of the Rock Fortress is to defend the plain of the Holy Spirit against the Cecil family, Mr. Viscount, I swear in the name of the family that even without reinforcements, my Knights and I will complete this mission," Sir Maryland said solemnly, "Calm down, don't forget the fortification of the Rock Fortress itself and the strength of thousands of elite knights and warriors, as well as our abundant reserves of supplies and water from the Dolgon River, from the very beginning, this fortress was designed to withstand the pressure of a great attack." ”

The look on Viscount Carol's face seemed to soften slightly, but he was still quite worried: "...... You haven't faced an explosion of Skyfire, and you don't know how terrible those things are, and once they advance into the plains below the walls, they can kill everyone in the city beyond the range of trebuchets...... I've calculated the possible range of those weapons, and I've observed the trajectory of those magic devices, which can't be prevented by the trebuchets and walls of the Rock Fortress. ”

"The Rock Fortress has special defenses," Sir Maryland comforted Carroll, "rest assured, even if those 'Skyfire Explosions' fall from the sky, as you say, we have a way to deal with them." ”

"I hope ......so," sighed Viscount Carroll, who had probably sighed the most times of his life, and after calming down a little and calming down his initial excitement, he noticed a detail that Sir Maryland had not made clear just now, "Sir, is it true that the royal capital can't even send a real reinforcement?" Even if the army of the royal capital cannot be mobilized because of the turbulent situation, what about the noble soldiers of the Holy Spirit Plain and the legions of the western border? ”

Viscount Carroll could understand that the royal family was paying more attention to the east's actions in the face of the twin crises of rebels in the east and chaos in the south, because both in a political sense and in terms of practical threats, Prince Edmund and Silas ?? The eastern rebels who have rebelled in the east under the command of Duke Loren are much more serious than the crisis in the south, no matter how the situation in the south deteriorates, the news that reaches the ears of the royal family is probably just a "noble war" in which the nobles in the south are separating their territories, if it were not for the rise of the Cecil family in this war, I am afraid that the royal family that is currently in crisis will not even pay attention to this "small problem", but even so, with the news that more than forty nobles in the south were swept away by the Cecil family to the royal capital, The royal family should also show a little bit of it, right?

A rising Cecil who was able to wipe out all the noble alliances in the entire South in a short period of time, once they broke through the blockade of the Rock Fortress, entered the Plains of the Holy Spirit, and set foot on the King's Road, who would dare to bear such consequences?

Faced with Viscount Carroll's question, Sir Maryland could only sigh: "The eastern town of Solinburg in the Whitsunday Plain has been lost - Prince Edmund's army has stepped into the heart of the kingdom. ”

Viscount Carroll's eyes widened.

Sir Maryland did not continue to speak, but turned away, and looked somewhat distracted at the mountains that stretched on the west side of the wall.

The sun is setting.

……

Whenever the sun goes down, the magic crystal street lamps and other large and small urban lighting facilities in Cecil City will activate themselves under the control of the light-sensitive runes, and the bright magical light will light up the entire city from the banks of the Baishui River to the foot of the Dark Mountain Range, from the Mine Avenue to the Frost Forest Village, like stars shining on the earth, and whenever these bright street lamps are lit up, Gawain will always habitually come to the window on the second floor of the Lord's Mansion and look out.

The neat and bright magic crystal lamps always reminded him of the city street lamps of his previous life, and reminded him of the fluffy torches and braziers that were lit between the tent and the fence when he first arrived in this frontier land.

Where the light illuminates is where civilization reaches, even if the world changes, even if the carrier of light changes from electric light to crystal, at least this point is still the same.

But even when the lights are bright, there's always something moving in the shadows.

Like the amber that sneaks out of the shadows in the corner.

"Where are you going?"

Gawain had long sensed the scent of amber in the room, and before the elven disgrace could touch the silver seal on the desk, he suddenly broke the silence.

Amber jumped out of the shadows in a slightly embarrassed way, and gave Gawain a rather disgruntled glance - today's sneaky plan didn't work out, which obviously ruined her good mood.

Although she never succeeded.

"I don't understand, how can you be so happy with such a boring thing," Gawain glanced at the half-elf helplessly, "What's the situation?" ”

"Tip, Rock Fortress."

.。 m.