In the bleak and cold late autumn season, the cold wind blows through the fields and wilderness, and there are no birds flying in the clear autumn sky.

Farmer Karn stooped over, lifted the heavy basket, and raised his hand to the wooden trough beside him, and the golden beans made a satisfying clatter, like a stream of golden water flowing into the trench, rolling into the buried granary, and the sound of the gradual overflow made the wrinkled man laugh, his eyes narrowed, and the corners of his mouth could not help but turn up.

"Maple carob" is one of the last crops that can be harvested in the autumn in the southern region, and with this batch of thoroughly dried beans in the warehouse, all the hard work of the year has come to fruition.

It's another winter that won't starve to death – if you're lucky enough to catch up with a nearby factory to hire additional workers, not only won't you starve to death this winter, but your family may still have meat a few times a week.

Karn straightened up and wiped the sweat from his forehead, and not far from the newly built street there was a magic cart pulling wood, and the young man driving it poked his head out and happily greeted someone in the distance, and there was a flicker of light and shadow in the square at the end of the road, which was a holographic projection projected by the terminal of the magic web.

The Magic Guide Car and the Magic Net Terminal are both incredible new gadgets, and it is said that they have not yet been popularized in slightly remote places, but this is a town close to Cecil City after all, and there are always more advanced "magic guide technologies".

Karn didn't know what the secrets were behind these magic techniques, but at least now he didn't scream in fear at the sight of the magic car, he knew that these incredible things were brought by the lord, who should be called Your Majesty now, and that there would be more and more of them in the future, and most of them would come in handy.

Just as useful as the water pump by the river and the mechanical mill at the agricultural machinery management station.

In the words of the scholar, who often came to the town to teach, "It's all a good thing."

Karn shook his head, shook his slightly sore arm, and strode towards the door. He could already smell the aroma of the cooked wheat porridge and the freshly baked bread, which made his shriveled stomach squirm after his labor.

But his movements were interrupted by a strange sound that suddenly came from the sky.

It was some kind of low hum, interspersed with whistling air or something.

He had heard all kinds of bird chirpings and wind and rain, but he had never heard anything like it.

The wrinkled farmer couldn't help but raise his head and look in the direction where the voice came from.

In the clear autumn sky, no birds flew by, but there was a machine made of steel that streaked across the sky with a low hum.

"O Rich Three Gods......" The farmer's eyes widened in astonishment, and he looked at the "Iron Beast" flying through the sky with an expression of fear or awe, or both, his lips squirmed, and his knees trembled, but in the end he didn't kneel down against the strange thing—he guessed that it was a "new thing" made by the clever people of the city, and in the old days, civilians had to kneel down when they saw the "creation of the old mage", because it might be a terrible puppet or a synthetic monster, but today's Cecil civilians don't have to kneel down to such things.

"What's that?!"

Karn muttered to himself, watching the unimaginable machine fade into the sky, and he heard exclamations from the nearby house, and the sound of something falling to the ground in the direction of his kitchen, reminding him that what he had just seen was not a hallucination.

It seems that for the next few days, the men of the town will have a conversation in the tavern.

……

In the government affairs hall, in Gawain's exclusive office, Hetty was looking at the holographic image projected on the terminal of the magic net, and Gawain's voice behind the desk came from behind his ear: "It will take some time for the 'Dragoon I' to be put into practical use, but we can already start preparing to build a new type of air force." ”

New technologies are always used first in the military field, both on Earth and in this other world, in order to strengthen the military, and on the other hand, well-trained soldiers are always the best testers of new technologies.

Hetty turned his face back and nodded: "The selection of personnel has started since the middle of the year, Byron and Philip have each selected fifty experienced and courageous excellent soldiers from their griffin knights, forming a reserve team of a total of 100 people, these people do not know the reason why they were selected, but the basic, training on mechanical control has been carried out for half a month, if the training function is in place in time, these people will soon be able to transfer to the training stage." ”

"Very good, Rebecca's side will complete the data sorting and blueprint adjustment as soon as possible, and once the drawings are adjusted in place, Nicholas's side will quickly build the practical training machine."

"It's really hard to believe...... We actually made it," Hetty still sighs to this day, "free flight...... The power of mid-level mages is now also in the hands of ordinary people through machines. Rebecca really did more than I could have imagined. ”

"I've said from the beginning that she's a very smart kid with a talent that no one else has," Gawain smiled and shook his head, without the beatings that Tirebecca had come out of on the proving ground—she'd be angry with Herty on other occasions anyway, "it's just that the old career system and aristocratic rules have constrained her abilities, and now ...... Let's let her do it. ”

"Your vision is far sharper than mine," Hettie laughed, smiling brightly like an Imperial housekeeper who had forgotten how much budget Rebecca's lab could burn in a month, and then she straightened her expression slightly, and asked quite seriously, "Besides, Ancestor, Rosetta Augustus's handwritten letter has been delivered for almost a week...... Have you decided when you will reply? ”

Gao Wen's eyes narrowed slightly, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly: "...... Rosetta's handwritten letter......"

Indeed, there was a letter from the neighboring empire of Typhon, written by the eloquent Rosetta the Great, sent by an envoy to the frontier fortress, and then to Cecil by the messenger of the fortress, and the letter was still lying in Gawain's desk drawer, and the contents of it were ......

One-third was a glowing official courtesy, a one-third was a tactful response to last month's border battle, and a third was a rosy outlook on the future of trade between the two countries.

Kind, friendly, and with the same frankness as the real thing, undoubtedly the work of a brilliant master of language, and carefully polished.

As Gawain had predicted, Rosetta Augustus was a difficult character to deal with, not only brave and resourceful, but also able to bend and stretch, and in the case of a border contest, the emperor did not hesitate to choose to lower his profile, but he did not hesitate to protect Typhon's interests.

Not only that, Gawain also learned another thing from Daniel: Rosetta Augustus summoned the nobles of the imperial capital who held military power on the second day of the battle between Changfeng and Castle Winterwolf, and after a closed-door meeting, all the nobles of military power remained silent-

The negative effects of that border battle did not spread to the outside of the Obsidian Palace in the slightest, and the aristocratic circle of Aldernan was calm, and this peace has been maintained to this day, so quiet that people dare not make a wave.

Gawain had also imagined if he could use this border battle as an opportunity to strike at Typhon's Wendell family, at least to put some domestic pressure on the young wolf general guarding the border, and loosen Typhon's huge military group a little, but it turned out that before all this happened, Rosetta had protected all the details that might cause a rift.

In terms of control over the upper nobility, the performance of the Emperor Typhon made Gawain only admire.

"I have lowered the import price of textiles by 30%," Gawain shook his head with a smile after a brief silence, "Of course this is unrealistic, we are just making a statement, and I don't expect Rosetta to agree, just reply...... Let's wait. It's only been less than a week, and I'm sure with Rosetta's patience, he can wait even a month or two. ”

Hetty looked at Gawain with some curiosity: "Are you exactly waiting for something?" ”

"That's right," Gawain nodded, "I'm waiting for news from Duke Bardwin." ”

……

A week earlier, Bodwin Franklin had returned to the West.

Now that the situation in Saint Sunil has stabilized, and all the functions of the original kingdom's capital are shifting to the south, he no longer has to stay there for a long time, and the western realm, which is currently the least damaged area of the four realms of the empire except for the southern border, is about to bear the burden of "blood transfusion" to other regions, and there are a lot of affairs that he needs to deal with personally, so he returned to the place where his family has ruled for generations - Ten Forest City.

Today, special visitors visit the frontier city, known as the "trading capital", and they are personally received by one of the Archcons of the Empire, Berdwin Franklin.

In the ancient and solemn family castle, the Duke of Bai Dewen, who was dressed in the duke's coat, walked through the long corridor accompanied by his attendants, and there was a howling north wind raging outside the castle, as if it could soak the slightest cold air into the castle. ”

The close attendant next to him immediately responded, "Please don't worry, my lord, the castle's thermostatic circle will keep all the cold out. ”

Thermostatic Circle......

When Bai Dewen heard the attendant's words, his thoughts couldn't help but diverge.

I don't know if the "heating system" in the south can be installed in Shilin City next winter, but the technical information is available, but it may not be easy to adapt to the specific conditions of the west.

If it could be used, there would be a lot fewer people freezing to death in winter.

He shook his head, reining his slightly divergent thoughts, the door to the parlor had opened before his eyes.

At the attendant's loud announcement, Bardwin stepped into the meeting room, and his eyes were already on the figures seated at the tea table.

There were two dwarves who were short but exceptionally strong, a Sven human who looked rather shrewd, like a clerk or a consultant scholar, and a red-faced man with a dull face and a dark red complexion, and his gaze swept over them until he finally landed on a petite figure standing not far away, who was not seated.

The latter was carefully studying the crystal magic pendulum on the shelves that would be used to decorate the room.

The figure was wearing a dark blue cloak, and looked quite small, with long gray hair draped behind her back, and a pair of pointed ears peeking out between the hair.

She seemed to be so completely immersed in the ingenious magic pendulum that she did not react to the Duke of the Westlands entering the room, until Bai Dewen couldn't help but take the initiative to speak: "Lady Wenna, are you interested in that magic pendulum?" ”

Only then did the cloaked figure turn around, and a rather delicate face appeared in front of Bai Dewen.

Gray complexion, very light pupils, elven ears - this is a gray elf, a gray elf from the Ogworay tribe.

"Human crafts are not as delicate as those of the Silver Elves, but they have a creativity that the Silver Elves craftsman cannot match, and no matter how many times I see them, I appreciate your creativity in the field of art," the Grey Elf, known as "Lady Venna," began, and her voice was an elegant maturity that was very discommensurate with her small size, "Duke Baldwin, it's nice to see that you're still healthy—there's nothing more pleasing to the Grey Elves than to see their business partners still healthy." ”

"Me too," said Bodwin Franklin, with a sincere smile, "is the only way to maintain a healthy business, isn't it?" ”

"Frankly, I was really worried for a long time after hearing those rumors about the Ansu civil war and natural disasters."

"It's supposed to be the Cecil Empire now, Lady Vinna."

"Ah, the Cecil Empire...... This legendary surname, I really want to meet the pioneer when I have a chance, he was still a child in his active era," the gray elf Wenna shook her head, "but this will be discussed later, my friend, we are here today to see the 'new business' you mentioned." ”

"Of course," Patrick clapped his hands with a smile, and immediately an attendant walked into the room carrying several boxes, "I have prepared the samples and sincerity. ”

"We're looking forward to it—the last time you showed us an impressive alchemy potion, what will it be this time?"

"Some of the more essential necessities of life," Badwin's smile and words were relatable, "from the distant empire of Typhon—a truly exotic place to the western part of the continent." ”