Edmund Mohn, dressed in a black coat, sat in his high-backed chair in the boulder-made Eastern Fortress of Sollin, a letter that had been opened was placed on the table in front of him, and the light of the magic crystal lamp illuminated the emblem in the corner of the letter—the crossed sword and plow, the emblem of the Cecil family.

The Cultists of the End of the World have invaded and destroyed the vital functions of the Sentinel Tower...... The earliest erosion may have occurred hundreds of years ago......

Had it not been for the team led by Duke Gawain Cecil who discovered the clues in the Shadow Realm by chance, the cultists' actions might never have been discovered—until the Great Wall fell and human civilization was destroyed.

There was a layer of deep pressure in the castle hall, and the bad mood of the high-level transcendents silenced the attendants and guards in the hall, until a steady and powerful footstep came from the entrance of the hall, and the armored Duke of the East, Silas Loren, walked into the hall, and the aura that enveloped this space gradually loosened and returned to normal.

Silas Loren walked straight to the main seat of the hall, came to Edmund Morn, and bowed: "Your Highness—what happened?" ”

"Letter from the South," Edmund pushed the letter forward, without further ado, "look at it, Duke Loren. ”

Silas Loren curiously took the letter with the Cecil family emblem, and after a hurried glance, he frowned: "Your Highness, when was this delivered?" ”

Edmund's tone was low: "Arrived at Solimburg this morning. ”

After the onset of winter, the Kingdom Army and the Eastern Frontier were further reduced due to the severe cold, and Edmund temporarily returned to Fort Solin, which was a temporary base camp from the front line of the Giant Wood Crossing, so letters from the Southern Frontier could not be delivered to him later than usual.

Silas Loren quickly calculated the length of the letter's journey, recalling a series of messages from the south, and said thoughtfully, "It seems that Duke Cecil discovered these things as soon as he arrived at the borders of the wasteland......"

Edmund took a light breath and looked at Silas: "Luo Lunqing, the point is not here. ”

"The focus is on the dark cultists," Silas Loren said with a calm expression, his gaze falling on Edmund, "Your Highness, we've known this from the beginning. ”

"Yes, I know, they can't be trusted in the first place......" Edmund closed his eyes slightly, and when he opened them again, there was already a chill in those eyes, "Luo Renqing, we should pay attention to Duke Cecil's warning, shouldn't we?" ”

"Of course," Silas Loren nodded expressionlessly, "sweeping away evil and maintaining peace is what nobles should do. ”

"Very good...... Belk should return to Solimburg in the near future, and when he does, I'll leave that to him - I'm sure the honest young man will take care of that. ”

Silas Loren bowed his head slightly: "Of course, as you wish." ”

With the sound of steady and powerful footsteps, the Duke of the East left the Great Hall.

Edmund Moen sat quietly in his high-backed chair, his gaze scanning the warning letter from the South again.

His gaze lingered on it for a moment, then at the many documents and maps on the other side.

The Kingdom Army adjusted its deployment after the onset of winter, and a mountain corps was stationed in the northern part of the Jumu Pass, and the winter atmosphere that permeated the area was even worse than on the plains, and the Grand Duke of the North, Victoria Wild, was apparently on the front line, and the Mountain Guards under the command of the Grand Duke of the North were said to be fearless of the bitter cold......

Some towns in the eastern part of Solinburg are still not in good condition, and the influence of the old lords has not completely dissipated.

There was an unexpected backlash against the decree reform in the East, and a large number of peasants were resisting the land swap bill—which obviously could not have been their own initiative, and it must have been the conservative lords behind it, but he could not find evidence.

Plans to advance education were slow, there was no active zeal for literacy among the people, and few of the lower scribes and petty aristocrats who carried out the orders were serious – and in many areas they saw the task as a "punishment" and "belittlement" because "teaching the untouchables to read was an undignified job"......

The kingdom army is gaining a foothold, the conservatives are re-emerging, the reformers are divided, the enforcers are outrageously slow and the people are ...... The people he tried to help, who wanted to improve their situation, simply did not understand his bill.

In the beginning, everything went well, the morale of the Legion was high and the order was carried out without difficulty, but since the war was deadlocked, since the New Deal began to involve "land" and "population", countless obstacles and difficulties have arisen.

Irritability inevitably welled up in his heart—Edmund Moen suddenly felt distraught, and he reached out and picked up the glass of water on the table, wanting to take a drink to suppress the irritability.

- In order to keep his head level, he has not drunk for a long time.

At this moment, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw an extraordinarily bright flame rising from the fireplace on the side of the hall, and there seemed to be some illusory shadow trying to condense from the hearth in the flame jump, and even the candles on the decorative lampstand on the nearby wall seemed to be pulled by an inexplicable force and suddenly increased the flames.

It wasn't a dark room without outsiders or the top of a watchtower, and the hall was full of squires and guards, which made Edmund Moen's already bad mood even worse, he frowned, and waved his hand in the direction of the fireplace: "Daring! ”

The flames in the fireplace instantly returned to normal, and whoever was about to project over was obviously interrupted.

Edmund Moen snorted, picked up the glass and drank it down.

……

To the west of the Jumu crossing, in Baisong Town, a town under the control of the Kingdom Army, Viscount Horn, wearing a dark red jacket, was sitting in a carriage, listening to the soldiers outside report the situation to him with a very unhappy face.

Hell, it's a cold winter! A viscount would have to go out into the streets of the untouchables in such a ghostly weather, supervise the "eradication of evil", and listen to the stupid soldiers babbling - is there still a royal law?!

Viscount Horn cursed in his heart, but he did not dare to say what was in his heart, because these things were ordered by the regent Duke Victoria, and the Grand Duke of the North, who had the power of winter, was stationed not far to the north, and he felt that every word he said here would immediately reach the ears of the Grand Duchess—it was not a good thing.

The cold wind seemed to blow in through the gap in the carriage, and Viscount Horn couldn't help but tighten his already thick and warm coat - he was originally a low-level spellcaster, but the perennial wine had long emptied his body, even with the protection of the breeze shield, he felt that the weather was unbearable, and at the same time, he heard the soldiers outside still chanting:

“…… Three people were found dead in the cellar, apparently blasphemous, and blood-stained altars and containers containing suspicious liquids were found at the scene......

"The whereabouts of the original owner of the house are unknown, and people on the street say that they have disappeared since the beginning of winter, which is consistent with the whistleblower's description......

“…… The three cultists may be committing suicide or infighting, and it is up to you to judge......"

A hint of impatience flashed in Viscount Horn's eyes, but he spoke in an unhurried tone - this way of speaking in a way that kept a certain rhythm and the pitch of each word was strictly limited to the recuperation that a good nobleman must have: "I have understood—in short, someone reported to the knight that he had found traces of a cultist, and then you really found a desecrated altar and three dead cultists here, unmistakable, right?" ”

The soldier's voice came from outside: "Yes, my lord - there is also a missing resident......"

"I know, I know," interrupted the soldier, Viscount Horn, "I know about it, so let's do what is right, burn the bodies of the cultists, purify the altar with holy water, and return the house to the lord, and that's it." ”

After saying that, he was about to give the order to leave the place, but the soldier who did not know how to do it was still talking: "But...... But my lord, you ...... Do you want to take a look...... It's a rule after all......"

What a wooden head, and I don't know who put such an idiot in the inner city guards.

Viscount Horn cursed secretly, quickly pushed open the cover of the window of the carriage, and glanced outside.

He saw the tattered streets outside, the half-melted snow soaking the walls of houses and garbage heaps along the roadside, a few soldiers standing guard at the door of a dwelling, three bodies that had begun to emit a foul smell were thrown on straw mats, on which were ritual daggers, clay pots, stone chips, etc., which served as "evidence of heresy", while some cowering paupers watched from a short distance—some standing by the roadside, some hiding behind windows or doors.

Those scary and stupid glances are very uncomfortable.

Viscount Horn glanced at it, and quickly lowered the window cover: "Okay, I've seen it with my own eyes, do as I say—Monsieur Pierre, give them the money for the service." ”

Outside the carriage, the viscount's butler took out three silver coins—the money used to dispose of the cultist's corpses and purify the altar of evil—and handed them to the captain of the soldiers who were waiting nearby.

Then the viscount and his attendants and stewards left the streets.

The few soldiers who remained at the scene looked at me, I looked at you, or shook their heads or muttered a few words, and then brandished their swords to drive away the onlookers who were too close, and the captain called a soldier to him and gave him a silver coin: "Okay, do as the lord says, find two people to deal with this place." ”

The soldier with the silver coin shrugged his shoulders as he watched his captain turn away.

Then he noticed that there were still a number of onlookers still standing there - those in rags, with yellow faces and thin muscles, who had just been chased away by the sword, but most of them had not gone far, they were just standing on the side of the road, and now they were looking at this side with a strange, numb, empty look, at the three corpses on the ground, at the house that had lost its owner and was about to be taken over to the lord.

The soldier who was left behind was stunned, and suddenly shivered inexplicably.

It's damn cold, and the brains of these poor people are probably frozen and not sober.

Inexplicably uneasy, the soldier gave up his plans to search the ownerless house - the people who lived on this street should have nothing of value anyway.

He raised his head, looked past the numb and sluggish patters, and saw the two corpse draggers who were already waiting outside the crowd - the dirty gray-black smock and the death charm hanging around the neck were the most striking features of the corpse draggers, these guys who worked with corpses had always had a sensitive sense of smell, and I am afraid that the two corpse draggers were already waiting nearby half an hour after the news of the corpse here.

"It's a bad day......"

The soldier grunted, called the corpse draggers to him, shoved them with a few copper plates, and commanded: "Drag the corpse out of town and burn it—remember, it must be burned, this is the order from above." ”

After saying this, he didn't care what the corpse dragger answered, and left the place with a step.

The main reason why he walked so fast was that he knew that the corpse dragger would bargain - it would take extra firewood and grease money to burn the corpse, and those copper plates would not be enough.

But after he left, it was none of his business.

The lords left, the stewards left, and the soldiers left.

The streets were left with only a few dozen paupers standing in the cold wind, three cultist corpses lying on straw mats, messy footprints, and two corpse draggers.