The chaotic and illusory sky shrouded the monotonous earth, and the scenery that had been detached from color showed a lack of layering in the field of vision, with an indescribable weirdness, and the breeze blew, and the wind rolled up fine black dust, and countless pairs of peeping eyes seemed to be hidden in the dust—Victoria stood in this world full of black and white, and her always cold and detached face inevitably showed a trace of surprise.

And the person who brought her a sense of surprise was next to her, the half-elf with an overly active personality was standing there with a smug face, his long black hair fluttering slightly in the air like smoke and dust, his golden eyes with a smile, and his lower body condensed a cloud of shadows and mist that did not disperse, and the whole person seemed to have turned into a spirit in the shadow world, and this black and white world was skillfully integrated together.

“…… Incredible power," Victoria looked at Amber silently for a few seconds and exclaimed softly, "You're the most powerful Shadow Master I've ever met, no wonder Raven was defeated at your hands twice." None of Duke Cecil's men were simple. ”

"It's no problem to praise me a few more words, it's rare for someone to praise me like that," Amber smirked, "I have an impression of the Dark Raven you mentioned, the one I kicked out of the Shadow Realm twice, right-you have to persuade him if you have a chance, it's really not good to practice a two-handed sword and a long-handled hammer or something, the Way of Shadows may not be suitable for him......"

Those who are familiar with it know that Amber's mouth will quickly go off topic once it starts bb, and basically there are few sentences that are meaningful, but Victoria is obviously not very used to the rhythm of this half-elf, and she was a little stunned on the spot, probably not knowing how to continue this topic, but fortunately, Amber's bb is all bursts of time, and if she doesn't get a response in a short time, she will jump over her thoughts - this half-elf moved her hands and feet, and looked up at the half-collapsed castle in the distance, showing a strange stacking state, In a tone of criminals preparing to commit a crime, he said, "Don't waste time, let's get to work—it should be the shadow of the Tulip Castle over there." ”

Victoria looked up and saw the castle at the end of the road: black and white fragments were stacked on the gray-black ground, and some discernible castle walls could be seen in the ruins, and in this strange and chaotic shadow world, the half-ruined Tulip Castle showed a clear sense of chaos, part of its structure seemed to have lost its material details, and the other part of the structure overlapped and piled up in a way that defied the laws of nature, and the whole castle lost its coordination like a failed painting. Only the remaining mage tower and some of the annex towers are clearly erected at the back of the castle.

This was Victoria's first foray into the Shadow Realm - as a frost mage, her knowledge of the Way of Shadow was limited to a few theoretical knowledge, and this mysterious and strange world opened her eyes and made her sigh at the strength of the half-elf named "Amber" next to her in shadow skills. She followed behind Amber, relying on the blessings of Swiftness and Wind Grace to keep up with the other party's footsteps, and at the same time couldn't help but ask curiously, "Why did you follow Duke Cecil?" ”

Amber scurried through the Shadow Realm like a fish in water, black smoke flying through the air, and she turned her head slightly when she heard Victoria's words, with a playful smile on her face: "What? Want to poach? ”

Victoria shook her head solemnly: "No, that's not the nobles' doing, if I really want to hire you, I will go directly to negotiate with Duke Cecil, and at the same time ask for your opinion on a more formal occasion." I'm just curious right now. ”

"Ah, it's fair...... But the old dumplings ...... Gawain is different," Amber laughed, "if he wants to poach talent, and it is the kind of talent that is obviously impossible to obtain through head-to-head negotiations, then he will definitely secretly lobby for money, buy public opinion, build momentum, and win over people, and all kinds of means will be used." ”

Victoria once again felt that the topic was a little uncontrollable, so she could only shake her head: "...... We do things a little differently. ”

"So I'm better suited to be on Gawain's side, not to be around 'legitimate' aristocrats like you," Amber said casually, "Didn't you just ask me why I followed Duke Cecil?" Actually, it's nothing, I dug his grave, and then the person found out and caught him, in fact, I dug into the grave just to hide. ”

Victoria looked at Amber in astonishment, as if to confirm if the other party was joking.

"Can't believe it, huh? But that's really the case," Amber said nonchalantly, "Actually, I was quite unhappy to be detained at first, I was thinking of pretending to agree, and then running away while Gawain was not looking, but then I found out one thing: I couldn't fight, I really couldn't fight, and I couldn't escape, so I had to stay." It turned out that I had made the right decision – my salary went up the following year. ”

Victoria listened to all this with a blank face, but the slight flickering of her eyes showed that she was not as calm and indifferent as she seemed, she looked deeply at Amber and said in the most peaceful way possible: "I have never heard anyone describe their allegiance to a nobleman in this way, you...... It's true...... It's special. ”

“…… Duchess, you've made a mistake," Amber paused abruptly and looked at Victoria, "I've never been loyal to Duke Gawain Cecil, I've never been loyal to any nobleman or his bloodline. ”

Victoria's indifferent expression was broken, and she looked at Amber with some consternation.

"I am not of noble descent, half of my supernatural strength comes from talent, half from a thief who was executed by the church and the nobility, and naturally I am not qualified to swear allegiance to the nobility, because I don't even have a surname, and I don't need such qualifications," Amber said unhurriedly, "At first, Gawain gave me a salary of one gold coin a month, so I was responsible for this gold coin, and then when the salary rose, I was responsible for the increased salary, and then he founded the city of Cecil and unified the Kant region, He made the serfs redeem themselves with their work, so that the commoners could walk in the middle of the road, so that the merchants did not have to kowtow to the knights, and I liked all this, and my job was to maintain all this, so I began to take responsibility for my work.

"Later, he established the Duchy of Cecil, where citizens could read and work, and from the year before last to last year, no one starved to death in the winter of Cecil, so I swore allegiance, and I secretly allegiance to Cecil in my heart.

"Duchess, I'm not a nobleman, even if Gawain gives me a noble title in the future, probably I will never become the standard nobleman in your bunch of rules and regulations. I have no allegiance to the Duke of Cecil, no allegiance to the House of Cecil, no allegiance to any of the so-called noble bloodlines and titles, and although I respect everyone in the current House of Cecil, it is only because they deserve respect, but I am not loyal to them, and they have never asked me to be allegiance.

"If anything, we have only one goal of allegiance in common – we are loyal to what Gawain Cecil has built, not to him.

"Ma'am, if you can't tell the difference, I'm afraid we'll never be the same people."

Victoria looked at the half-elf in front of her silently, after entering the shadow realm, this half-elf lady seemed to have changed not only her temperament, but also a little bit of personality, but what she said...... It's not what she really thinks about on weekdays.

"I'll try to understand." Victoria said calmly.

"That's your problem. To tell you the truth, I don't like nobles, most of them, but lately I've had two more exceptions in my eyes, one is you, and the other is Belk who lit the beacon fire," Amber said, turning around and continuing on her way, "I used to think that the noble virtues of the nobles were boasting, but at least in you, I saw something that actually existed—but then again, Duchess, the individual is not representative of the whole, and I still don't like the nobles. ”

Victoria followed in the footsteps of the half-elf again, and she remained silent for a short time, neither defending the aristocracy nor explaining the significance of the lineage to the half-elf in front of her, who seemed to have a deep prejudice against the aristocratic community, although she had cared about these things, but at this moment, she did not want to justify them at all.

After the silence, she simply asked the question: "In the past two winters, Cecil City has really not starved to death a single person?" ”

"Of course, we have a complete demographic and management system, and every death and birth of every population is registered."

“…… How did you do that? In the absence of an aristocratic system......"

"You mean food supply or population management?"

"Both."

"Oh, let's take our time," Amber looked up at the collapsed castle, which was not too far away, "and we should probably start with the relationship between land and people......

……

On the northern plains of Red Maple City, on the banks of the Gron River, Gawain stood on a lookout in the front camp, watching the busy scene in the direction of the docks.

Artillery fire and flames dispersed the corrupt pollution of the plains, and Cecil's legion succeeded in capturing a large dock that once belonged to the local lords, and after intense renovation work, the engineering troops widened the road on the basis of the old pier and strengthened the stone trestle bridge, turning it into a temporary military wharf, and at this moment a neat array of tanks was heading towards the reinforced trestle, and a phalanx of heavily armed soldiers lined up to board the ship.

On the surface of the Gorgon River, three of Cecil's capital battleships were on guard duty away from the trestle, while a series of converted escort gunboats or light gunboats from the rear shipyard patrolled the wide river, and several sturdy ships with wide decks and stable hulls were clinging to the edge of the trestle, loaded with soldiers and chariots who had boarded the ships.

The cargo ships that didn't look like warships at all were modified military cargo ships that had been deployed from the rear - although they were converted to military ones, due to time constraints, they were really nothing more than adding steel plates to key parts of the hull, welding a set of shield generators to the hull, and installing a magic net terminal in the cabin that could establish a connection with the Trailblazer, and not even a basic weapon system (adding a weapon system would mean a massive overhaul of the power ridge, And the capacity of the shipyard is not enough), their safety is completely dependent on the escort of the warships.

Originally intended to be used to evacuate refugees from the north, these "armored carriers" were modified at the beginning of the ground forces' advance to the north, but when they were finally completed, Gawain found that there were few refugees in the contaminated area to move, so they were used to transport supplies to the front line, and now they have a new mission: to set sail with Cecil's fleet, full of tanks and soldiers, to the St. Sunil Line, to defend that important gateway.

The force heading north through Gorgon would arrive at St. Sunil days ahead of the main force on the ground.

Footsteps came from behind him, and Philip came to the lookout, saluted Gawain, and said, "The Steel Rangers have sent Duke Victoria and Amber to the vicinity of Tulip Fort, and the warriors have visually confirmed that the Mage Tower is indeed still operational, and if all goes well, the news will be sent to St. Sunil today." ”

"Very well," Gawain nodded, "when they come back, it should be almost loaded here, just in time to board the ship and leave." ”

Philip hesitated slightly, and couldn't help but confirm again: "Do you really want to go with you personally?" ”

Gawain laughed: "I'm already here, what's the difference if I go a little further north?" ”

"But the task for this vanguard was arduous and dangerous—it had to break away from the main forces on the ground in order to support the royal capital as quickly as possible, and after reaching Saint-Sunil, it had to fight alone for at least five days, far from the rear support. In the worst-case scenario, the Saint-Sunil would be breached before the vanguard arrived, and the vanguard would be sent directly to the deepest part of the monster's encirclement - even with the Pioneer and the two ships Aurora and Morning Star to cover the evacuation, the losses would be extremely heavy. ”

"So it needs a strong ground commander even more," Gawain glanced at Philip, "you have to stay behind and command the main army, then I'll do the rest." ”

“…… Indeed it is. ”

"I'll go to St. Sunil to organize a defense line first, with the fire support of three main warships, there is no problem in the north," Gawain smiled and patted Philip on the shoulder, "You just need to continue to advance according to the plan, set up the coastal defense line, stop those monsters from further polluting the west bank, and finally, we will meet in St. Sunil - close this blockade line." ”

After speaking, he exhaled softly and said lightly: "And as for whether the king will fall before that...... Victoria was convinced that Berdwin and Wales could keep St. Sunil, so I'll believe her for once. ”

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