In the garden of the Oak Hall, unknown flowers bloom quietly, and the powerful magic of nature keeps the place alive, so that the various plants that could only grow in the southern region are alive in the northern land, and the breeze enchantment hangs over the entire courtyard, and the noise from the rest of the town is weakened layer by layer, and only a small sound is left here—not noisy, but more peaceful.

Gawain sat at a round table, the fresh aroma of tea in the delicate gold-painted round cups, and some elven snacks and fruits from the tropics that were not common in the human world were adorned on silver plates, which looked pleasing to the eye.

The Silver Empress Beltetia sat opposite him, the ruler of the Elven Empire with a faint smile on her face, she had been carefully looking at Gawain for a long time before breaking her silence: "When I first heard the news of your 'resurrection', the entire Elven Court made waves...... Many of the elves you knew were still alive, and they were shocked by the news, including me, of course - unfortunately, the Silver Empire was too far away from Ansu at the time, and the situation in the north was too chaotic, so we could only have some limited information until the magic web was connected to the Sentinel Tower, and the news channels became open...... The situation in the north has only become clearer. ”

“…… A lot has happened," Gawain sighed sincerely, recalling what he had witnessed since his resurrection, "You can't imagine what I saw when I woke up...... The kingdom is unrecognizable, the order is chaotic, and what I fought seven hundred years ago will wake up and fight again...... And the most important thing is that after a full 700 years, mankind has not only not made the slightest advance in the cause of counterattacking the wasteland, but has retreated. ”

He spoke his exclamations in the voice of Gawain Cecil, and under the influence of shared memories and personal experiences, these exclamations were so heartfelt that even the Silver Empress couldn't help but sigh: "I can understand...... For more than 700 years, I have witnessed first-hand how the world has changed like this. The four pioneer legions that once broke out of the Gondor wasteland have become completely strange in the past few hundred years, good or bad, but the common denominator is that almost all of them have gradually forgotten the threat of the wasteland - the Kaolin Kingdom bordering the Silver Empire is in a better situation, because of the presence of a large number of half-blood elves, they are not so easy to 'forget' history, followed by Typhon, except for a few mediocre people, they always have wiser and more powerful rulers, and Ansu and Oguray ......"

The Silver Empress sighed and shook her head: "If Ansu hadn't suffered that civil war, Ben wouldn't have declined so much, and Oguray, which is itself a tribal kingdom, and the remnants of Gondor only occupy a part of the power in it, and most of the indigenous races of the tribal country don't have that deep memories of the disaster itself, not to mention that they still have mountains as a natural barrier, and the races that live in a comfortable environment are very dull to the crises that occur outside their world." ”

Gawain's gaze couldn't help but linger on Belsetia for two more seconds—it was at this moment that he felt more and more truly the disconnect between the "little silver empress" from Gawain Cecil's memory and the image of the lady in front of him.

It's a peculiar feeling, but he's no stranger to it - since the coffin was revealed, he's been in contact with more than one "old acquaintance" that impresses Gawain Cecil's memory, from Selena to Bertila, from Megaor III to the current Besecia, these people have gone through seven hundred years, things are different from people, and they are no longer what they are remembered, and each of them has changed completely, but ...... The Silver Empress may have changed the most.

Gawain's thoughts couldn't help but spread: among the old acquaintances he had come into contact with, it seemed that only Thorderlin was the one who had changed the least, although the high-level ranger had also experienced a lot of ups and downs, but compared to others, his changes were only a little more mature than before, Gawain thought about the reason for this, and slowly understood-

Of all the friends who have gone through 700 years, Sölderling is the only one who has never changed in his quest - a man without hair is obsessed with one thing.

The sudden drifting train of thought made Gawain smile unconsciously, and this smile was keenly captured by Belsetia, and she showed a trace of curiosity: "Uncle Gawain, what are you laughing at?" ”

"It's nothing, it's just that something funny suddenly comes to mind," Gawain shook his head and shifted the subject, "and there is also some emotion - after so many years, when I wake up, not only are many familiar people dead, but even those who are still alive have changed so much that they are almost unrecognizable." ”

"Is that me, too?"

"You're the one who has changed the most."

"You haven't changed much—almost exactly the same as the last impression I remember," Belsetia looked at Gawain's eyes seriously, and the calm gaze even made Gawain feel a little uncomfortable, but soon the silver queen looked away and changed the subject very naturally, "Uncle Gawain, let's talk about the old things while talking about the past, what do you think about this meeting?" ”

"What do you think?" Gao Wen was stunned for a moment, and for a while he didn't understand why the other party suddenly said this, but this question was not difficult to answer, and he quickly reacted, "I am the first promoter and caller of this meeting, so if you ask me my opinion, of course I think this meeting is necessary and important." The reason, as I said in my previous letters, is that our world is not secure, and that greater crises and challenges await all over time, and solidarity is necessary both for the sake of meeting them and for our own peace and development. ”

"I know all of this, I'm just curious...... Are you really only establishing such an alliance for the safety of this world and the future of mortal civilization? Belsetia asked with a calm expression, and although she had always addressed Gawain with honorifics, as the Silver Empress, a certain kind of grace that had almost become a habit still made her every word faintly stressful - fortunately, for Gawain, this pressure was nothing.

He had faced the gods of the dragon clan and witnessed the vicissitudes of life, and there was probably no existence in this world that could have any impact on him with pure "coercion".

"In terms of the big picture, my only goal is indeed the safety of this world and the future of mortal civilization," Gawain calmly faced Beltetia's gaze and said as a matter of course, "but if I have to talk about selfishness...... Yes, I have selfish motives. My selfish desire is to be able to achieve all this with my own ideas. There are a lot of great people in this world, and they may all have their own understanding of the future of this world, but I want some changes in this world now, and these changes may not be what everyone expects, but I think it is the right thing to do...... That's my biggest selfishness. ”

"Strictly speaking, this should be considered ambitious...... But it's not wrong to say 'selfish,'" Belsetia laughed, "I think I get your thoughts...... It seems that it is necessary to have a face-to-face conversation, and if it were in a letter, you would not want to say it so bluntly. Well, since I asked a question, now it's your turn to ask me – it counts as an exchange. ”

"You didn't mention this kind of exchange before," Gawain couldn't help but say, but then nodded, "Of course, since I was asked to ask, then I won't waste this opportunity, I do have something I want to ask you." ”

"Please—try not to get too involved in privacy, of course," Belsetia said, blinking suddenly, "I've grown up, after all. ”

Sonya, who was standing on the sidelines, suddenly breathed a breath and almost choked herself: Who would dare to believe that this sentence was said by the Silver Empress just now?

The high-level messenger felt a little cold sweat oozing from her forehead, and even began to worry about whether she would be able to return to the Silver Empire safely after hearing and seeing these scenes today-fortunately, she also knew more or less about Belsetia and Gawain, and knew that the scene in front of her was not too bizarre and weird......

Gawain didn't seem to notice the movement of the high-ranking messenger behind him, and at the same time didn't care about Belsetia's joke, he just looked at the empress in front of him very seriously, and asked the question he had prepared early in the morning: "I want to know about the current state of the gods of the Silver Empire - especially about the gods of nature." ”

Bearcetia seemed a little surprised, and she was stunned for a moment before saying, "That's it?" ”

"What's the problem?" Gawain looked serious, "This is indeed what I am most concerned about at the moment. ”

“…… Well, that's really your character," Belsetia exhaled, her expression becoming serious, "but before answering your question, I want to confirm one thing - you mentioned in your previous letter that the gods will descend into chaos over time and eventually become a terrorist threat that mortals must face, and the god of war who descended out of control in the Typhon-Cecil War was the first...... Is all this true? ”

"It's true," Gawain said solemnly, "I know there will be a lot of people who will question this, but we have solid evidence, thousands of soldiers on the battlefield of Winter Keep are witnesses, Typhon has detailed records, and we can provide samples recovered from the wreckage of the god of war." ”

"This is truly sensational, and I don't think anyone would suddenly believe that the gods who have been protecting this world could end up being the source of world destruction, not even the unbelievers," Belsetia shook her head, "but I have to believe you, intellectually and emotionally...... It's just for me. ”

"I know it's hard to believe, but it's dictated by the rules of the world," Gawain looked into Beelseia's eyes, "If you find it hard to accept, maybe another way of saying it can make it easier for those who are still in awe and close to the gods - this tendency to go out of control and go crazy is not actually the intention of the gods, as I said earlier, it is determined by the rules of the world, and those gods ...... Also a victim of these rules. ”

"Looks like you have a lot of knowledge to share with us on this matter," Bellsetia said thoughtfully, Gawain had expected her reaction to be a little more violent, but the Silver Empress remained calm and indifferent throughout, as if even confronting the secrets of the gods could not shake her sanity, "I'll tell you all about it later, for now...... Since you're interested in the gods of the Silver Empire, I'll tell you a little bit about it - the Silver Empress is also the High Priestess of the Druids, and you really should ask me about this.

"As many people know, the state religion of the Silver Empire was the Druids, and the god that the Druids believed in was the god of nature, the giant deer Amorn - until three thousand years ago, this belief was the core belief of the Silver Elves, and even supported the operation of the Elven Empire to some extent, but after the fall of the White Star three thousand years ago, everything changed. The feedback of the gods of nature disappeared, the gods of nature were cut off, and the Druids split into more than a dozen large and small schools in an extremely chaotic and long transformation, and except for the Holy Spirit School, which later fell into darkness, the other Druid sects slowly became academic organizations that delved into the mysteries of magic and nature, but these organizations still retained the name of 'sects', and I, the High Priestess, was one of the few characters who still had some connection to the belief in the gods of nature. ”

"I know a little bit about this," Gawain nodded, "I'm curious that for three thousand years after the fall of the White Star, the elves have been trying to rebuild their faith in the gods of nature from other symbolic goals, and there are even some druids who worship and worship powerful animal spirits and mountain spirits as gods...... Isn't one of these groups who has succeeded in establishing contact with a deity and reproducing the miracles of divine magic? ”

Belsetia looked at Gawain quietly, and did not answer the question for a while, as if she was examining and weighing, until the scene was once again filled with a stressful atmosphere, she suddenly raised her gaze and looked at Sonia who was standing aside: "High Messenger, please avoid." ”

Sonya's face showed a moment of surprise, but the next second she reacted quickly, she immediately lowered her head and quietly left the garden, and at the same time as she left, the two high-ranking maids who were originally standing behind Belsetia also disappeared into the air silently, and the breath quickly moved away.

Gawain immediately realized what was going on, and there was a vague guess in his mind, but Belsetia didn't let him wait long, and when there were only two people left in the garden, the silver queen smiled.

"Now we're the only ones left here – back to the question.

"For three thousand years, there have been many druids of all sizes, and there have always been people who have tried to pray to nature in various ways, hoping to awaken the god of nature in their minds. Yes of course.

"There are esoteric cults that have successfully communicated with the gods and reproduced miracles similar to the natural gods of the past, not only one, but more than one."

Gawain subconsciously took a breath - he never knew about this! No one knows!

What he originally just asked casually about turned out to be a surprising and shocking result!

"And then?" He immediately asked, "What happened to those secret cults?" ”

"It was regarded as a heretic and exterminated." Belsetia said lightly.