The stars twinkled in the cloudless winter night sky, and the starlight from distant space shone through the wide floor-to-ceiling glass window, shining in Gawain's room, and the slightly silver starlight swept through the furnishings in the room, leaving a long projection on the floor, Gawain put on his pajamas, came to the floor-to-ceiling window, raised his head and stared at the night sky for a long time.

He woke up completely, and finally made sure that he was not dreaming—the cold night made him more awake, and at the same time, he remembered the images that had been sent to him from the satellite.

In the somewhat distorted surveillance footage, he saw several vague shadows, one was the closest, it looked like some kind of flying machine, it seemed to be flying over the satellite at high speed, I don't know if it was an illusion, Gawain always felt that the thing had a kind of "sneaky" appearance; The other shadows are a little further away, several of them appear triangular in shape, while the last one is extraordinarily large, with its outline ...... Gawain couldn't help but have many associations.

"What the hell is ......?"

Gawain subconsciously grunted as he concentrated his mind again and communicated with the surveillance satellite located in space.

The connection was very smooth, and with the concentration of mental power, Gao Wen soon felt that his field of vision had entered the height of the satellite, he "opened his eyes", and controlled the optical sensors of the surveillance satellite to search around, trying to find the figure of those uninvited guests, but in the limited perspective of the monitoring satellite, he finally found nothing.

Those things may have left - it can't be an illusion anyway, after all, the video data is there, and it is impossible for such a thing as satellite surveillance to produce an "illusion".

After a moment's thought, Gawain switched the direction of the mental connection, and with a slight dizziness, he came to a system with a higher position and a wider angle of view—he entered the surveillance system of the Sky Station.

The Sky Station had a slightly different field of view from the surveillance satellites, and it was more controllable, and Gawain hoped that it would record more, but he didn't expect much.

Luckily, it wasn't for nothing - while visiting a recent recording of the Firmament Station, a huge shadow suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.

Gawain immediately stopped the image, then recoiled frame by frame, and after a little difficulty, he finally captured a clearer silhouette - in the form of the giant shadow, he finally determined that he had the right association when he saw the blurry image coming from the satellite.

That thing...... It appears to be a particularly bizarre dragon, mechanically crafted and covered in a sophisticated and biometric alloy shell, with engines mounted under its wings.

Even Gawain, who has a good conceited imagination, has never imagined anything like it.

After checking the surveillance records again, Gawain withdrew from the connection to the space facility, and he stood in front of the large floor-to-ceiling windows, his thoughts fluctuating.

Something appeared in space...... The impact on him was no less than when he first heard the report of the god-killing battle recorded in the Eternal Slate, and since the coffin was revealed, he rarely had such a nervous and even slightly dazed moment, and after confirming that one of those things looked like some kind of "mechanical dragon", he was nervous and had many more chaotic thoughts, he thought of Talrond who suddenly lost contact, thought of Merita Pernia who was unknown, and thought of the dragon god Enya who seemed a little wrong before leaving, In his thoughts, he came up with many guesses and thoughts......

Whatever happens in Talrond, whatever happens in space, at least in Cecil tonight...... Gawain suffered from insomnia very rarely.

……

When the first rays of light of the morning shone on the lush ancestral woodlands, the glorious and ancient Elven Empire gradually awakened from the night.

Located deep in the forest, the Elven King City is bathed in the morning light, this beautiful city with a large number of white high walls and streamlined roofs is like a bright jewel embedded in the dense forest, its houses are lined up, and the city is connected by tall and slender high-strength bridges, a sparkling river passes through the city, and in the middle of the river, in the center of the city, the pure white Elven Royal Court is supported in mid-air by one hundred and seventy-seven curved skeletons like ribs, suspended on the river, overlooking the whole city.

On a bridge at the highest point of the Elven Court, Belsetia Morningstar walked slowly along the royal walkway inlaid with fine scarves, followed by her high-ranking maids and trusted courtiers.

A gentle breeze blew from the direction of the forest, and a low hum was heard in the sky, and Belsetia looked up to see a large shadow slowly drifting through the sky to the west—the Star Sanctuary was flying over the royal city in a low-speed cruise mode, and from this angle she could see the bottom of the ancient temple, and she could see that the armor belt made of high-strength alloy was lined with one anti-gravity engine after another, some of which had gone out, while others were releasing a constant light blue or pale white aura, A trickle of magic flowed through the base of the Sanctuary of Stars, like blood surging through the arteries.

"Is the routine maintenance of the Sanctuary of the Stars over......" the Silver Empress muttered to herself softly, "It's been a long time...... Winter is almost over. ”

Vilania Silverstar, a high-ranking star sorcerer who followed behind, immediately responded, "Yes, because this time we tried to enhance the core power of the Star Sanctuary with the magic web power unit and the arcane restraint device shared by the Cecil people, which involved dismantling and renovating the power compartment deep in the temple - the project was larger than in previous years, and it took longer. ”

"A bold makeover, with a lot of opponents, but fortunately in the end everything went well," Belsetia nodded, "and now those opposing voices have finally disappeared." ”

"Actually, I can understand those who oppose opening the deep power chamber," the high-level star magician said with some emotion, "They are experienced scholars like me, but they are more cautious - they actually recognize the magic technology developed by humans, but there is a great risk in rashly transforming the core structure of the Star Temple, they are just worried that the risk will get out of hand." ”

"Don't worry, I don't blame those people, they also want to protect the wealth of the Empire," Belsetia smiled, her eyes slowly moving with the Sanctuary of Stars that had already crossed the city, "I've had to sit on the 'Throne of Dominion' for almost half of the past two years, and the roar of pain from those ancient machines has kept me awake at night, and it's good to know that their pain can be alleviated - Astral, those transformations do work, right?" ”

"It's not enough to restore the Stellar Sanctuary to its glory, but it does contain the rate of decline of the core power system. As you can see, the extra energy units take the strain off almost all systems, especially some of the aging anti-gravity engines that give them a breather - which means we have a chance to do a more thorough repair," Verania smiled, the venerable astral sorcerer was clearly in a good mood, "I'm not sure we'll be able to fix it yet, but it's a good start." ”

"So it's wise for us to work with Cecil technically – humans are more creative than we are, and they've found a path that no one has gone before," Beersetia said, pausing in her footsteps, "and then it's time for us to respond to another invitation they sent me the other day." ”

Valendian Kingu, the Imperial Minister, who was standing behind Belsetia's side, whispered, "Is there an invitation to witness the signing of the peace agreement between Cecil and Typhon at Sentinel 112 in the northeast......"

"And the invitation to join the 'Alliance of Civilizations,'" the Silver Empress glanced at her first minister, "and that's the more important thing." ”

“…… There are still some different voices in the parliament, "and the main question is whether this unprecedented 'union' of all races and nations is stable and reliable, whether what Gawain Cecil has promised is feasible, and whether our interests and risks and responsibilities are equal if we join this alliance." In particular, the last one was discussed very ...... by the parliamentarians."

"Arrogance." Belsetia said lightly.

The first minister was a little surprised: "...... Your Majesty? ”

"Arrogance," said Beersettia, "for seven hundred years, the Silver Empire has become the most powerful nation on the continent, and we have assumed the role of the former Gondor Empire, dominating many things—and this has begun to be imprinted into the minds of many people, so that it is difficult for them to accept that the dominance of one thing is in the hands of someone else. ”

“…… Your assessment is pertinent, but it is too sharp," said the Minister with some reluctance, "and most of the parliamentarians are based on the interests of the Empire. ”

"Of course, this is a prerequisite for their existence, and I still believe in it," Belsetia nodded, "so I also believe that they will discuss the results soon, and I will not rush at this point." It's you...... Valendian, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this matter. ”

The First Minister pondered for a moment, then raised his head: "I am inclined to accept the invitation of the Cecil - not only to accept, but also to actively draw closer to this new alliance, and to show the influence and size of the Silver Empire as much as possible in the process of its formation, so as to secure our important place in this new alliance in the future." ”

"Oh?" Belsetia glanced at Valendian with some surprise, "I didn't expect you to take this matter so seriously. ”

The Minister was silent for a moment before he organized his words and said: "In the past two years, the Kaolin Kingdom has established trade routes with the Typhon Empire, and all the trade regions have shown incredible speed of development, on the other hand, we are also engaged in economic and technological exchanges with the Typhonites and Cecil, and the feedback we have received is also visible to you - there are signs that the order of the entire Loren continent is reorganized, and the once disintegrated human kingdom is re-establishing close relations, and this timeEven the dwarves, orcs and other races in the west and the dragonborn in the north have been pulled into this new order......

"This new order has taken shape, and its trend is irreversible, especially now that even Cecil and Typhon have chosen to coexist peacefully after the war, which shows that the last obstacle to the integration of the north and the south and the east and west of the Loren continent has been removed. For the Silver Empire, we can neither disrupt this trend for no reason, nor be unaffected by it, and since the old traditions of the Empire need to be changed, we might as well join in on them—with the Empire's influence, we can secure our place in this new alliance, and thus keep the Silver Empire's position firmly in the southern part of the continent......"

Beersettia listened carefully to Valendian's thoughts—the other party didn't really go deep, after all, this was just a walkway outside the Elven Court, not the royal council chamber where the Silver Empress handled government affairs, but even so, he did a good job of clarifying the distribution of interests behind the whole thing.

The Empress's face finally smiled.

"Very well, Valentian," she nodded approvingly, "you said it well. ”

"It's just some immature opinions," Valendian bowed his head, "and besides, there are actually quite a few members of the council who have similar views to me. ”

"That shows that there are a lot of smart people in our council," Belsetia said with a smile, and then she changed her tune, "all in all, whatever the outcome of their discussion on the matter, there is no doubt about one thing - the peace agreement between Cecil and Typhon requires the Elves to bear witness, and we did a similar testimony seven hundred years ago, and there is no reason to refuse this time. ”

"Yes," Valendian said, "that's what everyone agrees on. ”

"Then prepare from now on," Belsetia nodded, "and I'm going to go to Sentry 112 myself to do this testimony." ”

When her words fell, Vilania Silver Star on the side immediately subconsciously showed a surprised expression, but Valendian, as the first assistant minister, didn't react much - it seems that the minister who has followed the Silver Empress for many years expected that Belsetia would make such a decision from the beginning, and had already made a targeted plan, he just nodded: "Understood, I will arrange this matter." ”

"Very well," said Bersetia, a satisfied expression, and then she glanced at the sky at the end of the city—the glorious sun had risen over the forest, and the wood-grained corona was gently shining on the royal city, "the walk is over—you go to the council chamber first, and I'll be there later." ”

The First Minister, the High-Ranking Astral Sorcerer, and several other vassals immediately received the order, and they took half a step back and said neatly, "Yes, Your Majesty. ”

The vassals were gone, and only the Silver Empress and her two high-ranking maidens were left on the trail that hung high in the sky.

"Let's go," said Besselia to the maid beside her, "don't keep the courtiers too waiting. ”

The two maids followed her, and after walking a short distance, one of them finally couldn't help but speak: "Your Majesty, do you really want to go to the north in person?" ”

Belsetia slowed down, she glanced at the maid who had been by her side since she was a child and had a very close relationship with her, and a smile appeared on her face: "Don't you look forward to meeting Uncle Gawain?" ”

"This ...... Not really, but a little surprisingly, the northern outpost was much farther than the one at the time of the Holy Covenant seven hundred years ago. ”

"Humanity has come back together from a broken heart—it's worth the journey," Belsetia said slowly, a hint of contemplation on her face, "and...... There are some things I want to confirm with my own eyes. ”