The Cecilians had a powerful warship - equipped with the longest-range and most destructive iridescent device ever built, which could be charged to deliver lethal beams from distant seas to land targets, and it was said to be equipped with an equally powerful live-fire weapon that could fire equally lethal cross-border fire at greater distances.

On the battlefield of killing gods, it was such a battleship that launched the final blow against the god of war.

And after the war ended, the Cecil warship did not leave the area it patrolled - to the dismay of many of Typhon's soldiers, the warship, known as "Winter", was still active in the eastern coastal areas, and on a clear day, the sentries on the high mountains could even see the steel monster floating on the sea, its wings raised high and shining in the sun.

"Yes, Your Majesty, it's still over there," Ferdinand said with a serious expression and a hint of concern, "We thought the Cecil would return that ship to its home port for resupply at least before the end of winter, but now it seems that the ship has more endurance on the ocean than we thought...... It is still active in the eastern seas, but it has not been near land. ”

“…… The property of the empire is not only land, but also the sea," Rosetta looked into Ferdinand's eyes, "where is our ship?" ”

"The Spirit and the Red Knight, which had just been launched, had arrived near the ship, but ...... Now I can only watch from afar," Peddinand's face was a little ugly, "that ship of the Cecil is a real warship, just like their land mobile fortress, and that 'Winter' was designed to be fully armed when it was first built, and our ship cannot compete with it in terms of force. All Earl Owen Dyson can do now is keep an eye out, and on the other hand, we won't be able to build a ship that can match the Winter in a short period of time. ”

Then he paused, and then continued: "The Cecil apparently knew this as well, and they did not react to our surveillance in any way, only to remain anchored at the offshore boundary – a position that is theoretically not part of our territorial waters, but the Winter's weapons can still cover the mountains east of Winterhold. ”

“…… So, it's a deterrent," Rosetta sighed, "absolute deterrence...... It's really Gawain Cecil's style. ”

Matilda sat silently, and when Rosetta and Radinan talked, she only listened quietly and did not say a word, until her father was temporarily quiet, and she cautiously spoke her thoughts: "Did the Cecil park the 'Winter' near our coastline just to show force as a deterrent?" ”

Rosetta glanced at her daughter with some surprise: "What do you seem to think?" ”

"I'm just worried...... The Cecilians kept the ship in preparation for the upcoming negotiations," Matilda said with a frown, "After all, this 'war' was theoretically started by us first, and even if there is a secret behind it, the Cecilians will definitely demand an explanation from Typhon - but whatever the conditions they offer, we will probably have a hard time accepting them." ”

"So, they need to further strengthen their 'voice'," Rosetta looked at Matilda approvingly, and then shook her head slightly, "It's a pity that with Typhon's current situation, maintaining a stable situation is on the verge of limiting, and there is really very little we can do. ”

"If we had known in advance what Cecil was trying to negotiate, we would have at least been able to maintain the initiative," Matilda said immediately, "and how much we can get out of the table depends on how much effort we put in outside the table." ”

Archduke Ferdinand listened to the conversation between the Emperor and the Imperial Maiden, and after a brief moment of thought, he finally broke his silence again: "The Winter Wolf Castle and the surrounding area are still in the hands of the Cecils - they show no signs of retreating. ”

"You're saying that the Cecils intend to annex Winterwolf and its environs?" Matilda looked at Archduke Ferdinand, then shook her head slightly, "...... Although it is possible, I always feel that Gawain Cecil's plan is not so simple and rude......"

The room was quiet for a while, and Rosetta unconsciously rubbed a ruby ring on her left hand with her right hand, and said thoughtfully for a long time: "Anyway, there is only one week left until the meeting starts." ”

……

In the deepest part of the Obsidian Palace, a staircase leads to the basement of the palace, and a brass gate protected by layers of magic sigils stands silently at the end of the staircase.

It wasn't home to a royal treasury, nor was it a top secret for royalty, but it was still a no-go area, and no one was allowed to approach the brass gate except for a handful of elite members of the Royal Mages Guild and members of the House of Augustus, not even the guards guarding the stairs and gates, all of which were sophisticated and expensive puppets and traps - soulless magical machines loyal and trustworthy and would never divulge secrets.

There was only one reason for such a tight defense: one of the mysteries of the Typhon Empire's centuries-old magical technology far superior to that of other nations was in the depths of that brass door.

Behind the door, a large square hall was brightly lit, with intricate and mysterious magical runes lining the walls and roof of the hall, a large number of humming, shimmering magical devices lined up, and countless demonic metal and rune chains extending from those magical devices, converging along the grooves in the ground to the center of the hall, and at the focal point of these chains and metal rails, an alloy console covered with runes and delicate crystals was emitting a low humming sound.

Windsor Marpel, the president of the Royal Mages Society, was busy at the operating table, while Diana, the "head maid" of the obsidian palace, lay quietly on the operating table - the dark-haired lady closed her eyes as if she had fallen asleep, and the black lady's dress she used to wear was replaced by a wide white gown, and a hole opened in the belly of the gown, revealing not human skin, but a bionic skin and an alloy cover that had been lifted.

Beneath the alloy cover, in the abdomen of a normal human, a large number of delicate parts and devices are running in an orderly manner, the runes on the surface of the small magic mechanism flicker, and a copper core trembles slightly above the bionic spine, and although it has been in continuous operation for seven hundred years, its surface still looks as clean as new.

In the rest of Diana's body, the gown covers the area with a number of pipes and thin chains that connect to the corresponding interfaces at the edge of the worktop, or directly to certain grooves and pipes in the ground.

Windsor Marpel scrutinized the workings of the devices, fine-tuning the status of certain parts as needed, and from time to time she straightened up and wrote down something in a notebook floating in mid-air next to her, or used the magic device next to the console to perform some complex operations, and she had obviously done this more than once.

After a long time, the president of the association finally finished the task at hand, she bent down, carefully arranged the delicate structure of Diana's abdomen, closed the cover and the bionic skin again, and confirmed that the bionic skin closed on its own and grew and fused, then she got up and nodded to the "head maid" on the platform: "The maintenance is done, Ms. Diana." ”

The black-haired maid lying on the platform as if she was sleeping opened her eyes instantly, and the depths of her clear eyeballs quickly refreshed the lines of data, and after a few subtle buzzing sounds and the sound of mechanical devices running in her body, she sat up and smiled at Windsor Marpel while tearing off the pipes attached to her body: "Thank you for your maintenance, Ms. Marpel - I feel much more relaxed." ”

"It's good to be useful," Windsor Marpel smiled back, "after all, all I can do now is a limited number of adjustments, and those more core structures are really beyond my comprehension, and beyond the processing technology of this era." ”

"It's been a great help—after all, I can't debug my magic mechanism and mind core in a dormant state," Diana nodded in satisfaction as she sat on the cold platform, moving her hands and feet to check how well the joints and corresponding bionic muscle fibers were working, "Very good, the output of the left limb has improved, this problem has been bothering me for several years." ”

Windsor Marpel looked at the "iron man" from the ancient Gondor Empire in front of her, although it was not the first time she had helped the other party with hardware maintenance, nor was it the first time she had come into contact with the technical knowledge of the Gondor era, but at this moment she still couldn't help but be impressed by the incredible ancient technology embodied in Diana, and at the same time yearn for the Gondor Empire that had become history, until Diana checked her physical condition and walked off the platform on her own, the president of the Mage Guild woke up from her wandering mind, And looked at the other party and asked casually: "By the way, Ms. Diana, do you know that you have ...... 'drawn' something recently?" ”

"Lately?" Diana was slightly stunned, and then understood what the other party meant, the light in her eyes dimmed slightly, and her brows furrowed, "Have I scribbled again recently......?"

"Yes, on the wall of your own room, and on the clothes of a passing mage apprentice," Windsor Marpel nodded, "and the content is still the same as before, those weird dots and wires...... Looks like you don't remember again. ”

"I really don't remember," Diana couldn't help but tap her forehead - even though the core of her mind wasn't in her head, it was a "personality behavior" that she had been programmed to do since she left the factory hundreds of years ago, and it had become one of her habits, "sorry...... Anyway, apologize to that mage apprentice on my behalf, my reckless behavior must have caused him a lot of trouble. ”

"Haunted...... No, the apprentice mage seems to be quite happy, he seems to have wanted your 'graffiti art' for a long time...... Hey, young man," Windsor Marpel shook her head strangely, then looked Diana up and down again, "but then again, you still can't remember the meaning behind those graffiti?" Not impressed at all? ”

"No impression," Diana said, shaking her head, "the memory is a blank slate, and I don't even remember the graffiti itself, and I wouldn't have known the existence of the patterns myself if it weren't for the evidence that someone else had brought out." ”

"Unfortunately," Windsor sighed, "we've checked your mind core and memory devices several times, and they don't show any signs of damage or impact, at least superficially...... We've also tried to awaken your corrupted memories with different external stimuli, but nothing has come of it other than a few experimental mishaps. ”

Diana didn't say anything more, just stood quietly by the console, and there was only a calm in the delicate and immaculate face created by ancient technology.

……

In Cecil City, in the depths of the renovated and expanded Cathedral of Light, Veronica, holding a platinum scepter, smiling as she saw off the last high-ranking priest seeking guidance, and the holy light that lingered beside her gradually calmed down and turned into a thin glimmer of light, and the holy and ethereal sound of the wind in the church also subsided.

A small chewing sound sounded from beside her, and Veronica followed the sound to see a small head emerging from the air, Emily's spirit condensed in the light that lingered around her, intently nibbling on the thin, calm light.

Veronica smiled and reached out to touch Emily's hair—the spirit that ordinary people couldn't reach seemed to have substance in her hands, and the little girl who had condensed the holy light raised her head, smiled happily and brightly, and then lowered her head and continued to eat intently.

The next moment, Wright's voice came to Veronica's ears: "I'm sorry, this kid has been getting naughty lately. ”

"Good day, Patriarch," Veronica looked up and nodded to Lydin, who had just walked into the prayer hall, with a gentle smile on her face, "It's okay, Emily didn't bother me - besides, she didn't eat much. ”

"As long as she doesn't eat the blessing spell I use for meditation," Wright said with a sigh as she looked helplessly at Emily who was swimming like a fish in the holy light floating around her, "She always can't tell the difference between the various holy light spells and their effects, and when she's hungry, she will casually eat the nearby holy light ......."

"This just proves our research theory that all forms of Light are essentially different shapes and guides of the same type of energy, which is a technical concept rather than a theological one, so in Emily's eyes, any form of Light is essentially the same, and as long as the energy level is still within the scope of what she can digest, it can be eaten......"

Veronica smiled and discussed these questions about Emily and the nature of the Light, but there was more to her vision than just Wright and Emily.

Below the side of her field of vision, a blank area was floating out of thin air with refreshed text and data:

"The second traversal roll call ends.

"Internal security system – normal; Internal energy system – normal; In-house production facilities – normal; Internal controllable unit - normal;

"External security system – normal; external energy system – loss of 1%; Externally controllable units – partially offline;

"Again traversed the external security forces and called names......

"65 nodes are offline and no failure or damage reports found.

"Alert Level ...... Raised"

(End of chapter)