Andesa shook her head, shaking the bold thought that popped into her head out of her mind.

She wasn't a believer herself (a rarity in this world), but even if she wasn't, she never really thought about what it would be like to one day completely remove the power of the Empire's armies, officials, and aristocracy from the hierarchy of the Empire and the Holy See.

"We've been out long enough," she exhaled, to her retinue, "it's time to get back to the fortress." ”

As she spoke, she looked up to see the north wind rolling up the Imperial banner on the tall tower in the distance, three griffon knights and two low-patrolling battle mages skimming through the sky, and farther away, a faint pale cyan magic eye floating in the clouds, it was the mage sentries of Winterwolf Castle monitoring the movement in the direction of the plain.

After most of the Ares Priests were transferred from their posts, the garrison of Winterwolf Castle was not weakened in the slightest, but became tighter than ever due to proactive transfers and additional patrol shifts, but this temporary reinforcement came at the cost of additional attrition, even if the empire was strong, it could not be wasted for a long time.

Let's hope Aldernan can come up with a solution soon.

With this in mind, Andesa left the bazaar with two of her followers and returned to Winterwolf's castle, next to the town.

She stepped into the castle, through the corridors and stairs, to the second floor of the castle, and as soon as she stepped out of the stairs, she saw one of her own soldiers standing at the door of the study waiting for her.

"General," seeing Andesa appear, the soldiers immediately stepped forward and saluted, "There's your letter—from Aldenan, with the purple luan-tailed flower mark." ”

"Matilda's letter," a smile appeared on Andelsa's face, and then she quickly regained her composure, she took the fire-lacquered envelope handed by her own soldiers, and nodded slightly, "It's hard work, go down." ”

"Yes, General."

The soldiers left, Andessa turned and walked into the study, she casually opened the fire paint seal on the seal of the letter, her eyes swept over the purple luanwei flowers in the corner of the paper, shook off the snow-white letterhead inside, and the familiar handwriting came into view.

It begins with a daily greeting.

Andesa relaxed slightly, unfastened the brown cloak from her coat with one hand, and held the letter paper in the other, pacing slowly through the study as she read.

The letter mentions Aldenan's recent changes, the Royal Mage's Guild and the "Typhon Communications" will work together to renovate the Empire's teleportation towers - the council has completed discussions, the royal family has issued orders, and the matter has been carried out inexorably, as Matilda had predicted in the last correspondence.

Andesa stood still in front of the window, the light of the day near dusk was not bright, but the sun shone obliquely on the letterhead, neither dazzling nor dim, with a very comfortable texture, her eyes moved over the delicate handwriting, and a smile appeared on the faces that had always been flat in front of her subordinates.

“…… I went to see the 'Shadow Show', which has been quite popular among young aristocratic circles lately, and to my surprise it was very interesting - although it was indeed a little rougher and more impetuous, very different from traditional dramas, but I would admit privately that it was more attractive than any other play I had ever seen......

"But I also have to worry a little that the magic drama made by the Cecil is based on Cecil, and many of the young aristocrats are already learning to drink Cecil's Karna wine and assorted tea - but only a few years ago, most of the customs of the 'Ansu' were the target of their contempt......"

Andesa gently flipped the letter over a page, making a subtle, pleasant rustling sound as it flipped.

It was indeed just a personal letter about the day-to-day life, and Matilda seemed to write wherever she wanted, and after talking about the changes in the imperial capital, she mentioned some of her recent experiences in studying magic techniques and mathematical knowledge—Andesa had to admit that she had a hard time even reading them, but fortunately the part was not very long—and then introduced Cecil's merchants to other novelties in the country.

Eventually, as the setting sun faded a little red, her gaze fell on the end of the letterhead, and she saw Matilda's handwriting stretching there, outlining lines of words:

“…… Andelsa, after you left the Imperial Capital, there have been even greater changes here, and there are many things that are difficult to express in the letter, I just hope that you have the opportunity to see for yourself......

"Times have changed, and many things have changed beyond our expectations, even beyond my father's expectations, beyond the expectations of parliamentarians and think-tank advisers.

"The Empire's markets in the southern part of the continent are spreading rapidly, the Kingdom of Kaolin and the Elves are doing business with the Typhonians, Earl Dyson has opened the first offshore route and successfully established an outpost on the island of Tassos, we are reclaiming those ancient colonial islands in the open sea, and more and more young people are going to the south and east coasts to find opportunities there.

"A few years ago, almost all of us thought that the Empire needed a foreign war, and I thought so then, but now it's different—it needs peace, at least for now, which is in the greater interest of the Typhonians.

"I hope you think the same way......"

Andesa exhaled softly, folded the letter back up, and after a few seconds of quiet standing, she smiled helplessly and shook her head.

At one point, she had been ordered to spy on Cecil's movements and strike a decisive attack, and although she had not been successful enough in this mission, she had never disobeyed the orders given to her. And now, she has received an order to defend the border, maintain order here, and maintain peace with Cecil on the premise of guarding the border - an order that is not in line with her personal emotional tendencies, but she will still carry it out.

It is a matter of course that imperial interests take precedence over personal feelings.

"You're worrying too much...... I don't have muscles in my head. ”

After muttering a casual word, she waved the few pieces of letter paper in mid-air, and the flames ignited out of thin air, swallowing up a few thin sheets of paper in her breath, leaving only a few ashes to disperse out of thin air.

The envelope was kept—she restored the slightly crumpled envelope and placed it in a small cabinet next to her desk.

There are strict rules in the army, personal letters received by senior officers are not kept, and burning them after reading them is a hard and fast rule, and no matter what the letter is, even if it is just a few blank sheets of paper, Andessa will never break her own rules.

Keeping the envelope is already the biggest "favoritism" she can do.

Then she went to her desk, spread out a piece of stationery, and prepared to write a reply.

But before she could put pen to paper, she suddenly stopped again, and looking at the familiar table in front of her, Andrisa suddenly had some thoughts in her heart for no reason—what would her father do if he was still around? What will he say?

My father is different from myself, I only know how to solve problems in the way of soldiers, but my father has more extensive knowledge and more flexible skills, if it is my father, I think he can easily deal with the current complex situation, whether it is facing the anomaly of the God of War Church, or facing the intrigue between factions and nobles, or...... Confronted with the bewildering new relationship between the Empire and the Cecil.

After a few seconds of silence, the young wolf general shook her head, and began to think of the words with great difficulty, and it took her a long time to finish the reply to Princess Matilda—

"The letter has been received, everything is fine at the border, and your reminder will be remembered. I'm intrigued by what you mentioned, but not going back this holiday – next time definitely.

"Desa Wendell."

Night had fallen, and the lights were lit inside and outside the fort, and Andesa let out a long sigh of relief, wiping the beads of sweat that didn't exist on her forehead, feeling more tired than a day on the battlefield.

My father is also a little stronger than himself - clerical ability......

……

"Oh, Mr. Bud - it just so happens that this is today's handover order," a young technician stood up from the desk where the magic web terminal was placed, handed a document with a form and a person's signature to the middle-aged man who had just walked into the room, and looked the other person up and down with some surprise, "Come so early today?" ”

Bud Wendell, who was wearing a technician's uniform, showed a smile, took the handover documents and nodded at the same time: "There is nothing to do in the dormitory, why don't you come and look at the data." ”

As he spoke, he raised his head and looked at the "listening machine room" - several high-power magic network terminals were neatly arranged in the huge room, and two still expensive immersion chambers were placed in the corners, and several technicians were monitoring the data next to the equipment, and a low humming sound echoed in the room.

"You've got to develop a hobby—like playing cards and playing ball with everyone once in a while," the young technician muttered, "Isn't it boring to be in the dorm all day?" ”

"I like to write and do arithmetic — it's more fun for me than playing cards," Bard said casually, asking, "Did you get anything out of the day?" ”

"Of course—no, how can you be so lucky?" The young man shrugged, "Those signals are elusive, and it seems that it all depends on our mood, we can only passively listen here, and God knows when we will receive the signal next time." ”

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but glance at Bard again, with a hint of curiosity on his face: "Speaking of which...... I didn't expect you to get acquainted with the 'listening group' so quickly, and I thought you were only here for a few days and would soon be back at the Druid Institute. ”

Bud looked away from the handover slip and slowly sat down next to his device before smiling and shaking his head, "I'm a little confident in my ability to learn, and the monitoring work here isn't too difficult for me. As for the Druid Institute...... I've submitted my application and my file will be completely transferred out of there next month. ”

"Why?!" The young technician's eyes widened in surprise, "You are a scholar of three oak leaves there, and the treatment should be much better than here!" ”

“…… I don't want to deal with that stuff anymore because some ...... "For personal reasons," Bard said with some hesitation, "Of course, I know that druid techniques are useful, so I joined the institute when there was a shortage of people here, but now that the technicians from the Imperial Capital are in place, and Lady Bertila is leading the new research team, there is no shortage of ordinary druids like me over there." ”

There was a slight self-deprecation in his tone.

"Well, now that you've decided." The young technician glanced at Bard and said helplessly.

He didn't really know what kind of background and experience this slightly withdrawn and mysterious colleague in front of him had, as a "listener" who had only been transferred from other places not long ago, the man in front of him was already a "senior officer" of the technical department in the Solin region when he came here. He only heard a few words from the mouths of others, and knew that the man named Bard seemed to have a complicated past, and even a Typhonian...... But that's just inconsequential gossip.

The young technician is not a keen person to dig into other people's past experiences, and now he is off work.

With his colleague gone, and the rest of the room going about their own business, Bard finally exhaled softly and sat down at his desk, his attention falling on the holographic light and shadow projected by the magic web terminal.

Calm background noise creates an even shimmering "curtain" on the holographic projection, on which there is nothing.

Bard picked up the small earpiece from the table next to him and placed it to his ear.

The resonance crystal embedded in the earpiece received the listening signal from the Thorin Hub, a soothing and rarely undulating sound that reverberated silently, sinking into Bard Wendell's heart little by little.

It is reminiscent of the breeze of the green forest valley and the insects chirping at the Longbranch Manor at night in the middle of summer.

Today's surveillance may still not yield anything, but the silence is already the biggest gain for Bard.

……

"Visit Tallund...... Rest assured, Speaker Andal has already handed over this matter to me! Melita smiled and said to Gawain, looking rather happy (presumably because of the extra work that could be paid overtime), "I'll show you around all the iconic areas of Tallund, from the hottest arena to the old Poetry Square, and if you want, we can also see the lower town...... The Speaker has given me a lot of authority, and I think you can go wherever you want, except for the upper temple and a few major administrations that you can't just wander around. ”

As she spoke, she seemed to suddenly remember something, and quickly added: "Oh yes, Noretta will also come, after all, she is the dragon who has the most contact with you besides me." Remember her, right? White Dragon Norretta. ”

"Of course I do," Gawain said, nodding his head, as he followed Melita out of the palace at the council's headquarters, the bright lights that could be seen everywhere in the square outside the palace illuminated the wide road ahead, and a continuous line of lights extending down from the top of the hill to the direction of the city on the plain, the flickering and multitude of lights in the city even gave Gawain the illusion of suddenly crossing again, making him blink subconsciously and move his gaze back to Melita, "but where are we going now?" ”

"Before I take you there, of course, settle down in the guest's quarters," Melita said with a smile as she looked at Gawain, Veronica, and Amber, who was a little dozing, "I'm sorry that Tallund doesn't have a palace dedicated to entertaining foreign envoys like the 'Autumn Palace', but if you don't mind, you can all stay in my house for the next few days—although it's a private house, my house is quite large." ”

"Of course not," said Gawain at once, "then we'll be bothered a lot for the next few days." ”