After listening to Diana, the head maid, the already serious and gloomy expression on Rosetta's face seemed to become a little more gloomy than before, but he didn't say anything, just replied indifferently: "I know—it's hard work, go down." ”

Diana nodded, took a half-step back gracefully, and the figure gradually disappeared into a field of warped light.

"Father," Matilda couldn't help but look at her father, "the information Diana mentioned...... Are they all reliable? ”

"Diana will not make a mistake in such a thing, unless the Church of the God of War has woven a vast net that covers all the eyes and ears of the royal family to blind the wanderers." Rosetta said in an indifferent tone.

“…… So there's really something wrong with the Church of the God of War, and Malm Dunit is deliberately hiding from us......" Matilda said in a somewhat complicated tone, and she could hear the gloom in her mood, "The whole Great Sanctuary is hiding our ......"

"Malm, before being your elder and my friend, is first and foremost the Pope of the God of War, and therefore before being loyal to royalty and to his friends, he is first and foremost loyal to his own gods," Rosetta said calmly, as if he had anticipated all this, "as any devout believer would be...... This is an inevitable situation when the theocracy and the imperial power exist at the same time and there is a divergence of interests. ”

Matilda sensed the meaning of her father's words, but before she could ask, she heard the other man suddenly ask something else: "You haven't shown up on the council, have you?" ”

"Not yet," Matilda replied with a nod of her head as she thought of the rest of the day's itinerary and a few bills that the council needed to hear herself, "I'm getting ready to go." ”

"Let's go early - it's the dignity of the royal family to be reserved, not to be late."

Matilda glanced at her father and said nothing, just bowed back: "...... Yes, Father. ”

The garden was quiet again, Matilda's breath was gone, and only Rosetta Augustus, who stood quietly, was left under the orchid pine, the ruler of Typhon bowed his head and looked at a flowerbed in front of him—it was not growing very well, and despite the precious flowers and trees trying their best to stretch their branches, the signs of poor growth were still evident in the plants.

"Diana," Rosetta said suddenly, into the air next to her, "what do you think of Matilda's child?" ”

In the slight fluctuation of magical power, the figure of the black-haired maid Diana quietly appeared, she had not gone away, but some superb aura control ability made her seem to have left the garden, and even hid from the eyes of Matilda, who had a keen sense.

The chief maid bowed her head slightly, and said respectfully, "I should not comment on your heir, Your Majesty. ”

"How did you learn this hypocrisy of human beings?" Rosetta raised her eyebrows slightly, and said with a smile, "This is not a public occasion, Matilda grew up with your own eyes." ”

The black-haired maid was silent for less than two seconds before she spoke, "...... As a human, Matilda is gifted, intellectually protective, has a keen eye beyond her years, and is well receptive to the novelties that have emerged in recent years, as well as her influence among the lower and lower nobility of the empire as well as the new elite - but she doesn't control the conservatives very well, and in this regard, she is clearly not as skilled as you. ”

"A common problem of young people—she is not good at hiding her tendencies," Rosetta nodded, "I am also responsible, I am too concerned with the governance of the country and the construction of my own system of order, so that I have not been able to train Matilda and Hadilan well enough, and if it were not for the diligence of the two children themselves, their precious talents would have been wasted." ”

"'Cultivation' does not make human beings fully mature, and the field of experience needs to be summarized and understood by the individual himself," Diana said very bluntly, "You did not receive enough training before becoming emperor, but you have proved to be far better than the carefully 'made' heir." ”

Rosetta was silent for a moment, then shook her head with a smile: "There are some things that only you dare to say directly." ”

"This is the answer that is most in line with the facts, and in the best interests of the country," replied Diana, in a soft but unemotional tone, "and therefore I do not understand the choice of Prince Malik and the two Dukes Fabro and Colemanroni." ”

"Because humans are not machines, we are always full of variables, and keeping humans sane forever is a luxury in itself," Rosetta shook his head slightly, and then he suddenly looked at the black-haired maid beside him, his expression becoming quite solemn, "You will still be loyal to Typhon's next king, right?" ”

"As long as I can continue to provide services," Diana said scrupulously, "this is a contract made since the ancestors of the House of Augustus took me in and provided me with the necessary repairs. ”

"I believe in this contract, you are far more reliable than humans in this regard," Rosetta smiled, and then waved his hand, "Let's not discuss that, let's talk about the recent gossip in the city, is there anything worth paying attention to?" ”

"There are no noteworthy changes among the people, but since two days ago, there has been some unusual news from the Mage Guild," said the black-haired maid, "The mages say that something is wrong when they prayed to the Goddess of Magic, their prayers have lost their feedback, and it seems that the last trace of the Goddess of Magic's attention to the mortal world has also disappeared." ”

"Goddess of Magic?" Rosetta couldn't help frowning, "Why is it that even the goddess of magic is in trouble......"

Then he glanced at Diana: "What is Lady Windsor Marpel doing?" ”

"She's gathering feedback from the mages and organizing the testing - since the mages don't have a religious community, it's hard to determine who should investigate the anomaly of the Goddess of Magic, so she should eventually come to you to report the situation."

Rosetta's expression was gloomy and serious, and she was already in thought when Diana's words fell, and at that moment, a new breath stepped into the royal garden.

Diana looked in the direction where the creature reaction had appeared, and a moment later, a senior attendant in a dark blue shirt appeared at the end of the cobblestone path.

"Your Majesty," the senior attendant bowed to Rosetta Augustus, "a 'messenger' from the Cecil Empire, bearing a royal seal. ”

"Hotline message?" Rosetta suddenly showed a serious expression, "Bring the letter." ”

This is a new thing that emerged after Matilda completed her mission to Cecil and further diplomatic relations were established between the two countries, and based on modern communication technology. Unlike the "letters of state" that required lengthy transmissions and complicated diplomatic procedures to pass between the rulers of the two countries (sometimes such "deliveries" could take up to several months), the "letters" that relied on the magic web communication of the Cecil Empire and the teleportation tower network of the Typhon Empire were quickly transmitted.

One such "letter" is sent from the source, and it is automatically forwarded through layers of magic network nodes or transmission tower nodes in the middle, and only a very small amount of manual intervention is required to quickly reach the destination, counting the necessary manual forwarding time in the middle and the transcription and delivery time at the end, the time spent in the whole process is only less than an hour, which is almost a conceptual improvement compared with the communication efficiency of the old times.

Rosetta took the letter from the squire, a "copy" that had been printed from the Obsidian Palace's communication tower less than half an hour earlier, the paper still smelling of ink, with the coat of arms of the royal Typhon at the top and the coat of arms of the royal family of Cecil visible at the bottom.

The ruler of Typhon remembered what he had said in the last discussion with Windsor and Daniel about the new communication technology - if only from a technical point of view, the communication efficiency between Typhon and Cecil could be further improved, as long as those useless manual links were opened up and the technology of the teleportation tower was completely upgraded, then it was even possible for the rulers of the two countries to have a direct conversation without delay, which sounds like a miraculous thing that is technically feasible from the magic guide and prevents it from being realized...... It's just the conservative aristocrats and traditional mages who still control most of the dividends of the Teleportation Tower.

The main issue on the Parliamentary side today is about the upgrading of communications technology – and as in yesterday's meeting, today's dispute is likely to be inconclusive.

Moderate discussion and voting will not solve the problem of the distribution of interests between the old and new groups, and there are usually only two best ways to silence the old forces, either wait for them to die or run them in the face with the wheel of something new – and run over them without stopping.

Hopefully, the young Matilda will wake up to this after confronting the chaos of the Parliament.

Rosetta shook his head, putting the extraneous matter behind him for a moment, his eyes fell on the text of the letterhead, and his brow furrowed subconsciously after reading two lines.

The letter was sent in the personal name of Gawain Cecil, and it went straight to the point-

"To my neighbors and friends, I've learned of some very disturbing developments lately, and it could even reach Typhon, thousands of miles away, where my mages report that the goddess of magic seems to have disappeared......"

Rosetta took a slow breath, he glanced at the attendant on standby, who immediately understood his intentions and quietly bowed back and left the garden, before he withdrew his gaze and continued to look down:

“…… This may be a harbinger of some kind of large-scale incident, and as close neighbors, I think it is necessary for us to share information on such matters, not only for the sake of friendly relations between our two countries, but also for the sake of the common future of humanity......

“…… Cecil's mages have made a series of attempts and 'investigations' using technical means, and my advisors now have a terrible guess that the goddess of magic may have fallen for some unknown reason - it sounds strange, but we all know that something similar happened three thousand years ago, when the druids lost their 'gods' when the White Star fell......

“…… The mages will continue to investigate, and I hope that Typhon will take this matter seriously, because the belief of the gods is not limited to one country or one place, it spans all mortals, and affects the order of the entire mortal world......"

Rosetta's gaze continued to move downward, and the follow-up content made his eyes even more glazed:

“…… In addition, at the same time as the anomaly of the Goddess of Magic, the priests and priests of the God of War also reported anomalies - in a sense, I think what they reported was more disturbing than the disappearance of the Goddess of Magic......

“…… Many of the priests who served the god of war were suffering from mental disturbances, repeatedly harassed by violent visions and voices, and the more they prayed to the god of war for refuge, the more severe the mental intrusion became, as if the intrusion was from the god of war......

“…… These were originally internal matters of the Church, but the successive visions of the goddess of magic and the god of war had inevitably caught my attention......

"We all know that during the 'Ansu Civil War', the mad dark cultists once created a god that went out of control, and I don't want to say blasphemous words, but this incident proves that the 'power of the gods' is not only good as mortals think, it can also become terrifying and violent. And now, I'm worried that something similar is brewing in some forces...... The 'cataclysms' of the Plains of the Holy Spirit may be repeated, and even more dangerous than the evil gods created by the dark druids is that the goddess of magic and the god of war, especially the latter, have great influence on the faith of the present day......

"My friend, as you read this letter, I was preparing to send a warning to the surrounding countries, but I think Typhon should be the most vigilant of all the nations, and it's easy to see why......

“…… If you agree, I'd like to share with Typhon some of the Cecil's experience and proven protection against the Scourge on the Plains of the Holy Spirit. Of course, no one wants a catastrophe to happen again, just to prepare for a rainy day......

“…… Your neighbor, Gawain Cecil. ”

Rosetta's gaze swept over the final payment, and after a few seconds of silence, he exhaled deeply.

Diana stood quietly beside her, showing no curiosity about the contents of the letter.

“…… What a timely reminder," Rosetta said as if talking to herself, "'Scourge'...... That's a fitting word. ”

Diana's voice came from the side: "Your Majesty, do you need to summon Archduke Ferdinand for discussion?" ”

Rosetta nodded: "Well, let Archduke Ferdinand come immediately, and I'll see him in the study." ”

As he spoke, he turned to leave the garden, but as he was about to take a step, he suddenly stopped again, and his gaze swept over the orchid-leaved pine beside the flowerbed.

The tree had been sick for years, and the incurable condition had even begun to affect the growth of other plants around it.

"Tell the gardener to cut down the tree."