32 Secrets of the Empire

After Lane Royer "overthrown" his brother's rule and ascended to the throne in 1244, he implemented an advanced management system at home and expanded and annexed externally, and the empire expanded several times in a short period of time. Never forgetting the truths he learned in the desperate desert, Ryan worked out a secret plan with a handful of trusted staff around him as the empire grew stronger, lasting hundreds of years.

Unlike his brother, Haus Lucque, Umi Stream, Para Dax, and Daniel Dutved, Ryan firmly believes that the "curse of the stars" is inevitable, and even if there is a way to prevent the next stage of "testing" from happening, it is only delayed, and it cannot be avoided after all. So Ryan made a very bold plan: to use the power of the entire empire to fight against the curse of the stars, that is, against the two hostile forces in the "test" and "harvest" links! The reason why he dared to do this was because of two important assets: one was the knowledge he had learned in the desperate desert, and the other was the "Book of the Future" that his brother had preserved for him and had not been destroyed.

The plan lays out in detail the course and stages of the development of the Spallow Empire for the next 500 years or so:

The first stage: because when the plan was formulated, the productivity and technology could not meet the production of advanced weapons and equipment, so it was planned to use about 300 years to manufacture factories - that is, those "underground factories" hidden in large cities, and at the same time collect enough resources to transport them to the "underground factories" for storage to meet the production needs of the subsequent stage;

The second stage: When the technology and productive forces can basically imitate the equipment in the "History of the Development of Light Weapons", the production of some "underground factories" will be started, and a small amount of weapons and equipment will be trial-produced and handed over to the army for trial, and relevant experience data will be collected to gradually improve the weapons and equipment. This stage must continue until the "test" takes place, and when fighting against the sudden appearance of unknown and powerful hostile forces, we must not use these advanced weapons and equipment on a large scale to avoid exposing our own strength. After the "test" phase is over, the next planning phase is duly started;

The third stage: that is, the content of the "Initiation Plan" in the previous chapter (Chapter 1 of Part 4), all the "underground factories" mass produce standard weapons according to the best data fed back by the army, and gradually put them into the army for use, and carry out military training with the corresponding combat methods - this is why the Imperial Army that Milo later saw became completely new in terms of equipment and combat ideas. Because this stage can bring about qualitative changes in the army, the combat power of the army will increase exponentially compared to when the "test" takes place, so that when dealing with the "harvesting" process, there is no need to fear the hostile forces used to harvest.

The plan of the Spellet Empire was carried out secretly for more than 500 years, and it was never leaked, even Sevia was not aware of it, thanks to the perfect secrecy measures: very few people knew about the plan, the "underground factories" were not easy to detect and were strictly divided, the different factories were only responsible for the production of individual parts and components, and then the assembly was concentrated, and the workers themselves did not know what they were producing...... So when these weapons and equipment finally appeared, the whole world was shocked.

Now that the Sprelet Empire has passed the "test" - the Djinn Crisis, and the next thing to face is the "harvest", what will be the enemy? At this time, the imperial army is no longer what it used to be, and can the army, which has multiplied its combat effectiveness several times, defeat the "harvest"? We can't know, and neither can King Lane...... But he believes in one thing: the preparation that took 500 years to deal with the "curse of the stars" will definitely work!

But this secret plan also has fatal flaws. Ryan Royer's belief that the power of the Empire and the planets can defeat the Curse of the Stars is because he has not really seen the power of the Teacher in the Desperate Desert - he has not participated in the battle against the Teacher. In Umi's story, the five people combined could not compete with the weapons in the hands of the teacher and those mysterious huge black shadows, and finally relied on some luck and the teacher's miscalculation to win unexpectedly, this difficult and dangerous process, Ryan did not experience and saw with his own eyes, he somewhat underestimated the teacher's strength, and the five people who had experienced the battle with the teacher naturally understood that with the development level and strength of the planet, they would only be slaughtered in the end.

In addition, Ryan did not know the specific conditions for the "test" and "harvesting", including the number of people on the planet, the degree of technological development, military strength, and the stability of coexistence civilizations, etc., which were not specifically covered in his plan, otherwise he could reserve more time for himself to prepare.

These two points make Ryan not face up to the true strength of the "Curse of the Stars" - he just knows that the "curse" is powerful, but how powerful is it? I'm afraid that even the five people who have experience in fighting with the teacher can't tell......

……

"You see, the Sprelet Empire has been preparing for more than 500 years in order to deal with the 'curse of the stars', and every emperor during this period has been strictly implementing King Lane's plan, until today, we are fortunate to see the results, but at the same time, we must also shoulder the responsibility of breaking the 'curse'." Ulf concluded.

It is not a miracle that this five-hundred-year plan can be persistent, which makes Milo sigh in his heart, I don't know how many people have put in their life's work for this plan that will never see the end and the result, "The empire has paid too much." Melo said from the bottom of her heart, full of respect.

"Glory to Splet." Ulf whispered.

"But......" Milo interrupted suddenly, "I thought the Empire would have more information. Indeed, judging from Ulf's account, the Spreite Empire's knowledge of the "Curse of the Stars" is limited to the two stages of "testing" and "harvesting", and nothing else is known.

"Well, it is," Ulf admits with a little guilt, even though it has nothing to do with him, "maybe he was too obsessed with fighting the curse and didn't try to find another way to break it, maybe there was a better way......" Ulf choked up at this.

"How?" Milo was caught off guard and didn't know what to say, but Ulf quickly recovered and explained: "Alas, there have always been rumors that there are clues in the desperate desert, but the dust ...... You know that, too. My grandfather and father were looking for clues there...... Finally gone forever......"

"I'm sorry." Mello somewhat understood Ulf's distress, and felt that he was a little sorry for his previous taunts.

"Don't care...... Because I was too incompetent to go to the desert, I had to look for other clues...... Let's say – investigate Sevia Ansesson. ”

"You've been investigating him for a long time?" This is the first time Milo has heard of this. According to the rumors he knew, Sevia was a hero of the Empire, and it was obviously unreasonable to be questioned.

"Yes, I began to suspect him before the Battle of Anseison (see Part 2 for details). Because King Ryan had mentioned that his teacher was an enemy from another planet, does such a person still exist? I've surveyed a lot of people through various channels, and they are people who are very capable and can change the world...... Oh, and that includes your battlemage friends—"

"Koran Dutwid."

"Yes, the Green Dragon mercenary I hired to investigate her...... Ahh ”

"Did you see her?"

"Well, I saw her the day before yesterday and learned other information about the 'Curse of the Stars' from her...... Ah, let's talk about Sevia first: not only the siege of Ansesson City was lifted, but Sevia had already exposed too many abilities and abilities beyond ordinary people during the Djinn Crisis, so that His Majesty himself began to pay attention, worried about whether he would be an enemy from another planet, so he instructed me to investigate secretly, and I really found a lot of suspicions, including his assassination of Risen and the framing of Miss Akayi, and of course, other ...... We didn't dare to act rashly, so we kept watching him, and His Majesty also gave him a bright and secret surrender, so that he lost his military power, and finally forced him to show his flaws and create this rebellion...... Haha, but he didn't expect that the empire had already secretly revoked the order to want Miss Akayi, this was my idea, thank me! ”

"You're amazing." Milo said admiringly.

Ulf shook his head with a wry smile, the slight satisfaction in his eyes seemed to be reminiscing about the bitterness and dedication of all the previous efforts, and the two were silent for a while......

……

Outside the window, there is the sound of birds, and the suburbs where the sea lion castle is located are beautiful, and the birds are singing and fragrant......

"You know, there are still a lot of beautiful things on this planet that we need to protect," Ulf broke the silence and sighed, "We are all trying to protect it, but like you said, even if the empire is already so strong, there is no clue about the 'curse of the stars', huh!" I have to say it's a big pity...... But today, the clues scattered around the world will come together! ”

"What do you mean?" Melo was curious about the last sentence.

Ulf suddenly stood up, pointed to the prison corridor and said, "Here they are!" Suddenly, there was a sound of footsteps, and Koran and the Green Dragon mercenaries appeared at the door of Milo's cell.

"Milo, it's been a long time since I've seen you." Kelan said with a smile, still so elegant—it was hard to imagine that she was the one who couldn't even wipe the blood off her face after the battle......

"It's great you're okay!" The Green Dragon mercenary also greeted warmly, and then the two saluted Ulf together, and the other party also returned the salute politely, both sides were not informal, after all, it was not the first time they had met.

Milo said, "I'm sorry to worry you all the time...... Did you find any new leads? ”

"That's what I asked them to do," Ulf interjected, opening the cell door and letting everyone into the cell, "show it to us." ”

"You want to see it too?" The Green Dragon mercenary asked curiously, and then asked Kelan with his eyes, who nodded, indicating that there was no problem.

"Without further ado." Ulf found a place to sit down, holding his breath, and the other two knelt gracefully on the ground. The Green Dragon Mercenary took out a small stone with a metallic luster from his pocket, and Milo suddenly remembered the magical "Memory Probing Spell Stone"! The magic weapon of the Green Dragon Mercenary Organization!

"You've explored Sevia's memories!" It dawned on Milo.

"Well, we've got everything, it's time for you to know that." Kelan's face was a little tired and sad, "I wanted to explain it to you, but all the causes and effects in this need to be experienced by you personally." Then, she gestured with her eyes, "Are you ready?" Milo nodded, and sat upright.

"Before I do that, though, I want to make sure of one thing......" Koran asked solemnly, "Milo, have you been having some strange dreams lately?" ”

"Yes." Melo replied in the affirmative, without a rhetorical question.

"It seems that our speculation is correct," Kelan said to the Green Dragon mercenary, then turned his head and said word for word:

"-Milo, only you can break the 'Curse of the Stars'!"

There was silence in the cell, a few drops of sweat running down Milo's face, and he noticed that Kolan's face was frighteningly cold, and a sense of unease welled up all over his body.

"Prepare for the truth." The Green Dragon Mercenary placed the spell stone in the center of the room, sat upright and recited the incantation, and the cell fell into a faint white light......

The mysterious past and present life of "The Curse of the Stars" is about to be presented to everyone from the perspective of Sevia Anseson......

Epilogue We'll see you in the future

At the age of a human being, even if Umi Stream had extended his lifespan with the magic of transformation, he would have been in his nineties, and he had finally arrived at the royal tomb in the heart of the island of Persima in the Dragon Empire. Before that, he relied on his old age to visit four old friends......

Umi's first visit was the royal tomb in Butler City, the Spellett Empire, and since the tomb was open to the public, he easily found the tombstones of Ryan Royer and Albert Royer, and he bent down to wipe the tombstones of the two brothers, reminiscing about the year spent with them, as if the bohemian, bold and careful brother and the energetic and responsible brother stood in front of him and smiled at him......

Daniel Dutved's grave is located in a dense forest at the foot of the Chibo Mountains in the northern part of the Empire, and most of the leaves are yellow or red due to the cold, and Umi has found the corresponding location according to the map given to him by Kolan - as Koran says, he is under a large tree, and the surroundings are beautiful. "Rest well." Umi said that for Daniel, who has traveled the world in search of the purple comet, this inaccessible and picturesque forest is a good place to be......

In the Midland of the Aube Empire, Umi impressed the post city officers guarding the heights of Lyku with his old appearance and words, and made an exception to allow him to visit the tomb of Haus Lyku. Whenever he thinks of House, he always thinks that he is an elegant, cowardly, timid and fearful person, but he never expected him to protect the beings of the planet with the most daring act of suicide......

Traveling from place to place, Umi realizes that his life is short, and that the old man who is dying of death has to visit the last of his old friends, the royal tombs of the Dragon Empire, which is located on a mountain, and Umi does not even believe that he can climb here with the only strength left, but he still does it. Holding the white wooden staff that Kelan handed over to him, he turned it into a royal sword in front of the guards, and the road was smooth...... In this way, he met the tomb of Pala Dax, who had been his servant and had since rewritten the direction of magic in the world. Her weakened body had to lean against the wall, and Umi could only touch the tombstone with her hands, feeling the dented text...... Leaning against the wall, Umi vaguely noticed a stone box placed in the dark side behind the tombstone, presumably a relic of Para. Umi pulled out the stone box and opened it with a little force, revealing some clothes, accessories, and books......

"Finally, the promise was kept......" I don't know if it was to Para or to myself, Umi whispered. More than 500 years ago, when leaving the desperate desert, Umi's words, "Everyone, we will see you in the future!" It was both a farewell and a promise, and after that, most of them did not see each other again, and Umi, who lives to this day, finally fulfilled his promise in this way.

"Maybe it's time to sleep with you......" Umi knew that his life would not last long without turning into a dragon, and with the fulfillment of his promise, he could leave with peace of mind. Placing the sword beside him, his body relaxed as much as possible, and he had no regrets, "Even now—" He thought to himself, but his eyes fell on a book in the stone box.

"...... this?" Picking up the book with difficulty, flipping through pages, two, three...... "This is ......!" He flipped through ten, twenty, thirty pages at once...... The contents of the book made Umi unbelievable -

"You did it...... Pola...... Well done...... Para ......"

Nameless power surged over his body, and Umi got up, dusted off the dirt on his body, carefully put away the book, lifted the sword, and reappeared on his wrinkled face after a long absence—

"My friends, I'm sorry, but not yet...... I still have someone to visit ......."

——

The dragon went to sea again, and Umi's story continues......

——

Curse of the Stars

Part 5 We'll see you in the future

finish