Baudouin was followed by a number of men, who scattered into the hall and chatted with the prisoners.

The prisoners were respectful, and when they turned around, their eyes were full of disdain and disdain when they looked at their backs.

These people were originally one of them, for various reasons, of course, the premise was to really kneel and lick, and turned from prisoners to "royal alchemists".

During this time, Baudouin, accompanied by his granddaughter, visited the entire area.

The area of the castle is not only an underwater temple and warehouse, but also a magnificent dock, pool and garden on the water. Although the entire area is also placed under the barrier of the Castle, there is also an additional layer of Ocean Affinity Barrier that separates it from the rest of the Castle.

Originally, it was used to entertain the Sea Spirits of the Storm Ocean, and each was connected by a huge pipe, which served as a road for the Sea Spirits to travel between them. However, the sea spirits rarely come, and those mermaids don't like places full of artificial buildings, and it will be very uncomfortable to be in them, so this place has been idle for a long time, and the pipes are not filled with seawater but are empty.

Since last year, another group of people have settled here, specializing in the mysteries of alchemy.

The royal magicians of the Dawning Empire have long discovered the special features of alchemy stones, but they have not had the right research methods and cannot find a way to get started.

Now with the magic particle technology, coupled with the idea of the Red Union Micro Magic Theory, the Empress ordered the alchemists in the empire to secretly gather here and let them crack the mystery of the alchemy stone. The double barrier here can shield the alchemy stone from other forces, making it a suitable place for research.

Most of the alchemists were untrustworthy, and the alchemists who ran to the Red Union established the Alchemist Commune, which became a shining beacon for all alchemists, making the alchemists here suspicious, and they were treated like prisoners.

Only a handful of alchemists who were willing to believe in the goddess of order became official researchers, but they lost the ability to activate alchemy stones and could only act as overseers.

Originally, this matter was overseen by the Minister of the Interior, Brinto, and was not of high importance. But recently, Her Majesty the Empress has been asking more and more about the progress of the study, and two months ago she simply separated this department and handed it over to Baudouin for direct management, and let the hand of order take over the security work, which made Baudouin faintly speculate.

After confirming that the defense was in order, and getting the progress of the research from the overseer, Baudouin returned to the standby area on the ground floor of the Castle. As expected, he soon received a summoning order from the Empress.

The Empress knows everything inside the castle through the Hand of Order and the network terminals of the Divine Power of Order throughout the castle, as well as the surveillance function that protects the barrier. After confirming that he had completed his round, he was summoned to report to him.

After all, the empress can only look at the surface situation, and cannot understand the specific details, and there should be more than just things to talk to him about.

In the gourd-shaped study, Baudouin bowed deeply to the empress, who was dressed in casual clothes and had no change in appearance and temperament from three or four years ago.

Today, in the Empire, from government officials to ecclesiastical clergy, from legionnaires to ordinary civilians, no one mentions that this empress is not the same empress she used to be, at least not physically. For them, the Empress has never changed.

In the past three or four years, the empress continued to promote the construction of the Church of Order, allowing the Church to penetrate into every corner of the territory, every level of society, and even the thieves' guilds of the old times had hidden church personnel.

Through the expansion of the Order Church, the Dawning Empire's dominance was further enhanced. In 1230, the Dawning Empire conducted the first census in the history of the world of Fein, confirming that there were more than 270 million "intelligent beings of order" such as humans, half-bloods, half-elves, halflings, goblins, and dragonmen in the empire. Although many of the races in it are included in the statistics for the first time, which makes the final number seem very scary, the human population alone is more than 150 million.

Through the Church, the government, and the Legions, the Dawning Empire firmly rules nearly 300 million intelligent beings, and has gathered wealth and power unimaginable to ordinary people, most of which have been used in the repair project of Heavenly Mountain.

For a cleric like Baudouin, the Empress's greatest achievement was her successful reign over the power of the magicians.

The upper echelons co-opted forces such as Simbernar and Mosmut to appease traditional powerful families such as Hathaway Gordon, while the lower echelons used various imperial projects to support the Santarins and oppose these upper-class magician forces. Further, the "democratization" of the Mage Federation was promoted, and the most important magic patent committee was dug out and supervised by the Empire, so that the power of mages became more and more divided, and it was difficult to stand together against the will of the Empire as in the past.

A more obvious sign is that the original joint communication network has become nominal because the backbone has been replaced by an order communication network dominated by the Order Church. While mages are still able to communicate secretly through private communication tools, they are no longer able to communicate easily and easily on a large scale through joint communication networks.

Now, through the network of order, with the will given by her gods, the empress continues to pay attention to all kinds of news from thousands of nodes, and can go deep into the grassroots of the empire at any time.

Not many of the most stubborn subjects of the empire doubted the empress's authenticity anymore.

These changes in the empire are not personally experienced by ordinary people, but the empress's attention to the cleanliness of the city and countryside, law and order, and culture make her subjects see a ruler who is harsh but still cares about the most basic well-being of her subjects. The news of occasional outings, patrols, and games of flying with Prince Regent Jon gave the subjects a deep impression of a living mortal.

Of course, these "subjects" are at least residents who have some assets or supernatural powers, and do not have to work in the labor camps, mines, and workshops of the Church to earn food.

"The Goddess's Heavenly Mountain Repair Project has reached a very critical moment......"

The empress waved her hand to excuse herself, and said in a crisp and still majestic voice: "The Red Union first made a big move in the inner plane, and now it is making waves everywhere in the main plane, which must be a harbinger of a crazy counterattack. ”

"Today I have received definite news that the Sea Beast King of the Stormy Ocean, Liviat, has been killed by the Hunter Commune of the Red Alliance, and the Sea Spirit Assembly has collapsed, and the various sea valleys are fighting each other and are in chaos. It's strange that the Sea Serpent King didn't show up either, so that guy can't have an accident too, right?"

The empress shook her head and sighed: "In the past, I didn't pay much attention to the sea spirits, and when I saw the development of the Red Alliance, I didn't seem to have much power over the ocean, but I didn't expect them to hide so deeply." ”

Bodu listened quietly, there was not much anger on the Empress's beautiful face, either she was already angry, or things were not corrupted enough to make the Empress angry.

The thought of "this empress is just a doppelganger of the goddess, there is no need to be angry at all" slipped through his heart, leaving no trace.

"Sea Spirits, Benoin, Storm United Kingdom, Lizardmen Kingdom, Half-Elves...... The Red Union is lighting fires everywhere, which is a very old-fashioned trick, that is, they don't know where their real goal is. ”

The empress frowned slightly: "Xiaohong is a brainless, she only knows how to shout and fight." Li Qi is unhappy, and he can face it head-on, and he has to play some tricks and talk about low cost and zero casualties. The idea of the two of them getting together is really elusive. ”

"There are still hidden dangers on Hathaway's side, and the situation is not very optimistic. The Goddess needs us to stabilize the situation on the main plane, but I don't know how to do it all at once. ”

"Baudouin, what do you think?"

Baudouin straightened his waist and said what he had already thought of: "The more times like this, the more you can't show weakness to the enemy! The empire should be more proactive and exert strong pressure on the Red Union and the Empire of Will to put away their small actions." If they already have some vicious plans, they can force them to show their true colors in advance!"

The Empress smiled faintly and sent him information: "Most people think the same as you, but have you calculated how many resources you need to invest in doing so? ”

Baudouin took it, and gasped at the sight of a few of them.

"The size of the empire is too large, and the opponent is not weak, and to exert sufficient pressure, we must arm a large number of floating fleets and legions, reserve war materials, and mobilize manpower from all fields. ”

"This will seriously affect the repair works of Heavenly Mountain, and this delay is not tolerated by the goddess......"

Baudouin's thoughts were not so simple, and he continued: "Your Majesty, have you ever thought of borrowing ...... What about the power of the magicians? The development of magic technology has always made them ready to move, in the empire, they have no room to stretch, only externally can they maximize their power. ”

The empress nodded: "I've also thought about this, today Santarin will lose the competition with the Red Federation again, but the gap is much smaller than last time, and they are celebrating." This is only at the level of morale, from an economic point of view, they hate the smuggling trade of the Red Union the most, and they have spontaneously organized an inspection team, and released their mad dogs to bite the Red Union, which should work. ”

She then sighed, "But as soon as this opening is opened, the magicians will inevitably work harder to squeeze the commoners, and I can't help but worry that the subjects of the empire will suffer from this, and I am also worried that they will swell up and give birth to more ideas." ”

Baudouin insisted on his claim: "As long as Her Majesty the Goddess repairs the Heavenly Mountain and allows the Eternal Order to descend on Finn, these changes are nothing." ”

The empress smiled with satisfaction: "I think so too, it's rare for you to support my idea." ”

This is a bit forcibly wise, but it is also very pleasing to Baudouin, which shows that Her Majesty's humanity is sufficient and protects his own face.

"Well, we must do something," said the Empress, "and I have actually drawn up a plan for an all-out war, but only after the Goddess must repair the Heavenly Mountain." ”

"Your side will first sort out the resources that can be mobilized by the three northern kingdoms, to oppress the Red Federation and the Empire of Will, the power of the magicians alone is not enough, and we can't let the magicians act freely, we have to be prepared to fight. ”

In addition to presiding over the affairs of the Order Church, Baudouin's other work focused on the three northern kingdoms and the study of alchemy stones, which were unknown matters. These are either the basic disks prepared by the empress and even the goddess on the main plane, or the secrets directly related to the level of the gods, and Baudouin's trust is not comparable to that of the people of Brinto.

Then the Empress asked about the progress of the study, and after Baudouin made a report, the Empress pondered for a while, nodded and said, "This is very close to Her Majesty's expectations, go ahead, remember that it is very important, do not relax." ”

Baudouin finally couldn't help but ask, "Is the alchemy stone really related to the power of dawn?"

The empress shook her head: "Only the goddess knows about this, and she might as well tell you that the repair project of Heavenly Mountain is missing this part, so the goddess will be particularly concerned." ”

Baudouin apologized in horror and exited the study.

When Baudouin left, the Empress's body shook slightly, her eyes glowed white, and the expression on her face disappeared, overflowing with an inhuman and sacred aura.

Just as the information of two servers is synchronized, the light is also flickering in a certain rhythm, and the information and its corresponding data are like a torrent of parallel.

"The dawn has been revealed before me, but I cannot accept their arrangements unilaterally. This requires mortals to do a thorough analysis of the power of the dawn in the main position, to see what kind of impact such power has on mortal souls. ”

"Only by establishing this can we be sure whether the repair works of Heavenly Mountain will be completed and whether the eternal order will come. ”

"This is very different from what I knew from Kayla before, the dawn has at least blinded the truth of the world to Kaym and Kayla, and I have a hard time believing them, the situation at the level of the gods may change drastically, and the main plane needs to be stable. ”

"I also sensed several pulsations at the level of the Kingdom of God, some of which were fluctuations outside the world, which were very peculiar but should have nothing to do with this world. Some of them are changes within the world, one of which is related to Hathaway Ted, and I also sense that an unknown but familiar will of a god accompanies her, which is a very bad sign, and I must solve her problems as soon as possible through you. ”

"My presence is indispensable to me, especially at such a critical time. I don't have time to cultivate a mortal interface like me, everything must be careful. ”

The flickering ceased to flicker, the empress blinked, and a calm expression appeared on her face again.

She activates the crystal and says to it, "Summon Gordon-Ted." ”