Compared to Isttalon, which has developed into a semi-commercial city, Thunder Fortress still retains the military function of a millennium ago, and the city of Thunder Castle is four times the size of Isttalon, but it has no more than 100,000 inhabitants, only close to the population of Isttalon at its peak. (M starter)

Moreover, these 100,000 people are not residents in the true sense of the word, they are the people and reserve soldiers recruited from all over the country by the Auckland Kingdom, specifically to provide logistics support for the regular army stationed in the Thunder Fortress.

El used to be curious about this, knowing that most of the noble families that can continue from ancient times to the present day are luxuriant and have many heirs, so many noble descendants naturally need more commoners to support. For example, Isttalon relied on the descendants of the army to gradually develop, and Thundering Fort was a purely military fortress, who did the 100,000 strong men find to solve the problem of physiological needs?

This is a question that even De Laere has a hard time answering, and he has only hearsay about the information about the Thunder Fortress. In the past peaceful years, the name of this barren land has become almost legendary, and few nobles have taken an interest in it, except for a few high-class people.

This is the consistent disposition of the aristocracy, who sings the praises of the hero, and then forgets him in the blink of an eye.

"All of them are soldiers. Prince Romans said succinctly. As the Queen's elder brother, Prince Tiewei is one of the "few people in the upper echelons", and he knows far more about Thunder Fortress than Delare. But for some unknown reason, after coming to Thunder Fortress, Romus not only did not publicize his identity, but kept a low profile, trying his best to dilute his presence.

Regarding the issue of the Thunder Fortress, he was not willing to say much at all, and it could even be said that he was secretive.

The exiles' temporary camp was not too close to Thundercastle, and Tiana and her party followed the lord's envoy through the walls, only to discover that it was only the first outer line of defense for the Thunder Fortress.

Scattered fortresses and passes have conquered almost every dangerous place in this wasteland, and have surrounded it to the fullest. The process of customs clearance and release along the way took a full half an hour.

Behind the first wall, El noticed a noticeable change in the color of the earth, which looked like it was almost the same as the real earth, giving it a sense of life. The land is planted with crops that are close to maturity, but instead of the wheat that is common in the southern plains, potatoes are more suitable for growing on barren land, and the leaves and seedlings are not as lush as normal, at most half the yield of ordinary farmland.

In any case, these lands have been restored, and it is better to have something than nothing.

Since there is land that can be cultivated, there will naturally be farmers who are responsible for farming. El's gaze swept over the farmland, and in the distance he saw scattered villages and laborers. Although the laborers did look like they were wearing the shabby coats of ordinary people, they couldn't raise the sturdy figure and composure of the potatoes alone.

El shook his head, these villages and farmers did not give him the familiarity of his home town at all, but rather a chill in the back.

After climbing over a mountain ridge, the remains of two huge rock columns with a diameter of more than ten meters appeared in front of you, this is the legendary Arch of Hell, where the world of human civilization and the wild land meet. It wasn't until a thousand years ago that the Oakland Ancestors breached this gate and expanded the territory of mankind thousands of kilometers northward.

Today, only the ruins of this arch remain, but you can still feel the majesty of its former majesty.

Just south of Hellarch is the high ground where Thundering Castle is located, a castle made entirely of rock that has a rugged yet tough aesthetic with a strange sense of familiarity.

El thought about it carefully, and realized that the architectural style here was quite similar to the underground ruins of the brown hills. The former city of hope, Dimiente, also adopts this rough and unrestrained rock building style.

But if you compare it carefully, the rock architecture of Dimiente has already appeared with exquisite carving art, in other words, a clear division between the rich and the poor. The rocks of Thundering Castle, on the other hand, are pure rock, with almost no cosmetic decorations.

This may be the reason why the former has disappeared into the long river of history, while the latter still exists.

There were few active inhabitants in the castle, the same rock buildings on both sides of the street were barely indistinguishable, and the occasional patrol in sight maintained an eerie silence. The whole city looks like a silent dead city.

This oppressive feeling persisted until outside the Lord's Mansion, where signs of normal human activity finally appeared. In fact, the group had come to the back of the Lord's Palace, where caravans had established a medium-sized trading market. Some of the caravans had to be cleared to move on, and most of the merchants traded directly with the army, so the order here was also extraordinarily stable, and the bazaar was much quieter than the impression of Bier.

The group, led by the envoy, walked through the bazaar and entered the back door of the lord's mansion, sneaking like a thief. Until this time, there was still no welcome procession for the lord of Churkin, and not even a symbolic escort force was prepared, which was tantamount to a wordless humiliation of the lord, I am afraid that he really regarded them as beggars begging for food.

In a reserved manner, Tiana never spoke, Prince Romus didn't know what he was taboo about, and he didn't force his head, but the faces of the others were not very good-looking.

"Envoy, are you sure you're bringing us to the Lord's Mansion and not some abandoned temple?, do you still need to bathe and change our clothes and pray sincerely before meeting Your Lord?" asked El and Tiana as she exchanged a vague look, and suddenly stepped forward to stop the envoy's horse's head, and asked with an unhappy expression.

In fact, it is not surprising that he asked this kind of thing, generally speaking, most of the lord's mansions are castle buildings, to be precise, there should be castles built by nobles first, and then there will be residential buildings attached to the castle that slowly develop, and finally gradually form a complete city.

In addition to its own rock structure, the walls of this building are wrapped in a layer of metal decks as black as ink, and rows of metal spikes as sharp as spears are plunging straight into the sky, looking like a hedgehog made of steel.

"You think too much, this is not a temple, it was built for another reason, and it is not a hedgehog, but the image of a steel-maned boar, which is the symbol of the boar family. The lord's envoy was also a young man, and although he had no expression on his face, he was not silent, on the contrary, he patiently explained the scenery and historical allusions along the way. The only thing that is unpleasant is that this guy avoids talking about all other issues on the grounds of military secrets.

A true nobleman would not waste words with a slave, and Tiana, as the guest of honor, was not suitable to speak, and this was when the role of the staff was reflected. El grabbed the reins of the envoy's horse, stared into his eyes and asked, "We've already walked here, but there is not even a person to welcome guests, is it that the lord has a lot of face when it spreads?"

"Your duty is only to guide you to meet your lordship, and as for the matter of welcoming guests, it is not in the area under your jurisdiction, but ......" The envoy looked at El, shook his head, and said, "With all due respect, you are not qualified to ask for this explanation. ”

Before the envoy could finish speaking, a sharp arrow swooped down from mid-air, and in the blink of an eye, it was already in front of El.

It was a specially made elongated wolf's tooth arrow, and the archer must have used a strengthened longbow, otherwise it would not be enough to drive such an arrow. If you were an ordinary soldier, this arrow would have pierced the bodies and armor of three people. The person who can shoot this arrow has at least reached the level of a "marksman".

Unfortunately, El was no ordinary man, and the archer's target was not his vital point, but aimed at his cheek, trying to make him a big ugly. The moment the sword slashed in front of him, El deflected his head without a trace, letting go of the path of the long arrow, and at the same time stretched out his mouth and bit hard.

Under the envoy's horrified gaze, El's teeth made a noise like scraping against metal, and a puff of white smoke came out of the shaft of the arrow under his teeth, but he actually bit it off in the end. El spat out the long arrow, took off the dragon tooth bow behind his back with his backhand, turned around and pulled the bow and arrow, and returned the original object in the direction from which the long arrow had been fired.

Hearing a scream, an embarrassed figure suddenly jumped on the wall in the distance, clutched his shoulders and fell backwards. El's arrow was like stabbing a hornet's nest, and the murderous aura exploded in all directions.

I have to say that these nearby rock buildings are really excellent battlefield sites, and the heavy stone slabs cover the view, and at the same time, they also hide the breath leaking from the army. In the blink of an eye, the surrounding rock buildings suddenly came to life, and groups of heavily armed warriors rushed out from all corners, surrounding the group.

"It's like welcoming guests. Feeling the undisguised murderous intent around him, El pursed his lips and laughed, the violence that made him feel more intimate than the eerie silence of the city.

"Your actions will be seen as ......" The lord's envoy's face was slightly gloomy, and he was about to reprimand him, when he was suddenly grabbed by the collar and pulled up. When he turned around, he saw the smiling girl approaching his face.

The rose-like aroma made his brain go blank in an instant

(Jiangsu.com)