Time flies quickly, and sometimes slowly.

For those soldiers who had managed to rotate from the tragic frontline, the time to rest was gone in the blink of an eye.

And for those who are struggling to survive on the artillery front, every minute and second, every whistling of crystallized bullets, and every breath mixed with blood and earthy breath may bring eternal sleep.

In the two months since the outbreak of war, the loss of life has become the second most important topic in people's mouths, after the change in the form of war.

All the combatants, whether it was the major kingdoms or the principalities that depended on the existence of the kingdom, now clearly felt the true intensity of the war.

Like a plant seedling that had been suffocated under the dirt for a long time, the knowledge of magic, steam, ordnance, and tactics was irrigated with blood, and it broke through the soil with great ferocity and grew towards the bleak sky above.

The progress of the war inevitably led to the fusion and exchange of magic and steam technology on which the two sides depended, and of course, these passive changes eventually brought about even more tragic deaths.

The first batch of imitation steam guns led by the Principality of Black River Weapons Workshop has been put into the battlefield, and they will be tested on the front line, while the imitation work on the Kalfan heavy machine gun is nearing completion, and it will not be long before these magic guns, assisted by steam machinery, with magic crystals and rituals as the leading force, will completely close the gap between the weapons on the plateau and the plains.

At the same time, with the continuous advancement of the Wattel Kingdom's ground front, and the continuous progress of the Haine Kingdom's fleet, the Plateau Alliance has finally ushered in its own advantageous situation in this war.

The successful raid of the Fifth Chasseur opened an important gap for Waterl's army, and the successful control of the Black Forest transportation hub became an important cornerstone for the Waterrs to control several large crystalline mines in the surrounding area, and as the scarce crystalline mines began to be replenished, a large number of ordnance research and development programs that had been put on hold were reopened.

A new type of anti-air crystallization cannon used to deal with the magical airships of the Kingdom of Deran has made its mark on the frontal battlefield, and a large weapon that has been fantasized about countless times before has made its debut on the Silver Corridor front.

"The evil Waters War Machine is advancing!"

"Smoke-spewing metal vehicles are destroying poor Deresan soldiers!"

"Will nimble magic lose to stupid machines?"

As a member of the Law Council stationed in a station near the city of Seren, Valery felt that every day was very painful.

The change of battle lines in the vicinity of the city of Salem was equally striking, and although both sides of the battle had invariably bypassed the troublesome "reef" of the city that stood on the plain, the constant shelling around it, and the large-scale fighting after large-scale battles, also had a terrible impact on the already fragile transportation road.

He flicked anxiously through the newspaper handed out by Merlin Lehe in his hand, and from time to time he looked into the shadows of the city of Salem in the distance.

He had done his best to do what he had told Valery before, and he was constantly tracking the relevant developments, but these days, the form and intensity of the war were still changing, but the things he was concerned about had not yet appeared.

Logically speaking, he didn't need to be in such a hurry, but these days, another location near the city of Salem has seen some "new changes" that have exceeded all his expectations.

The place where the earthquake originated, or rather, the place where the magic that caused the earthquake to erupt, has not been stable for the past few days.

According to the information reported by the Judicial Committee's monitoring station, at the junction of the rugged hills and the plains, some kind of "magic tremor" phenomenon is occurring beyond common sense, and according to the description of the monitoring station members, they can feel the slight fluctuations in the magic level through the secret ritual.

"It's like there's a heart hidden in the ground beating slightly...... On average, every few hours, very slow, but also very regular, and the depth of its source is beyond the detection range of the secret instrument. ”

"Preparations are underway for the in-depth investigation of the source of the magic anomaly, and it is expected that the erection of the secret instrument will be completed within five days, and a volunteer team will be organized to go underground through the cracks in the surface to inspect the ......"

Valery folded the newspaper in his hand with some irritation, it was a cloudy day, although there was no snow, but there was a hint of moisture in the air, which made people feel even colder.

He walked out of his room and paced back and forth in the open space twice.

Not far away, a batch of materials that had been transported by sea were being counted and reloaded, and these materials would be sent to the Movement Monitoring Station to help the Law Committee investigate the source of the magic anomaly.

It stands to reason that Valery should be happy if he was willing to take on such a role, but he also knew that information and information about these magical movements had been communicated to the warring nations these days.

As a result, apart from some responses from the Deresan royal family and the Highland Council, no one else responded to the matter.

The Council of Plateau Mages was equally ambiguous on the matter, agreeing to temporarily cooperate with Merlinler while ignoring the premise of the war, but they had their own ideas about the overall command and the eventual sharing of the results of the investigation.

"If nothing else, the two sides will meet again to negotiate...... I don't know if there can be a result, this kind of thing can't be delayed, right? ”

Valery let out a long sigh.

He reached out and pinched the pendant that he had been wearing since he became a mage, the pendant was carved from a blue magic crystal that no longer had magical powers, and it was a very classic statue of the goddess Mel, although it was not too delicate, but it was a good expression of the temperament of this goddess of wisdom and love.

Probably because it had been worn for too long, it had worn out a little, and even the face of the goddess had become a little blurred.

Valery's belief in Mel has never changed, neither before he became a mage nor after he joined the Legislature, not just because he yearns for a miracle called magic, nor because of his status as a spellcaster.

He simply identified with and pursued the ideals of this faith.

He agrees with the "Law of Magic" and does believe that everything in Van is supposed to be interconnected, especially the races, nations, and individuals who are intelligent.

In the distant sky, more than a dozen prototype magical airships painted with the pattern of the giant eagle of the plateau were slowly advancing, and Valery didn't have to think about it to know that these transports that had been transformed by the Waters not long ago must be equipped with light crystalline cannons and carried those terrifying repeating guns.

"Magic or machinery...... They shouldn't just be used in these places, right? ”

Valery sighed with great sadness.

"Master Valery! Here is your letter, from St. Steele! ”

An apprentice hurried over, placing a heavy letter in Valery's hand that had just been taken out of the Mystic Instrument of Mel's Eye, and then hurried away, today was the day of personal letter delivery, and he still had a lot of letters to deliver.

Valery held the letter to his eyes, and in the light, a very beautiful, regular snowflake pattern was faintly revealed on the envelope, and on the corner of the snowflake, there was a small palm print of an ice bear.

Valery pressed his face to the envelope, trying to feel the familiar chill coming from his distant homeland.

However, after this long journey, of course, there will be no more snowflakes and winter temperatures on the letter.

So, he opened the envelope and read it with trepidation.

……

"Dear brother,"

"We received your letter, and my mother was very happy, and on the day the letter arrived, she had an extra meal to celebrate, and we drank a little bit of sweet wine, really only a little."

"Until then, the family was terrified, and we all thought that you would be sent to the front to fight our own army, that would be too cruel...... No one wants to see St. Steele kill each other, and believers in the Goddess of Life and the Goddess of Magic should not do such a thing! ”

"A lot of people in our neighborhood have received obituaries...... Including Uncle Ivan, his youngest son Sasha, who is your former card friend, has been killed in battle, and it is said that he, along with a dozen of his comrades, was directly hit by a crystalline cannonball with an increased amount, and did not recover anything that could symbolize his status. ”

"Sasha wrote a will before he went to war, saying that all the dragon tooth cards in his collection will eventually belong to you...... Uncle Ivan sent them all over, saying that he didn't want to see these pieces of paper again, and that Mom thought that the things of the dead would bring you bad luck, and Dad thought that it was the last blessing left by your friend, so he put them away for you, and sorted them out, saying that when you came back, you could use it to play two games, and maybe you could win some money back. ”

In the cold wind, Valery silently licked his lips, and at the same time wiped away the salty and bitter smell that slipped from the corners of his mouth.

Everyone is not optimistic about war...... Because our offensive was so aggressive, as if the lives of the soldiers were not important at all...... General Sonosky has been trying to advance, so our men have suffered a lot of losses, and the supplies can't keep up, and Dad complains that even an old man like him will be taken to the front if this continues. ”

"It's already the third wave of conscription, and I don't know when it will end."

"I thought about going to the front line as a medical nurse, but my mother didn't give it, and I had a fight with her, and I threw in the towel."

……

……

"Brother, you must not know that just yesterday, there was a riot in the royal family's mine very close to our house, and the overseers sent by the royal family were killed...... It is said that the overseers forced the miners to dig all the way down, but they didn't give them the corresponding magical protection at all - the mage in charge of the matter had already gone to the front, so the mine collapsed, and dozens of people were trapped underneath. ”

"I won't go into the details, my father said that the letter would be easy to be stopped and would not be sent...... In short, there are still a lot of reserves of canned food, water and food at home, and even several miles of weapons, so don't worry. ”

Valery silently carved the babbling words written by his sister on the letter paper into his eyes, and at this moment, he had a rare calm, and even the sporadic sound of artillery fire in the distance from time to time became much more pleasant.

However, the letter was a little thicker, and after pulling out all the letterheads, Valery found that there was a new newspaper in the envelope, which, although it was a lingua franca, was printed in a very classic St. Steele style, with sharp strokes like ice blades used when walking on ice.

Puzzled, he flipped the letter to the end, only to see a passage in the bottom corner of the letter, apparently improvised.

"By the way, on the way to the mail, there are some people who are giving away newspapers everywhere...... Dad flipped through it and said that you would definitely like the article on it, so I sent it together, remember to read it! ”

The humidity in the air grew heavier, and Valery returned to the house to protect the letter, activating the magic ritual in the room, baking the letters a little on top, and then putting them away, ready to read them slowly twice later.

Then he unfolded the folded newspaper in the light.

The newspapers were very new, and the smell of magic ink on them was slightly pungent, and it was clear that they were not of very good quality, which is a common problem with small newspapers.

The contents of the newspaper were relatively limited, and when Valery looked closely, he was astonished to find that on the front page of the newspaper was a very beautiful painting of magic, in which he saw a ruined city, standing alone on the plain, with a torn black shadow on the ruined walls.

And on the plain next to the city, Valery was the battlefield that Valery was all too familiar with.

Magical airships hung in the air, artillery fire fell on positions and crowds, and a series of bullets pierced through tiny human bodies......

The name of the painting is written on it.

"Suffer from the Forgotten Lands."

Valery whispered its name, then moved his gaze downward, trying to find the name of its creator.

Eventually, he noticed that in the lower right corner of the painting, there were two names.

"George Markham."

"Mikhail Gerasimov."

Needless to say, the former was a very prestigious and respected magician, while the latter, who was so famous throughout Saint-Steele that his paintings were once hung in the galleries of the royal family of Saint-Steele until someone told him that the painter had been involved in the assassination of the royal family of Saint-Steele, which forced Gerasimov to leave his homeland and go into exile in other countries.

Valery felt his heart beat faster.

(End of chapter)