Soul of Burning Steel

Starfall 835, March 17th, the holy city of three mountains in the imperial capital, in the evening, light snow.

The new year came and passed in the fluttering white snow. The streets of the imperial capital were silent, except for a few people sweeping the snow in front of the gates, and there was only the clinking of patrolling guards' armor.

But different from this quiet environment, in the first year after the Dragon Calamity ended and the omen of Starfall first appeared, the whole world fell into a wave of 'exploration'.

Although ordinary civilians may not know it, all high-level executives or powerful professionals can know from the ruins located all over the world and the ancient books hidden in the deepest library that the entire world of Mycroft is actually After a doomsday, a new civilization emerges from the wreckage. After the end of the glorious era, countless survivors came out of the refuge. They stared blankly at the world that had already changed drastically, and then fought against the endless tide of monsters and monsters.

835 years have passed, and the ancestors who once fought for a piece of land for their tribe in the wilderness can be relieved to see that today's humans once again occupy most of the world, except for the central Black Forest, which is so vast that no one has explored the center, this Most of the land in the world is owned by humans, while other races are either merged with humans, or migrated to distant overseas countries, struggling in isolated islands or deep mountains.

There was a mage in the White Tower of Guantian who proudly declared when he developed the technology of the cross-world portal that they already knew everything about the Mycroft Continent. What humans need now is to explore new worlds beyond the void. The world, this arrogant but impassioned declaration was indeed approved by many people at the time, but now, the situation is very different from that then.

The underground world discovered by the Principality of Romans, the overseas hiding places of the five-colored dragons, and the large-scale ancient city ruins discovered around the eastern plain, all these novel discoveries prove that the world is still shrouded in many fogs, not to mention other things, fish The deep sea where humans live, and the underground cavity that even the dwarves haven't explored are vast unknown areas.

In fact, there are still many shortcomings in the teleportation circle across the world. After being hit by reality, the so ambitious mages finally bowed their heads and had to admit this. Under this upsurge, many small countries have begun to move towards themselves. The surrounding Black Forest and Mountains are carrying out large-scale expansion campaigns, and they have obtained a lot of resources because of the discovery of the underground world. The Duchy of Romania, which is now rapidly expanding and developing, is an example they are trying to imitate, while other major forces are currently watching calmly. However, many teams were also sent to conduct tentative explorations. The Radcliffe family was allowed to expand their territory towards the Great Ajax Mountains as part of this exploration.

In the imperial capital, on the central commercial avenue leading to the Palace of Morlaix, a group of soldiers wearing black and blue light armor walked through the downtown quickly. The citizens and merchants cast their eyes on these soldiers, then shrugged and lowered their heads, not paying attention.

It was the queen's personal soldier.

In the past few days, not only the queen, but many nobles living in the imperial capital often send their cronies back and forth in and out of the city, as if to inquire about some news. It stands to reason that this kind of behavior is fine if it is in their own territory, but It's too much to be in the imperial capital. This is the city where His Majesty the Emperor lives. Even the Empress must never allow her own guards to come and go ostentatiously.

But for some reason, His Majesty the always majestic Emperor didn't say anything, no, rather than saying nothing, it's better to say that he didn't respond at all, which especially confused the people. However, the top will cover up the news, and the bottom will naturally have a way to inquire. People who have relatives and friends working in the Palace of Morlaix have received some dark news intermittently. No matter whether the news is true or not, there is one thing that can be confirmed— —No one has seen him in the Morlaix Palace since His Majesty the Emperor presided over the celebration in the New Year.

——This is really amazing!

Everyone who heard the news exclaimed without exception. They all understood the seriousness of this matter and did not doubt the authenticity of the news.

You must know that the royal family of the Northern Empire is different from the kings of the traditional kingdoms of the Western Hills. The Morlaix Palace is not the private residence of the royal family. There are also the Royal Court, the Imperial Library and various public facilities in it, as long as permission is obtained. , Even ordinary citizens can go in, just like the Imperial Library, which is open to the outside world for one or two days every year, as long as you pay, you can go in and read freely.

In addition, His Majesty the Emperor never lived in the deep palace. He often went to the streets alone to inspect, and occasionally tasted folk snacks-this is almost the custom of the emperor in the Northern Empire. All well-known restaurants have slogans that a certain generation of emperors dined here. They never deliberately avoided the crowd, but wandered around according to their own preferences.

If it is normal for ordinary people not to see the emperor for several months, but the servants in the palace cannot see the emperor for several months in the Palace of Morlaix, it can only mean that if His Majesty is not seriously injured, he can only He was sick in the deep palace, or His Majesty left the imperial capital and did not return for a long time.

People tend to favor the latter.

Probably it was because His Majesty the Emperor hadn't returned for several months that the empress and the great nobles couldn't hold back anymore and started looking around for news, right? The mysterious disappearance of the head of a country, and the fact that he was able to hide it for three months is really thanks to the fact that it is winter and there is no major event, but it is true that the fire cannot be suppressed now.

In the Palace of Morlaix, in the Palace of Delphi where the Empress lived, the guards who wore black and blue light armor and covered their faces walked quickly along the avenue, and most of them stayed in the palace. Before the door, only the leader of the team passed the inspection of the guards and entered the palace.

The palace was quiet and deserted, with only a few scattered maids sweeping the dust. This was because neither the emperor nor the empress of this generation of the Diamond royal family liked the feeling of being served by many servants, and would rather do it themselves. The personal guards seemed to come here often to see them, so a maid temporarily put down her work and silently led him to an open-air garden inside the palace. In the garden, a slender woman was counting Accompanied by the lady, enjoy the flowers.

Although it is winter now, the interior of the palace is as warm as spring because of the magic array. There is an array around the open-air garden to adjust the humidity and light, allowing any flower to bloom at any time.

The magic circle consumes a lot, because it involves the natural technique of the elves to stimulate the growth of plants, so dozens of magic crystals are consumed every day, and each magic crystal can make the commoners of the imperial capital live in peace and stability for several months. It sounds extravagant, but to the empress who has no other hobbies other than viewing flowers, the most noble woman in the empire, it is nothing, and she can even afford the word simplicity.

The maid asked the guards to stay at the entrance of the garden, while she approached cautiously to meet him, and the slender woman in the center of the garden also found the guards around Yuankou, so she dismissed the ladies around her and asked the maid to go back and inform.

This tall and tall team leader is different from his subordinates. The armor on his body is not black, but pure black. After being notified by the maid, the black-armored warrior walked quickly to the woman under the guidance of the other party. He respectfully He knelt down on one knee to salute, bowed his head and said, "Queen Edna..."

"Stop talking nonsense, Guinness, and tell me what you found."

The beautiful woman named Edna lowered her head slightly, sighed a little wearily, and asked the maid to straighten her loose silver hair. Her eyes were a rare light gold, and the pupils were a little smaller than ordinary humans. It is different, but it is very similar to the golden dragon among the metal dragons, which means that the queen's ancestors may have dragon blood, or they may simply be a golden dragon.

Hearing the urgency in his lord's words, the black-armored warrior named Guinness immediately replied flatly: "His Majesty the Emperor secretly inspected the southern fortress group with Master Nostradamus three months ago. Governor Serres, who was guarding the southern province, met with him, and then he went to the three "starfall lands" in the south. It has been a month since the next time he appeared. I saw his back from afar."

Speaking of this, the warrior's tone contained a slight trace of disdain: "I think His Majesty should have let them see this on purpose, otherwise how could those ordinary merchants be able to detect His Majesty's whereabouts."

"Southern Fortress, Silent Sands... What are you going to do there..."

After hearing the news, the queen in a light-colored dress frowned slightly. After thinking for a while, she continued to order: "Continue."

Guennis continued: "The next whereabouts of His Majesty were very strange. He was still on the western border, and the next day he came to the depths of the Black Forest in the eastern wilderness. We have integrated a lot of information, and we can only say that it should be Master Nostradamus's time and space spells have improved again, and he can perform short-term continent-level teleportation. Otherwise, it is impossible to explain why His Majesty's position can change so quickly... But in the past month, His Majesty and the Master have completely disappeared. , and no one saw them again."

"Teleporting around the entire empire, they must be looking for something... the land of starfall, is Israel interested in those things that descend from the boundless heaven?"

Edna turned her head and looked at the flowers beside her. She murmured to herself softly with a puzzled expression: "Obviously they are already legendary, and those things from the previous era can't help him at all——no, You can't say that, if the reason for his sudden recovery is that!" The words suddenly stopped, and the queen turned her head to look at the black armored warrior who was still kneeling respectfully on the ground: "Gennis, take a guess, Your Majesty and Nostradam Where should Master Mars be now, so that we can't find it in the entire empire?"

The queen's tone was soft, as if she was just asking, but Guennis knew that if he couldn't answer, he would definitely be punished, but the black-armored warrior had already made up his mind, and he immediately reported: "My subordinates guess , Your Majesty and Master should be in the Void Star Observatory now! Therefore, your Majesty should be watching every move of you and the nobles three months after he left!"

"That's right, that's true."

Edna was not surprised by this answer. She raised her head slightly and looked up at the sky. The Queen curled her lips and made a helpless expression: "When will he do something like this...it's obviously just a A martial artist who knows nothing but fighting, and is not at all romantic."

While the lady was complaining, both the maid and the black-armored warrior remained motionless as if they were deaf, and then Edna said annoyedly, "Forget it, I haven't had time to do anything anyway—Ge Nice, cancel the operation, His Majesty the Emperor doesn't mind us women engaging in court battles, but it doesn't mean we can really do it."

"Yes!" The black-armored warrior immediately responded, and then he was led out of the garden by the maid, while Queen Edna stood quietly in the garden alone, thinking about something.

"The situation has changed, my dear. Although I don't know when you healed your dark wounds and when you took a step forward, I know that your mind has not changed. You still don't want to be bound to this throne, you want Go higher and farther."

Picking off a flower at random, it looks slender and weak, but a bright golden light suddenly ignited in the hands of an ordinary queen, and under the shining of this golden light, the delicate violet flower suddenly began to squirm violently , Not long after, this flower turned into a small treant, Queen Edna bent down, put the treant with a small flower on its head on the ground, then patted its head, and said to herself Yu said: "But before you leave, you still support the second prince Di Moore who is the most like you... Now is not the age of war, the empire does not need someone who is like you, so cool, such a person grows up, And he can continue to suppress all nobles who have been strong for hundreds of years to become emperor."

I also don't need someone who is not my son to be emperor.

There was no trace of worry on the queen's face. She was the wife I took when Israel fought all over the world and crusaded against the orcs. This seemingly weak woman is calmer and calmer than most men, and she is also smarter than most women. .

But at this time, in the face of the trend of the legendary powerhouse, even if she has all kinds of plans, it is meaningless. If Israel still has only a few years of lifespan as before, then Edna can naturally wait until she is like this My dear Majesty passed away, but not now.

Thinking of this, she remained silent for a long time. The situation in the empire has changed far beyond her imagination in the past two years. Unlike Israel, who can travel freely, Edna, as the queen, can only stay in the palace. It is walking around the imperial capital, so there is a lot of information that can only be reported by others. After knowing it, it is too late to react. For example, the Earl of the Northland has become a legend. She hadn’t heard any news before that. After the news is announced, it is too late to establish a good relationship.

However, I heard that he is preparing to accept apprentices recently?

Thinking of this suddenly, the queen suddenly smiled. She seemed to have thought of a good idea, so she said softly to the tree man under her, "Go to the Seventh Prince."

"Tell him there is an unprecedented opportunity."

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