Soul of Burning Steel

In the druids' calendar, the beginning of each year is different from the public perception. They divide the year into four parts-the time of awakening, the time of prosperity, the time of abundance and the time of silence, and the time of awakening every year is the beginning of a new year.

This is the earliest prototype of the seasons on the Mycroft continent. The four concepts of spring, summer, autumn and winter all come from the calendars of the druids, but their calculation methods are not fixed, but according to local conditions. For example, in the Northland, the silence At that time, that is, the winter will be greatly extended, and the beginning of the year, that is, the time of awakening will be delayed until April or even May, but the imperial capital at the same time is about to enter a prosperous time.

The Northern Empire is not a traditional country with a single nation. Its people include dwarves, elves, gnomes, halflings, vampires, cavemen and other various ethnic minorities. Its festivals also come from different sources. Druids The customs of the people also occupy a place in it. The prosperous time means that the force of nature will reach the peak at this time of the year, so many banquets will be held at this time, and the celebration banquet for the extermination of the orcs is precisely because of this. this time.

"A city gate is guarded by more than a hundred city guards."

The imperial capital is still brightly lit in the middle of the night, and the obvious twilight can still be seen clearly at a distance of several thousand meters. At the end of the endless stairs, before the white city wall, Joshua looked at the gorgeously decorated and ancient city wall with great interest. The breath of the city gate, his eyes seemed to be able to penetrate the rocks, and see the little fire of life behind it. He easily counted the number of these soldiers on the city wall and the city gate, and judged their respective jobs through their movements: "There are still soldiers on the top." There are alchemy equipment, all kinds of artillery and magic arrow towers, and they are really well guarded."

This is also as it should be. As the capital of a country, it is normal for the guards to be strict, and when the three soldiers were staying, the guards guarding the gate of the city had already spotted them. Since the sun has set for a long time now, It was late at night, and the guards became vigilant in their actions. They took the initiative to move forward, preparing to investigate the origins of these three people.

It has to be said that the eyesight of these imperial guards is better than that of their colleagues in other cities. The captain in charge trembled when he saw Joshua, and immediately realized that the opponent's strength was definitely not his own. What can be measured, after the fearful and respectful questioning, the guards who got the answer all shouted: "Please come in, my lord earl." Then they gave way to the closed entrance.

Logically speaking, they should also check the family crest or other things to prove their identity, but an ordinary city guard recognized Joshua's face, and everyone dared not chat with the soldiers, so this nothing happened

The gate of the holy city is very spectacular even at night. Thirty-six marble stone pillars support a long corridor, and the reliefs on the stone pillars depict the scene when the city was built. Due to the protection of magic, they have survived hundreds of years. The wind and rain did not have any peeling and discoloration, and it was as white and flawless as it was back then, which is amazing.

After passing through the city gate, there is the outer city of the imperial capital. Although Joshua was from the far south in his previous life, he had visited the northern imperial capital several times. Transferring around, so the soldiers know that the Holy City of Three Mountains is divided into three parts, one is the civilians, merchants and various public facilities - such as the big library, the outer city where the big arena is located, the other is the city hall and everyone The inner city where the noble residences are located, the last one is the Morlaix Palace where His Majesty the Emperor lived.

Just as he saw outside the city, the imperial capital at night was still full of people coming and going, and the lights were dim. He stayed in the outer streets with his two weapons for a while, and after observing the daily life of the people in the imperial capital, Joshua They headed directly towards the inner city, where the Radcliffe family's several properties in the imperial capital were located.

Passing through the main road of the imperial capital, there are more and more people. Although the celebration banquet has not yet started, the joyful atmosphere has begun to spread. Various flags are hung in the streets and alleys, and [Special Offer] signs are placed in front of taverns and hotels. The wooden sign, it was only at this time that Joshua vaguely felt from the side how important the complete extermination of the orcs was to the people of the empire who had suffered from the invasion.

Shops, squares, and fountains above them, no matter where there are smiling people, under the lights of the night, Joshua naturally smiled. He also felt happy in this bustling street. After all, because of the weather and temperature in the Northland, there will never be so many people on the streets at any time, which makes the fighters who like to be lively feel a little uncomfortable.

And just when he was about to change his mind and go for a stroll in the outer city first, and then go to the inner city later, Joshua suddenly felt a familiar aura approaching.

"oh?"

After stopping in his tracks, Joshua frowned, felt it seriously for a while, and then relaxed his brows: "So it's them who noticed I'm coming so soon?"

Ying and Rin, who also stopped, have already put on a gray cashmere cloak at this time. This is not because the temperature is too low, but because the concentration of magic energy in the imperial capital is too high, and Shenji's psionic body will naturally They reacted and fluoresced, so the two of them simply covered their entire bodies so as not to arouse the surrounding people's onlookers.

Ying and Rin didn't care about the master's sudden stop. Anyway, for them, this trip was just a simple travel and relaxation, even if they were attending a banquet, it was just a matter of incident. Whatever the master wanted to do, they could do it.

After a while, a carriage slowly came from the other end of the street.

This is a black carriage made of black-patterned cloud wood. It has no eye-catching appearance, but its value far exceeds the luxury carriages used by the rich to show off their wealth. Black-patterned cloud wood has a strong anti-magic power , it grows on the top of a mountain with dense water elements, there is no possibility of artificial cultivation in a short period of time, and its value cannot be measured by money.

Generally speaking, this material is used to make precious magic glue, which is applied to various alchemy equipment and fine gold large shields that require high precision, so as to ensure that the magic power in the atmosphere cannot interfere with the operation of the equipment and endow the large shield with A layer of anti-magic coating, and the whole body of this carriage is built with it, which cannot be described as luxurious. With Joshua's knowledge, he couldn't help but marvel at the wealth of its owner.

The carriage drove slowly, and finally came to the soldier. Before the groom could stop it, the door opened. Joshua looked up, but saw the faces of two acquaintances.

Brandon Chaos, and Nostradamus.

"My friend, Joshua van Radcliffe."

The blond man who already had two daughters simply stepped out of the carriage, the corners of his mouth curled up, he opened his hands, and said to the soldier with a big smile, "I felt the aura of the Azure Orb a few hours ago, and then I thought you should come, but there was no one in the teleportation array, Teacher Nostradamus said he could find you, so I came with him."

"It seems that you have indeed found the right direction."

Joshua stepped forward and hugged this friend whom he hadn't seen for a long time. He said with a smile, "I came all the way from White Pigeon City. The scenery on the way is very beautiful. I can feel it."

The two exchanged a few words, and at the side, the white-haired old mage also got out of the carriage. Hearing Brandon's words, the old man shrugged, and then carefully looked at Joshua's clothes. Said: "I won't say too many pleasantries, my vice-principal... That golden mage in the Ural Fortress is my former student, Joshua, according to his words, you seem to have been assassinated by those reptiles again? "

After getting the soldier's affirmative answer, Nostradamus' face became indifferent, he frowned and said: "The five-color dragons are so crazy after attacking the nobles of the empire again and again. mind..."

"teacher."

Before finishing speaking, Brandon on the side interrupted Nostradamus: "Let's go to the association to talk about this kind of thing later."

As he said that, he also looked around the street. Although the crowds on the street were not densely packed, they were indeed full of voices. It was too risky to talk about chaos in this situation.

"you're right."

The old mage also noticed the inappropriateness of his behavior just now, coughed, Nostradamus shook his head and said: "Just now I have been discussing this issue with those guys from the association, and my head is a little confused... Qiao Xiu Ya, aren't you going to sit at the Royal Society of Mages?"

Speaking of this, the old mage showed a smile: "Whether it is the derivative of the sea abyss or the mad dragon virus, you have helped us a lot. Many people plan to visit you. If they give gifts at that time, you can Don't say no."

"Of course it's okay. I'm not a polite person."

Seeing familiar friends in the imperial capital, Joshua felt in a good mood, and it would not be a big deal to go to the Royal Wizards Association for a while, so he would of course agree: "So, let's go now?"

"Set off."

Brandon is also a resolute person. The three of them, plus two magic machines wearing cashmere cloaks, got into the carriage directly. Driven by the coachman, the black carriage slowly headed towards the inner city. go.

On the top of the carriage is an exquisite crystal magic lamp, the rune representing light rises and falls on the wick, exuding white brilliance, and the interior decoration style of the carriage comes from the Eastern Plains three hundred years ago, during the reign of the Qiyao Mage Council. , exquisite drawings of stars and runes representing them are scattered throughout the carriage, as if you are in the starry sky.

There are also coffee and other drinks in the carriage. The two fighters, Joshua and Brandon, naturally each picked up a bottle of wine that was not cheap anyway and started toasting, while Nostradamus was at the Ying and Lin poured two glasses of milk for them with angry eyes, then filled a cup of coffee by themselves and drank it.

The matters discussed by the three men naturally had nothing to do with romance. After a while, the topic turned to the dragon disaster in the Far South. Joshua easily pointed out Brandon and Nostradama based on his personal experience in his previous life. Si's misjudgment of the situation several times - he would not have any modest thoughts, the two men's emotions and praises to the soldiers were all accepted, and the atmosphere gradually became warmer.

But at this moment, all three of them frowned suddenly, and the carriage fell silent. An ominous premonition spread in their hearts, but no one could guess the history.

——Boom! ! ! ! !

Just like that, a huge explosion suddenly appeared on the east side of the city beyond everyone's expectations, accompanied by screams and exclamations from the crowd on the street, and the originally lively and cheerful atmosphere was instantly replaced by panic.

And then, a huge siren sounded throughout the city.

····Is the system really playing too few games?

I really don't want to use this thing to count words...