Soul of Burning Steel

In the spring of Starfall 833, which was named the Year of Dragon Calamity, many events happened enough to be recorded in the annals of history.

First, there is the Northern Empire Victory Celebration in Waking Moon.

The celebration held to celebrate the victory of the war against the orcs lasted for a week and two days. Many countries and powerful forces sent envoys to congratulate them. A team of envoys was sent to meet the emperor with rich gifts.

Ordinary people reveled on the street and drank fine wine, but the envoys from many countries did not have time to hold a banquet. They held many important talks in the imperial capital Morlaix Palace. Through the detailed information sent by the Far South Kingdom and the Church of the Seven Gods, The ambassadors of other countries that have not yet been invaded by the mad dragon understand the seriousness of the matter.

To put it simply, if it weren't for the fact that the south of the mainland is full of jungles, and there are many elf tribes scattered all over the place, like fortresses holding back the pace of the mad dragons, maybe they have already crossed the [Naka Mountain Range] , officially entered the borders of the western mountainous countries, and the human settlements in the west, which have been peaceful for many years, have no ability to gather an army strong enough to fight the dragon disaster in a short period of time. The attack of the wild dragon will cause hundreds of thousands of people, even Millions of casualties.

In fact, the wild dragons are already doing this. There seems to be a commander behind these irrational and violent monsters. For supplies, the Naka Mountain Fortresses of the Far South Kingdom are crumbling and urgently need support. The ambassador of the Far South Kingdom came here for this purpose. Their central defense line is more than enough to protect themselves, but they absolutely cannot take into account the fortresses in other directions.

But fortunately, the large force of the Flying Crazy Dragon was ambushed by the [Gladden Choir] of the Church of the Seven Gods in the far sea. The elite troops formed by the monks perfectly fulfilled their missions. The holy light of divine punishment shining on the sky defeated the swarm of flying dragons, and the leading demon dragon was also beheaded. Otherwise, the current situation would be ten times more severe.

Secondly, it is the great power in the Eastern Plains, the largest magic caster organization on the Mycroft Continent, the discovery of the White Tower in the central Black Forest.

The entire Mycroft continent is roughly divided into five parts by jungles, mountains, canyons, and rivers. They are four large human settlements in the southeast, northwest, and the central black forest that occupies more than half of the continent.

It is a real demon realm for everyone. The environment there is extremely dangerous, full of strange poisonous fog and miasma, and the creatures living in it are more dangerous than each other—you know, the central Black Forest is the center of the entire road. , the only dangerous place confirmed to be inhabited by multiple legendary monsters and ancient dragons. Its level of danger even exceeds that of hell and the abyss. At least powerful warlocks can live in the abyss for a long time, but none of them can guarantee that they can survive in the central black hole. Live a week deep in the forest.

Just like humans on Earth can explore the moon and Mars, but they don’t know much about the deep sea and the underground. The Central Black Forest exists like that. Among them, a huge city ruin was found.

The scope of the ruins is beyond anyone's imagination. The entire eastern basin, nearly 200 square kilometers of forest, are the ruins of this city. It seems that it was hit by a huge meteorite and smashed into the ground.

The team of mages in the White Tower of Guantian immediately realized that this was a discovery that could shock the entire world. The materials unearthed in it would definitely be able to answer many doubts for historians all over the world. In the last era, how was the prosperous civilization destroyed? What happened in the lost three hundred years that turned its ruins into such a vast black forest?

Pacha, the sound of paper closing came.

"It is indeed this time." Putting down the newspaper in his hand, Joshua nodded slightly, and said to himself: "It's a pity that this report was only published yesterday, so I only have general information, and I don't know what happened to those mages. What was found in the ruins."

"After all, there is no help from adventurers in this life. I really don't know if those guys with noses on their heads got the design of the Star Crystal Furnace like in the previous life."

Starfall 832, April 16th, afternoon, the imperial capital of the Northern Empire, the Holy City of Three Mountains.

The imperial capital at this time is no different from when Joshua and others arrived half a month ago.

The victory celebration is over, the original wreaths and statues on the streets have been removed, whether it is tourists from foreign countries or people living here, they have already returned to their daily life.

But even so, as the capital of a country, the prosperity of the Holy City of Three Mountains is still impressive. Walking on the commercial avenue leading to the inner city of the imperial capital, Joshua deliberately slowed down, with beautiful decorations on both sides The shops and tall buildings attract people's attention. Not far away, the newly built Orc War Memorial stands opposite St. Clair's Cathedral, and the warm sunshine in the afternoon coats it with a layer of gold.

And just now, Joshua bought a stack of recent spellcaster newspapers from the bookstore belonging to the Imperial Royal Mages Association to learn about the latest big news.

This newspaper is only sold to nobles and spellcasters. The news in it is much more detailed than ordinary newspapers. The warrior has obtained a lot of valuable information from it. Combining the things he knew in his previous life, Joshua can Roughly piece together a picture of the world today.

At the end of the war between the northern empire and the orcs, the dragon disaster in the far south became more and more serious, and even began to spread to other regions. Although the Guantian White Tower accidentally discovered the relics of the last era, they have no time to go. After studying those ancient buildings, soon, the army of dragon beasts will spread all over the world. Only when they are all wiped out, will the next era, the beginning of the [Era of Pioneering], begin.

——There is no need to think so far ahead yet.

Shaking his head, Joshua handed the newspaper to Rin who was beside him, asking him to put it away.

At this time, everyone had already entered the inner city of the imperial capital, and the noisy voices of the original business district disappeared in an instant. On the almost deserted King's Avenue, which leads directly to the Morlaix Palace, only scattered pedestrians can be seen walking around. , Occasionally, a few carriages with complicated and ancient coat of arms can be seen passing by slowly.

Due to the incident of cultists before the celebration, the security level of the entire imperial capital has been raised a lot, and the life-saving court nobles are more obvious-if it is not necessary, they seldom go out, and even if they go out, they all take carriages, like Warriors, walking on the street with two entourages on foot, are simply an outlier among outliers.

Anyway, Joshua and the others came to the entrance of the majestic city wall of the Morlaix Palace.

The guard at the door originally wanted to speak, so that the three people who seemed to be just wandering here hurriedly left, but he recognized the identity of the soldier, so the reprimand turned into a respectful welcome in an instant.

Under Joshua's gaze, these elite guard knights in black armor were a little restless.

At the beginning, no one noticed that the young man walking on the street was the dragon slaying lord who was famous in the imperial capital recently, but when the warrior stood in front of them, the knights understood why there had been no newcomers for a long time. The name 'Joshua' suddenly appeared in the 'Attention List' of adding names, and why many important people specially asked not to offend this Earl who is bound to be in a high position in the future.

Because the opponent is really too strong.

A knight guard who had the honor to meet the head of the White Horse Legion, one of the five major legions of the empire, was a little shocked to find that the pressure Joshua put on him at this time was almost as heavy as the head of the legion at that time.

—Could it be that he has already reached that realm? Obviously the age is not even half of the legion commander who has been fighting for many years, but now he has achieved the same achievement...

"Good day, Lord Radcliffe."

The warrior's casual gaze made everyone present feel that all their weaknesses had been seen through, and heavy pressure spread. In order to break the increasingly stagnant atmosphere, the leading knight couldn't help but wiped off the cold sweat on his head, and said Said: "Did you come to the Morlaix Palace to find Master Nostradamus?"

"No... well, you can say that."

Originally, Joshua wanted to say that he would meet His Majesty the Emperor directly, but after thinking about it carefully, the other party may not have time to meet him, and telling the old mage about the plague is the same as telling His Majesty the Emperor, so the soldier changed his words directly : "When can I meet Master Nostradamus?"

"The master said that he couldn't contact you recently, so he specifically asked the earl that if you come to the Palace of Morlaix, you can go directly to the library of the Black Swan Palace to find him. The master has been sorting out ancient books there recently."

He directly stepped aside from the road, and the leading knight seemed eager for Joshua to leave early. As time went by, he felt the pressure on the opponent was getting heavier and heavier, as if something was infiltrating from the warrior's body little by little. Come out like.

Joshua nodded without being too polite, and walked directly into the Palace of Morlaix. After he left, the guards who were extremely nervous were relieved immediately.

"It feels more terrifying than a dragon!"

A younger-looking knight frowned, with an expression of fear on his face: "I'm not complaining—why doesn't my lord restrain his coercion? It shouldn't be difficult!"

"Maybe it has been restrained, and even weakened on purpose... I just sensed the fluctuation of the magic item."

The other knight nodded thoughtfully, looked towards where Joshua left, narrowed his eyes and said, "If my lord hadn't restrained his strength, maybe you and I would still be lying on the ground now. "

Inside the walls of the Morlaix Palace, other patrolling guards had also received notification from the guards at the entrance of the city walls. Knowing the identities of Joshua and his party, they did not step forward to disturb them, but bowed slightly.

Walking all the way until the gate of the palace, Joshua raised his hand to signal Ying and Rin to stop. He stood at the gate and whispered to his magic machines, "Someone will welcome us."

Not long after, as Joshua said, a red-haired knight in silver-gray armor with a guard logo on his shoulder came to them. The warrior noticed the pattern on the opponent's sword and the color of the ribbon around his waist. , knowing that the other party is a direct descendant of a nobleman, and now he is the captain of the imperial guards in the palace. He doesn't know whether the other party is gilded or is really planning to develop in this direction, but the other party has already saluted him.

"Good day, Lord Radcliffe, it is an honor to meet you."

The knight commander saluted Joshua respectfully. He seemed to have known Joshua's identity for a long time, and he was extremely enthusiastic: "Are you going to see Lord Nostradamus? He is currently presiding over at the Royal Library. Organize the ancient books, please come with me."

"Thanks for your hard work."

Following the opponent forward, Joshua was not surprised by the respect of the opponent. The strength of this red-haired knight commander is close to the golden level. If his perception is sharp enough, then he can naturally feel that the strength of the warrior is beyond the simple peak of gold. That's right, plus Joshua's deeds of blasting and killing a big demon in the imperial capital, naturally many people are willing to show kindness to him.

Superficial respect is nothing but the most basic.

The Morlaix Palace is a large palace complex, the roads in it are intricate, and there are no familiar people to lead the way. Few people can walk to the desired place alone. The location of the Black Swan Palace seems to be relatively deep. The red-haired knight led Qiao Xiu Ya and the others walked for about ten minutes, but they still haven't arrived.

Along the way, Joshua knew the identity of this knight. It was a bit of a coincidence to say that the Warner family and the Chaos family where the other party lived were related. This knight named Fendal was also Brandon's according to his seniority. Distant cousin.

The relationship between the nobles is almost like this. Every big family is inextricably linked with other families. Thanks to the Radcliffe family's role as gatekeepers, and the fact that there are so many secrets, there are not so many With such a messy relationship, Joshua didn't need to memorize those strange lists of relatives.

And just when Fendal said that he was about to arrive at the Black Swan Palace, there were footsteps on the other side of the corridor.

Not long after, a group of people wearing church-style white robes came silently from the opposite side of the corridor. They looked dignified and walked in a hurry, as if they were in a hurry to do something.

But what really attracted attention was not these silent monks, but the center of the team, a woman who looked a little weak but was extremely beautiful.

Under the dim light in the corridor of the palace, this woman wearing a neat white robe and a gorgeous crystal crown is extremely eye-catching. Her eyes are covered by a circle of black blindfolds, and only white eyes can be seen And the smooth cheeks and jaw, and the long platinum hair naturally falls to the waist like a waterfall.

Can't see the eyes—but even so, it's beautiful.

Joshua naturally noticed this group of people, and the other party also noticed them—whether it's the black-haired warrior with the young girl or the church monk in the imperial palace, they are so abnormal that people can't help but pay attention, Joshua Ya glanced over, and then saw the beautiful woman, who seemed to be thinking about something worth pondering, and moving forward was just her subconscious action.

Joshua couldn't help frowning.

"strangeness……"

The soldier murmured softly to himself, "It's a familiar smell."

And the woman who covered her eyes stopped slightly, and the entire monk team paused. It can be seen that the whole team is centered on this platinum-blonde long-haired woman.

She turned her head, as if she was looking at Joshua. Although her eyes were covered, the soldier had a feeling of being scrutinized.

But neither side said much. After watching each other for a moment, the two teams passed each other and walked towards their destination.