This cold winter has passed halfway, and for people living in border areas, life has become increasingly difficult.
Gesong Town is a prosperous and prosperous place, at least until this winter. It is located near Winter Fort and is one of the transportation hubs from Typhon to the border trade markets, even in the so-called Before the rise of “transnational trade” in China, this place was also an important place for business people to gather.
Merchants traveling from north to south have brought considerable income to this place. Merchants have made the town prosperous, and after the opening of trade, smart people with a keen sense of smell have turned this place into one or two years. The land of flowing gold even gave it a faint momentum to become a big city, but... the good days did not last long.
The war broke out.
Although it has not been here for a while, the prosperity and prosperity has been gone forever. Cross-border trade has stopped. Merchants have avoided this place of right and wrong. The important transportation hub has been taken by the empire. Requisitioned, the carts and horses full of money and goods have been replaced by chariots and troops day and night, and the locals who originally relied on the business travel from north to south to eat, now have to "freeze".
Simpson, who runs the hotel, leaned against the window and wiped a brass pipe in his hand sadly. There was no tobacco in the pipe. The shiny bucket was spinning in his hand like a toy. A layer of water vapor condensed on the crystal glass windows, making the street scenes hazy. The cold wind roaring from the streets and lanes stirred outside the windows, and some cold air blew in through the not-so-sealed windows. This middle-aged man who had already begun to lose his hair couldn't help but shrink his neck.
He looked up and saw only a few scattered people sitting in the lobby of the hotel-the layout of the hotels in the town were all the same. The lobby on the first floor also provided some drinks and refreshments in addition to receiving guests, but since this After the **** war broke out, the only things he could sell here were hard liquor and hard pastries.
An unshaven middle-aged man sat on the table closest to him. He looked so drunk that he was only one step away. There were a few empty bottles in front of him. The smell of poor quality ale from the choking nose His dirty coat seeps out, and there are many other suspicious smells in between.
Simpson frowned and yelled at the other side: "Saville! You drank enough today!"
The unshaven middle-aged man was almost on the table, and after hearing the shout, he just waved his hands indiscriminately, without even raising his head.
Simpson shook his head, feeling that he had fulfilled his duty as a "good citizen", and continued to lower his head to wipe his brass pipe, but a rhythm of footsteps suddenly came from the side, making the hotel owner again Raised his head.
His sleepy and impatient expression faded quickly, and a smile appeared instead. He saw a beautiful lady in a dark cloak and winter safari suit about to walk down the side aisle, the other side's brilliant The blonde hair seemed to warm up this bad winter a little bit, and the pointed ears protruding from under the blonde hair reminded others of her origin.
"Ms. Soldering, are you going out?" Simpson asked with a smile, "It's not a good weather outside now..."
"I'm leaving in the afternoon," said the elf huntress called Ms. Soldering, with a hint of neutral magnetism in her voice. "I want to see if the weather is not too bad, to see if I can hire one. A carriage to the mountain pass..."
"You are leaving?" Simpson could hardly conceal his loss, but his loss was more due to economic losses. Since this **** war broke out, few travelers have settled here, and a huntress who has not been involved in this war is an extremely precious "quality guest" of this period-living in a better room. The need for exquisite food, not as rough and difficult as the soldiers passing by, and the most important thing is to never default on the money... From a monetary point of view, this elf hunter lives here far better than twelve drunk people. Savile.
"I just passed by after all, and my people are still waiting for me." Sold "Lin" said casually with a smile, and glanced towards the door-the identity of the elf is a good cover here, because it is responsible for maintenance The elf stronghold of the Majestic Wall is located near the northwest border of Typhon. It is only natural for an elf traveling outside to appear in this area. Just be careful not to provoke the mages and managers of the big city, "she" You can easily sneak into a relatively loosely managed border settlement like Gesong Town.
But we cannot relax our vigilance because of this: as the battlefield gets closer and closer to the headquarters of Winterhold, the tension in this area is escalating, and the big aerial battle three days ago has had a profound impact on the entire battle. Now The entire Winterhold area is becoming the front line. The agents of Typhon’s intelligence department and the security forces under the name of the Earl of Winterhold seem to have smelled something. They are frequently investigating people coming and going, and I...have been staying in this place long enough. .
The necessary intelligence has been sent away, and the Rangers who are active in and outside the city and the officers of the Military Intelligence Bureau who need cover have been evacuated in batches, and this place cannot be stayed any longer.
"Well, that's what I said," Simpson shrugged helplessly. "You should return to your people. This brutal and **** war is not suitable for an elegant elf lady like you..."
Sold "Lin" only smiled after hearing the words of the hotel owner, and did not correct the mistake in the other's perception-many humans seem to have misunderstandings in this regard, thinking that elves are an elegant and war-weary race. When various "ugly" wars broke out in the world, beautiful elves would hide in the paradise-like jungle and sing peace and nature... This misunderstanding is especially serious in the northern regions.
However, in fact, the elves' ranger troops are one of the most powerful troops in the world. The Silver Empire also relied on war to lay down a vast territory. There were countless brutal and **** tribes in the ancestral jungle. Silver elves were not. Relying on art and music to make those voodoo tribes able to sing and dance... But this kind of trivial matter, there is no need to explain too much to a human who runs a hotel near the border.
"She" just nodded to Simpson and was about to leave from here, but before taking a step, a sour smell floated from the side, which made "she" unable to stop and glance at the smell coming from it. Direction-The drunk Saville was already asleep on the table, muttering vague curses in his sleep.
"He seems to have been here these days," Sold "Lin" asked casually, "seems to be your acquaintance?"
"Oh...Unlucky Saville, I have some friendship with him," Simpson glanced at the opposite table, sighed and shook his head, "He used to be a hotel owner, on the other side of the town, but he was caught by those The wealthy businessman traveling from the north to the south got dizzy and caused unrealistic illusions. He borrowed a lot of money, even mortgaged his hotel, and exchanged the right to use three carriages and a franchise. The permit...just this winter."
Thord "Lynn" listened to Simpson's sympathetic recount and couldn't help but glanced at the drunk man again.
The destructive power of this war outside the battlefield is becoming more and more obvious day by day, Saville lying between the wine bottles is just a small microcosm.
"She" shook her head and said casually as if talking to herself: "I hope this war will end soon."
"If this is true, then I have to thank the gods," Simpson couldn't help but said. He pointed a few times on his chest with his fingers that had just wiped the brass pipe, and made a gesture of prayer. "These bad days are really not I know when it will end..."
Thord "Lin" did not respond to the hotel owner's words, "she" pulled up the hood of the cloak, tightened the belt, and turned to the direction of the lobby exit.
The door of the tavern opened and closed, and a cold wind from outside swept across the interior space. Simpson felt the cold wind blowing in his neck, and couldn't help but shrink his neck, and at the same time subconsciously glanced out the window-he wiped it. Window glass, trying to find the figure of the elf huntress from the street, but only saw the empty street, the foggy sky and distant mountains outside the town, and between the light and the shadow of the mountain, there was an iron gray, as if all The giant in armor was hovering in the void.
Simpson felt that his heart suddenly seemed to be hit hard by something. The hazy shadow made the blood in his whole body stagnate for a moment. After a few seconds, he took a breath. , Restored the ability to think like a resurrection. In panic, he hurriedly looked out the window again, trying to find the figure of the giant, but in the background of the mountains, there was no iron-gray armored giant hovering...
It seemed just an illusion just now.
"Savile, Savile!" Simpson knocked the brass pipe on the table, trying to greet the person closest to him, "You just saw... forget it, I'll ask you what to do."
...
Soldering bypassed a few blocks and got into the alley. His breath was completely reduced. Even the patrol mage passing by did not notice that a "hunterwoman" had appeared in his sight.
After confirming that the surroundings were completely safe, he stopped and looked thoughtfully at the direction of the mountains outside the town.
He thought of the "illusion" occasionally mentioned by some people in the town recently, his face became a little serious, but soon he converged the change in his expression and returned to his indifferent state.
After observing the surrounding environment again, he quickly found a hidden place and began to change his dress: the costumes of the elves were complicated and difficult to distinguish in the eyes of humans. The special clothing changed a little with a little change, and he changed the original cloak again. Turning over, turning the gray side out, completely changed his slightly neutral appearance, and finally he stretched his hand over his head again-at this step, the high-ranking ranger finally couldn't help hesitating For a moment, a word from my friend many years ago came to mind: the real strong will face the bleakness of life...
He tore off the wig and quickly put it away-the wind in winter is really cool.
At the small intersection on the other side of the street, a carriage was already waiting here. Soldering walked out of the alley and confirmed the situation around the carriage in less than a second, with a Gujing Wubo's expression came to the coachman.
"Master Delin," the driver saw his employer and immediately jumped out of the car, with a respectful smile on his face: the elf monk is a profession full of mystery, and this kind of excellent and knowledgeable traveler is said to be in the whole There are no more than a thousand people on the mainland, not to mention that the other party has paid twice as much for the car. This is worth all the manners and gestures he has accumulated from his mother's womb, "Shall we start?"
"I've been waiting," Solderlin nodded slightly, and said in a deep voice, "Let's go, straight out of the city from the west."
...
An order from Cecil City made Solinburg’s technicians and Bertila completely busy. Those who were busy with them, and those who came from Cecil City in a flying vehicle were responsible for the psionic song. The technical staff of the project.
In the central area of the giant tree of Solin, on a square on the west side of the trunk, Wendy and several other technical experts who rushed from Cecil City are standing with the technicians of Solinburg, and in front of these people, holding hands Selena Geerfen, carrying a lantern, gradually appeared like a spiritual body entering reality from a dream world.
This "saint with lantern" raised her head and looked at the weird thing floating in the middle of the open space in front, and finally couldn't help looking sideways at Wendy: "Do you think this thing will be put on the battlefield...really not Will it cause a huge psychological impact on our own soldiers first?"
Wendy opened her mouth and just wanted to speak, a voice with a slightly woody friction-like texture came out from the bushes nearby: "This sentence was spoken by the priest who is good at mental attacks and professional nightmares. It's weird."
Selena looked in the direction of the sound, and saw Bertila's figure rising from the bushes. The twisted and wriggling flower vines condensed in an incredible way into an "incarnation" that was almost indistinguishable from a real person. Relying on the constantly moving roots and vines of the lower body came here.
"We are just creating some illusions from the spiritual level-you are something that can be scary in the real world," Selena shook her head helplessly, and pointed to the things floating in the square-it was a huge giant. The artificial brain has a diameter of more than two meters. The grayish-white and pink fleshy tissue floats a few meters high in an anti-gravity manner. Its uneven surface is even creeping, shrinking, and shrinking. There are a large number of tentacles-like nerve cords extending from the bottom, wriggling and curling unconsciously along with the floating of the body. "As for the abilities of disgusting people, you are better at doing biochemistry."
"...Really so serious?" Bertila thought for a while, and said helplessly, "But I think it's a bit cute..."
The technicians behind Selena suddenly appeared almost horrified, and Wendy couldn't help but hold his forehead——
This vegetative aesthetic... seems to have completely rotten.