Winter is here.

The fog covering the entire central and northern regions arrived as scheduled, and the undispersed mist and the increasingly cold atmosphere began to cover Aldnan. In a light gray mist, the magnificent capital of the empire became blurred and hazy. The world seemed like an oil painting soaked in water, and everything was no longer so clear.

The Obsidian Palace stands high in the fog, like a giant cast by huge stones overlooking the capital of the empire.

Rosetta Augustus unfolded the letter in front of him and read every line of text with a quiet expression.

Peidinan Wendell stood at the emperor's desk and saw the letter with the emblem of the Cecil Empire sword and plow above. The patterns of the emblem themselves and the horizontal lines on the paper are neat and beautiful.

It took a long time for the ruler of Tifeng to read the not-so-long letter, then pondered for a moment and said softly: "This tuition fee has finally become acceptable."

"This is a good start, your majesty." Pei Dinnan said in a deep voice.

Rosetta nodded slightly: "Gaven Cecil believes that it is necessary for the two countries to establish a deeper exchange. The old era of confrontation with swords and guns should end. A more prosperous and prosperous society is what this era should truly pursue."

Pei Dinnan quietly stared at his monarch: "Your Majesty, what do you think?"

"At least one thing I agree with, the old era is indeed over," Rosetta's mouth seemed to have a smile, "we need to do something more adapted to the new era...

"Peinanqing, Govin Cecil has been emphasizing that his new empire has a new system of friendly and openness, so do you think... will they welcome some guests from Tifong?"

Pei Dinnan was silent for a few seconds before slowly saying, "Then you will know only by trying it."

Rosetta smiled at the corner of his mouth, reached out his hand, pulled out a piece of letter from the side, and picked up a pen to write a line of powerful words:

To Emperor Cecil:

I admire your views, and I agree with your understanding of the times. Maybe it is time for us to discuss how to do this in this new era...

The tip of the pen moved on the paper, and the slight sound of the brush jumped gently in the quiet study. Pei Dinnan turned his gaze out the window in this quiet atmosphere and saw the fog covering Aldernan surging slightly in the sun, like a silent and gentle sea, the golden color of the sun slowly undulating on the sea surface.

There was a certain unnatural odor mixed in the fog. When the odor floated, Mary couldn't help but sneeze.

The black-haired female apprentice stood at the intersection in front of Viscount Hemil's mansion. She frowned and watched the wisps of mist slowly float in her sight. The mixed smell in the mist affected her mood.

The odor may not have reached such an unbearable level, but Mary's nose was more sensitive. She felt that the breath was like some harmful smoke, with a little odor in its spicy state.

She raised her head and saw a thicker fog above. The sunlight spread through the fog, and the light spreaded and weak. The Obsidian Palace in the distance stood in the fog, and could only see some hazy outlines.

The fog that shrouded Aldernan was like a depressing and deep sea, with unpleasant smells filled with the ocean, and it was prosperous and prosperous, but in winter, it seemed far less comfortable than the winds and sunshine of its own hometown, at least there, without a lot of chimneys that kept emitting exhaust gas.

The female apprentice waved her hand and summoned a layer of breeze shield to block the ingredients in the fog that seemed to be harmful to health. A slightly envious and respectful voice came from the side: "It's still a spellcaster like you, and the flowing air will obey your instructions."

Mary turned her head and saw that the person who was talking to her was a sergeant in a blouse. She was sent by Viscount Hermire, who came here to accompany her. Before the mentor came back, this humble man would follow his instructions.

But Mary was not used to being able to assign someone else's identity, nor was she very much used to others' compliments to herself. She just shook her head and said in an equal tone: "But if it weren't for this, I wouldn't have to create shields to filter the air. This should be the freshest time of the year."

The attendant smiled helplessly: "...Oh, there is indeed a strange smell in the fog this winter."

"But I remember this was not the case here last year," Mary recalled the situation when she had just arrived in the imperial capital with her mentor, "It was even worse than the previous year."

"If you had been to the capital earlier, you would have been even more surprised at what happened this winter," the attendant spread his hands, "we are more clear about the changes here."

Mary looked at the servant and said casually what she heard: "I heard that the strange smell in the fog is because of the chimneys and tartar-burning acid chemical factories. The smoke they emit cannot dissipate, and it turns into an unpleasant fog."

The attendant smiled bitterly and shook his head: "You can say this, but we dare not be the factory run by adults. They don't like anyone talking about their machines and chimneys."

Mary felt thoughts in her heart, as if she wanted to say something, but the door of the mansion not far away had been opened, and the old wizard wearing a black robe and hunched over had already walked out of it.

The young female apprentice immediately left her servant and stepped forward to greet her tutor.

"Teacher, are we going to go home directly?" Mary asked respectfully, holding Daniel's arm.

"No, go to the craft association first and get something," Daniel glanced at his apprentice, "It's OK, I know to turn on the breeze shield, otherwise you will get sick sooner or later in such a bad weather. Your mind will never be able to turn around."

Mary lowered her head, but neither refuted nor depressed, but instead had a faint smile.

She could hardly remember how long it took for her mentor to "criticize" herself in such understatement.

Arriving in the magic car that was limited to the Empire, Mary and Daniel set off for the Empire Labor Association. In the car, Mary couldn't help but mutter: "The winter here is not as cold as the countryside, and there is also a choking fog."

Daniel looked at the female apprentice who was complaining indifferently and spit out a few words: "Not on the table."

Mary quickly shrank her neck and looked respectfully listening to the lesson.

But the instructor did not teach her a lesson as usual, but did not make any noise in the next few seconds. Mary couldn't help but raise her head curiously, but saw the instructor staring at her quietly.

She was a little confused, but she didn't dare to ask until Daniel took the initiative to speak: "Mary, do you want to go back to the countryside?"

"Me? No, no," Mary was stunned for a moment, then waved her hand in a hurry, "I just... just said casually, mentor, I didn't think about it..."

Daniel looked at the somewhat panicked female apprentice with a calm look on her face. She shook her head and interrupted her when the other party was busy explaining: "I found your parents."

All Mary's movements and words instantly stopped. She looked at her mentor in a daze. She first took a few seconds to understand the other person's words, and then spent a few seconds to think about what expression she should make. She felt that her expression must be very funny because she could feel that her face was stiff, and she didn't even know whether to be happy or sad. She seemed to be listening to a strange concept, but this concept was related to herself.

Her parents.

Her parents who had completely forgotten their appearance.

"They are in the country and they live not too far from that town. They have moved after you are lost, but it is difficult for civilians to move very far even if they move. As one of the chief wizards of the Empire, it is not difficult for me to find them," Daniel continued calmly. "You have an older brother and an older sister, but your older brother died of illness when the plague happened a few years ago. Your older sister is married, but she has no children."

Mary looked at her mentor with a steady look at the old man who had been twisted, cruel, tyrannical, and terrible for many years. She watched him say these things about her calmly. In those yellow-brown eyes, there was no longer any coldness or loss of control, and only her own confused face was reflected.

She whispered, but she didn't even know what she wanted to say: "Teacher, I...I don't know..."

Daniel interrupted her again: "If you want to see them, I'll bring them here, and if you want to go home, go back."

"……I have no idea."

This is a weak and unconventional answer. If it were placed in the past, it would definitely be exchanged for severe reprimand or even punishment. However, today Daniel just nodded lightly: "I understand, I'll give you time to consider."

Mary lowered her head, and after a long silence, she finally spoke again: "Have they been doing well over the years?"

“I haven’t been hungry.”

"That's good."

Daniel looked at Mary and muttered for a long time: "Not on the table."

After saying this, he withdrew his gaze, as if he no longer paid attention to Mary's movements, but his spirit slowly sinks. While maintaining basic attention and reaction to the real world, the old mage quietly connected to the secret spiritual network.

In the spiritual network, the dream capital created by the eternal sleeper is sunny and the weather is clear.

The breeze blew across the wide streets, blew the golden leaves on the roadside at the right place, and the curtains drooping from the palaces and towers swung in the wind, showing a gorgeous texture. Daniel, who transformed into a middle-aged scholar, appeared on the street and walked forward with the flow of people coming and going.

However, his spiritual tentacles had spread, secretly connecting the thoughts of the nearby Eternal Sleepers, extracting the latest and useful information.

Most of the information was filtered out by him: in this increasingly large network, there are too many boring sleepers posting meaningless content, and those meaningless contents make the priests responsible for managing the network complain that the great master calls this act of posting meaningless content "water stickers". Although Daniel cannot understand what the words created by the rogues from the domain mean, he can also judge from the owner's attitude that this is not a compliment.

It is said that those priests responsible for managing the flow of information are already studying how to control the flood of meaningless information. Daniel is somewhat interested in this, but before that, he still has to complete the tasks assigned by his master.

After eliminating those meaningless information, he focused on the recent operation of the Mind Network and the recent activities of the Eternal Mile Cult.

He "heard" and "see" some information:

The activities of the Orders in the Cecil Empire are becoming increasingly difficult, with the ubiquitous magic monitoring towers and more and more sheriffs squeezing the living space of the illegal extraordinary;

The Archbishops of the upper class have recently conducted a new round of computing power solicitation. A large project seems to be requiring more computing power to maintain. Some middle and lower class eternal sleepers are discussing this matter. They seem to feel that such commands to collect computing power have become more and more frequent recently and have a little complaint about it;

The Storm Son had a last contact with the land not long ago, and then there was no news;

Some people who sleep forever lamented that the situation where the three major sects stood together had collapsed at some point, lamenting that the changes in the world were beyond expectations;

Messages passed through Daniel's mind and vision. He walked casually on the street with a calm expression, as if he was just an ordinary passerby.

A golden fallen leaf fell from the vicinity, falling toward Daniel, and the fallen leaves flipped in the air for a while, suddenly became pitch black, with countless uneven shaking cracks on the edges, and then disappeared.

But no one seems to have noticed this "imperfect scene".

Another meaningless information floated from a group of unknown nodes. Daniel casually glanced at this "water sticker" message.

It looks like boring rumors or strange stories
Chapter completed!