Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 573 - 572: The Road

The last trace of sunset sank into the depths of the mountains, and in the gradually dimming twilight, the glow of the Magic Crystal Street Lamps lit up one by one under the control of timing devices—before the stars in the sky began to twinkle, the stars on the ground had brightened first, and amid the bright lights, the nightlife of the Cecil Citizens had just begun.

Night is not the end of the day, but simply the beginning of another phase of activities.

The street taverns were brightly lit, and workers who had just finished their shifts were relaxing and filling their stomachs in the taverns. The Magic Web Broadcast Device in the square was playing the evening news program, attracting nearby citizens to stop by with interest, and some restaurants and shops that were open late lit up their signboards at the entrance. Enthusiastic owners and staff were at the entrance soliciting guests, while waves of people headed towards the east or south of the city—toward the factory zones and night schools.

Sonia Frostleaf stood on the street, marveling at the bustling scene of this city. She looked at the street full of lights and couldn’t help but say, "This place... is far more lively than Anzu’s royal capital."

"Cecil is the most prosperous city in the southern borders, probably also the most prosperous in Anzu," Soldrin said beside her, not without pride in his tone. He was temporarily appointed as the guide to lead the visitors around the city, as no one in the city knew the preferences of the silver elves better than he did, "This place may not have the ancient architecture of St. Soniel, but everyone here lives much better."

"I can see that," Sonia nodded gently, "This place reminds me of the Gondor era... the same brilliance of lights, the same modern prosperity, but they are essentially different... The Gondor era had only one city, but here, there are not just one prosperous city. It looks like I can’t take you back home—it’s indeed a worthy place to stay."

Silver elves love traveling, and almost every young elf has at least a hundred years of travel experience. In the elves’ slang, "a worthy place to stay" is the highest praise for a foreign land.

"The development here is swift, and it will develop even faster in the future—even in other parts of Anzu, those relatively closed and backward cities have been continuously developing over the centuries, while the Silver Empire... the Silver Empire has not changed for ten thousand years," Soldrin said, "That is a very oppressive place for me."

"Her Majesty the Queen has been promoting the construction of new cities."

"I’m not talking about new cities, mother, you know," Soldrin interrupted Sonia’s words, "...how are things at home these years?"

"If you mean peace, the Empire has always been peaceful. If you mean those ’legacy’... the ’legacy’ is declining," Sonia sighed softly, "As of fifty years ago, all technical research has reached a bottleneck, stuck at the bottleneck of the primordial elves’ great division, data was interrupted, data doesn’t match, the technological field is all black boxes... Scholars remain hopeful, but some say we are already mired."

"The bottleneck of the primordial elves..." Soldrin couldn’t help but softly echo the words that have special meaning to the silver elves.

Legends tell that originally, there was only one race of elves. Regardless of gray elves, sea elves, dark elves, or silver elves, they all originated from the "primordial elves" on a distant old continent. The primordial elves had a highly advanced civilization, capable of creating airborne palaces that could remain permanently at the edge of the atmosphere, but a sudden calamity shattered this powerful ancient civilization...

The primordial elves fleeing the disaster sailed away from the old continent on arks across the sea surface. As they were about to reach the new continent (Loren Continent), they encountered sentinel towers in the eternal night. Recklessly, they entered the towers and were cursed by an unbelievable force, splitting high-born primordial elves into defective subspecies. Gray elves, dark elves, sea elves, and silver elves split up and gradually parted ways. The civilization inheritance of the primordial elves was also torn apart during this great division, fragmented in the chaotic memory of each subspecies, and never to be reproduced.

Many elves know this legend, and most elven scholars believe this legend must be true, or at least partially true.

"Isn’t it strange? Our technology may have once been interrupted, but even if we start researching anew, we shouldn’t stagnate for so long," Soldrin couldn’t help but say, "Could it be that these subspecies of elves truly degenerated during the mutation process to the extent that our minds cannot comprehend the technology of the primordial elves? This shouldn’t be."

Sonia shook her head: "No one knows what is going on... perhaps the queen and the high academy know something, but they are also powerless. And matters like this aren’t things a Ranger like you or a messenger like me can fully contemplate."

Soldrin fell silent for a moment but slowly raised his head in the silence, looking towards the direction of the city center.

"Mother, do you think human wisdom could help in any way?"

Sonia evidently did not understand Soldrin’s meaning: "Are you referring to the technology of this city? They... are indeed more advanced than elsewhere, but humans today are clearly lagging behind the Silver Empire..."

"Perhaps, in terms of overall level, human kingdoms have yet to recover to the glory of the Gondor era. But you know, right here in Cecil City, humans have used a new technology called ’rune logic’ to achieve the elves’ spell effects on artificial machinery..."

Sonia widened her eyes: "...are you serious?"

Soldrin stared distantly at the feudal lord’s mansion: "I just have this feeling that this is the place of hope."

...

Gawain withdrew his gaze from the window and returned to his desk, signing his name on the document before handing it to Aunt Heidi: "I have agreed to the improvement plan for the repulsion-type train. You’re right about the cost being a major issue—we can’t blindly emphasize the most advanced plan."

"Thank you for your understanding," Aunt Heidi lowered her head, then continued, "Ancestor, the commendation for Viscount Carol merchant Kode has been delivered, including the order for him to prepare for his knighthood. However... are you really going to knight a common merchant?"

Gawain glanced at her: "Aunt Heidi, do you still value ’origins’ so much?"

"No, it is not about origins," Aunt Heidi shook her head, "It is about the title of ’Knight’. Historically, the title of Knight has been obtained through military achievements and acts of valor; it symbolizes bravery and loyalty. Although it is the lowest aristocratic title, it carries exceptional honor. And the profession of ’merchant’ has always been seen as having... little association with honor."

"Kode is not just a merchant, Aunt Heidi," Gawain looked into Aunt Heidi’s eyes and spoke calmly, "He is a pioneer."

"A pioneer?!" Aunt Heidi repeated in astonishment, clearly not expecting the ancestor to utter such a distinctive word—the term from the ’pioneer of pioneers’ has extraordinary significance. She remembers the last person who received such an evaluation from the ancestor was that anonymous Wild Mage who invented the Magic Web...

"Bravely taking the first step in untamed areas, risking oneself, benefiting generations, is pioneering. It is not confined to land nor technology," Gawain said, "I know Kode is a merchant; he did those creations for profit, but I cannot deny the value of what he accomplished. He pushed Mage Technology further towards civilian use, exceeding what I had imagined in many ways—this is the advantage brought by his profession and experience. From this aspect, he is sufficient to be called a pioneer, and his courage to be the first to build new-style factories and to actively try new things... demonstrates genuine knightly qualities."

At this point, he paused slightly before continuing: "What is more important is—we must encourage all actions that contribute to the promotion of Mage Technology, and for now, Kode is the most suitable benchmark for this."

"I understand," Aunt Heidi lowered her head, "I will make good use of this publicity opportunity."

Gawain nodded slightly and asked, "How is the progress on Kamel’s side?"

"The research institute has already copied all the technical data brought by the elves and handed it over to the Rune Research Center for analysis and translation. The work has just begun. According to your orders, the priority is to analyze the magical purification part of the ’pressure relief mechanism’."

Gawain nodded lightly, with a slight sigh in his heart.

The magical systems of elves and humans are vastly different. Due to the different neural structures of the two races, humans and elves can hardly understand each other’s spell molds in specific spells. Even the few hybrid descendants who inherit traits from both races can only cast a few "cross-racial spells". During the old era of "supernatural power belonging to oneself", this obstacle puzzled scholars of both races for hundreds of years. It was only when the concept of "mathematics" was introduced into the field of magic research that technicians began to study magic through pure calculation and reasoning, rather than relying on personal spiritual perception and casting talent to construct magic, that this obstacle was finally broken through.

In the kingdom of mathematics, the two distinct magical systems first found a common language. No matter what kind of imagery and "supernatural intuition" a spell mold creates in the minds of the two races, it is unified within a framework in rune logic.

The elves possess technology surpassing that of the current human kingdoms—even though the Silver Empire as a whole is declining, its technological level still exceeds that of humans by a large margin, and those vast lost technologies undoubtedly represent a treasure trove for humanity.

Gawain lowered his head and resumed examining the documents awaiting his approval and review.

When the northern lords and the royal family have organized their resources and balanced the various powers, he will temporarily leave this land, although he can still use the Magic Web through relay towers set up along the way to remotely command his territories. However, remote control ultimately has its limitations. Before leaving here, he still has to arrange everything as much as possible.

...

St. Soniel, inside the Silver Castle.

The glow of the Magic Crystal lamps illuminated this historical royal castle. The study room on the second floor of the castle was brightly lit.

Wales Moen sat in a large, comfortable velvet chair. He looked up, gazing at the magical light fixtures embedded in the opposite wall. Under the exquisite brass lamp holder, the hexagonal rune triggers were neatly arranged, extending all the way to the floor and disappearing beneath the ground like some new kind of wallpaper.

Victoria Wilder sat opposite the crown prince, noticing his absent-mindedness but not minding: "The coronation has been canceled, Your Highness—please understand, we cannot provoke the Duke of the East. But rest assured, it is only a postponement. You will take the throne sooner or later."

"Postponed, so be it. I don’t mind," Wales withdrew his gaze from the Magic Web Units and looked at the duchess before him. "I’ve heard the heat-ray guns have been successfully replicated?"

"Indeed, they have been replicated," Victoria nodded. "In fact, the technology of that thing is not complicated at all. Although we don’t know how the southern rune craftsmen managed to find such a perfect rune arrangement, its core formation is indeed very simple. The royal mages and rune craftsmen quickly reproduced an identical weapon, but..."

Wales said quietly, "It’s a cost issue, isn’t it?"

"...Cost, and production speed," Victoria nodded. "It’s impossible to create those magical weapons with just a few gold coins. And even if we mobilize all the middle and low-ranking mages and rune craftsmen in the city, and add the new factories’ production capacity, we still cannot produce enough ray guns to equip a regiment in a short time."

The duchess couldn’t help but recall the royal mage who successfully replicated the heat-ray gun and how, upon asking how many weapons were needed, she replied with "thousands", and the mage’s expression of near despair.

"Making is not as good as buying," Victoria slowly said. "This conclusion was reached after discussions with the Royal Mage Association."

Wales Moen’s fingers on the armrest of the chair suddenly turned white from exertion, but soon relaxed again.

He said in a low voice, "This may indeed be a rational conclusion, but rationality doesn’t always equate to wisdom."

"In this regard, I agree with you. But we have not yet cracked the southern technology’s secret, and that is the current fact," Victoria said indifferently.

Wales shook his head. Knowing the limited power he wielded, he realized there was little he could achieve. After a moment of silence, he changed the subject: "When are you leaving the royal capital?"

"After the cargo ship departs," Victoria said. "I will head to the Plains of the Holy Spirits to personally oversee the front line, to prevent any changes—Duke Baldwin will remain here to assist you with state affairs."

In times of political turmoil, St. Soniel must at least have a Regent Duke stationed there, partly to hold the situation steady and partly to...hold the royal family in check.

Wales understood the deeper meaning in Victoria’s words. He simply said calmly, "I understand."

Victoria nodded, then stood up, but did not leave. Instead, she quietly looked at the middle-aged prince.

She couldn’t help but recall when she was very young, the first time she came to the Silver Castle, to this study. Her father and Francis II both occupied the positions she and Wales now held, and at that time, Francis II was as quiet and silent as Wales is now.

"Your Highness," she suddenly couldn’t help but say, "Guard this city well—that is your duty of blood."

"I understand."