The sun shines on the earth.
A few solitary seagulls circled in the sky, making unexplained calls from time to time.
Although the sun is still shining brightly, the city itself has changed a lot compared to when Henry and Mira first arrived.
The busy fishing ports and commercial ports all stopped. The seagulls that could not take advantage of the fishermen to collect their nets stood listlessly on the high rocks and small islands outside the port. Only a few of them were hovering in the sky, unwilling to give up. Want to see if humans have resumed fishing. Many of the baby birds born in the cold winter froze to death and starved to death, and those that survived looked sickly and had no strength to even cry "ouch" to be fed by their parents.
Spring arrived belatedly, and Parnira, the most prosperous port city on the east coast, was supposed to be full of life.
It was lifeless.
The market is deserted, and the floor is full of discarded rags and broken earthen jars. Occasionally, in some corners, you can see large dark red blood stains and a few weapons that are damaged beyond repair.
All stores that can be closed are closed, but just closing them may not be helpful. The four-sided ventilation wooden door design favored by the Padrosi people is cool and comfortable, but they are so vulnerable in the face of violence.
Broken pieces of wood, glass and all kinds of debris were strewn all over the floor.
The imperial fleet flying the domineering black flag is no longer there. They should have evacuated for self-protection before the situation developed out of control. Because there are two huge merchant ships stranded in the port, blocking all ships coming and going. The sail was burned away, leaving only the bare mast sticking out diagonally from the water, standing on the waterline like someone's tombstone.
There are a large number of wooden boxes and barrels floating on the clear blue sea, which are basically materials that are not used in daily life. Occasionally, a bloated corpse can be seen among them - the sharks common in the southern part of the Mobigas Inland Sea are smaller, so they may not be able to eat all the people who drowned. The corpse often floats to the surface after the internal gas expands, and then waits for decomposition and explosion, then sinks to the depths of the sea again, and is then eliminated by benthic animals such as crabs.
The ground was in a mess, and all the businessmen with a keen sense of smell had already fled. Except for some people who went south with the fleet, all the remaining residents who could escape ran away. Only the remaining people who have evolved into mobs are still entrenched in the city.
But is it just that simple——
After the cold wave dissipated and the dark clouds no longer shrouded the sky, the empire finally had the energy to start paying attention to this land that had been weathered for several months.
And when our Mr. Sage and the Luoan girl returned to the small town of Scotti with a bit of a sense of loss and a real sense that the untouchable things were over, what awaited them was not any cheers of victory. , and there is no condolence for the deceased.
Just after arriving in the town and taking a short rest, they were informed to go to the mayor's mansion, which was used as a meeting room.
Everyone is preparing for this, and most of the faces they know are there, including Ming Nadu, who is the special envoy of Avenella, and even Miss Margaret, who has always been in charge of logistics, is also there this time. She was dressed in military uniform, wearing a close-fitting mercenary-style dress with puffed shoulders, and a small one-handed sword on her waist.
"Welcome back, I'm so lucky that everything has been resolved, but unfortunately saving the world is not just doing one thing." Constantine, who had his long curly hair cut into a short one, was wearing a simple suit The linen shirt said: "Did you also listen to the attendants' brief report on Parnilla's matter on the way here?"
"Yes." Henry nodded, and there was another sound of footsteps behind him, and Captain Stephen and Adolphus also joined the crowd.
"Well... due to the previous weather factors and the influence of the witch, the land route in Bao Forest is impassable. Therefore, the information we have about Parnilla is only the last batch of material transport fleets Word of mouth." Constantine's hair seemed to have been freshly cut. As he spoke, he subconsciously reached out and wiped his hair, and then he noticed that it had become short hair, so he was stunned for a moment - Knight Commander Then he said: "We know very little."
"There are only some one-sided and general statements, such as people's dissatisfaction with the looting and transportation of materials that has affected their lives and protests, which then turned into riots."
"But this is a very ambiguous and subjective point of view, and it has basically zero help in actual response planning."
"We haven't paid much attention to it. After all, Parnilla has an imperial navy fleet and a considerable number of soldiers defending the city, so we always thought there was no problem." Constantine continued: "Until a few days ago."
"The moment you solved all this, almost everyone noticed the change in the sky."
"Everything is over. The roads blocked by the weather are reopened. At the risk of being attacked by the remaining ghouls and undead, they sent out messengers."
"News brought to Scotty by a speeding courier."
Constantine said word for word: "It's a request for help."
"The situation is worse than all of us imagined." Constantine's expression became serious, and Margaret on the side also frowned tightly, as if suppressing her emotions.
"Palnilla, which should have an imperial navy fleet and a large number of troops, and was able to completely control the situation, was reduced to the point of secretly sending out messengers to ask for help. Naturally, the reason cannot be a simple popular riot."
"People want to make a living, and it is normal for them not to understand in the short term when they see supplies being taken away to support the rear. But all this will eventually come to an end, and they are just unarmed ordinary citizens, and it is impossible to carry out a truly protracted and bloody war. riot."
"This is the idea of the empire, and the reason why no one, including us, pays attention to it - but this is not the case."
"That was not a Raushi mob at all."
"Those are well-trained mercenaries." Constantine crossed his hands: "Who is there."
“Fish in troubled waters.”
"What's the benefit of doing something like this at a time like this?" The people in front are fighting desperately, but there are people behind who are doing sneaky things, which everyone will hate. The person who spoke was Adolphus. Although in theory the church should not interfere too much in the secular world, this paladin had already stood with them after this battle.
"Let me explain it." This time the person who answered the question was Margaret. She stepped forward, cleared her throat and began to speak.
"The manager of Parnilla, our family." The aristocratic lady paused, seeming to be sorting out her words.
"We have been in this position for quite a long time. Throughout the ages, there have been many people who have been dissatisfied with our exclusive use of this largest port city, whether they are outside the empire or within the empire."
"The important geographical location and abundant money exchanges have always given Parnilla the reputation of the 'Heart of the Empire'. Although the political center is not here, it is like a heart that pumps and transmits materials, talents and wealth to important places. places to keep those places running.”
"So naturally, Parnilla has always been highly valued by successive emperors, and the local defense is also very careful. There has never been any such situation in the past."
"This time... it's really a coincidence." Margaret lowered her head and clenched her fists.
Mira looked at her from behind. The noble lady was obviously worried about her family, but she said nothing about it. She just introduced the reason to everyone in a professional and sincere manner.
"As she said, this port city is very important to the empire. Therefore, if anyone wants to inflict heavy damage on the empire or use it to threaten certain conditions, it is reasonable to choose Parnilla. "Constantin no longer forced Margaret and took over the conversation. The noble lady stepped aside, Mira immediately went to his side, and Henry took a step forward at this time.
The sage, who was only lightly dressed, didn't even bring Claymore with him. He crossed his arms and said to the point: "Let's get straight to the point, who is the attacker?"
"I don't know." Constantine spread his hands without hesitation for a second, and the sage's eyebrows twitched.
"But I have some guesses." The knight commander stood up and put his hands behind his back. He and Henry, two guys nearly two meters tall, stood out in the room, and even gave people the illusion that the two were tit for tat.
"Do you know anything about hand cannons?" he asked.
"It's the kind of thing that makes loud noises and smoke. We occasionally use it to scare prey into traps." Stephen said with his loud voice, but Mira and Minna, who were born on the West Coast, were still confused by this. Fog.
"Yes, it's a weapon that ignites gunpowder and shoots out projectiles."
"Although it's mostly a scare effect," Constantine added.
"The earliest birth of gunpowder was in this country, but we have always only used it as fireworks. Its use in weapons only happened in the past ten years."
"If you fill a sealed container with gunpowder, it will be instantly ignited to release a large amount of gas and propel the projectile to fly. This is its basic principle, but it is far more difficult to make than to say."
"First of all, gunpowder is very troublesome and must be made in large quantities in advance. Secondly, it is not easy to forge a smooth and straight barrel. In addition, the match rope used for ignition may be very unreliable due to the weather. Also There is the issue of the weight of the weapon itself. If the forged steel is uneven, it will explode in the shooter's hand, so it must be made as thick as possible."
"Because of these various practical flaws, their equipment is quite sparse. Basically, it is used as a scare weapon, used to emit a lot of noise and smoke to frighten horses."
"Of course, the most important factor is their lethality." Constantine said: "The excellent longbowmen in Avenella and Maximilian are very popular even on the east coast. There are thirty skilled archers. It’s easy to hit a target the size of a human head with a multi-meter. But the hand cannon can’t do it. Beyond the ten-meter distance, even the launcher himself doesn’t know where the projectile will fly.”
"So in order to make up for the accuracy problem, the empire's infantry hand-gunners often filled a large amount of sand and gravel as projectiles to make up for the accuracy with area."
"But that's not as serious as the second problem, which is power."
"Although the smoke and sound are very loud, the hand cannon cannot even penetrate the shield, and it is even more powerless against a knight in full plate armor. Its cost is almost the same as that of a steel-arm crossbow, and its weight is at least three to four times, and the gunpowder can still affected by moisture, and had woeful accuracy and power, thus serving only as a makeshift infantry anti-cavalry weapon.”
"In summary -" "So it's a dwarf?" When others were still focused on Constantine's explanation of this weapon, the sage interrupted him.
"...You react so quickly." Constantine shook his head and returned to his seat.
"I have been talking about how unreliable such weapons are for a long time, obviously just to set the stage and give counterexamples later." The sage said in a calm tone, as if nothing in this world could surprise him: "And since its problem is There are a series of problems that exist at the technical level, such as forged gun barrels. So to improve this, the manufacturer must naturally have more powerful metal smelting and forging technology than the empire."
"And the only ones who can be stronger than the Eastern Laman Empire, the pinnacle of mankind, are the dwarves in the mountains in the south."
"I lost to you. This is exactly my inference, but I at least guessed it after listening to their detailed report." Constantine spread his hands again.
"The barrel was lengthened, changing the common cannon barrel from a forearm long to an arm length, and then made it thinner, thus reducing the weight. Although the power is still difficult to penetrate plate armor and thick enough shields, But it is enough to cause a powerful blow to the limbs of soldiers wearing only breastplates and helmets."
"It cannot cause death, but considering the current shortage of supplies in Parnilla, the trouble the wounded soldiers can cause is actually greater."
"It was too late for the top management to realize this. The wounded all over the ground needed manpower and supplies to take care of them. In addition, their morale was affected. They could only hide in government buildings and commercial buildings, and they were not even allowed to go to the streets. ."
"But the most important thing is..."
"This kind of weapon does not require training, and unlike bows and crossbows, you do not need to be strong enough to draw it. Whether it is a woman or a child, as long as you know how to put gunpowder in it and then ignite it, you can attack."
"If multiple hand cannons are loaded in advance, you can even switch to another one immediately after shooting and repeat the attack."
"And these guys have prepared more than two thousand long-length hand cannons for this purpose."
"There are a bunch of idle small Latin American countries in the south. Although they are very similar to us in culture and language, there are often immigrants from there working in the big cities. But they have always harbored hatred for the empire. In addition, in the early years, The Yetina sect persecutes other races and maintains that human beings are the only people of God. The relationship between this country and the elves and dwarves has always been very delicate."
"I don't know when they united together. The immigrants from the small southern country spoke the same language as us. The dwarves provided weapons and equipment and smuggled them in and hid them. Seize the opportunity and strike hard at the heart of the empire——"
"This is a long-planned attack. They are like sharks with a keen sense of smell -" Constantine said, and the body floating in the port of Parnilla was suddenly dragged by something, and then violent splashes began. Rolling, the entire body was pulled under the water.
"The Empire is not what it once was."
After a while, half of the body that had been bitten off by a big mouth resurfaced.
"The high-ranking nobles have eyes but they don't see and ears but they don't listen. They only know how to fight among themselves. The emperor is immersed in the dream of being invincible on the east coast of the great Laman orthodoxy and is unwilling to wake up, and he cannot notice these undercurrents."
"This country has become a place where anyone can be bullied."
"The glorious Padrosi Empire."
In front of everyone, Constantine said bluntly:
"Already terminally ill."
"So we have to take over -" Constantine tilted his head, his eyes as cold as a knife. And Henry glanced around, all the officers were there, the army was lined up tightly outside the window, but Duke Juliande was nowhere to be seen.
There is one more thing that should not be studied deeply, one more thing that should not be known.
The sage half-squinted his eyes. This was the reason why he did not want to return to the east coast and would rather be a wandering mercenary on the west coast. But no matter what, he was obviously involved in this matter and couldn't get away.
"The emperor is far away, and we are the only ones who can save Parnilla and solve all this."
"To these guys who are sneaking around behind others' backs while others are struggling to fight the crisis."
Constantine put his hands on the table and said in a tone as cold as ice.
"Show no mercy."
