November 4th, 10 a.m., Friedrich's Kingdom, Saxony, Freiberg.
Thick smoke floated into the sky with the sound of the whistle. A steam train coming from the direction of Mosk drove into Freiberg Station. As soon as the train stopped, a little girl with two braids couldn't wait to open the door. , jumped onto the platform.
"Emma, don't run too fast."
A man's voice came from the carriage. Soon, a pair of leather shoes stepped on the platform. A young man with brown hair walked out of the carriage and grabbed the little girl who had just jumped out of the car. As he walked forward, he spoke with dark green eyes. He slowly looked at the environment on the platform.
Freiberg is a city in central Saxony. 12 kilometers south of this city, there is a small village called Risa, which is directly under the territory of King William V, and Risa Village...
It is also the birthplace of the Manstein family.
"Brother!"
A young man holding a dark red walnut cane, wearing a tuxedo and a top hat got off the train among the crowd. Behind him was a teenager who looked somewhat similar to him and the brown-haired young man, and a The butler's exquisite clothes attracted many people's attention.
"Felix, Jonas, follow quickly."
The brown-haired young man holding the little girl's braid said without looking back: "We have to continue on our way."
"I know." The young man named Felix responded, pulled Jonas in a daze, and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
"....fine."
Jonas came back to his senses and shook his head: "It's just that I haven't been back for a long time."
"I sighed after getting in the car, hurry up! Brother has already stopped the car!"
Felix ran quickly towards the outside of the station, where the brown-haired young man walking at the front had stopped a four-wheel carriage and was discussing the price with the driver.
The price of traveling from Freiberg to Risa Village was not cheap. The coachman offered 1 mark and 50 pfennigs, but Mavey was only willing to pay 1 mark silver coin.
After some haggling, the coachman agreed to Mawei's price. After accepting a mark silver coin with the portrait of William V on the front and a two-winged eagle on the back, the coachman helped the housekeeper Yannick carry the gift box to The top of the carriage was tied tightly with a belt, and then he rang the bell in front of the carriage and grabbed the reins.
"drive!"
The four-wheeled carriage moved along the road. There were barely 5 people seated in the not-so-large carriage, which was a bit crowded, but it was just in line with the current situation of the Manstein family.
After the carriage left the city and entered a sparsely populated country road, the people in the car breathed a sigh of relief and became much more casual.
"Huh... boss."
"Call me big brother."
"...Brother." The letter holding the walnut cane changed his title and asked in Germanic: "Since His Majesty William V said in the letter that he has arranged everything for us, why do we have to go there? What about Risa Village? Isn’t this unnecessary?”
Daniel, Edward and Yunia all looked at Mavi, wanting to hear his explanation.
"If you don't see it with your own eyes, do you know what is going on in Risa Village?" Ma Wei looked at the golden farmland flashing past the window and said in a calm tone: "The nature of a country is different from that of small-scale non-governmental organizations. Those who come into contact with the king and enter the country’s core decision-making circle have a clean background, which is the so-called political review.”
"It is impossible for people who do not meet the requirements to enter the core decision-making circle. In other words, it is useless for us to just pretend to be someone. The Kingdom of Windsor will definitely send people to investigate our identities, backgrounds, and origins on the spot."
"In this case, how can we clear ourselves of suspicion? In addition to achieving the prepared background, we must live there for a period of time and understand the customs and folk customs there... This is what I brought The reason why you are here."
Daniel, who was wearing a thin sword at his waist, thought for a while and said: "Teacher... Big brother is actually right. Although my father has prepared complete identity details for us, the specific local conditions can only be known by personal experience." .”
"You all said so...I have no objection." Lai Wen spread his hands and asked, "How long are we going to stay here?"
"Half a month, we're almost familiar with each other in half a month." Looking at the faces of the people who came over, Ma Wei emphasized: "We must not take it lightly. The place we are going to next is the headquarters of the Church of the Three Goddesses of Destiny. , the capital of the Kingdom of Windsor, London!”
"Once our identities are exposed, the Church of the Three Goddesses of Destiny will not let us go, so no matter what, you must turn yourselves into true Junker nobles!"
The Manstein family does exist, and is indeed an ancient Junker noble. However, the family has fallen into decline, lost its title of nobility, and has been living in Risa Village. This information is all true and can all be found. There is no Fake things.
What is really false is the story of the three brothers of the Manstein family. The Manstein family died out three years ago. The last head of the family died of a high fever. The mansion was completely abandoned and there were no successors. They had completely withdrawn. the political stage.
However, because the Manstein family has long since declined and has been out of the sight of the nobles, not many people know about it. It is not a new thing for nobles to die. Everyone has long been accustomed to it.
William V seized on this point and forged the identities of the Maweji people, shaping them into the last descendants of the Manstein family, after the ancient Junker aristocracy, with the blood of the aristocracy flowing in their bodies...
After confirming their identities, William V and Prime Minister Bismarck used the vampire's ability to confuse people to brainwash the villagers of Risa Village and integrate the existence of the three Manstein brothers into the memories of the villagers.
Without the help of William V and Bismarck, this matter would never have been possible. Fortunately, William V had a good feeling for Marvey and was willing to leave a way out for the royal family of Frederick.
The four-wheeled carriage swayed along the country road. It was near noon that Mawei and the others saw the outline of Risa Village.
It is a small village located deep in the Erzgebirge Mountains. There are more than a hundred villagers living in it. There are no specialties. The villagers rely on agriculture and hunting to make a living and have always lived a self-sufficient life.
Because there is no commercial demand, few outsiders come to Risa Village, and even the city's public carriages do not pass here. If it were not close to Freiberg City, it would be difficult to purchase many daily necessities.
The carriage stopped at the entrance of the village. The driver unloaded the suitcase on the roof, saluted Ma Wei and others, and then drove away. When a middle-aged woman who was drying clothes saw Ma Wei, she froze for a while and suddenly shouted Said: "Nicholas?!"
Before Ma Wei could say anything, a middle-aged woman wearing a red apron rushed into the village and shouted emotionally: "Come out quickly! Nicholas and the others are back to the village!"
Seeing how enthusiastic the middle-aged woman was, Ma Wei couldn't help but look at Edward, who was wearing a butler's uniform, and asked, "What memories have you vampires instilled in these villagers?"
"Nothing, it just means that you are very prestigious in the village and are loved by everyone, especially as the eldest son, you graduated from Freiberg University of Technology. You have made a lot of money doing business abroad over the years, and you often send some back... .." Edward glanced at Ma Wei: "The villagers are still waiting for you to build roads for them."
"Build... roads?!"
"Well, because you wrote back last time and said that this time when you return home, you will donate to the village, build a good road to Freiberg, and establish the Manstein Charitable Foundation to support the children in the village to go to school. ." Edward said calmly: "When you were young, your family was poor, and the villagers paid for your college education. Now that you are prosperous, isn't it right for you to feed back to the village?"
Ma Wei subconsciously touched his pocket. It was not that he was stingy with money and unwilling to build roads for the villagers, but he was thinking about whether he had brought enough funds...
Before setting off, Dino prepared 100,000 rubles for him, equivalent to a start-up capital of 10,000 gold pounds. The money was not much, but it was already a huge sum of money for the Truth Church, which was currently short of finances.
All these 100,000 rubles were exchanged by Dino into gold mark coupons used by the Kingdom of Frederick. There were three currencies used by the Kingdom of Frederick, copper pfennig, silver mark and gold mark.
According to the currency exchange rate of the past few days, 1 gold pound in the Kingdom of Windsor can be exchanged for 5 gold marks, and 100,000 rubles can be exchanged for a full 50,000 gold mark universal note. It is issued by the Berlin Central Bank and can be exchanged at any bank. When converted into cash, it is a hard currency. As long as the economy of Frederick's Kingdom does not collapse, the general coupons can continue to be circulated and used.
"Do you think I'm deliberately trying to trick you?"
Seeing Ma Wei lowering his head to count the money, Edward suddenly said: "I didn't trick you. The vampires can tamper with human memory, but if the person being tampered with is very resistant, the tampered memory will have flaws. In order to make the villagers accept the memory of you three brothers, existence, I can only promise good things, so that they will not doubt it, and will even force themselves to believe it."
In order to make the villagers accept the existence of the three Manstein brothers, Edward brought them what they needed - money.
Because the appearance of the three Manstein brothers will bring prosperity to Risa Village, the villagers are willing to believe that the three brothers are real. If they firmly believe this in their hearts, there will naturally be no flaws in the tampered memories.
The trick is mediocre, but the effect is surprisingly good.
Especially after Ma Wei saw the villagers rushing towards him happily, he had no doubts about the effectiveness of the donation.
"Nicholas! Nicholas!"
An old man on crutches came to Ma Wei and grabbed his wrist. His beard was trembling with excitement: "You are finally back! Everyone misses you day and night!"
Ma Wei opened his mouth and hesitated for a long time before saying: "Ah...well, I'm back."
"Just come back, just come back. Come on, come home with me first. I have a lot to say to you three brothers!"
At the warm invitation of the old man, Ma Wei and the others were surrounded by the villagers and entered the village. It was lunch time, and every household was cooking. Smoke rose from the chimneys, accompanied by the aroma of the food, but no one cared. While eating, all attention was focused on the three Manstein brothers.
Afraid they would run away.
It’s okay to skip a meal, but if the money is gone, it’s really gone.
"Nicholas, you don't know that during the time you left, everyone was thinking about you. You are the only one in the village who has gone to college, and you are our hope!"
The old man muttered while pulling Ma Wei forward. Only then did Ma Wei notice that the old man's accent had a very strong southern flavor, which was quite different from the accent Daniel taught them. Daniel, who lives in Berlin in the north, no matter what No matter how you imitate it, it is difficult to imitate the charm of the South.
Especially in terms of tail notes, the gap is not as big as usual.
The old man brought Mawei and others to his home. It was a house made of wood and stone. The base was stone and the house was made of solid wood. Time had left mottled traces on it.
In front of the burning fire, the old man brought roasted pork sausage, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, and a basket of sliced bread. After signaling Ma Wei and others to help themselves, he took out a pipe and put it in his mouth, smoking. , the wrinkles between his eyebrows were twisted together, looking worried.
Before coming to Risa Village, Mavi had obtained the personal information of the villagers. The old man in front of him was the village chief, Dim.
Picking up a sausage that was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, Mavie took a bite. He was indeed a little hungry. He hadn't eaten anything from morning to noon.
"Chief Dim..."
After lunch, Ma Wei took out a stack of gold marks, counted a few and put them on the table. He said calmly: "Here are 5,000 gold marks. Please accept them. Some of them will be used to build roads, and some of them will be used to build roads." Charitable foundation, this is the promise I made in my letter."
Looking at the mark tickets on the table, the village chief Dim did not reach out immediately, but held his pipe in his mouth and looked back and forth on Ma Wei's face, with a trace of scrutiny in his cloudy eyes.
"I can't remember... Nicholas, are you three brothers really children of the Manstein family?"
Edward, who was sitting aside, narrowed his eyes and was about to step forward to use his strength when he was stopped by Ma Wei.
Ma Wei looked at the puzzled old man and said with a smile: "Village Chief Dim, don't you think we look like the children of the Manstein family?"
"It's not a question of resemblance, but..." the old man frowned even more: "I don't know what to say, it's just a little strange, as if you shouldn't be here."
"Don't you recognize us?"
"I don't know why you came back suddenly." The old man was still confused: "In my memory, your existence has always been very vague, and you have never had a fixed image. I don't remember what you looked like when you were young, and I don't remember either. When did you leave the village...but I do remember you, Nicholas, Felix, Jonas...and Emma."
Tampering with memory is an extremely difficult thing. At least in Ma Wei's understanding, even the forces behind the Free Association have to bury history before they can tamper with the truth.
You know, the forces behind the scenes represent the ancient gods!
The more important things are, the clearer and more profound their memories are. For Village Chief Dim, Risa Village is everything to him. It is not surprising that he can realize the strangeness of the Maweijians.
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"Chief Dim, can I take a walk in the village?"
Ma Wei suddenly said: "I haven't been back for a long time, and I can't remember some things clearly. Maybe I can recall them after taking a walk."
The old man stared into Ma Wei's eyes, nodded after a while, and said in a hoarse voice:
"good."
