Duan Qing doesn't have a general understanding of how fast the message transmission speed is in the free world, but he is certain that it is not as fast as the player's message transmission speed - even those in the Mages Council who have such advanced technology as "magic" People probably don’t know what the latest developments are in the war between the Empire and the Principality.
So they probably don't know what the refugees who appear on the streets, who are obviously not residents of Fenghua Town, mean.
"The principality has lost Cosma County." Ignoring the old man's solemn look, Duan Qing introduced the latest news he had seen on the Internet: "Don't ask me where I learned about this news. In short, I believe it. I was right.”
Norman's eyes did not change, but after Duan Qing shook his head and found that the other party still had no reaction, he realized that the old man in front of him was stunned.
"The latest battle report shows that the principality's troops in Cosma County are retreating steadily." So Duan Qing sighed and decided to continue: "The princess of Cosma County decided to withdraw the entire army on January 23rd. Abandon Cosma City. But... obviously their retreat did not escape detection by the empire, and they did not make a corresponding retreat plan, so..."
"The retreat turned into a rout."
"From Cosma City to Feron, then Zaraha City, all the way to Fars Fortress on the border of Eta County, the battle situation along the entire retreat route was one-sided. Soldiers who escaped from various places brought All the news is that their own troops are being unilaterally pursued by the empire. Some soldiers have even been separated from the main army for several days - they no longer know the current situation of their troops."
"Of course, the most miserable thing is the local...people along the way."
Duan Qing's voice paused, as if he was remembering the figures he saw on Hualan Street before: "It is said that many people got the news inside the principality early, so they fled their homes."
The old man's eyes darkened.
"Some refugees have appeared here in Fenghua Town." Duan Qing whispered: "According to my speculation, the interior of the principality may have...abandoned Cosma's battlefield early... ..”
"This is impossible." Norman rejected the other party's speculation: "No matter how cowardly the president is, it is impossible to make such a decision, let alone Horsman..."
"Oh, I also believe...President Hosman." Duan Qing had only heard the name of the highest leader of the Principality, so he could only say a few words in agreement: "But some people in the Principality Parliament, There may be different opinions, not to mention...I heard that the local power of the principality is much stronger than the ruling power of the capital of the principality."
"Lian... that bastard." After a long time, the old man's angry voice squeezed out from between his teeth: "He must have done it for his own life..."
"Uh, please..."
"Rian Udir, the highest officer of Cosma County." Norman waved his hand impatiently: "The incompetent county owner relied on his father to rise to power, and now..."
He was silent for a while, then raised his head and looked at Duan Qing again: "Assuming your information is indeed correct, this is indeed a huge blow to the principality..."
"Yes." Duan Qing nodded: "And if there is violent turmoil in the upper echelons of the principality, then some of their people will definitely be unlucky..."
"You mean, those people...are members of the Restoration Alliance?"
Duan Qing was not very familiar with the name of the Restoration Alliance, so after being stunned for a moment, he sank into thinking: "Well, maybe these are what you call...the ghosts of those people. Maybe. But no matter which one it is..."
"They all have a reason to start moving here."
"It makes sense." Norman thought for a moment, then nodded: "If their conspiracy succeeds, then this is their best opportunity to start an attack, because all the attention within the principality is under their control; If they fail, then..."
"The remote Fenghua Town is an opportunity for them to make a comeback." Duan Qing continued.
"Perhaps the incident in the Emerald Forest is just a test by them." The old man Norman calmed down his expression, leaving only the slightest glint in his eyes: "Perhaps this southernmost area of the principality... is all theirs. The place you want to plot, even a secret stronghold, will play a decisive role in any future conspiracy."
"Yes, after all, this is a land that produces food..."
"In recent days, there seems to be a problem with the distribution ratio in various places..."
"The output of the minerals in Lanshan Village has also been reduced a lot. Is there someone obstructing it..."
"This is why we have been keeping an eye on Yaschi. Although he is just an ordinary miner, he is still quite influential in the Ankaras mine. After all, he has been working for so many years, and according to our observation... ..."
"Sorry, but...he's dead."
"What!" the old man yelled, and then covered his mouth - people in other places in the hall had already cast curious eyes over him.
"This is also... the latest news." Duan Qing blinked his innocent eyes and said helplessly: "Except for Richard and Xiao Nina, I guarantee that no one knows earlier than you. "
"What's going on! Why did he die? But at a time like this..."
"Isn't this a commission from your Mage Council?" Duan Qing asked back: "I heard that someone from your Mage Council died in the mine, so you entrusted someone else to clean up the bandits in the mine... ."
"How...possible..." Norman's voice became smaller and smaller, and finally fell silent. He thought for a while, then showed a bitter smile: "Okay, this...may be true."
"It is true that someone... disappeared in that mine, but we only sent people to investigate the matter. We don't know that the person is dead or who did it... ."
"Hey, interesting..." Duan Qing smiled strangely: "If those colleagues of mine deceived me..."
He was kicked in the shin.
"Okay." He endured the pain and glanced at the little girl next to him, then readjusted his sitting posture: "Anyway, something went wrong somewhere in the process, and finally the drama in the Ankaras mine happened. .”
He stopped talking and looked at the old man opposite, who smiled bitterly again: "Okay, I have to admit..."
"There may really be a problem within our Council of Mages."
"Perhaps I was aware of this problem a long time ago, so I told Richard the news I got..."
The early morning sunlight shines through the large window next to the counter where the three of them are, but as the scene gradually settles, there is no warmth in the hearts of these people. It wasn't until someone's footsteps sounded and he walked to the front of the counter that the uneasy silence was broken.
"Excuse me...is this the place where mages conduct appraisals?"
Duan Qing and Norman looked at each other, and the latter stood up and shouted over there: "Wait a minute!" Then he stood up with Duan Qing.
"How did Yaschi die? Is there anything left behind in the end?"
"His last words mentioned... being careful about Laska, and... telling me to find a man named Feeney."
"Who's Finny...and Laska, hmm."
The old man's hoarse voice chuckled softly, and then said to Duan Qing: "I will continue to... pay attention to you, as long as you don't do anything extraordinary."
"Oh? It sounds good, but can you provide some practical help? Give me a token or something so that I can go out and show off my power..."
"What I mean is...don't seek death yourself." The old man said earnestly.
Amid Mengzhu's faint laughter next to him, Duan Qing wiped his face, and then said: "Okay, I understand. But don't you want to tell me first...who is Laska? "
"If you want to know, just go to the library." Norman glanced at Duan Qing with a strange look, then stopped talking to him and started to walk towards the front of the counter: "I don't have time to tell you stories. listen."
*****************
Windflower is a town, so it's no surprise that there's a library here. As one of the town's infrastructures, this kind of place is popular not only with the townspeople, but also with the players. Because here you can not only learn about the historical origins, customs and customs of the local area, or even every corner of the Free Continent, but also learn about various settings and backgrounds in this game, thereby helping players better understand this game. Survive better in this game.
But for players, what is more important is the mastery of game resources.
Whether it is the understanding of moves, detailed information about various dangerous places in the free world, or even various things other than combat, such as communication with local people, collection, production, inlaying, forging, and even magic - you They can all be found in the library. When the free world first opened, places like the library once became a place where major powers competed for resources. However, after experiencing the "suppression" of various indigenous forces, including the Master Council, players began to compete for resources. The arrogance has only dropped a little, but now, this enthusiasm has completely disappeared - an open and transparent place like the library will definitely not have such good things as peerless secrets, so after such a long time , library resources around the free world have been almost completely disclosed. Even on the websites of major platforms, people have made a relatively complete summary and analysis of where and what form of materials can be found.
However, the library in Fenghua Town seems to be slightly different from libraries in other places. The first is that Fenghua Town, where it is located, has not been developed by players for a long time, and the second is its location - when Duan Qing and Mengzhu first arrived here, they received the local town map, but after a few days of After the mission, they had never heard of a library or seen a building like a library until now.
As a last resort, they had to ask for help. Originally, they were mentally prepared that finding a library would be a huge project, but in the end they just randomly picked up a passerby and asked about the location of the library.
"The top of the mountain?"
"Yes, the library in Fenghua Town is at the top of this mountain."
"Why are you in that kind of place! Also, why isn't it written on the map..."
"I guess you got your map from the registration office." The man replied: "The library in Fenghua Town is a very old building, older than Fenghua Town itself, so not many people have gone there in recent years. , young people know even less..."
Ignoring the man's sigh, Duan Qing took Mengzhu to the edge of Huawu Street and looked up at the higher mountains - when doing tasks in the past, they had never been to anything higher than Huawu Street. place, so they didn't know where they would lead if they continued walking up these winding streets.
"Just take this opportunity to take a half-day tour to Fenghua Town or something..."
The sun has not risen to its highest point in the morning, so the weather is still not very hot, but the strong mountain wind in this season brings a little chill to those who want to climb higher. The mountains in Fenghua Town are not high, but it still took a lot of effort for Duan Qing to walk along the street to the end of the road.
But after arriving at his destination, the coldness brought by the mountain wind and the fatigue caused by the climb were all dispelled by the scenery in front of him.
After turning the last corner, the first thing that caught Duan Qing's eyes was a rather large square. The area of the square is not large, but compared with the originally small mountain top, these flat stone slabs filled with all kinds of strange wild flowers and grasses in the gaps still occupy a large area as far as the eye can see. At the other end of the square, a seemingly very old two-story building stands at the far end. The gray walls are covered with a variety of flowers and plants, dyeing the original old building into a natural blue. green.
However, the most eye-catching aspect of this building is its structure with two columns on both sides. If you look at it from a distance, it looks like three or two cylinders embedded in each other, forming this building together. The tops of the circles are covered with semi-circular spiers. There is also a hole in the tallest cylinder, from which a small cylinder extends. The cylindrical shape continues upward until it shrinks into a pointed top at a higher place, and is then surrounded by a circular rooftop. Looking from below, there seemed to be some black objects placed on the circular rooftop, and I didn't know what they were used for.
There is an arched opening on the front of the cylindrical building, which is probably the entrance of the building. Through the sunlight shining diagonally above, Duan Qing can also see the wooden arch corresponding to the arched doorway. The door is now half-open inside the arch. Due to the limited height of the arch, the upper half of the door is still in shadow.
As expected, it is the oldest and most mysterious library in Fenghua Town - even in a nook and cranny like the Adventurer's Association, there is a sign that is about to fall off, but Duan Qing searched here for a long time, but there is not even a sign that says " I couldn't find any sign with the word "library" on it.
But that's not the most attractive thing here.
On the other side of the small square, the curious little girl had already run in that direction - a tall stone statue stood quietly on the edge of the square on that side. The stone statue seemed to depict a man. He was wearing heavy armor, holding a shield in his left hand and a sword in his right hand. His face was downward and facing south. He maintained a half-kneeling posture and knelt there motionless.
Duan Qing also walked over and unexpectedly found an explanation about the statue next to it. Perhaps due to thousands of years of wind and frost, or perhaps due to some kind of damage, the small characters on the back of the stone carving with the detailed introduction have been very blurred and cannot be fully recognized, but the large characters on the front of the stone carving can still be read in full.
The garrison officer of the Empire's Ji Feng State, Javier Gangram.
"Is this the statue that Uncle Kidd once mentioned? It looks so powerful..."
"Yes." Duan Qing sighed: "According to what he said at the time, this man should be the idol of the people of Fenghua Town."
"It is a pillar of strength for young people."
An old voice suddenly broke into the conversation.
