Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1066: Chapter 1065: Light and Shadow

The Cecil Clan has a powerful warship—it is equipped with the longest-range and most destructive Rainbow Light Device that humans have made so far. Once charged, it can launch deadly beams from the distant sea to land targets. It is also said to be equipped with equally powerful solid ammunition weapons, capable of launching similarly deadly cross-border shots from farther distances.

On the battlefield against the War God, it was this warship that delivered the final blow.

And after that war ended, the Cecil Clan’s warship did not leave the area it was patrolling. What worries many Typhon soldiers is that the warship named "Winter" is still active in the eastern coastal region. Whenever it’s clear, the sentinel towers on the mountains can even see that steel monster floating on the sea, its high-raised wings shimmering in the sunlight.

"Yes, Your Majesty, it is still there," Duke Ferdinand said, his expression turning serious and tinged with concern. "We thought that the Cecil Clan would at least have the ship return to the Mother Harbor for resupply before winter ended, but now it seems its endurance at sea far exceeds our expectations... it still operates in the eastern seas but has never approached the land."

"...The Empire’s assets are not limited to land, the sea also holds important significance," Emperor Rosetta Augustus said, looking into Duke Ferdinand’s eyes. "Where are our ships?"

"The ’Courage’ and the newly launched ’Red Knight’ have just arrived near that ship, but... they can only observe from afar," Duke Ferdinand said with a difficult expression. "The Cecil Clan’s ship is a real battleship, much like their land-based mobile fortresses. The ’Winter’ was designed fully armed from the outset, and our ships cannot match its firepower. Count Owen Dyson can only monitor it, and from another angle, we cannot possibly build a warship capable of matching the ’Winter’ in a short time."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "The Cecil Clan evidently knows this as well; they have not reacted to our monitoring, remaining anchored at the nearshore border. Theoretically, that position does not belong to our territorial waters, but the ’Winter’s’ weapons can still cover the mountainous region east of Bitter Winter Castle."

"...So, this is a deterrent," Emperor Rosetta Augustus sighed. "An absolute deterrent... this is truly in Gawain Cecil’s style."

Matilda sat quietly on one side, listening to the conversation between Emperor Rosetta and Duke Ferdinand without speaking a word. Only when her father paused did she cautiously voice her thoughts: "Is the Cecil Clan stopping ’Winter’ near our coastline merely to display force for deterrence?"

Emperor Rosetta Augustus glanced at his daughter with a hint of surprise: "You seem to have a perspective?"

"I am just worried... that the Cecil Clan has anchored that ship there as preparation for the forthcoming negotiations," Matilda said with furrowed brows. "After all, this ’war’ was theoretically initiated by us, and even though there are hidden reasons behind it, the Cecil Clan will surely demand an explanation from Typhon—however, regardless of what conditions they propose, we might find them difficult to accept."

"So, they need to further bolster their ’bargaining power,’" Emperor Rosetta Augustus acknowledged with approval at Matilda, then shook his head slightly. "Unfortunately, given Typhon’s current situation, maintaining stability is reaching its limit, and there is very little we can do."

"If we can understand the Cecil Clan’s negotiation intentions in advance, we’d at least retain some initiative," Matilda immediately suggested. "How much we can achieve at the negotiating table depends on how much effort we make outside of it."

Duke Ferdinand listened to the exchange between the emperor and the princess and finally broke the silence after a brief moment of thought: "Winterwolf Fortress and the surrounding areas are still in the hands of the Cecil Clan—they show no signs of withdrawing troops."

"Are you suggesting that the Cecil Clan intends to annex Winterwolf Fortress and its surrounding areas?" Matilda looked at Duke Ferdinand, then gently shook her head. "Even though this is a possibility, I feel that Gawain Cecil’s plans would not be so simplistic and brutal..."

The room fell silent for a moment as Emperor Rosetta Augustus unconsciously rubbed the ruby ring on his left hand with his right hand, and after a long pause, he spoke thoughtfully: "In any case, there is only a week left until the conference begins."

...

Deep within the Obsidian Palace, there is a staircase leading to the underground of the palace, and a bronze door, safeguarded by layers of magical seals, stands quietly at the end of the staircase.

This place is not the location of the royal treasury, nor does it involve the highest secrets of the royal family, yet it remains a restricted area. Besides a few elites from the Royal Mages Association and members of the Augustus Clan, no one can approach that bronze door, and even the guardians of the staircase and the door are precise, costly magic artificial intelligence and mechanism devices—these soulless magical machines are loyal and reliable, never divulging secrets.

Such rigorous protection is for one reason: the secret of the Typhon Empire’s magical technology, far surpassing other nations for hundreds of years, is hidden deep behind that bronze door.

Behind the door, in a large square hall brightly lit, complex and mysterious magic symbols cover the walls and ceiling. Numerous humming, glowing magical devices are arranged around, with countless Magi-metal and symbol chains extending from those magical devices along the grooves on the floor, converging at the center of the hall. At the focus of these chains and metal tracks is a workstation crafted from alloy, covered with magic symbols and precise crystals, emitting a low buzzing sound.

Windsor Maple, the president of the Royal Mages Association, is busy beside the workstation, while the "maidservant supervisor" of the Obsidian Palace, Diana, lies quietly on the workstation—the dark-haired lady has her eyes closed as if in deep sleep. Her usual black maid uniform has been replaced with a loose white cloak, with an opening in the abdomen, revealing not human skin but a layer of artificial dermis and an alloy cover beneath.

Under the alloy cover, in the place of a normal human’s abdomen, are numerous precise component devices operating in an orderly manner. The surface symbols of the small magic mechanism flicker, and a copper core slightly vibrates above the artificial spine, appearing clean and pristine despite continuous operation for seven hundred years.

And on the rest of Diana’s body, covered by the cloak, many pipes and fine chains extend outward, connecting to corresponding interfaces on the edge of the workstation, or directly to certain grooves and pipes on the floor.

Windsor Maple carefully checks the operation of these devices, making minor adjustments to certain components as needed, occasionally straightening up to record something in a floating notebook beside her or use the magical devices on the workstation for some complex operation. Her movements are fluid, evidently having performed this task more than once.

After a long time, the president finally completed what she was doing. She bent down, carefully tidied the precise structure in Diana’s abdomen, reclosed the cover and artificial dermis, and checked that the artificial dermis had automatically closed and fused. Then she stood up, nodded to the "maidservant supervisor" on the platform: "The maintenance is complete, Lady Diana."

The black-haired maid lying on the platform, as if awakening from sleep, instantly opened her eyes, her clear pupils quickly refreshing with lines of data. Following a series of tiny hums and mechanical device operations from within her body, she sat up, pulling off the cables connected to her while showing a faint smile to Windsor Maple: "Thank you for your maintenance, Lady Maple—I feel much better now."

"As long as it’s useful," Windsor Maple returned a smile, "after all, all I can do now are some limited adjustments. Those more core structures are truly beyond my understanding and beyond the processing technology of this era."

"You’ve already been a great help—after all, I can’t debug my own magical movements and mental core while in a dormant state," Diana sat on the chilly platform, moving her hands and feet in place to confirm the functioning of all her joints and the corresponding bionic muscle fibers. She nodded with satisfaction, "Very good, the output of the left limb has improved. This problem has troubled me for years."

Windsor Maple looked at this ’Iron Man’ from the ancient Gondor Empire. Although it wasn’t her first time helping with hardware maintenance or encountering technology from the Gondor era, she still couldn’t help being amazed by the unbelievable ancient technology reflected in Diana. She felt a longing for the Gondor Empire that had become history. She was only awakened from her distraction when Diana finished checking her body and walked down from the platform. The president of the Mage Association casually asked, "By the way, Lady Diana, did you know you recently... ’drew’ some things?"

"Recently?" Diana was slightly dazed and quickly understood what the other meant. The dim light in her eyes slightly faded, and she frowned, "Did I doodle again recently..."

"Yes, on the wall of your room and even on a passing mage apprentice’s clothes," Windsor Maple nodded, "The content is still the same as before, those strange dots and lines... It seems you don’t remember again."

"I don’t actually remember," Diana couldn’t help but tap her forehead—even though her mental core wasn’t located in her head, this action had been set as part of her ’personality behavior’ since she was manufactured centuries ago and had become one of her habits, "I’m sorry... In any case, please apologize to that mage apprentice for me. My rash actions must have caused him a lot of trouble."

"Trouble... not really, that mage apprentice seemed quite happy. He seemed to have wanted to obtain your ’doodle work’ for a long time... Ah, young people," Windsor Maple shook her head with a peculiar expression and then looked Diana up and down, "But on another note, you still can’t recall the meaning behind those doodles? Not even a hint of impression?"

"No impression," Diana shook her head, "The related memory is a complete blank, and I don’t even remember the doodles themselves. If it weren’t for the evidence others showed, I wouldn’t even know those patterns existed."

"What a pity," Windsor sighed, "We’ve already examined your mental core and memory device multiple times. At least on the surface, there appear to be no damages or signs of impact... We’ve also tried using various external stimuli to awaken your damaged memory, but aside from a few experimental accidents, we’ve had no results."

Diana said nothing more, standing silently beside the console. Her face, crafted with ancient technology to be flawless, remained only calm.

...

Deep within the newly rebuilt and expanded Cathedral of the Holy Light in Cecil Castle, Veronica, holding a platinum scepter, smiled as she bade farewell to the last high priest seeking guidance. The sacred radiance surrounding her gradually calmed, turning into a faint glow, and the holy ethereal sound that filled the cathedral faded away.

A faint munching sound came from her side. Veronica looked to see a small head appearing out of thin air. Emily’s spiritual body coalesced within the Holy Light swirling around her, diligently nibbling at those thin, calm glows.

Veronica offered a slight smile, reaching out to stroke Emily’s hair—in her hand, the ordinarily intangible spiritual body seemed to have substance. The little girl formed from Holy Light lifted her head, showing a happy and bright smile at this end, then lowered her head and continued to attentively eat.

The next moment, Wright’s voice entered Veronica’s ears: "Sorry, this child has been getting naughtier lately."

"Good day, Great Shepherd," Veronica lifted her head and nodded to Wright, who had just entered the prayer hall, a gentle smile on her face, "It’s alright, Emily hasn’t caused me any trouble—besides, she doesn’t eat much."

"Just as long as she doesn’t eat my meditation blessings again," Wright said with a helpless sigh, looking at Emily swimming like a fish among the drifting Holy Light, "She always can’t distinguish between various Holy Light spells and their functions, and when she’s hungry, she’ll just eat whatever Holy Light is nearby..."

"This precisely proves our research theory—that all forms of Holy Light are essentially different constructions and guidances of the same type of energy. It’s a technical concept rather than a theological one. Thus, in Emily’s eyes, any form of Holy Light is the same in essence; as long as the energy level is within a range she can digest, she can consume it..."

With a smile on her face, Veronica discussed these issues about Emily and the essence of Holy Light with Wright. However, in her vision, it wasn’t only Wright and Emily who appeared.

In the lower part of her vision, in a blank area, there floated words and data continuously refreshing out of thin air:

"Second traversal roll call completed.

"Internal security systems—normal; internal power source—normal; internal production facilities—normal; internal controllable units—normal;

"External security systems—normal; external power source—1% loss; external controllable units—partially offline;

"Once again conducting roll call on external security forces...

"65 nodes offline, no fault or damage reports found.

"Alert level increased..."