Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 375 Vortex (1)

   A plain signet ring lies quietly on the windowsill.

   Seeing the ring, Winters stood at attention without hesitation and gave a meticulous salute.

  The ring of the ring was seriously deformed, and the ring face seemed to be split open by brute force, leaving only a shocking fracture.

   But Winters knew what was originally engraved on the face of the ring, because he should have had one too.

   That is the "Ring of the Great Alliance", a gift from the Alliance Army Academy to graduates, both as a congratulation and as a reminder to the latter to remember the original intention of Marshal Ned for establishing the Army Academy.

   The middle-aged man raised his hand and touched his eyebrows, as a courtesy: "Relax, kid, don't be tight."

When returning the salute, the middle-aged man changed the wine glass to his left hand. Winters caught a glimpse of the middle-aged man's left hand without a pinky and ring finger—the ring had suffered such a terrible fate, and the man who wore it would only endure more.

   "The twenty-first issue." Winters answered truthfully.

   "Twenty-one issues? Oh, time is really a bitch. Twenty-one issues, twenty-one..." The middle-aged man rubbed the mouth of his cup, thoughtfully. As the wrinkles between his eyebrows deepened a little bit, his eyes gradually became sharper.

When    spoke again, the middle-aged man's tone was already three-pointed with suspicion. He asked badly: "The twenty-first period? Then you graduated the year before last?"

"Yes."

   "I heard that all the Platonic graduates from the previous year were dispatched overseas?" The middle-aged man looked at Winters, his eyes seemed to split the latter: "When did you come back?"

   Winters responded eloquently: "I only returned to Parato in May last year."

  The middle-aged man paid attention to the slightest change in Winters' expression. His intuition and experience told him that the little guy in front of him was not lying—Winters did not lie either.

   "It's quite fast." The middle-aged man muttered, raised his neck and drank all the spirits in the glass, picked up the bottle and poured it again and asked, "Have you suffered?"

   "Eat a little."

   "It's definitely more than a little. But it's good luck to come back alive, and it's not a bad thing to suffer a little." The middle-aged man poured himself half a glass of wine and was about to pour it for Winters.

   Seeing that there was not a drop of liquid in Winters' glass, the middle-aged man joked: "Drink it, it's not poisonous. Everything in the Esther family's mansion stinks with money, but the cleanest thing is wine."

   Winters took a sip, the smell was so pungent that he wanted to cough.

   "Don't drink?" The middle-aged man poured another drink for Winters.

   "Not often."

   "Hmph, sooner or later." The middle-aged man sneered, his tone changed from questioning to asking: "Why did you come to Steel Castle?"

   Winters answered cheerfully: "Buy ordnance."

   "Who sent you here?"

   "Sorry, sir. I can't reveal it."

"The trump card has been revealed, what are you still doing with your hands?" The middle-aged man laughed dumbly, feigned anger, and scolded: "The Republic of Monta is next to the territory of the Palatine military government, who can you be? You also want to pretend to be the messenger of the kings' castles."

   The other party obviously knows some information, but obviously does not know all the information.

   So Winters smiled implicitly, neither admitting nor denying it.

   "You're the only one here?" the middle-aged man asked again.

   Winters realized that the other party might not have investigated himself beforehand, so he decided to test it: "Sorry, I can't reveal it. How did you find out who I am?"

   "Just as you are standing there like a wooden stake and you are at a loss, anyone with a discerning eye can see what you are doing. You have been wearing uniforms for too many years, and you don't know where to put your hands in dresses - it's you."

   "So obvious?" Winters touched the tip of his nose guiltily.

"Otherwise why are you here?" the middle-aged man asked back, and he looked at Winters: "And no matter how well you disguise your behavior, once you speak, you will reveal your secrets sooner or later. Accents can't be hidden, especially if you are like this. Kind of a kid who just graduated. So I'm wondering, are all those guys in Alpad's hands dizzy? Send you here? Or are you just a front-runner?"

   "Me too..." Winters considered his words: "I can't help myself."

   "Who can be absolutely free?" The middle-aged man laughed dryly and poured the wine down his throat with a tilt of his neck. After a long exhalation, he asked casually: "You came to Steel Castle, who helped you build the line?"

   Without waiting for Winters to answer, the middle-aged man sneered sarcastically: "I know, but I can't say it, right?"

   Confirmed that the other party did not intend to embarrass him, Winters nodded apologetically: "Actually, I don't know much at the moment."

   The middle-aged man poured his own drink and ignored Winters.

  Winters stood silently for a while, and when the atmosphere started to get a little awkward, he asked carefully: "And then? Sir."

   "Then?" The middle-aged man glanced at Winters.

   "That's it?" Winters continued boldly.

   "Then what else do you want?" The middle-aged man raised his eyebrows and asked, "Wait until I catch you and torture you?"

   Winters understood, and he immediately raised his hand to salute: "I am grateful for your high hand."

   "Monta and Plato have not entered a state of war, so you are not in my responsibilities. Be disciplined and don't cause trouble." The middle-aged man waved his hand and motioned Winters to leave.

   is separated by a wall, the atmosphere of the hall is warm and the corridor is cold and quiet. Winters took a few steps away and turned back.

   Facing the unhappy eyes of the middle-aged man, Winters explained with a wry smile: "I'm more comfortable staying in a place with fewer people. Would you mind having one more person to drink with you?"

   The middle-aged man pushed the glass, which slid over the marble windowsill and stopped in front of Winters.

   Winters made up his mind not to ask for help from the other party, nor to ask the other party's identity rashly unless the other party took the initiative to inform him.

  Because there is no need to ask, there are only so many officers from Luyuan, and only fewer can appear in Steel Castle. Combined with age and physical characteristics, you can ask Carlo Ed afterward to know who the other party is.

   The middle-aged man asked bitterly: "The facilitator worked so hard to get you tickets for the Ester family reception, so why don't you go and get along with the sellers and get acquainted?"

   "Actually I don't know who to do business with right now." Winters answered honestly.

   The middle-aged man stabbed Winters: "Then do you know where this place is?"

   "Bolso da Este's mansion."

   "Just know this?"

   "...Please clarify your doubts."

   "Who is Esther?" the middle-aged man asked lightly.

   Winters gave a cautious answer: "The Veneta."

   The middle-aged man sneered.

   "Uh..." Winters replied tentatively: "A friend of Mayor Wupper?"

   "Wrong, it's an 'ally'." The middle-aged man corrected, and he continued to ask: "Who is Paul Wupper?"

   "Mayor of Steel Castle, the Wupper Canal is named after his family."

   "Wrong, it's the 'outgoing mayor'. No one knows whether it will be his turn to be the chief of the next guild."

   The middle-aged man leaned against the windowsill and looked at the wall in the corridor. On the other side of the wall, where Winters and the middle-aged man couldn't see, the most powerful and wealthy people in Steel Castle were changing cups, talking and laughing.

   "So." The middle-aged man looked at Winters: "What did the White Eagle invite these people to do?"

  The sudden trade ban, all the extinguished steel forges, the upcoming guild elections... A variety of complicated information gathered in Winters' mind, and he didn't have much effort to come to the conclusion: "Canvassing votes."

   "Shit." The middle-aged man dismissed: "It's election bribery!"

   Winters was silent.

"Look! This is how the Union Provinces and Venetas corrupt us!" the middle-aged man commented cynically: "Your Plato is corroding, and our Monta has been corroding for many years. The tentacles of the province and Veneta stretched out like this, spreading and growing in every shadow under the mountains. They tore each other for the control of Monta, but no one cared whether the Monta lived or died. The free republic is forever Union? Oh, do tyrants and slaves deserve to talk about freedom and union?"

   The middle-aged man raised his neck and drank the spirits in the glass again, and only half of the liquid in the bottle was left.

  The Republics of Monta and Vine have been included since their inception - under "supervision" to put it mildly, under "control" to be honest. Unsurprisingly, Plato, who was torn in half, will usher in a similar fate and will no longer be able to exist in the alliance as an independent political entity.

   Winters estimated that the other party regarded himself as a Platonic soldier, so he had some sympathy to have such a conversation.

   Winters held the wine glass and asked boldly and calmly: "Then may I ask, sir, what is the attitude of the seniors of the Monta Army?"

   The middle-aged man instantly became alert, the drunkenness in his eyes disappeared, and his eyes recondensed into a needle-like entity: "What attitude?"

   "Attitude about war." Winters did not hide it, and asked bluntly: "If the province asks, will you choose a side? Will you declare war or even send troops?"

   "Why, are you scared?" the middle-aged man asked with a smile.

"Yes." Winterstein replied: "The Third Republic may still have the strength to fight against the puppet governments of the castles alone. But if it is besieged by the castles, the provinces and Monta on three sides, failure is only time. Problem. Even if the Monta Republic does not send troops directly, but only deploys a legion on the border as a check, the Third Republic cannot afford it. So I want to know the attitude of the decision makers of Monta’s army.”

   "What if you know?" The middle-aged man sipped his strong drink and asked casually, "Surrender early?"

   Winters pondered for a moment: "I don't know what to do. After all, it's a step and a step."

The middle-aged man glanced at Winters slightly unexpectedly, smack his lips and sigh: "When I was your age, if someone asked me the same question, I would blushed and swore to swear 'I would rather die than surrender'. You No bullshit, that's good. It's hard to die, and until the last moment, no one knows whether he is a warrior or a coward."

   Winters didn't take the thumbs up, so there was no action.

"Boy, listen, none of the Montans want to fight against the Paratus. We've shed too much blood, and we don't want to be buried far away from home. But sometimes..." The middle-aged man looked out the window , to borrow Winters' words: "We also 'can't help ourselves'. Do you understand?"

   Winters nodded: "Understood."

"You know shit!" The middle-aged man slapped Winters on the forehead, waving his hands to chase people away: "Go away, go and clink glasses with the gentlemen in the hall. Beg them to sell you more armaments so that you can The Platoons shed more blood."

   Winters took the wine bottle, poured half a glass of wine for the middle-aged man, and poured a little more for himself: "But I really don't know anyone inside, sir, it's easier here."

The middle-aged man glanced at the empty wine bottle, drank the last of the spirits in the glass, and wiped his hands with the curtains carelessly: "Come on, I'll take you to see the one wrapped in Steel Castle's glossy coat. carrion."

   After saying that, he put down his glass and walked towards the banquet hall.

   Winters froze for a moment, then quickly followed.

  …

   At the same time, in another mansion in Beicheng District.

   A spy from the Imperial Security Council, a black-faced man from the Lacey Brothers firm, is reporting to another man in an iron mask.

   The black-faced man stood at the table respectfully, not daring to slack off.

  The man in the iron mask asked in a dull voice, "Da Granasi?"

   "Yes." The black-faced man nodded heavily: "I got the register and confirmed it was this surname."

   "It seems to be a surname from a mountain front." The masked man pondered: "Is it an exiled family?"

   The black-faced man looked embarrassed: "This... I'm sorry my subordinates don't know."

After the    Sovereign War, a large number of nobles in the province fled to the Empire and Veneta with their families to avoid the purge.

   The provincial nobles who were exiled to the empire, some were scattered among the people, and the other were rescued, selected, and appointed by the emperor, becoming [court nobles] with empty titles, no actual fiefs, and completely dependent on the imperial power.

   With the help of the power of the exiled nobles, the emperor gradually gathered his power and suppressed the old princes with real power in the empire. In the process, the "southern exiles" also became a political force within the empire that could not be ignored.

   "Granache...it seems to be a family name in the mountains." The masked man repeatedly chewed on the unfamiliar surname and asked, "What coat of arms does the baron use?"

"Golden Shield Lion." The black-faced man hurriedly took out a piece of white paper folded in half from his arms, offered it with both hands, and said as if taking credit: "My subordinate went to the South City on purpose and copied Baron Granache's carriage as it was. down."

  The masked man unfolded the white paper and commented: "Well...it's quite plain, kite-shaped shield, no crown. Two-winged lion? Maybe it's an exile. What's on this side? Whip? Sawtooth?"

   "It seems to be wheat ears." The black-faced man replied cautiously.

   The masked man sneered and put down the white paper with the coat of arms: "What is the symbol of wheat ears drawn into the coat of arms? It's getting more and more chaotic."

   The black-faced man wiped the sweat from his forehead: "Yeah, who knows what those adults are thinking."

The evolution of the    coat of arms is definitely the best footnote to the rise of imperial luxury.

  In the early years, when the nobles, big and small, were very poor, the coat of arms and shield emblem had no obvious demarcation, but only a sign to distinguish the enemy from the enemy, so the structure was very simple and clear. Three circles and a cross can be used as badges.

   But now the family property of the imperial aristocracy is getting richer day by day, and the coat of arms has also become a comparison thing. The coat of arms of the major families is becoming more and more complicated and luxurious, and everyone can't wait to put all the symbols that can elevate their status into the coat of arms.

   Not only nobles, but even merchants, guilds, and cities have begun to make exclusive coats of arms, and the call for "standardization of coat of arms" is getting louder and louder.

   So the masked man and the black-faced man don't know whether "wheat ear" is a new popular element recently.

   After a moment of contemplation, the masked man asked, "Did Baron Granache bring his wife?"

   "Yes." The black-faced man replied: "There are also several Dussac guards, I have confirmed with my own eyes, it is undoubtedly Dussac."

   "The purpose of their coming to Steel Castle?"

   "I don't know." The black-faced man asked tentatively, "Want to visit them, my lord?"

The masked man waved his hand: "A little baron, what are you doing to visit them? Just keep paying attention to them. Right now, your priority is to keep an eye on the white eagle. The white eagle is the key. As for the baron couple...remind them to leave when necessary. Steelcastle. As for their lives, don't worry too much."

   "This is where I worry too." The black-faced man cleared his throat and said carefully: "As far as I know, the baron couple went to the White Eagle's mansion tonight."

  The masked man's movements stagnated for a while, his expression was hidden under the mask, and no change could be seen: "What are you going to do?"

   "No...I don't know..." The black-faced man suddenly felt a chill down his spine, and he bent down hard: "My subordinates will find out."

  The masked man nodded slightly, and the black-faced man turned around and left in a hurry.

   After the black-faced man left, the masked man took off his mask, got up and pushed open the secret door behind him.

  It turned out to be a spacious compartment behind the masked man's seat. All the conversations between the masked man and the black-faced man can be clearly heard in the compartment.

In the    compartment, a man with blond hair and green eyes was reclining on a chaise longue.

   The black-faced man thought the masked man was the legendary "Messenger", but the masked man stood in front of the real messenger in a blink of an eye.

   "Baron Granache went to see White Eagle?" The blond green-eyed man fiddled with a prairie-style knife and smiled: "Interesting."

   [Comrades, after repeated tests, I finally figured out why the "I replied to everyone, but the notification message is not displayed" appears.]

   Because when I replied to everyone, I used the starting point author client. The messages sent by the author are not displayed in the "Starting Reading APP". But only with the author client, I can read every comment (not only the latest chapter, but also the new comments of the previous chapters), so I still have to continue to use the author client]

   [The solution I came up with temporarily: try to read the comments on the author's client, and then reply T_T on the reader's client]

   [Thank you for your collection, reading, subscription, recommendation ticket, monthly ticket, reward and comment, thank you all]

   (end of this chapter)