The three carriages hanging the Cecil family's emblem drove on the streets of Wangdu. In the horse-drawn carriage, the witch Jupli opened the cover on the window with a hint of curiosity, but kept watching this cautiously. City.

She grew up in the poor and backward southern areas until she knew the "big sister" amber. Her whole world was surrounded by the dark and dirty gully corners of the town, the low and old slums and the rancid garbage. The pile is composed, but like most Ansu people, she also has the opportunity to hear stories about this great king--from the occasional passer-by, the arrogant adventurer, the vigilant businessman She sketched the imaginary look of the city. She imagined the tall and majestic walls, the magnificent churches, the extraordinary aristocratic mansions, and the silver-stained "Silver Fortress" where the King’s Majesty lived. ".

In the days when they were swindlers and witches in the gully alleys, she knew that it was impossible to visit Wangdu based on her own status and ability. Don’t say that she visited Wangdu. She even dared to step into a bigger city. Will be caught and whipped by the lord, but fate is sometimes so wonderful - this sentence she is used to wearing the hood and the divination deck to fool those adventurers, but this time she wants Say to myself - under the wonderful fate arrangement, she became a decent person, a person loyal to the great aristocracy, and this king, which used to exist only in the imagination, is now in front of her eyes.

It is as majestic and magnificent as the bards and adventurers say.

But it is old and dirty everywhere.

Jipley frowned, seeing the streets of Wangdu all over the filth, and there were also dilapidated slums in the tall walls. As she came along, she saw the ragged poor and the "people" driven by the soldiers. She felt that her own imagination of Wang Duo collapsed a little.

This is indeed a magnificent ancient capital. From the foundation and scale, it is worthy of the head of Ansu, but Jupli finds that he prefers Cecil to the clean and clean streets and well-ordered urban areas. Vigorous people and officials who abide by the law.

But she remembered the task she had received before she left, so all the emotional changes were well hidden by her. With an elegant and graceful smile, she put down the cover of the carriage and turned to look at the seat. The young arcane master opposite you: "Mr. Santis, let us go directly to the residence of the Dukes?"

Something was difficult to understand. After hesitating for a moment, he still said: "I want to... go home first."

Then he quickly added: "Of course, the Duke's mission is more important. If you feel that it is not right, we will go to Crown Street No. 4..."

“No need to be so cautious, Mr. Santis,” said the witch, Judge, smiling like a real apprentice who was born into a small aristocrat or a merchant family. “According to the Duke’s orders, you are the leader of this action. , Pierce and I will only provide you with the necessary advice and assistance. You only need to act according to the plan you think is reasonable."

"Okay... okay," Santis was a little uncomfortable with his head, and with a little guilty distraction, trying not to keep a long linen hair, wearing a long black dress and a good face. The charming "witches" look at each other, "Let's go to the cross street first. Yes, the remaining two carriages can go to Crown Street No. 4, don't have to come together - the streets of Cross Street are narrow."

The tall, thin man sitting next to him heard a word: "Mr. Santis, if our carriage can enter the cross street, then the other two are definitely OK. I suggest that the two carriages follow - you are When you go home, you should be as high-profile as possible. This is a gesture."

Santisi snorted and nodded. "Oh, okay, Mr. Pierce."

Pierce, the "fast leg" of the guard, knocked on the plank at the front of the car and shouted to the driving guide sitting outside: "Cross Street!"

The three carriages turned a corner on the street and turned to the civilian area of ​​Wangdu.

Santis felt that his heart was "floating" in the process. A feeling of nowhere was entangled in him. He took a few deep breaths, so a cold air mixed with rich odors plunged into his nostrils. : The carriage is passing through the squid street, where the smell of fish can even cover the smell of the notes in the corner of the street.

Even if it is winter, the rotten smell is suffocating because it has been immersed in every brick on the street.

He couldn't help but open the window cover and look at the street scene outside.

The familiar street scene caught his eye.

Low, messy, crowded houses are stacked under the walls like layers of moss. Due to the cold weather, only a few vendors are on the streets, and there are few pedestrians and occasional faces. All of them are full of numbness, and those who are numb are shaking like a walking dead on the street. It seems that the cold winter and the malnourished diet have caused these people to lose all their expression changes, but they also suddenly become "live". ——When the carriage with the aristocratic emblem ran across the street, the numb poor people almost immediately fell to the ground, their foreheads were tightly attached to the ground, and their reaction was so fast, as if this was theirs The instinct is born in general.

Sant's brows are slightly wrinkled, and at this moment the carriage has passed through the short squid street and entered a slightly better "cross street".

Cross Street is the place where the middle-level “citizens” live. People with a little status and wealth will live here. Compared with the squid street that belongs to the poor neighborhood, the house here is obviously taller, and those who walk on the road are obviously More spiritual.

They don't have to fall to the ground when they see the aristocratic carriage, but they must also hide on both sides of the street and bend their waists to an absolute height below the carriage window – civilians must do this to prevent them from using dirty Dirty sight gaze may look out of the window probe to the outside aristocrats.

Only in the neighborhoods where the higher, baptized affluent citizens live, the “decent people” who have received the blessing of the church do not need to do this. They just need to stand on both sides of the street and bow down to pay tribute.

In Wangdu, the rules are naturally more than those in the wilderness of the border.

Born in Cross Street, Santis, promoted to a second-class Arcane division, is the “most promising child” in this neighborhood. His Master level is also the highest achievement that people living in this area can achieve so far. Even in the past, even When Santis was mixed up in the Masters Society, how could he be dissatisfied, and then he was squeezed out. He was proud when he returned to the neighborhood, but now, seeing neighbors who are deeply headless on both sides of the street, in his heart. There was only a lot of trouble.

There is no change here, just like when he left.

This was the case with the cross street last year. The same was true of the cross street ten years ago. The cross street a hundred years ago is still like this!

But in Cecil's collar, a year's time is enough to set up a city, enough for a group of illiterate children to learn to write the names of themselves and their parents and family, enough to fight back those monsters from the wasteland!

Santis thought bored, then suddenly saw a little girl in the corner of the street looking at this side.

The little girl was dressed in a neat but old dress. There was only one patch on the dress. She wore two neat ponytails, her face was reddened in the cold wind, and her hands were holding a bulging cloth bag.

She seems to have just stepped out of a corner of the street, so that she did not have time to bow to the aristocratic carriage, but a little reaction to look at this side.

Santisi snorted and then shouted: "Pepe!"

However, the little girl had suddenly ran away before he spoke, and did not seem to hear his next words.

"Who is that?" asked Juppe, who was sitting opposite, curiously.

"My sister," Sant's tone was a bit strange. "Why should she run?"

The little girl ran across the street and ran to a house that looked a little newer than the surrounding buildings. He hurriedly pushed the door and ran in, wearing an old cotton coat and an old apron, grinding the herbs in the center of the house. The woman heard the movement and looked up and looked at her little daughter in surprise: "Pepe? Why are you coming back so soon? Have you handed the herbs to Mr. Wien?"

Then she saw the cloth bag in the hand of the little girl, and her brow could not help but wrinkle up, but before she opened her reprimand, the little girl had already stuttered because of nervousness: "Mom... Mom! Three cars came outside. The big carriage! It is aristocratic! Hanging on the carriage... Hanging the emblem, just like the one painted on the stationery when my brother sent the last letter back!"

The middle-aged woman stunned and suddenly shook hands, and the raft used to grind the herbs fell to the ground.

She refused to look forward, and immediately stood up and stared at the little daughter's eyes: "Do you see it clearly? Is it really the emblem? The emblem of the sword and the plow?"

The little girl clutched the cloth bag in her hand, a little nervous and scared: "See clearly..."

"That is the emblem of the Cecil family...the one sent by the Duke of Cecil... Do you see anything else in the carriage? Is there a dead cow on the driver's hat or clothes? The horse on the car Hanging a strip of white petals?"

The little girl seemed to be frightened by her mother, nervously unable to speak at all, and the door to the inner room was opened at this time. The male owner of the family heard the movement and came out: "What happened? I heard a lot of noise outside."

"Dear, the Duke of Cecil, came three carriages..." The hostess of this house twisted his hands. "Is there anything wrong with Santiz? I told him that the dark mountains are a danger. The place, let him be careful, but he always said in the letter..."

“Calm down,” said the middle-aged man. “Santis is only a second-level arcane master. The Duke cannot send three carriages to inform...”

Just then, a knock on the door suddenly came.

Men and women almost straightened their bodies, they stopped for a moment, and stared at the direction of the house, while the little girl standing near the door almost jumped up.

The knocking on the door was still ringing, and the little girl stunned a bit, then subconsciously went to the house.

"Wait a minute, let me go."

The middle-aged man said as he crossed his wife and daughter to the door.

He opened the door and the cold wind came over, and a tall, thin figure stood there.

The little girl stood behind her father and cried happily: "It is a brother!"