The Amber Sword

In this wilderness, which borders Balta south of Anzeruta, most of the undulating ridges can only be seen with this pitch-black rock, with sparse vegetation and snow accumulating all year round at high altitudes, down to the tundra grasslands made up of sparse European stone south or similar shrubs, dotted sporadically with a layer of volcanic ash. A magnificent fortress stood between two dark, sunken mountain peaks, more than sixty feet tall, with square bars of stone, four watchtowers flying the flag of the Kingdom of God, from which it was easy to monitor every valley within ten miles of each other, with rotatable crossbowlers and wizards in the observation room, equipped with more than one squadron of crossbowmen, capable of blocking enemies from the air from the perforations in the tower.

The fortress was also equipped with an air force, and the border regiment stationed there, with vultures and dragons, as well as elite flying horse knights, would take off for the second time after the hostilities had been established, guarding the airspace over the fortress.

Brando retrieved his gaze from the giant iron cages on those walls, the vultures inside, which were the air force of the early warning forces on the walls and could be used both for reconnaissance and interception. Not far from those iron cages is an emerald giant door, more than fifty feet high from the ground to the top, facing each other, entirely cast iron, and in order to cast this iron door, the craftsmen of the Cruz assemble it together with pre-poured iron pieces. The purpose of casting this iron gate is to give full play to the impact of the Dragon Cavalry Corps in the interior of the fortress. There are two groups of Dragon Cavalry in the Black Sword barrier. When the Krutz need it, they line up the Dragon Cavalry behind the door, then open the front door and attack the enemy forces outside the fortress.

The flat slopes outside the Black Sword barrier were also artificially flattened, originally a steep valley, but were filled by the Duke of Sempree and turned into what it is.

The businesswoman stood beside him, holding his arms tight with her little hand, and looking up at this magnificent wall with her chin, she opened her mouth slightly and sighed: "So tall, Brando. ”

“The Black Sword Barrier was raised above the outer wall during the glorious year, until its main wall, most of which was no more than 35 feet tall, was similar to the outer wall of Menstros. During the Frost Year, the highlanders led by Lord Longblade, with the support of the Eruins, took this fortress back to the year of the tiger lizards, after which they began to rebuild it. Restoration of the fortress continued intermittently for thirty years, until the Duke of Sempree had completed the ramp in front of him before the summer year.” Brando said to her, "This knowledge is not uncommon for a senior player, but Little Roman listened to it. She never heard of it, but listening to the man in her hand is obviously not opening the door. For a moment, I thought Brando was the most knowledgeable person in the world, and she was both a little vain and curious to ask,“ Can anyone really beat this place, Brando? Can they climb that high? ”

“Although not the strongest fortress of the Empire, the Black Sword Barrier is also one of the second-largest high city pools in the southern part of the Empire, although the city has indeed been plunged twice in history by the Eruins. The first was the war in which King Ecker helped the highlanders plunge Anzeluta, and the second, more recently, in the walnut chaos of more than a hundred years ago, when the highland knights of Balta, after repelling the invasion of the Empire, took over the fortress. Hmm," Chiara sounded as if she had heard the conversation between the two of them, humming softly. "At that time, the Korkova dynasty was the strongest period, but unfortunately it was too weak. If I had, I would not have returned this fortress to the Krutz, to the Lions, or to the Wind Elves, so that the Kingdom would not have to face the threat from the North. ”

Brando turned a blind eye to the statements made by such children, and he noticed that others in the Mission were similarly curious and apparently equally interested in the matter before nodding his head and answering: “Indeed, the Black Sword Barrier was first built in the moss years of the chaotic era and was inaugurated at the beginning of the first century, and only twice in history was it captured, all by the Eruins. ”

“That is because no other country would detour from Eruin's territory to attack the Empire.” Chiara replied without saying a word.

And the fat man, Avram, asked curiously, "Sir, do you mean that we Erwin the Empire? ”

“What does that mean?” Brando was stunned.

“I mean, Lord Commander, how could Eruin have beaten the Empire? Are you mistaken?” The fat guy sounded like he heard some funny jokes and said out loud.

Brando was so angry that he didn't say that, and he didn't say, "Why do you think Eruin never beat the Empire? ”

He had no power to despise this lonely historical knowledge, not to mention the big and small battles of centuries of history - the Cruz Empire, though strong, was not invincible, and examples of defeat by the Eruins abounded - and it was not until five months ago that he taught the Temple of Fire and the Empire's Expeditionary Fleet to the ground in Ambethel, and this war was ignored by this man. He couldn't help but wonder what the hell this guy had learned in Karasu as a descendant of a nobleman.

But Avram was still obsessed, and he starred, "But the empire is so huge, Elouin is just a small country, it's not even a province of the empire, how can we beat them? Lord Commander, you said that we Eruins have beaten the Krutz, I do not believe it, there are often such examples in history, in fact, it was just a little cheap in a small conflict, it was said to be a big deal, such things I have seen a lot in Karasu, my friends who patrol the cavalry often do such things, in small opinions, those glory ideas propagated by the royal family must not be believed, but just to preserve the legitimacy of their rule. ”

The idea of using the already shitty patrol cavalry of this era to compare highland knights to the turbulent era of walnuts is also very avant-garde, and Brando can't help but marvel at the way this guy thinks. He couldn't help but say, "In that case, what do you think would make us stand here today to represent Eru in his mission to the Empire? The Cruz could never ask the provinces below them to send envoys to the throne of their emperor. ”

Avram obviously didn't think about it and was stunned by Brando's question and couldn't help but wrinkle his eyebrows to meditate on his misery. And at this time, Grand Duke Vieiro's daughter, the 17- and eighteen-year-old girl, was born with a crisp interface: “I think that's because the Empire doesn't need such a remote place as Eruin. In addition to our kingdom, there are many kingdoms and principalities attached to the Temple of Fire. Hasn't the Empire ever touched them? My teacher used to tell me that if the Empire had the heart, Eruin would have been an autonomous ruler like Anzeluta, and then we would have been the nobles of the Empire, Count. Am I right? ”

“To you, your goddamn teacher better not be met by me.” Brando said, but when he looked at the other people in the mission, he found that most of them seemed to agree, except for outsiders like Roman, Metisa and Hippamilla. Except, of course, for those who really know the history of the kingdom, like Charles and Chiara, who both have obvious disdain on their faces, and Brando's curiosity is that he actually sees a similar color on Utah's face.

At this time, Chiara finally couldn't help herself. After all, she was also a former member of the royal family. Preserving the legitimacy of the kingdom also preserved the honour of her family. She coldly said: “Since the end of the year of the dragon, the battle between the Empire and the Eruin ancestors seemed to be a good play, so that the Eruins could become independent from the Empire and build our own kingdom. The nobles of the Krutz were rich in this helpful spirit. They sent the first monarch Ace out of the Four Kingdoms. We really have to thank them, right? ”

Her sharp irony frightened everyone, and Avram realized that he had somehow offended this young lady, the daughter of the Grand Duke of Vieiro, with an open mouth, and finally replied: “Isn't that because the wind elves are helping us? ”

Brando saw a little face of Chiara as dark as the bottom of a pot and couldn't help shaking his head, not knowing when the nobility of the kingdom had lost its spinal bones - in the days when the highland knights of Balta still existed, in the year of walnuts, the empire was never a problem for Eluin, the problem was whether the Eluins dared to fight, that's all. He couldn't help but think of Alberton, the white knight in front of a highland knight in Balta, and since then, for nearly a hundred years, the royal nobles of Eluin have suddenly lost this spirit, and no longer can they lift their heads in front of the Cruz.

But he had not thought that the aristocracy's imagination of the Cruz Empire had reached such a point that, when Avram had just spoken, he thought it was just an example, after all, this guy was a stubborn son, typical of the kind of ignorance. But by the time Grand Duke Vieiro's daughter spoke, he realized something was wrong. The little girl, while acting normal on a weekday basis, also seemed to be a well-informed person, and she obviously knew the history of the kingdom in order to have some knowledge of foreign affairs and etiquette, but she, like Avram, obviously did not agree with it.

There are so many differences between these histories and everything they see right now.

The second time he shook his head, he replied to his nominal subordinates: “The empire, though strong, is not without enemies. Eruin, though small, cannot draw all its energy against us. The empire has Fanzan in the north, Saint Osor and Madara in the east, and Hazel and Tokenin in the west. In the face of so many enemies, it is impossible for the empire to draw the strength of a province against us. Besides, in its southern realm, and in Anzeluta, since the days of Lord Longblade, the Highlanders have dreamed of independence for nearly seven centuries, and we do not disturb it. The Empire is already thankful, how dare you move the swordmen in the south easily? So the Empire actually wants to maintain this hostile and friendly relationship with us, on the one hand, because the honor of the Empire still makes them unwilling to acknowledge the establishment of Eruin, and on the other hand, because they are unable to really do anything in the South, even though our opponent was only a duke of walnuts in the war of walnut chaos, after all, when we were actually helping the Empire to rebel. ”

“Eruin's position was so sensitive and so special that neither the Pokémon nor the Empire dared to move easily that, with this delicate balance, the first Jun Ek found his own way.” Speaking of which, he glanced at Chiara: "It was clear that Anson I had already learned the secret between them, and that was why the Black Sword barrier would be returned to the Cruz after the Walnut War, because once the balance was broken, it would not necessarily be a good thing for Eruin. ”

Brando looked at the others and said, word for word: "So Eruin does not necessarily need to defeat the Empire as a whole, but that does not mean that Eruin does not have a chance to win, the power of the great Powers, the wisdom of the small Powers of the small Powers, and I tell you this in order to make it clear to you that the Kingdom of Eruin has its own unique advantages, that his nobility and his people do not necessarily need enemies before the Empire. ”

After listening to this, Chiara couldn't help but grunt softly. Apparently, she already knew this knowledge and didn't have to repeat it with Brando.

Most of the others, including Avram and the little daughter of the Grand Duke of Vieiro, had heard the statement for the first time, but would be suspicious.

But Brando did not need them to believe, just to remind these noblemen and young ladies in advance, lest they see the imperial nobility in a glorious manner and lose the face of this large group leader.

This conversation took place while walkers were gradually approaching the Black Sword Barrier, and at this time, suddenly a noise came forward, attracting the attention of all; the noise began with a neat line of footsteps, accompanied by heavy horseshoes, and then the crowd in the mission saw a small group of Imperial Soldiers appear in their field of view, led by three or four knights, who opened the small wooden gate next to the huge gate of the Black Sword Barrier, put down the suspension bridge and rushed out - the knights healed, suddenly directing their men towards a merchant team outside the fortress.

It is worth mentioning that, in addition to Brando's conspicuous noble motorcade, this season's fortress brings together a number of business groups large and small. Because, as one of the only two gateways between the Empire and Eruin, the Black Sword barrier, in addition to being a strategic military rush, is also an important transportation route between the two countries, and most of the time there will be commercial travel throughout the year, except for one or two months, when the mountain lanes are completely frozen after the month of Winterchin, at a time when the goal of those Imperial soldiers is clearly such an Eruin merchant army.

They quickly rushed into the merchant team, first knocking down the armed escorts, then driving the merchants out of the convoy, one by one tying their back-cut hands together and pushing them to the ground, before the Imperial soldiers returned to the convoy, cutting the ropes off the wagons with a sword and throwing all the goods on them to the ground. Soon after, they searched a number of people from the wagons, men and women, old and young, and the Imperial soldiers drove them all together, most of them dressed up and standing in the cold wind, Cersei trembling, and the women and children among them were even more frightened and crying, but the Imperial soldiers were still indifferent and a few had a smile on their faces.

Brando initially thought he'd run into a bandit like a comb, and soldiers over a bloody bridge like a bamboo, but then he realized it didn't seem like it. But he hasn't spoken yet, the Earl of Grey Mountain behind him is already scared. Miss Enid looked at the scene pale and couldn't help but ask warily: “What the hell is going on? ”

Chiara sees this scene, leaves her mouth open, but doesn't want to talk.

Among all of them, Grand Duke Vieiro had some insight, and she whispered to others: "These people are refugees. ”

So this is how Brando realizes that Eru has been troubled within the kingdom since the Cold Frost dramatically changed the King's Party's downturn, and this unrest has manifested itself throughout the kingdom as a war. The struggle between the royal family and the local nobility is but a smaller part of it. When the centre becomes increasingly unbound, the contradiction between the local lords and the lords becomes sharp first. Whether to compete for territory, population or support, wars of all sizes and sizes are constant. This situation is not so intense in the south - on the one hand, because of Madara - but, on the other hand, after the Battle of Ambethel, the north was temporarily placed under the control of the Prince, while north of West Fah, the nobles seem to have lost order for a while, and in these areas affected by the Korkova Royal Family, the West Fah Royal Family, the Wind Elves and the Temple of Fire Quartet, war seems to become a daily necessity.

The war was accompanied by massive numbers of refugees, some of whom were accepted by Tonigal, but more by flows to the North and to the Empire. It was a big deal for the Empire, and refugees needed to find a place where they could earn a living, and the Empire was happy to accept them - but the problem was that, with the increasing number of refugees, it was no longer only a benefit, but also the attendant troubles and burdens, that refugees migrated in a direction that was already inhabited, and that the nobles of the Empire were unlikely to receive all the workforce, and that the leisure travellers had gradually become a hidden danger to local security, and that the arrival of the refugees themselves was detrimental to the interests of the First Nations, so that over time the refugees had become synonymous with the undesirable within the Empire, and since then the Cruz people had begun to refuse to admit them.

What is happening right now is obviously the exact scene.

“Sister, what will happen to them?” Lori, the youngest of all, the Goran-Elson family, looked at the scene and asked with some fear.

“They will be treated as thieves and vagrants, tied up here to show off on pillars, and then driven back...”

The descendants of the Eruin aristocracy all showed some awkward divinity on their faces.

“What a disgrace, the face of the kingdom is disgraced by these bitches.” Avram couldn't help complaining of his anger: "No wonder the Imperial nobility always behaved like nobles before us. ”

……