I Am Louis XIV

In the Dunkirk dock project, the act of hiring wizards can be said to be a test for Louis to the inner world and the external world forces related to the inner world. Before that, even if there were kings who coveted the power of wizards, they valued Their role in conspiracies and wars, like the big families in the other world, it is almost impossible to regard wizards as artisans or farmers - people are always a little bit afraid of things they don't understand However, Louis is different. First of all, he almost became a wizard. With the help of the vampire sacred weapon, he even learned how to cast magic. It can only be said that after unveiling the last curtain, he showed it in front of the king. His body is not as graceful and moving as imagined.

Also because it was the first time, the Mancini family was also very cautious. There were only about fifty wizards—they were just very ordinary wizards. They did not have the honor of serving the king or ministers, nor did they have the qualifications to enter and exit the watch world at will. What's more, they also have the pride of being wizards, and they will never bow down to serve mortals easily. For most of them, it is the first time for them to leave that small island. These young people in robes, crowded Crowding down from the boat, they raised their heads and looked at the black city wall, while stroking the spell-casting materials and herbs hidden in their sleeves with some anxiety.

These people, according to the king's order, came here late at night, and they were led by Madame Milady, the lady of the Duke of Colonna. Milady just chuckled at that, and of course, who else could control and appease these young wizards but her? Fortunately even wizards were still men, and Milady was never afraid of any man.

Well, maybe their Majesty the King is an exception.

"How do you plan to arrange these people?" asked Mrs. Milady.

"A group of scholars who came here on a pilgrimage from Italy." Earl d'Artagnan said, both of them are secret agents of the king, and they will do their part to things like this, which are false in terms of identity, reason, or purpose. After being annoyed for a moment, d'Artagnan also returned to his usual handsome self. After all, he couldn't let his personal emotions spoil the work entrusted by the king. "Where is the holy relic in Dunkirk?" Milady asked in a low voice.

"Why not?" Count d'Artagnan replied in a small voice: "The name Dunkirk means the church on the dunes."

Milady smiled upon hearing this, Count D'Artagnan extended his arm politely upon seeing this, and she stepped forward to hold it, and the two walked into the city side by side, in the middle of the night, Cities in this era are usually dead silent, and today is no exception. The light from the torch can only illuminate the part above the shoulders, and the damp ground echoes with the sound of soft-soled shoes. These wizards are already very tired, just because When they arrived in a new place, before the excitement passed, they could barely support them. Fortunately, the mansion prepared by D'Artagnan for these wizards was not far from the city wall. It was a large mansion with more than a dozen rooms. Although it can be seen that it has been decorated as much as possible even in the dark, you can still see the roughness and smell the new smell-it's hard to describe, but all new buildings have that feeling. odor.

When these wizards were led back to their rooms, I'm afraid they didn't notice that their rooms were located on the top three floors, and the two floors below... It was said that they were servants, but in fact they should be D'Artagnan's spies. To ensure that these wizards will not easily come into contact with outsiders, it is also necessary to ensure that the soldiers and civilians in Dunkirk will not notice their strangeness.

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Hood's pecked wound by the crow had healed, but it was still a little itchy, especially before falling asleep and waking up, the first thing he smelled was a strong aroma of coffee before he was awakened by the slight itching.

In 1661, coffee was still a precious drink called black gold. It was produced in Africa. It was not easy to come to England, Italy or France, and the output was also small. In the world, there were also big families. Planting coffee trees, after all, the magic of wizards can solve many problems encountered in planting, but this dark brown drink is still not qualified for every wizard. Hood only tasted one at a grand banquet. Small mouth.

When he hurriedly put on his robe and ran down the stairs, he saw a large pot hanging on a strong fire in the large chalk-painted kitchen. The boiling steam was mixed with a thick aroma, indicating that the pot There was tumbling coffee inside, and a maid struggled to lift it from the fire, but she obviously overestimated her strength, the copper pot shook dangerously, and hot liquid spilled from the lid and spout It came out and splashed on the maid's hand. She screamed and let go instinctively. Seeing that the precious pot of coffee was about to feed the kitchen floor, Hood quickly threw a feather and chanted a spell, and a transparent The hand immediately held the copper pot firmly.

With another scream, Hood remembered that these servants were all mortals. He recalled how the memory-erasing spell was uttered distressedly, while trying to comfort the terrified little maid. At this time, another male servant left Come in, in the mansion, the status of a male servant is always higher than that of a maid, and the maids should not even appear in front of the guests. He also saw the copper pot hanging in the air, but his performance was much better than that of the little maid , he saluted Hood, told him that breakfast would be served shortly, and promised that no one would disturb the honored guest—which meant, of course, the little maid.

By the way, Hood thought with shame, the nobles do have breakfast in their rooms. He glanced at the copper pot with some embarrassment and longing: "I think I can probably have a cup of coffee?"

"Of course, sir, a cup of coffee," said the footman.

After Hood left and actually returned to his room, the little maid let go of her hand covering her face: "I don't quite understand why we did this."

"Wizards are very vigilant," said the male servant, "in other words, they are more willing to see mortals trembling with them, making a fuss and shouting at even the slightest things...otherwise, how can they highlight their specialness and uniqueness?" Your honor." When he said this, he was a little bit harsh, and the servant remembered that they were still the king's "guests" after all, so he shut up and said no more.

This request was made by Milady. She understands men and wizards, and a good show is more conducive to them controlling these young people. Afterwards, these wizards did their best to show the demeanor that a noble person should have, that is, ...very magnanimous, like some requests that they can only work in the middle of the night, they also agreed, this is not the king's intention to torture them, but to let the wizards cast magic, only relying on darkness to block civilians and other national spies Eye.

It is imperative for the wizards to participate. After all, in addition to building a dock that can accommodate thirty warships, he also wants to build two dry docks, the so-called ship repair docks, so that they don't have to work hard. However, such a dry dock is connected to the land on three sides and the waterway on one side, and a water-resisting dock must be set between the waterway and the waterway—a simple docking dock only needs to move the land to the sea. However, the dry dock needs to temporarily block the sea from the dock, and to exclude the sea water from the dock - this, of course, can be done by mere mortals, the problem is, whether it is the cost of the project or The construction time will be infinitely increased.

The king hired these wizards to see if the wizards could reach places that mortals could not reach.

These wizards started working after a few days of rest. When the residents were asleep, they brought coffee in cute little silver jugs and slowly arrived at the construction site of the dock, where the Battle of Dunes took place. The place is not far away. The longest dock is outside and the dry dock is inside. Looking down from above, it looks like a capital letter E with a sideways opening facing outward. The U-shaped base of the dry dock has been prepared. Under the moonlight, the waves are rippling and the silver light is shining. This scenery is undoubtedly beautiful. Unfortunately, neither the wizard nor Mr. Vauban, who is in charge of the defense and dock construction projects here, are indifferent to this.

The wizards first checked the work they had to do. They didn't know whether to set up invisible barriers to block the seawater outside and in the dock, and then drive the seawater out after the dock door reached the position; Drive them out, and then set up barriers to ensure that mortals can work as usual. After discussing with Mr. Vauban, the person in charge here, Milady decided to let the wizards try it first. Magic can split sea water and move heavy objects, but this is the first time for wizards. Sure enough, they After several failures, I still decided to drive the sea water out first, and then set up a barrier. The first one needs to cooperate with mortals for too long, and there is no guarantee that they will not find any clues, and the latter... Get some more sackcloth," said Vauban, "the... magic barrier is invisible, but it still has form, doesn't it?"

"Indeed," said Milady, "how can it stop the sea if it has no real form?" This magic was originally created to block arrows or fire, but it is now used more It's time to isolate the fog, insects and bad smells. These wizards have all served the banquets of the big families, so they are all skilled in using this spell.

Poor Sebastian Vauban is still a pure young man. He has never seen wizards, and he is still full of fear of them. The reason why he can stand here tenaciously, work with a group of wizards, or more directly Say, supervise their work.

Some of these wizards do not even have their own staffs. After all, staffs are also very expensive, from raw materials to production costs. Fortunately, these can be credited to the king, so under the moonlight, Vauban saw a group of people like As mentioned in the bedtime story, wizards dressed in black robes and holding long staffs walked to both sides of the dry dock in file, and threw marble blocks and metal blocks into the sea water. These are the mediums for casting spells. I don’t understand, but after the medium was thrown in and the wizards started chanting spells, he could see that the sea water began to boil as if it was boiling. At first, the sea water just appeared strange, and it took a while before he noticed that the walls of the dock suddenly A little higher, no, not the walls are rising, but the sea is lowering, and as these wizards say, the sea is being driven out.

This is almost impossible for mortals, and it is not easy for wizards. The pressure of sea water is well known. Under thousands of feet of sea water, even steel will bend due to the heavy water pressure. It was only more than a hundred feet, but it also made the wizards pale. The preparatory wizards on the side immediately stepped forward to share the pressure, so as not to let them go to waste—the sea water only dropped a small part, and then it even rose. , No one knows how and when the gap was created. Vauban only saw a color darker than the sea water suddenly appear under his feet, and then he realized that it was a sand that could not emit light, like magic, Oh, no, it's the magic that drives the water back, from an inch, to an cubit, to a rod—after exposing about fifty feet of sand, the wizards finally understood, and they were too tired to even talk. Unable to tell, unable even to raise hands and feet, it was Milady who sent the servants to carry them back.

Vauban boldly descended onto the sand. As soon as he landed, he sank directly into the knee-deep sand, struggling to move. There were fish, shrimps and shells in the gravel that had not had time to escape, but Vauban paid no attention to them. His eyes Shining like a child, the bright whale oil lamp illuminates the scene in front of him, as if behind a wide and transparent glass, it is the sea in the night, not the sea surface, but the bottom of the sea, and the fish attracted by the light tightly Vauban followed Vauban carefully, and Vauban walked up and down in front of the barrier, even reaching out to touch it, it was like glass to the touch, he said in his heart, but he only dared to touch it lightly.

But this is already the most daring act. The other officers who were allowed to know were in awe, and they didn't even dare to look directly at the strange scene created by magic. After they pulled Vauban up, they asked him how to explain it to people tomorrow There is no need to explain this matter. Vauban has already prepared for it. Hundreds of bags of sand were piled up in front of the transparent barrier. There is a little gap, although it is damp inside, but it is enough for people to work - just tell people that this barrier blocks the sea water, so don't touch it at will.

As he expected, although people all looked strange and unbelievable, considering that they were working inside, they didn't dare to destroy or move the sandbags.