Realm of Power

In the northern sea, Willandra City is a city that is shrouded in ice and snow for most of the year. In front of the city is a white mist-like Northern Sea, and behind the city has been for thousands of years. The towering peaks and snow-capped Zangas Mountains,

The layout of the entire city is like a gorgeous cloth belt leaning on a huge slope. Two main streets intersecting in a cross shape divide the entire city into uphill and downhill areas.

At the top is the somewhat dilapidated small castle of the Austinites. Below are the stacked houses, which look like a beautiful cloud in the clouds. The dense spiers of the houses are looming in the white mist of the morning, like in a dream. generally

This is the only way to the main city of Austin, so it has experienced many wars, but the city still exists tenaciously. No matter who captures this place, they will not pay too much attention to building defenses, because the entire The city is a huge defensive slope. As long as a small number of troops guard the uphill passage, enemies coming from afar can be defeated.

What can be seen everywhere here are crystal clear icicles under the eaves, like a row of upside-down swords, hanging in the corners of the eaves on both sides of the street. As the temperature gets warmer, these icicles will make a dripping sound. , forming a clear and bright line between the sloping city streets. The bright water flowed down the steps, rolling up the white waves like waves, and making a tinkling sound like music on both sides of the steps in the street. Therefore, the word Willandra means water waves in Northern dialect. , appropriately represents the characteristics of this city

It is already June, but the temperature in Willandra is still only about 3 degrees. A blizzard coming from the north has just stopped. There is thick snow everywhere in the city, and the icy cold wind is blowing in the cave. Hit the faces of Austinites who were hurriedly walking away with their heads lowered and their faces covered.

In this cruel weather, most people rarely go out unless it is to make a living. There were only some businessmen who braved the ice and snow, driving the carriages with difficulty toward the intended destination in the wind and snow. The cold wind blew the branches on the roadside and scraped against the old nanmu-framed windows on the carriages, making a sound like sharp nails. The sound of glass. In the low and old port area of ​​the city,

Two sturdy male reindeer dragged a shiny black four-wheeled carriage, which came in from the entrance of the port like lightning. It came to an emergency stop in the center of the empty port, with heavy rutting on the white road. White flying snow and ice splashed in all directions on the ice, hitting a low earthen wall not far away.

"Whose car is this?" A group of businessmen who were warming themselves by a fire in the corner of the port stood up in surprise. In the north, only nobles are qualified to ride reindeer carriages, because in the eyes of northerners, reindeer are the mounts of the North Sea Ice God, and only noble people are qualified to drive them. Under their attention, the Business Alliance stationed in the north Urcondo, the person in charge of the cold area, stepped out of the carriage and tightened the cuffs of his collar with his hands. He looked at the situation at the port with a stern expression.

"Is this the port of Willandra?" Urcondo frowned slightly as he looked at the Austin merchant ship floating in the port with the sea water.

The morning sun shines on the cold water, as if weaving a layer of white light into the sea water. The tall masts of various ships moored in the harbor cast long shadows in the morning light.

Not all the ships docked at the port of Willandra City are for trading, most of them use this as a docking point to supply supplies. Willandra is located at the intersection of the central sea and the northern sea. After passing through the long and narrow Southeast Cape, merchant ships will always choose to dock at Willandra, 50 miles away from the Southeast Cape for supplies.

Because of the previous defeat in the war with Asuo, the Austins had issued an order to ban the sea, and all merchant ships were not allowed to leave the port. However, with the signing of an alliance treaty with the Asuo people. The Austinites in charge here have canceled the order to close the port.

Everything in the port began to return to its original state, and the number of merchant ships coming and going quickly returned to the previous level, and even more, because I heard that the Dorok people and the Falcon Empire were at war with each other recently, and the Dorok people urgently needed a batch of iron. Mine to forge weapons. But all sources of iron ore were cut off by the Falcon Empire,

The Dorok people, who have lost their land trade routes, are now willing to pay twice as much for the iron ore flowing in from the northern cold regions. This is undoubtedly a strong stimulus to the economy of the northern cold regions.

The number of merchant ships traveling to and from Dorok has increased significantly in the past half month. In addition to the merchant ships passing by, there are also some Austinite fishing boats mixed in. Such fishing boats are small in size and often only It is enough to hang two sails, so it is also called a second sailboat, which is very easy to recognize. In order to obtain high profits, even these second sailboats have joined the ranks of transportation, but the chance of these small fishing boats arriving safely is extremely small.

After waiting at the port for a while, Urcondo chose to stay in a hotel near the port. At eight o'clock the next day, when Urcondo got up and exercised on the balcony, he happened to see three Austins. The sailing warship slowly sailed into the port,

The dragon-eagle flag of the Austinites was flying on the warship, and there were neat queues on the deck. It should be that some important figure from the Austinites had arrived.

Sure enough, later, he received the message that the local lord Austin Carlos had returned. Urcondo had heard about this violent bear's claw from many people in the North.

The blessed warrior who dared to fight the giant beast on the ice, the famous general who made the enemy tremble on the battlefield. Unfortunately, this hero in the hearts of Austin people has been in a bit of trouble recently because of the alliance treaty with the Asu people that ceded the southeastern cape. , the former famous general was in such a state of decline that he had to submit his resignation to King Austin and asked to return to his territory to recuperate for a period of time.

"It seems that this Austinite hero is also destined to be a scapegoat." With this emotion, Urcondo dressed neatly and went downstairs alone. He needed to go to the port to continue watching, waiting for the ship. A merchant ship with a special mission has arrived. According to the normal sailing speed, if nothing unexpected happens, the merchant ship should arrive within a week. For this era without communication tools, such an estimate across time periods is already considered very good. Yes,

Due to the surge of merchants in the port, the hotel rooms have been fully booked, but there are not many guests who can actually see it. Most people checked in that night and left early in the morning. There were not many people in the hotel lobby, so Urcondo ordered a breakfast leisurely. While watching the situation in the port through the window, I occupied a table by myself.

Putting the last piece of dry bread into his mouth, Urcando stood up from his seat. He needed to go to the port to take a look. This was his mission because it was confidential. Although as the head of the business alliance in the northern cold region, he can only do it personally, and what he claims to the outside world is to return to the country to report on his work.

"Bang!" At this moment, the door of the tavern was pushed open from the outside, and a biting cold wind blew in.

I saw several tough-looking men walking in surrounded by a slender man. The man wore a black hood and his sharp eyes swept across the lobby like a sharp sword.

"What a sharp gaze." Urcondo frowned slightly subconsciously, shrunk his neck, and sat down again as he was about to lift his buttocks. Pretending to be a down-and-out businessman, he didn't know why, but he felt like a lone wolf in the wilderness from the other person, just like himself who had single-handedly carried the entire tribe.

His actions still did not escape the attention of the other party. After hesitating for a while, the man in black robe who was surrounded opposite him seemed to notice something and walked straight to where Urkan was sitting. Urkando moved slightly towards the stairs. Give way. Didn't deliberately dodge. But the man in black robe who was walking towards him still stopped opposite him.

"Long time no see, Urcando" came from the opposite side in a low and somewhat jerky Dongting dialect with a bit of excitement, Urcondo almost jumped up from his seat,

"You...you are..." Urcando raised his head in disbelief, his eyes flashing, and he also recognized the identity of the man in black robe. This is a man who should have died long ago. When he was working as a mercenary in the cold northern region, he met a young Austin nobleman. In a long and fierce battle, it was Urcando who risked his life and seriously injured him. He rescued him from the dead, and the two became friends of life and death.

Unfortunately, in a naval battle with the Beka people, this outstanding and kind young Austin nobleman went out as the captain. At that time, the Austin people were completely wiped out, and thousands of soldiers sank forever along with the warship. Into the cold North Sea, not one of the more than 100 people on the ship led by the Austin nobleman survived, and Urkan Many of them escaped because they were sick and did not board the ship, but they were also regarded as deserters and expelled by Austin's army. For the Dongting people who take fighting as their glory, this is definitely a shame that Urcando does not want to mention. , so although the tribe knew that he had stayed in the northern cold land for 2 years, no one had ever known about his experience in the northern cold land.

"Uros, are you not dead?" Urcondo's body trembled slightly and he stood up from his seat in surprise.

"Death does not belong to me." The man in black robe opposite said in a brisk voice. He opened the black robe on his head, revealing half of his face covered with ferocious scars. Under the dark brown hair, there was a pair of bright eyes, with a hint of aura. Looking at him with both trepidation and pride

The young man sat down opposite Urcondo with a sneer on his lips, "Why, are you scared? I'm still waiting for you to introduce me to the beautiful and passionate Dongting beauties. You can't break your promise. I heard that in your Dongting, no If you keep your promise, you won’t be able to marry a woman.”

"Your face..." Urcando's voice paused. Even though he had seen death in battle, the huge scars on the young noble's face still made Urcando take a deep breath.

In his impression, the young man named Uros in front of him may appear a little weak and not strong enough according to Kujit's standards, but his appearance is definitely handsome. But all of this, Now, against the backdrop of the scars that take up almost half of his face, he looks a little more cold and cold.

"This is the price of that war." Uros touched the scar on his face with his hand, as if he could still feel the pain, grinned slightly, and sighed with emotion.

"To be honest, I should thank you. If you hadn't told me that life and death are not destiny destined by God, but are things in our own hands, I would have survived that cruel war. It's really Fortunately, after that time, I finally understood why you risked your life and came here far away from the grassland. As you said, only when you have truly experienced the boundary between life and death can you know that you can have the opportunity to come here. What a luxury it is to see the place you most want to visit.”

"Haha, it seems that you have matured a lot," Urcondo said with emotion. Based on his intuition, he could feel that Uros had an oppressive aura on him. He had only felt that kind of aura from one person, and that was His Majesty Falcon, who fulfilled his love and entrusted him with important tasks.

"What should I call you now?" Urcando asked hesitantly, "Uros. This name is not like the surname of an Austin noble."

"Can't you not be so disappointing? In fact, I came with you specially." The young man opposite said with some dissatisfaction. "You have to know that some things can be discussed between Urcondo and Uros, but not in business." Talking between the general manager of the Northern Alliance and Austin Carlos, you should understand what I mean."

"You are Austin Carlos." Urcondo looked at Uros with a shocked expression on his face, partly because his identity was seen through. On the other hand, it’s because two people who are close friends of life and death actually met under such circumstances. It’s such an unbelievable chance encounter.

"To be honest, when I saw you Urcando at the banquet in Austin City, I couldn't believe it. It's such an adventure. Isn't it?" Austin Carlos, the hero of the Austin people , looked up at the sails docked in the port outside the window and said, "We have fought side by side and experienced life and death difficulties together. Now fate has linked you and me together again, so I believe that in this situation, only You Urcando can help me.”

"What do you need me to do?" Urcando calmed down the shock in his heart, looked at Austin Carlos, whom he had depended on for life and death, and said with some confusion, "I am just an ordinary businessman, and But you are a member of the Austin royal family and a famous hero. I really don’t know what kind of help you need?"

"You guys stand down first?" Austin Carlos waved his hand to his subordinates behind him with a solemn expression, and the burly men immediately took ten steps back. Like a huge half-screen dividing the tavern hall into two,

Under Urcando's confused eyes, Austin Carlos picked up a glass of purple-red liquor on the table and drank it in one gulp.

The pale face was slightly red, and even the scars showed a light red color. He smiled bitterly and said

"Not all royal families are glorious. If I had a choice, I would not want to be a royal family. I am just the illegitimate son of a branch prince. I am too far away from the bloodline of any royal family. Otherwise, I would not have been around in the first place. Among middle and lower-ranking officers,

But fate made me a hero, and it also made me a thorn in the side of those with pure blood.

Austin Carlos stopped his voice, took a deep breath and said, "I just want to live well. This is my mother's last hope before she dies.

If you have the chance, go to the warm south and take a look. Leave this frozen land. My mother is from Ruidian in the south.

The ice and snow of the North are not entirely in my blood.”

"Originally, I thought they were tired of fighting the Asuos and would not come to deal with me for the time being, but I was wrong. I was deceived into signing that bullshit treaty.

Now the Asu people are no longer enemies. As for my reputation as a hero, it is also controversial. I believe they will use this to attack me soon.

I submitted my resignation to them and handed over my army in order to paralyze them and delay time. I didn't want to sit still and wait for death. I needed an ally that was reliable and powerful enough to shake the entire northern cold region."

"You want to commit treason?" Urcando's eyes were full of bloodshot eyes. He stood up from his seat in surprise and said in a low voice that only the two of them could hear.

"It's not treason, it's just to find a big tree for yourself to rely on before the big tree falls." Austin Carlos grinned disdainfully, picked up the wine glass with red eyes, and took another sip of strong liquor. , then said angrily, "I believe you can also see that the cold land in the north is now The Asuo family is the dominant one, and only us Austinites have the strength to compete with it. However, the upper echelons of Austin are some people who are greedy for life and fear death, and live in peace. In order to seek temporary peace, they will not hesitate to sacrifice several generations. The southeastern cape, which Austin's warriors had fought so bloody hard to capture, was surrendered.

Now it seems that they have diverted the attention of the Asuos and found a few years of peace. In fact, in a few years, the Asuos who control the throat of the North Sea will use the funds collected through the strait to arm the fleet. And then tear apart in one fell swoop what we Austinites are so proud of. The navy will finally control all the ethnic groups on the entire eastern coast. Under attack from both inside and outside, 170,000 people in Austin will die without burial. The building will collapse. We can't just wait to die. Considering the many years of life and death, For my sake, only you can help me with this problem."

"But, I'm just a businessman, you tell me this..." Urcondo was silent for a while, looked at the somewhat excited Austin Carlos, and said hesitantly

"That's enough. Although I have never been to the South, I also know the identity of the head of the Business Alliance." Austin Carlos said decisively. "I heard that in the far south, a person in charge of the Business Alliance is even more powerful than one party." The lord is much more majestic,

What's more, you, the general person in charge of the north, are said to have a status comparable to that of the army commander of the empire in the south.

I know that in your eyes, my status as the lord of Austin is too humble. Do I really need to bow to you personally and ask for your mercy like a nobleman?" (No pop-up window, novel.net)