The Collection of The End

——4E, 201, Last Seed Moon, 24th, 10:00——

Collier has served as the lord of Winterhold for thirty years, and has personally experienced the "Great Sinking" that almost destroyed the entire Winterhold and the subsequent Stormcloak Rebellion.

In the battle between the Empire and the Stormcloaks, her position should have been hot. Both the Imperial Legion and the Stormcloaks had to please her, the lord who was in the strategic position of both sides, but the collapse made all this impossible and lost the port. At the same time, Winterhold also lost its strategic significance, and the location of the northern confrontation between the two sides also moved westward to Morningstar City, which also had a port.

Now, as those residents who miss the old land and want to find a solution to the Mage Academy are leaving one after another because of the inconvenience in life, the population she controls as a lord is not even comparable to those of the wealthier villages.

In the end, Collier announced his support for Stormcloak in this civil war in exchange for material support from the closer geographically located Windhelm, but the Imperial Legion did not respond at all, not even a letter reprimanding the lord who supported the rebels. .

She is very dissatisfied with the Mage Academy that caused this result, but most of the income of Winterhold depends on the consumption of those mages and admirers, and there is no evidence to prove that Winterhold is related to the collapse, so in the end, she can only struggle to maintain While trying to find a way out.

"Auntie Lord ~ ​​open the door quickly ~ I know you are at home ~"

Hearing the call from the door, Collier couldn't help but turn dark, and signaled the guard beside him to open the door and let people in. If it took a long time, who knows what weird words she would say.

The one who called the door should be Zela Pesh, a Nord girl born and raised in Winterhold. She was only three or four years old when she was found by the guards in the ruins after the collapse. I came to study at the Mage Academy, but I didn't know what happened and was abandoned here. Maybe it was because the Mage Academy's method of evacuating the crowd was too rough and separated, but no one came to look for relatives for many years.

This girl was adopted by the couple Harlan and Dagul of the "Frozen Furnace" hotel. When she was young, she said that she would learn magic to find her biological parents, but as she got older, she stopped mentioning it after she understood the situation. , Not long ago, he took the entrance examination of the Master Academy and passed it successfully.

A few days ago, the Mage Academy unearthed a huge green sphere in Sattar. When it was transferred to the inside of the academy, it attracted the attention of many residents of Winterhold. Afterwards, the mages seemed to be focused on analyzing that object and had no time. Teaching, Zela, who had just become a mage apprentice, ran out to play again.

Of course, the ostensible reason was that she wanted to recover some rare books for the college library, but it was too exaggerated for her to ask almost everyone in Winterhold. Although she learned many specious book clues, more It was all sorts of trivial entrustments. Since they couldn't contact the comrades-in-arms group, Collier's guards couldn't leave without authorization. In the end, Zela tried to solve them all, and the residents even started calling her "little lord".

Finally, after the residents had no worries or entrustments for the time being, she focused on herself as the lord, so Collier directly issued her the impossible task of "finding the 'Crown of Winterhold'".

"Crown of Winterhold", as its name suggests, is the lord's crown worn by the lords of Winterhold in the past. Originally, lords from all over the province of Skyrim were only allowed to wear forehead ornaments, but only Winterhold was an exception. A few generations ago, a lord of Winterhold with With his strong personal charm and skills, he replaced the lord of Dugu City as the supreme king of Skyrim Province. This crown was cast at that time. Although the subsequent city lords were no longer so brilliant, just putting it there is also inspiring. Function——Unfortunately, this crown disappeared together with the Great Cave.

According to speculation, it may have slipped into the Sea of ​​Undead together with the collapsed part, and there is also a chance that the ruins still in the collapsed position were buried, and it may also be brought into the lair by some monsters who love to collect treasures.

If you want to find it, without any clues, it may take at least half a year to initially narrow down the scope——

"Auntie Lord~ I found the 'crown' you want~" After the guard opened the door, the Zerahs arrived before they heard, and the content of the shout-if Collier was drinking water, he would definitely spit it out.

"This girl..." Collier had already stood up after being shocked, and it was difficult to sit back at this time, so he shook his head and walked towards the door, ready to hit that lawless girl who was not big or small.

The door of the lord's longhouse was opened, and a gust of cold wind blew in with swirling snow flakes. Collier squinted slightly, and saw an imposing, blond girl stepping in. She wore a golden crown on her head and silver The blue skirt armor, and the large dark blue plush cloak fluttering in the wind on the back, its kingly aura far exceeds that of any lord Collier has ever seen.

"You are—" Collier had just opened his mouth, and the door of the longhouse had already been closed. There was no such thing as a royal woman in front of her, just a Nord girl shaking off the snowflakes from the mage's robe, and the thick-clad girl beside her. An old woman in a sarong, with a kind face and snow-white hair, showing a strong tired look.

"Ms. Larina!" Collier perfectly followed up the previous gaffe, but the shock in his heart increased instead of diminishing: "You are still alive! We thought..."

Larina Frewinter is a descendant of the High King of Winterhold. Her family has lived in Winterhold for generations, and she is also responsible for keeping the "Crown of Winterhold". The High King of Skyrim, she will be responsible for crowning him, Lady Larina disappeared with the crown during the Great Slump, and everyone thought she died protecting the crown.

"Oh, Carrie, I think you must be looking for this." The old woman took out a silver-white crown from the package in her hand and handed it to the lord. The middle section is in the shape of entangled ropes, exactly the same as the pattern on the town sign of Winterhold.

"Karil?" Zerapesh shook off the snow on his body, and looked at the nearly fifty-year-old female lord with strange eyes.

"You still keep it yourself," Lord Collier ignored the Nord girl's gaze, and fixedly stared at Ms. Larina: "I don't think I'm qualified to wear it yet, even if I own it."

"Hmm, that's true. You don't want to see it until the civil war in Skyrim Province is over." The old woman muttered, and put the crown away again.

In this civil war, Winterhold chose to support Stormcloak, but it didn't have much political significance, and the Mage Academy closed its doors and neither side supported it, not to mention the economy, so the two sides were not at all. Garrison near Winterhold.

But if the news that she owns the crown of Winterhold is spread, it doesn't take much righteousness, but Stormcloak, who is fighting to restore the faith of Talos, will definitely use it, and maybe even praise her as a hero with Solitude Toig fights against the second Supreme King of Taiwan. In that case, this civil war will never end easily. Even if one side completely loses, the question of which city’s Supreme King is the orthodox will become a new civil war incentive.

"How have you been these years? What are your plans for the future?" Collier asked.

"I'm going to move to the Mage Academy." Ms. Larina patted the shoulder of Zerapesh, who was standing aside and seemed to be thinking about Collier's real name.

"Grandma Larina was taken away by a group of scavengers in a place called 'Autumn Goblin Cave'. Those guys have been scavenging in the ruins of the big collapse and forced her to wash and cook for them," Zela interjected: " Seeing that they didn't hurt her, I just tied them up, if you went in time, you shouldn't have frozen into ice."

Aunt, grandma or something, the name is really easy to pronounce... Collier recalled the name of this strange cave, and remembered where it was with some difficulty. It was located at the foot of a snow-capped mountain in the southwest of Winterhold. It's a white place, but inside it's as warm as... Autumn. Its discoverer named it the "Autumn Fairy" cave, but naturally the lord couldn't send troops to guard a worthless cave just because of this, so it was quickly abandoned. Occupied by various robbers, it is said that there have been many fires and mergers in order to grab the territory.

And the one who can finally occupy there is naturally the winner of the firefight of the nearby robber gangs. Although Xiao Zela is very talented in magic, but only studied in the mage academy for a few days, it is completely impossible to clean up the robbers in the cave alone Yes, there must be a mentor helping, and Ms. Larina's plan to stay in the academy proves this point.

Speaking of which... there are several old mages in the Mage Academy...

"If there is anything you need, please feel free to mention it. Although Winterhold is not in good condition right now, there is no problem in preparing some household items for you." Collier, who consciously found something, said to Larina, and at the same time crossed One look at Zela.

"Oh, Auntie Ke Lier, she is the 'Crown Guardian'. The Mage Academy dare not neglect, but you, give me the reward." Zela stared at the back of Collier.

"Don't think I didn't hear the tone you deliberately changed." The female lord snorted, walked back to her seat, and took down a two-handed sword that revealed a deep chill from the weapon rack on the wall.

Since Lord Collier was not from a civilian background, he was very stable with a two-handed sword in one hand.

She turned around, put the blade of the sword on the shoulder of the slightly bowed Nord girl, and said solemnly: "As the lord of Winterhold, I announce that I have appointed Zela Pesh as the Baron of Winterhold, and bestowed upon him" 'Blade of Winterhold', with all powers except the duties of a lord."

"It's a great honor~" The girl's tone began to flutter again halfway through her answer.

However, what exactly is the "lord's duty"? Isn't it up to you? Collier thought as he looked at Zerapesh who was holding up a two-handed sword and offering treasures to Larina.