Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

They actually walked around the waterwheel canal, so they knew what the waterwheel canal looked like at night. As one of the most destitute areas in the Principality of Mariai, which was famous for its chaos and poverty, the people in this place obviously did not have the ability to provide such a level of lighting. In order to save fuel, they would choose to go to bed early at night, and the guards who did not care about anything here would naturally only keep the lighting at a minimum.

The three of them looked at each other without saying anything. They just pushed aside the dead branches in front of them, concealed their bodies by stealth, and peeked at the location of the light source.

The scene there was completely different from what they saw at the entrance of the waterwheel canal.

Spirited and well-equipped guards, neat and reliable-looking city walls, specially decorated and bright lights... these things are undoubtedly not seen in a small place like Shuichequ. I'm afraid that even in Twickenham, the capital of the Principality of Mariea, such a spirit is nowhere to be found.

This is obviously not a waterwheel canal.

But the footprints pointed clearly there.

This still doesn't make sense. They clearly didn't leave from the main gate of the Shuichequ, but now we can see footprints extending straight towards the main gate.

The current situation was filled with an indescribable sense of weirdness, but the town under the lights seemed extremely real, and did not seem like an illusion at all.

April glanced at her companions behind her, then stood up, called Andy and Jesse, and walked towards the main gate of the town openly.

Chapter 20 Waterwheel Channel

"stop."

As expected, the guard at the gate simply stopped April and his group.

Although the city gate was not raised but was unreasonably lowered at night, as if to facilitate entry and exit, the guards stationed at the gate did not seem to relax at all. They soon discovered these three people they had never seen before.

April simply and calmly looked at the guards in front of him. They were not elite in terms of training or equipment, but their spirit was much better than the garrison he had seen before. There were only six guards on sentry duty, which was considered a small team, but he could feel that there should be a sentry post behind the city gate, with at least a few teams of soldiers stationed there in case of emergency.

Of course this is not the point. The point is that the soldier in front of him has strange clothes and equipment.

Compared to the light armor that traditional local guards would wear, the soldiers in front of them were wearing something more unique, such as exquisite leather armor with stitched armor plates, which seemed to focus more on lightness than defensive performance. The weapons in their hands were also different from the standard spears, short swords, and small round shields of the Mariai Principality's garrison. They were a combination of long swords and short guns that had never been heard of before.

Judging from the shape, the short guns on their waists are not the type that are loaded with bullets, nor are they high-end ones with small steam engines. Instead, they are more peculiar gas guns, a weapon that kills the enemy by spraying iron stakes with compressed gas. As if to prove this point, they also have ammunition bags and gas cylinders similar to ammunition hanging on their waists.

In April's impression, the army of the Principality of Mariai seemed to have never had such a combination. Cost was a very important reason. The Principality of Mariai was very conservative in the application of technology, and they would not consider new things like air guns at all.

"You don't look like locals. To ensure the safety of the town, I would like to know your purpose."

April did not answer immediately, but first signaled Andy with his eyes, asking him to "be prepared for the unexpected", and then stepped forward and said, "We are knights from Zelhar, and we are here to carry out a mission under the order of the Glorious Court. We are passing by your place and hope to rest and get supplies here."

He did not think there was anything wrong with this statement. Obviously, as long as this town had not been completely isolated from the outside world since the Fourth Calendar, the name of the Glorious Divine Court - or at least the name of the Lord of Light and Thunder would be enough to pave the way for them.

Of course, there was a possibility that something went wrong, such as this being the headquarters of a cult. But April quickly ruled out this possibility in his mind, because he had never heard of any cult members in the world who could run a town so well.

In most accounts, cultists are either obviously insane or covertly insane, depending on when they strike.

As expected, after hearing April's words, the other party's expression softened a lot, but he did not immediately relax his vigilance: "In this case, I hope you can show the certificate from the Divine Court, so that you can pass."

April didn't say much, but took out a document from his bosom and handed it to the man who looked like the captain of the garrison. This document was similar to the one Lunisia had taken out at the entrance of the waterwheel channel before, but it was not of such a high standard, at least it didn't have the autograph of the highest priest Sieli.

This lower-standard pass was distributed to each accompanying knight before departure. It was bound to their own spirituality. Once they unfortunately died, the document would destroy itself, so there was no need to worry about it being lost to the enemy.

After receiving the document, the other party carefully examined it. This document did not have the signature of the highest priest, but it had the same authentic holy emblem brand. Objects with this brand could not be held by evil things, otherwise they would be burned by the holy flame if the magic cultivation was not exquisite enough. Therefore, it could also be used as a method to distinguish between heretics and believers.

"...Yes, no problem." The captain of the garrison nodded to the guards behind him, "You can enter the waterwheel channel. Since you are believers of the Lord of Light, we will not give you too many instructions. Under the premise of ensuring that you do not disturb the lives of the townspeople, I wish you can have a good rest here."

April nodded, but her doubts only grew.

——Sure enough, this is also a waterwheel canal... Could it be that something happened after we left? Why did it become like this in just one afternoon?

He would rather believe that this was some other place than to associate the scene before him with the dilapidated town surrounded by earthen walls. The difference between the two was too great.

Not to mention, the original waterwheel channel only had dirt paths trampled by pedestrians, while the "waterwheel channel" in front of us has a neat road surface paved entirely with white stone bricks. In the entire Principality of Mariai today, perhaps only first-class big cities can see such a ground surface, and the repaired ones will not be as good as the one in front of us.

After passing through the city gate and walking along a road where only a stone waterwheel is running and there are not many houses nearby, you can see the real scenery of the town.

There are neatly arranged street lights on the roadside, and the houses are neat and beautiful, with brick and stone reliefs that are a mixture of Nazar and Hettian styles. Not only are the door widths much wider than the previous waterwheel canals, the shapes are also very different, and every window of the house is inlaid with glass.

Glass is not uncommon in inland or other prosperous coastal countries. However, for a place like the Principality of Mariai, which is famous for its chaos and poverty, people in the countryside can only use gauze or window paper to fill the window frames, and it is impossible to use windows with glass.

The pedestrians here were completely different from those they had seen in Shuichequ before. Whether it was April, Andy or Jesse, they could see the numbness and decadence in the eyes of those villagers - poverty, high taxes, volatile environment and harassment by cultists had made them exhausted, and even when they looked at the knights who came here, there was lingering fear and retreat in their eyes.

The people here are different. No matter they are men or women, old people or children, their faces are full of vitality and satisfaction with their beautiful vision of life. This difference is even reflected in their appearance and gait. Even their walking posture seems more confident than those villagers.

"Something's not right here."

Andy tried his best to remain restrained and not look around too much. He was worried that doing so would reveal his unnaturalness, so he could only communicate with April in a low voice.

"I've never heard of such a prosperous town in the Principality of Marie, not to mention that it's called 'Shuichequ'..."

"I understand that, too." April nodded. "Another point. Judging from the footprints, the captain must have come all the way here, but the guards at the door didn't mention this to us, and their attitudes didn't show that such a thing had happened."

Jesse, who rarely speaks, also commented: "The villagers are very energetic."

"Well, it's a bit too lively."

April walked over to the woman who was hanging a flower basket on the eaves and asked politely, "Excuse me, ma'am, is there any festival or something worth celebrating here recently?"

It was not known whether it was his gentle tone, his handsome face, or the woman was in an unusually good mood today, but she smiled and replied, "Ah, you knights are from other places, right? Is this your first time at Shuichequ?"

"Yes, we are from Zerhal."

"No wonder you didn't know - today is the Thirteenth Day of the Resurrection, one of the most famous festivals in the entire Mariai region!"

Chapter 21 The Night of Broken Mirror

when!when!when!

Lunicia's eyes suddenly became sharp. She grasped the hilt of the sword beside her almost without any hesitation and swung out three swords with perfect accuracy. She already knew what was coming and she exerted all the strength in her arms. Finally, she managed to block the oncoming claw!

She took a deep breath and pushed the ground with her right leg. The force passed through her legs along the ground. Then she turned her waist and the force flowed through her legs to her waist. Finally, she raised her left arm. The force from the ground continued to increase with the collision of the joints, and finally turned into a huge momentum, striking out along the shield on her left arm.

lb!

The wind was howling, loud noises were bursting, and I could indeed feel the hit on my arm!

The torch had already fallen to the ground. With the unexpected light of the fire and the light of the red moon that filtered in from the floor-to-ceiling windows, Lunicia could clearly see that the hairless, wrinkled head with a huge mouth full of fangs had been knocked heavily to the other side by the blow of her shield.

The other party was the one who launched the sneak attack, but became dizzy under this sudden attack.

It involuntarily covered its head with its other sharp claw and shook its neck vigorously, hoping to alleviate the huge impact caused by the collision between the head and the shield. This did not take too long, only two or three seconds at most, and it would be able to recover to its best condition. Although the blow was heavy, it did not cause greater impact.

But this is a battlefield.

Now we are in battle.

In battle, even a fleeting mistake can lead to fatal consequences!

puff--

She stepped forward with her left foot, raised her arm, and then lowered it in the most graceful way that Lunicia remembered. In the alternation of her steps like a round dance, Lunicia's figure had already come behind the monster. The tip of her long sword swung down in a circle like a sun disk, pointing to the ground. The sword was spotless, and the dirty blood had already been thrown onto the ground, splashing blood flowers in the dust.

The monster's huge body just stood there, and then slowly a dark red mark appeared from the center of its eyebrows. The mark spread from head to tail, and finally with a "pop" sound, it split into two pieces lying on the ground, with dirty blood and internal organs splattered everywhere.

——No, it’s not over yet.

Lunicia's heart tightened. Before the strong wind blew towards her, she had already raised her sword and heavy shield in front of her. She was knocked backwards by the sudden and huge impact force!

Another monster!

After I opened the diary, it was as if something was broken here, and all kinds of misfortunes began to happen unexpectedly.

If you smash the glass bottle, the water will flow out.

Something is wrong, something is wrong. The things that are wrong within the range of perception are definitely not just the two monsters that emerged from the darkness. There are also other things happening right behind him.

Snapped!

Lunicia tried to step on the ground with both feet to slow down her speed, but was unsuccessful. Before she could even let the soles of her boots touch the ground, the impact from the front of her had already smashed her body heavily into the French window behind her. The fragile blue glass did not hold up for a moment, and Lunicia's back had smashed it to pieces, and her body flew straight into the air outside the window.

Something is wrong. Something is wrong.

She saw the scene behind her.

The place was brightly lit, torches and street lamps formed a dazzling light, flower baskets and gifts were hung outside the houses, people walked on the streets, and then looked up and screamed at her, the knight who suddenly smashed the window and appeared.

Just a moment ago, this was a dilapidated place with only corpses and ruins. Just before she smashed the window behind her, it was still pitch black outside, with only the torch she left in the mayor's office providing a meager amount of lighting. She saw the tall tower, the beautiful glass lamp hanging on the tower, and the surprised and confused expression of the girl on the top of the tower.

She saw herself!

Lunicia tried her best to adjust her balance in mid-air. While making sure she could land steadily with her legs facing downwards, she exerted force on her arms, using her shield to push away the claws of the monster in front of her, and with her other hand she raised the sword from bottom to top.

Ding!

Just by hearing the sound, Lunicia knew that she had failed. The blade of the sword was blocked by the monster's sharp claws. Even though Lunicia's sword was at an extremely tricky angle, it only cut off a small piece of flesh on the opponent's shoulder. Such an injury was not painful at all for the monster.

Thanks to the effect of adjusting her posture in mid-air, Lunicia landed lightly and steadily, without being at a loss because of falling from the second floor. The pedestrians around her were already screaming and scattered, and some people who looked like guards were evacuating the crowd with weapons, and they didn't seem to have any intention of coming to help Lunicia immediately. The monster had also landed on the ground, moving on all fours, and confronting Lunicia around the square.

While holding up her shield for defense, Lunicia also took a look around at the surroundings - this was obviously the central square of the abandoned town. Lunicia had passed by here before entering the office. Originally, it was just a place full of collapsed stone walls and human skeletons, but now it was brightly lit and filled with townspeople trying to escape.

This couldn't help but make Lunisia anxious.

The monster in front of her focused all its attention on her, which was a good thing. However, Lunicia could not guarantee that she would be able to take care of the ordinary people affected during the battle.

She gritted her teeth, pushed off the ground, and rushed towards the monster.

This is the best solution she can think of right now!

For her, who can only use sword and shield but not the two-handed greatsword, such a frontal charge is almost foolish. She cannot use the power brought by the charge to swing a blow with enough weight. In comparison, using the advantages of sword and shield to defend and counterattack is undoubtedly more suitable for her - however, only by charging like this can she seize the initiative in this battle and keep her fight with the monster within a safer range for others!

when!

The swing of the long sword was blocked almost without any suspense. Not only that, her body was slapped away by a claw. Fortunately, she was protected by the shield and was not ripped open on the spot, but the silver armor on one arm was torn.

The attack was completely inappropriate in terms of speed, distance and timing, and was not a threat at all to such a powerful enemy.

However, Lunicia had no intention at all. Facing the monster that was pursuing her and rushing towards her, she held up the shield with one hand and tilted the shield towards the sky. The sharp claws that were stabbing towards her were deflected just as Lunicia expected, and her body was turning with the force transmitted from the shield. She pushed off the ground with her feet, and started to exert force from the joints of her toes. The toe bones hit the cuneiform bones, the calf bones hit the thigh bones, and the spine drove the rib cage. Her whole body accelerated and accelerated in the collision of joints, and she flashed past the side of the monster like a gust of wind.

pat.

The sharpness of the sword was almost fleeting, and the monster's arm fell off!

Chapter 22: Feast Night

Such a result was not enough to satisfy Lunicia. The moment she heard the dull sound of her arm falling to the ground, she immediately turned sideways. As she expected, the monster's counterattack came instantly. Almost at the moment she stood still, the giant claw had already swung towards her previous position with a strong wind.

She held her breath, leaned forward, and then slashed with the sword.

With a flash of moon-like silver light, the sword blade penetrated the shoulder and finally came out from the ribs. The monster was cut in half diagonally from the chest!

"Ha ha……"

Lunicia was breathing heavily. She stuck the tip of her sword into the ground and used it like a crutch to support her body, thus ensuring that she did not fall down immediately due to exhaustion.

Even though her physical fitness was far superior to that of other ordinary knights, such high-intensity continuous fighting was still too exhausting for her. In order to ensure that each of her swords could accurately cause damage to the enemy, she had to keep her muscles in a state beyond their limits. Otherwise, it would be difficult for her to deal with those monsters in a short period of time with only a longsword instead of a greatsword.

If she failed to kill the first monster with one strike, the siege would soon put her in a precarious situation. This was not a glorious head-on confrontation like in the forest, where she could chop down the enemy with seemingly difficulty but with almost no loss. Although the time was much shorter, the danger was much higher.

Even though it was already deep winter, Lunicia's forehead was still covered with fine beads of sweat. She couldn't help but take a deep breath, letting the cold wind penetrate her lungs and cool her body down amidst the violent coughing and wheezing.

Great pain wrapped around her arms. The feeling was so intense that it felt like the muscles in her arms were torn apart by a blunt sword. It almost made it impossible for Lunicia to hold the long sword used to support her body. Even so, she endured the pain, gritted her teeth, and pulled the tip of the sword out of the masonry.

It was only at this moment that she had the mind to look at her surroundings.

Before Lunisia entered the building that now looked like the town hall, it was a ruined ground made of rubble and corpses, with broken bricks everywhere, so that Lunisia could not tell what the structure was like before. It was not until now that she realized that this place was actually a small square. The people who had gathered here in a cheerful atmosphere had all dispersed, and even the guards with weapons were gone, as if they were helping the residents to take refuge.

The prosperity here dazzled Lunicia. She had never seen a wealthy town. In her life, she had only seen the waterwheel, the forest near the waterwheel, the carriage, and the dome of the church. It was the first time she saw so many lights. Torches and lamps made the night as bright as day. Various flower baskets and bouquets were hung on the streets and walls. Her knowledge seemed so scarce at this moment that she could neither pronounce the names of the flowers of different colors nor think of words to describe them.

She saw Ying Yetan.

This elegant white flower only blooms late at night on certain days and dies when the sun rises.

They bloomed one by one, in clusters, at the gate of the City Hall, like some kind of omen.

She opened the door of the town hall. The door was no longer as rotten and fragile as it was when she first saw it, but it was still unlocked and opened easily. She thought she would see the person who did not escape, and see the dark and cold empty house as it should have been, but nothing happened.

Nothing seems to have changed here.

The windows were nailed shut with layer upon layer of wooden boards, sealing them tightly. The ground was covered with a thick layer of dust, leaving deep footprints wherever one stepped on it. There was no lighting, no people, and no corpses. Everything had been emptied out long ago, and except for the lack of a hanging corpse, everything else looked no different from the first time one came in.

This was impossible, she clearly remembered seeing the fire in the window from outside.

Just as she was about to go upstairs again, she heard a voice.

That was the sound of weapons clashing, that was the scream of life passing away, that was the howl of fire burning, something was happening in the distance. Those sounds sounded distant and unreal, like shadows in a mirage, even so, Lunisia could still grasp the direction they came from incredibly, she seemed to remember something, and took a deep look at the stairs.

She seemed to see a figure, with an exquisite long skirt dragging on the ground, but not stained by a speck of dust.

In the blink of an eye, the figure disappeared like a gust of breeze.

……

This seems to be a cemetery.