Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

Of course, this was just a high-sounding excuse. In fact, it was simply because Ella and Ashatherine both hoped that Lunicia would sleep more, have a good rest, and not mess around.

Don't mess around - of course, for now this is just what Ashlee and Ella think of Lunicia, Lunicia herself doesn't think about anything, she just hopes to have a good sleep tonight and try to find out more information tomorrow. There are only three days in total, or even two and a half days, and now half a day has passed, is the rest of the time really enough?

Even this kind of anxiety and doubt must be abandoned, otherwise you will just struggle in bed, unable to fall asleep in vain, and can't help wanting to do something.

It is worth mentioning that Lunesia is not the only one who suffers from insomnia.

Ella Hepper was worried that the situation would change for the worse. In order to react in time, she did not fall asleep normally tonight like "last time". Instead, she took a secret medicine she had mixed. This potion could accelerate sleep and keep the consciousness ready to come up at any time. On the positive side, this approach could ensure alertness, so that one would be awakened immediately if any emergency occurred. On the negative side, it was difficult to guarantee sleep quality - unless nothing really happened that night.

As a result, Ella went to bed even earlier than Lunisia, so the situation that happened "last time" did not happen at all. As for Asheselin, she just stared at Lunisia's sleeping face and had no intention of closing her eyes. It seemed that nothing happened the whole night. As a result, the three of them got enough rest, probably.

At sunrise the next day, Lunicia, Ella and Ashlee had all finished washing and packing and gathered in the living room.

If I must say, even in Lunisia's opinion, it's not true that there is no change at all - for example, Ashlee didn't mention the prayer fog at all "this time". Since she didn't mention it at all, does that mean nothing has changed? Although Lunisia was not sure, she didn't think of other possibilities, so she decided to focus on what to do next.

"Should we just split up today?"

This was the idea that Lunicia proposed during the "morning meeting".

"Split up, huh?"

"Well, after all, there are a lot of things to deal with and the time is short... If you want to improve efficiency, maybe it would be better to split up today."

"What exactly is it like, Lady Luna?"

Ashlee didn't raise any objection, and Ella naturally didn't object to Lunicia's idea. In other words, the two of them didn't have any opinions of their own on this matter for the time being, so Lunicia still needed to arrange the actions - after all, if you have to say it, she is the one who knows the most about this matter. Although Ella and Ashlee learned a lot from her, in the end they could only follow her steps and act accordingly, which meant they were listening to her commands.

"Ashe is good at collecting information, so let's go to the Stone Cellar Library to look up information about the history of Muirand and what Mr. Galezzo said. Ella is good at infiltration, so Ella and I will go to the Cathedral of Alexandria to find out. We will gather for dinner in the evening, and then continue - is this okay?"

As for why Lunicia went to the Cathedral with Ella, it was not because she was also good at infiltration, but because she felt that a battle would inevitably take place in the Cathedral of Alexandria, at the earliest it would be tonight, at the latest on the third night. As a main combatant, she felt that she should understand the terrain structure of the place in advance to avoid any problems when the fight really broke out.

For a truly strong person, the restrictive effect of terrain is very limited. At most, it can only interfere with perception. For example, if you rely too much on your eyes, simple obstruction is enough to reverse the situation. For people whose perception is not so extraordinary, it is not easy to smell the enemy's breath through a thick wall. However, if you want to greatly reduce the combat effectiveness of a strong person through the restrictions of terrain, such as using narrow terrain to limit the use of longswords or greatswords, it will only be a miscalculation.

Strong professionals can often freely destroy the terrain and reduce the impact of the surrounding environment on their strength to a minimum. Even if it is the interference with vision or perception mentioned earlier, it only creates an opportunity for the "attacker" to succeed in a strike, rather than actually reducing the strength of the other party. Take the strongest person that Lunicia has ever encountered, Systin Perancitine, as an example. If her enemy wants to drag her into a street fight and use the complex terrain as an advantage to fight against her, then Systin will definitely not do anything to honestly fight a street fight with the opponent.

In fact, there is only one thing that Systin would do, and that is to use the "Moon Ring" to flatten the entire street. If necessary, a street, a city, a hilltop, these things can be cut into a plain by her sword to wipe out those elements that make her feel unhappy. I am afraid that only at the bottom of the abyss, in the narrow gap at the end of Naraku, can she be stopped from doing so, so as not to be buried by the falling rocks and unable to find a way out.

Of course, there is another possibility, and that is the situation of "cannot do this" - it is often not recommended to do this in ancient ruins, not only to prevent collapse or destruction of valuable things inside, but more importantly to avoid triggering various traps and prohibitions hidden in the ruins, releasing destructive magic or foreign objects imprisoned in ancient cages; similarly, it is not recommended to do this in the great cathedrals of the righteous gods and the pavilions of great wizards. This is not based on considerations of gains and losses, but simply because it cannot be done.

The building materials are not ordinary, and many arrangements must have been made during the construction. In addition to the residual power of the gods and the defense mechanisms added by successive leaders after its completion, the Great Cathedral of the Righteous God can be said to be the home of every believer of the gods. It is not easy to destroy it. If Twek's belief in the God of War was not long-standing, there would not be a sufficiently ancient and magnificent Temple of the God of War, and it would have been well preserved even after the battle between Grand Duke Ivanov and the Lich Alexis.

However, this was not a favorable condition for Lunisia at the moment. Not only did she need to investigate the architectural structure of the cathedral, but she also had to be careful not to be noticed by the Alexandrian believers. Moreover, making a big fuss and causing damage was not something she would consider. Even if she had a righteous cause, this kind of thing was almost an offense to the gods, and she did not want to do it anyway. If possible, it would be best to solve the problem quietly without being noticed.

If the staff in the temple and the local Alexandria Church leaders had nothing to do with this matter, Lunisia would not mind revealing her identity, telling the story, and trying to gain support from them. But now it is unclear who is the enemy. If the clergy here and the four major families stand on the same front, then doing so would be tantamount to walking into a trap. Asking rashly would only alert the enemy. She can only regard them as the enemy and avoid their actions.

"No problem, Lady Luna's safety will be protected by me."

"It's not that exaggerated. I'm just going to check it out first. Where's Ashe?"

"When we meet in the evening, Ashe will bring you good news."

"Then let's look forward to Ashe's performance."

After agreeing on a meeting time, the three of them temporarily separated and went to their respective places. It could be said that they were two battlefields where there was no smoke of gunpowder for the time being.

……

If we ask Mulandri which building best represents Alexander's majesty, there is no single answer.

If you don't know much about Murand and Alexander, you will answer according to common sense and think that the answer is the core of the belief in the God of Judgment, the Cathedral of Alexandria.

It is not wrong to think so. This cathedral is not only the church of Alexandria, but also the seat of the Supreme Court of Myland. Countless priests of Alexandria gather here, and countless judges, clerks and prosecutors work here. It is not only a place for holy deeds and miracles, but also a solemn court of trial. It can even be said that this magnificent stone building itself represents the majesty and solemnity of the law. There is no doubt that this building is the best embodiment of Alexander as the God of Judgement.

There is nothing wrong with this evaluation, it just overemphasizes the aspect of Alexander as the god of judgment and ignores the aspect of Alexander as the god of time: various clocks can indeed represent the concept of time, but if you choose to leave the Cathedral of Alexandria and turn into the building called the Great Library of Alexandria, you will experience the word "time" more clearly.

The passage of time, the erosion of time, that long and uninterrupted river - just entering here, you will smell the scent of "the past" coming towards you.

How to describe that smell? It is the smell of ink from old books and the wood fragrance of old furniture. It seems that just walking into this place is like walking into a distant mythological era, into the legend of the wise man talking to the stars. Perhaps only the God Solomon, who represents knowledge and wisdom, and the books of his followers can surpass this place and show a "wisdom" different from "time".

The rows of bookshelves on the ground are not enough to show its heritage. Look up, and see the cliff caves embedded in the wall. The bookshelves suspended in the air, changing their positions according to the requirements. Look down, and see the same scenery under the transparent floor. How many books are there here? 100,000, 1 million, or 10 million? From the birth of the gods to the present moment when they have stopped, those are not only the efforts of mortals, but also the projections created by power. The oldest, most secretive, and least known ones are even written by the gods themselves. This library, which was built by hollowing out an entire mountain, is like a cylinder with no visible top or bottom. It is said that the reason for this appearance is to symbolize "the historical corridor connecting heaven and earth."

When there were no familiar faces around, Ashlee seemed to have returned to the past. There were no familiar things or people around. Everything would soon pass away. Only her existence remained unmoved from beginning to end, like a rock that would not change. She was regarded as a weird thing, as an existence equivalent to the followers of darkness. Although the mechanical humanoid technology was not non-existent and was welcomed in many warring countries, people were still afraid of the aura similar to "blackness" and chose to stay away from it, and even became hostile. Such stories were written in the incomplete memories, and there would be more such contents in those fragments that could not be read now.

Is that why he distanced himself from the world, from those bustling capitals, from those mirages that seemed to disappear at any moment? Is that why he refused to make close friends, refused to have contact with people, refused to exist outside of himself?

Maybe, if so, then it's a good reason.

But it seems that it is not just that.

It is said that here is the entire history of Myland since its founding, it is said that here is the past collected by Myland's sages and ancestors, it is said that here is even the memory of the gods, from which people can get a glimpse of some truth.

So, among these countless “supposedly”, can you find something that is related to yourself?

Walking in the garden, Ashlee felt very familiar with the historical atmosphere and ancient smell, as if she belonged to such an era. She was wearing a black dress with a ribbon tied around her chest and light ruffles on the hem, covering her legs and arms, only occasionally revealing her mechanical fingertips. She was like a girl pretending to be at ease, looking for lost treasures in the garden.

"It's troublesome."

The girl in the agency muttered to herself.

This library has a long history, and its rich collection of books is not a modern-day reputation. With the development of the times, many new technologies have been introduced here, such as more flexible and lightweight floating pedals, which allow readers who come to borrow books to more conveniently reach high and low volumes, modern bookshelf organizers, a kind of small magic props, and more efficient and user-friendly book catalogs for selecting desired information.

However, the progress in the information entry of books is still slow.

In other words, the best Ashlee could do was to rely on her own proficiency to filter out the sections of interest from the vast catalog, but she could not directly search for texts in the database of the Zizhaozi network, or even hack into secret materials that would not be open to the public. Even she now had to use her fingers to turn the pages and her eyes to record information.

"So where to begin, individual Ashtherin?"

The girl from the agency took light steps towards the pile of dust called history.

Chapter 44: Day 2: History of Disasters

The history of Myuland is actually not short. The so-called "new country" is only relative to the ancient country like the Theocracy Zelhar, which is bathed in the glory of God and has persisted from the early Fifth Calendar to the present. The history of Myuland alone has also lasted for hundreds of years, from the late Fifth Calendar to the present.

This is history that anyone can check, even outsiders like Ashlee Lin.

In that era, the miracles of the gods rarely appeared on earth. Even so, the "Agents of God" still wandered around, fulfilling their wishes and prayers, repelling darkness, spreading light, and protecting the lights of civilization. "Pendulum Knight", "Saint of Time", and "Libra Agent" Shetzberg was one of them.

The great hero Schitzberg is not just a legend for this city and this country, a fairy tale used to lull children to sleep. In fact, the great hero Schitzberg is also known as the founder of Muirand, the creator of Muirand, and the person who opened the curtain of this country.

——Ah, it's amazing, taking myth as history, taking legend as reality, like a sword forged by moonlight...

"...through the long years the night-watchers have filled her with ancient sorrow..."

Legend has it that after completing his journey, the "Pendulum Knight" entered the endless mountains of Canserle. It is said that some people wanted to follow him and see from his actions the next exciting adventure, but he just took out his hammer and chisel and said nothing. After that, no one knows how long it has been. Some people wanted to look for his traces, and some wanted to look for his treasure and traces. They all found nothing and returned empty-handed, but the words they brought back were exactly the same.

Someone dug out a city among those mountains.

——It’s so... familiar.

——Why do you feel familiar? This is obviously nothing to do with you, individual Ashtherin.

—Feels familiar...but...why?

"...he died surrounded by cruel exile, and now he is a pile of dust and glory..."

The city is magnificent and magnificent. Stones are used to build houses and pave roads. The terrain of the mountains has been transformed into towering houses. Flowers and grass are planted in circular flower beds. Cool water gushes from springs and becomes a river flowing through the city. The Temple of Alexandria is like a castle, and a large library with countless books is waiting for visitors. No one can imagine that this is a city carved out of the mountains. It looks like it has existed here for a long time and was only discovered today. Otherwise, how can this miraculous scene be explained?

Magic had not yet declined at that time, but even the magnificent floating city, the glorious creations of the mages, would be eclipsed by this city carved out with every chisel and axe - this city itself is a miracle and a magnificent adventure.

At first, people were afraid of this city that seemed to have suddenly appeared in the mountains and did not dare to approach it. Later, when the hero no longer appeared, the warriors and sages who followed in his footsteps stepped into the mountains and settled in this empty but well-ordered city, choosing the houses they liked, adding books to the library, and offering prayers in Alexandria's halls.

With the first one, there will be the second, the third, and more and more people come to this city which is said to be carved by the hero himself, to recall the hero's journey. Gradually, there are markets, tourists, and the prosperity of a big city, which has become a unique landscape in Nasaran.

——It’s so familiar, all of this.

At that time, Muirand was not yet a country, and most of the people living here were former neighbors or old friends of Sidzberg, including merchants who once lived in his hometown town and wizards who came here to study his experiences. Although this place was prosperous, it was not like it is now, and it was not considered to be the best in the world, and was even regarded as the orthodox successor of Nasaran - until later.

"The Collapse of the Demonic Network", "The Fall of Nasaran", "The Sorrow of Tweek", "The Catastrophe of Erumu"... There are many names that can describe the sudden event, but no one can tell what exactly happened at that time. There is no information that can find out the truth about the disaster that occurred in the capital of Nasaran that year. It is a huge mystery in itself, a mystery that led to the destruction of the ancient magical country of Nasaran and buried countless lives in it.

You may still remember the anecdotes about Nasarlan mentioned by Clermont Ephrabel. Howard, Stuart, Stoke, and Byron were the four famous nobles in Nasarlan. They obtained power and wealth from the royal family. The Ephrabel family believed that their greed and ambition made them try to undermine the royal family, but in fact, it was the royal family that gave up some of its power to reduce the expenses of managing this overly large country.

No one could have expected what would happen next. The collapse of the magic network nearly destroyed the royal family at that time, and the subsequent Gradani Dynasty was completely unable to save the situation. It only delayed the time of Nasaran's demise on paper for a little bit, until it completely evolved into a civil strife. The Lanmen Belial family defended the enemy at the border, the Shukh Belial family went to war and was unable to return, and the Ivanov family seized power and usurped the throne.

The Efabelil family believed that the four major families chose to watch rather than intervene in the Nasaran civil war at that time because they lacked the ability. In fact, it was another matter. The Nasaran nobles, headed by the four major families, completely lost interest in Nasaran after escaping from the disaster of the collapse of the magic network. Compared with returning to this land that they thought had completely lost its value, it would be better to work hard to take root in this city called Muirand, and truly transform themselves from "Nasaran nobles" to "Muirand nobles."

That’s right, including the four major families, most of the current Myuland nobles are actually the Nasalan nobles who fled when the magic network collapsed. They left Nasalan with their families, wealth, power, knowledge and strength, and moved to Myuland, which was already quite large at that time. It was no longer just a prosperous city. The "Myuland Republic" was established.

Of course, these are not all the contents recorded in the public data. The four major families are now the actual rulers of Muirand. They abandoned their homeland and the royal family they were loyal to and fled to this city on the top of the mountain to continue their glory. If this matter is made public, it will inevitably be a loss of face and even cause trouble. These are compiled by Ashlee based on the information she found in the Stone Cellar Library, Roy von Ivanov's oral account and the information collected by Marian. Compared with any single item, this integrated information is more authentic.

——Then how did Myuland survive the "Magic Network Collapse"?

The collapse of the magic network was not just a simple disaster of "magic cannot be used for a period of time". From those ambiguous materials whose authenticity cannot be guaranteed, we can know that the situation at that time was so terrible and horrifying that Myuland and those Nasaran nobles who survived this disaster also seemed very suspicious.

"A huge hole was torn open above Twek, and everything around it was attracted to it until a certain critical point, when the attraction suddenly disappeared. Then a huge explosion occurred with Twek as the center. The power of the explosion was so strong that the area around the capital, which was still a relatively rugged hilly area at the time, was directly blown into the current Ekstof Plain, with only a few undulations remaining.

Almost all the houses in the capital were destroyed, and only the Gravenmore Palace and the Erumu Wall, which were particularly well protected even in the capital, were barely preserved. The defensive power of the Erumu Wall was well known. This chalk cliff was insurmountable, and even this indestructible wall was almost torn in half when the defensive magic was fully activated. After that, it was unable to regenerate for a while because all the magic failed. The Gravenmore Palace was in a similar situation.

And as you and I know, this is just the beginning of the nightmare.”

With Nasalan as the center, magic completely failed in the area of ​​almost one-third of the planet from that moment on. Countless flying mages fell from the sky, countless floating cities crashed to the ground, and countless restrictions under the magic imprint lost their effectiveness, allowing those ancient and indestructible prisoners to escape from prison. It seemed that mages would become history that could never be reproduced in an instant - until later, the magic network was barely repaired and stabilized in the form of wreckage.

——Look through the records, individual Ashtherin. Myuland would not be completely ignorant of such things.

Why did some nobles of Nasaland flee in advance, including the four powerful families, Asheselin speculated that it was because they got some information in advance, so they had precious time to react. As for why the royal family did not flee with them, Asheselin did not think it was out of a sense of responsibility, but rather that it was very likely that "the royal family of Nasaland was the mastermind behind the collapse of the magic network."

For the city of Muirand, how it survived the disaster is an unavoidable topic. It cannot be simply attributed to luck, destiny, or God's blessing. A corresponding explanation must be given. Regardless of whether this explanation is convincing, it is at least indispensable for Ashlee.

She did find what she wanted.

Perhaps to show the urgency of the matter, or perhaps to get Zerhar involved in the matter, Shahar, the god of stars and destiny, issued an oracle to the then Holy Maiden of the Glorious Temple, Jephrene of "Sunlight", asking her to go to Mylande and warn the people there of the disaster. Judging from what happened afterwards, Shahar did not give the specific details of the disaster. Even so, the clergy of Mylande did not take this warning lightly.

After that, "Sunlight" Jephrene continued to head north, warning the northern countries along the way. She had also been to Nasalan, but she did not stay for long and left in a hurry. Perhaps the gods did not think that this powerful magic kingdom needed much warning, or perhaps the gods thought that warnings would not work for them. It is said that she finally arrived at Hyperborean in the far north. No one knows why she went there. Perhaps it was because Zelhar believed that the so-called disaster might be related to Hyperborean. As for the truth, no one knows.

The priests, warriors and wise men of Myrand gathered together because of this warning, and discussed how to survive the disaster in the prophecy. Led by four legendary wizards, the final solution proposed by Myrand was the legendary spell "Scale of Eternity", which eliminated the impact of the collapse of the magic network and even resisted some of the aftermath for the northern countries. It was because of this that Myrand and some northern countries survived the disaster and later became the settlement of many Nasarlan nobles.

"It's vague."

Ashlee's cold voice did not change at all because of this discovery.

In her opinion, this said almost nothing. The names of the four legendary wizards, the effect of the legendary spell "Scales of Eternity", the proposer of this solution, there were so many blank spaces in the relevant information that she couldn't help but feel suspicious.

If there is really something that cannot be said, why almost all details are omitted, leaving only such a framework full of loopholes?

Many major events happened in Myuland afterwards, such as the nobles who migrated from the south and the diplomacy with the surrounding countries after the founding of the country. These were indeed very important to Myuland, but none of them could be compared with this disaster. If there were any clues hidden in this history, then the most likely clue to be inserted into those small pieces of paper was the history surrounding the "Magic Network Collapse".

Didn't Galeazzo de Barbacco also say, "The Great Library in the Stone Cellar would be a good choice, and you will definitely find what you want to know there" - from his standpoint, he would never leave crime as an option for outsiders, so the information he mentioned must not be contraband.

"At least say a few more words."

Now was not the time to complain, so Ashlee opened the catalog again and selected the books she needed.

——“Northeast District”, huh?

This unfamiliar word made her tilt her head.

What she found was not much, nor was it satisfying enough, but it was indeed something she had overlooked before. She originally thought that the reason why Muirand's map looked so strange was just because of some municipal reasons, or because some natural dangers were avoided during the design and construction, so that she did not immediately notice the abnormality in the hotel where she was staying, the directions that were not mentioned when the building was built and had to be covered up later, and the room seemed to have been dug out of a corner, but she and her group did not doubt what direction it was.

Think about it now.

That place - isn't it exactly the "northeast corner"?

The nobles who moved here from the south spared no effort to perfect the ideal city in their minds, and wanted to build it into a palace that was luxurious, safe, and magnificent enough to cover up their regrets, depression, and shame for abandoning their homeland, their old king, their honor, and their past. So they widened the roads, expanded the city, built countless luxurious new buildings, created an aerial railway connecting the entire city, and erected statues in the Civic Square to cover up their guilty consciences with heroic gestures.

But even for them, there are holes that cannot be filled.

That was the drug den called the "Northeast District" that existed before they moved here.

Chapter 45 Day 2: Simple Exploration of the Sanctuary

“When you get closer, it still feels very grand.”

"Yes."

"The front of the Cathedral... Oops, I can't remember what it looked like. But it should be similar to this, probably."

"Since Lady Luna said so, then it must be so."

This is such a weird conversation that it's hard to tell what to make of it. No matter how you listen to it, it feels like the two parties are completely on different channels. But this conversation actually took place, which makes people deeply feel the exquisiteness and greatness of the language of intelligent races.

Of course, no one paid attention to the two of them, even though one looked like a majestic white-armored knight and the other looked like an experienced and sophisticated adventurer, and both of them looked outstanding. It didn't matter. Against the backdrop of the Alexandria Cathedral, they looked too small, so small that people would subconsciously ignore their existence. Not only them, but everyone was similar. Perhaps only the legendary strong could break free from this grandeur and show a majesty that was no less than that of the Stone City.

In fact, the highest person in charge of the Cathedral of Alexandria, the Patriarch of the God of Time, Sylvester de Sasteni, the "Sword of Time", is an out-and-out legendary warrior. It's just that he is not in Muland recently. Now the Patriarch is personally guarding the northern defense line, otherwise Lunisia would never think of coming to spy on the layout of the Cathedral of Alexandria, and this also means that the success rate of preventing accidents has become very small.

If a legendary master cannot stop what is happening on his own territory, then there are only two possibilities. The first possibility is that he is being held back by one or more legendary masters, making it impossible for him to take any action. The second possibility is that he himself is a supporter of that incident, and wanting to stop it from happening is essentially equivalent to becoming his enemy.

No matter which one it is, it is unimaginable bad news for Lunicia and her group.

Although there are still many priests in the Cathedral of Alexandria who are far more powerful than Lunicia, this is still much better than the Patriarch himself coming. She can only make herself look as much as possible like a proper tourist rather than a sneaky spy.

During the day, they would pretend to be tourists and take a quick look around to determine the future direction. At night, they would conduct in-depth exploration based on the route determined during the day. This was the process decided by Lunicia and Ella.

"Lady Luna, there is something I want to talk about."

Ella came closer and whispered.