Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

This girl named Ella Hepper, since she left Nosavi with them, gradually put away her overly enthusiastic attitude and became like a personal maid. However, in Lunicia's opinion, that did not mean that her enthusiasm had been exhausted, but rather that she had become more restrained, willing to keep it in her heart because of her confidence and peace of mind, so she could behave more positively.

Doesn't she want to be hated by herself?

Lunisia occasionally has such thoughts.

Not knowing why the other party valued her so much, nor why the other party treated her with such devotion, Lunicia could only vaguely judge that she was very important to her, nothing more. As if sensing Lunicia's likes and dislikes, the pink-haired girl restrained her feelings as if to please her, pretending to be an ordinary girl, even though she was absolutely beautiful, even though she was covered in scars, even though she claimed to be from Hyperborean.

Hyperborean - A wizarding kingdom buried in eternal winter, the beginning of the end.

Ashlee also looked at her quietly.

She knew that Lunicia was a caged bird from the Glorious God Court, a canary that had left the cage for the first time. She was cute, casual, ignorant, and had a bit of the nobility and dignity that belonged to a holy warrior.

She didn't know where the girl in front of her came from.

If you look closely at her seemingly smooth body, you can find faint scars everywhere. Under the effects of potions and magic, most of those scars have become faint and hard to see, and only a few can be seen at a glance. For example, the cuts on her wrists, and some difficult-to-heal burns. The girl carefully hid them, shielding them under armor and ornaments, as if she didn't want to be exposed to the sight of others besides Lunicia.

However, these are just appearances.

Ashlee saw it clearly - beneath the seemingly intact skin, there were circles of horrific scars. Even though they had healed, they still left indelible marks inside the body. The girl named Ella Hepper, who was known as a slave, had almost no intact skin on her body.

She didn't say much.

The pure white mechanical doll understood that Ella didn't want Lunicia to know this.

Unless her savior asked so, in which case she would tell it all.

And before that, she wouldn't say anything.

The Lamb is silent.

"Yes... Indeed, Grand Duke Ivanov is now at war with 'Legacy of Natya'." Lunisia nodded. "It seems that they don't want 'Legacy of Natya' to get more supplies?"

"Gather the villagers together to form a large temporary settlement for unified defense, or simply gather all the villagers together in the main city of Twick..."

"the latter."

Facing the north wind, Ashetherin stood high up in the ruins.

The howling winter wind mixed with flying snow blew up Ashlee's long, smooth black hair, which floated like drops of ink in a river. Her light white gauze also turned into petals of snow lotus, reflecting the strange body that was half human and half mechanical. She closed her eyes and listened, as if someone was calling out from the other side, calling out her name.

She walked slowly down the rocky slope, the black iron soles of her feet rubbing gently against the stones, making a pleasant sound.

"The breath of the living is gathering together."

"One place?"

Lunicia took out a map of the Marie region from her waist bag and spread it out on the ground.

"here."

Ashtherin placed a hand on her back, bent down, and used her other finger to point inside Twek's walls.

Ella's brows twitched involuntarily.

"This is going to be troublesome."

As if she hadn't noticed the two women's little movements, Lunisia rolled up the map and stuffed it back into her waist bag. Lunisia wasn't good at reading people's expressions, and besides, Ashethelyn herself had no self-awareness, and Ella was very well hidden, so it was too difficult for Lunisia to read their minds.

"Let's continue along the official road and see if we can find a village that hasn't been evacuated yet?"

"There is no difference between the nearby villages. There are no people, no birds singing, the same north wind, the same white snow."

"They've all been evacuated... I guess we can only go directly to Twek."

"This is not realistic, my savior."

Ella shook her head slightly.

"As the defender of the city, Tweck will never open the city gate for the three of us."

As the defenders of Twek, who defended the city with the magnificent "Erumu Wall" as their core, they would not easily open the city gate, even if the other party was not "Natya's Legacy" but just three travelers seeking a place to stay. Compared with the bad consequences that may arise from the action, it is of course a more cost-effective choice for the defenders to directly and simply prevent such a situation from happening.

Anyway, they are not the ones who died, right?

"So my name is Lunicia." Lunicia has lost count of how many times she has said this. "Then we can only look for supplies along the way, but now it seems we can only rely on luck."

"That's not the case."

Ella took two steps closer.

"I can, Lord Savior."

"You can call me Luna... er, what can I do?"

"supply."

"Supply you mean?"

"It should be the water-making technique and the meal-making technique."

Ashlee tilted her head.

"Yes, as a mage—"

"The spells of making water and making food were removed from the magic network during the second major update. Now, except for paladins who can make food and druids who can make water and plant god berries, other spellcasters can no longer use the spells of making food and making water."

Ashlee's head tilted from left to right again, and she seemed confused as to why Ella would make such a fundamental mistake. Ella was choked by this sudden explanation and could only swallow the second half of the sentence from her throat again.

It is said that a long, long time ago, mages could also use the Make Water and Make Meals spells. The reason why Make Water was removed from the Magic Net is unknown, but Make Meals is said to be due to the fact that a large number of mages used their share of the Magic Net to eat, and through continuous improvements to this spell, the ability of Make Meals has gradually increased from making water and unleavened bread to being able to make sea and land meals, and it can even be done without a hyperloop, which meaninglessly improved the Magic Net review - for this reason, Make Meals was eventually completely removed from the Magic Net, and no applications for re-writing will be accepted in the future.

Lunicia raised her right hand: "I don't know how to make food yet."

"Well, Luna doesn't know how to create a meal."

Ashlee nodded seriously.

Although Lunicia's swordsmanship was outstanding among the younger generation of paladins, her ability as a paladin was not that strong. For some reason, she was unable to make further progress in divine arts and reach the threshold of being able to use higher-level divine arts. Coincidentally, the art of making meals was one of those "higher-level divine arts".

Perhaps it was due to the bottleneck that a bird in a cage would inevitably encounter, or perhaps it was because of the miraculous experience of coming back to life, no matter what, Lunicia felt that she was finally able to take the last step and become a more powerful White Knight.

Of course, that’s all later. Anyway, Lunisia cannot make unleavened bread now.

"...So, I am a Hyperborean wizard." Ella finally spoke again, as if she had finally caught her breath, "Not an ordinary wizard."

"Yes, Master Hyperion."

Neither Lunicia nor Ashethelyn seemed to have any idea what she was talking about.

"A wizard from Hyperborean... that is, a wizard from the Mystic School."

"I haven't heard of it." "There is no corresponding information in the database."

This extremely discouraging reaction almost made Ella feel like she was suffocating. Of course, she quickly calmed herself down. After all, the two people in front of her had the same cute face, and one of them was the most important person in her life. It was not appropriate for her to lose her temper no matter what.

So she could only get angry with herself in her heart, alas.

Chapter 3: Can the Secret Codex Mage Survive in the Wilderness?

Traditional wizards, who take the magic network as their core, can generally be divided into eight schools: protection, prophecy, change, enchantment, illusion, evocation, necromancy, and incantation.

The School of Protection emphasizes containment, expulsion, and protection. Magicians of this school are best at opening barriers, expelling evil spirits, and closing gaps between planes, and are often given the reputation of guardians. The School of Prophecy is dedicated to seeing into the past, present, and future. They have extraordinary talents for foresight and numerous secrets, which makes them seem mysterious.

The School of Transmutation studies spells that rewrite matter and energy. In their eyes, the world is not a static thing. They explore the most fundamental elements of the world, both out of interest and academic needs. The School of Enchantment is the home of hypnotists. They interfere with the mind through magic. The good ones make people put down their swords, while the evil ones take pleasure in enslaving others.

The School of Illusion uses sophisticated secret methods to create illusions, disrupt and confuse other people's senses, and deceive fools and wise men. Most jugglers and deceivers come from this. The School of Evolution focuses on using magic to give elements form. Ice, fire, thunder, and corrosive acid are all their playthings. They are often hired by the military to become gunners who wield magic.

The School of Necromancer focuses on studying the secrets between life, death, and undeath, and is obsessed with the power imprinted in the origin of life and tries to master it. Due to the close relationship between the School of Necromancer and death, people other than the followers of the Goddess of Death often think that they are generally evil, but this is not the case; the School of Conjuration specializes in the technology of creating something out of nothing. They are best at summoning objects and life from the empty air, and have a lot of experience in plane travel, although this technology has long been lost and no one can survive inter-plane travel and long-distance teleportation.

In addition, there are also machinists who are good at using steam mechanisms and various potions, and the elven arcane sword fighter "Swordsong" who has elegant sword skills inherited only in Nolon and Terriati.

However, these are only the schools of mages that are circulated in the two "old roads" of Mu Continent and Atlantis Continent.

In the Eden continent, which was called the "New World" and is now the "Lost World", and in the Hyperborean continent, which was once extremely glorious but now has no trace left, there is a school of wizards. Those wizards control numerous forces, use unheard-of powers, and summon unrivaled mechanical deities from the other side of the sky. The "Secret Codex School" is a school that uses magic books to exchange for forbidden knowledge.

The magic book is their life, the magic book is everything to them, and the knowledge in the magic book is the foundation of their survival.

"Strange knowledge increases."

"There is such a wizard... What is Ella's spellbook? Can I take a look?"

Lunicia seemed to be quite interested in this unprecedented school of magic. She circled around Ella's body left and right. Fortunately, this female knight who claimed to be somewhat reserved managed to restrain herself. She just let her eyes wander up and down and did not end up touching her.

This did not make Ella feel uncomfortable. She just blushed and took out a hardcover book from her waist bag with trembling palms.

It was a plain-looking booklet, with a cover made of some kind of processed leather, giving off a cool and beautiful luster, and surrounded by silver lycoris and baby's breath embossed borders. At first glance, it looked ordinary, but one could feel a subtle beauty hidden in its simplicity. Just looking at this booklet, Lunicia seemed to see the gentle face of the pink-haired girl.

——It is truly her magic book.

Both she and her books are secretive.

She casually opened the booklet, revealing the slightly yellowish papers inside. These were indeed top-quality papers. Even through a layer of nails, just by hearing the sound of the pages rubbing against each other, Lunicia felt that these papers were of extraordinary value.

She did not hesitate to test its strength with her fingers. Even so, she could feel that these pages would not be damaged by simple tearing - since it was a magic book, if she wanted to destroy it, she would probably have to use extraordinary means.

The catalog page was temporarily blank, perhaps even the writer had not figured out how to fill it out, and the subsequent papers were filled with text, but that kind of text was like a heavenly book to Lunicia. Not to mention understanding it, even just staring at it for a long time would make her feel dizzy, and a vague feeling of swelling lingered in her nerves.

"Ella, this?"

"This is the 'End of the North'." Ella Heper smiled faintly. "It is the language that once circulated in the Kingdom of Hyperborea. It is often used by secret codex mages to write their own magic books."

"write."

Ashatherine tilted her head and repeated what Ella had said.

"The magic book is not a ready-made thing?"

Ella glanced at her quietly and replied, "Only a small number of secret code mages can dig up ancient magic books or inherit the legacy passed down from their teachers. For most secret code mages, magic books are written by themselves and grow with them. As the level of the secret code mages themselves improves, the power of the magic books will also increase, and eventually become legendary."

Lunicia flipped through a few more pages, but unable to escape the irresistible feeling of dizziness, she closed the book again.

"Ella's teacher didn't leave behind a magic book? But what is written in the magic book?"

"Master's spellbook has been lost, so I need to write a spellbook from scratch." Ella paused and continued, "A spellbook is a medium for memory and knowledge. In addition to excerpts of spells inherent to other professions, the rest are words that can carry memories and knowledge in the mind of the writer. Their form is not important, as long as it conforms to the impression in the mind of the secret mage himself."

"So, for Ella..."

"It's a diary."

Ella's smile became brighter, as if she was happy that Lunicia was willing to know more about her.

"It doesn't have a name yet, but it's my diary. If the Savior wants to know the contents, I can translate it for you—"

"Uh, no, this..."

Lunicia's expression changed, and she looked a little abrupt and embarrassed. She quickly handed the booklet back to its original owner.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know this was a diary."

Ella was stunned for a moment, but she didn't refuse. She took the magic book from Lunicia and put it back in her waist bag. She didn't seem to understand why Lunicia would refuse this.

"Although I think normal people probably don't keep diaries, I don't have a hobby of prying into other people's privacy."

"To the Savior, I have no privacy. Everything is known to the Savior as long as he wants to know. There is no reason or need to keep it secret. Everything I have belongs to the Savior..."

Having said that, Ella's eyes couldn't help but drift off into the unknown distance, with a suspicious blush on her face.

"So my name is Lunicia, you can also call me Luna."

Lunicia didn't seem to notice it at all, just covering her face in annoyance. Ashlee still tilted her head, looking confused, and was probably completely out of her element from the beginning.

"In short, we should consider the issue of supplies first."

"The spells in the magic book include the spells of copying divine berries, making meals, and making water. I can provide food and water if needed."

As Lunicia brought the topic back, Ella finally said what she wanted to say before.

Chapter 4: The Man Holding the Chess Piece

On the three-dimensional sand table, the images formed by the prayers were automatically operating, simulating the formations, actions, and battles of the two opposing sides. The chess pieces of the Principality of Mariai were painted red, while the Legacy of Natya Restoration Army was painted blue. From the sand table, it can be seen that the Legacy of Natya Restoration Army, which is much smaller than the Principality of Mariai Army, is now in a stalemate with their opponents.

"This in itself is enough to show that the Marie Principality Army has fallen into a disadvantageous situation."

“The actors are all good actors.”

On the other side of the sand table, opposite to Sylvester, the woman in black was sighing.

"What a shame, what a shame. Their gods don't want them to stay here, so we come here, so we move forward, so the restorationists play the prelude to victory."

She had long black hair cascading down her back. She possessed a proud and tall figure, but she wore men's clothing. Her straight tailcoat was adorned with gold medallions, red ribbons, epaulettes and brooches. In the black tailcoat, one could faintly see patterns, grey grids crisscrossed to form a chessboard or a web that cut through the starry sky. Her tailcoat was so straight, and so were her vest and shirt, her trousers and her leather boots, tightly wrapped around her figure, seeming both a display of publicity and a restraint, restraining the madness hidden in her body.

She is showing off her glory, even if it is fake.

Her skin was extremely pale, just like so many of her sisters.