Heart of the Castle

Chapter 726 An Overly Calm Half Year
Scholar master Sugard tried his best to straighten his body, standing on the prow of the alchemy flying ship, holding the silver alloy guardrail engraved with ancient magic patterns with one hand, and wrapping the scholar's red robe as tightly as possible with the other hand, so as to resist the attack. An icy, strong wind high in the sky.

This alchemy flying ship is a light reconnaissance ship, attached to the [-]rd Air Knight Squadron of the Griffin Knights. It was just completed three months ago in the flying ship port of Greencastle. The two sides of the bow are decorated with bright red glaze. The name of the ship is marked - the Holy Sword Warrior, which can be clearly identified even at a distance of several hundred meters.

Compared with the large alchemy flying ship Rimang, which looks like a fortress in the sky, the Holy Sword Warrior looks nothing at all, even if you count the spikes protruding from the bow full of thunder runes, it is nothing. About 35 meters in length.There are only 20 crew members on the flying boat, including two escorting sky knights.

However, Master Sugad, an old scholar in red robe, is very aware of the advantages of the Holy Sword Warrior. Unlike the Rimang, which uses a large number of precious alchemy materials, most of the materials used to build the Holy Sword Warrior are relatively common: the keel is made of alchemy techniques The price of treated hemlock is at most one-twentieth of that of diamond sandalwood; although the performance of silver alloy is slightly inferior to that of pure mithril, the clever forging techniques completely make up for the gap that may exist.It can be said that to build a alchemy flying ship of the same type as the Rimang, the consumption of various materials is at least a hundred times that of the Holy Sword Warrior, and many of the precious materials are difficult to measure with values ​​​​in the ordinary sense.

In terms of energy consumption, the two are even more incomparable. The Rimang's hull weighing hundreds of tons requires two large magic furnaces to provide floating power, which involves the application of many complicated alchemy principles and techniques, even if it is just a simple one. Taking off also consumes a considerable amount of alchemy energy; while the Holy Sword Warrior uses a relatively cheap hybrid method, a small magic furnace with low energy consumption ensures that the magic shield of the flying ship is enough to resist the fifth ring The degree of continuous magical attack also provides short-distance acceleration power after the start of the battle. Usually, the four propellers at the tail of the hull are used to drive. The cruising speed is at least half slower than that of the Rimang, but the battle begins After that, it can reach almost the same speed.

As for the floating power, the Holy Sword Warrior adopts a design that is far older than the Rimang. A huge hollow circular sphere is suspended above the hull, with a diameter of at least 50 meters. The strong lacquered canvas was used as a material, and it was sewn with more than ten layers. With the help of the magic shield, it was enough to withstand the attack of ordinary storms.The surface of the hollow sphere is covered with a layer of extremely fine metal mesh. Tens of thousands of thin slices etched with the storm divine inscriptions are connected by this layer of metal mesh. Belonging to the divine protection of Pasalis, the Storm Lord.

This huge ball is a device that provides floating power for the Holy Sword Warrior. The bottom of the ball is semi-open, and a magic circle inlaid with hundreds of flame gems hangs directly below the opening. The magic circle operates At that moment, hot air rose from above, pushing the ball almost to its limit.

Even at only half the speed of the Rimang, the speed of the Holy Sword Warrior is much faster than that of a galloping horse at full speed. In addition, it will not encounter any obstacles in the air. It only takes half a day for Dirk City to go to Green Castle, and before that, even if it is to change horses without changing people, it will take at least two days - this is because the vicious beasts in the Dusk Forest have been killed by wolves and Under the premise that the big lynx is cleared.

The watchman's shout came from the brass horn, and then the Holy Sword Warrior adjusted its angle slightly, and the wind blowing on its face became stronger.The old red-robed scholar Master Sujiade sighed somewhat tangled. Although the weather is very clear and sunny, and the season is still on the tail of autumn, the temperature in Northern County has become quite low. People who get up early in the morning often You can see the crystal dew condensed on the wall.

Master Sugard really likes the feeling of staying on the deck of the Holy Sword Warrior, the cool air can help his mind to clear up, and the endless sky can also broaden his mind.Traveling through the sea of ​​clouds and breaking through the strong wind, he suddenly felt a wonderful feeling that he had grown wings and was flying freely above the sky.

However, for an elderly man, the high-altitude temperature was really not friendly, and the sharp wind kept whistling in his ears, as if trying to tear his scholar's robes apart.Master Sugard really didn't want to stay in the cramped and noisy flying boat cabin, but when his knee joints began to protest with soreness, he had no choice but to take a last look at the flawless deep blue crystal-clear Sky, then turned away from the twilight, and pulled a golden chain beside him with his hand.

The crisp and melodious bell rang, even the whistling wind could not be suppressed. A few seconds later, a strong knight pushed open the hatch tightly closed by the wind, and nodded to the old scholar in red robe. , then held out a hand.

"Master Sugard, come in and take shelter from the wind. Would you like a glass of summer red wine with ginger? Or a glass of sweet golden ice wine?" A soft voice came from the cabin door, "The cold wind outside But freeze to death, and if you catch a cold from it, I'd be troubled."

"That's a good thing, Chief Bamilyan, you still know what real enjoyment is." Master Sugard replied, and with the help of the knight, he stepped into the cabin door. The cabin door was closed heavily behind the old scholar, isolating the howling wind Outside, warm yellow light immediately surrounded his body, driving away the chill that almost penetrated into the bone marrow.

In order to use the limited space as much as possible, the cabins on all airships are always very narrow, even large airships like the Rimang are no exception.However, the manager of Bamilian brought a set of special folding tables and chairs ingeniously. This set of seats can be folded into a one-meter-square wooden box when it is carried, and it can be put into the cabin of the Holy Sword Warrior when it is opened. among.Bamilian Governor
The head of the palace, Bamilian, was wearing a luxurious and thick robe. The fine silk and fur were delicately combined to wrap his slightly obese body tightly.Seeing Master Sujiad approaching, the eunuch stood up to greet him, and then pointed to a small wooden barrel beside the table. "Master Sugard, you are really blessed. This is a fine wine that was personally presented to me by President Conrad of the Dirk City Wine Merchants Union. According to him, it is carefully brewed with the best grapes that have been naturally dehydrated after being frosted. It is so sweet Once you take a sip, you will never forget it.”

Master Sugard looked at the small wooden barrel with expert eyes, especially paying attention to the pattern of grape bunches branded on the wall of the barrel and the string of numbers below, "This is indeed the collection of the Conrad family, a rare wine among wines , just such a small barrel may be worth hundreds of gold coins."

"Oh, you are really an expert." The manager of Bamilian took out a small hammer with a smile on his face, and knocked off the cover on the wooden barrel neatly, "The most perfect thing is to wait for it to breathe a little, Master Sugard , shall we have some ginger ale first?"

Master Sugard did not refuse the eunuch to fill him with rich foamy brown ale, but he refused the golden liquor poured from the barrel. "Wine is good wine, but I don't want to just drink it down." The old scholar smiled and fiddled with the wine glass in front of him, "President Conrad of the Wine Merchant Alliance... After the investigation by Sleepless Eyes, now Is there any problem with him?"

"You are really too cautious, Master Sujiad." The eunuch shook his head and laughed, then shrugged his shoulders and said, "In the past six months, more than two eyeliners have been monitoring the Wine Merchants Alliance. It is impossible for President Conrad to have no connection with the Second Eastern County, because businessmen are people whose interests are paramount, but at least my eyeliners have not found any evidence of him engaging in activities other than business transactions."

"'Not found' does not prove 'non-existent'." Master Sugad slowly raised his eyes, and a sharp light flashed in his eyes, "Don't forget that this person once tried to poison His Excellency the Regent with the Aura Moon Essence."

"The bloody dagger of the Thieves Guild was also involved in the poisoned wine incident, so even I can't get rid of it." Bamilyan, the palace chief, smiled slightly, "But thanks to the kindness of the regent, it has been declared Forgive all these things."

"This is exactly what I am dissatisfied with Your Excellency the Regent." Master Sugard shook his head with a disapproving expression, "Being kind is a good thing, but the candidates must be strictly selected, President Conrad of the Wine Merchants Alliance This man... I can't trust him."

"Sleepless Eyes will continue to pay attention to his every move." The eunuch promised sincerely, "If poor President Conrad does anything against His Excellency the Regent, he will find that even a hundred barrels Golden ice wine, and don't expect any forgiveness from the blood dagger."

Hearing the murderous intent contained in the tone of Chief Bamilian, Master Sugard nodded in satisfaction, and then drank the ginger ale in front of him. The taste of the ale was very mellow, and it was almost thick enough to chew At the end, a spicy taste from ginger adds to the flavor. "This ale tastes really good. I don't think it's inferior to that barrel of wine, isn't it?"

"Of course, you can't taste such mellow ale anywhere except Papa Ruhr Winery in Zabotin Town." The manager of Bamilian shook the cup in his hand and replied softly with a mysterious expression, "This is A good brew made from oats that contain the power of the earth."

(End of this chapter)