Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 533 - 532: Feedback

As the heavy iron gate slowly rose under the force of the winch, the majestic Anzu Kingdom opened its doors to the kingdom’s guardian. Under the leaden gray clouds, a procession composed of over ten carriages, along with numerous knights and guards, entered the city.

The carriage wheels rolled over ancient cobblestone paths that had been laid several centuries ago. Slightly loose cobblestone trembled slightly, small stones clattering and creaking between the wheels and the cobblestones, but this creaking sound didn’t last long before it was drowned out by the sudden flute and drum music played by musicians in the procession.

Victoria slightly opened the panel on one side of the carriage. Through the narrow gap, she saw the empty streets outside—a heavy snowfall had just visited St. Soniel recently, blanketing the entire city. On this frigid day, even the residents of the royal capital would not casually venture out, let alone this was near the outer city’s impoverished alleys: from the duchess’s view, she could see only snow-covered streets and rooftops, with some areas where the snow had already been shoveled away, but many places still maintained the appearance of fresh snowfall.

In the corner of her view, there was a collapsed house, seemingly crushed by the snow. Naturally, there were no residents in the ruins of the house, and it was unknown where the family that used to live here moved to—or perhaps where they died.

The sound of flutes and drums continued to play, reverberating alone on the desolate street, as if a troupe of clowns were delivering jokes on an empty stage, absurd and bizarre. However, the musicians were not concerned with these: the music they played was not to lure nearby residents out to welcome the aristocratic carriages but to ensure that the soldiers could quickly rearrange their formations upon entering the city, and to alert pedestrians ahead (if there were any), urging them to make way.

Therefore, it didn’t matter if anyone responded.

The panel of the carriage was closed.

The convoy passed through the southern city’s impoverished district, through the central city where citizens lived, continuing toward Silver Castle. After crossing Iron Cross Street, the monotonous drum sounds from outside finally ceased, and more voices began to emerge from all directions.

The convoy entered the inner city where upper-class citizens and minor nobles resided—crossing that street, a hint of the kingdom’s capital’s prosperity finally appeared here.

On the wide streets, the snow had already been cleared away. The affluent citizens and minor nobles, dressed in brightly colored warm winter clothing, had long heard the sounds from the central city. They ran out from their homes to line the streets welcoming the convoy. The cold northern wind and the snowflakes swirling in the wind could not dampen their enthusiasm. They craned their necks to watch the carriages adorned with the Wilder Clan, royal, and Holy Light emblems pass by, cheering and praising as winter flowers catalyzed by magic and colorful silk ribbons were thrown into the air, falling like a multicolored shower. Those who threw flowers and silk hoped the front carriage would open its window, allowing the person inside to greet them—a rare opportunity for the ordinary wealthy citizens and minor nobles to catch a glimpse of the Northern Duchess and Saint Princess who usually resided in the castle and cathedral.

However, today’s situation was different from usual. Amidst the crowd’s eager anticipation, not a single carriage opened its panel. The entire convoy maintained its speed, passing through the crowd, through the street outside Silver Castle, and into the distant castle...

Dressed in a white skirt, Duchess Victoria led her maids and attendants through the courtyard and main castle corridor of Silver Castle, reaching the castle’s upper study. Duke Baldwin Franklin of the West was wearing a warm, comfortable silk robe, sitting in a recliner by the fireplace, engrossed in reading a thick book. Upon seeing the duchess suddenly appear, this Duke of the West was slightly startled but quickly got up to greet her: "Ah, Duke Victoria Wilder—please forgive me for not welcoming you in the long hall. The allure of this book is simply too great."

Victoria’s gaze swept across Duke Baldwin’s hand holding the book, seeing the title embossed in gold: "History of Currency Evolution and Trade Routes in Northern Continent."

The Franklin clan was known as "Anzu’s purse" due to its proximity to the diverse, trade-rich tribal country of Augari. Generations of Dukes of the West were adept in business, with Baldwin Franklin being an outstanding figure among them. Naturally, his favorite books were from this field.

At this moment, Victoria couldn’t help but sigh upon seeing this book: "Perhaps it would have been better for you to undertake this southern journey."

"Oh?" Baldwin Franklin raised his eyebrows in curiosity: "It seems the journey wasn’t smooth? Did our founding hero trouble you?"

"No, everything went smoothly; Duke Gawain Cecil was cordial and friendly. We even concluded a big business deal—that’s why I said it should have been you."

The duchess’s tone seemed calm as usual, but to Baldwin, who had known her for a long time, he could detect an elusive trace of agitation in the eyes of this "Ice Lady." He placed the book aside, his expression becoming serious: "What did you see in the southern borders?"

"... A place better than St. Soniel," Victoria carefully weighed her words, taking a long time to speak them, then shook her head. "I’ll tell you in detail about the situation in the southern borders later. Let’s talk about the achievements of this journey first."

Baldwin Franklin listened intently to Victoria’s account, with his brows occasionally furrowing or relaxing. His fingers absent-mindedly caressed a ruby ring on his left hand, even though the duchess merely recounted the outcomes of negotiations from the southern borders trip. He could sense from her phrasing the enormous impact this "Northern Queen" experienced upon witnessing the mysterious southern land.

This surprised and intrigued him—there were indeed things in the world capable of unsettling the ice-like lady to such an extent.

"So, Duke Cecil implicitly accepted Prince Wales’s coronation and won’t openly support the Duke of the East... and he also indicated he wouldn’t activate the emergency inheritance from seven centuries ago," once Victoria’s account concluded, Duke Baldwin commented slowly, "That’s better than we expected."

"Indeed," Victoria nodded, "Besides, he agreed to provide the kingdom’s military with paid military aid—if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed that Beyonder gears could actually be mass-produced."

Baldwin showed great interest: "What kind of equipment is it? Do you have samples I can see?"

"He gifted me a sword, several sets of armor, and other weapons as samples," Victoria said, turning to the attendant at the door, "Bring the items in."

A heavy crate was brought into the room, and samples of magic armor, Melting Sword, Crystal Grenade, and Scorching Ray emitter were presented before Duke Baldwin.

"... Certainly exquisite weapons." Baldwin Franklin marveled at the machine-manufactured armaments and examined a Melting Sword closely. Following Victoria’s guidance, he activated the sword’s magic mechanisms. Accompanied by a low hum, the blade with a thin layer of purple steel coating was immediately enveloped in a scorching magical field.

"Oh, incredible..." Duke Baldwin’s eyes widened slightly before he quickly furrowed his brow, "Its internal magic flow has defects."

Victoria nodded: "Indeed, as I said, its magic mechanisms are quite fragile—according to Duke Cecil, this is to save costs."

Duke Wilder shut down the magic mechanism, and as the blade gradually cooled, his mind also cooled from the curiosity of seeing something new. After a brief contemplation, he looked at the Duchess: "You just said that replacing each magic mechanism requires a gold coin?"

"That’s right."

"...Besides this weapon called the Melting Sword, are the magic cores of other equipment also in need of frequent replacement?"

"Indeed," Victoria nodded, speaking before Baldwin could, "No need for you to remind me—I am aware that this will be costly, though individual magic cores are inexpensive, their consumption will be significant."

Baldwin quietly looked at Victoria for a moment, then slowly shook his head: "No, Duchess Wilder, you don’t understand—you have underestimated the extent of ’costly’. In fact, the cost of replacing the magic cores is the true expense of this deal. Compared to it, the prices of these swords and armor are negligible."

"Is it so severe?" A slight surprise finally flickered in Victoria’s eyes.

"Do not doubt my business acumen," Baldwin Franklin said, letting out a deep sigh, "but do not be disheartened by the facts I have stated—we are facing an overt plot, we have no choice, Duke Cecil has calculated this point in offering these terms—even if I were present, I would have to accept it all. And even with such high costs, these weapons and equipment... are still worth the price."

"Worth the price..." Victoria observed Baldwin Duke’s helpless expression, her expression calming down again, "In any case, let’s first gather the mages and scholars, begin attempting to replicate these weapons, dismantle their magic mechanisms, and figure out how these things operate."

"Of course, we must figure these things out," Baldwin said solemnly, with some wistful emotion in his tone, "It’s really... been a lesson, business can be done this way?"

"I fear we have more lessons to learn this time," Victoria glanced at the Duke of the West, who was lost in thought, with a somewhat complex tone, "After observing the living ways of the Cecil Clan, I realized one thing: in these seven hundred years of peace, Anzu probably has not progressed at all—compared to our ancestors, we have fallen too far behind."

"Oh?" Baldwin’s pitch rose, showing curiosity, "Tell me more about it..."

Victoria pondered for a moment, organizing her words: "Let’s start with their administrative office..."

...

"The business of the Cecil Clan is extremely advanced. What we saw at the Kode Trading Company is just a small part of their commercial wisdom," Belk Loren stood in the long hall of Sorinburg, speaking to his father and Prince Edmund about what he had discovered in the southern borders, "I managed to contact a large number of merchants there, and also approached their ’administrative office’ as a merchant, encountering their numerous approval and management processes. I found that they have an extremely tight commercial monitoring system—its tightness is shocking, which is completely different from the impression we had after initially hearing about the various new commercial policies of the Cecil Principality."

Silas Loren listened to his son’s report while his gaze occasionally fell on Prince Edmund, sitting in the high seat—this young prince had long shed all immaturity, dressed in black steel light armor, a wolfskin cloak draped over his shoulders. His face had less youth and more experience, sitting upright in the castle’s main seat, listening to Belk’s report with full concentration, occasionally displaying thoughtful expressions.

Below the steps of the seat, Belk Loren continued his exposition: "Their business is indeed open, but it is an openness under precise control, which explains why their guilds and emerging ’companies’ can operate with such high efficiency while rarely making mistakes...

"Under the operation of ’factories’, Cecil’s material output is astonishingly high, with many things available for sale as commodities, which has given rise to many merchants specializing in wholesale and transport of bulk goods. These merchants transport goods in large quantities to distant places...

"Duke Cecil has built numerous roads, connecting all major cities and raw material sources, synergizing with canals. They have a new magic device called the Magic-guided Vehicle, an automatically running mechanical vehicle...

"To manage such a large and complex system, their administrative office is divided into multiple departments, with each department having clear responsibilities and corresponding regulatory measures, everyone is under supervision, everyone is responsible for supervising others, and everyone has clear work and assessment standards—though loopholes may still exist, their administrative office has reached a level of efficiency and management ability that is astounding; I have transcribed their department list and all visible rules and regulations..."

"It seems the five-year mining rights at the White Sand Dunes have not been wasted," Prince Edmund suddenly said from the main seat, "We have finally seen something useful."

"Your Highness," Silas Loren stood up and said, "The ideas behind your previous new policies do not seem wrong—Duke Cecil just went a step further in this direction, and his experiences are of significant importance to us."

"Indeed," Prince Edmund nodded, his expression exceptionally serious, "These experiences will make us stronger, and we must become strong quickly, for our time... is limited."

Indeed, time is running out.

In the main hall of the castle, everyone understood the deeper meaning of Prince Edmund’s words.

The watchful Typhon Empire... the time left for the Anzu people is running out.

(Requesting for a monthly ticket!!)