Secret: The years I served as a foreign aid for the Aurora Club

Chapter 281 The Footsteps of War

576
"Dear Audrey..."

In the dim room, Alfred wrote the first sentence and nothing more happened.

He stared at his sister's name for a long time. The light from the oil lamp, which was the size of a grain of rice, could not even fully illuminate his desk. The whole room was pitch black, just like his mood in recent days.

"I have experienced some battles in the southern continent. I was lucky. The worst injury I suffered only forced me to lie down for a week. I did not lose body parts or my life like other soldiers."

"Thanks to my status and rank, the bigwigs in the army treat me better. I also have my own room, my own table, chair and bed, as well as paper and pen, so I can write to you in my free time."

Alfred wrote in the sand. Outside the room separated by a wooden door, there were faint snoring and soft crying sounds in the corridor and everywhere, and some people were calling out to their most important relatives in their dreams.

The military garrison accommodation capacity of the city of Berens is limited, and the walls here are completely unable to soundproof. These chaotic sounds float in Alfred's ears, like countless resentful spirits and ghosts wandering and whispering here, always waking him up from nightmares in the middle of the night.

He shook his head, holding back the many words he wanted to say, and then let out a long breath, as if this could get rid of the uneasiness and negative emotions in his heart.

"Dear Audrey, how have you been recently? You should have returned to Backlund. Is the fog there still that severe? Haha, the new year's social season has begun, and our Miss Hall is still the most beautiful and shining gem in Backlund."

The tip of the pen brushed across the rough letter paper.

"There are always some interesting things happening in the army. In my team, there is a new recruit who has just won an honor. A cargo ship left the port earlier, and he wanted to send something to his fiancée who was far away in Jianhai County, but he didn't know what to send. In the end, he actually sent the finger bone of an enemy he killed with his own hands as a souvenir in an envelope... I hope that girl can understand her fiancée's behavior."

Alfred dipped the ink and his frown relaxed slightly.

He wanted to write about a new form of entertainment that was spreading among the lower-level soldiers - seeing whose cookies ran faster, but the principle behind this game was probably not suitable to be explained to a simple girl, and it would even make her worry, so Alfred gave up.

"...You may find it hard to imagine how many times people in the southern continent add spices when cooking, and how many kinds of spices they use...I have to say that they have made great achievements in seasoning, but I think that food with so many spices cannot be unpalatable."

"Audrey, you know what? After all these battles, I have never been so eager to see you, to see my father, mother and your face, to hear your voice. I miss you so much... It is no exaggeration to say that even if I see Hibbert now, I would take the initiative to greet him and give him a hug."

Compared to the enemies and terror he faced, his elder brother, who was just a little narrow-minded, looked kind and benevolent.

call--

Alfred exhaled deeply again, pinched the bridge of his nose, and rubbed his temple.

He wanted to write something else, after all, the opportunity to deliver a letter was rare.

So he carefully folded the unfinished letter and kept it close to his body, and put aside the fragile emotions that longed for warmth and soft comfort, so that he could focus on the present again.

Just then, he suddenly smelled a strange smell.

"Is someone secretly smoking again?"

Alfred stood up immediately. There were many wooden structures in this small building. Every room and even every corner was packed with people. To secretly smoke and use open flames in such a closed, high-density environment was simply like not wanting to die fast enough!
But as soon as he opened the door, he knew that his judgment was wrong - the world in front of him quickly became distorted, the huge noise made him temporarily deaf, and all the sounds seemed to be extremely far away in an instant.

The floor beneath my feet crumbled away, sending showers of dust and flames cascading down.

"Enemy attack!!"

A slab of stone fell, crushing the soldier at his feet. He stood on the collapsing building and roared at the top of his voice:
"Enemy attack!!!"

Alfred couldn't hear the sound clearly, and could only guess that he had indeed shouted out.

There were several continuous huge tremors, as if dozens of giant artillery pieces were moving together outside the city of Berens. In just a moment, the flames broke through the air, and dozens of fireballs cut through the dark night and smashed into the city like meteors!

The flames rose almost instantly, setting the wooden house on fire and sending burning debris flying in all directions.

Those meteors were burning stones, leaving only a deep pit or a sizzling blur of flesh and blood wherever they hit.

Those low and closely connected houses were the best fuel. In a blink of an eye, they turned the quiet city streets in the dark into a blazing bonfire. Thick smoke poured out from the gaps between the wood, covering the space of dozens of meters in radius with the help of the wind, and continued to spread.

"No fire is allowed to spread here!"

One ear began to recover hearing, and the other ear had a long ringing in the ears. Alfred quickly left the ruins of the collapsed building, stumbled towards the smoke and flames - rescuing the wounded was not his job - and shouted:
"No smoke allowed here!"

His numb limbs gradually returned to normal. He touched the place where the letter was placed in his arms, and his expression became more solemn than ever.

The fire, smoke and burning objects around him seemed to have life and avoided him. In the area covered by the decree, the fire gradually weakened, but the artillery outside the city did not stop. The speed at which he put out the fire was far less than the speed at which the fire spread!

Half of the buildings in Berens were supported by wood. At this time, countless firewood and human bodies were piled up and burned around the city. Thick black smoke rose into the sky, as if a black curtain separated every part of the city. Although he could block the suffocating smoke, Alfred could hardly see outside, and he had to endure the pungent smell in the thick smoke. He could only blindly cast laws to keep everything around him away.

At this moment, he suddenly felt as if there was something extra around him, and someone seemed to be spying on him in the shadows.

"No peeking here!"

He roared angrily, and his mind sketched out a picture - a shadow in the corner of the wall behind his left began to wriggle and stand up, as if a person was squeezed out of the shadow, and then immediately used another shadow to jump and left!
There was another series of loud noises, and Alfred suddenly felt cold all over. He looked up and saw dozens of huge fireballs rushing towards various parts of the city. One of them was actually facing him, engulfing him and the houses around him!
The scorching heat wave seemed to be blowing towards him. Alfred had seen many storms, but at this moment he was still gripped by the great fear. Even though his mind shouted "Run! Run!", his legs were still as if they were filled with lead and he could hardly move. The distance between him and the fireball was rapidly closing. Just when he was about to make a desperate attempt with the law, an indifferent and majestic voice spread throughout the city -

"This is a place where reality weakens and mystery strengthens."

Snap. As if the candlelight was blown out gently, the fire meteor and the spreading flame suddenly dimmed, and the trajectory of the huge rock that had not yet fallen became erratic, as if it had turned from a stone into a piece of paper. Shadows and spirits began to emerge, and the stars in the sky lit up one after another. A cloud suddenly tilted to one side directly above the city gate in the distance. It turned out to be an airship that had quietly entered the interior of Berens!
With this life-saving decree, Alfred immediately rolled to the side and avoided the burning stones.

"Why hasn't the army been mobilized yet?"

Still in shock, Alfred looked around for his friends.

Only now did he feel the ground shaking slightly in an orderly manner. It should be the garrison starting to move. The reaction speed was so slow that it was shocking. He suddenly remembered: "Yes, Major General Levitt seems to have another mission..."

"These cultists actually chose to attack the city late at night!" Alfred felt the fear creeping up his shoulders belatedly. He sat in the corner of a collapsed house and took a deep breath. Thinking of those meteors, cold sweat gradually covered his forehead and back. "If I hadn't been thinking about writing some letters tonight and hadn't fallen asleep, I would have died in the first wave of attacks..."

He once again reached out and touched the place where the letter was hidden on his body, pointed out the red moon on his chest, and kept praying to the goddess, praying that he would still have such good luck in the next battle and be able to return alive to reunite with his family.

At the same time, he had a premonition that even if he could return alive, these flaming boulders falling from the sky would become a nightmare that would accompany him throughout his life.

After resting for half a minute, Alfred gritted his teeth, stood up, and ran towards his own troops.

……

"Prince Grove has come out."

With the help of the "hermits" in the army, Tang En made a quick judgment. In the airship above, the hunters were still performing extreme operations, trying to make this expensive and limited behemoth land on the ground as smoothly as possible to avoid igniting the anger of the top leaders.

"Warlocks continue to lurk in the city and be ready to withdraw at any time. The siege team maintains the offensive and is on standby at any time."

"Oh, separate a small team and follow the route of the grain transport team tonight to see if we can find that little golden retriever. The fewer soldiers we can lead, the better."

Orders were given one after another in an orderly manner. Tang En stroked his chin with a few stubbles, and laughed as he watched the airship gradually and steadily land under the extreme operation of the hunters.

"Mysterious enhancement? Just what I want."

"Machinery and weapons are just accessories. Wars still have to be fought by people."

If it weren't for the idea of ​​"delaying a little more time to allow countries outside the Southern Continent to ferment public opinion as much as possible", I really wanted to rush over and fight with Prince Grove... Tang En began to daydream with regret.

577
The morning sun shone into the hotel room, and Klein slowly opened his eyes.

Perhaps because what he saw yesterday was too shocking and left him with some psychological trauma, Klein had a strange dream for the first time in a long time. He dreamed of his past life, the newly established Tarot Club, and Melissa, who was heartbroken over the seasoning after cooking for the first time but was obsessed with the delicious food.

These were all reflections in his heart, some of the beautiful memories he had in this world, Klein Moretti and Zhou Mingrui mixed together, they had long been inseparable.

Klein quietly got up, put on his clothes with the help of his secret doll Enzo, and went into the bathroom to wash up.

He had just finished washing up and was about to leave the hotel to find some food when he heard someone knocking on his door.

"Who?"

"It's me." Ms. D's voice.

Klein opened the door and saw that Ms. D looked a little serious. Seeing that her companion seemed to be in a better mood, Ms. D smiled slightly, but her mood was still not relaxed:
"Sir, there was a battle at our destination."

"Just last night, Berens sent a team to attack our food transport team and the wounded, so the saints of the Iron Cross quickly counterattacked. Now Berens is completely shrouded in war. If we go any slower, your mission may fail."

"A fight broke out? So soon."

The other side in the war was Loen, and their side was the camp of the True Creator and the God of Death. In theory, Loen was the country where Klein had lived the longest and had the most feelings for, and his brother and sister also lived there. Klein felt that he should be a little nervous, or feel a little uneasy, and didn't know which side he should help -

But strangely, Klein felt nothing at the moment. He was quite calm and even a little bored.

Fighting?

Oh.

Ms. D also noticed that Klein was a little too calm. She guessed that it might be related to his recent experience. She paused for a moment and asked, "Should we speed up?"

Otherwise, if Berens really loses, where should you send these things? Can you still return to Loen?
Klein thought about it and nodded:
"Yes. Let's move forward as quickly as possible. No matter what, let's finish this matter first."

The purpose of doing this is to gain the favor and connections of the upper class? That does make sense. At least I can try to get them to donate more money, or continue to adjust the bill and do something for the civilians of the Northern Continent... Klein thought about this and regained some spirits, but soon he frowned again. What about the Southern Continent? The policy of colonization will definitely not change...

"Okay." Seeing that he seemed to be immersed in thought, Ms. D took a step back and turned to leave. "I'll go make the arrangements first. See you later."

"See you later."

The Southern Continent probably didn't need his help as a Sequence 5 at the moment, as they already had their own Death God, and the True Creator was on their side. Moreover, Melissa, Benson, "Justice", "Magician" and others were all from Loen, and all lived in Backlund. The brother and sister were even protected by the Church of Evernight.

Perhaps it was because he had not yet openly committed evil or advocated conversion to the true Creator. Being able to return alive from the secret town might be the limit of the goddess's leniency. If he stood on the side of the southern continent again, Klein did not dare to think about it.

"Forget it. I need to think about these things slowly... In this world, only powerful people can have more say."

It was the same in the Old Age, except that power and class were more intuitively replaced by order, church and God...

Klein took a breath, calmed himself down, then closed the door and returned to the bedroom.

Klein took out the corresponding items and quickly set up the ritual to transfer the radio receiver from Sefirah Castle to the real world.

He wants to contact the "Magic Mirror" Arrodes!
He had paid 350 pounds to obtain the spiritual coordinates of Calderon City from Miss "Magician" and was reminded that it was very dangerous there, so he planned to obtain more intelligence from two channels in preparation for the "hunting operation."

The two channels were to ask the "magic mirror" and the "red light" - at Azik's suggestion, Klein decided not to hesitate and actively expand his "network of contacts". At least he couldn't rely on the "Goddess of Night" alone, and he couldn't tie himself too closely to the real creator. He had to find some power to balance it, and the relatively friendly Seven Lights of the Spirit World were the best target at the moment!

With the appearance of the radio receiver, the surrounding jungle suddenly became cold and dark, as if the spiritual world had merged with reality here.

After about ten seconds, a tapping sound was heard, and the illusory white paper shrank back and spit out:
"Great, supreme, and transcendent master, your loyal, humble, and lowly servant Arrodes comes at your call. (v)"

"There's no danger here for now, what do you think?"

Seeing the flattering name, Klein breathed a sigh of relief and finally confirmed that the person connected was the "Magic Mirror" Arrodes.

He was very afraid that words like "I want to give birth to a child for you" would appear on the white paper.

Of course, he had divined the danger of contacting the "magic mirror" Arrodes in the gray fog in advance, and got the answer that there was no problem. But after the successful example of the "Mother Tree of Desire" interfering with his divination and the error in his own interpretation of the revelation behind the Chanis Gate of the Saint Samuel Church, he really didn't dare to be too reassured.

“Indeed.” Klein nodded modestly and asked, “What do you know about Calderon City in the spiritual world?”

Dadada, a piece of illusory white paper hesitantly left the radio receiver:
"I didn't see the city clearly, so I don't know the specific situation inside. I can only confirm that a saint had fallen there, and some angels, 'travelers' and spiritual beings had gone in to explore and left relatively smoothly, but they didn't gain much."

"Also, I know the origin of that city."

Before Klein could ask, the illusory white paper spat out more words with a clattering sound:

"Its former name was 'City of the Dead'. It was the earthly kingdom of the ancient god, Graygari, the ancestor of the Phoenix."

"Ever since this ancient god opened up the underworld, his kingdom has moved there, and the 'City of the Dead' has gradually become a holy place for his descendants and believers."

"Before the ancient god Graygari was severely damaged and shattered by the ancient sun god, she uprooted this city and threw it deep into the spirit world. None of the residents there ever came out again. The name Calderon comes from the Abraham family angel who was the first to enter. It means 'unknown soul' in the language of the dead."

TBC
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Klein: What's the point of thinking so much? Let's think of a way to reach Sequence 4 first.

(End of this chapter)