Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 787 - 786: Little Patty of Gran Territory

Even though winter hasn’t ended yet and the cold wind still blows occasionally outside, the sunlight these days is exceptionally bright.

On clear days, Patty’s favorite thing to do is to stay where the sunshine can reach, listening to the maid tell her stories, or watching those interesting shows on the Magic Web, in a rare sense of physical relief.

There’s a lot of interesting things on the Magic Web, stories from afar, unheard-of knowledge, and magical inventions, and recently, the clever people of Cecil Castle have created something called "Magic Shadow Drama."

It’s a play performed on the Magic Web Terminal, and more and more people have been talking about it lately.

Patty has never been to the theater — just when she was old enough to go with her parents, she lost the chance for outings, but she has seen plays; her mother once invited the best theater troupe nearby to perform a classic comedy in the castle, although Patty can no longer remember what the play was about.

She didn’t manage to see even one act finished before being escorted to the doctor by the maid and the butler.

But simply from those fragmented childhood memories, she still feels that the play she saw back then was nowhere near as interesting as the "Magic Shadow Drama" on the Magic Web Terminal.

The sunlight quietly spills into the room, sketching a warm and bright area, and Patty happily sits in her little wheelchair, watching the Magic Web Terminal in front of her without blinking. In the holographic projection above the terminal, immigrants who have endured hardships are finally arriving safely at the southern port, supporting each other as they disembark, while port staff in sheriff uniforms maintain order.

This is her third time seeing this scene.

The personal maid stands quietly beside, her gentle natured face smiling as she watches the scene before her. When the image of the Miss Witch appears on the screen, she hears the little Miss’s excited voice: "Miss Witch lives in Cecil Castle, doesn’t she? Does she really welcome travelers at the port?"

"It’s just a performance, Miss Patty," the maid bends slightly, smiling as she says, "but Miss Witch does live in Cecil Castle."

"That’s wonderful..." Patty can’t help but sigh softly, "I want to go to Cecil Castle and see it too..."

"Perhaps when your health improves, there will be a chance," the maid said gently.

"...I’d rather not, Mom would worry," Patty lightly shakes her head, then turns her attention back to the Magic Shadow Drama, "Is everyone watching this? Will there be new Magic Shadow Dramas?"

"Yes, everyone is watching; the lady has screened it three times in the castle, and everyone there has seen it. More and more people outside the castle are watching it too, and many have seen it more than once. As for whether there will be new Magic Shadow Dramas... I don’t know, but there should be."

"That’s great..." Patty sighs again, "Do you like watching it too? Do you like that knight?"

The personal maid thought for a moment, then nodded with a smile: "That knight? Of course, many people like him, I like him too, but my favorite is that textile worker..."

"Why?"

"Because I have an older sister who is a textile worker," the maid said, "She works in a factory now."

The maid answered patiently, but the little girl’s questions had not yet ceased: "Are mechanical ships really that big? Can people really live on them for one or two months? Is it really that cold outside the castle? Why didn’t the leader at the beginning share the coal with those who were freezing? He already has so much coal... Do people really catch rats to eat when they’re very hungry? Do they still do that now? Why did that knight run when he saw the sheriff after disembarking? He’s clearly a good person..."

The maid looked at the girl on the wheelchair, half amused, half exasperated. She had answered some of these questions more than once.

But she bent down again, patiently explaining from the beginning.

...

In the long hall of Gran Castle, the high-cheekboned, tall, and once again partially restored to her old elegance, Viscountess Gran stood before the steps, welcoming Gawain and his party who came to visit.

When Duke Gawain became His Majesty Gawain, this simple visit took on extraordinary significance, although His Majesty’s new policy has always advocated for simplifying ceremonial norms and reducing ceremonial expenses, but as a well-educated aristocratic lady, Ropney Gran still strives to be proper and meticulous within the permissible range of the policy.

"Greetings to you, my supreme Majesty," the Viscountess lifted her skirt and bowed, while the attendants and knights in the castle stood neatly on either side of the long carpet, as if two rows of sculpted statues, "You bring glory to this castle."

"There’s no need for so much fuss — the last time I visited, the ceremonies were much simpler," Gawain responded with a smile, a light-hearted tone, "Let’s just treat it as a friend’s visit."

"I am honored — but necessary etiquette must be observed," Viscountess Ropney straightened up, a sincere smile appearing on her once always tense face, "A room has been arranged for your attendants to rest, and dinner is also prepared — of course, fully compliant with the requirements of the Administrative Office."

"That’s good, thank you for arranging it," Gawain nodded, "Is Patty in the room?"

"She is, she should be watching a Magic Shadow Drama right now, with her maid accompanying her," the Viscountess replied, "Do you want to see her first? I can send someone..."

"No, her health isn’t good, I’ll go to her," Gawain interrupted the Viscountess, smiling, "She hasn’t seen her ’Uncle Gawain’ in a long time, I wonder if my visit today would be a surprise for her."

"Of course, she has mentioned you more than once recently," the Viscountess said with a smile at the corner of her eyes, "She very much hopes you can continue telling her those stories."

Gawain was silent for less than a second before softly saying, "Is that so... that’s really good."

...

In the psychic network, dream city, inside the Central Temple.

In the gilded and splendid conference hall, the Archbishops gathered around a round table intricately designed with many mysterious symbols (decorative lighting effects). Pope Megal III, manifesting as an amorphous starlight polymer, hovered mid-air in the center of the hall, exuding a solemn atmosphere as a pivotal meeting was underway.

"...This is the entire course of the exploration," Archbishop Yuri’s voice echoed in the hall, while before him, memory projections reconstructed through psychic power displayed key scenes from the Illusion Town, "The bizarre nature and psychological symbolism of Illusion Town need not be elaborated; presumably, all of you have conducted extensive research in these areas. This time, our main focus should be on the ’Supreme Narrator’ priest’s possession of ’Divine Arts’.

"Currently, we can at least confirm one thing: the ’Divine Arts’ cast by that projection priest can indeed take effect in the Illusion Town, effectively attacking the intellect of us ’people of reality’. This is already proof that the Supreme Narrator’s powers are evolving and nearing the divine.

"The ’God Descending Technique’ cast by the projection priest failed to succeed, although the most likely reason is his ’projected nature’ preventing him from releasing such high-grade divine arts, or it may be due to the separation between Illusion Town and Sandbox One. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that the Supreme Narrator within Sandbox One has not fully formed or that unexpected circumstances have arisen..."

The starlight polymer above the hall expanded and contracted as Megal III’s voice entered the mind of everyone present: "Archbishop Yuri, Archbishop Magnan, you both nearly suffered from the Supreme Narrator’s contamination during mental realignment. Based on your experiences, do you believe the Supreme Narrator has glimpsed into the situation outside the sandbox during this contamination? Has it extended part of its essence into that town?"

"...I don’t believe so, Your Holiness," Yuri paused to think, shaking his head as he spoke, "That type of contamination, though difficult to guard against, essentially remains a projection, and after the contamination failed, it no longer showed any ’initiative’. It likely did not establish a connection with the Supreme Narrator inside Sandbox One."

"The Illusion Town has now completely disappeared," Archbishop Magnan stood up and said, "I subsequently ’washed’ it a few times with mental storms. The subsequent monitoring can confirm that the data area has been thoroughly cleared; theoretically, we need not worry about it anymore."

"The Illusion Town is gone, but Sandbox One remains," a low, hoarse female voice sounded. A woman in a black dress, with striking and mature features, stood up and looked at the pope in mid-air, "Your Holiness, it seems we must take some risks now— the ’monster’ nurtured by Sandbox One has exceeded the danger threshold, and maintaining the current state of the sandbox is no longer very meaningful. We... need to take ’active measures’ with Sandbox One."

Archbishop Magnan glanced at the woman in the black dress, whose ears were sharper and longer than a human’s, revealing mixed elf characteristics— at least, that was her virtual image.

Magnan nodded slightly, "I agree with Archbishop Muyue’s viewpoint. Entering the sandbox to confront and solve the problem is probably the only option now, Your Holiness, Archbishops, we should gather our Psychic Choir and Spirit Knight Corps."

Yuri furrowed his eyebrows tightly and, after brewing his words, spoke, "Our number of Spirit Knights is limited, perhaps..."

Before Yuri could finish his sentence, a loud alarm suddenly interrupted him. Immediately, a slightly tense young female voice sounded in the hall: "This is the monitoring team— a Big Void has appeared outside West Sector 16 of dream city!"

The Archbishops, who were attending the meeting, were suddenly taken aback, and then one by one, their figures vanished from the hall in an instant. Within moments, these twenty-three Archbishops appeared above the Big Void area on the outskirts of dream city.

The gilded, awe-inspiring border zone of the dream city presented a shocking fracture that pierced through the city’s outer barrier, linking a small part of the district and the vast wilderness outside with an inexplicable force ravaging the rift area. The district and wilderness being pulled in and squeezed formed a chaotic vortex of light and shadow, engulfing the grand palace domes, towering sentinel towers, and smooth streets into this terrifying whirlwind, crazily swirling and roaring inside the Big Void!

The Archbishops floated above this Big Void, staring intensely at the rotating fragments of light and shadow, each person’s expression was particularly grim.

They could see a large number of confused and panicked congregants gathered outside the torn district, while inside that rotating giant vortex, there was fear for those believers caught within it...

This was no longer a problem that could be solved by one or two memory purges and regional resets.

Archbishop Magnan’s short red hair stood up straight as he looked at Yuri, his tone exceptionally solemn, and his voice as always, "Archbishop Yuri, we must immediately assemble our troops—"

"As you say," Yuri took a deep breath, "We must gather the troops."

Selena Gerfen quietly floated among the bishops, suddenly tilting her head slightly with a somewhat peculiar expression, muttering to herself, "Gather the troops..."

...

"At that time, we gathered our troops; just one order and everyone came," Gawain sat beside Patty’s wheelchair, with a gentle smile on his face as he slowly recounted the stories from his memory, "Back then, it wasn’t like now; our food was insufficient. Every time the army assembled, no matter how much the leaders emptied their reserves, they could often only muster enough provisions for one or two months, which meant many knights, even Knight Attendants and Mage apprentices, brought their own rations. Fighting aberrations yielded no profit; everyone participated voluntarily."

Patty’s eyes widened, "Just like Dad once told me, ’Honor Expedition’?"

"That’s right, the term ’Honor Expedition’ originated from that time, meaning everyone fought on the battlefield not for plunder but for the honor in their hearts. However, this concept was later destroyed by the corrupt and degenerate aristocrats, turning it into a term glorifying plunderful acts."

Patty thought for a moment and nodded, "...I think I understand now."

Gawain quietly watched the girl in the wheelchair, slowly saying, "Is that so... that’s good."