Alien Knights

"From yesterday to now, it seems that His Majesty has not held a meeting for a whole day." Cumberland, who was invited to attend the official dinner, took a sip of the wine in his glass, frowned and said to Emerson, "Bah, this wine tastes like slop!"

Emerson flipped through the list of officials and joked, "Your Majesty may have some urgent matters to deal with... In terms of food, you have never been so picky before. When you crusade against the barbarian clans, you drank the rainwater mixed with mud, didn't you still enjoy it?"

Cumberland put down his wine glass, looked at the actors performing "Ertor's Expedition" on the stage in the distance, shook his head and said: "Look at the poor acting skills, and look at the fancy costumes, not to mention the inexplicable soundtrack! These guys' performances, even one ten-thousandth of the tragedy of the war epic, did not show. You don't know, I watched the history of the siege of Samurai a few days ago, the scene, the atmosphere, and the music. It's just..."

Emerson interrupted his old friend: "You can't expect a group of actors to perform a real history. Besides, you in the past never cared about this kind of entertainment."

Cumberland sighed, spread his hands and said: "As the saying goes, good days will always make people slack off. What's more, I'm used to drinking the wine of heaven and seeing too much historical reality. It's really hard for me to come into contact with these things."

Emerson closed the book in his hand: "Changing the subject, what do you think about the kingdom of heaven we discussed in the past?"

"You don't want to question the existence of the kingdom of heaven again, do you?!" Cumberland blushed and blew his beard: "Look at the things inside - the mirror image that can reproduce history, reveal the picture of destiny, and the countless machines that don't know their function at all. Have you read anything similar in the "Bible"?!"

"I'm not questioning the existence of the Kingdom of Heaven. I'm just helping you sort out the relationship between Your Majesty and Heavenly Father." Emerson pointed to the cross on the chest of the old knight: "Just like what you said just now, nothing that appears in the Kingdom of Heaven is mentioned in any church scripture. From a logical point of view, everything in the Kingdom of Heaven is completely impossible to be fabricated or imagined, and must be real, so..."

Seeing that the old knight was still in a daze, Emerson patted himself on the head with hatred: "There is a contradiction here. People think that the Holy Son is the apostle of the Father, but the things brought by this apostle are incompatible with the things of the Church of the Father and the Orthodox Church, and there is no connection at all. Even, these things are far more real and reliable than the grand visions in the scriptures..."

Cumberland took a breath when he heard this: "What do you mean?!"

"Think about it, think about what kind of existence our Majesty is." Emerson left the old knight who was lost in thought, looked towards the theater stage, took a sip of red wine, and then spit it on the ground: "You are right, this wine is so fucking bad!"

———————————

Twilight City Craftsman's Guild, Aiden Kom's secret workshop.

Old Aiden picked up a musket that had just been imitated, weighed it in his hand, and said with a bitter face: "The weight of this thing is almost as heavy as a blacksmith's hammer."

An apprentice suggested, "Teacher, why don't you try it now?"

Old Aiden nodded, recalling Todd's instructions, and said: "Bring the experimental equipment, pay attention to the sealed chamber, and when shooting, use remote ignition. No one is allowed to stand by!"

Finding a remote suburb, Old Aiden directed the apprentices to start preparations for the gun test.

The musket was fixed on a wooden frame and aimed at a wooden target ten meters away.

An assistant, carrying a 1.5-meter-long wooden pole with a piece of burning cotton tied to the head, cautiously extended it to the flint port of the musket.

Old Aiden led the others, squatting behind a mound, looking forward with his head stretched out.

boom!

The sound of gunpowder exploding was deafening.

After the gunpowder smoke passed, old Aiden hurried to the test site and checked it carefully. The result of the test made his heart feel cold.

The powerful recoil knocked the gun from the wooden frame to the ground, and some gunpowder was ignited and sprayed out from the breech, burning the wood and grass.

However, the wooden target that was the target of the attack was intact, and the lead bullets that were discharged from the chamber had long gone to nowhere.

Old Aiden tugged at his beard with a distressed face, he could already imagine how this weapon would behave on the battlefield.

A gunman raised the musket and aimed it at an enemy ten meters away.

The tinder ignited the gunpowder, and after a loud noise, the shooter and the enemy fell to the ground at the same time.

The huge recoil of the musket caused the user's arm to be dislocated or even fractured, and the gunpowder splashed backward burned his skin and even his eyes.

As for the enemy side, they were frightened to the ground by the loud noise and the permeating gunpowder smoke. After touching their bodies and confirming that they were not injured, they would quickly continue to attack from shame.

Looking at the assistant, holding the slightly deformed pistol wrapped in cloth to his eyes, the old Aiden touched his forehead with his hands, and shook his head helplessly: "There is still a long way to go..."

—————————————

Twilight City, Liliel Clothing Store.

This is a new store that has only been established for more than three months, but its popularity is already second to none in the entire Yuexi Plain.

A well-decorated, quaint four-wheeled carriage stopped in front of the clothing store.

An elderly man wearing a butler's uniform stepped down from the driver's seat. He walked to the door of the carriage with steady steps, opened the door and said softly, "Countess Charlotte, we are here."

A white silk glove appeared in people's sight. The butler quickly bent down, looked at the ground, and helped the passengers in the carriage with his hands, and came to the street.

An aristocratic woman who looked no more than twenty-five or sixteen years old, followed by her maid. The former slowly opened the folding fan in his hand, covering the lower half of his face, with a smile in the corner of his eyes, while looking at the sign above his head, he whispered: "This is it."

Pushing open the colorful revolving door, the first thing that greets the guests is a wide front hall, which is crowded with artists and connoisseurs who come here. The purpose of their coming here is obviously not to buy clothes, but the paintings hanging on the walls and display cabinets.

Charlotte looked at a portrait of a figure placed at the door, and stopped in surprise. This painting was completely different from the painting genres in the world today in terms of color, composition, and technique.

Covering her small mouth with a folding fan, Charlotte asked the butler, "This... is a clothing store, right?"

The latter replied with some uncertainty: "It should be."

The more she looked in, the more surprised Charlotte was: "Could it be that the paintings here are all fakes?"

"I'm afraid not. I have never seen these works in collectors and exchanges." The housekeeper said in a slightly intoxicated tone while looking at the paintings: "Here are all authentic works, and they should all come from the hands of masters!"

Charlotte's eyes widened: "You mean, there are many unpublished works of masters collected here?!"

The housekeeper nodded first, then shook his head: "The works here are indeed from the master's handwriting, but it's a bit strange. Some of the painting styles and techniques in it have never been tried before..."

Seeing more and more people in the front hall, the countess continued to walk forward with her butler and maid. To her surprise, several bodyguards and a maid were guarding the entrance to the next hall.

The maid walked towards Charlotte, first said a respectful greeting, and then said with a smile: "Dear guest, hello. Only ladies can enter the back room. Gentlemen please wait outside the door for a while."

"Ha! Only women are allowed to enter! This is really interesting!" Charlotte smiled and patted the butler on the shoulder with a folding fan, and led the maid through the porch, into a hall several times wider than the front hall.

Everything in front of me has completely subverted the concept of traditional clothing stores. Row after row of clothes, shoes, hats, and leather bags are hung in different hanging cabinets according to styles, sizes, and colors. Beautifully decorated bronze mirrors are placed around for guests to try on.

Charlotte looked around, and there was a maid in charge of reception standing in front of the counter of each type of product. The female guests came in groups of three or four, and the entire hall was packed to the brim. They shuttled around the counters they were interested in asking for price comparisons. Judging from their clothing and appearance, some women came from the Holy City in the East, some wore the robes of the Southern Empire, and some women, judging by their tall stature and deep facial features, were obviously from the North Island or barbarian countries.

The Countess's maid, startled by the turbulent crowd in front of her, said to herself, "There are about five hundred people here..."

Charlotte saw a familiar figure in the crowd, smiled and waved and shouted: "Cathy! Cathy! I'm here!"