Steel steam and flame

The man in front of him chose silence after saying this, and Cassia also chose the same option as the man in front of her, looking at the fire together without saying a word for a long time.

"Is this your spiritual world?" Cassia looked at each other through the dancing flames and the man opposite. He did not choose to ask the man's name first, but asked about the true situation of this world. After all, he still wouldn't believe that such a weird thing could happen in the world, even if it was extremely real. And even if there is, it can only be in a dream.

"You have already seen it, why bother to confirm it again." The man replied mechanically, "There is just another difference, that is, this world is inherently bright. There are mountains, water and sun here. We The place where you are now is a lush grassland in spring. But because your brain development and evolution are not complete enough, your abilities are insufficient, or your mental strength is far from reaching my current standards, So a lot of things don’t show up in your eyes.”

"It's like the status level is not enough, so many permissions are not open to me for the time being. The two are the same, right?" Cassia asked.

"It's an appropriate and suitable metaphor, you can understand it this way, although there are still some deviations in it." The man replied, "In my time, the difference engine had just begun to be popularized in the country, and the analytical engine was even more important as a national project. The highest secrets were strictly managed. At that time, there were very few people who knew about password cards and the engagement programs between gears. And only a very few people knew about words like "open permissions" that were frequently circulated in the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine. There are less people.”

The man straightened his back, and the feeling on his body immediately became as cold and sharp as a standing mountain. He rubbed his hands as if they were cold, and then said: "Your life is much better now, with fast and comfortable trains, lamps that don't need to burn gas or quicklime, and you don't have to work overtime and need people to watch. It was built, and a steam boiler with coal had to be added soon. Time is indeed the best tool for development. At that time, although we expected that such a day would come, we did not expect that it would be so beautiful."

The man sighed a few words, and Cassia listened quietly.

"But many things have changed, and some things are still the same. It is a miracle that the empire can survive for thousands of years under such circumstances. It can also be said that there are really talented people born in those families and forces, otherwise Any era in which the previous generation and the next generation cannot take over can lead them to the abyss of destruction. I remember when I was a child, I listened to my grandfather, Old Rom, telling me about the Kingdom of Mano. The structure at that time was not at all the same. It looks like this." The man fell into memories, "The Kingdom of Mano is only above average among the hundreds of surrounding countries, and is not an outstanding country. And at that time, the Far Sea Commonwealth and the Flame Alliance had been established for a long time. After all, Behind them are two other giant forces. Facing the threats from other surrounding countries, as well as the invisible oppression of the two giant forces on the Houxiang Continent, it is still not easy for the Kingdom of Mano to reach the status of the current empire." Man. He was a little self-deprecating when he said this, and his face under the firelight was also a little gloomy.

"I originally thought that this pattern would last for a long time, but when one cold winter was about to reach night, a train brought something that changed the fate of the entire kingdom." Looking down at the light in the fire, the man looked at the card again. Sia glanced at it and said, "Do you know what it is?"

"Dragon?" Cassia was unsure.

"That's not entirely true." The man replied, "The train did bring two dragons. The baby dragon was just a few days old, that is, it had just emerged from its shell and had just finished eating its own eggshell. It didn't even have eyes. The one that was fully opened. But in order to capture the two of them, nearly half of the Mano Kingdom's army was sacrificed. When the commanders and officials discovered that their simple firecrackers and cannons had no effect on these two creatures, When they couldn't even knock off a single scale on their bodies, in the end they had to rely on their numerical advantage to pile on the two dragons. Then after almost two months, the army was on land. On the mobile force, with the cooperation of simple propeller aircraft in the air, they followed two flying young dragons and ran through half of the southern forest of the Mano Kingdom. Only then did they finally exhaust the young dragons' energy with the help of countless people and constant interference. Physical strength. Fortunately, the young dragons were only a few days old and only ate their own eggshells and a small amount of human bodies after birth. Therefore, there was almost no physical growth, and the eyes were still their fatal weakness. Even if it was difficult, they At that time, the hard skull could also be drilled with a drill. So in the forest, the lobotomy operation was carried out smoothly, and they were successfully and safely transported back to the center of the Mano Kingdom - Ma Come from the Noma area. Otherwise, I don’t know how many more people will die, and whether the baby dragon can be safely transported back will become a huge mystery."

The man looked at Cassia who listened extremely seriously and smiled, "It is full of a lot of chance. I only know these things through historical records, so I cannot describe the scene completely and in detail. It's like even the lobotomy surgery It was also carried out following the whim of a medical scientist in the past. At first, everyone just thought of tying them with iron chains. At that time, even the big violent bears in the mountains could not break free. An alloy chain as thick as an arm. Not to mention that the chains the kingdom prepared for them at that time were much thicker than an adult's thigh."

"Does that mean it's not entirely correct?" Cassia asked after the man's words.

"Because there are three pieces of cargo on the train. In addition to the two young dragons we brought, there is another piece of cargo." The man replied, "That is something that changed the Kingdom of Mano together with the dragons. Its function is the same as that of the current dragons." The role of the empire has always been the same. That was the core of the first-generation Analytical Engine. It was transported to Manoma by train. It was only then that King Mano truly had the ability to rise and become the most basic capital of the current empire. At that time, I’m just a kid who just started elementary school.”

The man paused for a moment, thinking about something in his mind, and sorted out what he was going to say next, "It may be the credit of my grandfather, Old Rom. When I was a child, he planted the seeds of growth in my heart. He had the idea of ​​joining the army in the end, and he trained my body and the use of various weapons since I was a child. He didn’t know where he found a real firecracker, and then modified it to reduce its power. Small and huge recoil. When I got home from school, and during my breaks every week, I would be taken to remote places to practice the use of firearms and shooting skills. This was almost how I spent my childhood."

"Didn't I just say that the Mano Kingdom lost most of its army in order to capture the two young dragons?" The man said in a questioning tone, but without letting Cassia answer, he continued again, "The Mano Kingdom is changing its name to Saint After the Dorag Empire, it began to recruit soldiers on a large scale across the country and expanded the number of the army without limit. At that time, the empire was not only to replenish the number of people who had been lost, but also to be fully prepared for the war that had already been decided. Originally, my grandfather, Old Rom, had always wanted me to join the army. At that time, we just caught up with the wave of recruitment that had lasted for more than ten years. My grandfather was also very enthusiastic and gave his life savings to several military officers at the time. I reluctantly paved a road full of potholes. I never understood why my grandfather did it to such an extent and refused to give up. This problem has been with me for many years, and I didn’t understand it until long after he died.”

"When I entered the army, my grandfather trained me since I was a child, and my physical fitness and skills were far superior to those of my peers. My grandfather also helped me pave the way for me. I am not a good person myself. But it's definitely not bad. In peacetime, my promotion speed was acceptable. But just when my military career was slowly and steadily developing, my grandfather became critically ill. It wasn't that he was seriously ill, but he couldn't resist time. The man in front of me calmly told his story, "Of course I saw my grandpa for the last time. At that time, he was lying on the hospital bed, breathing oxygen, watching me come back in my military uniform, and the collar on my face. After hearing my story about being promoted to major recently, his face became very energetic and his eyes were overflowing with joy. He didn’t look like a person who was about to die at all. He wanted to talk to me alone because Our grandfather and grandson have a very good relationship. When other family members went out, I saw the joy in my grandfather’s eyes turn into sadness. At that time, I had been in the army for six years, and the friction between the empire and the surrounding countries was also going on. It gradually increased. I thought it was because grandpa was worried that if the war broke out, I would be involved in the flames of war and die. So I tried to comfort him and told him not to worry. But that’s not all what grandpa cared about. "

"I remember that my grandfather closed his eyes and his whole body trembled because of something he thought of. I held his extremely thin hand, and the bones in the palm, which was only covered with a layer of skin, were so sharp that they seemed to cut my palm. Grandpa opened his eyes and looked at me as if he was about to shed tears of regret. In his eyes that were already cloudy at that time, there was indeed only endless regret."

At this time, the man sighed and his mood became depressed.

"At that time, grandpa looked at me and said, his voice trembling, 'Little Grote, I made a very wrong decision before, which may put you, even the family you are about to start, and our little little family in the future. The whole family has been plunged into an abyss from which there is no escape. If you want to blame me, just scold me as much as you want. At that time, I was still complacent about this decision, but now I regret it. I was completely wrong...'Grandpa lost control of his emotions and finally I fell into a coma. Because of military matters, I went back the next day, and my grandfather never woke up from that time. A week later, I received the news of my grandfather’s death, and I was sad for a long time. When I attended the funeral , I thought about what grandpa said to me again. At that time, I always thought that grandpa had a huge feeling for me because he let me join the army, and the war seemed to be coming, and he was afraid that I would be involved in the war. Guilt and regret. This thought stayed with me for a long time, until I was promoted to colonel. By then I was almost middle-aged, had a family, and participated in various wars with other countries around me. I commanded a lot. But the war that was supposed to come has yet to come, and my grandfather’s words were completely forgotten by me at the time. It wasn’t until one day many years later that an agency of the military department that I had never heard of found someone He told me that because I performed well and made great contributions to the country, I wanted to reward me with something. You should be able to think of what this thing is right away, right?" The man's face showed loneliness.

"It should be the first generation of surgery perfected in the empire." Cassia said, he already knew who the man in front of him, whom his grandfather called "Little Grote", was. He is the first generation of knight king in the empire - Grote Rohm.