Chapter 1: The Old Man and the Young Girl

　　Kehia, the border city of Roland Empire

　　Following the Hailar Mountain Range to the west, you will see a section of the mountain range with an average elevation of hundreds of meters between the Roland Empire and the Florentine Empire that stretches for tens of kilometers, as if it had been split by the giant sword of the gods, and this huge rift in the thousands of kilometers of the Hailar Mountain Range was like a huge trauma, which is figuratively called the "Hailar Scar". Hailar Scar".

　　The natural barrier between the two huge empires here appeared a period of time enough to accommodate millions of troops to drive straight into the gap, the importance of the Hailar scar is self-evident, and at the beginning of the Roland empire, relying on the Hailar mountain range of the heavenly peril to build a huge fort - Kexia, but with the rapid progress of the magic conduction technology in the last century as well as the world's trade and commercial exchanges, the old days of the Hailar Mountains are not as important as they used to be. However, with the rapid advancement of magic conduction technology in the past hundred years, as well as the trade and commerce between countries all over the world, the former military fortress has long since developed into a huge border city, becoming one of the largest and most prosperous cities in the Roland Empire, and her name still follows the name of the former fortress - Kexia. At the same time, this is also the family that has been guarding the border of the empire for generations, in the Roland Empire has the name of "Iron Blood Rose" Kroll family's fiefdom.

　　On the outermost city wall of Kexia, a bare-breasted, muscular as steel casting strong man was moving a box of heavy magic crystals and accessories in groups of four, sending supplies and repairing replacement parts to the magic crystal artillery that had just finished a tragic war.

　　On the side of the city wall, a soldier wearing silver light armor was holding his magic guide gun and leaning on the topmast pier which was full of blood stains because it was too late to clean it without caring about it, the crisscrossing scars on the armor as well as the incomplete magic guide lines on it all illustrated that the war that had just ended had been a tragic one.

　　On the other side, some wizards dressed in purple and yellow armor were sitting on their knees in a slightly clean place, their magic battles, which they usually regarded as treasures, were casually put aside, and they were holding magic potions for restoring physical strength and healing wounds and were pouring them in one big gulp, not paying attention to their usual appearance of instrumentation and etiquette at all.

　　"Quickly, quickly, lads, these magic crystals and magic cannonballs must be sent to the heavy artillery position quickly, or else we'll have no long range support when those Frodo cubs hit us later." A rough and low voice came from the back of the wide city wall, hearing this voice, the warriors and magicians who were resting immediately stood up and marched towards the place where the voice came from.

Along with the heavy footsteps and armor collision roar, a majestic figure appeared in front of the crowd, that is a height of nearly two meters "giant", from the head to the feet of the silver protection of the silver secret silver heavy armor along with his footsteps to send out a sound of iron and gold, like a thousand years of ancient temples in the giant bells roar. The arcane and magnificent golden lines on it were spread all over every corner of the heavy armor, and those lines were emitting a light golden light, indicating that this was not a simple decoration, but a magic guide array that could explode with terrifying power at any time. The crimson cloak embroidered with a golden rose entwined with thorns on his back made a hunting sound with the wind, as if it was a huge battle flag fluttering in the wind.

　　He stopped abruptly, walked over to a field doctor who was saluting him, and said, "Soldier, remember! You are a doctor, tell me what your duty is!"

　　"Report General! My duty is to treat the warriors' injuries with all my might." The bloodstained field doctor replied.

　　"Very well! Then what you need to do now is to rescue my injured soldiers instead of saluting me here!" He waved his hand to signal the medic to go about his business, then walked to a more open area and said to the soldiers who were carrying supplies and the magicians who were busy repairing the magical shields on the walls, "Soldiers, you are the ones who are the busiest in the truce period right now, so if you see me in the future during this time, please don't put down your hands and work to salute me. I won't lose anything because of one less salute from you, but one more piece of magic crystals you transport, one more shell you carry, or even one more warrior you relieve from pain, that could be the key to this war!"

　　Saying that, he casually plunged the huge silver-colored sword in his hand into the ground, the terrifyingly ferocious weapon forged by a master weapon forger from celestial silver and fine gold plus a large amount of rare metals easily pierced through the ground that could withstand the bombardment of a magic-guided heavy artillery.

　　He turned his head to the adjutant following him and said, "Carl, you are responsible for watching over them, nothing must go wrong, it's still the first time for Kreia to participate in the war, I have to go check on her." With that, his feet powered up and he leapt towards the tallest sentry tower on the city wall, gently landing on top of it.

　　At the top of the tower which was more than ten feet high from the horizontal platform of the city wall, a young girl wearing a fiery red battle dress stood quietly, a waist-length hair of the same color as her battle dress was casually draped over her shoulders, dancing with the wind, just like a blazing fire, a gorgeous long sword was hanging on her waist, which was exclusively belonging to her Divine Mechanism - Crimson Warrior Lady.

　　The young girl's white slender jade hand gently stroked the golden rose pattern above the hilt, that is her family crest, the Kroll family's iron blood rosebud, but also these days has been supporting her to fight the power. But right now the young girl's attention wasn't on it, her light red eyes looked at the engineers and magicians who were setting up the magic mines and magic light prism towers outside the city walls, not knowing what to think.

　　She sensed someone coming up behind her and slightly inclined her head, seeing a figure in heavy silver armor walking towards her, she immediately turned around, stood upright, and hammered her right hand hard on her chest while shouting loudly, ''Reporting to the General! The captain of the second squad of the third brigade of the Red Sky Divine Machine Regiment, Kreia, reports to you!"

　　"It's a truce now, relax, Kreia." The visitor took off the silver helmet he had been wearing, and underneath the slightly messy, flowery white hair was a pale and resolute face, with deep blue eyes that were deep and calm, like deep, cold pools, but underneath that, it was as if there was a furious dragon lurking, ready to break out of the surface of the pool and devour people.

　　Hearing the old man's words, the young girl directly hugged her legs and sat down, her long fiery red hair fell down, covering the young girl's face, so that people couldn't see her face, but her slightly trembling body as well as the extremely suppressed crying showed the young girl's current state of mind. The old man walked to her side, slowly sat down, gently patted her shoulder, and said with a smile, ''What? Our little princess, who acted so valiantly just now, is now secretly wiping her tears here, and isn't afraid of others laughing at her?"

The young girl looked up at him, pulled a rueful smile and asked, "Can we win? Grandpa Imre."

　　The old man contemplated for a moment but did not answer, instead he asked in return, "This is your first time on the battlefield, how does it feel?" "It's brutal, it's like two different things from the usual training, in that meat grinder, there's no reasoning or morality to speak of, your opponents will do everything they can to kill you, they've abandoned the honor and pride of being an Air Knight, they're just like a bunch of wild beasts!"

　　The old man laughed silently and said in a hoarse and low voice: "You know what? More than forty years ago, the first time I took part in a war was when I was blocking those damn Orc Wolf Cavalry looters at the Northern Fortress. I was just an ordinary soldier at that time, with my second-order Dou Qi, which was not bad among ordinary soldiers, I even became the vice-captain of a squad. At that time, we were all new recruits, and we felt that we had inexhaustible strength in our young and strong bodies, and we waved our sweat and passion on the training ground, as if the world should give way to us under the heat of our blood.

　　Every day after we finished our training, we would go to the canteen to have a big meal, and eat meat with our brothers while talking loudly about our future, and the most talked about was how we would kill those wolf cubs, and make great achievements for the empire, and when we returned triumphantly, we rode the white Holy Light Unicorn on the boulevard of St. Roland, the capital of the empire, and stepped on the White Unicorn, amidst the people's cheering and the aristocrat's kisses, and we were all happy. maiden's flying kisses, stepping on the road paved with snowdrops, stepping on the golden steps in front of the imperial palace, accepting his majesty's summons, and then having the Order of Violets worn for us by her highness's hand."

　　"I can't imagine that the now famous 'God of Death in the West' also had these thoughts!" The young girl obviously heard these things for the first time and said with a face full of surprise.

　　The old man didn't pay attention to the young girl's snickering and continued, "The squad's captain was called Joseph, he was a passionate and rough northern man who also had a second-order fighting qi, and he was the only one in the squad who was stronger than me, and what he liked to talk about most at the time was that he wanted to break through to the fourth-order before he was thirty years old and amassed enough merit, and then went to propose to the daughter of the West Realm Marshal. "

　　The old man's voice gradually trailed off as he spoke, but he didn't stop. "At that time, as soon as he said that, we laughed at him in different ways, and he didn't get annoyed, he just let out a big laugh with us there." Suddenly, the old man laughed, and that smile appeared on his weather-beaten face as if it were a delicate flower blossoming on top of that thousand-year old metaphysical ice in the far north.

　　"Once he spoke again, so loudly that it reached the ears of the first captain, whom we called in private at the time an asshole. He was sitting behind Joseph at dinner at the time, and then the asshole came up to him with a grin on his face, smiled, patted him on the shoulder, and said, 'You don't get enough training every day! There's still so much exuberant energy to brag here, it looks like from tomorrow until next week, you'll quadruple your training volume to burn off that exuberant energy of yours!'" The smile on the old man's face grew more and more pronounced, as if his brothers were still sitting around.

　　"And what happened then?" The young girl couldn't help but ask.

　　"Then they all died!" The old man's voice was as cold as ice in the middle of an extreme abyss, and the smile on his face was like snow under the sun, disappearing without a trace.

"We were ambushed by a squad of wolf cavalry, and he was laughing and encouraging us, saying, 'Brothers, here comes our meritocracy! Cut off all their heads and we'll be heroes!'"

　　The old man seemed to be caught up in his memories, and fumbled out the silver pot at his waist, unscrewed the lid, and took a sharp gulp, smacked his lips, and continued, "The wizard among the squad was called Cory, and he was a really handsome guy, with long light blue hair that was practically softer than that of a woman's, and he always wore an azure magical robe, which was rumored to be a graduation gift from his teacher. He also always wore his wizard badge on his chest and wiped it spotless every day before going to training."

　　"At that time, the magic guide gun still needed a magician to energize us, and as he was the only magician on our team, this task was naturally his responsibility. And he always said, 'Brothers, I'm the source of your combat power! Without me, your magic guided guns wouldn't be as good as a farmer's hoe. Protect me when you go into battle in the future!'"

　　The old man took another sip of wine and continued, "I still remember that his wish was to get enough rewards that after he retired from the army, he would go to the seaside to buy a nice little building and bring his parents and sister in the countryside over." Speaking of this, the old man pulled out a tattered light blue' colored wizard badge from somewhere and placed it in the center of his hand, rubbing it gently. "I helped him fulfill his wish, and helped him tell a lie that he had gone to a faraway place to pursue supreme magic."

　　The old man's eyes dimmed as he spoke, and as the young girl looked into the old man's eyes, the loneliness and sadness in them seemed to come out as if it were a tidal wave to engulf the world.

　　"Why do you think the Florians attacked the city of Keshia?" The old man quickly snapped out of his memories, the loneliness and sadness in his eyes as if they had been cut away by a sharp blade, restoring his usual sternness.

　　"The Florians knew that father had gone to the imperial capital to hold the quinquennial supreme military conference, and thinking that there was an opportunity to take advantage of it, they naturally attacked in force!" The young girl gritted her teeth and said indignantly. "Keshia City has stood for hundreds of years, and with the magic guide shields and various defense systems that have been continuously improved in recent decades, even if father is not there, it won't be that easy to attack!"

　　The old man twisted his head and glanced at the young girl and said, "Yes, but not really, if your father is not here, then there is still me, and that is not a reason for the Vroids to attack now." The old man continued, "The importance of the Hailar Trace to both countries is self-evident, and from the founding of the Roland Empire, this heavenly danger has been firmly held by the empire, and although the Fro do not control this heavenly danger, there are several dangerous passes to build up a line of defense behind the Hailar Mountain Range, and although over the past few hundred years, the Fro Empire has not given up on the city of Keshia to seize it, yet it has never waged such a large-scale war as it is doing now."

The old man paused and then said, "But all of this has changed in the last hundred years, the development of magic guide technology has caused a huge change in the mode of war, especially after the emergence and large-scale use of magic guide war weapons, the battlefield is no longer the era of magician bombardment followed by heavy cavalry and heavy infantry charging. Dangerous passes and fortresses that were once able to withstand millions of troops are now as fragile as paper when faced with a torrent of steel made up of thousands of war magical statues."

　　The old man paused, looked at the long sword on the young girl's waist and said, "Especially in recent decades, the emergence of the god machine, this kind of air and land dual-use of the top magical guide weapon, but also completely changed the air force between the countries of the air force contrast, general air knights face the god machine, unless there is an absolute numerical superiority, or else it is almost impossible to win. And facing ordinary infantry, it's even more of a lopsided slaughter!"

　　Hearing this, the young girl already understood and said, "That's why Fro desperately needs a barrier strong enough to hold back the Empire's steel torrent, and the Hailar Mountain Range is the best natural barrier, and as long as the city of Keshia is controlled, the entire mountain range will become the best barrier!"

　　Seeing that the young girl had understood, the old man nodded slightly and said, "You will have a teacher to explain these issues in detail after you go to St. Laurent's Royal Military Academy next year, and these are considered as your preparatory lessons." .

　　The old man suddenly pointed in the direction of the Florentine Empire in the distance and said, "Are they wrong?" The young girl froze, and just as she wanted to speak, she was interrupted by the old man, "Think before you speak."

　　The old man's razor-sharp gaze gazed at the young girl, sharp as if he could see through what was in the young girl's heart. The young girl pursed her lips, lowered her head and contemplated for a few moments, then spat out two words with difficulty, "No"

　　"Then are we at fault?" The old man asked again. "No, we are not wrong either!" Before the young girl could answer, the old man had already spoken out loud.

　　"The Florentine Empire will do whatever it takes to take the city of Keshia in order to get a wall, in order not to have sleepless nights under the Empire's torrent of steel, so they are attacking as if they are crazy, because the soldiers of the Florentine Empire understand that if they don't take the city of Keshia, the Florentine Empire will forever live under the shadow of our iron cavalry, and no one likes to live in the shadows in the middle of it."

　　The young girl froze, clearly not understanding why the old man was telling her this.

　　"Are we wrong? We are not wrong either! We can't afford to lose the Hailar Mountains all the same!"

　　"Are they wrong?" "No!"

　　"Are we wrong?" "No!"

　　"This is war!"

　　The old man's eyes, gazing at the young girl was as if he was trying to see through her.

"Are you not understanding why I'm telling you this?" As if the old man knew what was in the young girl's mind, he said, "Kreia, you are the future hope of the Kroll family and the future backbone of the empire, I want you to understand what you are fighting for."

　　The old man paused and added "Those who don't know why they are fighting are like a lone boat sailing in the middle of the sea without guidance, it is easy to capsize and fall into that endless abyss, never to be able to turn back."

　　The young girl nodded thoughtfully at the old man and asked, "Then Grandpa Imre, what are you fighting for?"

　　The old man stood up, turned his back to the young girl, and slowly said, "When I was young, my blood was hot, and I thought all day long about crisscrossing the sands and fighting for merit and glory."

　　Later, I lost my brothers, and at that moment, it was like I was crazy to avenge my brothers! I even felt that in the rest of my life, revenge was the only motivation for me to go on."

　　The old man paused and suddenly laughed, "Until I met your father, he was the one who pulled me out of the abyss of vengeance, at that time he seemed like an angel to me!" The old man grinned, a light emerging from his eyes, a memory of those years. "Then I followed your father all the way, and it made me realize what I was fighting for."

　　"That is guarding!" The old man said loudly.

　　"Guardianship?" The young girl obviously didn't quite understand.

　　"Then I slowly realized, even if I killed all the orcs what would happen? Would my friends still come back to life? Would the girl Joseph once admired still jump out of her grave and divorce her husband, who had also turned to dry bones, to come into his arms? Would Corey be able to come back to see his parents and sister and that beautiful little cottage? Even I feel like my reason for living has passed with time, and my reason for living in this world is too tenuous."

　　The old man took a hard gulp of wine, sharp lines pulling at the corners of his eyes, "But! I still can't allow my enemies to destroy all of this, if they destroy the Northern Fortress, I won't even have a place to reminisce, if they destroy the city of Kesia, I'll have failed your father!"

　　For these treasures of my life, though they are like phantoms in a floating light, so vain, are the most precious things in my life! Whoever dares to touch my treasures, how can I not play with their lives?"

　　A high trumpet sound came from the distance, a signal for the Florentine Empire to attack in force.

　　"Now, take your faith and fight!" The old man said as he pointed to the distant horizon before leaping off the high platform. Leaving the young girl alone, she quietly looked into the distance.