Volume 3: Artifacts Chapter 15 True and False Envoy
At night, all the relief supplies on the train were unloaded. After Luke checked and handed over the supplies with Colonel Chester, he visited the Triumph Fortress accompanied by the colonel.
It has to be admitted that this is an extremely grand building, with a vast interior space and passages extending in all directions. There is an underground river inside the fortress, so as long as there are sufficient supplies stored, even if the outside is lost, the inside can still resist for a long time.
However, the tactics of the Barbarian Legion were too outdated, and they were captured by the Northern Legion after only one month of defense.
Talking about the battle to attack the Triumph Fortress, Colonel Chester was no longer restrained as when they first met, and he talked about the tactics used by the Northern Army in the attack. In order to prevent the defeated barbarians from retreating into the mountain to reorganize the defense, General Joshua boldly adopted airborne tactics during the general attack, using airships to break through from the air, and dropping elite soldiers to rush into the mountain ahead of the barbarians.
Although the losses were huge, this surprise force that broke into the mountain put the main force of the Barbarian Legion at risk of being surrounded and annihilated in the Triumph Fortress. Therefore, the commander of the Barbarian Legion decisively abandoned the Triumph Fortress.
"The Barbarian Legion stored a large amount of supplies in the Triumph Fortress, but we seized almost all of them intact. From then on, the Barbarian Legion did not have enough supplies to launch a large-scale counterattack. The initiative has always been in the hands of our Northern Legion."
Colonel Chester waved his hands as if the heroic battle was still before his eyes.
At this time, the two had already walked into the mountain. The passage suitable for barbarians was very spacious for humans. There were garrison caves, warehouses, and many leisure and entertainment facilities that barbarians liked in the mountain fortress. The stone walls in some places were broken, which should be the place where the battle took place.
As Luke walked, he asked, "The passages here are so complicated, are there any barbarians hiding somewhere?"
"There were some at the beginning, but they were just stragglers and we wiped them out quickly. We have searched the fortress several times inside and out and found many secret rooms and secret passages. The fortress is now absolutely safe.
Lord Marquis, that is a military restricted area, please go this way..."
Luke stopped. There was a closed iron gate at the end of the passage ahead. The iron gate was four meters high and there was a sentry guarding outside. Seeing the person coming, the sentry made a stop gesture, and Colonel Chester immediately led the way to the fork next to it.
Luke only glanced at the gate and felt Colonel Chester's nervousness. He did not ask any more questions and followed the path the colonel led.
The two continued to talk about the Battle of Fort Triumph. When Colonel Chester relaxed, Luke suddenly asked, "When did the Duke of Celtic's envoy arrive?"
"Yesterday morning..." Colonel Chester stopped talking immediately after realizing that he had said something he shouldn't have said, but it was too late. The colonel tried to cover it up: "No, no, no, there was no special envoy from the Duke of Celtic."
Luke smiled and said, "It's better if there is none, but it doesn't matter if there is. I'm just asking casually, I won't spread it around."
Colonel Chester smiled helplessly: "Thank you, Lord Marquis."
"Don't be nervous. Just pretend I know nothing. It's already late. You've been busy all day, so go to bed early. I'll also go back to the train to report to Her Royal Highness the Princess on the handover of the condolence supplies."
Once words are spoken, they cannot be taken back. Chester could only say, "I will send the Marquis back ."
The two turned around and walked back.
But as he walked, Colonel Chester found that the Marquis of Falling Star beside him had disappeared. He stared blankly at the passages at both ends. There was no fork in the road. It was as if a living person had disappeared out of thin air.
Colonel Chester immediately reported to his superiors that the meteorite had disappeared in the fortress. Soon the entire fortress was in an uproar, and soldiers searched for the meteorite in groups all night long.
But not even a corner of the clothes was found.
Luke rubbed his fingers together, and a ball of fire burned from his fingertips. In front of him was a passage without a single ray of light, and the walls were covered with slippery moss, obviously not used for a long time. Luke flicked the fire in his hand forward, and the fire shot forward like an arrow.
In the firelight, the passage was empty.
But Luke still took out the steel wings with blazing feathers, and turned them into two-handed swords. The blades glowed and illuminated the way ahead. Luke held the sword with both hands and walked forward carefully step by step.
The Northern Legion's search of the Triumph Fortress was apparently not thorough enough, and this secret passage was not discovered.
Luke walked forward, his footsteps loud in the silent passage. He wanted not to make any sound, but these were special stones, living stones, and the sound was a warning!
The passage ahead has come to an end, and a stone wall is blocking the way ahead. It seems to be a dead end.
I'm afraid that even if the Northern Legion discovers this passage, they will not pay much attention to it.
Luke faced the stone wall and folded up the steel wings of the Brilliant Feather. The light disappeared and the passage became dark again.
“Creatures in the stone, please knock on the door to a strange dream. Ancient friends have come with an old promise to testify to the friendship established by our ancestors here.”
Luke's voice echoed in the darkness.
A crack of green light appeared in the middle of the stone wall, and then the heavy stone wall opened from the inside. Green light shone from behind the door, enveloping Luke in the light curtain.
A voice with an ancient aura came from behind the door: "Another human. Are all the barbarians in Tedega Hill dead? A human came yesterday, and another human came today.
If you have anything to say, please tell me now!"
Luke asked, "Did anyone come to Dreamland yesterday?"
This question made the creature on the other side stunned for a moment: "Aren't you together?"
Luke said, "Definitely not. I am following the order of the Duke of Celtic to ask the rock giants of the Land of Dreams to assist me in assassinating the Empire's eldest princess Agatha and the Marquis of Falling Star. What did the people who came yesterday want to do with you?"
The creature on the other side said in surprise: "He was also ordered by the Duke of Celtic to ask for our assistance in assassinating the Princess of the Empire and the Marquis of Meteor. What happened? You two have the same order, but you don't know each other."
"This means... there is an imposter between me and the person from yesterday."
Luke stretched out his hand, and a duke's crown appeared in his hand.
The green light in the door immediately dissipated, revealing an extremely open cave.
Luke held the Duke's crown in his hand, walked into the stone door, and walked down a flight of stairs to continue walking forward. The cave was full of rock piles, and on the top of the rock piles were two eyes, staring at Luke and turning.
Luke walked straight to the largest rock pile in the middle of the cave, saluted and said, "My name is Luke. I was ordered by the Duke of Celtic to sneak into the imperial train coming to the Triumphal Fortress. I arrived today with Princess Agatha and the Marquis of Meteor.
The Duke told me that I could seek help in the Dreamland of Triumph Fortress. Because I am a human, the Duke said that his Duke's Crown would prove my identity to Broken Rock, the Lord of the Stone.
The pile of stones in front of Luke moved, and a part of the stones formed an arm and stretched out, holding the Duke's crown between its thick index finger and thumb. The stones on the top of the pile formed a head, and Broken Rock, the Lord of the Stone, took the Duke's crown in front of his eyes and examined it carefully.
"This is indeed the crown of the Duke of Celtic. If you are the Duke's envoy, who was the man who came yesterday?"
In response to the Stone Lord's question, Luke thought for a moment and answered, "It's hard to judge. But what is certain is that the Dreamland has been exposed. Someone knows the home of the rock giants and the secret order to open the door."
"This is a troublesome matter." The Lord of the Stone returned the Duke's crown to Luke, and then said: "Although I am willing to believe that you are the real Duke's envoy, I also have to give the other Duke's envoy a chance to refute.
You have no objection, right?
Luke nodded in agreement and said, "No objection! What's true is true, and what's false is false. I also want to see who dares to impersonate the Duke's envoy and how he stole the secrets of the Dreamland."
"Yes, we must find out the truth!" The Lord of the Stone summoned a stone chair for Luke: "Mr. Luke, please take a seat... The envoy should be here soon."
Luke sat down and waited patiently for the arrival of the "Celtic Duke's Envoy".
The Dreamland is the home of the rock giants. Like the Oulu Academy, it is located in an independent space that overlaps with the Triumph Fortress. The first part of the Triumph Fortress, which is also the largest project, was built by the rock giants.
The rock giants migrated into the Tedegar Hills during the ancient war and established friendship with the barbarians, so the rock giants generally would not refuse the barbarians' requests for help. There is such an ambush hidden inside the Triumph Fortress. When the barbarian army is able to counterattack, the rock giants can cooperate with the inside and outside to deal a heavy blow to the Northern Army.
The purpose of Luke's visit to the rock giant this time was to test whether the Celtic Duke's envoy had come to the rock giant. If the Celtic Duke wanted to force Sinclair to rebel, he only needed to assassinate the Imperial Princess and the Governor of Fury City in the Triumph Fortress to achieve his goal.
As a result, I found the result after trying it.
What we need to do now is... to kill the genuine Duke's envoy.
By the way, knock on Sinclair.
Luke was looking through the information on his phone, looking calm from the outside.
No one spoke. The cave was so quiet that the only sound that could be heard was the sound of dripping water somewhere.
Before long, the stone door of the cave opened and a man walked in in a panic: "Great Lord of the Stone, what urgent matter requires me to come here now? Do you know that the entire Northern Army is looking for the meteorite...
This person is...Luke, why are you here! "
When the man saw Luke, he immediately called out his name, having obviously seen him on the Holy Mountain.
Luke also remembered the identity of the visitor. He was a close minister of the Duke of Celtic and was highly valued and trusted by Celtic.
"Counselor Quinton..." Luke also called out the other person's name: "I also want to know why you are here."
The Lord of the Stone said, "Since you two know each other, I think this matter will be easy to handle. Consultant Quinton, please take a seat. I have a few questions that I need you to answer truthfully."
Quinton was confused. He sat down in the stone chair made by the Lord of the Stone and said, "Can you explain to me what the situation is now?"
The Lord of the Stone said, "I also want to know the answer to the current situation. Counselor Quinton, since you know Mr. Luke, can you tell me how you know him?"
Several piles of rocks moved over, surrounding Luke and Quinton. The unusual atmosphere made Quinton a little nervous: "His name is Luke, an adventurer from Raging Waves City. He won the championship in the Strongman Competition on the Holy Mountain, and the Duke personally wore the championship belt.
Because of his contribution of the Storm Barbarian transformation technology, the Duke rewarded him with his Duke's Crown.
He then left the Holy Mountain and was never heard from again."
"Thank you for your answer." The Lord of the Stone asked Luke again, "How did you get to know Consultant Quinton?"
Luke replied: "I have been on missions outside, so I don't know much about Consultant Quinton. I only know that he is a close aide to the Duke and that the Duke trusts him very much!"
Luke emphasized the word "trust" and it was very irritating to Quinton. He said to the Lord of the Stone impatiently, "I don't know how this adventurer found this place. Since he knows the secrets here, we must not let him leave alive."
"It's up to me to decide how to let him leave." The Lord of the Stone asked Quinton, "Do you know that Luke is working for the Duke of Celtic?"
Quinton was shocked: "This...is this true?"
Luke chuckled and said, "Of course it's true. The last time I went back to the Holy Mountain was to offer the Storm Barbarian transformation technology, and to give the Duke a reason to clean up the Abyss Temple.
In Raging Waves City, I also established connections with the port, so that the materials from Tedejia Hills could be shipped out smoothly. I even suggested to Meteorite that secretly helping Tedejia Hills would help him control the empire, and Meteorite approved it, so the Raging Waves City Welfare Agency was ready to invest in the infrastructure construction of Tedejia Hills. "
Quinton suddenly realized.
He couldn't understand the mysterious operations of Nutao City during this period. If smuggling could be concealed from Meteorite, the large-scale welfare investment could definitely not be concealed from him. However, Meteorite had an indifferent attitude towards the investment of Nutao City Welfare Agency in Tedga Hills.
If the Tedega Hills were secretly funded, the empire would become more dependent on the meteorites, which would explain it.
Unexpectedly, the Duke quietly placed a spy next to Meteorite.
"You came here with Meteorite?"
Luke replied: "Yes, we are in the same compartment."
Quinton was overjoyed: "My Lord the Duke ordered me to assassinate the Empire's eldest princess Agatha and Meteor. If you can assist me, I will definitely accomplish this feat."
Luke snorted coldly: "If the Duke wants to assassinate Princess Agatha and Meteor, he can just notify me. Why would he send you here?"
Quinton was stunned…Yeah, why did you send me here?
Luke said while the situation was hot: "Quinton! The Duke trusted you so much, but I didn't expect you to betray him. Tell me! How did you know about the Land of Strange Dreams! What was your purpose in falsely conveying the Duke's instructions and asking the rock giant to assassinate Agatha and Meteor?
Do you want to lure the rock giants out of the Dreamland and then ambush and destroy them?"
"You, you, you..." Quinton stood up, pointed at Luke and said loudly: "What nonsense are you talking about? I did not betray the Duke, and I did not falsely convey the Duke's instructions. These are all told to me by the Duke himself.
You, you... I know who you are! You are Meteorite. The Northern Army is looking for you everywhere. I didn't expect you to come here pretending to be the Duke's spy.
The Lord of the Stone, he is definitely the Meteor!"
Luke laughed: "I am a meteorite? Your identity is exposed. In order to save your life, you dare to tell any lie!"
