"Joshi, Joshi."

Old Bead called out in the next room, and the thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl lying on the wooden table answered, and looked away from the candles that were bright and dark, and not far away, the sky outside the window was overcast and gloomy, and the sky was full of black clouds, always interlaced with purple lightning bolts. She looked up at the terrible weather, sighed, and walked out the door and asked:

"Father, what's wrong?"

"Go and get my cloak, bring the wagon out, the weather can't do the work, I'll send the farm tools to the city for Bethos to fix it." Old Bead replied as he put on his shoes on his bench.

Qiao Shi stood by the door of his room and looked at the bad weather outside the door of the living room, frowning a little worried, and his white arms under the rolled up sleeves were folded in front of the apron. "Are you going out this weather?" She said with some reluctance. Old Bead heard the concern in his daughter's tone, glanced at the weather outside and smiled: "It's just a gentle drizzle, a gentle drizzle, and after a while, the weather will be even worse, and it will be difficult to go out at that time." ”

José sighed, wiped her hands on her apron, and walked across the living room to remove the cloak from the shelf and drape it over old Bead, "You go and appease Anse and Arlo, they are still young, and lightning must have frightened them." Old Bead narrowed her eyes and let her daughter's hands wrap around her neck to tie her cloak for herself, enjoying the silent tenderness as she spoke. The road is slippery, and the carriage must not be easy to walk. Qiao Shi whispered.

"It's okay, my good boy, those bad things won't come out in this weather." Old Bead laughed.

Qiao Shi knew that her father's statement was to reassure herself, since the little lord began to clean up the law and order at the beginning of summer, there were few traces of goblins and robbers in the countryside, she pursed her lips. Not a word. "Alright, let's go." Old Bead gently looked at his daughter's face, which was becoming more and more like his deceased wife, and commanded.

Qiao Shi nodded, turned around and went out, braving the rain and walking through the yard. The stables were behind the farmstead, and she pushed open the wood door. The light in the low hut was dim, and the two little mares looked restless in the weather. José stepped on the hay on the ground and walked to the mare named Anse, patted it lightly on the neck with her hand, and whispered to soothe it, so that the mare could be quiet, but today was a little different from the past, the gray fur mare stamped her feet vigorously, and her big moist eyes were particularly bright in the darkness, and there was a strong uneasy light in them.

"What's wrong?" Qiao Shi frowned. Acutely felt that Anse's fear did not come from the bright thunder and lightning in the sky, but from the ground.

She crouched down slightly, staring with bright eyes at the haystacks stacked on the ground, and in her sight the stalks trembled slightly—and in a moment the girl understood: the ground was moving! A very bad premonition came to Qiao Shi's mind, and she immediately stood up and rushed to the wooden fence where the horse was closed, gritted her teeth and dragged the iron bolt with both hands to pull it off the lock and throw it to the ground, and then opened the wooden fence. Release the two horses in turn, and then drive them out of the stable. It's just a moment's delay. The ground had already shaken visibly, and the puddles of water outside had already rippled in circles, and Qiao Shi had just run outside the shed when she heard a strange humming sound coming from the north.

She stopped, and subconsciously turned her head to the north, and into the eyes was the endless forest of Allasser. At the top of the forest, it was as if a huge ball of light had risen from it, and it pierced through the clouds, because it was so bright and dazzling, as if it made the world around it slightly darker. Then a deafening explosion that tore through the air swept through like a shock wave. Bringing up a few strands of hair—the buzzing sound in the ears turned into a rumbling sound, and gradually joined together, forming a high-pitched and piercing scream, as if the tide was wave after wave, but gradually, the sound became a humming urn like a murmur in the ears, and then a higher wave was formed, drowning for a qiē, the canopy was still turning, the branches and leaves were flying all over the sky, lightning and thunder, wind and rain were intertwined, but the surroundings seemed to be a silent and silent world.

In this silent and silent world, Qiao Shi was horrified to see that the ball of light was getting bigger, engulfing the sky little by little, the clouds, its spherical appearance also began to collapse with the expansion, the blazing white shell shattered in an instant, and the dazzling flames burst out from it, and the flames continued to spread in all directions like clouds, at first very slowly, as if they were far away in the sky, but suddenly, she saw that the cloud of fire came over Allasser, and in an instant engulfed the entire forest.

The towering wall of fire continued to advance, the sharp cedars, the upright black pines, the undulating hills, had long since turned into a sea of fire, the scorching breath came to her face, her long hair was almost dancing wildly in the air current, and in the blink of an eye, the stable was already shattered in front of her, Qiao Shi screamed, and then turned to run.

But it's a pity that it's a little late.

With a loud bang, the flames were already like a hurricane sweeping across the farm, turning all of them to ashes.

"Ahh

Qiao Shi opened her eyes with a pale face, and her whole body was already soaked in cold sweat. She stood up from the wooden table, and realized that she had had that nightmare again, more than a month had passed since that terrible explosion, although she later learned that the explosion had taken place in the Dead Frost Forest to the north, and that the area that had only reached the area north of the Plantagenet Hill and the east of the Needle Hills had reached the area north of the Gordon Hill, but more than once she had dreamed of the flames engulfing the forest and the farmstead of Allasser, and the whole of Lantonyland in a sea of hellfire.

She looked up at the avenue leading to Kercus outside the window, the forest beside the road was lush and deep, the canopy was as blue as the sea, and the white trail of cotton wool had formed a white track, and the weather had been better every day since the explosion. From time to time, riders passed by on the avenue, some of them under the banner of nobility, most of them were knights from the neighborhood, and some were simply adventurers walking in groups.

These people have been appearing one after another since half a month ago, and although it is a day for adventurers to gather every year until this month, it is rare to see such a scene in a small place like Bernichel, not to mention that they are still heading north.

"Qiao Shi!" Someone shouted.

Qiao Shi saw that the person who greeted him was a hunter who lived next door, and he seemed to have gone to the city some time ago, "Uncle Becher, you have come back from the city." Did you see my father? She asked hurriedly. Old Beard, I saw him at the blacksmith, what's the matter? The hunter replied.

"Nothing, just worry, Uncle Becher, do you know what's going on?" She glanced at the passing knights. Then asked in a whisper.

"Those knights, you say?" The hunter stood by the fence and looked at the noble knights on the road, and he shook his head: "They're going to find someone." ”

"Looking for someone?"

"yes, find someone."

……

Wallendenburg.

No more than five weeks after the explosion, Echo, Jura, Macarlo, and Count Outin could see that Her Highness was still at peace on the surface, but secretly became anxious day after day. Fortunately, the negotiations with the Duke himself were quite smooth, and on the surface, Duke Vieiro was originally the mortal enemy of Count Denel, and the two of them fought on and off the stage, big and small, I don't know how many times. Now that there is an opportunity to destroy his enemies in one fell swoop, he will naturally not let go of this opportunity.

But in fact, even a hairy boy like Eco can see that the Grand Duke Viero is reciting the old feelings of the previous king. The daughter of the Duke turned out to be the mother of Her Royal Highness the Princess, and when she saw that the Duke of Griffiin was in charge of the Duke and called her grandfather, even the oldest royal party such as Makaro and Overwell were present at that time, almost to everyone's expectation, as if it reminded people that this Duke was young and graceful. Married an elf, but no one had ever seen the duchess. I don't know that there was once a silver elf duchess in the kingdom of Eruin.

However, Macaro and the others were shocked, but they also slowly realized that the little girl who used to obey them did not seem to be as well-behaved as they imagined, in fact, from the beginning, Her Royal Highness the princess had such a backhand.

Obergu VII's marriage was facilitated by the royal family. Although the fact that the king married a half-elf inevitably attracted rumors, the old king showed his stubbornness in this matter, as always. What's more, the queen of the kingdom is at least a human being, and the royal party does not want to touch the mold of Obergu VII in this trivial matter.

But I didn't expect that today, it seems that Macaro and others have come to understand what the stubborn old king pursued at the beginning. It turned out to be some ethereal love.

The Highland Knights didn't know what they were thinking, and they were so enthusiastic that they couldn't understand it, and they were going to say that the next war had nothing to do with them at all, but instead of sending an official delegation of envoys, including the Wizard of the Black Tower, they also swore that as long as Her Royal Highness the princess went to war with Jean Denel, then they would join the princess's side. This gesture no longer looks like an alliance, it is almost like surrendering allegiance.

In this way, Wang Dang is also a little incomprehensible. You must know that the Highland knights have always been detached from the outside in the political ecology of Eruin, and even in the era of the most powerful royal power, these knights and wizards only maintained a relationship of mutual respect with the royal family. When did the table come out with such a low-level posture?

You must know that at this time, theoretically speaking, they are the stronger side, and after Her Royal Highness the Princess calmed down the situation in Ampesel, she only barely managed to get to this point by relying on her own small territory and the help of the unjustified Count Toniger. In fact, if it weren't for the willingness of the Duke of Vieiro to fall to their side, it seems that His Royal Highness, the eldest son of the king in the north, would have had a better chance from the situation.

But the state of affairs progressed silently in this puzzling development, for the precedent of the Highland Knights was not so surprising that even the envoys of the Archduke Goran-Elson had come to show their allegiance, for it was clear to all that the Grand Duke had no ambitions, and was more of a hermit than a nobleman, and that he was not at all concerned with the affairs of the outside. In fact, before the arrival of the envoys of the Grand Duke Golan-Elson, there were still malicious speculations that the Grand Duke could not have been so well informed, and that most of these envoys were arranged by his staff and retainers.

Later, it turned out that this guess was correct, of course, for these details, everyone tacitly understood each other, just keep a tacit understanding with each other.

But all kinds of details make people understand at least a little.

The reign of Eruin is about to rise-

The smoothness of diplomacy could not hide Princess Griffiin's uneasiness from day to day.

Buga, Overvel had already returned to Lantonilan from the same way, after all, the explosion had occurred at the junction of Lantoyoulan and the Viero region, and everyone wanted to find out what had happened in the big explosion a month earlier. The news coming back from the front was mostly disturbing, and in the scout's report, it seemed that the entire Death Frost Forest had completely disappeared. To the east of the Gunn Mountains, south of Fort Violet, a new area of death magic has appeared, and the remaining energy proves that there had been a shocking explosion there.

There is much evidence that points to a large crater at the center of the explosion, but so far no survivors have been found in the explosion.

In the circles of the higher echelons. Especially the princess and the people around her know better what this means.

The little prince has not returned.

Count Toniguel is also nowhere to be seen.

But what disturbed Count Makaro and Count Outin even more was that they knew that the first in line of the Cruz had also disappeared in the explosion, as well as one of their large noble observers, and the leader of their Celestial Legion. In fact, Macaro and Count Outin had received information from their respective sources - the Cruz envoys had already departed earlier, leaving the Empire and on their way to Eruin.

This definitely does not bode well.

But until earlier in the day.

An unexpected guest visited Wallendenburg.

There is no doubt that this is a guest that Her Royal Highness Princess Griffiin has been waiting for for a long time.

Outside the windowsill, vines dangling from the city walls swayed in the shade. In the distance, the Quiet Wind Forest and the Gunn Mountains are bathed in the backdrop of the Varn. The warm afternoon sunlight slowly climbed up the pane, spilling into the room through the veins of the leaves, giving a warm golden glow. Inside, behind the precious dark wood desk, Princess Griffiin sat quietly on the red velvet cushions of the bench.

She tried to calm herself down, but several times she couldn't help but ask for the time. "It's almost there, she's already through the corridor. Her Royal Highness the Princess. The maid replied with a somewhat embarrassed smile.

Princess Griffiin nodded and took a soft breath. At this time, there was finally a knock on the door, as if the whole room was silent for a moment, and she replied softly, "Please come in." ”

The door opened, revealing Freya, still dressed in an Eruin uniform. It's just that the calm aura on his body is far better than before, except that his face is still a little red, and he is almost alive and is another Nimeisis. When she saw Princess Griffyne, she was stunned, and she thought that it would be Macaro or Count Outin who would meet her. But immediately a knightly salute was made.

"Your Highness the Princess."

"No need to be polite," the half-elf girl appeared calm on the surface, but she took a few breaths before she reluctantly spoke quietly, "Count...... Is Count still okay? ”

"Your Highness, Brando...... He's fine. Freya replied in a whispered with some uneasiness.

But Princess Griffiin didn't seem to notice this, and she moved uneasily, and though her subtle expression was almost indiscible, she asked with some eagerness, "What about my brother?" ”

"His Highness Haruzer is fine, he and Lord Earl are fine."

The half-elf girl breathed a shallow sigh of relief, although she tried her best to restrain herself from showing a weak look and strained her face, but her brain was a little messy. She sat there for a long time, both happy and a little lost, especially to the senses of the Count of Tonigel, and after a moment she regained her coldness: "Why doesn't the Count come here by himself?" ”

"Miss Nimesis and everyone else have been wounded, and the lord wants to send them back to Vlada or the fir realm first."

Griffiin lowered her eyelids, as if she was thinking, and after a moment, she looked at Freya again, and her silver eyes were already clear: "Freya, this is an excuse, right?" ”

Freya's face turned red, it was indeed an excuse, the real reason was that Akane was missing, and Brando was trying to find clues about the mountain girl. But there are more than that, there are some deeper reasons, but there are outsiders here, she remembered what Brando had told herself, glanced at the maid next to Her Royal Highness the Princess, and nodded.

Griffiin tilted his head slightly, and said to his maid, "Go and tell the gentlemen of the highland knights, that the Earl is not coming, but he is still alive, and ask them what they think." ”

The maid nodded slightly, and immediately left.

Then Her Royal Highness turned around and said, "What the hell is going on, and that explosion, I want to know what happened?" ”

Freya took a breath.

"That's right, Your Highness the Princess......"

……

Port of Deltatal -

At dusk, a caravan that seemed to be laden with goods staggered slowly along the crowd towards the port, but the crowd in front of the carriage gathered more and more, and something seemed to have happened on the avenue leading to the port. It was not long before the crowd was so crowded that it could not even move forward, and the carriage had to stop, and the coachman turned back and asked something, before a man under a cloak jumped from the carriage; The man, who seemed to have been wounded only recently, and who had some difficulty in moving, limped to the carriage, looked outside, and then talked to the coachman for a few words before returning to the carriage.

At this time, a voice came from inside the canopy: "What's the matter, Boimer?" The voice was a little dry, hoarse like an old man.

"Good news, Baban, that we are saved." The former looked happy, came to the side of the canopy, and whispered: "It's our envoy group, they have just landed. ”

There was silence in the canopy.

Viscount Babaan sat on the edge of a pile of hay, his face pale, as if he had some terminal illness. He could not help but breathe a sigh of relief when he heard his companion's words, and then he got up with difficulty, and lifted with his hand what was covered with a black cloth in the corner of the carriage, and it was a whole crystal, and in the crystal, the red-haired girl girl clenched her spear, and her angry expression was still vivid, she was so beautiful—but this time, it was not Akane who looked at it, but the silver halberd in the girl's hand.

He looked at it with fascination.

…… (To be continued......)