Walking in the jungle slowed down the pace of travel, but the journey was uneventful. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Three days later, a few miles from the border, Joko and his party unexpectedly encountered a group of Grey Keep soldiers searching along the road, whose distinctive brown fur uniform and long metal pipes on the back made him instantly recognizable.

After following the army back to the city of eternal night and meeting with Duke Kant, he realized what had happened - His Majesty Roland, who had received Hill's report, sent two secret letters, one instructing the detachment of the First Army, which was originally stationed in Glen, to divide into four teams and enter the dawn from the four junctions on the border between the two countries to meet the retreating diplomats. The other letter notified the Duke of the Northland to enter a state of combat readiness, in other words, to start raising food, cotton cloth, horse-drawn carriages and other materials needed for the war, and once the main army arrived in the Northland, it could directly start fighting.

Fortunately, the envoy group was safe and sound.

When he said this, the Duke even let out a sigh of relief, and Joko was flattered to hear it.

But what touched him the most was the reaction of his old friend to the incident.

Although he knew that the four witches in the team made up a large part of the group, in the secret letter, he still mentioned the name of the ambassador Yoko, and ranked him first, and this treatment alone made him feel that the fright and toss he suffered along the way were worth it.

Joko wrote a long letter from what had happened during the evacuation and handed it to the Duke, hoping that his Majesty would receive the letter and remove the Northlands from combat readiness - and now he knew at last that Hill was not wrong, and that His Majesty's attitude towards this matter was not just casual talk.

He was also amazed at the speed of the First Army's response, minus the time it took for the flying couriers to deliver the messages back and forth, which meant that on the day the order was received, the force that had been used to guard against the remnants of the Church and the evil beasts was in action. It's not that he hasn't seen nobles mobilize troops to fight, and it will take half a month just to gather knights, mercenaries, and freemen, let alone carry out tasks in groups. As long as the team disperses and there are fewer people to supervise, those mercenaries who get the advance money will probably run away in one night.

This is probably the reason why the old friend was able to attack the royal capital in one day.

It now vaguely understood that His Majesty's army was unlike anything he had ever seen before—not just in weaponry, but in every way superior to those noble vassals.

At the same time, as an ambassador, he is not alone, and the whole kingdom is not only his backing, but also his blade. As soon as he thought of this, he felt his chest swell violently, as if a flame was burning.

Now the only one who can't reassure Joko is Seventy-Six.

According to the prior agreement, the first to arrive would hang a four-color flag in a conspicuous place in the residence, and Duke Kant sent people to search the city of Eternal Night, but did not see a similar sign. Now that they had lived in the mansion arranged by the duke, they simply erected a flagpole directly at the door, allowing the bright four-colored canvas to flutter in the wind. As soon as you enter the inner city, you can see this sign at a glance.

In fact, he wasn't the only one worried about the other, and through the window, Joko could often see Anne and Amy standing under the flagpole, apparently wanting to see Seventy-Six return safely as soon as possible. As the relationship gradually deepened, Anne's attitude towards him also changed little by little, at least she would not stare at him with a wary face as before.

On more than one occasion, Ciel's men approached him to make his way to the West as soon as possible, and the magician even told him bluntly that as a seducer, Seventy-Six's chances of surviving were slim to none. If the knights hadn't pursued them, she would have arrived at the border village in a day's time, and then reached Eternal Night City faster than the rest of the group. Now there is still no movement at the meeting place they agreed upon, and the result is basically doomed.

Joko understood this, too, but he still wanted to wait a few more days, not for anything else, but for the words she had said when she parted.

"I'll join you again when the turmoil is over—right in the border city of Greykeep, where you remember to wait for me. 」

In the days after the separation, he finally understood where that strange feeling came from.

Although Seventy-Six is a nominal slave, he has never treated her as a slave, either in "Black Money" or in the Dawn Kingdom.

Yoko has decided that he will set her free if she returns alive.

Unfortunately, this realization came too late.

Another three days passed, and just as he was about to leave the Northland the next day, things suddenly took a turn for the worse—a carriage stopped by the flagpole, and the coachman seemed to be quite anxious, trying to say something to the guard at the door, but he was hesitant to come forward. Joko, who had witnessed all this from the window, had not had time to go out before the figures of Anne and Amy appeared by the carriage.

Seventy-six is back!

The news soon reached the ears of every member of the emissary group, and even Duke Kant rushed over curiously to meet the sacrificial maid.

But her situation is not good.

When Joko saw Seventy-Six, she was covered in scars, her right hand and left foot were broken, and she could barely move.

"Your Excellency......" Seventy-Six blinked and struggled to put on a smile, "I've been waiting. ”

In an instant, he felt his whole body relax.

"It's good for you to come back. ”

The group spent the next week in Eternal Night until Seventy-Six's injuries stabilized before heading for Glen and leaving the Northland by boat.

During this time, Joko also asked about what happened after the two separated.

She was overtaken by the Knight of Glow before the sun set, and in order to delay as much time as possible, she untied the reins of all her horses, drove them in the opposite direction, and stopped the speeding knights, while she fled to the mountains by the side of the road on her own bike. However, before he could get far, he was stopped by a mountain stream.

Thinking that there was only one way to die if she was caught, she jumped directly off the hanging wall more than ten zhang deep. Fortunately, there were branches and vines on both sides of the rock wall, so she did not fall to pieces, but in the process of tumbling, she knocked her head and bled out, and her hands and feet were also broken by the protruding rocks, and she was already unconscious when she fell to the side of the stream.

Probably because he didn't find a suitable way down the mountain, or because he thought she was dead, the knight didn't pursue her. When she woke up late at night, she relied on the cold water of the stream to keep her awake, and occasionally caught a small fish or shrimp.

Two days later, after 76, he was found by a nearby fisherman, and his life was saved.

The hero can heal her pain, but he can't heal her wounds, so he sends her to the Westside to see if the witches there can do anything they can do to restore her health.

Either way, she finally came back alive!

Joko stood contentedly in the bow of the ship, standing in the wind, and the sailboat hoisted its sails in the direction of Neverwinter.