With the exception of a few islands in the depths of the ocean, almost isolated from the rest of the world, and small pieces of land that have almost never been set foot in, the Mother Continent is the only known and thriving continent on the planet, with an irregular oval shape that stretches across the northern and southern hemispheres, and extends a little further into the northern hemisphere - its northern part has been plunging into the icy ocean, and its southern part has barely crossed the equator, or even reached the temperate regions of the southern hemisphere. Therefore, for a long time in history, scholars of the mother continent believed that they lived in a one-way world of hot and cold, the further north they went, the colder it became, until the sky froze, and the further south they went, the hotter it became, until the earth melted, so in the myths and stories of the old days of the mother continent, there was also a legend of the king of cold ice in the far north and the lava tyrant of the southern abyss.

This is what Lilina told us when we were idle and bored.

The place we went was in the northern part of the home continent, and it was almost close to the frozen wasteland. If it weren't for the portal, if ordinary people wanted to come to this cold country, they would have to cross the northern principality, and then cross the countless scattered settlements in the Northern Mangyuan that were divided by barbarians, until they reached the last frontier that the intelligent beings of this world could occupy for a long time. There is a loose kingdom called "Goodall", a country where there is almost no clear political power, large and small city-states and even towns are establishing themselves as kings, but strangely, this is not the result of a long war of secession, but a delicate equilibrium formed after a long process of civilization and mutual compromise, countless large and small city-states each have their own laws and their own lords, and they are nominally ruled by the northern royal family "Gudel", The Northland royal family did not seem to have any intention of increasing their centralized power, and even rejoiced in seeing their princes form such a loose state of state, they only needed their nominal subjects to do two things: worship, and worship the gods, and in addition to fulfilling the most basic obligations of protecting the kingdom in the event of an invasion of foreign enemies, and then completely let it go. Such a way of ruling and a state structure is difficult for outsiders to imagine. Anyway, I almost can't think of it if there were no accidents. How could the royal family of the Gudales here have not been replaced for so long, but in fact, for a long time, the entire Northland kingdom "Gudal" has been extremely stable, with almost no internal friction.

After reviewing the information Lilina had gathered, I realized that it was all because of the "Storm Giant".

In the extreme north of the continent, although there is not a single Ice King, there is a powerful ancient spirit, and that is the Storm Giant. This powerful creature revered as the god of the Northland is considered to be one of the most powerful ancient spirits, he is believed to have appeared to mortals when the mortals of the mother continent first arrived in the northern ice fields and established towns on the border, and its true existence will naturally only last longer than that, the storm giant is described as a disembodied cold creature, legend has it that he lives in the deepest part of the northland ice field, where the most advanced alchemical airships of the mother continent cannot reach, the storm giant is a never-ending mass, A male spirit mixed with ice, snow, clouds, and lightning. Only when mortals arrive before him. And it just so happens that when this ancient spirit is interested, this storm will take on the form of a human, he can step over the widest ice abyss and the highest mountains on the Arctic Ice Sheet when he stands up, and when he is angry, he can freeze all the mortal towns along the entire border in one breath, and the only way to communicate with this storm giant is in the hands of the royal family of Goodall.

This is the cornerstone of the stable existence of this loose state in the far north of the continent: the Gudell royal family is behind the storm giants. In fact, the word "Goodall" means "servant" in the local language, meaning servant of the storm giant.

However, it is difficult to explain why the royal family of the Goodall, who have mastered such a powerful force, would take the initiative to keep their kingdom in such an unorthodox state, and even seem to care little about their own royal power. They are a group of very mysterious guys, who live in their own frozen castle and hardly eat the fireworks of the world, and the information about them on the continent is nothing but legends......

Well, basically nonsense.

The Northland border is mountainous and hilly, which shows a very intense but short-lived period of geological activity. Towns with human settlements here are mostly built on the mountains, and sheltering in the mountains can effectively protect against the cold winds from the northern ice fields, and it is also easier to get extra food from the mountains and forests. Our destination is a medium-sized town tucked away in a valley at the foot of the mountain, with a particularly straightforward and strange name: Ice Blades. The name is probably due to its long, narrow shape and its sits on the border line of the ice field, which looks like an ice cutter piercing the ice field border, and in such a cold and scarce place, it is rare for a slightly larger town to expand or change its base, and it seems conceivable to name it after the shape of the town.

The town of Ice Blades is probably the larger "city" of the place, and it's close to the area where the Goodale royal family lived, but the main reason we chose it as our destination was Sakina and Sona's request: they said they wanted to come here and find someone.

"Phew, it's much cooler than the Dragon Kingdom." Looking at the entrance of the town in front of me, I exhaled and said, the warm air brought from another space disappeared with the portal, and it was instantly dispersed by the cold wind here, we were still in front of the portal of the City of Angels a second, and this second we were already in the subarctic region, and the temperature change is very large, but for me, this temperature difference is also a sigh, but it is the two cold-blooded creatures who follow beside me......

"Sakina, you're all right, are you?" I turned my head to look at Sakina and Sona, who were following me, tightly wrapped in heavy clothes, these two called themselves cold-blooded creatures more than once, and I did touch Sakina's tail, cold and cold like a snake, I really wonder if they can stand the low temperature here, how can they meet any friends in such a place?

"Don't worry," Sona smiled faintly, "Although it is a cold-blooded species, half-dragons are not so extreme that they can't survive in a low temperature environment, but if the weather is too cold, they will be less energetic." And me and Sagina ...... We've lived here for a long time, we grew up on the Northland border, and it's ...... It's our hometown. ”

"Huh?" I was stunned for a moment, "How can two half-dragon people who are afraid of the cold live in a place where the mountains are covered by heavy snow for seven or eight months this year?" ”

"It's not something we can control." Sagina yawned. With a lethargic look, he rubbed his eyes and muttered, "We were sold here by slave traders, and half-dragons will be mentally unhealthy in the case of low temperatures, and naturally it is easier to control, so some mages who do potion experiments prefer to put half-dragon slaves in a low-temperature environment, anyway, they don't need half-dragons to do much hard work." Half-dragon slaves are often sold to two places, the Far North and the Far South, and the Far North Half-Dragons are used as servants or test materials like us. Because it is easy to control, and even in a low temperature state, the physical strength of the half-dragon people is stronger than that of ordinary races; The Half-Dragons of the Far South were regarded as drudgery because of their strength and the fact that they could work longer hours a day in warmer weather. ”

Sagina said these unfair things, her eyes were complicated, with sadness and bitterness. She rarely brings up these topics, but it may be that we are already familiar with each other. And the history of the humiliation of the half-dragon people has also seen the end of the day. She still talks about these things in front of me once in a while. Listening to her mention that bitter past again, I didn't feel very comfortable, and asked hesitantly, "That...... You're not going to come here to find the mage back then, are you? Looking for him for revenge? ”

"Hah, who has that spare time," Sagina smiled contemptuously, and led the way, "he was already old and dying, and the half-dragon man lived longer than a human. Now that guy is probably even rotten to the bone. The other mage lived in another city, far, far away from here......" Sagina said, looking in a certain direction in the field: "It's really far, I can't imagine now that we can escape from there, all the way away, in such a cold place." Still alive......"

"Then you come back here......" I looked at Sagina with some confusion, this place was certainly not a place full of good memories for her and Sona, could there be any people or things worth remembering? I remembered the experiences of these two half-dragon girls—slavery, drug tests, theft, imprisonment, wandering—and there was hardly any light in the first half of their lives.

"We're going to return something." Sona whispered, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a thick handwritten notebook that I don't know how many times she had been flipped, "Thirty years...... It's time to give it back......"

I looked at the crumpled notebook in a daze, time had left traces of vicissitudes on it, the surface of the notebook was covered with a layer of dirty oil, almost all the pages were uneven, and the spine of the book had obvious traces of multiple repairs, indicating that it had fallen apart more than once, Sona's hand holding the notebook trembled slightly, and the expression on her face seemed to want to laugh but couldn't: "We almost forgot the name of this town, but Sakina overheard your conversation before you left, We are reminded of this place from which we fled thirty years ago...... The place has barely changed from when it first left...... Just as cold. ”

I blinked, remembering the origin of this notebook: it was the beginning of Sagina and Sona's journey as explorers, but it was a stolen thing.

The two half-dragon girls who had escaped from the terrible poison laboratory had no skills, wandering in a state of confusion to survive, and even deliberately being caught in prison in order to fill their stomachs and escape the cold winter, and it can even be said that the only people they knew in the first half of their lives were homeless people and jailers who also hid in the prison and the snow. The notebook came from a young jailer, perhaps out of sympathy or just before he had time to be tainted by real life, and the young jailer showed too much soft-heartedness towards Sakina, even taking the initiative to talk about his father's experience as an explorer, and showing the precious heirloom in front of the two half-dragon maidens.

Sagina and Sona took the notebook when they were released from prison for the last time, and then left for the adventurers.

This walk is ...... Thirty years? I really didn't expect that the story that Sakina and Sona told me about it was thirty years ago. Thirty years is probably not too long for a half-dragon man, but for a human, it is almost half a life.

"I don't know if he's still a jailer," Sagina suddenly smiled, as if she was looking forward to being unburdened, and she was happy, "He was a hairy boy when we left. By this time, he should have already started a family - maybe even become a grandfather...... Call. I hope he doesn't cut us both with a knife, Sona, what do you say? ”

Sona carefully put away her notes and smiled, "No." ”

For these scattered cities on the Northland border, outsiders must be very uncommon things, the most eye-catching Alaya and Aurelia have entered the invisible state to follow behind everyone, but just like that, the appearance of me, Qianqian, Lin Xue and the half-dragon duo still attracted the attention of many passers-by. However, I soon found that their focus was more on the two half-dragon girls. There was some surprise in the eyes of the passers-by, and with a faint jealousy, I suddenly thought that this might be the result of the recent large-scale activities of the half-dragon cultists - we have been busy studying the ruins, and have never paid attention to the movements of ordinary people in the mother continent, but as long as you think about it, you should know that the entire race of the half-dragon people has suddenly become a dragon descendant, and the impact on this world must be quite large - anyway, the most direct impact is that all the half-dragon slaves in this world must be free. Nowadays, most of the half-dragons in the whole world have migrated south. No external force can stop them. And now that there are two half-dragon girls who look so young in a remote city in the Northlands, it is likely to make people very curious.

But Sagina and Sona turned a deaf ear to the gaze of the people around them, and they just looked around the streets and houses they passed by with a look of remembrance, and introduced us with a smile on their faces: the cold temperature didn't seem to freeze the enthusiasm that these two were burning now. Sakina's memory was good, and she could even blurt out the name of a tavern that was about to appear around the corner in front of her—a misremember, but at least there was one.

"The owner of this tavern is a wife-fearing fellow, and he's a nice guy," Sagina said, pointing to the old but lively tavern on the side of the road. "He often prepares leftovers for the homeless people in the neighborhood or something. He also had a daughter, a beautiful girl...... Of course, I'm afraid I'm already a mother of my child now. ”

During Sakina's introduction (which made several mistakes, after all, time has passed, and this place is not what Sagina remembers), we gradually come to a high ground at the northern end of the town, where there is a sturdy stone building. That's the prison facility in this border city called Ice Blade - it's closer than you think from the city's downtown area, and it's just a two-story rudimentary facility, and the guards at the door are very spiritual, but it's clear that in such a remote and poor place, even the prison is afraid that there are few murderers in it, and most of the people locked up in this place are just some thieves, and the warden's office in this place probably has the same function as the radiator in our police station.

Even Sakina, a guy who usually has a little big nerves, couldn't help but show some nervousness at this time, and then pressed some of the hair blown up by the cold wind, and stepped forward to negotiate with the guards, and I casually asked Sona: "You have a deep impression of that jailer?" ”

"Sort of," Sona squeezed out a smile, "It's not easy to meet a good guy in a place like this, not to mention that the good guy is still a jailer, he's a young man who doesn't fit in with his surroundings, and he's not even a little naïve when we first met when he first became a jailer, and he's completely different from his rude and irascible colleagues, and he's even a little naïve at the time." Sona shrugged as she spoke, "He even said that his future dream is to become a judge and maintain order in Ice Blade City." At that time, he was very smiling, and he often talked to me and Sakina, and even secretly brought us his lunch, and if it hadn't happened later, maybe he would have become my first real friend with Sakina. ”

Lin Xue dragged out her voice: "Oh...... The second middle school boy in the budding period of youth. ”

At this time, Sagina had already completed the negotiation and walked over, and it seemed that she had obtained permission to enter, but the expression on her face was a little strange, and Sona couldn't help but ask with concern, "What's wrong?" The guards embarrassed you? ”

"No," Sagina shook her head, leading us across the drawbridge in front of the prison, "these soldiers thought we were bribing the warden's inmates' families - Vir was already the warden here. ”

Will, it seems that this is the name of the second best boy in secondary school back then.

"Warden?" Sona's voice rose slightly, "He's really not simple, this can be regarded as a step closer to his dream." ”

Sakina shook her head noncommittally: "Who knows, I always feel uncomfortable...... Maybe it's because it's so cold here. ”

After walking past the drawbridge and narrow stone passage in front of the prison is the inner courtyard, which is surrounded by a high stone wall, where light prisoners usually let off steam, and led by a scruffy veteran, we specially labeled "visitors" enter the guard area next to the inner courtyard. The light inside the stone building was somewhat dim, with a cold white light slanting in through the long, tall windows. It's not even as bright as the torches in the corridors on either side. There was a slight musty smell in the air, and a warm brazier burned silently around the corner of the hallway. The veteran led us to a heavy studded wooden door and left without saying a word, and Sona and Sakina stared at the door for a moment before the latter cautiously knocked on the door.

"Bang-bang-" The hoop slammed against the heavy wooden door, and the muffled sound echoed through the long, dark hallway, much louder than expected, causing Sagina to stick out her tongue, and a moment later, a heavy, somewhat hoarse man's voice came from behind the wooden door, "Come in." The bastard spoke? ”

Sakina was stunned for a moment, pushed the door open hard, and immediately there was a strong smell of inferior tobacco from inside, and we entered the room and saw the scene inside: a small room of more than ten square meters, the four walls were made of rough carved stones, and there were large strings of keys and old locks that could no longer be seen on the walls, as well as two lanterns for night patrols. In the center of the room was a large heavy table. The table was littered with miscellaneous items and dossiers that no one had carefully read, and behind the table sat a balding middle-aged man, who looked to be in his mid-fifties, dressed in a crumpled prison uniform and without a beard, but who looked a little fleshy because of it.

The middle-aged warden was a little surprised when he saw a group of people coming in, and the jailers who had not come to report to work as he expected. He shook his shiny head and said in a rough voice, "What person? Visits? Why is there no one to report? ”

He didn't recognize the two half-dragon girls in front of him at all—although I thought that with the relatively long life span of the half-dragons, Sagina and Sona should have had limited changes in appearance from thirty years ago, but the other party still didn't recognize them.

"We ...... It's coming for you. Sagina didn't know how to speak, the expression on her face was quite stiff, and she only stammered at the end. Obviously, even after all kinds of mental preparations. The bald middle-aged man who appeared in front of him now was also far from the shy and somewhat naïve jailer boy in her impression, so that all the lines that had been prepared before were useless at this time.

"Looking for me?" The middle-aged man who had already made a fortune came out from behind the table, "Ha, which prisoner did you intercede?" I've seen a lot of this set, and it depends on your sincerity and the weight you can take out - well, half-dragons? He seemed to finally notice the restless tails behind Sagina and Sona, and raised his eyebrows, "You've been moving quite a bit lately...... Wait a minute! ”

The middle-aged man finally stopped, a look of surprise appeared on his face, his eyes fixed on Sakina's face, and then quickly turned to Sona, as if he had finally broken the barrier of memory, and a strange sound came from his throat: it was a strange sound subconsciously when many words were blocked together and could not be spoken.

"You remember," Sagina smiled dryly and waved her hand, grabbing Sona's arm, "Vir, it's our ......"

"You ...... You guys! The middle-aged man named Will shook violently, his arm slowly raised, pointing to this side, his voice staccato and "It's you?!" ”

"We want to ......" Sakina had just said three words when she was loudly interrupted by the other party: "Why are you here?!" ”

Will's voice was very loud, and a mouth spewed a strong smell of inferior tobacco, his emotions were obviously very excited, so that the horizontal flesh on his face trembled, and his eyes bulged with fierce emotion, but this expression did not last long, and he suddenly walked back to his place quickly, and sat down heavily: "Say! ”

"We ...... Come and return your things......" Sona seemed to muster up courage for a long time, and then took out the thick notebook from her body, which had been away from her master for thirty years, and placed it on the warden's desk, Will's eyes widened suddenly, and he looked at the black book in front of him in a daze, as if he couldn't believe his eyes, he slowly picked up the book and opened it carefully.

Inside was a small note that had been yellowed and brittle.

"Look, the original bookmarks are all there," said Sakina quickly, "we have always protected them well, not a single page has been lost, and the leaves you picked have been made of cloud wax and palm oil, and they are sandwiched between the last page......

Will quickly flipped through the notes, and found the leaf that had long lost its original color and had been made into a specimen on the last page, his movements froze at this moment, he was silent for a long time, his head lowered as if turned into a stone carving, Sakina looked at us uneasily, and took two steps forward: "The ...... Yes......"

"Let's go." A low, hoarse voice came from the other side.

"Huh?" Sagina didn't hear clearly and asked.

"Let's go!" Will raised his head abruptly and said loudly, "I've brought something, so let's go!" ”

"We haven't said ...... yet" Sagina always had some rough lines, and she stubbornly leaned forward half a step, but was grabbed by Sona, who took a deep look at Will, who had already passed middle age and turned into a rude old prison warden, and whispered, "Will, see you again." Then he pulled Sagina out of the room.

I walked behind me when I was about to step out of the door when I heard a hoarse voice behind me: "Wait. ”

I looked at Vir puzzled, the other party opened his mouth, and finally barely squeezed out a strange smile, as if he was no longer used to such an expression: "Help close the door, and give them a message by the way, all these years...... Actually, I'm doing well. ”

The heavy studded wooden door creaked and slowly closed, and I deliberately paused in the doorway for a moment before I caught up with the others. Lin Xue also deliberately fell behind, and only after I caught up did she say without looking back: "Let's cry inside." ”

"You're right."

"What's wrong with him?" I'm afraid that she is the least enlightened of all the people present, and of course the questions asked are not very enlightened - to be honest, I sometimes envy her simple head.

"Sacrifice your youth," Lin Xue glanced back at the door of the warden's room, which had been hidden in the darkness, and then looked at the two half-dragon girls walking in front, "By the way, it may also be a tribute to a first love thirty years ago - I guess he definitely had a crush on one of Sagina and Sona back then, a woman's intuition." ”

After coming from the gloomy prison corridor to the bright outdoors, Sagina and Sona couldn't help but take a deep breath, anyway, they may really let go of this thirty-year-old burden, I told them what Will was going to convey to themselves, Sona finally brought a little smile on her face, and faced the wind blowing in the distance: "It seems to ...... The wind is a little warmer. ”

Sagina looked at her friend inexplicably, and after blowing a gust of wind, she shrunk her neck: "Oh, it's as cold, maybe I'll really hibernate if I continue to freeze like this." ”

"Your Majesty," Aurelia suddenly interrupted everyone's thoughts as she pointed in the direction of the distant ice field, "I sense that Odemseus is calling, and his condition is ...... It's weird. ”