The nobles’ winter hunting ground is about fifty miles away from the city of Helensa. It takes more than three hours to walk on horseback. There are eleven magic caravans in the hunting team, and the road is covered with a layer of trampled
The very solid snow greatly slowed down the hunting team's progress. The team passed through the red pine forest and headed north into the rolling mountains.
The mountains here are not steep. There are stretches of forest and open land between the mountains. The open land is covered with bushes. Some forest animals saw the horse team and fled into the depths of the forest.
The sun was shining brightly, the sky was blue, and white snow was spread across the mountains. Surdak walked out of the red pine forest on horseback and felt that his eyes suddenly became brighter.
A group of young nobles who were riding in the front galloped and chased each other in the snow, which suddenly broke the dullness of the team walking through the red pine forest. Karl also ran out of the team on horseback and rushed to a car.
At the window of the magic caravan, someone pushed open the window from the inside, revealing Mrs. Christie's happy and angry face.
Miss Brenda was unable to participate in the winter hunt this time because she was ill.
Llewellyn could only stay in the team and chat with Suldak and Tax Collector Byrd. Tax Collector Byrd liked a hunting leather suit, and the palm-wide straps could not tighten his beer belly.
As if recalling his great achievements on the hunting ground twenty years ago, he told Suldak how he shot an arrow through a thousand-pound wild boar. The wild boar was covered in tree oil, as if it had a layer of armor.
, a pair of tusks is one foot long.
Baron Llewellyn listened with great interest, and occasionally interjected to ask Collector Bird about the details of the hunt.
"It's a pity that in recent years, it's rare to see wild boars that big in the suburbs of Helensa. However, the forest gray wolves are multiplying more and more." Tax Collector Byrd was riding on horseback, blowing white breath from his mouth.
Even riding this horse made him panting a little.
Suldak remembered the experience of being kidnapped by a black magician a few days ago. He was carrying Darcy Christie on his back and was followed by a group of forest gray wolves in the red pine forest. Those two nights were really fresh in his memory, so he was quite concerned.
He said with emotion: "A few days ago, I encountered a group of forest gray wolves in the red pine forest. I followed them all the way to the outside of the village before quietly retreating."
Tax Collector Bird wiped a handful of frost and snow from his beard and introduced to the two people: "These forest gray wolves were not originally at the top of the food chain. In the past, there were first-order monster rock tigers living here. They specialized in hunting prey."
They make a living by gray wolves in the forest. However, in addition to precious leather, these rock tigers also give birth to magic-marked spirit bones. They are also first-order monsters themselves, attracting demon hunters to the southern area of Paglos Mountain. As the rock tigers gradually disappear,
, the forest gray wolf population here has multiplied more and more, and now, it has almost occupied the entire red pine forest."
His hand pointed to the large pine forest among the mountains in the distance.
As the team walked along the edge of the bushes, one could almost see pieces of red fruits hanging in bunches on the branches even after being frozen by frost and snow. The beef in sour soup stewed with these red fruits is also a specialty of Helensa City.
Dishes.
Surdak originally wanted to hunt sand wolves here in the hunting ground in order to obtain some primary sacrifices, but now that his leg injury has healed, there is no need for primary sacrifices, and the hunting mood is not so urgent. Now I heard that there are rocks here
Tigers are out and about, and I have some curiosity in my heart.
“Can we still find traces of rock tigers in the hunting grounds?” Surdak asked curiously.
Tax Collector Byrd gently shook his head and said: "It has disappeared completely a long time ago. Now occasionally some sand wolves are used to cross the barren land and come to this forest. Those sand wolves do not hunt forest gray wolves.
On the contrary, sometimes some strings will be left behind, and because of the power of the sand wolf's bloodline, most of these gray wolves will become the wolf king of the wolf pack, and sometimes they will be promoted to first-level monsters."
Llewellyn looked around curiously and saw no trace of wolves among the snow-covered mountains, so he asked, "Why didn't we meet gray wolves along the way?"
Tax Collector Byrd laughed and replied: "There are so many people in our team, and there are so many young nobles and guards in the team. Those forest gray wolves are not fools, how can they seek death? They must be lurking in
In the dark, as long as someone in our team is alone, he will definitely encounter those gray wolves within a quarter of an hour, and I can guarantee that there will definitely be more than one group."
Baron Llewellyn heard what Tax Collector Byrd said, and couldn't help but touch the sword at his waist, and asked nervously: "Collector Byrd, is it really so scary?"
Tax Collector Byrd patted his belly full of oil and water vigorously and said with certainty: "My territory is here, of course I know it very well!"
"Okay, how long do we have to go?" Baron Llewellyn awkwardly touched the inner side of his thigh. It was already a little painful from being rubbed on the horse's back, and his stomach grumbled in protest, but there still seemed to be walking in front of him.
An endless road.
Tax Collector Byrd looked at the surrounding scenery and said to Baron Llewellyn: "We will be there just after we climb over the mountain ridge ahead."
…
The group of people arrived at the residence of the winter hunting ground at noon. It turned out to be a manor built near the lake. This glacial lake covering an area of nearly four hectares was covered with a thick layer of white snow, and was surrounded by patches of snow.
In the oak and fir forest, because the number of people hunting this winter was far greater than the previous ones, the Christie family's villa could not accommodate so many people, so the three manors around the hunting ground also became temporary residences for these hunters.
There are three manors surrounding this glacial lake. In addition to the manor built specifically for vacation by the Christie family, the lakeside villa of Tax Collector Byrd, and the manor of the Goss family.
After arriving at the hunting ground and residence, they did not see any ferocious prey. Some young nobles were a little impatient and wanted to go for a walk in the forest together, but were stopped by the experienced nobles. After the group assigned a residence, Su
Erdak followed Tax Collector Byrd to his lakeside villa.
Originally, the three manors were separated by a certain distance and could only face each other across the lake. However, the lake was already frozen solid. Tax Collector Byrd led Karl, Suldak, and Baron Llewellyn across the ice.
It only took about twenty minutes to arrive at Tax Collector Byrd's lakeside villa, accompanied by Karl's lover, Mrs. Christie, and several other young nobles whom Surdak was not familiar with.
The lakeside villa of Tax Collector Byrd is a two-story attic. Although it looks a bit old, it still looks like it has been renovated.
This villa is built near mountains and rivers, with rolling mountains behind it. It seems to be a location with excellent scenery.
When everyone arrived at the villa, the servants in the Byrd Tax Official's house had already cleaned the villa in advance and lit a fire in the fireplace. Everyone walked into the villa and immediately felt the warmth in the room. The Byrd Tax Official's house
The housekeeper was very considerate and divided Carl and Mrs. Christie into two adjacent rooms, while Suldak was in the guest room on the lake side.
The original plan was that after everyone settled down, they would return to the Christie family's manor for lunch, and then take advantage of the afternoon to walk around in the woods to familiarize themselves with the terrain nearby. However, because everyone had been riding horses for nearly half a day,
, were already exhausted, and Tax Collector Byrd’s butler had also prepared barbecue steaks. Collector Byrd suggested that everyone might as well have lunch here, take a rest and then meet up at Christie Manor.
By the time everyone returned to the Christie Manor in hunting attire, some young nobles had already begun to head into the backwoods. Darcy Christie, wearing a spiked crystal lion leather armor and a white cloak, met with several
The young nobleman was waiting on horseback by the lake. From a distance, Suldak saw Leonard, who was talking to Darcy Christie in a lively manner. Next to him was Miss Fanny, who had a sharp voice. In addition to these guests,
In addition, Miss Hoyle actually stayed with Darcy.
Seeing Suldak coming across the ice lake, Darcy Christie waved to Suldak and motioned for him to come over.
The meeting between Suldak and Swordsman Leonard was a bit awkward. Leonard never thought that Miss Darcy Christie, who was originally a bitter enemy of Hathaway, would actually become friends with Suldak.
Leonard couldn't figure out the reason. He stared at Darcy Christie with wide eyes, trying to get some understandable answer from her, such as whether it was due to family pressure, or...
They were setting a trap to make this hateful Surdak fall into the abyss of eternal destruction, but looking at the degree of familiarity between Darcy and Surdak, these conjectures became completely unreasonable.
Leonard couldn't figure out how Cole Norton couldn't even save Darcy Christie after losing Hathaway. He wanted to write a letter to his good friend Cole Norton in the evening.
, tell in detail what he saw and heard in Helensa City.
"Aren't you going to hunt sand wolves? You can look north through this golden oak forest. Sand wolves often appear there, but you'd better form a more reliable team. Those sand wolves are not like forest gray wolves.
That's easy to deal with." When Darcy Christie spoke, she liked to raise her white chin and show others her snow-white neck, like a proud swan.
Leonard was secretly happy, it turned out that Darcy dug a hole here...
Then he was worried that Suldak would see through Darcy's trick and was not willing to look for those sand wolves at all.
Because in his opinion, encountering a group of sand wolves in the wild without the accompanying of a Constructed Knight or a professional demon hunter was simply asking for death, and he was not prepared to give any warning to Surdak.
“Okay, I will take the time to try my luck. If you find any trace of Rock Tiger, remember to let me know.”
Surdak showed a very careless look when he spoke. He really didn't want to go through this oak forest. There was snow everywhere in the forest. If Gubolai's horse accidentally stepped into a snow pit, it would be very dangerous.
It's easy to break his legs. He has lost interest in sand wolves now. There are five devil antelope heads in his backpack, which is enough to deal with any emergencies.
However, Surdak didn't want to mix with Darcy Christie's team. Leonard's hostile eyes made the entire team look at Suldak with vigilance. Surdak planned to surround him with Karl.
It was okay to just walk around the lake, so he waved his hand to Darcy and motioned for him to go around the lake.
Of course Darcy Christie could not leave her classmates who had come from afar, so she had no choice but to watch Suldak turn and leave.
Seeing her aunt Mrs. Christie and Captain Carl being very sweet together, Darcy Christie was filled with dark thoughts and her mood became a little irritable. She was not very willing to have any interaction with her aunt Mrs. Christie's circle of friends, but she could
But Karl and Suldak are good friends...
Tax Collector Byrd looked at Miss Hoyle who looked melancholy, his eyes were a little dazed, and Suldak was also speechless. At Tax Collector Byrd's age, he was more than enough to be Miss Hoyle's father, but he actually put on a show.
She looks like a pig brother, although Miss Hoyle is indeed a little miserable recently, but even if she is a little more miserable, she is still a dame who has inherited a large territory.
Suldak saw someone on the glacial lake digging an ice hole with a large iron spear, looking like he was preparing to catch fish, so he rode over to watch the fun, leaving Carl and Mrs. Christie far behind.
I don’t want to stand next to the two of them and become the most annoying person.
Baron Llewellyn and Tax Collector Byrd stayed, and went into the dense oak forest with Darcy Christie to look for prey in the forest.
The sky lit up in red deep in the oak forest. When the magic flare went off, Suldak was pulling up the eleventh whitetail fish on the ice. The plump and round whitetail fish was pulled out of the water, and lay in the snow on the ice.
After a few flops, it will soon freeze hard.
Some guards who were on alert near the manor also saw the distress signal deep in the oak forest. Everyone immediately put down what they were doing and mounted their horses and rushed towards the direction of the magic signal flare. Surdak did not expect that there was actually someone there.
After sending out a distress signal, it was too late to deal with the white-tailed fish. He whistled to the Gubo Lai horse by the lake and ran quickly to the war horse.
Surdak mounted his horse and broke into the oak forest with the other guards who came to support him. The oak forest was not as densely populated as it looked from the outside. There was enough space between the tall and strong oak trees to gallop on horseback, but it required
Be careful of the tree roots hidden under the snow and the rotten trees lying across the forest. Fortunately, someone was riding a horse in front of him. Surdak only needed to follow the horse's hoof prints to find the safest road.
When I arrived at the scene in the dense forest, I happened to see a group of young nobles surrounding five glazed beasts. These cats, which are obviously larger than snow leopards, are much more ferocious than leopards because their fur looks full of radiance.
, especially in the snow, it looks crystal clear, so it is called the Glazed Beast by the people of the empire. The Glazed Beast is a second-level monster. Because its leather has a certain concealment effect in the snow, generally speaking, assassins and thieves like it very much.
A kind of light leather armor made of leather, so the leather of the Glazed Beast is also very valuable.
Surdak did not expect to see the Glazed Beast on the outskirts of Helensa City, and someone seemed to be injured at the scene. As the Christie family guards arrived one after another, the young nobles and guards gradually became more and more aware of the Glazed Beast in the battle with the Glazed Beast.