Istria slowly turned the sword blade, letting the morning light pass through the shallow floating dust and shine on the sword body made of cold steel. The metallic light was like a mirror, reflecting a thin, serious face.
, with brown, sharp eyes. He watched silently, and then gently pulled the sword out from the shelf, bringing up a wisp of smoke.
On the spine of the sword, which shone with cold light, there were words carved in fire, emitting a color like golden flames in the darkness, 'Blood flows like a river, crows whisper; the storm has arrived, and the longship is coming -', and then
It is an ancient surname and first name - Edwin Clairvaux.
He put away the sword and inserted it into the scabbard wrapped in black leather. On the black patent leather, there was the emblem of a crow with wings spread. The sword was hung on the belt, and underneath was a black coat and chain mail.
There was a heavy friction sound between fabric and metal when walking.
The owner of the bakery put on deerskin gloves and walked through the hall. In the darkness, there were swarms of giant rats. Their slender tails passed through the narrow light cast by the skylight, making a soft rustling sound as if accompanying the footsteps of the owner of the place.
The famine has come, and these creatures born in the darkness have grown especially plump and shiny.
Istra walked to the door, took off the gray windbreaker hanging on the doorknob, put it on his body, pulled up the cloak, and lowered the brim of the hat to cover his face. He opened the door, and there was a light among the dark clouds.
The children poured into the dim room, and the tiny creatures dispersed amidst the screams. The owner of the bakery raised his head and bathed in the morning light.
He was silent for a moment, silently watching the light swaying between the clouds. After a while, he raised his right hand and gently pressed the corner of his eyebrow with his index finger and middle finger.
"Is it almost done?"
He moved his lips slightly and asked as if talking to himself.
A huge raven flapped its wings and landed from the eaves, landing on his shoulder. The man's stubbled side face was reflected in its blood-red eyes. Under the edge of the hood, at the corner of his eyebrows
, leaving a small scar in the shape of a claw.
And as if in response to his question, the scar suddenly became hot, and it seemed to be painful even through thick gloves. Istra let go of his hand, raised his brows, and couldn't help but feel in his heart
I recalled that somewhat interesting boy.
He smiled faintly, lowered his head, closed the door, and walked forward. He looked like a swordsman, wearing a heavy coat, a man with a sword, and a long cloak on his body, and gradually disappeared into the alley.
the end of.
Few people saw him leaving, and it seemed that until many years later, the people living here had even gradually forgotten that there once was a bakery here with a taciturn owner.
A timid girl and an interesting boy.
…
"You mean Abigail didn't come back?"
"Miss Saya, someone saw Abigail leaving with the people on the other side. I mean, he might not have gone to that hotel at all."
With a tired look on her face, Saya opened the tent and walked out, coming to the visitor. Of course she understood what the other person meant by "people on the other side". For this camp, she was actually just an outsider.
That’s all.
More and more people are willing to stand on their side, but not everyone is happy to see it happen. Differences between the two sides have already arisen, but they are just tacitly understood.
"What did you say?"
"I said, Abigail didn't listen to your order and went to find Mr. Ed."
"But if he didn't go to find Ed," Saya asked, "then how did Ed find us?"
"This... we don't know, Miss Saya." The two people who came back to report the news also looked confused.
In the quiet snow, a few unnamed birds fluttered their wings and landed, causing a layer of snow to fall on the tall pines and cypresses. Saya raised her head and looked at the surrounding forest.
, seemed a little silent, and always had some unknown premonitions in his heart.
"They..." she hesitated and asked, "I mean the people on the other side, where did they go yesterday?"
"They went to town."
"why did not you tell me?"
The two messengers looked at each other and said hesitantly: "Miss Saya, there are still many people in the camp who are willing to believe them. After all, before you came..."
"I understand," Saya interrupted them, "No need to say any more." A heavy dizziness hit her, making the uneasiness in her heart become a reality.
She gritted her teeth and her face looked a little unusually pale. She had not eaten a grain of rice for two consecutive days, which made her feel seriously top-heavy. "Miss Saya, are you okay?" The two looked at her expression, worried.
asked.
Saya shook her head, took a breath, and took a step back somewhat vainly. However, her feet softened and she lost her center of gravity and leaned back.
At that moment, she seemed to feel that the whole world was sinking in front of her, and then the world began to spin. From the rotating perspective, she saw the two people running towards her with panic expressions, their mouths opening and closing, as if
Calling her name anxiously.
But she only heard a severe tinnitus, covering up all the sounds in the world. She only felt that someone was grabbing her and calling her loudly.
But Saya has never felt so helpless. She has been a proud child since she was a child. She entered the youth training camp of Tapolis with outstanding results and entered the upper echelons of the guild without any effort. Compared with Xiao Kong
, she is the real lucky one.
If it hadn't been for so many things that happened to the guild, if it hadn't been for all of this, she wouldn't have fallen into what she is now. But she has never regretted it, and the pride in her heart made her never bow her head and admit defeat easily, but in
At this moment, she felt her own weakness.
She gritted her teeth, trying to make a little sound, but she found that she couldn't even control herself to make the smallest movement for a while, and she could only feel that her whole body was sinking downwards.
She closed her eyes with some trembling, and helpless tears fell down immediately, but then a sudden pain came, and she suddenly felt that she had regained control of her body. Saya suddenly came back to her senses.
Then, I realized that I had bitten the tip of my tongue unconsciously, and the salty smell that seemed to have the taste of metal rust spread from my mouth in an instant.
She ignored the pain and immediately said:
"Get out of this place."
The two people who caught her were almost stunned for a moment before they heard the words clearly. They looked at each other and asked: "Miss Saya, what did you say?"
"Leave...this...place and hurry...quickly..."
Saya shook her head feebly, tears streaming down her face, blood sliding down the corners of her mouth, and she spoke word by word.
A sharp whistle sounded over the forest.
Then another, closer whistle sounded closer to the camp.
Figures wearing green cloaks appeared in the forest. The hunters jumped down from the trees and ran towards the camp. They waved their hands vigorously to warn people in this direction and shouted loudly:
"There are enemies!"
"The people from Crow's Claw Temple are here!"
There was a slight silence in the camp, and then there was chaos immediately, and everyone fell into panic. Almost everyone knew that earlier today, Saya sent out the escort team in the camp to go
Receive a supply of supplies.
Without these combat capabilities, the old, weak, sick and children in the camp faced wolf-like enemies, the Templar Knights and their more ruthless and greedy mercenaries and adventurers.
One can imagine the outcome.
With a 'bang', the wooden basin in Dai Er's hand slipped to the ground, and her face turned as pale as snow. She looked at the longing figures appearing in the forest, and looked at the black and white shirt.
, the nightmare from the past seemed to hit my mind all at once, and my body began to tremble slightly uncontrollably.
She immediately felt someone push her, "Run, Dai Er, run! Take your sister and leave this place quickly——!" Dai Er didn't have time to see who the person who pushed her was, but the word "sister" was still there.
As if she was awakened all of a sudden, she suddenly came back to her senses. The fear in her heart suddenly disappeared. She took a deep breath, turned around, took steps, and ran back.
There was the sound of arrows in the wind, fluttering on the nearby tent, and the wailing of people before death could be heard from far and near. Her heart tightened, for fear that she would fall to the ground in the next moment.
She saw the hunters protecting the camp meet the knights of the Crow Claw Temple, but they mainly fought with the mercenaries affiliated with the temple. How could these hunters be the opponents of the dedicated warriors?
In two blows, he was chopped to the ground.
Those familiar people, those who have protected them.
Tears welled up all of a sudden, blurring her vision, but Dai Er did not dare to stop because her blind sister was still waiting for her. She saw someone who had been shot in the face by an arrow, holding a bloody hand.
The face screamed and rushed towards her, making her scream and fall backwards, and her young body fell into a tent.
Blood oozed from her elbows and knees, and wooden thorns penetrated into her palms, but she had no time to cry out in pain. She gritted her teeth and wiped away her tears before getting up again. She carefully walked around the dying man.
He kept saying to the other person: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I can't help you..." Then he continued to run forward with tears in his eyes.
Tent after tent was left behind her, and the tent where her sisters were was finally appeared in front of her. But at this moment, Dai Er suddenly heard a scream coming from the tent in front of her. Her heart skipped a beat.
Then I tightened my grip, and it stung. It was my sister’s voice——
Several men who were teasing each other grabbed the weak girl's hair and dragged her out of the tent. How could the blind girl defy these people, wailing and screaming, "Let me go."
, please let me go..."
Dai Er's blood froze when she saw this scene, and she stood there in shock for a while.
Those tall, rough men wore dirty leather armor. They were not even mercenaries under the temple, but just bounty hunters who followed the latter to beg for a meal.
They claim to be adventurers, but the real Adventurer's Guild does not recognize these people at all. Others only call them hyenas, and they only pick up some dead people's 'food' on the battlefield. These people can do almost anything, they
He has no mercy in his heart and can kill a defenseless person even for a piece of shabby clothing.
The tall men were grinning ferociously as they placed the rusty iron swords in their hands on the girl's fair neck, gesticulating repeatedly, as if they were testing where to strike with the sword to satisfy their bloodthirsty desires.
The girl was trembling, but this only made these scum more interesting.
But they suddenly stopped and looked at the little man who suddenly appeared with some surprise.
"Hey, another one," the leading man whistled: "Look what I found, a little 'shadow man'."
The others laughed knowingly.
Dai Er looked at these people tremblingly, and the fear in her heart almost drove her to faint immediately. She took small breaths, but facing her sister who fell into the hands of these people, she did not move a step.
Don't take any steps.
The girl in the men's hands suddenly seemed to feel something. She raised her head and looked in the direction of her sister with her dull eyes, "——Run, Dai Er, run quickly!——Leave me alone!"
She seemed to have mustered up all her courage and tried her best to shout these words.
But how could Dai Er run away? That was her sister, her only relative in this world. Tears could not stop flowing out. She used all her strength to pick up a stone from the ground, facing these things staggeringly.
people.
The tall man sneered, turned back to his companions and said, "You saw, she is preparing to attack us."
The bounty hunters chuckled.
The man pulled out the dagger from his waist and walked towards Dai Er.
Dai Er was so frightened that she almost convulsed. The physiological and instinctive fear had already overwhelmed everything else. Tears kept pouring out, but she closed her eyes hard and lifted the stone tremblingly.
But at this moment, a hand stretched out from behind her and gently pressed her cold little hand.
Dai Er shuddered, opened her red eyes, and looked back blankly. The young man, who was wrapped up tightly, held her hand down with one hand, while the other hand was quietly holding her hand.
A thin sword - drawn out of its scabbard.
He just put his hand through the handle of the cage, raised his thin sword, and pointed the tip of the sword at the bounty hunters——
And at that moment, that young man was wearing a dark coat, a pointed wizard's hat, and even a collar that stood up to cover his face, as well as the calm and silent gaze below him, and the sword in his hand.
, is almost the entire world in the eyes of a little girl.
But the 'hyenas' just sneered. They seemed to have received the news a long time ago. The decent fighting force in this camp had already left. "Another young boy," the tall bounty hunter spat, "Hey, boy,
I suggest you don’t point that thing at us—"
But the box rarely talks nonsense.
In fact, he was not used to talking, so he only expressed everything through actions. He raised his left hand wearing a leather glove, and the second half of the tall man's sentence stopped abruptly. He immediately flew up and hit the tree behind with a crash.
.
Almost everyone heard a crisp sound of bones breaking.
The bounty hunters were shocked. They woke up from a dream and drew their swords one after another. But the young man in a windbreaker pointed at each of them one by one with his left hand, and spoke in a low voice one by one: "Detection, metal induction, force field
"
He pointed at the swords in these people's hands and lightly touched them with his left hand. The bounty hunters felt a huge force coming from the sword blades in their hands. At that moment, it seemed that they could only watch as the swords they held were being directed at them uncontrollably.
Cut with one sword.
Xiangxiang watched this scene quietly, and rarely spoke in a low voice:
"Anyone who does his own evil will reap the consequences——"
The bright sword light flashed past, and the scene looked like every bounty hunter approaching the girl suddenly became possessed and stayed motionless in place, raising his hands and turning the sword clockwise to kill himself.
The cold sword blade passed over the fragile neck, and a bright red arrow of blood spurted out. However, the blood did not fall, but was frozen in the air.
The surviving bounty hunters looked at this scene as if they had seen a ghost, with gurgling sounds in their throats due to excessive fear. Their remaining sanity made them understand that they could not turn around and run away, so they only let out a changed scream and rushed toward the box.
Came over.
But what greeted them was just a few sword rays. Box was already considered a front-line combat force in the Seven Seas Brigade. Killing these seventh- and eighth-level trash was no more troublesome to him than killing a chicken.
Until the last corpse fell, he gently wiped the blade of the sword, and then flicked it, and the blood in the air flew backwards with a splash, splashing into the snow there. The process before and after was only a few seconds.
Just seconds.
Dai Er stood there blankly, looking at this scene in surprise.
She was so still that she didn't even notice when the box took the stone from her hand and dropped it to the ground.
Xiangqian glanced at her and made sure she was fine, then passed her gently and came to the girl covered in blood. He squatted down, took off his windbreaker, and covered the shivering girl.
body, and then helped her up.
The girl trembled slightly. From the warm coat and the generous palms that held her up, she was keenly aware of the gender of the other party. She seemed to be vaguely aware of what had happened. She lowered her head and spoke loudly.
He asked with a slight trembling:
"Dael...?"
"Sister, sister..." Dai Er was stunned for a moment before finally reacting. She sobbed and wiped away her tears, and kept sobbing and said: "...Sister, sister, we are saved, it's...it's Ai
Danlian-Xianxian, sir, you saved us... Wuwuwu..."
"Dael, Daiel, don't cry..."
The girl curled up her head slightly and couldn't see. She was at a loss for a moment. Her face turned slightly red and she said thank you: "Thank you so much...Ai, Mr. Aidanlian Box..."
Xiang Xiang tilted his head slightly, feeling a little confused. When did he get such a strange name?
At this time, a cry came from the forest: "Box, where did you go!? There are many enemies here, come and help!"
That was the sound that made Tian Lan startled.
Box then turned around and looked at the other end of the forest. The few hyenas he had killed here were not worth mentioning on the battlefield at this moment. In that direction, there were several hyenas from a distance.
An unknown knight wearing a black and white jersey appeared from the edge of the forest.
In front of them, there were even more mercenaries. The dense crowd formed several attack vectors, and they were walking out of the bushes in the snow in rows.
Seeing this scene, Dai Er suddenly let out an 'ah' sound, and couldn't help but lost her voice: "Sister Saya, Sister Saya and others are still in the camp!"
The box was silent for a moment.
He lowered his head to look at the sword in his hand, and then subconsciously moved his gaze to the side, looking at the dark hilt hanging on the other side - the cage handle of the thin sword, which looked like a curled up sword.
, a raven with wings spread.
The raven's eyes, those blood-red gems, shone with a dull luster.
