The flickering light shone on Karin's face, causing the young man's face to become equally light and dark.
In this atmosphere, Karin suddenly thought of his teacher.
It was the same dark night, and he was just an ordinary son of a cowherd.
By chance, a seriously injured demon hunter was saved.
This is what the teacher calls himself, but every time he mentions the demon hunter, there is a hint of bitterness on his face, and Karin doesn't understand what he means.
Even now, he doesn't understand.
At that time, he successfully used the bloody smell of a newly-given cow to confuse the hound's sense of smell and rescued the hound.
However... the word "rescued" is not accurate, because after taking care of the other party for a few days, the other party died due to excessive injuries.
But before dying, the other party used the mysterious power of 'shu seal' to transmit a piece of information into his mind.
That's a way to keep training yourself with one potion after another!
There are also matching sword skills!
It is by relying on these that Carlin has grown step by step to become the strongest man in the Barony of Lancaster!
Yes, in his opinion, even Okayama, who is known as the first knight of the barony, is far from his opponent.
Of course, if the opponent is wearing a full set of armor, it will be a little troublesome to take down the opponent.
This kind of strength is not enough to kill the couple and then support Miss Catherine to ascend to the position of baron.
He looked at Miss Catherine's room, his eyes full of tenderness.
The other party seemed to have forgotten that when she was very young, she had given a candy to the cowherd's son when she followed the old baron to the village.
That was the only time Carlin tasted sweetness after he was born.
From that moment on, he silently vowed in his heart to protect Miss Catherine!
Even if... I pay my own life for it!
Soon, the night passed.
The door to Catherine's room opened, and a maid came out, followed by Catherine who was yawning: "Thank you, Karin..."
"Nothing, it's my pleasure."
Karin bowed.
"You can go and rest. I will be very vigilant during the day." Catherine showed a strong smile.
Seeing this scene, Carlin felt inexplicably distressed.
However, he still went to the attendant's kitchen. He needed to find something to eat and maintain his strength!
"Hey...did you hear that? Wolf who brought us apples...met a monster!"
The kitchen was in a mess, with several helpers huddled together, teasing the cook, and chatting from time to time.
One of them made Karin's expression move.
He has recently used medicine, and the effect has become weaker and weaker, probably reaching the limit of the human body mentioned in the inheritance.
The next step is to take the decoction made of extraordinary materials and break through the limits!
This is a very dangerous thing, the mortality rate is very high! Extremely high! More than 60%!
According to inheritance records, out of ten qualified people, only three or four can survive!
But for Miss Catherine, Carlin is willing to work hard!
What's more important is that he can't find the materials for extraordinary creatures!
The barony is currently in a critical period of struggle for power, and he cannot leave the territory for too long.
When he suddenly heard the news, his eyes lit up and he grabbed the collar of the talking chef: "Where is Wolf? I want to find him!"
If everything goes well, maybe we can run back and forth in half a day and successfully solve the problem of decoction!
…
Ever since he heard about the orchard in the tavern, Aaron decided that Wolf was his good friend!
When a friend is in trouble, you have to go take a look and help!
In fact, he and Wolf did know each other, and they had a friendship through toasting each other in a tavern.
Well, that's enough!
orchard.
There is a white-skinned fruit grown here, which looks similar to an apple, but is smaller, has bright red veins, and tastes very sweet.
Wolf is a fruit farmer and lives in a hut next to the orchard.
After all, there are a lot of wild beasts in this era, and the integrity of the townspeople cannot be trusted... If no one is watching, all the fruits may be picked in two days.
"Wolf!"
On this day, Aaron knocked on the door of Wolf's house with a hip flask made of horns.
With a creak, the wooden door opened, revealing a somewhat haggard face: "Oh...Zorro...please come in!"
Wolf was originally the lord's archer, and there was a bow and arrow hanging in the house.
He was also known for his bravery at first, but now, his face only looked frightened.
"It seems you are frightened. Come on, have a drink!"
Aaron smiled and handed over the horn bag.
"Grrrrrr!"
Wolf took it unceremoniously and drank directly into his mouth.
The strong drink seemed to bring him a little strength and comfort, making him finally look less haggard, but his nose was a little red: "You actually came to see me?"
"We are friends. Besides...I am quite interested in that antlered monster."
Aaron laughed.
"Yes, we are friends..." Wolf looked at Aaron, his eyes gradually became gentle.
After all, we are all from the same town and have known each other for so many years.
Although Zorro, the tomb keeper, is a little more withdrawn and a little lecherous, he really has no other bad deeds.
"But... I advise you not to ask about the monster, let alone go looking for it..." Wolf sincerely suggested: "We are just ordinary people... If it weren't for the harvest of ginkgo, I would have wanted to run away..."
"I know, I'm just asking. I promise you, I will never go deep into the orchard to find that monster!"
Aaron assured.
"Um...okay."
Wolf muttered: "I'm really unlucky. That night, I couldn't sleep, so I went out for a walk... You know how difficult the night is for people like you who don't have a wife... Speaking of which, Evie
That boy is so lucky...good
Okay, back to the topic, I entered the orchard, and when I got to the deepest point, I saw a figure. At first I thought it was a fruit thief, so I quickly approached... But when I got closer, I found that it was a figure with antlers and a
A humanoid monster..."
"What didn't it do?" Aaron Fox asked.
"No... it glanced at me. I remember it very clearly. In the night, its eyes were like emeralds... I must have been resented by it, and maybe it even cursed me."
Wolf covered his face and started crying.
As this iron-blooded man grew older, he seemed to become more and more timid and fearful of death.
Aaron didn't discriminate against the other party either.
After all, people are always afraid of death.
He stayed for a while, comforted Wolf for a few words, and then stood up to leave.
A squeak!
The wooden door opened, and not far from the door, a tall, strange stranger stood.
He wore a set of black leather armor, with long white hair flowing down, and he carried a crossbow and a cross sword on his back.
On his right hand, he was holding a dark war horse.
"Hello, I heard there are monsters here? I think you need help!"
He saw Aaron and Wolf and smiled: "Let me introduce myself, I am Joan from Grihoth, a... demon hunter!"
Demon hunters make it their job to destroy monsters and gain money from them.
In addition, the organization of those monsters is also the key for them to configure certain advanced potions!
"It turns out to be a witcher."
Aaron and Wolf both had expressions of awe and vigilance.
After all, the reputation of these people is indeed not very good.
However, a hint of joy quickly appeared on Wolf's face: "There is indeed a monster that visited my orchard. If you kill it or drive it away, I will give you a reward!"
"Well...you go about your business first, I won't interrupt you."
Aaron didn't want to go along to defeat the Deerclops.
Although this sounds very much like the plot in a third-rate novel, the protagonist follows a powerful professional to fight monsters, and then an accident inevitably occurs. In the end, the protagonist stands out and gains benefits...
But in fact, you only have one life. To face danger is to make fun of your own life!
"etc……"
Wolf stretched out his hand feebly and saw Aaron walking away without looking back, walking further and further away...
Just when he secretly lamented that the boat of friendship between the two people was about to capsize, the demon hunter Qiao An spoke: "Who is it?"
"Oh, his name is Zorro, and he is the gravekeeper in our town..." Wolf told the truth.
"Gravekeeper?"
Qiao An looked at Aaron's back, and suddenly a rare look of solemnity appeared.
…
'Death, death, death...'
'I didn't expect it to be such a coincidence!'
'Are all demon hunters so sensitive? He seems a little suspicious of me.'
Aaron returned to the cemetery and ran away without saying a word!
He will not place his own safety on others, even if the other person seems to be a good person!
'But it's not my style to run away thousands of miles away when I'm scared...'
'It just so happens that there is an abandoned hunter's cabin in the forest. You can stay there for a few days!'
Aaron packed the necessary supplies into a small package, carried it with an iron sword, and left the cemetery directly.
…
night.
Outside the cemetery.
A lantern appeared and gradually came closer.
It's Joan!
The witcher did not immediately solve Wolf's matter, but came to the town's cemetery!
Demon hunters have been modified, and after genetic mutations, they will have various strange abilities.
What he has been strengthened is his sense of smell!
But before, on Aaron, Qiao An smelled the smell of the basic body-building decoction of the Demon Hunter!
This aroused his interest and wanted to see which old friend took this tombkeeper as a student.
But after arriving at the cemetery, his expression changed: "This feeling... this smell... ghoul?"
"No……"
He lay down and sniffed the soil carefully until he came to a grave.
If Aaron were here, he would immediately recognize that this was the tomb dug by the tomb robbers, and the one he later restored!
Qiao An's expression became extremely solemn, and he used his silver sword to pick up the soil: "It's not an ordinary ghoul... but... a dream ghoul!"
Ghouls are a very common monster that like to hide in places with many corpses and make a living by eating corpses.
But dream ghouls are different!
They live in strange 'dreams' and can use the power of dreams to drag enemies in and trap them to death...
Such dream ghouls are by no means naturally formed, but... raised by someone!
"Are they those evil warlocks! Are they raising dream ghouls in the cemetery? I seem to have heard of such an example..."
Qiao An murmured to himself, quickly took out an ancient black notebook from his body, and started to search by the light of the lantern.
"Here...Rogue Kingdom, Rad III, in the twenty-seventh year of his reign...The evil warlock Marr is experimenting with planting 'Wraith Flowers' in the south of the kingdom...He brutally killed many people and created dream ghouls.
, guard the planting environment of the Wraith Flower..."
The Wraith Flower is an extraordinary plant that may grow in an environment full of corpses, but it has strict requirements on the history of death.
Some evil warlocks often secretly choose some cemeteries as a training environment, and also leave their own guards to maintain the environment without major changes.
"They actually used the cemetery to cover up. These warlocks' methods are becoming more and more subtle. Others must be informed!"
"Once the Wraith Flower matures, I don't know how many more evil warlocks will appear!"
The evil Marr Warlock was eventually assassinated by several master demon hunters, and the demon hunters paid a heavy price for this.
In fact, the origin of the witcher is said to have something to do with the evil experiments of the warlock.
But the witchers didn't admit it.
They have now classified warlocks as 'monsters', and they must kill them first when they encounter them!
This is an irresolvable blood feud!
"Dream ghouls will not prevent corpses from being buried, because this is an expansion of the cemetery... but any tomb robbing behavior will be attacked by them!"
"This is a common characteristic of all trained dream ghouls!"
Seeing this, Qiao An's expression changed slightly and he looked at the sword body where he was digging into the soil.
From a certain point of view, this can be regarded as... grave robbing!
The next moment, a pair of fungus-covered claws suddenly popped out of the darkness and attacked him!
…
At the same time, in the orchard.
Karin held a sword in one hand and a torch in the other, and cautiously walked deeper into the orchard.
"Damn it...that demon hunter today must be a liar. After he took my food, he disappeared!"
Next to him, Wolf held a bow and arrow in his hand, cursing, and looked at Karin: "Master Karin, you will protect me, right?"
"certainly……"
Karin's palms holding the sword hilt were also sweaty.
However, he still tried his best to pretend that nothing was wrong.
Suddenly, a figure seemed to flash in the darkness.
"who?"
Carlin immediately looked over there.
There was nothing strange where the torch light shone, but he saw footprints on the ground.
"No...monster!"
Wolf looked horrified and kept retreating back until he came to a ginkgo tree.
The next moment, the tree trunk he was leaning on deformed instantly, two thick branches turned into arms, and he wore bifurcated antlers on his head.
Deerclops!
The other party actually disguised himself as a tree!
It grabbed Wolf, letting the bow and arrow in his hand fall to the ground, and then... the elk-like mouth opened, revealing countless sharp teeth, and bit down hard.