Putilai looked at the busy star soldiers not far away and couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
In the first half of his life, it was not that he had not experienced failure - in fact, the failures he had seen were more terrible and the price was heavier.
For example, twelve years ago.
But now...
Putilai suddenly felt that the pipe in his hand was very heavy, and he lost the desire to take a puff.
This is very rare for him who is addicted to smoking.
King Kessel used his own blood as a pledge to try to eliminate the scourge of war, which should have been a generous and sincere act praised by the whole country.
Now it has turned into a disaster.
The prince's involvement in the death of King Exeter brought about the worst possible situation that was supposed to be avoided.
To make matters worse, the Bright Star royal family will once again suffer a huge blow to its reputation.
What the child will face after returning to the stars... Putilai thought of Thales' depressed look and felt gloomy.
Silently he reached out his hand and knocked the burning tobacco out of his pipe.
Sorry, Gilbert.
There was nothing I could do except take him out of danger.
Just like watching His Highness pass away.
I disappoint you, old friend.
Again.
While Putilai was lost in thought recalling the past, recruit Willow interrupted his thoughts.
"My lord!"
"What's wrong?" Putilai raised his eyebrows.
"Please go to the back hall, which is the hall we came in from." Willow seemed a little confused about the situation, but he still followed the order faithfully: "This is His Highness Thales's..."
"Order!"
Putilai's expression changed.
————
Cohen packed his bags and checked his weapons one last time.
"Aren't you going to ask Raphael again?"
The security officer looked at Putilai who was talking to the Star Soldiers in the distance, sighed, turned to Miranda beside him and said:
"You know, about the Sword of Disaster, about the secret science, about his hands..."
At this point, Cohen couldn't help but grit his teeth when he remembered that his friend who was a swordsman had his hands disabled alive, and he didn't know when he turned his hands into such a monster.
What on earth did that guy go through?
Miranda, who was leaning against the wooden box, slowly opened her eyes from her sleep.
Her eyes were calm and her expression was natural.
But his voice was slightly hoarse.
"No need, he has already made a decision," the female swordsman said softly: "There are some things that it is useless to ask again."
Cohen looked at Miranda's expressionless look and wanted to say something, but in the end he just shrugged and lowered his head to adjust his sword belt.
A few seconds later, the security officer whispered:
"Then how do we report back to Tali?"
"I met three disaster swordsmen in Longxiao City. One of them...is unknown?"
Miranda's eyes moved.
"What about you?" she said calmly.
Cohen was slightly startled.
"If you want me to say..."
The security officer took a deep breath and his eyes became firm.
It's like he has made a decision.
"To hell with the Tower of Termination, it's been so long since I came out of it," Cohen shook his head and snorted: "I've never seen any Sword of Disaster - everything is Kaslan's conspiracy, report over.
"
Miranda smiled faintly.
"If Master Jedi knows the truth, he will go crazy."
"So this is for his own good," Cohen raised his eyebrows. "His best student is worried about his mood and is determined to give him less to worry about."
Miranda raised her eyebrows and closed her eyes again.
After a while, Cohen spoke again, his voice low.
"Miranda, you said, it's only been three years," the security officer said with disappointment, "How can a person change so much?"
Miranda opened her eyes again, this time, her eyes were full of complicated meanings.
"I'm not just talking about Raphael," Cohen put the sword back into its scabbard with a worried look on his face: "There's also Chloe."
"I still remember the days when we were forced to bite the sword and do squats together. That man's favorite thing to do was to scold me," he said angrily.
Miranda raised the corners of her mouth.
That's because she likes you but doesn't dare to say it.
Miranda rolled her eyes, then felt sad.
It's not just you, Cohen.
It's not just you.
I also studied with her as a classmate, slept together in the same room, practiced swordsmanship under the wind and rain, and read at night with the lights on.
The girl who used to be cheerful, laughing, and stubborn.
Croash.
"Maybe they haven't changed," Miranda frowned slightly, her voice ethereal, as if she had deep meaning, "It's just that we accidentally discovered another side of them."
Cohen snorted softly.
"What kind of 'other side'," he asked helplessly, "will lead to betrayal and lies?"
Miranda changed her arms and held her sword in her arms again.
"I don't know," she said absently, "but it shouldn't be an easy thing."
She thought of the brand on Raphael's hand.
Chloe, what have you experienced?
Cohen let out a long breath, leaned back, and leaned against the wooden box like Miranda.
"So, is this the end?" Cohen said intentionally or unintentionally.
Miranda's face moved slightly and she came back to her senses: "What's the end?"
Cohen paused for a second, his eyebrows twitching, as if he was thinking.
"Longxiao City," he said silently: "We were tricked into coming here..."
"Becoming someone else's pawn, a scapegoat in a conspiracy, and the mastermind behind the king's assassination."
"It became the cause of war."
Miranda fell silent.
She understands Cohen's character and knows what Cohen is going to say.
but……
"So we are making amends." Miranda said with a serious look in her eyes.
"Escape from here as soon as possible, escape the enemy's control, and refuse their use," Miss Arend's words increased in speed and emphasis: "Just pretend that we have never been to Exeter and Longxiao City."
There seems to be no doubt.
Cohen did not answer immediately. He was silent for several seconds, his eyes focused in the dim air.
"But, Miranda," Cohen finally spoke softly, seemingly with some hesitation and uneasiness: "The fact is..."
"We've been here."
Miranda said nothing.
Cohen patted the wooden box, turned over and sat up neatly, leaning on his knees with his hands, his expression serious and ugly.
"Not only have we been here, we have also participated in so much and witnessed so much," he sighed slowly: "Secret science, disasters, dragons, princes, assassinations, and conspiracies."
"Some people come, some people go, some people die, some people get injured, and in the end, a mess is left." Cohen said, somewhat absentmindedly.
"Wait for others to clean up, and let others bear the burden."
"And you know what we left behind, you heard what Uncle Putilai said," Cohen's eyes turned to the deputy envoy in the distance, watching what he was saying to the soldier with two guns: "Even if
We escaped safely, and the North will also face..."
"He also said," Miranda frowned: "There is nothing we can do."
Cohen's face darkened and his expression struggled.
"Is it powerless," Cohen snorted, clenching his fists unconsciously: "Or inaction?"
Miranda didn't answer.
"That is your northern territory, Miranda. It is the territory that your family has protected for generations."
The security officer took a deep breath and gritted his teeth: "You have also witnessed the tragedy of that land being ravaged by war, haven't you? You and Raphael were there..."
Boom!
Miranda's scabbard hit a wooden box for storing sundries, making a heavy muffled sound.
"enough."
The female swordsman's eyes became sharp and terrifying, and her tone was full of frost: "That's it."
But Cohen laughed.
"You know, the young one we met earlier was about the same age as you." The vigilance officer lowered his head and raised his unique silver sword. "He asked me the name of this sword."
Miranda's eyes narrowed.
"'Load Bearer'," she looked at her classmate's sword, remembering her battles with it in the past few years, and said calmly: "The inherited sword of the Karabyan family."
Cohen nodded, using his arm muscles to steadily raise his weapon.
Load bearer.
"It's too heavy." Cohen said in a daze, thinking of the gloomy old castle in the family and the scene when the old man took it out from inside.
"My father gave it to me the day before I went to the Tower of Termination."
"I couldn't pick it up with both hands, so I had to tie a rope and drag it away," Cohen nodded, his eyes slowly focusing, recalling the past: "But the old man said..."
"There is some weight that we must bear."
His eyes became clearer and clearer, and he became more and more determined: "There are some things that we cannot 'stop here'."
At this time.
A voice that was very familiar to both of them came.
"You know, asking for trouble for the sake of meaningless persistence," Raphael's relaxed and bright voice sounded from behind the two of them, "usually there will be no good results."
Miranda turned around sharply, and Cohen turned around in surprise.
"Everyone, go to the back hall." The young man from the secret department said calmly, his red eyes flickering in the dim light.
"It's not time yet," Miranda frowned: "What are you doing in the back hall?"
Raphael sighed, seeming helpless.
He also seems to be hesitating.
But he only paused for a second before raising his eyes and looking at the two of them.