The fire in the Blade Fang camp has become smaller, but the black smoke still continues.
The subordinates of Legend Wing stood in formation and looked at the group of gobbling prisoners around them with confusion, while the mercenaries stood cautiously further away.
"what happens?"
Tardin stuffed a piece of dry food into his mouth desperately, not even thinking about drinking water:
"Is this... a farewell meal?"
As he ate, he glanced down at the sand dunes in the distance:
There were three figures, two large and one small.
The first two stood very stiffly, while the smaller figure sat cross-legged on the ground, also devouring food.
Taldin beside him shook his head and continued to eat hard.
"Does it matter?"
Little Barney grabbed a piece of hard bread and looked thoughtfully:
"I can't think of anything worse than today."
Sak'el sat far away from them. He chewed the dried meat in his mouth and stared at the three people in the distance.
"If I want to...enter...the prison of bones..."
Kuai Rope on the side was enjoying the meal while bursting into tears:
"At least don't leave it, wuwu... Can I take a bite of your dried meat, thank you... wu, I mean don't leave it... grass, it's not delicious... I won't leave any regrets, wuwu..."
His sincere cry made everyone frown.
At this moment, little Barney put down the bread in his hand and spoke quietly.
"Why did you come back?"
Everyone in the royal guard froze, leaving Kuai Sheng alone.
Little Barney raised his head and looked at the Punishment Knight.
"You don't think that if we kill a few people together, we can go back to the past, right?"
The vanguard officer’s eyes were burning:
"Do you think everything can still be the same as before? Brotherhood? Comrades?"
Belletti patted Barney Jr. on the shoulder in embarrassment.
The latter snorted coldly.
Sak'el didn't speak. He just stared into the distance without moving. The wounds on his face and shoulders were clearly visible.
"So what do you do," Barney said sarcastically:
"Still thinking about killing the prince?"
The punishment knight trembled slightly.
"And you are still not prepared to tell us anything, even though we already know his secret?"
Belletti on the side sighed and advised:
"Barney."
Sak'el was silent, and everyone in the guard was also silent.
Only Kuai Sheng swallowed his own food heartlessly. When he secretly reached out to the food of the person next to him, Tardin beat him back.
"Barney," finally, the punishment knight raised his head, his eyes dazed:
"Stop asking."
Little Barney was startled, then gritted his teeth:
"You bastard..."
But he was interrupted.
"You know, there was once a disaster in this world. It was invisible, but endless because it lived in everyone's thoughts."
At that moment, everyone, including Kuai Rope, was stunned.
"As wise as Prince Tormund, as brave as the hero Nekaru, they are powerless against it."
The punishment knight looked into the void, with an unmistakable coldness in his tone:
"Some things... the fewer people know about them."
"The Kingdom of Stars is safer."
His voice fell.
Leaving a long lasting silence.
and endless wind and sand.
However, in the distance, the three people under the sand dunes were far from such an atmosphere.
When Thales painstakingly tore open the fifth piece of dried meat, he could even feel the sharp coldness emitting from the two pairs of eyes above his head.
He was forced to swallow it in two mouthfuls with water.
The prince wiped his mouth with his sleeve without any image. On the way, he touched the swollen part that was hit by the fast rope, and he couldn't help but show his teeth.
Legend Wing and the mercenary leader stood in front of him and watched him eat, one with his hands behind his back and the other with his arms folded.
The two looked at each other, their eyes becoming more and more impatient.
Thales burped, and before being torn into pieces by the two people's gazes, he finally spoke:
"key."
This word stunned both Roman and Ricky.
"What?" Ricky asked confused.
Thales' next words made Ricky's expression change:
"The key that opens the prison and even the exit."
"If I remember correctly, you told the driller before that you just happened to find another key outside the camp?"
The prince noticed the gradual changes in the faces of the two people:
"But you told me that fate is a bigger prison, and you have, perhaps the only key to open the prison..."
Thales narrowed his eyes and pointed at Legend Wing, whose expression became increasingly ugly:
"I can't help but wonder: What if there is really only one 'key'?"
At that moment, it was as if someone had knocked a heavy hammer into the air.
Ricky's brows furrowed severely.
Legend Wings stood motionless.
Thales burped again:
"Oh, I ate too much. Sorry. Then I followed this clue and worked backwards to recall everything that happened."
The young man's fingers slowly moved, pointing towards the exit of the Bone Prison that had already been closed.
Thales's eyes lit up;
"Guess what? All the strange things were connected one by one."
The prince smiled and his tone was somewhat relaxed and dramatic, but it was obvious that the other two had no sense of humor.
They just stared at Thales coldly.
It was obvious that he was in a very bad mood.
Thales glanced around, awkwardly retracted his unappreciated smile, and gave a dry hey.
"Ricky, after you got out of prison, you were not in a hurry to escape, but you were still leisurely waiting for the so-called 'opportunity'?"
The mercenary leader's face became worse and worse.
"And Williams, who was supposed to be searching for me in the desert with the light cavalry, appeared here at the right time?"
The legendary wings in front of him became increasingly gloomy.
But Thales kept up his efforts, hitting the two of them sentence after sentence:
"After Williams appeared, he didn't even care about my existence. He just asked you vaguely but eagerly how the 'mission' went? What was the 'accident'?"
The young man looked at Ricky again with a smug look on his face:
"In front of the overwhelming cavalry army, you unconsciously used me as a 'hostage' bargaining chip, which was not in your hands at all, and arrogantly threatened the famous Legend Wings. Maybe because you were not threatening him, but threatening your employer.
Hand over the task?"
Thales took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes:
"And just now, I specifically mentioned the Bone Prison to both of you."
Roman and Ricky were stunned again, recalling what happened just now.
Thales sighed:
"Williams, you are indifferent to the strange fact that he appeared here with the prisoners in the black cell, and you turned a blind eye to why the black cell was breached."
"Ricky, you are not worried about Samuel who is also branded. It seems that you are confident that even if Samuel's identity is exposed, you will be able to escape unscathed."
"And you seem to have forgotten at the same time, the damn exit from the Prison of Bones that we just walked out of?"
"look?"
Thales raised the dried meat in his hand and bit into his mouth:
"There are so many doubts and strange things that things have become very clear."
At first, Roman and Ricky would exchange glances, exchange dissatisfaction and anger, and even open their mouths.
But as Thales spoke more and more and his arguments became more solid, they no longer looked at each other and just looked at the ground blankly.
Thales pointed at Ricky with the bitten tip of the meat jerky, and then at Roman:
"You two have been colluding from the beginning to the end, from when you obtained the key to the dark cell without any obstacles, to when he stood here and watched the Sabertooth camp burning."
Thales spoke for a long time, looked at the almost petrified expressions of the two people opposite him, and finally nodded with satisfaction, grabbed the water bag and took a sip.
The two were silent.
Time seems to have passed by for centuries.
Finally, Legend Wing closed his eyes and let out a long breath.
He stretched out his hand towards Ricky and spread his palm flat.
On the other side, the leader of the Sword of Disaster looked at the young man unwillingly, and with an expression as if he had eaten something, he took out the crystal green rectangular bar that Thales was so familiar with from his arms.
key.
Thales smiled.
"You deserve to be from Fuxing Palace," Roman said coldly as he took the key to the dark cell from Ricky's hand:
"Innate cunning."
Thales raised his eyebrows and took the last bite of dried meat into his mouth.
"No, this is just simple observation and reasoning," he said vaguely:
"I think as long as a normal person can see it."
These words made Roman's expression even more ugly.
Ricky beside him let out a long sigh.
"key?"
He laughed helplessly, humming and shaking his head:
"Ha ha ha ha……"
"Just because of a damn key?"
Ricky's laughter stopped, he gritted his teeth and exhaled, looking at Roman angrily and dissatisfied:
"So I told you, you can't ignore this just because few people know the truth about the black jail. At least there will be a drama of theft, but your damn self-esteem..."
Roman snorted back:
"And you brought a large group of 'tourists' in for free, and then showed off the keys in front of everyone for five minutes?"
Thales looked sideways at the argument between the two.
them……
We know each other better than we thought.
While his thoughts were wandering, Legend Wings turned his head and looked at Thales.
"So there you have it, 'Prince'."
Baron Williams said coldly:
"We destroyed the Blade Tooth Camp."
At that moment, being stared at by his sharp and deep eyes, Thales felt a chill running down his spine.
Legend Wing looked up and looked around, making a pause gesture to his subordinates who were eagerly waiting for him.
"Then how dare you expose our conspiracy unscrupulously?"
Roman lowered his head, paying attention to his surroundings while speaking threateningly:
"Do you really think that the Nameless One can protect you?"
Ricky stood beside him and gave the boy an equally malicious smile.
Thales was shocked.
He swallowed:
"No, but I thought that what you wanted could help me."
Legend Wing snorted coldly:
"Then what do I want?"
Thales faced his gaze and raised his fingers with difficulty.
Roman and Ricky both turned their heads, followed Thales' direction, and then frowned.
The prince pointed to the smoking fortress complex in the distance of the desert and said softly:
"Blade Tooth Camp."
Roman and Ricky fell silent again.
Thales took a deep breath.
"Previous experiences have taught me that if a series of things happen one after another, then they must be related, and there must be an invisible clue running through it, connecting everything."
"At first, I thought that I was the clue, because the Secret Science wanted my return, the Shadow Shield wanted my secrets, and the Northlanders wanted my identity and value..."
Thales raised his head and looked directly at Ricky:
"But gradually, you appeared. Your inexplicable involvement mixed everything together and made it unclear. I thought it was a coincidence that connected us."
The leader of the Sword of Disaster was thoughtful.
"But what if... it's not a coincidence?"
Thales changed the subject and his eyes were wary:
"If you show up, is it still because of me?"
Roman and Ricky looked at each other.
The boy raised his lips:
"Then I thought about it, your Sword of Disaster, no, Blood Whistle is first a mercenary, and secondly a loser mutual aid group."
Ricky was stunned for a moment.
He immediately protested dissatisfiedly:
"Hey!"
But Thales ignored him and said to himself:
"Yes, you are 'sword dealers'."
His expression was serious, and he punched his fist into the palm of his hand:
"What if your goal tonight is first and foremost the employer's wishes?"
"The next one is the crime of the Hell River, then the black sword, then the secret in the Bone Prison, and then Sak'el?"
Thales raised his head and became extremely serious:
"So who is most likely to hire a group of 100 people like you who are strong enough to sustain a series of battles and even disrupt the Saber Tooth Camp?"
Ricky had already pursed his lips.
The young man spoke a little thirsty.
He picked up the water bag, only to find it was empty, and couldn't help but frown slightly.
But unexpectedly, the next second, a heavy water bag was thrown into his arms.
Thales raised his head and found that Legend Wings had retracted its arm:
"continue."
The young man raised his eyebrows, took a sip of water and said eagerly:
"Richie, tell Sak'el that more than a hundred years ago, your leader made a deal with the Red King of the Stars, and the Sword of Disaster was able to operate as a mercenary in the Western Wilderness."
"You also told the tavern owner Campa that you know the details of 'my' tavern. You know that it was the place where the 'Northern Conqueror' Queen Elijah and her remnant party were exiled more than a hundred years ago.
Tell it like you saw it with your own eyes."
Ricky's expression changed slightly.
Thales sighed:
"I guess they're not coincidences, are they?"
Ricky looked at Thales with an increasingly serious expression.
Thales took a deep breath, felt his slightly restored senses and balance, and stood up from the ground again.
He looked at Ricky seriously:
"So I guess, more than a hundred years ago, the Sword of Disaster came to the Western Wilderness for no other reason than to accept the Red King's employment and help him disintegrate the remnants of the Northern Conquerors?"
No one spoke.
The wind and sand were blowing slightly, and the horses in the distance screamed uneasily.
Ricky suddenly spoke:
"simpler."
Thales said doubtfully:
"What?"
Ricky raised his head, looked at the early sun over the desert, felt the wind and sand washing away, and sighed:
"The Red King is a person who doesn't like complications. He asked Chu Crasu to go to the Western Wasteland just to bring back his own sister, Queen Alicia..."
The mercenary looked sharply:
"The head on the neck."
Thales suddenly felt awe-inspiring.
I brought back my sister's... head on my neck.
The old sword beside King Charmaine appeared before his eyes again.
Thales couldn't help but start to think about the origin of the title "Red King", and recalled what Gilbert said to him when he was a child:
【The history of stars has never lacked blood.】
Roman's eyes were cold and silent.
Thales tried not to look at the skull on his shoulder and asked tentatively:
"Then Crassus...did he succeed?"
Ricky just gave him a mysterious smile.
This made Thales feel uncomfortable.
Thales coughed, tried to eliminate other thoughts, and returned to the topic:
"In short, the Blood Whistle has been closely related to the stars or, to be more precise, to the interests of the Kingdom Center in the Western Wilderness since the day it was established."
In the increasingly solemn eyes of the two people, the young man turned to Roman:
"And another veteran of the 'Sword Seller' told me that ever since the Desert War and even the Bloody Years, the Blade Fang Camp has been directly owned by the Blade Fang Baron under the royal family."
Thales stared at the Legend Wings fiercely:
"For more than ten years, with the help of the threat from the border and the support of the royal family, your royal standing army has truly turned this place into your private land."
"Legendary Wing's...Blade Tooth Dune Camp."
Thales looked at the calm Roman:
"It is a sharp knife that the central government of the kingdom has inserted into the key points of the Western Wilderness to remotely control the western princes, whether it is military, political, or commercial."
Legend Wing remained silent, just looking at Thales with keen eyesight, his almost sharp facial features seemed to be the most perfect carvings of nature.
Thales took a breath and exhaled again:
"But in just this month, I saw many interesting details on the road from the desert to the Blade Tooth Camp."
Thales looked into Roman's swirling amber eyes:
"For example, the prince's rescue team that Xingchen went deep into the desert was actually composed of the standing army of the royal family and the levied troops of the lords of the Western Wilderness to restrain each other."
"For example, the people standing guard at the gate of the Blade Tooth Camp and collecting tolls are actually soldiers from the Falkenhausz family. They have been serving for so long that they have exceeded their service period."
"For example, the amount of supplies delivered by armies from various parts of the Western Wilderness is exaggerated. It is even enough for some unscrupulous businessmen to smuggle it out of the camp to earn the price difference."
"For example, the people who started law enforcement patrols in the camp and were responsible for arresting people into white jails were conscripts who had not set foot in the Sand Dunes for many years. They didn't even know the severity of the standards for law enforcement."
Every word the prince said made Ricky and Roman's expressions deepen.
Roman took a deep breath:
"You observe a lot and are very detailed."
"so?"
Thales smiled.
He lowered his head and recalled the bad old man smoking a pipe:
"When I was still a hostage in Longxiao City, one of my subordinates once told me: In order for me to safely return from Exeter across the desert, my father had already negotiated with the lords of the Western Wasteland headed by the three major families.
"He said: Fuxing Palace paid a great price to make the nobles of the Western Wilderness completely stand on our side and welcome my return."
Thales turned his head, his eyes showing a sharp edge:
"Blade Tooth Camp, right?"
At that moment, Roman didn't speak.
But the eyes of Legend Wing burst out with an unprecedented complex light!
This made Thales even more certain.
He observed the other person's expression and said slowly:
"King Kessel, he completely or partially handed over the royal family's control of the Blade Tooth Camp and gave up the initiative on the western front, thus gaining the support of the Western Wasteland princes."
Thales was lost in thought thinking about everything he had experienced since the day he came to power in Longxiao City:
"In exchange for the major families in the Western Wilderness, he received the largest military recruitment and logistics mobilization after the war;"
"In exchange for the Western Wasteland and the royal family joining forces, he went deep into the desert, invaded the Freedom Alliance, and threatened Exeter;"
"He exchanged it for the chaotic eastern desert, which was completely deserted and barren of vegetation for two to three months."
Thales' heart sank.
In exchange for...my return.
The young man stopped thinking about unnecessary things and raised his head.
"But you," Thales looked directly at the Wings of Legend:
"Roman Williams."
"You're not happy."
"Especially when the behind-the-scenes deal has been reached and the princes of the Western Wilderness enter the Blade Ya camp in great force, shouting and shouting."
His tone was extremely certain.
Roman looked back at him slowly, his eyes cold.
"Because you have long regarded Sabertooth Sand Dune as your own forbidden zone."
Thales' eyes moved to the orc skull on Roman's left shoulder, repeating what the latter once said to the drill: