It was not easy trudging through waist-deep snow, but he managed to make steady progress. The previous glacier tortured him enough. Every time he took a step, he would slide back three steps in the cold wind. Not to mention the rocks and branches buried in the snow. Uriel couldn't help but miss the mount he used when he went to the Ice Territory. As long as he uses his "spiritual vision" carefully, he doesn't even worry about the horse stumbling on the road.
He finally walked through the woods and found a flat clearing. As a rare open area in the dense forest, hunters and adventurers will certainly not miss it. Apprentices are latecomers. A creative wooden house is located on two fir trees, relying on ropes and vines to form a passage.
No matter how fragile it looks, it's better than freezing outside. Uriel remembered that Mortus was close to the Hotlands, which in Eastman was almost tropical. He had only seen such heavy snow in Four Leaf City and Ice Territory. Even when tracking the Wheel Gang with York, they encountered sunny weather. Where the hell is this place? He clenched the badge in his hand and considered whether to go back immediately.
"Who's there?" someone asked warily. This is an unusual host. Even though the other party deliberately hides himself, Uriel still finds it easily. In mystical perception, this person's fire is more conspicuous than the moon in the sky.
"Passers in need of help." He raised his head and answered loudly, filling his mouth with snowflakes. "I am a monk and do not harm others."
"It depends on what kind of monk he is." The owner of the wooden house did not let down his guard. "Not to mention the evil god, nor Lucia from Aurenia. These two are no different from bandits."
"Gaia. May He bless you, sir."
The rope ladder dropped in front of the apprentice and was blown up to the sky in the blink of an eye. Uriel managed to catch it and climbed into the warm wooden house. A mysterious creature with long ears was waiting for him inside, fully armed. When he saw him coming up, he quickly retracted the rope ladder.
"Gaia has mercy. I swear, I will choose a good time next time I go out." The apprentice shook off the snowflakes on his shoulders. "Low temperature is much more powerful than a bandit's knife."
The host nodded in agreement, but did not put down the crossbow in his hand. "That makes sense. But what is Brother Gaia doing here?"
"To be honest, sir, I don't know anything about the natural disaster that changed my destination without permission. Where is this?"
"You mean, you're lost?"
"It's all the snow's fault."
The elf stared at him for a moment, accepting the explanation. "That's right. Normal people would not take this road to go to the castle."
"Fortress?" Uriel was stuck, "Alanwo's castle?"
"Yes," said the host. "Unfortunately, you crossed the border."
Alan Waugh. This is not Aurenia. Uriel felt like his brain was frozen. He was in the elven kingdom that disappeared thousands of years ago, the Kingdom of the Moon, ruled by Emperor Niklos Timir Sinodle and the water fairy Aurora. In this ancient dream, Kamaria has not yet been destroyed by the dragon disaster, and the war between Aurenia and the Blue Forest has not affected the south... Time and space are displaced, and the seasons are reversed. Uriel cannot adapt for a while.
I'm really back home, he thought. Thousands of years later, the location where the castle stood belonged to Eastman. Only this time it's not through the cloud train. Uriel wanted to reach out and fumble for the badge in his pocket, but he couldn't do that in front of the owner of the cabin.
The elves of Alanvor are not much different from the fog elves. They all have the same characteristics: a humanoid shape, long ears, and thin, light eyebrows. The apprentice had seen Faf Tanner's envoy in Iron Claw City, and there was undoubtedly a clear difference between the two. The difference between nobles and commoners. He wore layers of furs, a breastplate, and a hat with a scarf. When pulled up, it could completely cover half of his face and ears, and the edges were fastened with spikes. This is very much like the prototype of a cloak. Throughout the Eastman, Icelanders may still have similar coats kept in their closets as part of their hunter's equipment.
However, what arrived across the Aurenia border was not the Ice Territory. Uriel didn't know how the hot hills could be so cold, but he knew that there was no point in raising questions now.
The hunter lit one more candle, and the cabin became brighter. Uriel saw the mess around, including sausages, dried meat, windshield lamps, hammers and spikes, wet blankets, kettles... and various hand crossbows. He turned around and found that the knife and spear were at the hunter's feet. He only had to lower his waist to get them. "Send your name, we are an uninvited guest." said the hunter elf.
"Uril." He slowly raised his hand and lifted off the heavy cloak. Due to the weather, he did not choose to change back to his original outfit this time. "And you?"
"I am Brown Ear, the guardian of this forest."
"protector?"
"You Aurenians don't care about the forest, do you? In Alanwo, you can't build a city in the forest without a guardian." The hunter "Brown Ear" explained unhappily, "The moonlight not only shines on the land of order, but also the territory of chaos is affected by Berti The remaining shadow of the forest. We guard the forest and drive away the evil minions to obey the oracle." He paused. "Without a guardian, you will be attacked sooner or later."
He mentioned order. The apprentice secretly thought that he might know the inside story. Ring Sauron told him that the shimmering forest is the footprint of the forest goddess Heather, which exists to seal the gap in order... No, the mist is the foundation to make up for the gap, and it has no direct connection with the forest. There is no fog in this snow forest. To be honest, it's all snow here, and the trees and rivers are just embellishments. But "Brown Ear" didn't lie, and that was enough. Apprentices don't have to be precise about a term.
"The forests of Aurenia are all shimmering forests. I think the Silver Song Knights have bulldozed them one by one." Uriel said frankly, and the hunter frowned. "The empire believes in three gods and does not accept Heather. Among them, Lucia preaches the eradication of evil, but if Gaia makes the decision, His Majesty the Emperor will probably adopt a guardian system for the forest. I think so, Mr. Brown Ear. But in this world of ice and snow, I It means nothing."
The hunter smiled and lowered his crossbow. "Isn't that why you're here, Uriel?"
"You don't understand the Empire's ways at all, Mr. Guardian." The apprentice muttered, "Those who can talk and those who talk about everything can stay in Malandeno." But there is a difference in the way they survive. "Only those who say nothing are driven to the border."
"The border is twenty miles behind you."
Uriel thought for a moment, "That river?"
"That is the first line of defense of the castle, the Black Water River. Almost no boats can pass safely from it, and the water fairies will overturn them." "Brown Ear" chose a long hook from the surrounding iron tools to use for the stove. Add firewood. "But it's probably frozen enough for giants to race on it."
Not to mention the defense line, the frozen Black Water River is simply a rare marching passage in the forest. "Then what if the Silver Song Knights decide to march into the castle?"
"The Broken Moon's blessing will stop them. Of course, I heard that the Silver Song Knights require at least a high-level mysterious creature, so Wei Mo's blessing is probably useless..."
Uriel didn't expect Brown Ear to actually explain to him. "I think you must have other means." He quickly interrupted, "Fortunately, I am not an imperial officer."
"I'm not from Alanvor either. What happens to the castle is none of my business."
Really unexpected. "The guardian of the Alanvor border forest is not an Alanvor?" No wonder he didn't care about revealing strategic information. "what happened?"
"That's it. The people in the castle don't want to see me."
"Do they understand the role of the Guardians?"
"Few people don't know." The kettle made a sharp cry. The hunter picked it up with his bare hands and was burned. The apprentice helped pick up the iron kettle and poured boiling water into the translucent glass.
"In my opinion, it would be unwise to offend you."
"It's not wise to offend anyone, but unfortunately we can't always show weakness. I am a First Source."
"In Aurenia, this is equivalent to self-recommendation."
Brown Ear laughed. "In Alanwo, this kind of self-recommendation can only be given to the prison." He sprinkled some pungent powder into his cup. When it was Uriel's turn, the apprentice stretched out his hand to block it, expressing his refusal. "The castle is an exception. The locals don't like me, but there's nothing they can do. The Veil of Dusk controls the entire city. They send nobles to bring tea and water, but they don't have anything to reward themselves." He showed it to Uriel. Large pieces in the powder. "Don't you want Wuyedong's medicinal powder?"
"So, you are one of them."
"That's absolutely true. Aurenia welcomes the First Source, right?"
"It's not very popular recently." Uriel thought of the heads in Mortus Manor. "Your companions made a big fuss behind the border river and annoyed many people." He told the hunter Mortus about the conflict, but after all he didn't mention the wizard and the experiment in the basement.
Anti-collection, automatic loading fails, click to load manually, reading mode is not supported!
Transcoding and reading mode are prohibited. The following content is hidden. Please exit reading mode!
Uriel couldn't help but agree. He found that he and this ancestor elf actually had a common language. I'm afraid the other party feels the same way. The forest guardian drank cup after cup of hot water with added ingredients, and tried his best to invite the apprentice to join him. The effect of this stuff is equivalent to that of tobacco and alcohol. Outside the wooden house, the cold wind was blowing wildly, but it could not interfere with the lively conversation inside. The candles were kept burning late into the night, the firewood was almost gone, and then the fire burned in the fireplace with a magical flame.
The conversation ended in the early hours of the morning. When Brown Ear mentioned that he found a corpse in the cave, the bell rang loudly at the door. The hunter quickly turned around and rushed to the cocked hand crossbow. Uriel also quickly drew his sword, trying to make up for his major mistake - he didn't even notice that someone had climbed up to the door.
