"I said, do we need to come in this way?"
On the afternoon of January 16, 796 in the New Calendar, a new day in the Free City, the figure of a gray-robed magician named Linyuan Duanshui appeared far away on the inside of the northeastern moat near the city lord's palace, carrying a The water stains climbed up to the shore: "Since I have received the invitation, why don't we just go and visit honestly and that's it?"
"At this point, I don't want to believe what these people say easily."
Xueling Huanbing, who also climbed out of the moat quietly, and whose cloak was soaked in water, also appeared next to Duan Qing: "Even the city lord's palace is the same. God knows what he asked Ninglan to bring back. Is the message trying to lure us there?”
"If we didn't believe Reiner, we wouldn't have contacted him at all in the first place." Duan Qing twisted his magic robe, with a hint of a wry smile in his voice: "We wouldn't have done anything in this situation. If you cross thousands of mountains and rivers to get to the city lord's palace, isn't that asking for trouble?"
"That's why we have to observe in secret." Xue Ling Huan Bing, who was also cleaning the river water on his body, replied in a low voice: "Look at what the city lord who claims to have locked himself in the city lord's mansion is doing now. ...Hey, what are you looking at?"
Looking back and forth with vigilant eyes, the white-haired woman suddenly noticed Duan Qing's eyes looking up and down at her, and then the light that looked like substance also swept across her body that was stained by water and looked bumpy. Finally, she hurriedly put it away when she stretched out her hand and said: "Ahem, um, um... Don't I want to ask you if you need magic help?"
"Wouldn't using magic reveal our arrival at this dusk?" So Xue Ling Huan Bing's hand tearing Duan Qing's ears became a little harder: "Don't look for those high-sounding reasons! I am right This kind of look is very familiar! You are, you are—"
"I see, it was me who was abrupt." Looking at Xue Ling Huan Bing's rare face that suddenly turned reddish, Duan Qing, who covered his ears and hid against the wall, then put on a matter-of-fact expression: "Next time, enjoy When it comes to the beauty of women, I will tell you openly... Hey, hey, don't fight, don't fight, are you afraid that our target is not exposed enough?"
"After I go back, I must change into a new suit of armor." Putting away his arrogant hands, Xue Linghuan Bing said angrily: "I have worn this novice cloth suit for a long enough time. If it weren't for Because I am afraid of exposing my identity, it is impossible for me to tolerate a piece of clothing surviving on me for such a long time..."
"The equipment we collected is pretty good, why don't you just pick one and put it on?" Duan Qing, who was hiding away with his head covered, turned his gaze to Xue Linghuan with a hint of lust flashing in his eyes. Behind Bing: "And the Luoyang - I've already left the novice zone. When will you be able to get these equipment conditions?"
"It'll be ready soon."
Xue Ling Huan Bing, who waved his hands and raised his head with his arms folded, then began to observe the tall city wall in front of him: "How should we go up?"
"I thought you had already thought about it." Duan Qing slapped himself on the forehead and took out the adventurer's map in his hand expressionlessly: "In the end, I still have to figure it out."
"I can climb up anyway, but I don't know if I will encounter any guards or agencies." Quietly coming to Duan Qing's side, Xueling Huanbing stretched out his head and said: "And As a magician, you probably don't have the physical strength and endurance to climb this high city wall like us... Well, what is this?"
"The hidden thread left by Ninglan before."
Pointing to a manually marked coordinate on his adventurer map, Duan Qing then looked up to the east side where the two people were: "According to Ning Lan's habit, she should have arranged everything secretly. , so as long as I find the map location she left me, there should be a way to get in."
"As expected of the well-known maid of the Duan family, she even prepared such an arrangement calmly." Xue Ling Huan Bing's eyes flashed with a bit of sourness: "If I hadn't listened to you before and sent Dragon Glory to Gardevoir It’s a stupid arrangement, she must be the one accompanying you this time.”
"How is it possible? She's not the only one who went to deliver Longhui Grass." Cold sweat flashed across his forehead, and Duan Qing hurriedly pushed his hands: "Aren't Asahi Dongsheng and Gedman gone together too? Really? Although what I mean is that the two of them have too big a goal. Instead of coming here together, it would be better for them to hide at Gardevoir's place for a while... Well, we're here."
"It should be right here."
After walking quietly close to the city wall for a while, the two of them simultaneously took into their eyes a ditch blocked by iron bars and fragments of the iron bars that had been cut off by some kind of sharp blade: "So that's it, no matter what it is. Such a castle—"
"Always have to design a drainage ditch."
The two gray-black figures then quietly disappeared into the darkness in the corner of the city lord's mansion. Accompanied by the chaotic shouts of death that echoed throughout the city from time to time, they circled up the invisible passage, bathed in the dusk. The tallest building in the city of freedom gradually fell into silence in the endless darkness, as if its own existence was gradually separated from the existence of the entire city of freedom. He poked his head and appeared in a corner inside the city lord's palace. Duan Qing, who was the first to appear at the end of the secret passage, then slowly pushed away the metal baffle that was also cut off on his head, while confirming whether there was anything around him. The garrison at the City Lord's Mansion took the darkening scene around him into his sight: "...is this here?"
"Is this...the arena?" Climbing out from the same place, Xueling Huanbing's field of vision became much clearer: "Is this the arena where we helped Tristan fight?"
"It should be so." Looking at the charred walls of the circular building that had been burned by the fire and the collapsed appearance of the high platform he once faced off against, Duan Qing's eyes flashed with regret. Expression: "Not only has it not been repaired, I'm afraid they haven't been here since that day."
"If not, we wouldn't have the chance to use this passage to sneak into the house." Shaking his head and retracting his gaze, Xueling Huanbing took the lead in stepping on the ground that was scorched black by the giant flames: "Let's go Bar."
"Hopefully this place isn't cordoned off by guards."
Xixun's footsteps then turned into silent steps, and two figures one behind the other then passed through the broken ground of the arena, and the ruin-like scene was later replaced by the city lord's palace in the advancing field of vision. The back garden, which was once green and gorgeous, seems to have become much more deserted under the influence of the cold autumn and dusk. No existence similar to guards was found. The figures belonging to Duan Qing then began to move up the stairs following the scenes left in their memories. The familiar scenes in their impressions also appeared again as they passed by. Appearing on the left and right sides of the corridor of the City Lord's Mansion, it became more and more obvious with the appearance of some faint lights: "Turn left, and then go up the steps... Yes, that's right, it's this way."
"Further ahead is the hall."
Hiding behind the flower bed made of white jade marble, Duan Qing lowered his voice and said to the stone pillars and corridors that appeared diagonally above: "I had been here a few times at that time, and this place looked like this at that time."
"You're talking about the meeting hall, right?" Also hiding behind Duan Qing, Xue Ling Huan Bing also carefully observed the expression diagonally above him and his expression became strange: "Twelve thrones, twelve candidates, Blocking their own power and lives, fighting for the position of the new city lord under the watchful eye of the city lord... Why is there no one now?"
"How do I know." Duan Qing then took the lead to walk out of his hiding place: "The city lord is no longer here, and everything related to the city lord has been cut off by the Morna Star that night. Now that we have reached this point, then It must be natural to be abandoned, right?”
"There seems to be some noise."
Taking two steps forward along the steps, his vision of observing the surroundings of the corridor suddenly stopped at the dark end in front of him. The door of the conference hall that appeared directly above the wide steps that matched his memory seemed to also appear at this moment. Slight vibrations continued to appear, and the sounds of gold and iron clashing that were sealed in it were faintly heard. Stopping Xue Ling Huan Bing who was about to rush forward and pull out his spear, Duan Qing's eyes kept flashing around the empty door. After carefully confirming something, he then involuntarily moved forward again, and finally came from The vibration inside the door turned into a more regular and clear sound: "It seems...forging?"
"It smells like gunpowder smoke."
The familiar smell of melting gold and iron came from the tip of his nose, and the expression on Duan Qing's face changed from the previous vigilance to one of unbelievable weirdness: "Why did the City Lord's Mansion become a blacksmith shop?"
"Is it Reiner?" He also frowned, and Xueling Huanbing's eyes also had a strange feeling: "Why hasn't your Ninglan mentioned this before?"
"Maybe there are other possibilities." Duan Qing shook his head vigorously and then shook his attention out of his thinking state: "Anyway, just go in and take a look and you will know."
He took the lead to move forward, slowly walking up the steps that he had once stepped on, and finally pushed hard under the gaze of Xue Ling Huan Bing with his outstretched hands, pushing the city lord in front of him. The door to the hall slowly opened. The imaginary magnificent scene or the prepared scene did not appear in front of Duan Qing. Instead, the tall and wide hall that he had seen once was already dilapidated. The ones that originally stood on both sides of the aisle in front of him. The throne was also tilted aside at this time, and the fiery red scene in front of the place that originally belonged to the city lord, but was now occupied by iron furnaces, anvils and other equipment, was displayed in Duan Qing's eyes: "...Ah ?”
"..."
The sound of blacksmithing stopped for a moment, and the sound of gold and iron echoing above the high hall also stopped. At this time, a sturdy blacksmith who was illuminated red by the fire also appeared in front of Duan Qing with his upper body naked. At the end of the red carpet in front of him, the muscular right arm was holding a hammer high in the air: "Who are you?"
"Uh, I, we are-"
He didn't know how to respond when faced with this strange scene. The sound coming out of Duan Qing's open mouth also became stuttering at this time, but the blacksmith with a white beard on his face ignored it. The gray-robed magician's appearance also swept over the white-haired woman who gradually appeared behind him: "You... are here to see the city lord."
"Go that way."
He shook his head, and then pointed the hammer towards the two people. A stone step extending upward along the side of the city main hall also appeared in the dark depths in that direction following his gesture. At this point, it disappeared towards the space behind the city lord's throne that could not be seen above the hall. The clanging sound of blacksmithing then echoed in Duan Qing's ears again, wandering back and forth regularly around the hall. The gray-robed magician standing with Xue Ling Huan Bing also withdrew his searching gaze. , and saluted from a distance in the direction of the blacksmith: "Thank you."
"Who is he?" Xue Ling Huan Bing, who followed Duan Qing and walked to the corner of the hall without taking another step forward, asked in a low voice: "Is he someone you know?"
"Maybe, but I'm not sure." Stepping on what looked like a newly built step away from the center of the hall, Duan Qing replied intently: "But even if it's really him, he probably doesn't recognize him now. Me."
"I just didn't expect-"
Duan Qing's field of vision began to get higher as the steps went up. Duan Qing looked down at the strong man with pale beard and hair who was still forging iron from a distance: "He will come to this place."
"This guest came to the City Lord's Mansion. I couldn't believe it at the time."
A steady voice then appeared in front of Duan Qing, who had already climbed to the top of the steps to the depths of the second-floor platform. The darkness that was originally filled in the dim space was later replaced by the faintly rising lights, and a person sitting there was The figure sitting on a bench there, with his back to the two of them, was reflected in the intertwined light and shadow of dusk and darkness. The vigilance aroused by instinct gradually relaxed in the inexplicable feeling. Duan Qing, who was wearing a cloak, took the lead in walking towards the direction of the figure. The image of Reiner, who was so familiar in his impression, also appeared on Duan Qing. Qing and Xueling Huanbing gradually turned around as they approached, and stood up with his body that had been sitting upright like a sculpture: "Just like I can't believe that you can come here again. "
"Nice to see you again."
