"You think he might be being controlled?" asked Scott, frowning.

Or misleading. "My father didn't believe much in God...... No offense, he just felt that it was more appropriate for human beings to handle their own affairs. So it didn't matter to him whether a god was true or not, and the followers of Nesses didn't seem to have done anything that would threaten the nation or anger him. He was not a tolerant and benevolent man, but he would not give such orders without reason, even at the expense of the lord of Balach. ”

Fish-Croeffleur, lord of Balach, refused the king's order rather outright, causing Joaquin to be furious and sent several harshly worded letters to Fish. Unwavering, Fish wrote back and scolded Joaquin as a blasphemous barbarian who would only go to hell when he died. Under the persuasion of Prime Minister Gilbert, a steady old man, Joaquin finally did not immediately send troops to attack Balach, but sent troops directly from Llewellyn to find and hunt down the followers of Netherth.

"He's not crazy, he's not stupid—but isn't it strange that he's not rational about it?" said Borena, "and I guess you know that, so you didn't kill him." ”

"Almost. Scott replied coldly.

Borena couldn't help but shudder: "You didn't 'almost' kill me too, did you?"

"Nope. Scott said frankly, "I just wanted to threaten him with his son first and take the army back." And you're better at grasping than the other. ”

He's pretty practical about that.

Borena touched his neck - he used it that way.

"If you can't find out as soon as possible. Or convince Joaquin to take back the order...... I might do it again. Scott's gaze slid across his neck like a sword.

"I'm working on it. Borena sighed, "But ......"

He suddenly remembered something, jumped up and pulled out a ring and handed it to Scott, "Do you recognize this?"

It was a heraldic ring. Thornon was brought out of the headless grave that belonged to the necromancer. Originally, there was also a book and a stack of letters, as well as the head of a monster...... Before he could take a closer look, he lost it while running for his life, leaving only the ring he had with him.

But he didn't recognize the coat of arms on it, not even Ethan.

"Probably someone who dreamed of becoming a nobleman did it for himself. Ethan said.

Borena could see that he didn't believe it himself, but he just didn't want to admit that he had a family coat of arms that he didn't recognize. The ring looked ancient and delicate, like something that had been passed down from generation to generation and was well preserved, and a necromancer wouldn't keep it for no reason.

If all this is indeed manipulated by a necromancer. This ring is perhaps their best clue.

Scott stared at the coat of arms on the ring for a long time. In the shape of a double shield is a bunch of grapes on one side and a long arrow on the other. Flames swirled around the shield.

"I think I've seen this. He said.

"Borena!"

Ethan's voice came from outside the door: "Open the door!

In the blink of an eye, Scott was gone.

Borena sighed helplessly and got up to open the door.

"The soldiers at the mouth of the Kuz can't come back. Ethan threw a letter into Borenna's arms as if it were all his fault. "They were attacked by the barbarians, and none of them died!".

On the day he received the letter, Ethan stopped Borena from rushing into the Black Castle with the letter.

"I guess His Majesty has received the same message. "Let's figure out what the hell is going on...... And see what effect it will have on us. ”

Borena listened to him. Ethan was always the calmer and more cautious one, and he never messed things up - though he was always impatient.

But the next day Borena began to regret it, as he seemed to be unable to enter the Black Castle and see his father again.

"His Majesty the King is on business. The answers he received were always the same.

Borena had a vague sense that something wasn't quite right, and Ethan's increasingly gloomy face seemed to prove it.

On the third day, Ethan finally told him, "Some say that those barbarians are your army. ”

"My ...... What?!" Borena was dumbfounded.

"Your army. Ethan repeated lightly, "Obey your orders and attack the mouth of the Kuz River." Kill all the Anktann soldiers...... Because they hold too many of your secrets. ”

Borena was speechless for a long time.

This is ridiculous. Let's not mention how a barbarian could obey the orders of a human...... Those "people", do they know that he almost died at the hands of a barbarian?

"They say you have made a deal with the barbarian tribes, and their armies will obey your command. The condition was to give the entire territory of the Kuz estuary up to Balach to the barbarians. Because the ice field is now roaming with countless undead, the barbarians need to be protected by the walls. ”

This "they say" is half true and half false...... And he did provide protection, even food and shelter, when some barbarians hid behind the walls of the Kuz estuary to escape the undead.

"Others say that you also deal with necromancers. Ethan smiled sarcastically, "You coaxed the barbarians into leaving their homeland. The invasion of human territory is actually to help the necromancers occupy the ice fields. ”

Borena's face turned blue. How did he not know that he was so powerful?

"And all this you do. It's because you resent your father. Ethan glanced at him, "You resent him for abandoning his wife, marrying the daughter of the House of Longfur for power and wealth, and leaving your mother to die in despair, and you resented him for stripping you of your inheritance and letting Queen Kazia force you to leave without paying a damn about it." You stay at the mouth of the Kuz River, drive away the local officials, buy people's hearts, curry favor with the Croofflers, and even hire adventurers to spread your name around in order to one day come back for revenge, take your father's throne, and let Queen Kezia and her children die in silence in the Black Cell. ”

Borena's mind went blank, and then he began to laugh involuntarily, and the louder he laughed, the louder he couldn't stop.

Ethan sighed.

"Maybe you really should. He said calmly.

Borena kept shaking his head. He remembered his mother, who had indeed just learned at the time of her death that her long-lost husband had married another woman, but she had no resentment against him.

"He must have thought we were all dead. She told Borena with a smile and tears in the corners of her eyes, "It's like we thought he was dead." It's not anyone's fault. Don't go to him, kid, not now...... He deserves a better future. ”

Borena listened to her. He didn't go to Joaquin, he didn't let anyone know that his father was still alive and that he was getting more famous every day...... It wasn't until an unintentional gaffe that Ethan became suspicious, silently found out everything and told his father, the resolute and upright Fish Croiffler dragged him directly in front of Joaquin.

The extremely embarrassing father-son acquaintance, Borena didn't want to remember at all. All he knew was that he was not popular.

He shouldn't have been alive at all.

But the moment Joaquin recognized him, there was a brief surprise in his eyes—a very brief moment. And he didn't deny that he was his son after all, even though he could have done that.

For this reason, even without Kezia, Borena has no intention of staying behind to block everyone. He, as Ethan described, fled in disgrace, taking with him a lot of the possessions Joaquin had given him.

He was a practical man, survival was more important than pride, and that was what his father gave him, so why wouldn't he?

He fled to the mouth of the Kuz River, a remote and chaotic town. It was not affected by the war, and it was not protected by anyone. Those who struggled to survive the infestation of barbarians and groups of self-righteous adventurers, but stubbornly and proudly refused to leave their homeland, eventually became his relatives.

It took him years to make that town a place of pride again. He relied on his former friends to pay reliable mercenaries to guard the town, and little by little let the adventurers who were accustomed to unbridled learn to play by his rules, and then trained the town's young men to gradually replace the mercenaries, and he rebuilt the walls to defend against the barbarians, carefully opening the gates to the barbarians and half-breeds who left the tribe and had nowhere to go, so that the right people could be the adventurers' guides, and led people to the ice fields without any danger...... When he had no money, he even had the cheekiness to secretly go to Ethan to borrow it, and later made it back by introducing the business of guides.

More and more people are coming here. He did get a little carried away, but he felt justified in being proud of himself, not to mention the fact that he had Crichens, his wife who smiled like a man, but was surprisingly attentive and considerate......

And then everything collapsed so suddenly that he was completely caught off guard.

He still doesn't know why Greybeard Chem would do something to him. Chem, one of the first barbarians to settle at the mouth of the Kuz, never expressed any displeasure, and even once stood at the head of the wall when the barbarians attacked him, scolding his own countrymen in the Isaac language, whom he thought were friends......

He could no longer get any answers from Cham. After his fall, his men nearly chopped Chem to pieces, and the barbarian reportedly barely resisted.

He couldn't take these ...... When Anktan's soldiers stormed the mouth of the Kuz River, he took it for granted that all the darkness came from Llewellyn—from his stepmother, and perhaps even from his father, not his fault.

Even Ethan thinks so, doesn't he?

So he came to Llewellyn and vowed to get justice for those who died innocently for protecting him.

And now...... Only now did he see the huge whirlpool beneath his feet.

He crashes headfirst into a game he is not familiar with at all and is delusional that he will win to the end.

(To be continued)