No matter how much speculation there was in his mind, or how many stories he made up, Borena just welcomed them with open arms.

"Is the Archon alright?" Ed asked him as he walked into the dimly lit foyer of the main building.

His concern is not merely polite. He was indeed worried that he had not been able to completely heal Ethan Crooffler, not to mention the mental damage he had suffered could not be healed by magic.

"Not too good. "Of course, he himself would never admit it." ”

The Croiffler mansion was as grand and sturdy as Ed remembered, but it was dimly lit, and the windows in the hallways were so small that the patches of light that came in were particularly dazzling, and the places that could not be reached by the sun were extremely cold.

They met a noblewoman head-on. The woman, who was already quite old, dressed in a long gray and black dress without ornamentation, with meticulous sideburns, and a well-defined face, and a beautiful appearance of her youth, but without the slightest expression like a wood carving, only bowed to the king with dignity and rigor, and without looking at them more, and without waiting for Borena to utter a word, she got up and went away with her maids.

She did not have the slightest respect for the king, and she showed it unabashedly.

“...... This is the Countess de Ville. ”

Borena had no choice but to look at her back and introduce her with some embarrassment.

"I know. Ed said, "I've seen it." ”

Then he involuntarily lowered his voice: "...... Did she get it?"

The last time he had been here in search of Is, he had seen the countess, Ethan and Eli's mother...... At that time, although she was cold, she was still a calm and thoughtful hostess, and now, her restrained gentleness was completely frozen, and only the flames of anger were pressed against her.

Borena smiled bitterly, but opened his mouth to explain to her: "When the news of Eli's becoming a necromancer was first revealed, she locked herself up and refused to even see Ethan...... Finally accepted the facts, prayed day and night, and hoped that the eldest son, who had once been proud, would turn back in the light of Anduhe, only to wait for him to use his brother as bait in such a cruel way, and not caring that he might die because of it—as a mother, she did not collapse, and she was able to take care of the entire city lord's mansion as usual, which is already remarkable. ”

She couldn't ask him to let Eli go, and she couldn't blame her youngest son for almost dying, and Borena, who was in a sense the culprit of all this disaster, naturally bore her strongest hatred.

Of course, this is anger, but if it can prevent her from falling into endless sorrow, she will never be able to get rid of it...... He didn't mind.

Ed couldn't help but reach out and pat him on the shoulder as a sign of comfort. His Majesty never regarded such sympathy as an offense, or even wanted to gain an inch.

"Speaking of which, how long can you stay here?" he asked Ed, "can you stay a little longer?"

His eager eyes made the hairs on the back of Ed's neck stand up: "...... What's the trouble?"

"Countless troubles. Borena shook her head and sighed, "Uncountable." The snow in the Far North Ice Fields is already falling, and the barbarians are organizing their armies, and I have every reason to suspect that this time they are not trying to fight among themselves. ”

It's not infighting, it's about attacking Anktan, which is a big problem.

Ed's feelings for the barbarians were mixed. He understands their plight, appreciates their straightforwardness, bravery and passion, and has seen enough of their ferocity and brutality.

But what could he do?

He was once treated as a guest by the Benlu tribe for helping to rescue the barbarians from the necromancer's cave, but he had little influence over them. Even his name as a "Sage" only made them reject him even more. If Sao, the old priest of the Benlu tribe, was still alive, he might be able to do something...... But Sio left the tribe because he knew he was about to die, and because he was disappointed in his people.

Is it true that the fierce but resilient race that runs on the ice field can't go the other way?

"Something to say. Iss suddenly spoke, his icy blue eyes tinged with a hint of warning, "What exactly do you want him to do? ”

If it's too much, you'd better not say it at all.

Borena smirked - the ice dragon's instincts were a little too sharp. If it weren't for the fact that things were really troublesome, he wouldn't be so difficult to export...... He was never hesitant to ask for help.

But he couldn't think of anyone else but Ed...... No, not necessarily, it's just that Ed is clearly the best candidate.

“...... We'll come back to that later. He flinched from the ice dragon's sharp gaze and decided to think again if there was another way.

The room at the end of the corridor had an open door. In addition to Ethan, there was also an unexpected guest waiting for them in the room, with short silver hair and a holy white robe.

“...... Lord Laval. Ed bowed his head and glanced at Is.

He couldn't tell whether the priest in front of him was real or fake, but he couldn't use magic to find out at such a time.

He was relieved to get his friend's confirmation and showed a sincere smile: "Long time no see, are you okay?"

On the face of it, there was nothing wrong with the high priest of Anduhe. He was still tall and strong, as majestic and gentle as ever, not at all like Sean when he was first rescued, but if he looked closely, his gray-blue eyes clearly lost the look that needed to be hidden so as not to be intimidating, like a gem that lost its brilliance.

"I'm afraid it's not very good," he said without hesitation, "but it's lucky to be alive—to be sober." In fact, I'm here to thank the Archon, and without his help, death would have been probably the best I could have gotten to it. ”

However, Ethan Crooffler, who was thanked, did not react in the slightest except to stand up as they entered the room, as if he had not heard anything.

The window in this room was facing the sunlight at the moment, but he stood in the shadows with his head down, as if to merge with it.

"Let's go to the garden. Borena said abruptly, "Look, such a good sun, if you don't bask in more sun now, it will probably not be able to get it in the future." ”

As if awakened by his deliberately raised voice, Ethan raised his head, and after a moment of trance, his raised eyebrows brought a little anger - he hated such a headless and brainless thing the most.

But the brainless guy was the king, and the guests all nodded in agreement.

.

The northern-style Founder Garden is just behind the main building, not as delicate as the southern garden, but it is soothingly open and bright in the autumn sun.

Ethan flinched imperceptibly on the clear line between shadow and sunlight before stepping out heavily.