Ed thought that people who had been confined to the dark for too long would be afraid of the dark, but Ethan seemed to be more afraid of the light. This does not bode well, and Borena, who clearly told him that Ethan is "not very good", is now unaware of the strangeness of his friend, and strides forward on his own, walking in the bright sun.

He walked too fast, and the others could only follow suit. His Majesty considered himself a master – and he did live here for several years. He enthusiastically introduced the garden to the guests, which had "not changed since the day it was built," and the corners of Ed's mouth twitched slightly.

A garden "unchanged" is synonymous with "lacklustre" for the Ruttgars, but for the northerners, it is an ancient heritage to be proud of. Borena's efferving praise was exaggerated and ironic, and Ethan, who heard this, finally had a bit of a living look on his face.

A living man whose face was blackened with anger.

Ed looked back, thinking he might not need to worry too much.

The most noteworthy sight in the whole garden is a maple tree that has lived for hundreds of years. The tree is extremely tall, and its palm-shaped leaves do not turn bright red, but are bright golden yellow, which is even more dazzling and fascinating against the clear sky.

The southerners would have built elaborate stone pavilions near such beautiful scenery for viewing and resting, and the northerners had actually installed a few simple, cold, and hard stone chairs under the trees. However, when they each sat down, a breeze blew, the leaves rustled overhead, and a few swirls fell leisurely from time to time, and Ed's sour, astringent, and bitter heart, which had been rubbed in the past few days, stretched out, and felt a long-lost lightness.

Once again, Laval thanked Ethan, but perhaps most of what he said was addressed to Ed.

Eli Croefler was once an almost avid admirer of Lydia Bell - perhaps the one who made him a necromancer. But he escaped from the temple of Anduhe, kidnapped Ethan, and nearly captured Borena, but with the help of demonic powers. Before Ethan's captivity, Laval had become a prisoner of those demons.

Ed was shocked: "The day of the Cobblestone Festival...... Wasn't you the one who showed up in Branti's library on the day the Serpent was killed?!"

"Not really. The high priest laughed tiredly. He was actually nearly 100 years old, but he had never felt old before, but now, looking at the deep lines on his face, Ed realized that his body might not be much better than Sean's.

"You should already know that the underground of the Temple of Anduhe usually has a place for summoning demons. "Yes, it's dangerous, but we're not doing it to get more power...... Not exactly. ”

"'How can we defeat our enemies if we don't know them?'" Ed whispered, "that ...... Pretend to be your illusion, once said. ”

"No wonder, then, no one can tell if it's real or fake. Laval sighed softly, "Nigel has already told me what it said in the Berranti Library that day...... Even if I had been there, what I had said would probably not have made any difference, and I might not have been as frank as it was. I don't like to hide it, but if a person lives in doubt and anxiety for a long time, and hides secrets in his heart that are difficult to say, day after day, it becomes more and more difficult to judge what can and cannot be said. ”

He was not a saint, but as a high priest, he was the closest to the god they worshipped among the priesthood of Anduhe. He could get a vague foreshadowing, and from decades ago, when he was just an ordinary priest, the eyes of unknown people, sometimes black, sometimes golden, that appeared most often in dreams, or in the scattered images that glided before his eyes.

At first, he thought it was a sign of demons and dragons, but later, when he actually saw a living ice dragon at Mayday, he suddenly realized that those golden eyes were not the eyes of a dragon—the dragon's eyes had vertical pupils like those of wild beasts.

What he saw was a pair of golden, human eyes.

“...... So you think that's Scott?" Ed's voice was as soft as the wind blowing through his ears.

Scott...... Or your Ice Dragon friend. Laval replied, "When he appears in human form, if his eyes turn golden in anger, his pupils don't turn vertical, do they?"

Ed nodded slowly, but deep down he had doubts again, and he couldn't help but start to think of a way to cut a little wound on the old man's body, to see if there was a taste in his blood that did not belong to this world...... If he can hide it from them once, he can hide it from them a second time, can he?

"You're doubting me. Laval smiled, "Because you don't like my suspicion of your relatives and friends." ”

The young man who was seen through hesitated for a moment and nodded in acknowledgement.

"That's why we always hide something. The old man said, "When we haven't found the answer ourselves, there are a lot of 'doubts', and speaking out will only make things more complicated." I can tell everybody that I've been foretold by God, and you're going to be angry about it, and more people will think that demons are ...... Dragons, or Scotts, are our real enemies. But is that really the case? I have seen only a fragment, and how do I know that it must be an enemy, not a glimmer of life that can save the world from destruction? We summon demons to understand them, and most clergy, even if they are commanded to be more objective and calm, can only regard them as enemies. But no matter what methods are used and how many things are done wrong, we still have something to piece together...... The demons in hell also have their own gods, and that god may be no different from what we believe in. ”

The wine in Ethan's cup shook out, and even the unbelieving king, who was sitting there with a big grin, stiffened with fright. Ed felt that he should also show surprise...... No, as a clergyman, he should be shocked, even angry, because his faith is being subverted.

But his momentary hesitation was enough for Laval to come to a conclusion.

"You already know. He said.

Ed was silent, and at this moment, he suddenly understood Laval's dilemma, after all, he had made the same choice as him - he chose to conceal it.

But his suspicions of Laval did not disappear.

"So," he said, respectfully, "what do you think we should do?"