Tess didn't make it to supper after all. She had been sleepy and delirious before that, one moment still grunting, the next she was asleep. There may have been a little bit of deliberateness in that, but she was indeed exhausted.

Isis carried her back to her room. When he went downstairs, only Ed was left at the table, and in front of him, the little mongoose gestured with its little paws, and the solemn expression looked particularly strange on the little furry face.

This is also a being that is out of the rules - a mongoose's body can't hold the soul of an elf at all, but he still retains his consciousness.

"I see. Ed whispered to it, "Go and rest for a while, it'll be too late to talk about it tomorrow." ”

The little mongoose patted him on the shoulder, jumped off the table, and nodded politely at him as she ran past Is.

"Naria is making a late-night snack. ”

Ed laughed as Iss walked over, "It's the Blow family's sausage!"

The aroma of barbecued sausages wafted over, dispelling the faint chill of the autumn night.

Iss dragged away his chair and sat down, and asked bluntly, "Aren't you going to tell her?"

Ed quickly glanced at the flickering fire in the kitchen, his eyes flickered, and he unconsciously lowered his voice: "I think...... There's no need for that, is there? What is the need to worry about the problem that has already been solved?"

"Is it really 'settled'?" Iss looked straight at him.

Ed lowered his eyes in silence and pursed his lips. The corners of his sunken mouth have too deep lines, showing the gloom and stubbornness that he has never had before...... And he may not have noticed it himself.

In the end, it is not completely without effect.

Iss suddenly regretted it. Maybe he shouldn't have taught Ed how to "digest" his other self at all...... Maybe he should have let the soul that should have been lost long ago disappear completely. Even if it was Ed Singall, it wasn't the one he knew.

The human soul is strong and fragile. How could he think that Ed would be able to solve a problem that he hadn't even been able to handle himself?

But now it's too late to regret it. The gray shadow was already wrapped around Ed's soul, like a pattern that had been woven into the cloth from the beginning, and if you want to remove it, it will only destroy the whole cloth along with it.

"Is......" Ed looked up at him, pleading in his eyes, "I'm still me, you know. ”

Oh, yes...... No one knows better than he does.

Isis wiped his face irritably: "It's your business. If you don't want to tell her, I certainly won't talk too much...... I just think that, according to your human habits, she will be the one who will accompany you for the rest of your life, and she has the right to know...... You should also understand that 'I'm hiding this for your own good' doesn't make sense to her. ”

“...... Not for her. Ed bowed his head again, "It's for myself." ”

"Don't you even have that little bit of faith in her?" Is, annoyed, but remembered to keep his voice down, "if you're sure you're still yourself, what's there to fear?"

Ed hung his head and muttered, "You don't understand......"

I don't understand the kind of gains and losses—the sweetness he had just tasted, the beauty he carefully held in the palm of his hand, pure as crystal...... He didn't want any shadow to hang over him anyway.

Ise took a deep breath and suppressed the rage that had surged up.

"What did Norway just tell you?" he stiffly changed the subject, lest he might be impulsive and punch him—Nalya was about to come out, and he could hear her footsteps...... She would definitely think it was his fault! Once a girl has a lover, it is simply unreasonable to be biased.

"They got a map in the cave of the Bolt dwarves. Ed glanced at him, apprehensively flattering, and verbose, "A very old map...... Rosa and Cesyana took it to Neo, actually to find us. They didn't get the news in time, but when they got to Neo and found that we weren't there, they should be looking for them soon. ”

"So, Tess dared to run back, thinking we weren't in Stonebuge?" Naria walked over briskly and placed a plate of sausages and three beers on the table, "No wonder she wouldn't tell Rosa why they went to Neo!"

"But she went to the three-storied pagoda because she heard you were there, right?" said Ed, "and she's worried about you." ”

The corners of Naria's mouth curled, "Otherwise, why do you think I let her go so easily?...... Speaking of the map, if Tess is willing to trade her gems for it, it must be very important. ”

"She's traded Heart of the Mountains for more than that. "Maps are just an added bonus." It is said that when the Bolt dwarves split from Black Rock, they took with them the most books and scrolls...... Their leader was a priest who would rather give up the wealth and weapons he could have gotten than take as much writing as he could. ”

"Sounds like a very informed leader. Naria was a little puzzled, "But what happened to them...... Became like that?"

The Bolt dwarves don't have a good reputation.

"That leader died too early. Ed replied with regret, "After his death, the Bolt Dwarves experienced another split. One was driven out of the mines and completely degenerated into bandits in the desert, and many went to become mercenaries...... A lot of things were lost and destroyed in that upheaval. ”

"Did Norway tell you?" asked Naria, nonchalantly.

Ed's heart skipped two beats and he let out a low "um".

And the rest of the books don't get the attention they deserve. The dwarves piled them in a corner of the pit without even trying to protect them. Twenty years ago, Norway first learned that one of the diaries had the name "Ankeland" in it...... He also knew that there was real treasure buried in the piles of books that were about to rot.

"Norway and the others went to the Bolt Dwarves' mines to find the diary. "They're hoping to find out more about Ankeland in it...... But I couldn't find it. ”

They found the map because of its unique texture—it was a map made of dragon skin, and it was surprisingly large when it unfolded.

Thousands of years later, the pigments extracted from the ore still retain their vivid colors on the leather, which is difficult to damage with ordinary swords, clearly depicting the whole world.

A world they know and unfamiliar with

Norvi said that the continents and oceans on that map were depicted...... Much bigger than we know. "Ed looked at Iss carefully," he said...... The icon on the picture is the dragon language. ”

。 Wonderful Book House