No matter how much Tess muttered in Norvi's ear, "Every cold hair on my body and every paw print left by Mochi is screaming 'Danger'!" they silently followed Ace deeper into the forest.

There was nothing strange at first, the same unchanged scenery, the same boredom, and in the cold and frozen air emitted by Ace, Tess was in no mood to talk to Norvi.

She began to look forward to another accident like yesterday's—this time she would have weapons ready to teach the roots of the tree who knew whether they were alive or dead, whether enchanted or cursed.

When the third time she walked in a completely different direction than Ace, and was dragged back by the young man's cold voice, Tess realized that something was wrong.

"I'm totally following you!" she shouted at Ace's back.

"Me too, but it seems like we're always going to go elsewhere without even noticing. Norway said, "Is this some kind of magic?"

"Almost. Ace replied. Ancland is a city that has not been blessed by anyone, and its builders and guardians have indeed protected the forest with powerful magic, but those powerful spells have long since been lifted in favor of gentler magic that seems to be one with nature.

The faint aura of magic saved it from the undue attention of curious mages. Travelers who pass by in a hurry will leave the forest unhindered, and even if they are deliberately looking for something, if they don't master the right method, they will at most encounter a few trees that are not very peaceful.

But the location of the city was in his mind, and his eyes could see through most magic.

There were times when he stopped, as if listening to some eerie whisper in the windless forest, or frowning at the withered grass beneath his feet.

"Is there something wrong?" asked Norvi.

Ace stepped over a dead bush, tore off his robe that was hanging from the leaves, and replied indifferently, "Nothing." ”

He shook his robes and let the black leaves of death fall to the ground, realizing angrily that he was wasting his time here, and that the person he had tracked across half the continent might have once again taken refuge in the darkness that even he couldn't see.

"Nothing is right. Tess hummed quietly behind him.

He kept his face calm and didn't make any response, seriously considering the possibility of turning back into an ice dragon and grabbing the two people behind him and flying directly to Ankeland and throwing them down. What if his whereabouts were revealed? Anyway, people would find him very quickly.

But he didn't want anyone to know that he had used human form again - and he didn't want to kill them.

Why did he get himself into such trouble, or did he become an irresistible human thinker?

"Leave the injured horse behind and speed up. Without looking back, he said, suddenly agitated, "We're going to arrive before dark." ”

He ignored the girl's protests and sped through the sometimes dense and sometimes sparse woods, making up his mind that even if they couldn't keep up with him and lost their way.

That might be safer for them.

When they stopped, they were surrounded by only trees—oak, beech, maple, birch...... Even those shades of gold and red are a kind of beauty, and they have seen too much and are tired of it.

"Are we going to stop and rest?" asked Tess not too expectantly.

“...... We're here. Ace said. It was no less surprising to him, he remembered the city's glory when it was first built, but only a few lines about its fall. He had expected that at least some ruins would be left for the obsessive elf to hang on, and then they would be able to leave as soon as possible and go their separate ways.

"Wow...... What a great city!—shall I say that?" Tess looked around, unable to resist sarcasm.

"I don't see anything, Tess. Norway was a little disappointed, but not surprised, "Anclan must have been completely destroyed, but even if there is only a broken wall left in the city built by the elves, it will not be a few thousand years before there will be a single brick and tile, and we will always find something." ”

"Maybe it's not Ankeland at all?" I don't mean someone was lying to us," Tess raised her chin at the somewhat sullen young man, "maybe his news is just as wrong as the last one we got?"

Ace ignored her with a cold face.

"We can at least look around," the elf comforted the girl, who was getting more and more irritable because she was tired but had nothing to gain, "and that was no different from our original plan." ”

"Well," Tess sighed, "it's your adventure, it's up to you." ”

The elves' adventures end at dusk.

They found a strange clearing, as if the ground had collapsed down a long crack, several meters wide at its widest, and trees of various thicknesses fell horizontally in the dirt, in Tess's words, "like a bunch of crazy trees fighting well." ”

"I've never heard of an earthquake here. Norway groaned, and his gaze was drawn to something.

He jumped abruptly onto a fallen cedar tree, followed the mossy trunk to the other end of the tangled roots, and quickly leaned down to pull something tangled in the roots of the tree as it began to tilt dangerously into the crack, and ran briskly back.

“...... You'd better get something great back. Tess glared at him fiercely.

After clearing the dirt, the elf had a small fragment of a blue-gray stone statue in his hand.

That's half a small head. Half of the forehead was covered by a few delicate strands of hair, down was half of the left eye and a slightly curved jaw, and the tips of the ears were cut off, but no one could be mistaken—it was the head of an elf.

"It's here. The elf whispered, and after a moment of excitement, his heart sank little by little into a thick bitterness.

The city that has been destroyed, the history that has been obliterated, perhaps he should have allowed its secrets to be hidden deep underground. It only plunged his closed people into greater chaos and unrest day by day.

The road in front of them was already blurred.

The sun is setting, and the night seems to fall in an instant.

"What does this mean?" Tate tried to comfort the depressed elf, "maybe it's just an elven artifact that someone used to live here bought." ”

"Perhaps. Norway smiled reluctantly, the girl's guess was reasonable, but the elves' instincts convinced him that Ace had led them to the right place. Half of him wanted to stay and dig through the cracks for more evidence, half of him just wanted to leave as soon as possible.

They were relatively silent for a moment, until Moqi, who had been sleeping in the small bamboo basket behind Tess, suddenly screamed and jumped on the girl's shoulder, jumped down her arm onto the elf, and then jumped back in a panic, back and forth in circles.

"Little Mo?" Tess asked curiously, "what's wrong with you?"

The elf looked up alertly, his ears catching the staccato wail of the wind.

qidian.

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