The crow's gaze casually brushed over Ed's face and turned to Iss again.

"I know dragons can see through invisibility, but they can't see through Transfiguration, how did you find out?" she asked with interest, not showing a hint of panic.

Isis looked at her coldly and did not answer.

Ed could clearly feel his anger at any moment - Iss was not such a careful and good guy to hide his emotions, and no matter where he could tell that the person in front of him was not Inglis, he definitely didn't find out from the beginning.

Ed unconsciously wanted to hide a little farther away. It's no fun for a teased and deceived ice dragon to get angry, and he doesn't want to be accidentally trampled flat or thrown out of the house by his tail.

"Oh, don't be angry. "At least, I can guarantee that everything I just told you is true, and that even Inglis himself doesn't necessarily know more than I do—including Abner Rhine who was 'my' apprentice." ”

She tapped her chest with her white, slender fingers.

"It's just that the kid clearly went with me willingly, but then claimed to have been kidnapped by me...... It's sad. ”

She chuckled, not looking too sad.

"I guess his interest in dragons didn't come from the grey-robed Candian," Iss finally spoke, his deep, cold voice closer to the dragon's form.

"Perhaps. The White Crow shrugged, "But what's the point of saying that now? ”

“...... Dead?" Ed asked involuntarily in surprise.

"As I said, those guys in the Archmage Tower are keen on intrigue. Stepping on each other's bones and stepping on the top of the tower, like the useless title of 'Archmage' is the crown of a king...... Abner had vanished seven or eight years ago, just like those who had lost the battle before him and after him. It's as if it never appeared in the tower. Not to mention that the gray-robed Candian died before him, and even if he was still alive, that old guy wouldn't care much about the life or death of a student. ”

The Raven's hostility towards Candian seems to be much stronger than that towards Abner, who "betrayed" her. Ed looked at her in amazement, and his mind couldn't help but wonder what kind of story was hidden in it.

Raven cupped his chin with one hand and tilted his head to look at Ed.

"But I guess you wouldn't come in on a whim to ask for news of a mage who has been gone for years. She said, "He's still alive, isn't he?

Her voice was soft. But Ed's heart jumped violently, and the whole person suddenly sat up straight.

"It's none of your business. Iz flatly refused to answer in his place, and pulled Ed up as he got up. Dragged him out the door.

When he reached the door, he stopped suddenly, turned back and told Mulder, who had come up to see him off, "Tell the old man that he had better not let this madwoman run around, and that he should remember what kind of warning he had received." ”

"Are you worried about my safety?" the crow chuckled behind them. "Don't worry. Dragons...... I couldn't leave this house. ”

The overly affectionate title made the muscles on Is's face twist involuntarily.

"Oh, I forgot. ”

As Ed was terrified and ready to pounce on him at any moment to stop an enraged dragon from smashing the mage, who didn't know whether she was alive or dead, along with the entire wooden house, the crow lazily added:

"I've heard that he almost managed to animate a specimen of a fairy dragon in Candian's collection before he disappeared. That's probably one of the reasons for his disappearance...... While many mages secretly conduct similar experiments, if discovered, it can easily be a reason to be attacked or even obliterated - technically, it is a necromancy. ”.

Ise strode forward without looking back, Ed following closely behind him. I didn't dare to speak for a long time...... I don't know what to say.

They had already left the Enshi Valley some way away. The forest in early spring is very humid, and the smell of rotting plants and trees floats in the air. All I could hear was the sound of their footsteps breaking the silence of the forest.

Isis didn't turn back into an ice dragon. Ed found that he could no longer accurately judge how his friend would act—he saw that he was still impatient, irritable and irritable, but he was able to control himself better than before.

That made him a little relieved, and inexplicably a little lost.

"How did you find out?" he asked cautiously, finally unable to endure the suffocating silence any longer, "to find him...... She's not Inglis. ”

"The old man smelled like a piece of dry bark, not a flower. "If it weren't for the smell of the flowers in that place that tickled my nose, I would have noticed it at first - and Inglis wouldn't have spoken as insinuating as she did, and it would have been annoying to hear!"

- So he probably heard something wrong before proving his judgment with his keen sense of smell.

Ed nodded in realization, almost hitting Is, who had come to a sudden stop.

“...... Don't you have anything to tell me?" Iss looked back at him.

Ed froze for a moment, instinctively trying to avoid his gaze.

He had intended to tell him, but Raven's last words made him realize that things might be more complicated than he thought...... Damn, why does he have to speak?!Wouldn't it be nice to go back to Limestone Fort in silence all the way back to Limestone Fort when nothing happened?!

Is's pale blue eyes gradually cast a shadow of disappointment, and the anger made the broken gold spilled in them brighter and brighter, quickly overpowering the otherwise clear water.

Ed clenched the hem of his coat nervously, holding his breath for the roar and pressure of an ice dragon.

It was so quiet that it seemed as if the air had stopped flowing, and time seemed to be stretched out indefinitely. A moment later, Iss just turned and continued on without a word.

“...... Eth!" Ed stood still for a moment before he chased after him in a panic.

"You...... That one...... I'm not ......" He was incoherent, stumbling, and his mind was a mess, and he didn't know what to do.

"If you don't want to say, I won't ask again. ”

Is's voice sounded calm—too calm, as cold and hard as a frozen lake on a winter day, and one couldn't get close to the gentle waves of water beneath the ice.

They weren't even a stone's throw away, but suddenly it seemed like a whole world away.

Ed's heart was beating suddenly, panicking like a rabbit scurrying around, but there was an indescribable grievance. Even if he had to hide something, it was only because he didn't want his best friend to be hurt in any way.

"It's just that I thought there would never be any secrets between you, me, and Naria......" Is's voice lowered, with indescribable exhaustion and disappointment.

And his tall back looked so lonely in the shadows of the trees, as if he were alone in this world, and there was no place to return.

- He is indeed the last ice dragon in the world.

Ed felt a hammer slam down, smashing his beating heart into a puddle of flesh.

“...... Of course not!" he blurted out, grabbing Is's belt, "No secrets! I'll tell you everything!"

When Isis turned around, he faintly saw a flash of cunning in those blue and gold eyes...... That must be his delusion!.

Abner Rhine was indeed alive, and it was Sesyana who found him.

For nearly two months, the Elven Sword Dancer pursued another clue about Sesyana, only to discover that the "teenage blonde boy" was not actually the little prince he was looking for.

Despite the fact that he had eliminated the lair of a guy who had taken advantage of the war to resell people, Cesyana was not happy at all.

Being in the north, an elf with pointy ears is too conspicuous. Most of the time, he could only hide the emblems of his proud race, or hide in the darkness and shadows like a shadow dancer—and that made him more and more agitated.

As an elf, he doesn't want to get involved in human wars at all, and Borena understands this very well. He had told him that he could leave at any time, and that he and Rosa had already paid Aaron Mancini the money he owed for "mission failure", as if they had protected him all the way from the three-storied tower and sent him back to Llewellyn.

When she heard that her brother had been kidnapped, Rosa chose to stay, Sesyana...... Naturally, it stayed.

He had nowhere to go anyway.

He didn't hate his new mission - to rescue an innocent boy and return him to his loved ones, and that was the right thing to do. But he was fed up with it, so he could only sneak around like a thief to find out.

He can only relax a little when he can walk alone in the deserted forest without any worries.

Almost ten days ago, after cleaning up the group of human traffickers and making sure that all the rescued people had reached the nearest village safely, the Sword Dancer gave himself a little respite, and instead of rushing to find out more information, he quietly burrowed into the depths of the West Kasdan Forest, enjoying a moment of silence among the silent and tall redwood trees.

He had become more and more accustomed to the cold weather of the northern lands, the air was crisp and transparent, the night sky was as clean as being washed by icy water, the stars were as close as jewels hanging in the treetops, and the surroundings were so quiet that he could almost hear the sound of the snow melting and the budding of the vegetation.

One night, in the midst of that silence, the sword dancer heard an unexpected human voice.

(To be continued......)