Rye paused and listened.

It wasn't her delusion—there was a group of people riding behind her.

She looked around, pulled Sercio up the hillside, carefully hid behind a half-decayed tree, and held out her finger to silence the boy.

It's not necessary at all...... Sergio couldn't speak, his eyes weren't even looking at her, but Ryan didn't care.

She prefers to treat him like an ordinary, normal boy.

The sound of horses' hooves is getting closer. Rye calmly hid against the trunk of the tree, not too alarmed. It's wartime after all, and people walk through the forest from time to time. Deserters who left the team, merchants who wanted to avoid the battlefield, robbers who took advantage of the fire...... Those people are usually not very careful, and as long as they avoid this for a while, they can continue to go their separate ways.

But there seems to be something different about this team.

Rye frowned, and began to wonder whose army was trying to sneak through the forest to attack a fortress...... She didn't hear a single person speak in the sound of the horses' hooves, not even a cough or groan, only the soft sound of weapons and armor crashing against each other.

Curiosity made her probe glance quickly—it was indeed an army, fully equipped and well-groomed, but there were no flags in sight. There were about a dozen knights on horseback, and the rest were infantry, winding forward in a line along the narrow path...... Such queues are easy to sneak up on, but they don't seem to be worried about this.

She withdrew her gaze and unconsciously clenched Sercio's hand in confusion.

- Sergio broke away from her.

Ryan froze. He didn't react for a moment - he broke away from her?

He had never been conscious of himself since he was brought into the temple by Is, but he was at the mercy of others, and he did not show the slightest resistance when she took him out of the Limestone Castle...... And now. He broke away from her hand?

He was still not looking at her. His gaze was fixed on a certain point not far away...... Set on the body of a tall knight in the army that was passing through the forest.

Then he walked over without hesitation.

"Race ......"

A low, short syllable burst out from between Rey's teeth and was swallowed back, and the outstretched hand froze in mid-air—it was too late.

Someone stopped and pointed to the boy...... They had already found him, and there was no way they could escape.

They probably wouldn't be of much interest to Ryan - a shriveled old woman wouldn't be of any use to them, but Sergio. Even after losing his soul, he looks like a clean and beautiful aristocratic boy.

Ryan doesn't know how long Céline Grion will be able to hide the news of Sergio's disappearance. Perhaps these people will soon find out that the boy is the king's younger brother, a rare bargaining chip......

There is no way they can escape.

Ryan rushed out from behind the tree. He grabbed Sercio and tried to drag him behind him. But the boy stubbornly stepped forward, with surprising strength, and dragged her towards the group.

The infantry on both sides silently surrounded them. Trap them in it. The cold gaze under the armor sent chills down Rhy's body - she had never heard of a family with such an army.

Sergio paused and looked up. In front of him, the knight on the horse was also looking down at him in silence.

After a few moments, he suddenly bent over, easily pulled Sercio onto his horse, and sat down in front of him.

"Take her. ”

He commanded in a low voice, and then rode away without looking back.

On his first day out of Limestone Castle, Iss felt he had made a mistake - he should have chosen to go it alone.

Even if it will fly around like a fly without a head. It's better than poking between a pair of lovers with a weird atmosphere...... Why didn't he notice this before?!

As companions who act together, they rarely talk outside of necessity. When you're in a hurry. This would have made them faster, but the occasional break made the scene particularly awkward.

Seyanado would probably sit there silently wiping his sword, glancing at Rosa from time to time, almost every look with a different emotion in his eyes, so rich that Iss wondered if he was an elf after all, and Rosa would stare at the fire in a daze, as if she hadn't noticed the elf's complicated eyes...... But he would quickly glance back when he withdrew his gaze, and his eyes were equally complicated.

Ever since her perfect mask had been punctured by Céline Green, the female warrior seemed to have lost the interest in lightening the mood with her soft smile and painless chit-chatter as she had done before.

Isis had no choice but to hold his knees and look at the sky silently, trying to do nothing but noticing.

Fortunately, whatever these two men, one and one elf, were wrestling with, did not affect their actions. Sometimes Isis even thinks they don't really need him to get Sercio back.

There were few clues left for them, the most useful of which was a withered vine stuck on the windowsill of Sercio's room. The climbing plants that stuck to the castle walls didn't grow that tall, and the charred black, as if they had been scorched by fire, made Iss smell magic.

Utilizing plant ...... Such a spell made Iss involuntarily think of the white crow, but it was impossible for that woman to leave Yuanzhi Valley at all.

Anyway, Sergio and Rye left through the window. Given that they couldn't come and go like Cesyana did even in plain sight, Rosa didn't have much trouble figuring out a few routes they were most likely to use to get out of Limestone Castle, based on the approximate time of their disappearance and the time when the castle guards had changed shifts and no one had noticed the window.

Céline Gryan was subtle about this—the hole in the guard would probably be closed soon.

Behind the limestone fort is a towering cliff, a road that leads to a beacon tower that has not been used for years, and a narrow passage that spirals down the cliff to a small pier by the Kamaka River. But both roads were tightly guarded, and the boats at the pier were not lost.

Now that there are people who can use plants, they set their sights on the cliffs that cannot be climbed. Then, an ivy that was forced to grow and then die, led them into the Warhawk Forest.

And the forest is a world that belongs to the elves.

Isis is well aware that elves don't really talk to plants or animals. But watching Sesyana quickly discern the clues he wanted from the overwhelming greenery, it was as if the whole forest was pampering him, more or less a little bit...... Eat one's heart out?

This world originally belonged to dragons...... They were meant to be truly one.

After all, who turned his back on whom?

Isis straightened his legs, leaning his back against a tall cedar tree and closing his eyes. He still prefers to fly high above the clouds, where it is quieter and more expansive...... And in the forest, even in the silence there were countless small sounds, which did not stop for a moment, and the air was so thick that he could barely breathe, and too many smells always tickled his nose......

When he was about to fall asleep, he opened his eyes suddenly—he heard the footsteps of humans, and with some hesitation, he slowly approached them.

(To be continued.) )

PS: The brain is going to cough out, and I wanted to ask for leave and found that there was a recommendation this week...... Then a little less OTZ