As he led the goblins out of the city gates, Ed had to take everyone's fingers on his own, because even the elves wouldn't go with him.

"It's even worse if someone finds out I'm an elf. Norway explained.

Ed felt he should trust Novi ...... But he still felt abandoned by everyone.

"It's just you and me, poor little fellow. He sighed at the goblin, his heart filled with sadness. Fortunately, the little guy apparently knew that he was about to be freed, and ran after him almost happily, and even rushed ahead of him several times, dragging him forward, making Ed feel like he was walking the dog...... Or be walked.

It wasn't until they were far out of the city, and there were almost no people on the road, that Norway and the girls followed.

"Not enough friends!" Ed accused.

Tess stuck her tongue out at him, but Naria pretended not to hear, only the elf gave him an apologetic smile.

"How far do we have to go before we can let it go!" Ed asked, there was no way to get the horse to run with the goblins, no one wanted to ride with the goblins, and they didn't have any extra horses.

"Maybe ask it yourself. Norway looked down at the goblins, "Where's your home?"

The goblin kept looking around, rolling his eyes, but did not answer.

"I know you understand me, and we're not going to follow you and tell us where we can let you go. ”

"Forest, forest. The goblin stretched out his thin arm and pointed northward, and finally spoke: "Far from the river, far from the dwarves." Its voice was shrill and harsh, fast and muffled, but barely intelligible.

Norway looked where it was pointing.

"Wind Whispering Forest. It was a forest between the Silver Tooth Mountains and the Vinez River, he said.

"Well, we'll have to head north anyway. Ed sighed, "I can take a bag and put it on the horse's back! ”

"Put you right away. Tess immediately said, "I have no problem with that!"

Ed scratched his cheeks, always thinking it looked like child abuse, and ended up putting a piece of his clothes on the goblin and trying to make it sit behind his back. But the goblin had never ridden a horse, and was terrified of the tall, impatient snort, and menacing the white fangs of the beast, screaming and fleeing, but refusing to mount.

Anyway, Ed had to strap it on the horse's back like baggage, and endure its miserable wails as if it were about to be skinned and put on the grill.

They crossed the frozen Vinez River through thick ice, reaching the edge of the Windwhispering Forest before dark. Ed untied the goblin and put it down from his horse.

"Okay, don't cry, you can go home. He cried with a splitting headache.

The goblins looked at the nearby forest, and then at them, and didn't seem to believe that the men would really let it go.

"Wait!" Narya said suddenly, "If it had been living here, it might know something." ”

"Alright......" Ed crouched down and asked the goblins, "have you seen a dragon around here?"

There was a blank expression on the crumpled ugly face.

"Dragon! big, big, with horns on its head, it can fly!" Ed fluttered.

The goblin understood, and his eyes widened in fear: "Great white monster! demon!" it screamed in excitement and rushed into the forest, only to be caught by Ed.

"You've seen it!" he cried excitedly, "where is he? I mean, where did you meet him?"

The goblin struggled, screaming and writhing desperately, and a series of grunts came out of his mouth that Ed didn't understand at all.

Norway walked over and struggled to recall the crude and vulgar language of his memory.

"It said the big white monster was going to eat them, all of them, even the bones. ”

Ed looked up at him with adoring eyes, "You can understand the language of the goblins!"

"Their language is quite simple. The elf said, starting to communicate with the goblins with that strange grunt.

Perhaps it was because of hearing the language they knew so well that the goblins finally stopped writhing wildly. It gestured wildly, the muscles of its face twisted with fear, and it became more and more unsightly, and its sharp tone was like some instrument with the wrong strings, piercing the ears with a faint ache.

After finally ending the conversation, the elf rubbed his tormented, sensitive ears with a look of hidden pain: "There was once an ice dragon that landed in the valley near the cave where they lived, and they didn't even dare to approach it. Fearing that they would be eaten, they immediately moved, and of course it was impossible to know where the ice dragon had gone. Recently, another dwarf and human appeared near their new home, and it was sent out to find another place to hide, only to be accidentally caught and sold to a nearby hunter. ”

"How long ago was that?" asked Naria eagerly, "when did it see the ice dragon?"

"I don't know. Norway sighed, "I guess they don't have any idea of time, they say it was years ago, and then it immediately becomes a few days ago." ”

"Where's the valley?" asked Ed.

Norway asked a few more goblin words, and after receiving an answer, he frowned and shook his head, "I don't think we can find anywhere with its garbled descriptions. ”

"Can it take us there?"

The elf froze for a moment, and his instinct told him that it wasn't a good idea. But he questioned the goblin again.

The little monster shook his head desperately, and Ed had to use his best weapon - he pulled out a silver coin and shook it in front of the goblin, "Take us and you can get this." ”

The gleaming silver coin immediately attracted the goblin's full attention, and the fear in its prominent yellow-green eyes was quickly replaced by undisguised greed.

"Shiny Bright," it said, "give it to me?"

"Yes, here you go. Ed put the silver coin into its dirty little paws, "If you take us to the valley where the ice dragon once appeared, I'll give you more." He pulled out another, tossed it and caught it, and watched with satisfaction as the goblin's head swayed up and down with the silver coin.

The goblin lowered its head, its hands tightly gripping its shiny treasure, eyes rolling rapidly. There's more of this, and it can even become a boss!

"Follow me! Follow me!" it made up its mind, tugging at the hem of Ed's clothes, "Hatta will take you to the big monster!"

"Wait!" Noway grabbed Ed's arm, "It's getting dark, let's find a place to camp first, and then we'll leave tomorrow morning." "He didn't want to take three humans and follow a goblin anywhere in the forest at night. Besides, they've strayed from their original course...... Alan Cavo would never like this.

The elf doesn't intend to stop his young companions, it's their adventure after all, but he must keep them safe.

They enter the forest, find a suitable clearing, light a campfire and prepare dinner. Even during the arduous journey, Naria insisted on making every meal presentable, which made Tess feel extremely happy. Elves also cook, but during his travels, he usually just threw her random dry food and fruit.

As she was fascinated by the fragrant stew of potatoes, mushrooms, and spices, the elf crept up behind the goblin and crouched down.

"I've dealt with your kind hundreds of years ago, and I know exactly what you are. He lowered his voice with the iciest threat in it, "Don't play any tricks, you know I'm going to keep an eye on you." ”

He stayed long enough to watch the little monster stiffen into a ball before he got up and left.

He believed that the goblin had seen an ice dragon before, but he didn't believe that it would take them to any valley. Goblins were cowardly and cruel, stupid and cunning, greedy and fickle twisted creatures - he remembered the horror of the human village destroyed by the goblins forever, and he remembered that.

He needs to be alert enough when his human friends only see him as a dirty, ugly but harmless poor little guy.