Borena didn't know where he was.

It was he who told Gunner to go out and get Falbo back. He always felt a little uneasy, and it didn't seem good to let an angry teenager wander outside......

Then he faintly heard the cry for help, and as he rushed out of the tent, he was stopped by the knight outside the door.

“...... You know what might happen to them!" Borena blurted out and pleaded, "You have to go and help them!"

The knight sighed and did not object.

"Follow me!" he said.

Borena obediently followed. Even with the clatter of armor, the knight ran no slower than him. At the sight of the brothers, who were fluttering and sinking on the water, Borena did not hesitate to jump down with the others who had rushed to the river, while the heavily armed knight could only mumble curses as he wandered along the river—he could not hold Borena, and by the time he took off his heavy armor and jumped, it was too late to do anything.

Borena remembered grabbing one of Falbo's hands floating in the water - and then his vest was slammed into something, and his eyes were so dark that he felt almost the same as the last time he had been hit on the back by a barbarian's hammer, and his chest suffocated and he almost spurted a mouthful of blood.

In the midst of the severe pain, he probably lost consciousness. The dull pain in his back when he woke up still made him grin, and it made him realize that he was not dead...... But apparently unlucky again.

He almost wanted to pray something to the god of water - but his luck in this life would probably run out when he came back from the dead, even if Ethan had carefully arranged it. Apparently they couldn't protect him either.

He only hoped that the brothers Gunner and Falbo were okay...... They were clearly being used as bait.

The soaked clothes were wrapped around his body, making him shiver several times in a row. The place was dark, and I couldn't see my fingers. There were only a few strange light green fluorescents, which illuminated nothing, and it felt extremely cold and damp. He could hear the murmuring and dripping of water, which was probably a cave at the water's edge...... or underwater.

Thinking that the rushing black river was likely above him, Borena couldn't help but shiver again, groped his way to his feet, and before he could stand up straight, he hit the stone above his head. I screamed in pain.

The sound seemed to alarm something in the darkness. Borena shrank back vigilantly, the sound of clackling footsteps in his ears. From far to near, slow and dull. The familiar smell of rancid wafted over, and Borena's scalp tingled, and he silently reached for the dagger at his waist. He didn't have time to untie his belt when he jumped into the water. But the sword didn't know if it had fallen into the water or had been taken away, and his only weapon was the dagger that cut through the flesh......

Although he wasn't sure how much a small dagger would be of use to "that thing".

As he took Falbo's hand, he glanced down inadvertently...... Although it was not very clear, the white thing hanging from the water at Falbo's feet had a vague human form.

And he knew what that might be.

Borena didn't even blink at the thought that "that thing" was here, even though he couldn't see anything at all, and could only listen with bated breath to the sounds not far away.

But the footsteps stopped suddenly, and then snapped to the side. It seems to be a little farther away from him.

Borena didn't feel relaxed at all, but his heart tightened.

The pale cold light suddenly lit up in the darkness, and one after another fluctuating white balls of light lit up all the way from not far away. Like white flowers blooming along the road, they went straight to Borena, forcing him to shrink back and cling to the slippery stone wall behind him.

The stalagmites in the cave are also white, and the rocks that have been eroded by the water are piled up like snow on the edge of the clear green pool, which is not unpleasant...... But it was so beautiful that it gave him goosebumps.

Especially when you see the same white "thing...... It was so rotten that it looked like it was going to melt into a mass at any moment, and he couldn't even admit that it had been a human, so he could only look away. Looking at the place where the white light lit up, I was apprehensive. But there was a strange expectation.

- At least it's a living person.

It was a friend of his.

As he watched the man approach with a leisurely step, Borena took a deep breath and slipped out of the low corner where he was staying, his dagger back into his waist, and straightened up.

With a smile on his face filled with real nostalgia and endless regret, Borena calmly spoke:

"Long time no see...... Eli. ”.

The two Croiffler brothers actually look alike, with the same pure blonde hair and steel-blue eyes with a hint of gray, inheriting their father's resolute jaw and their mother's thin lips. The difference is that the corners of Eli's mouth are always raised upwards, with a smile of various meanings, and Ethan, who has been weak and sickly since childhood, always sinks the corners of his mouth, looking gloomy and indifferent.

Eli had even half-jokingly discussed with Borena the possibility of his brother eventually becoming an unapproachable, eccentric mage a decade ago, half-jokingly, and now ...... It was he who became the most feared and despicable necromancer.

He stood still not far from Borena, tilting his head slightly, and the thin laugh lines on his lips made him smile at all times, as if he was painted on a mask, never to disappear, but it made people feel chills in his heart when he looked at it.

"You're shaking. His voice was much softer than Borena remembered, and sounded almost concerned, "Sorry, it's a little cold in this place...... But it's beautiful, isn't it?"

He looked around. The snow-white, stone-pillar cave even vaguely resembles the Hall of Kings in the Black Castle.

Borena nodded and admitted, "I never knew there was such a beautiful cave near the Black River, how did you find this place?"

I don't know if it's useful to procrastinate......

Eli chuckled, "When you change to a less popular class, you have to learn to find a few hidden places for yourself. No one will know you're here, Borena, and your friends are looking for your body in the Black River...... They will find it, but not now. ”

It was the expected outcome - Borena still couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable with the resentment in the man's voice that could not be ignored. He realized that he was probably in danger this time...... If not with complete certainty. Eli wouldn't be in front of him like that.

But he had to at least die to understand.

"You've really become ......," he hesitated, the title unexpectedly hard to utter.

"Necromancer?" Eli said with a sneer, "You think one was kicked out of the house by his father. How many options do knights have for a knight who can no longer use a sword?"

There's a lot of -- Borena would love to say that, but that's certainly not the answer Eli likes, and he doesn't know exactly what happened to Eli after he left Balach...... But no matter what, he can't forgive Eli for what he has done.

"Did you do that?" he asked in a low voice, "Graybeard Cham, the barbarian......"

"What does it feel like to be betrayed by a friend?" Eli did not deny it, the glint of resentment and mockery in his eyes growing hotter. "If the old guy who lives in the grave is willing to teach me a few more tricks, I will make that scene more exciting...... It will never give you a chance to escape!"

"How many times do I have to tell you. I have never betrayed you!" The resentment and helplessness that weighed on my heart were too heavy, even if I knew it was useless...... It didn't make sense anymore, and Borena still couldn't help but argue, "You know how messy it was! I can't even see where you are......

"Then what kind of fair reason for you to go and tell my father that I want to kill you!!" Eli interrupted him with a roar. Finally lost his demeanor.

Borena was slightly stunned. He vividly remembered that night, Eli took advantage of his unpreparedness to give him a heavy blow, and when he woke up, he found himself firmly chained to a waterwheel that slowly turned and carried him into the icy river again and again, and finally simply stopped when he was pressed into the water, unable to surface no matter how much he struggled......

He thought he was going to die, but the waterwheel began to spin again, and Ethan emerged from the darkness and freed him from the waterwheel. But he never said a word.

The thought that Eli actually wanted to kill him in this way made Borena shudder. He decided to leave almost immediately, but it never occurred to him to tell Fish.

"That's not my ......," he discerned, a little feebly. "Besides, aren't you trying to kill me?"

It took him a long time to shake off his fear of the river—perhaps he should have kept it.

"If I really wanted to kill you, I wouldn't watch Ethan save you, even if there was only one hand available, it would be more than enough to stop him. Eli's eyes were cold, but his tone calmed down again.

Borena was silent for a moment and shook his head: "I don't think there's any point in talking about this now...... But you shouldn't have killed my father!"

"That's all you have to blame. Eli sneered. "If you obediently stay at the mouth of the Kuz River and wait to die, Joaquin is still alive and well. You should thank me for at least sparing your wife—do you really think you've hidden her well enough?"

Fear and anger hit the body. Borena jerked a step forward: "Don't touch her!!"

The carrion that stood to the side rushed at unimaginable speed, standing between him and Eli, who was impatiently sent back to its place with a short spell.

"Don't worry, I don't kill women. Eli turned his lackluster gaze back to Borenna, "Although I did think it would be nice to let you die at her hands...... But the woman was surprisingly uncontrollable. ”

Borena broke out in a cold sweat in an instant. He had no idea that Eli had ever approached Clitschs.

"It's nice to catch up with old friends...... But your friends outside are probably starting to get anxious. Eli seemed to have lost his patience, "The man who had been saved by the power of the god of water died again in the water, and his pale corpse floated on the black surface of the river...... I've heard that you like to make up stories and write scripts, how does this ending sound?"

Borena could only wordlessly reach for the dagger at his waist and look at the white, swollen undead.

"You don't need to look at it. Eli sneered and threw him a long sword, "Your opponent is my ...... 'If you want to kill him, use your own hands'—didn't the little priest who saved you say that?"

Borena looked at him in amazement, barely able to catch the sword,

"But I only have one hand, so ......" Eli grinned and made a gesture with a vicious smile, "maybe that's fair?".

(To be continued)