"I swear, it's definitely not my fault!" Tess sat on the ground, aggrieved, "I just helped Naria get some snow, and in the blink of an eye, the man was already here! It was dark and cold, and there was a dead man lying there......"

She turned her head to listen, but there was still no one talking outside.

"Norwe?" she called out apprehensively, "are you still there?"

The elf's reassuring voice floated in: "I'm still here." Tess, I'm not going to scold you for this, stay there, don't touch anything. ”

You've said that three times. Tess looked around, hugged Mo who had run back again, and shrunk herself into a smaller ball. Fearing that the flames would be seen by the Anktanens, she had already extinguished the torches, and only a faint light of snow penetrated through the cracks, and the dark shadows around her seemed to be ready to move, even if the skeleton on the bed suddenly sat up, she would not be surprised, and the elf's repeated admonitions only made her more uneasy.

There must be something wrong in this place, she could tell from Norvi's tone.

The elf guessed that it was a teleportation array that had moved Tess from the basement, but she had been rubbing on the ground and couldn't go back, and the magic must have failed. Norway had no choice but to call Akan and try to knock on the wall to get him out.

"Tess?" cried the elf, one end of a rope thrown through the narrow window, "tie this around your waist." ”

"Are you trying to pull me out? But I don't think I'm going to be able to squeeze out of the window. "Even though I knew it was just in case -- in case the whole building collapsed...... Oh, she shouldn't have let that image come to mind!

Pretending not to understand anything, Tess continued as she tied it, "Even if I don't eat for a month, it's impossible. "It's impossible to turn into a skeleton, she thought, and suddenly realized what the hell this is.

"Prison ...... It's a prison, isn't it, Norwe?" she should have guessed, she just naively thought that elves didn't have such a prison, let alone one that clearly didn't intend to release people out again.

“...... They were all gone, never to come back, but left him here alone to die. Tess muttered that she hated elves, but she couldn't believe that elves were so cruel.

"Let's get you out first, Tess. "It's not a prison, and I don't know about it...... This kind of place really exists. ”

There was a dull knocking sound outside, and the whole room shook slightly. Tates stared at the wall in front of him, trying not to think about the skeleton on the bed—what was he thinking as he listened to the inhabitants of the city drift away, leaving him alone to die, was he so resentful that even death could not be appeased? What kind of crime had he committed to be punished like this?

Every moment of waiting feels like a whole year. After getting out of here, Tess swore that she would never step out of her hiding place alone, even if she suffocated inside, without a word of complaint.

The stone bricks on the wall finally began to loosen, and as one of the stone bricks protruded inward, Tess eagerly swooped down to grab it and pulled it out with all her might as happily as she felt the cold air pound on her face.

A pair of large hands reached in and vigorously pulled out another loose stone brick, and then the other pair joined him. Once the hole in the wall was big enough, Tess climbed out on her hands and feet, and slipped into Norvi's arms without a sound.

The elf patted her on the back like she was the same little girl she had been a decade ago. When her body finally stopped shaking, Tess got up and hugged the big man who was squatting to the side and watching them giggle.

"Thank you, Akan. She whispered, then pulled the elf who stared thoughtfully at the hole in the wall, "Shall we go back?"

She didn't want to stay here any longer.

The elf hesitated.

"That's it...... Wait a little longer?" he said, burrowing through the hole before Tess could speak.

Tess angrily grabbed a handful of snow and threw it over, she knew it was going to happen.

She looked around, and wondered why the elves had built the prison in such a strange place—it hung alone in the air, supported by two crossed stone bridges, and she and Akan were now huddled on one of the bridges, and the big man clutched his hammer, which had wrapped several layers of cloth so as not to make too much noise, and looked down nervously from time to time, as if he feared that the bridge would collapse, and that it must be difficult for him to climb here.

"I'm not going to snatch food from you again!" said Tess, hugging Akan again, "Now, wait for us a little longer!"

She crawled back through the hole again.

Akan stooped down and glanced into the cave, shaking his head in confusion, sometimes he couldn't understand the little ones.

Tess blinked, slowly readjusting to the darkness in the room. Norway was standing in front of the bed, looking down at the remains. She walked over and leaned close to the elf, and by the faint light she could only see the pale skull.

She looked away, her gaze falling on the wall next to the bed. Under the dust, there seemed to be some vague patterns, but the longer she stared at it, the more it felt like elven words.

She walked over, gently brushing off the dust, trying to keep her eyes open.

Norway could read the words more easily than she did, and he suddenly reached for Tess, but the girl broke free of him, and she could already make out the blurred handwriting.

"I'm dying. They have taken everything from me and erected my grave into a tower of hypocrisy in the name of the divine. The cowardly ones did not even dare to loudly declare my guilt in front of the crowd - my only fault was to uncover the secrets of Ankland. When a race tries to cover up the mistakes of the past rather than face them, it is on the road to extinction. If this seems like a curse, let it be, time will tell......"

That paragraph seems to have not been written, the large, messy handwriting is not known what was written, even after a thousand years, the grief and despair contained in it are still shocking, and the familiar name makes Tess even colder.

"Ankeland. She trembled uncontrollably, barely able to speak, "They kept him here just because he knew Ankland's secrets. ”

The elf's palms were also cold. He clasped her hand and remained silent.

-- Who else knows? Who knows they've been to Ankland?

Tess's mind was in turmoil. She regretted not stopping Norway from finding the damn place, the city that deserved to be damned......

"Is...... The dragon knows. ”

The chill in the red-haired girl's tone made Norway's heart tremble.

"Tess ...... Tess!" He cupped the girl's face, trying to calm her down, "That's okay. Isis knew what the elves of that place meant, and he wouldn't tell anyone...... Besides, who would listen to him say that?"

"Ed will know, and so will Naria. Tess stubbornly insisted, "And then the elves will know about ...... too"

"They're our friends, Tess ......," Noway sighed helplessly.

That's right, friend. Tess admits that she likes them...... But no one is more important than her elves.

"The elves will lock you up forever!" she panicked into herself, "those bastards don't care what you find, they never liked you!"

She would lose him, just as she had lost her father many years ago—when she finally found him in the filthy sewers, even his bones were mutilated. And her father may not know what he did wrong when he was dying.

Countless scenes overlapped chaotically, and she couldn't tell which ones were memories, which were realities, and which were hallucinations that her fears had fed.

Akan's worried face appeared at the entrance of the cave and knocked on the wall, as if asking if they needed help.

Norway shook his head at him and hugged Tess tightly, not knowing how to comfort him. He could guess what Tess remembered—those memories, and if he could, he wanted them all to be erased from her mind. But now the only thing he can do is keep repeating "I'm going to be fine, I'm going to be fine......"

He didn't know how long it took for the girl to finally calm down, and she muffled in his arms: "Of course, I won't let you have any problems." ”

She pushed him away slightly, and raised her head, her eyes undried with tears firm and fearless: "You know what, if you are really caught, even if you burn Grivar, I will save you!"

Norway smiled. This is Tess Shepard, his red-haired girl, who has survived the darkest corners of the city alone, brave, stubborn, and never backing down.

"I know," he could only sigh and reply, "I know." ”

"Now we can get out of this damn place. Tess looked at the small room in disgust, "You even say it's not a prison." ”.

"It's not a prison...... At least in the accounts I've seen, it's called the 'Tower of Atonement.'" ”

On the way back, Norway explained softly to Tess.

"It's a sacred place to the elves. Only those who are willing to give up everything can live in it, and pray for the forgiveness and protection of the gods for all the elves with their long lives. ”

It is said that the elves who live in the Tower of Atonement can live longer than many without food and drink, because his life is completely in the hands of the gods. Every elf could see the sacred building when they looked up, but no one could approach it. Long ago, this kind of architecture has disappeared from the city of elves and has become a legend. Perhaps there are no more elves willing to give everything for others.

"It's also a great place to use it as a prison. Tess commented coldly, but there was one thing she still couldn't understand, "But what about that teleportation array?"

"Maybe someone knows the truth and wants to save him, his friends or relatives ......" Norway can only guess.

"But maybe they found out that the man was dead after they managed to get in......," Tess's voice lowered. If the city hadn't been abandoned, they might still know the man's name. But now, even the city has been forgotten, and who will remember the lone martyr on top of the tower?

"Why didn't they just kill him?" was more acceptable to Tess.

"I don't know, Tess. Maybe no one will ever know. ”

“...... But the gods would know if they really existed. ”

"Yes...... The gods will know. ”

"But who will the gods punish, those who conceal the truth in their name and murder their kindred, or perhaps seek the truth against their will?"

"Tess ...... That's not a question I can answer. ”

A small whirlwind whipped up snowflakes, blew past them, and disappeared silently not far away. The fleeting sound of the wind is like a sigh.