Ed was roasting the rabbit he had managed to catch on the fire, and from time to time he looked up to peek at the old man sitting cross-legged across from him with his eyes closed.

He had already planned to use a spell to get himself something to eat, but it would be rude to use that to entertain a barbarian friend who didn't believe in God. Although the rabbit in front of him was also caught by him after he was fluttering in embarrassment for a while, he used the animal fixation technique in a frustration...... The old shaman, who had been smiling and watching from the sidelines, didn't seem to mind.

At this moment, it became more and more clear to Ed that Sio was about to die.

He could feel the breath of death, emanating from every pore of the old man, filling the air.

That's the smell of old age and decay. Like an old tree that has died after thousands of years, or the dry, yellowed parchment in a forgotten library, it is slightly choking, but it does not smell bad.

As a shaman who bridges between the living and the dead, he believes that Sio knows better than he is that the flame of his life is about to be extinguished. But the old man looked calm, as if what awaited him was only a long sleep.

That made Ed even more nervous, and he didn't know what to say. He scratched his ears and cheeks, squatted and sat for a while, constantly moving to and fro, and even almost jumped in fright when Sio suddenly opened his eyes.

The old man smiled and pointed to his rabbit.

Ed stared blankly at the wisps of green smoke that rose from the clouds, only to realize that he had once again charred half of the rabbit.

He lifted the black lump and glared at it in frustration, silently tearing off the edible part. It was handed to the old man who grinned silently, as if he was smiling very happily because of his clumsiness.

Sio didn't push, and naturally took the rabbit meat and stuffed it into his mouth. He continued to smile as he chewed.

The kind of little boy who looks like a kind elder looking at him...... Or looking at some kind of silly little animal-like eyes makes Ed uncomfortable, but there is an inexplicable warmth in his heart.

Maybe he was just too lonely, so lonely that as long as there was one person by his side, even if they didn't say a word to each other, it could make him feel warm and calm.

The old man chewed slowly, probably because he had few teeth left. Ed was sure that what he baked couldn't be good...... But Sio unhurriedly took a long time to enjoy his food and eat it cleanly.

That gave Ed a strange sense of satisfaction. Let him somewhat understand why every time Narya worked so hard to make food, watching them gobble it up. Always smile extra softly.

As he began to giggle unconsciously, Seo patted his stomach, stood up, and nodded to him...... Then he calmly turned around and walked away.

Ed was stunned for a moment before jumping up. Chased after it.

He didn't know if it was a barbarian custom - two men met in the middle of nowhere. Sit down and roast a rabbit to eat, and then you can go your separate ways...... They didn't even say a word!

No, it was just him talking from beginning to end. He asked Seo where he was from, where he was going, how he had come here, had he seen Is, and how were the people of the Benlu tribe?...... The old man just smiled, nodded, and gestured he couldn't read—but Ed knew he could understand the lingua franca!

Even after happily accepting the half of the roast rabbit, the old man still didn't seem to intend to answer his question, but smiled at him leisurely. Walk forward.

Ed quieted down, but was still cheeky enough to follow Seo. When he can't see the sun, he usually has difficulty orienting. But for the most part, he still kept going east—this was definitely not the territory of the Benlu tribe anymore.

He was curious about where the old man wanted to go alone, and he was slightly worried. The barbarian shaman rarely leaves his tribe, let alone an old man who is about to die. There may still be undead wandering the ice field, and he can at least accompany Sio to where he wants to go...... Moreover, Sio did not refuse his following.

The ice field was so big, and they were able to meet like this, and Ed felt that it couldn't be just a coincidence.

They walked silently one after the other, their shadows faintly imprinted on the snow by the meager rays of sunlight. Occasionally Ed would look up at the sky, but there was no shadow of a dragon gliding through the gray clouds.

He didn't know they were going in that direction. The old man's footsteps did not hesitate for a moment, as if something was calling to him in the distance. When he was tired of walking, he would sit on the ground at will, whether it was day or night, as if he could fall asleep with his eyes closed, ignoring Ed, who was in a daze or busy beside him...... But when he opened his eyes, he never refused Ed's graciously offered water and food, as if it were a matter of course.

He still didn't say anything, but Ed got used to it. Sometimes he would sit on the sidelines, looking at the calm expression on the old man's face, and couldn't help but feel envious - he must have gone through a rich and unrepentant life to face death alone so calmly.

He didn't know if he could do it too...... His short life was full of countless mistakes.

Three days later, the sky cleared. Under the clear blue sky, the towering white snow-capped mountains not far away are dazzling. Ed finally realizes that their destination, S'Ao's destination, is likely to be the Giant's Spine.

He even vaguely recognized the shape of the peak, which was not far from the cave from which he and Iss had helped the barbarians escape.

Are the necromancers back again?

Ed thought apprehensively, and kept up with Sio.

They climbed up the hill and even climbed higher past the same place where Iss had landed with him nearly a year earlier. After months on the ice field, Ed, who had developed some muscles, still couldn't keep up with the slow but steady pace of the old barbarian. As he began to lose his breath, Sio stopped in front of a cave hidden behind a rock.

Snow piled up at the entrance to the cave, covering most of it, revealing something like a dark eye. Ed raised his vigilance, his muscles tensing in uneasiness, and he seemed to feel the cold, smooth surface of the Staff of Eternity in his feisty right hand...... But it's not there.

It's not there -- it doesn't belong to him anymore.

For a moment, Ed's heart was so flustered that his whole body was cold, cold sweat was rolling down, and the wind was blowing bitterly cold...... But he suddenly remembered that once, in the deep cave below, surrounded by necromancers and undead, he who could not use any spells may be a little self-conscious, but he is not useless.

Even if you lose ...... Or he has given up his God-given power, and he still has his own power, perhaps too weak to be mentioned, but no one can take it away.

He calmed down, and when he turned his head to look at the old man, he immediately understood that the reason why Sio was here was probably very different from his guess.

The old man's eyes narrowed slightly, and his ravine-ravine face was full of deep nostalgia - it was definitely not the expression he had when he was about to face a dangerous enemy, but as if he was standing at the door of his home that he had not returned to for a long time...... Or in front of a lover's door.

It took them a little time to pick up the snow. The entrance to the cave was extremely low for the barbarians, and Sio had to bend down to pass through. The air inside the cave was cold, dry, silent, but clearly inhabited—a stove in the middle of the cave, a support frame for tanning hides, a few crude clay pots in the corners......

The faint light blurred the traces of time, and they stayed there quietly, as if their master would soon return, and also made Ed suddenly feel a little embarrassed and panicked by inadvertently breaking into a stranger's house.

There's a rustic and rugged vibe that belongs to the barbarians, and there's the orderliness that belongs to the humans, but in any case, it's not like a place for a necromancer to hide.

Siao stood there, his gaze slowly sweeping over everything in the small cavern, and then walked to the other side of the stove, and regardless of how dirty the one on the ground that was difficult to distinguish its original color, rotten and dilapidated, and suspected to be animal skins, he sat down calmly, raised his face to Ed, who was standing in place, and said the first words along the way.

He still spoke the language of the barbarians, but the words were so simple that even Ed could understand them...... But I wonder if I understand something wrong.

- "Welcome to my home, guests from afar. ”

Ed was silent for a few moments in astonishment.

By the time he opened his mouth to say something, the old shaman had already closed his eyes.

Ed stood silently for a long time, and the old man did not move at all. He couldn't help tiptoeing, trembling and moving over to probe the old man's snort, making sure that he was still alive, and only then did he relax a little.

The "guests from afar" stood still, looked around, silently rolled up their sleeves, and began to clean briefly. Then he silently lit a fire, melted snow and boiled water, and luckily caught two little animals that looked like rabbits and rats, and were so fluffy and cute that Tess would scream at the sight of them and take them home with a name, and they were washed with guilt and thrown into the pot.

By the time Sio woke up, it was already dark.

Warm firelight jumped in the cave. Ed stood at the steaming clay pot on the fire, his chin propped up, his eyes wide open, and his eyes blazing at the old shaman.

The old man tilted his head slightly, sniffed the aroma that permeated the cave, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

Ed graciously handed over a bowl of broth, his eyes full of anticipation—not that he expected the old man to have anything to say about his lackluster cooking, but he thought he could ask for a story.

Maybe his eyes were too straightforward, and he was too hungry and thirsty to refuse, or maybe the old man needed a chance to talk after all. After slowly enjoying a bowl of bland and tasteless broth, Sio scratched at his sparse beard and smiled at Ed.

"Your friend, the dragon," he said, "looks a lot like my wife." ”.

(To be continued......)