His Majesty the King did not care about such an offense - he had long been accustomed to it. They had known each other for more than 20 years, and Ethan Croefler had almost never given him a good look.

The familiar feeling made him feel relaxed, and the thought that the burden on his body would soon be shared by someone would be more than half, and his smile was so bright that it glowed.

Ed came over to heal Ethan. Feeling his hand grazing over his head, intentionally or unintentionally, the archon who was trying to crawl out of the sarcophagus himself stiffened, instinctively trying to avoid it, but there was a sharp pain in the back of his head, like a not-sharp dagger stabbing back and forth, trying to pierce his skull.

His eyes were black, and he staggered down, but his eyes were still gloomy as he stared at Ed.

It was a pair of eyes that had struggled in the darkness that seemed to have no end for too long, and even if they saw the light again at this moment, they were still calm and could not be dispelled.

The gray-haired young man ignored it, bent his eyes and smiled, and withdrew his hand.

The pain slowly subsided, and Ethan grabbed Borena's shoulder to stand firmly, and a trace of doubt appeared in his blood-red eyes from the prolonged torture. He thought he was awake...... After breaking free from the temporary blindness and seeing Borena's face that made him want to punch him, he had been awake, but at this moment, he vaguely felt that something in his mind that was originally imperceptible, like a little dust falling on the crystal, was gently erased.

It seems that the anger that has accumulated during this period of captivity has collapsed. That intense, desperate anger for revenge gradually cooled under reason.

He nodded lightly to Ed. While it was unknown what Eli had done to him while he was unconscious, the young Sage had apparently helped him and had no intention of letting more people know.

In contrast, he is perhaps more grateful for the latter. For the former can also be regarded as the duty of a clergyman, while the latter's thoughtfulness is very rare.

"If it's convenient," he asked, "you...... Can you stay in Balah for a few more days? at least give me a chance to express my gratitude. ”

When needed, he can also speak well enough.

Ed's gaze turned away from the sun-lit symbol on the sarcophagus, and he smiled as he grabbed Is, who was about to walk away.

"Of course. He replied, "But I'm afraid we'll have to leave for a while." ”

.

They flew back to the Enshi Valley.

Ed sat on the back of the ice dragon, uneasy, moving around. He had already realized why Iss was so angry that he didn't even want to say a word to him - that black crack didn't "happen" to appear there for no reason.

He thought that he didn't interfere much with his friend who wanted to solve the problem on his own, but it was likely that he had inadvertently sabotaged something, and at this moment, Iss did not believe that he really "had no intention".

After thinking about it, he decided to say something else first.

"Did you find out?" he said, "and there was something hidden in Mulder's body. ”

The wind whistled in his ears, but the ice dragon remained silent.

“...... All right. He said, "That 'door' is open for you...... What did the one outside the door say to you?"

It sounded like a question—he immediately reflected.

"I'm just ......"

The ice dragon suddenly rushed downward, and Ed, who almost rolled down, choked on the words he didn't finish. When the ice dragon landed on the uninhabited field, his face was about to be blown by the cold wind.

He was shaken to the ground by the ice dragon like a small worm shaking off his body, and the grievances in his heart came to his head again...... Then he pressed back.

They are no longer teenagers. You can't always hurt each other because of a momentary mood, or get angry and say that you will fight...... Although the latter can also solve some problems, there will still be a lot of mustard left, accumulating more and more.

He didn't want to wait for the small problems to form an insurmountable wall between them.

"I don't really mean anything else. "I'm just worried about ......"

"Worried that I will become an ally of a flame dragon because of a few words from it, worried that I will realize that I am still a dragon after all?" the ice dragon asked him with a low head, his cold breath blowing on his face, "If you really 'don't mean anything else', you won't have such worries at all." ”

For a moment, Ed felt cold in his stomach, so cold that it hurt. He was a little unbelievable, his friend was indeed stubborn and willful, but he was never unreasonable...... He almost wanted to reach out and find out if the other person's mind had a symbol carved into it—he really had a symbol in his head.

But at this moment, Iss would never allow him to touch his soul.

"I'm afraid it's going to defy your will. "I'm worried that it has that ability...... Does it have it?"

"What do you think?" the ice dragon asked coldly, "who do you think is talking to you right now?"

Ed was silent for a while, his chest was blocked, and the reason of "I want to be a mature, steady and reasonable person" was almost shattered when he was so angry that he was dazzled, and he barely fought it again.

“...... Am I doing something wrong?" he asked softly, "or is there something going on that I don't know?"

He remembered that Iss seemed to be in a bad mood when he came back from Lockburg, but he didn't know why, but before he left Stonebutch, he didn't seem to be right...... Maybe he should have asked at that point.

He can admit his mistakes, just like before, whether it is his fault or not, he will say sorry first, or cheekily gag and perfunctory first...... But as he recalled, Iss didn't like that.

He didn't want to do that anymore.

He stood there, unanswered, and no longer spoke—he really didn't know what to do.

The ice dragon was equally silent. It knew exactly why it was so full of thorns, why it was so irritable and paranoid, stubbornly digging out the point that most stinged itself from every word of its friend's clear concern, and then fought back regardless of it.

But it can't suppress its emotions and be as calm and peaceful as the person in front of it, and this realization makes it even more embarrassing.

The air weighed down. Before one side collapsed or erupted, Ed took a deep breath and tried to squeeze out a little laugh.

"Maybe we should split up. "I'm worried about something else wrong with Ethan that I didn't find...... Behring is in the Valley of Farshi, and the Nighthawk and the knights of the Grean family, who can tell you what's going on. I ......"

The ice dragon raised its wings and flew into the sky without hesitation.

Ed, who had been thrown into the wilderness, stood stunned for a few moments, picking up the dead grass that had been hit on his head by the wind, and turned his head in the opposite direction.

He didn't get far.