In July, when the rainy season is still in the south, the autumn wind is already blowing in the north.

In August, the second batch of melons and fruits in Cyprus is ripe, but the north is already full of snow and ice.

The messenger of the empire pulled out a dark black charcoal pen, and the journey was coming to an end, and I don't know what had happened to the caravan, but the journey slowed down day by day. Because he and Yubang had already made "friends", the messenger could not question him directly, so he had to write a memoir in his spare time.

"Since the convoy entered the Northland, the road has become more and more difficult to walk. In other words, there is no road to pass here. We walked through a primeval forest, and the trees were so thick and strong that if we had been in Abbaschia, they would have been harvested by a lumber yard and turned into a carriage that I had made, or some furniture or a building.

I have visited two or three local lords, one of whom is still a duke. Here, the authority of the empire is not as popular as it is in the south, on the contrary, they are cold to me. At the banquet of a duke, a little child sat on the lord's seat, and his court did not even have a courtier, but a butler, who blocked the door to collect my toll, and even the guards at the head of the city did not look very kind to me.

The banquet was terrible, and the Duchess, though very beautiful, was a very mean woman, and if I had a choice, I would not call a woman in charge. The banquet was cold, and there was only one long table in the whole hall, and a few peasants sat at the end of the table, eating with a foul stench. The peasants were so happy that they didn't realize they were sitting in the wrong place, and they even kissed the Duchess's hand after me, so much so that I almost threw up.

The night was even worse, and the Duchess arranged for me to sleep near the fire, but with the peasants. It stinks, and I can't get enough of it all night. I wanted to go to the second floor and find a place to sleep, but she wouldn't call me over. If the Empire wants to truly rule this place, it must first teach the local lord the etiquette. ”

The messenger stopped his pen, and he looked back at the passage that preceded it, and he was astonished to find that there were complaints everywhere, for during the journey, at least in his cognition, this time could be called full and happy, but many of the details of the full and happy could not be written so clearly. The messenger tossed the charcoal aside and began to look out the window.

The caravan was filled with slaughter, and as far as the eye could see, the livestock that had disturbed the courier's sleep had disappeared, and even the voices of the people began to become quieter. The poor have no winter clothes, and they now put on the blankets they wear when they sleep at night, and wrap themselves in walking eggplants.

At this time, people who can still wear decent cotton clothes are particularly conspicuous. Although it was winter, Mitchelson always had a decent smile on his face, and he kept a proper distance from the civilians, so as not to make himself look superior. The Courier remembered the clever boy and smiled at him.

The messenger was suddenly inspired, and he took the charcoal pen and continued to write.

"Fortunately, several nobles from the empire have always maintained some optimistic qualities, and if the empire can continue its current policy of transporting our southerners, hard-working farmers and decent but space-lacking nobles, to this barren land, I think it won't be long before the situation here will be greatly improved.

I've just talked about the previous banquet, so I'd rather start there. If it weren't for the lad from the Lorraine family, I would have taken a bite and left the table in anger, even though their feast was already short. He had a lot of witty remarks at the dinner table, and he told a joke that made me still have a stomachache when I think about it.

In the middle of the feast, a rat quickly crossed the top of the table, and although it did not touch any food, it caused a stir of embarrassment. At this point, our lad cleared his throat and relieved the embarrassment, 'I remember one year, we had a rat infestation there so badly that there were rats almost everywhere, and there was not even a place to put your feet. Our farmers accused the local rats of destroying their crops and summoned the rats to the church court for trial. Of course, the rat would not appear in court at all, so he was charged with contempt of court, but the mouse's defense priest argued that the defendant did not need to risk his life in court under customary law, and that the road to the court was obviously full of cats. This defense convinced the local clergy, and the trial of the rat was postponed indefinitely. ’

A simple joke taught these barbarians what rules they were. I believe that if this boy does not want to be in the company of these peasants of the north one day, he will surely find his place in the court of the south.

As for the others, Amy was a very devout priest, and he had all the good qualities of all the young priests of the world, but he had very few bad habits, and if he really had any shortcomings, I guess it was luck. Montgomery was a warrior from the mountains, yes, I would call him that, he was as tall and as strong as the giants mentioned in the ancient scriptures. In fact, I suspect that he himself is a descendant of the mountain giants, and if I were on the same side as him, I would not be worried even if we were outnumbered......"

The pen did not stop, but the carriage stopped first. The slight vibration of the carriage made the messenger feel a little uncomfortable, and the charcoal in his hand smeared a black stain on the parchment, and what was worse was that the charcoal in the messenger's hand came out of his hand and fell under the carriage and broke in two.

The Messenger was a very religious man, and he believed in the signs, and the charcoal was broken must have been Sardin's will. The messenger scratched his round, ball-like head, and touched his shaved, dry and quiet chin.

After making sure that the car had stopped for a while, the messenger picked up the broken pen and found the longer section, which he intended to sharpen on the carriage and use it again.

But the coachman did not know what was the nerve, and with another violent shaking of the carriage, the messenger's pen was broken in two again.

The messenger looked at the remaining piece of charcoal in his hand, which was too short to hold. He angrily opened the carriage to see what was going on outside.

The Courier had been trained in the Imperial bureaucracy for a whole month, and his good bureaucratic qualities prevented him from scolding at the beginning, which saved him.

Outside the carriage, an animal as big as a calf was looking at him coldly, its long canine teeth squeezing out of its mouth, like rows of sharp daggers, steaming in the snow.

The Courier retracted his head without thinking, although he also served in the army when he was young, but if he really had this in itself, then he would not be a Courier now, but an officer of the Empire.

In pursuit of a more "clean" creative environment, the Courier asked for an empty carriage, but now he only regretted it.

The messenger curled up in the corner like a ball, regretting in his heart how he had taken on such a dangerous errand in a daze, when he had a job of guarding the city gate and collecting money in front of him, but he had to learn from others to be an envoy.

There was a loud roar faintly outside the carriage, which made the messenger's heart even more frightened, thinking that he was a messenger of an empire, and he died in the mouth of a beast, and his heart could not help but feel sad and desolate. He didn't care what the charcoal pen had broken into, so he picked up the pen and wrote a suicide note with a trembling hand.

"Time is running out, the Empire has been attacked, and there are as many beasts in the Northland as there are us, and all of them are bigger than buffaloes, and I have resisted with all my might, but there are too many, and in the last moments of my life, I write this letter, hoping that future travelers will see my name.

T Donald wrote on his deathbed. Remember, I'm a successful man, and I didn't disgrace the Donald family. ”

Writing this, Teh lay on the board of the carriage and shed tears of despair.

Outside the car, the caravan was confronting a group of white wolves.

The caravan guards formed a small circle around the Boss of Yubon and the Empire's messengers, most of them armed with swords or weapons such as hammers and maces, and some with torches in their hands. It's common sense that animals are afraid of fire.

The civilians in the caravan did not care about the cold weather, and they rummaged through the compartments of the wagons to find some iron tools, and held them in their hands casually, and no one tried to escape unless the man was sure that he had outrun a wolf.

Conan was huddled in the crowd, his legs shivering slightly, but he had a dagger hidden in his sleeve.

The wolves did not rush to attack, they scattered and circled around the men, as if they were performing some kind of ritual. Except for a few wolf cubs howling excitedly from time to time, there were only a few "rustling" sounds in the jungle.

Looking at these wolves, Mitchelson was a little dazed, he lowered his voice and asked

"Meng Ge, what are these brutes waiting for?"

"These bitches are probably waiting for dark, damn it, at least that's what the wolves in my hometown like to do. When it's not dark, the wolves just revolve around you, and when you're tired and can't hold on, it's dark. ”

"But there's snow everywhere, Mönggo. Now the sky is clean and there are no clouds in sight, and when two torches are lit at night, they are as bright as day, and they are not cheap at all. ”

Amy retorted that he was wearing a white woolen gown, a graduation gift from his teacher when he left Abbasquia, delicate and warm.

Montgomery pulled out a clumsy axe, which he usually used only when he was felling, and this weight could only be called a good one for him. Hearing Amy's questioning, Montgomery's face twitched visibly, and he said with a big grin

"If I knew what these wolf cubs thought, I wouldn't have to stand here and talk nonsense. ”

Several people were silent, although Abbasquia did not have a nobleman who could not wield a sword at all, but several of them were not that kind of legendary heroes, and they had no idea when they encountered such a large number of wolves. They slowly got together, and it was almost subconscious, and people would automatically approach people they trusted when they were in danger. Mitchelson looked around and noticed that Montgomery and himself were nowhere to be seen, and =so he asked

"Amy, is Ke with you?"

Amy looked out of the corner of her eye a little dazedly, and shouted in a loud voice.

"Mitchelson, are you sure he's not with you?"

The three young men panicked, and they scanned the crowd with anxious eyes, hoping that Conan would poke his head out of nowhere and run to them, even if Conan couldn't help them.

Suddenly, there was a neighing of horses behind them, followed by rolling cries and a childish roar

"Get out of the way!"

Ignoring the wolves in front of them, they turned their heads to look behind them, and a horse somehow broke free from its reins and stumbled away.

Conan stood behind the horse, clutching a blood-stained knife tightly.

The pack horse neighed and rushed towards the wolves in a panic, and although it was afraid of the predators, the pain behind it drove it to run forward subconsciously, as if it could shake off the pain.

A caravan guard ran up to Conan and reached out to snatch the dagger from Conan's hand

"Are you crazy, boy, that's my horse, I warn you......"

While the guard was still arguing with Conan, a hand was placed on his shoulder, and the force from the hand was so great that it immediately pinched the guard to death.

The guard turned to look for the owner of the arm with some annoyance, but when he saw the master's face clearly, he restrained his temper.

"Chief, I ......"

The guard tried to justify his actions, but Yubang held out his right hand and pointed forward.

That's the direction the horse just fled.

The blood on the pack horse stimulated the ferocity of the icewolf, and several wolves that were relatively close to each other couldn't hold back their temperament and ran after the horse, which made a big gap in the circle around the icewolf.

Everyone in the caravan saw this scene in front of them. The guards gave Yubang inquiring looks, and Yubang nodded with a bitter face.

The pack horses were his assets, and the knife stabbed the horse and cut the merchant's heart. But there is no way, you can make more money when the money is gone, and if you are gone, there is nothing.

The caravan guards finally rubbed their faces against the pack horses in the caravan, then untied the reins on their bodies, and stabbed them fiercely with the swords in their hands, and in an instant, the wails came and went, and more than twenty horses broke away from the convoy and galloped into the distance.

The ice wolves caught the galloping horses in twos and threes, and a very large head wolf howled a few times, and the rest of the wolves also dispersed.

Yubon gritted his teeth and patted Conan on the shoulder

"You're fucking good. ”

Looking at the ice wolf running away and the blood on his hands, Conan collapsed to the ground at once.