It was midnight, and the Weegand had already sent out more patrols, and these tenacious Weegand warriors quickly recovered their energy after resting, and they were under the command of Thoreau, who personally took charge of the battle, and wrapped the entire town of Valuno tightly in an orderly manner, basically so that not even a bird could fly.

Except for the two large and small messengers who have already run outside.

Looking at the teenager playing with words in front of him, Mende's heart was more worried than reproached.

"It's not a joke, and I don't know how I'm going to explain it to Jose Cavaliers and Joyce. Mender asked, lowering his voice.

But Vidia wasn't going to continue arguing with Mende.

"Teacher Mende, if you say one more word now, we will be more dangerous. Vedia was a little scoundrel, and ran out one step ahead of Mende in the bushes, her boots making a crisp sound on the leaves of the old trees, which was particularly harsh in the middle of the night.

Hearing this, Mender had no choice but to follow behind and said to Vidia: "Okay, I'll let you follow me, but you must obey orders, understand?"

Vedia waited for this, and he deftly changed out of his military boots, revealing the cloth shoes he had already worn on his feet, and then held them in his hands, and the whole process went smoothly. For a moment, Mender felt that Vidia was even better suited for the job.

With the mentality of trying to teach Vedia something new, Mende deliberately "wasted" more time on making road signs and drawing maps, so that Vidia could see clearly. After all, no matter how long the theory is taught, it is not as real as practicing it once. Another reason was that Mender himself had not been engaged in this profession for many years, especially in the last few years as a priest, and it always seemed strange to him to do some of this work from time to time, although he had sketched one map after another of the town's neighborhood hanging in his house.

After a while, the two of them found their destination as they walked and drawn. The poor messenger also had a Wiegand warrior's javelin stuck in his lap, and as for his fatal wound, it was in his head, and it was vaguely evident that an axe had been stuck vertically in the cracked skull.

Mender covered the man's eyes with his fingers, and then silently recited a phrase from the ancient Sardinian scriptures in his mind, even if it was enough for him to be mourned on the battlefield. After groping through the Courier's clothes, the reverse and the back, Mender finally found what he was looking for on the inside of the cuffs. A strip of beeswax with a faint sense of concave and convex made Mender almost laugh out loud with excitement.

He used the knife he was carrying to cut off a corner of the messenger's cuff and stripped the rest of his clothes clean.

After dealing with the corpse, Mender did not make any stops, but chose to run further north with the strip of cloth first.

Shortly after Mender left, several Wiegand warriors with green eyes came to the place, and one of the Wiegand people scratched his head as he looked at the corpse that had collapsed to the ground and had been pulled clean.

"This can't be that poor and crazy bastard who took this man's clothes as trophies, right? What should we do, shall we go back and investigate?"

The other went up and flicked the corpse, and then said to a one-eyed General Wiegand in a flattering tone: "My lord, we have searched this man's body before this, let alone a letter, but we haven't even found a piece of paper with words, even if he is a messenger, it is probably a messenger." ”

The one-eyed General Wiegand frowned, if he really went to find out who had moved his clothes, by the time the results came out, the messengers of Grand Pruss would be able to run around the town twice. He looked at the two useless men with disdain, leaned down to examine the corpse, and it was not until he examined the corpse's face for the second time that he showed a sudden expression.

"Only the Great Pruss would cover the eyes of the dead. ”

The general reached out, and a dog he had kept in captivity came to him, and he picked up a piece of cloth that had fallen on the ground and stroked it on its nose.

After seeing the swamp dog's eager appearance, the general's emaciated face finally showed a smile that he had not seen in a long time.

Even if it was the first time to carry out this kind of mission, Vidia felt that it was difficult to hide any secrets in such weather, and he always felt like he was being watched when he looked at the ancient trees around him. The ancient trees contorted their expressions in the night, looking at them like a paper face. He asked a little uneasily, "Teacher, don't you think that the surroundings may be a little too quiet?"

"Keep quiet, there's nothing wrong with the process we did today. The teacher replied with a frown. Mender was now preoccupied with how to decipher the letter, and what he needed now was to find a relatively open place and use the quicksand on his body to process this hard-won message.

I don't know how long they walked, but both of them heard the sound of running water. Mender had a map in his mind, and they must have walked to the southwest of the town of Valuno, near the Green Water River, quite far from the Weygan camp.

When it comes to the Green Water River, both the Great Pruce and the Wiegand have an inexplicable respect for it. The Wiegand people called the river "from the Mother Goddess", while the Northlanders of Greater Purus believed that "the river came from the garden of Sardinia and flowed down the rhizome of a delicate flower." ”

Although the inhabitants on both sides of the river have this respect for the river, the Green Water River, as its name suggests, is just a small green river with a large number of algae and aquatic plants growing on its water, and the river is extremely narrow and perennially unflowing. It's just a line drawn on the map.

Eager to emerge from the deep woods, Mende carefully opened a vial of quicksand that he had carried with him and sprinkled it on top of the piece of cloth that had recorded valuable information. The wax-coated parts were stained with more colored sand, revealing a simple map on the white strips of cloth.

"This is ......" Mende took out another, more complete detail he was carrying, and looked at the glimmer of the night, but it was always too dark to compare.

Vidia leaned over, looked at the two so-called "maps", and stretched out his fingers. "I think it's probably this place. ”

As luck would have it, the place where Vedia's finger landed was a part of the Green Water River, just a little further south. A smile appeared on Mender's face, as if he had seen the Knight José and the powerful weapons he had borrowed from the back of the Wegand camp, as well as the barbarian chieftains who had fled.

After this risky end, Vidia tried to sum up the experience of this failure.

For example, under a clear night sky, don't easily move along the riverbank, because it's not just you who think the light on both sides of the river is good.

When a few elongated black shadows with torches were reflected on the riverbank, Mende's joy was swept away. He had even seen the horse left behind by the messenger on the other side of the Green River. If it was when he was young, maybe he still had the heart to fight for a while, after all, his martial arts back then almost mixed into the guards of the Beihai Royal Court, but since he lost that finger, he was just a poor worm who couldn't even hold a sword.

With the two of them, one old and one young, they don't even have the capital to fight, Mende thought with some bitterness. As a messenger on a dangerous mission, he had already had a will to die many years ago, running in this dangerous northland, he was originally a living with his head around his neck, but he was pitiful for little Verdia, who was just a child who had just begun to ride a horse.

Mender glanced at Vidia helplessly, wanting to give the child a little last comfort as compensation, but what he didn't expect was that Vedia's face didn't show any panic, he just looked at the horse on the other side of the river. There were horses on the other side of the river, but only one.

Looking at Vedia's appearance, Mender suddenly felt that the strength he had lost over the years suddenly surged back into his body, he clenched Vidia's hand, and whispered: "Vidia, listen to me, I remember that you rode a horse, and you can ride a horse, right?"

Although this is a question, it is clear that there is no answer to refuse.

Vidia glanced up at Mender, he had a lot to ask in his heart

"Are you leaving, Mr. Mender?"

"You haven't taught me how to draw?"

"Have you forgotten that I still can't memorize several chapters of the Sardinian Scriptures?"

But when the words came to his lips, they turned into very calm words: "Yes, I will." ”

Mender knew that Vidia's heart was not so calm as it seemed, and he could feel Vidia's palms trembling slightly.

Vidia, you are a very smart student, even if I already knew that you don't pay attention to learning, I know you don't like it, you can tell me earlier.

The best, smartest kid I've ever seen.

I still have a lot to say to you, but time is running out.

Mender resolutely clenched Vedia's cold palm, replaced by a short sword dangling from his waist. He tried to turn his head back to the jungle, but he turned his head back again, and he decided to leave a smile on his face in the world one last time.

"Remember to memorize the Sardinian Scriptures, Vidia, for it is the closest voice to the truth in the world. ”

Holding the boots in his hand and the map that Mender had just slipped into his hand, Vedia ran out as if he were flying, not even knowing how he had crossed the river or how he had crossed the horse. But no matter how many years later, Vidia will never forget the wind that night, the moon that day, the leaves of that day, and the only sound that made him remember that night, the sound of a sword unsheathed.

By the time Vedia had recovered from his horse, it was already dark, and the horse left behind by the messenger had led Vidia all the way to José's knight's camp.

Looking at the unfamiliar marching tents and fences, and at some of the Great Prus warriors who were quietly watching her, Vedia blinked her eyes vigorously so that she could try to calm down.

A gray-haired, still armoured warrior walked up to him, and as he spoke, Vidia noticed that the scrutiny was quietly withdrawn.

"You ride our courier's horse, so are you a courier from Valuno, boy?" the old man's words were sonorous and powerful, with an unquestionable sense of authority. Almost mechanically, Vidia removed the map she had taken along the way—the map detailing the geography around the town of Valuno, specifically the location of the Weegand camp, and the possible outpost area for the Wegand people.

The old man quickly entered the state after taking this map, even if he had been fighting horses for many years, he could not see anything wrong with this map, and a brief war plan had been formed in his mind. The old man shouted, and the soldiers in the camp, who had been somewhat idle, immediately stepped into action, according to the old man's request, they had to get themselves armed in only three quarters of an hour, and stand outside the camp in good order, as for those who were dissatisfied, they might have paid the price.

The old man sighed, it turned out that in the south, it was usually completed within a quarter of an hour.

Looking at Vedia, who was still sluggish on horseback, the old man stretched out a hand and shook it in front of his eyes, and asked, "Young man, what is the matter with the messenger to Valuno, how did you send the child? I guess you are not more than fifteen years old?"

"In fact, he's only thirteen years old, Master Marcus. "The knight of José came up in full armor, and it had only taken him a few minutes from the time he had assembled. The knight reached out and touched Vedia's head, picked Vedia off his horse, and asked, "Is the situation bad, Vidia?" How did they send you out?"

The old man watched this scene with great interest, he patted the knight José on the shoulder, and asked, "Is this your child? ”

Vidia opened her mouth with difficulty, and replied in a trembling voice, "If you're asking the messenger sent in the past, I'm the only one left, my lord." I'm so sorry, but they're all gone. Many, many people died in the town, and so did the Wiegand people. ”

The old knight Marcus looked at the pale Vedia, lowered his head and said: "They will pay, we will make them pay." Then he took the two-handed sword that he had passed from the hand of the squire, and carried it on his shoulder.

The Knight José didn't say a word, he rolled over his horse with a gloomy cheek and drew his sword.

Looking at José on a white horse, Vidia suddenly felt an indescribable nervousness, even though this man was his father.