She didn't give him water, not at all. He would never find his way to the treasure room anyway. The trail was too long for him to remember. Besides, there was a "huge pit" on the way, if he could have gone that far. He was running out of light now, and he was sure to get lost, then collapse to the ground, and die somewhere in the narrow, empty, dry aisle. When the time comes, Manan will go to him and drag him out, and that will be the end of the matter. Erha grasped the cover of the peephole with both hands, and kept shaking her prostrate body back and forth, and she bit her lip as if she was enduring terrible pain. She doesn't give him any water, she doesn't give him any water, she wants to give him death, death, death, death, death.

In this dark moment of her life, Ke Xiu came. Dressed in a black winter robe, she walked into the treasure room with heavy steps and sheer volumes.

"Is the man dead?"

Alha looked up. There were no tears in her eyes, no need to hide.

"I think it's dead." She replied, getting up and patting the dust off her skirt. "His light is gone."

"He may be cheating. Those soulless guys are very cunning."

"I'll wait another day."

"Yes, or wait two days. Then you can send Dolby down and drag the body out. He is stronger than old Mannan."

"But it was Manan who served the nameless, not Dolby. There are places in the Great Labyrinth that Dolby shouldn't go into. The thief is in this kind of place now."

"What's the matter, the Great Labyrinth has been defaced anyway......

"His death can cleanse the labyrinth again." Aerha said. Judging from Ke Xiu's expression, she could tell that her expression must be a little weird. "Priestess, this is my realm, and I must take care of it according to the orders of my mother. I already know a lot about death, so you don't need to teach me."

Ke Xiu's face shrank into her black hood, like a desert turtle shrinking into its shell, and she replied coldly and slowly, "Very well, mistress."

The two parted in front of the altar of the Two Temples. Now that she had told Ke Xiu that she knew what to do, Ah Erha calmly walked to the hut, summoned Manan, and asked him to accompany her.

Together with Manan, she climbed the hill, entered the throne hall, and entered the Great Tomb. The two of them pulled the long doorknob together and opened the iron door of the great labyrinth. They lit the lanterns and entered, and Al Ha led the way to the Paint Room, and from the Paint Room to the Great Treasure Room.

The thief didn't go far. She and Manan had barely walked five hundred steps in the winding tunnel when they met him; He collapsed in the narrow tunnel, thrown to the ground like a rag. Before he fell, his staff fell to the ground, a little distance from him. His lips were bloody and his eyes were half-closed.

"He's alive." Manan knelt down and put his big yellow hand on the man's throat to probe his pulse. "Do you want me to strangle him, mistress?"

"No, I want him alive. Lift him up and follow me."

"Do you want him to live?" Manan was puzzled, "Why, little mistress?"

"Let him be a slave to the mausoleum! Don't ask, do as I say."

Manan's face was more melancholy than before, but he still complied with the instructions. With some effort, he lifted the young man to his shoulders like a long cloth bag, and staggered after Al Ha. Under such a load, Manan couldn't go far at a time, and in order to let him catch his breath, this return trip took a total of more than a dozen rests. At each stop, the corridor looks the same: gray-yellow stones are stacked into a dome, the stone floor is uneven, and the air is stagnant. Manan gasped as the stranger on his shoulder lay still, the two lanterns shining out a dim circle of light, thinner and thinner the farther outward, and finally submerged into the darkness in front of and behind the corridor. Every time he paused, Ah Erha picked up the water bottle he brought and pointed it at the man's dry and charred mouth to drip some water, little at a time, lest he would be killed if he came back too hastily.

"To the chain cell?" As they reached the passage to the iron gate, Manan asked. When Aerha heard this, she began to think about where to take the prisoner. She didn't know what was good.

"No, not in the chain cell." She said, and was suddenly disturbed by the smoke and stench of her memory, and the silent face that covered her face and did not say a word. Besides, Ke Xiu may go to the chain room. "He...... He had to stay in the Great Labyrinth so that he could not recover his magical powers. Which room has a ......?"

"The paint room has a door, a lock, and a voyeur hole, hostess. If you're sure he's not going to run through the door."

"He has no magical power underground. Take him there, Manan."

Carrying a heavy burden and walking half of the way he came, and now he was going to walk back, Manan was tired and panting, and he didn't have the strength to protest at all, so he straightened his back and carried the man back to his shoulders. Back in the paint room, Alha took off her long woolen winter cloak and spread it on the dusty ground. "Put him on it." She said.

Manan gasped for breath, looked stunned, and looked at Aerha melancholy. "Little Mistress ......"

"I want him to live, Manan. Look at the way he's shivering now, he's going to die of cold."

"Your coat will become unclean. This is the cloak of the first priestess, and not only does he not believe in God, but he is also a man." Manan blurted out, his small eyes squinting, as if in pain.

"I'll burn this cloak and weave another one afterwards!" Quick, Manan!"

Hearing this from Aerha, Manan obediently bent down to lower the prisoner on his shoulder and let him lie on the black cloak. The man was paralyzed as if he were dead, but the pulse in his throat was still pounding, and from time to time a spasm made his body tremble.

"He should be chained." Manan said.

"Does he seem like a dangerous person who can get into trouble?" Erha scoffed. But when she saw Manan pointing to an iron lock nailed into the rock, indicating that she could chain the prisoner, she sent him to the chain chamber to get the chain and the ring. Manan walked down the corridor, muttering and complaining as he recited the tunnel's walk. He used to go back and forth between the painting room and the chain room, but he never walked alone.

In the light of the only remaining lantern, the simple figures with large drooping wings, squatting or standing in the endless silence on the four walls, seemed to move and disturb.

She knelt down and put a water bottle into the prisoner's mouth, a little at a time. Finally he coughed and raised his hands weakly to take the water bottle, which she told him to drink. When he lay down after drinking, his face was dirty with water stains and dust and blood. He muttered something indistinct, just a few words, but in a language she didn't understand.

Manan finally returned with a long chain, a large shackle that could be cuffed, and a ring that fit the prisoner's waist. "The hoop wasn't tight enough for him to slip away." Manan muttered as he locked the chain to the iron ring on the wall.

"No, you see." Alha was less afraid of the prisoner now, and she stretched out her hand to demonstrate the iron ring and the remaining slit between the man's waist and ribs, and even her hand could not fit it. "Unless he starves for more than four days."

"Little mistress," Manan said in a mournful tone, "I don't suspect anything, but...... What good is it for him to be a slave to the nameless of the ages? He's a man, little man."

"Manan, you're such an old fool. Hey, get it right, we're leaving."

The prisoner stared at the two men with bright but tired eyes.

"Manan, where's his staff? Over there. I'm going to take it, it's magical. Well, I'm going to take this with me too." She leaped forward quickly, grabbed the silver chain by the man's collar, and circled it around the man's head; The man tried to grab her arm to stop her, but Manan kicked her in the back, and Alha flicked the silver chain and he couldn't reach it. "Is this your amulet, wizard? You're precious it, aren't you? It doesn't seem like much value, don't you have the money to buy a better one? Let me take care of it for you." As she spoke, she hung the silver chain around her neck and hid the pendant under the thick collar of her woollen robe.

"You don't know what it's for." The man spoke, his voice hoarse, and the Calg he spoke was pronounced incorrectly, but the meaning was clear enough.

Manan kicked him again. The kick made the prisoner snort in pain and close his eyes.

"Leave him alone, Manan, go."

She left the paint room, and Manan grunted and followed.

That night, when the lights went out, Alha climbed the hill alone. She drew water from the well behind the throne hall and filled it with a bottle, took the bottle and a large piece of unleavened buckwheat flatbread, and entered the painting room of the Great Labyrinth. She kept both things within the reach of the prisoners. He had fallen asleep and had not moved. She put her things away and turned back to the hut, and that night she slept soundly.

In the afternoon, she went to the Great Labyrinth alone. The bread was gone, the water bottle was empty, and the stranger sat with his back to the wall, his face still horrible, with dust and scars, but with a wary expression.

She stood in the corner directly opposite him, the man chained, impossible to touch her. She looked at him and looked away, but there was nothing special to look at in the room. She refused to speak, as if something was holding her back. Her heart was pounding, as if she was afraid. In fact, there is no reason to be afraid of him, he is under her control.

"It's nice to have light." He spoke softly and deeply, making her flustered.

"What's your name?" She asked brutally, feeling that her voice was quite abnormal, extraordinarily high.

"Well, everybody calls me Sparrowhawk."

"Sparrowhawk? That's your name?"

"It's not."

"And what's your name?"

"I can't tell you. Are you the first priestess of the mausoleum?"

"Hmm."

"What do you call you?"

"Ahh

"'The devoured'...... Is that what the name means?" His dark eyes were looking at her intently, and there was a slight smile on the corner of his mouth. "What's your name?"

"I don't have a name. Don't ask me questions. Where are you from?"

"Those who have the inner islands are in the West."

"Hefno?"

It was the name of the city or island of the Inner Ring Islands known to her.

"Yes, I'm from Hefno."

"What are you doing here?"

"The Etuan Mausoleum is very famous among our people."

"But you are a heretic, and do not believe in God."

He shook his head. "No, priestess. I believe in the power of darkness! I've met the Nameless One somewhere else."

"Where?"

"In the archipelago district, it is the Inner Ring Kingdom. There are also a lot of places that belong to the Earth Taikooli, and the Taikoo Li is the same here. It's just that none of them are as big as here, and the rest of the Primorie has no temples and priestesses, and they are not as worshipped as here."

"You're here to worship?" She scoffed.

"I'm here to steal." He said.

She stared at his serious face, "You're too confident!"

"I know it's not going to be easy."

"Easy? It's simply not possible. If you believe in God, you will know that it is impossible. The nameless look after what they belong to."

"What I'm looking for isn't theirs."

"That must be yours?"

"I'm here to ask for it."

"What the hell are you, God? Or a king?" She looked him up and down. The man in front of him sat on the ground tiredly, his body shackled in chains, and his whole body dirty. "You're just a thief!"

He didn't say anything, just met it with his eyes.

"You're not allowed to look me in the face!" She said loudly.

"Miss," he said, "I have no offense. I'm a stranger and an intruder. I don't know the rules of your house, and I don't know the etiquette of meeting the priestess. I'm just an ant in the palm of your hand now, and I beg your forgiveness if you accidentally offend."

She stood where she was, not responding. For a moment, she felt the blood rise up her cheeks, hot and ridiculous. But he wasn't looking at her anymore, and he didn't see her blushing. He had already been instructed to look away.

The two did not speak for a long time. The figures on the walls around them looked at them with sad, empty eyes.

She brought a whole stone altar of water. Seeing that his eyes kept drifting to it, it was a long time before she said, "If you want to drink water, drink it."

He immediately staggered to the stone altar, raised it as easily as a wine glass, and drank it for a long time. Then, he wet the corner of his sleeve and wiped as much dirt, blood, and cobwebs as he could from his face and hands. It took some time, and the girl watched. He looked much better when he was done, but the scar on one cheek was revealed, an old scar that had been healing for a long time, in four parallel lines that stretched from his eyes to his jawbone, like marks from a giant claw, and white on his swarthy face.

"That scar," she asked, "how did it come about?"

He didn't answer right away.

"Scratched by the dragon's claws?" She asked, deliberately mocking. Didn't she come down to the labyrinth just to make fun of her victim and torture him with his helplessness?

"No, it wasn't caught by a dragon."

"So, at least you're not a dragon lord."

"No," he confessed reluctantly, "I'm the Dragon Lord. But this scar was caused before he became the Dragon Lord. As I said, I've encountered dark forces elsewhere in this world before. The scar on my face is the mark of one of the relatives of the nameless who has passed through generations. But he is no longer nameless, and I finally learned his name."

"What are you talking about? What's the name?"

"I can't tell you." He said, although his face was serious, but with a smile [Fei Fei Xiao '説'网'ffh.'n 紛享].

"A bunch of nonsense, fools, blasphemy. Their name is 'The Nameless'! You don't know what you're talking about......

"Priestess, I know better than you do." As he spoke, his voice deepened, "Take a closer look!" He turned his head so that she could see the terrible mark on his cheek.

"I don't believe you." She said, her voice shaking.

"Priestess," he said softly, "you are not too old to serve the Dark Nameless for long.