When the light of dawn illuminated the entire steppe from the distant eastern horizon, the all-night battle finally came to an end for the time being.

When the battle was over, Eckert quickly took over the rest of the task, sending only two Phalanx infantry to clean up the battlefield and count the loot, and having twice as many Rangers patrol the surrounding area for cover and as sentinels.

Seriously wounded sergeants or knights could be taken to the safe center of the camp for treatment, while the lightly wounded were put on guard at the fence or tended to other wounded.

As for the rest of the army, they all returned to the camp to recuperate, eat and rest in batches, and maintain a quarter of the troops ready for battle.

This was not due to the Earls of Fort Fury being overly cautious, but rather to the military tradition of the Byrnes, especially in the fight against the Centaurs, when the enemy was slackened when the enemy broke up, or when the battlefield was scattered and the formation was counterattacked, and similar painful lessons are well read in the history of Boe and Byrne.

In the face of the centaur warriors who came and went, not only the Bain, who were known for their phalanx infantry and hoplites, but also the hussars of Boi could not compete with them in agility and agility.

They can appear and disappear suddenly, attack from any corner of the steppe you can't imagine, and then quickly retreat or maneuver;

If you have a strong army, they will harass, seduce and tempt around you, and launch non-stop small raids that keep you awake day and night;

If you are weak, they can gather double or even two or three times their strength in the blink of an eye, and instantly overwhelm you with a wave of charge.

In the face of such an enemy, no matter how cautious and cautious you are, you can't take every step of the way.

After handing over the follow-up to Count Eckert, Loren, who had a splitting headache, was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, and at the same time returned to the camp to meet with His Excellency Harlem Van Ashmai, who claimed to be the "wizard advisor to the Grand Duke of Varna".

........................................................................

Messy thick black hair like the Lion King, two lying silkworm eyebrows plus a thick beard with a Chinese face, gray sideburns are obviously weathered.

It seems that because of the capture of the centaur, the "wizard" is a little emaciated, and his clothes are in tatters, barely hiding his shame.

But that's what makes his burly figure all the more apparent—underneath the torn neckline, the scarred pectorals and abs, and the strong arms that even werewolves are ashamed of......

Loren stood motionless, and the whole person who watched was shocked.

If it weren't for the fact that the other party did have a strong void reaction, coupled with the wand placed on the side of the table, he couldn't have imagined that this was actually a wizard.

And that wand is actually made of steel... Also, why does it look so much like a short-handled hammer?

So this wizard sorcerer... Uh, uh... Isn't he really some evil god?

However, at the moment, Harlevin Ashamai didn't have time to pay attention to the stunned duke, lowered his head and kept silent, and single-mindedly shook off his cheeks and ate wildly, so that the little wizard sitting opposite him hurriedly sped up the speed of the meal.

In the blink of an eye, two baskets of white bread and a dozen tender steaks vanished without a trace, plus a small half-barrel of wine and a half-pot of fish soup.

As far as Loren could see when he entered, the food in the kitchen had shrunk by nearly two-fifths—the ten-pound piece of bacon that hung from the boiler was now left with an iron hook.

It wasn't until the last loaf of bread had been eaten and the bowl of soup had been licked clean that the "wizard advisor" sat contentedly sipping his wine, his eyes sweeping over the rest of the kitchen.

Loren, who had recovered from the shock, also sat down slightly embarrassed next to the little wizard opposite him, and coughed softly: "Ahem... ...... excuse me?"

"What do you call that? Ai Yin, who was sweating hotly, turned his head and looked at the black-haired wizard with some dissatisfaction: "Loren, it's too rude for you to say this, this is one of the twelve elders of the Nine-Pointed Star Wizard Tower, the famous Master Haringvan Ashamai!"

"Not only is he a contemporary of Corona and Master Freswalk, but he's also the only full-time alchemist among the Twelve Elders - I mentioned it to you before, have you forgotten?"

Did you mention it? It seems to have been, but... Loren looked at the thin, handsome and delicate Ain, and then at the strong, "upright" Master Ashamai.

These two people... Is there anything in common?

"It's okay, don't care about these false names!" Master Ashamai clapped his hands haughtily, and the entire table shook with a shock: "Except for a very small number of alchemists now, the wizards of the younger generation of the empire should have forgotten about me, right?"

"Master Ashamai is not only a top alchemist, but also an excellent adventurer and bard!"

The little wizard had an expression of adoration on his face, and Loren frowned slightly:

"He was a native of Arles, but he had traveled almost all the known world—at least a tenth of the books on history and geography that existed were written by him!"

"As a seeker of the truth, it would be a shame not to see it with your own eyes. "Ashama stroked his chest and head:

"The vast majority of wizards spend their lives huddled in their laboratories, tirelessly seeking the truth, but they don't know that the truth is outside the gates!"

"So......" Loren gently pressed Ain, who still wanted to continue speaking, and looked at the master expressionlessly: "You have been to many places?"

"Even your homeland, the land of knights and wine, young Duke. Ashmai laughed, and spoke with the charm of poetry:

"I have seen the sunset in the moors of Arles, my hometown, and the sunrise over the Centaur Cliff to the east of the Great Green Sea;

I have searched for the last traces of the evil god in Lothair with the old thing Freiswalker, and I have accompanied Albert's young man over the Broken Boundary Mountain and north in the footsteps of Ancient Saint Rogan;

I once climbed alone to the top of the dwarven clouds, and drank wine and wrestled with the dwarven kings in the palace of their kings;

I also sailed west across the Misty Sea at Ebolden, and received the hospitality of an elven lord of Azur on the island of Whistling Eagles, with whom I fought swords and talked and laughed;

The wizards entrenched in the Tower are focused on exploring the Void, but even the material world itself has not been able to truly understand its essence.

Instead of delving into the ethereal emptiness, why not focus on the more practical world?

After all, at the end of the day... We're going to live this life anyway, and I just want to make my life better;

When you close your eyes, you won't have regrets in vain!"

The modulated tone and extremely magnetic voice made Loren a little immersed, as if he could see the scene described by the other party when he closed his eyes.

Sighing lightly, Master Ashamai took a sip of the wine in the glass, his face sank like water, and the ancient well did not wave:

"For the sake of you saving me and inviting me to a meal, I won't charge money for this article just now - next time remember to say it in advance, I will charge by the number of words. ”

"......" Loren Turin.

"......" Ain Rand.

However, since there is a small wizard to testify, and he is indeed an alchemist, the identity of the other party should not be wrong, it should be Master Haringvan Ashamai himself.

And the other party has been captured by the centaurs, so he must know a lot of information about the centaurs - so whether he is real or not, it is important to Loren and the Byrne legion.

"Master Ashamai, do you know a thing or two about the centaur army last night and the details of this battle?"

Loren asked tentatively, not forgetting to fill the other party's wine glass: "And... How could you, as the wizarding advisor to the Grand Duke of Varna, be captured by the enemy?"

"The reason I was taken prisoner was one of the very first causes of this war. ”

Picking up the wine glass and drinking it down, Master Ashamai shook his head bitterly:

"And... I'm no longer a wizard advisor to Grand Duke Varna, but a 'former' wizard advisor!"