The morning air was cold and biting, and the rising sun was as red as a sweet-hearted omelette, soft and glutinous flowing in the sky, without any heat at all, only hanging lonely above the horizon, looking coldly at the earth that had just thawed from sleep.

The blackened charcoal faintly flashed with sparks, it was the unwilling moan of the fire elves, the choking green smoke slowly lingered, the ground was covered with thick ashes, and I sank deep with a light step on my foot, I squatted in the ruins of the ruined walls of the big house, staring at the wisps of fire slowly extinguished, and I was stunned.

Many soldiers were busy cleaning up left and right, they methodically carried out a charred corpse, and then neatly placed it on the grass in front of the house, a few black-clad Enides endured the strong stench, leaned over to carefully examine and examine, looking for clues to identify the corpses, and a few handymen dressed as peasants dug large pits under the supervision of the soldiers, which were used to bury the processed ashes.

Codename 4 accompanied me silently, and the eye sockets were sunk deep into the fair skin, revealing dark circles with strong color.

"We have lost seven of our most loyal swords."

She spoke in a hoarse voice, her voice drifting like an abrupt voiceover in a silent movie, for her, her comrades-in-arms are family, and the taste of losing her family, we are all related, but not the same.

"There are also a dozen of Nijmegen's best knights, some of whom I know, some of whom I have only met on a side-by-side, and some of whom I have never even met."

I clutched the ashes on the ground, my knuckles turning slightly white from the exertion: "I can now feel the humiliation of a knight who is defeated in an ignominious way, who died in no apparent place. ”

The ashes clenched tighter and tighter, falling from between the fingers: "Owen......"

"I remember that you said to me a long time ago that war is an act of force aimed at killing and ultimately defeating the enemy, as long as the other side can be brought to its knees, and it does not matter what means are used, because the victor has the right to write history, and no one dares to blame anything."

She tilted her head, and her hood cast a large black shadow on her face, telling a different kind of sadness: "Do you remember? On the battlefield I am your enemy. ”

"Yes, how high-spirited I was at that time, thinking that I was invincible in the world, but when the same punishment was really inflicted on me......"

I let go of my hand, stared at the ashes left between the coiled textures of my palms, and said in a sad tone: "I hurt them, a fire, phew!" Is this God's punishment for me when there is nothing left? He did not hesitate to sacrifice innocent lives in order to teach a lesson to an arrogant man. ”

"We are not in a position to judge God, my lordship."

She changed her words, and her voice was almost inaudible: "Forgot? None of us believe in God. ”

I used to scoff at the devout faith of the people of the Middle Ages, and despise many ignorant laymen with the haughty posture of an atheist, but after so many ill-fated displacements, I suddenly discovered in despair that having faith is actually a lucky thing.

"Didn't find Owen's body?"

The wide black robe covered the identity, appearance, gender, and feelings of Code No. 4: "Not at present, the identity of friend and foe is still being identified, he was not there at dinner, it is said that he took someone to arrange a residence for the newly recruited Martini peasant soldiers, but whether he was there after the fire in the middle of the night, no one knows." ”

"If only God could hear human prayers."

I stared at the sky with ethereal eyes, and my thoughts wandered outside my body: "I hope he is safe." ”

The codename listened to the report of his subordinates, and his expression was flat, and he couldn't see what was going on from her face: "Sixteen people on the enemy side, all the troops were wiped out, and there was no way to live." ”

This is the result that has been guessed a long time ago: "Two of them should have been seriously injured and poisoned, in order to prevent us from catching alive, the poison sac was hidden on the gum, and it broke with a light bite, and the poison was so strong that it could be instantly fatal." ”

Her expression was gloomy: "Like us, there is only one way to die if the mission fails. ”

"Isaac?"

The greedy and cunning smile of the old liar and the calm and wisdom of Gniezno when he saved me appeared above the ruins, gradually turning into a fierce beast that seemed to pounce on me at any moment and tear me apart.

"He is just an agent of the front desk, a role similar to that of Lord Leonardo, both important and meaningless, with power big or small, a high-level puppet who fully executes the will of the organization."

Codename Four looked up at the people who were pouring oil on the corpses and preparing to be cremated: "This is the clarion call to blow the prelude to the attack, and then there will be a second, third, fourth, and so on endless attacks one after another, until the target of the operation is eliminated." ”

Around the corpses, there were people praying, some people were in a daze, and some people were sobbing silently for these souls who had died tragically.

"The target of the action is eliminated...... Is it up? Until I die? ”

The morning that should be full of vitality is spent in an atmosphere of depression and sadness, the magnificent lake and mountains seem to have lost the charm that attracts everyone, the lake Lémans in the distance hides in layers of mist, and no longer dares to show a shy appearance, the sun gives up the warmth of this cold earth in the middle of the work, and the heavy dark clouds seem to suddenly appear, and then spread all over the sky, and the faint explosion of thunder reminds people that the thunderstorm is coming.

"My lord, you have to hurry up, don't let the rain stop here."

Code No. 4 held the food he had just checked and put it on the table, and the chaos of last night's fire frightened the village elders so much that they led the villagers to help us do this and that since the early hours of the morning, for fear that the Duke would be unhappy and slaughter their small village.

Now we have changed rooms to rest, the conditions are much worse than the big house where the elders live, low and dilapidated, the dirt and mess of people and animals in the same room are simply unsightly, and a few hens flutter their wings and fly overhead, scattering chicken feathers all over the ground.

I glanced at the dark food and had no appetite, the nearer and nearer thunder seemed to be ready to knock down the ruined house, and the knights who had sat around the fire yesterday arguing about their plans for the next step were now only two survivors of the perimeter patrol, and one of them stood up, disapproving of the mysterious woman who always wrapped herself in a black dress, and retorted:

"If we set off now, we will let the heavy rain block the mountain road, and hundreds of people will be crowded together in a disorderly manner, which will be more dangerous, it is better to hide in the village until the rain stops and then leave."

"No way!"

Code No. 4 directly rejects his suggestion: "The enemy has discovered the location of the adults, staying here is tantamount to waiting for death, and must leave immediately, it is precisely because of the bad weather conditions, coupled with the rugged mountain roads, that the enemy will definitely have a lot of trouble to find us, and this is a great opportunity to avoid them." ”

"Alright."

I waved my hand to stop the knight who wanted to continue fighting, and asked Codename Four, "It's okay to go, but where is the destination?" ”

"Château Vevey, the residence of Baron Leman, the conditions are better, the supplies are abundant, and the defense is empty at the moment, let's go and rest first."

Her answer was expected by me, Baron Otto took away the few knights in the castle, and only the combat effectiveness of those guards was almost negligible, and Vevey was also a stone castle, which could be attacked and defended, and there was no need to worry about it.

"Do as you say."

There was so much that happened that night, and the sadness of losing my soldiers, mixed with it, that it made my heart beat haggard.

"My lord! My lord! ”

A soldier stumbled in, breathless and reported: "Owen...... Lord Owen is back! ”

"Who do you say...... Irving! Where is he! ”

I instantly came to my senses, and rushed over and grabbed the reckless soldier's shoulder: "Say! ”

"Your Excellency!"

The familiar voice fell into my ears, and I excitedly cast my eyes to the door, it was Owen, yes, he stood there well, except for the faint exhaustion and servant dust:

"I'm sorry, I came back late, I heard last night...... Either way, you're fine! ”

I nodded, my body suddenly looked like a leaky ball, my eyes were dark, and I sat on the ground softly, so startled that everyone hurriedly came up to help me, and asked with concern:

"Hehe, don't worry, I'm happy to see that you're fine, God forbid, where have you been for so long?"

"I didn't have an appetite for dinner, so I went outside the house to blow the wind, and I happened to meet the soldier who came to report the situation, so I went with him to the peasant soldier who had not yet settled down, and I was unconsciously busy until late, and just about to come back, there was a sudden situation of the peasant soldier defecting, I was busy chasing it, and I didn't have time to send someone to report it......"

He lowered his eyes with a look of frustration on his face, and he felt guilty that he hadn't been there when I needed it most.

"Anyway, it's better to come back safely than anything else."

I calmed down a little and couldn't hold back as I spoke: "They...... I think that my friends who were born and died side by side during their lives would be lying together after death, and they should be very happy with God......

Owen lowered his head, his shoulders shaking unnaturally, as if he was crying silently.

"Your Excellency!"

Codename 4 breaks the sad atmosphere at the right time, when the men are captured by weakness, and a woman reminds us to come out strong, and the arrangement in the dark is full of unexpected sense of fate.

"Now that Owen is back, it's time for us to go, and when it rains for a while, we can't leave if we want to."

"Do you have to brave the rain to walk the mountain road? Where to? ”

Owen asked in surprise: "The mountain road is slippery on a rainy day, there are too many of us, it's really ...... Dangerous. ”

He noticed the color his friend had given him, and he was puzzled, and he was slightly short of breath when he said it.

"Vevey Castle."

Codename Four explained the destination in an irrefutable tone, and she glanced lightly at the knight who wanted to pull her allies to stop the march in the rain, and the latter immediately darkened his face seriously, and reluctantly gave up the struggling resistance.

The first drop of rain fell from the stacked clouds and hit my cheek accurately, and the cold feeling instantly froze the whole body and drove away the tired of the bumps.

I wiped away the splashes, and before I knew that there would be a drop, or two, or even more drops of rain woven into a web of water like beads with broken threads, covering the dark sky and pouring everyone who was caught off guard into a mess.

"What the hell weather!"

Owen struggled to pull out his feet stuck in the mud, and complained angrily, last night's fire startled the horses bolted outside, and when it was dawn, they sent people to look for them, they had already run away, and only recovered a heavy colt that had strayed into the farmhouse, so except for me, the rest of the people had to move forward on foot, and Owen was not willing to fold his identity to ride a donkey, no wonder he kept complaining all the way.

"Oh my God, it's hell!"

I looked at him with great sympathy, and the raindrops of beans with gravitational potential energy smashed my face, and I couldn't open my eyes in pain:

"Take someone to the front to have a look, don't delay the trip."

Owen showed a reluctant look, although it was fleeting, but it still allowed me to accurately capture: "The mountain road is dangerous, I am afraid that the heavy rain will cause flooding, and everyone will be blocked from the front of the village and the back of the store, so I have to pass as soon as possible." ”

"I understand."

He simply cut off the belt that tied his shoes, and shouted to beat his bare feet and tell people to go with him: "No one can walk if it rains harder." ”

The rain curtain became more and more dense, and gradually merged into a deafening roar, and the horses wailed hard, and finally could not walk, and the so-called road under their feet was actually only two zhang wide, and the perennial people walked on the horses to make it potholes and rugged abnormally, and the rain was even more muddy, and it did not reach the calf of the horse. I tugged down at my wet hood, it was so full of water that it couldn't keep out the rain. Instead, it was wet against his forehead, which made people quite uncomfortable.

"Take the horse, and I'll go down!"

The soldier who led the horse obeyed the order to hold down the struggling horse and help me get down into the muddy water.

How would you describe how you feel at this moment? Just like the calves are sucked by the tentacles of an octopus, slimy with gravity, desperately dragging you into the bottomless quagmire, I naively wanted to take a step, but I staggered and almost fell, leaning forward crookedly, and my legs were still stuck in place.

"What the hell weather!"

I couldn't help but learn Owen's words and cursed, I really didn't understand how bad the situation was, those soldiers who were hobbling away, they didn't dare to say anything, and they must have hated me, the inflexible Duke, in their hearts.

The number of times the legs alternated was only a handful, and after a long time, the scenery around me hardly changed, a large spruce tree with two people hugging each other swaying in the wind and rain, leaning over to stare at the bipeds that could not move half a step for a long time, swaying and swaying, as if laughing at their insignificance.

I gasped roughly, and the rain flowed down the texture of my nose into the corners of my mouth, and I tasted a salty and fishy smell.

"I won't be able to reach Vevey Castle before dark, but who can tell me what time it is?"

Sitting down in the mud, I wiped my face with my dirty palm, but the more I wiped it, the more I couldn't see things, the sky was gloomy as if the end of the world, if someone opened God's perspective and looked down, he would definitely find that our team was like a zigzag loach, arching in the swamp of the mountains and mountains.

"Your Excellency!"

The voice of code name four pierced through the layers of rain curtains and clearly poured into my ears, and I squinted my eyes, but I still couldn't find her.

"My lord, Scout News!"

I snorted softly in reply, twisted to my feet, and a pair of gentle, strong hands grabbed my arms to help me out of the muddy restraints.

"There is an army coming this way two miles away, and judging by the distance and size, the other side should be from Vevey Castle."

(End of chapter)