On the eve of War Month, Ian and the Lizardman Prince Zandar, together set out on their way to Skylark City with Pata, who was controlled by his secret arts. Although Ian would have preferred to find Elantra and Valrhona as soon as possible and ask them about the situation, Alphen was not so powerful that he could find out the wandering traces of the two of them on the continent in a short period of time.

During the journey, Ian tries to get to know the Zandar and the Lizardmen tribe.

"You ...... mysticism," Ian asked tentatively, "does it have a name?"

"The imprint of reason. Zandar blurted out.

"Sounds like a lot of fun," Ian tried to make sense of Zandar's fighting skills, "What's the point? Is it also a type of psychic power?"

"......No," the lizardman prince shook his head, "No one in our clan has ever had psychic powers, and the secret techniques that we have passed down from generation to generation are also sealing psychic powers. ”

Ian was stunned: "Seal, isn't that more powerful than psychics?"

"No, that's all. Zandar smiled humbly, "It can't be used to create and fight, unlike your magic blacksmith skills and ...... These. He gestured to Zach's spirit beside Ian.

A puff of smoke rises, and the campfire is lit and they can roast the fish they catch from the river for dinner.

"You're modest," Ian unconsciously glanced at the pouch, which was still lying lethargically stupefied, "Your secret skills have helped a lot. ”

"Rational imprint......" He couldn't help but silently recite the name again in his heart.

"Maybe it's because our tradition is to pursue perfect reason, so no one can use psychic power, and such a secret technique has been handed down. There is no trace of emotion in the eyes of the lizardmen's cold-blooded animals, "The people are trying to rationalize as much as possible. You should understand the way we fight for the succession to the throne, right?"

"There will be fraud and manipulation in elections, there will be deception, and the appointment of an heir may not be the most correct and reasonable outcome. You humans determine your successor by age, which is the most ridiculous way in our eyes. "That's why we're free to play." Whatever the means, the king must be able to take what he wants by all means in order to have any hope of leading his tribe to survive. So our patriarchs are not necessarily the strongest in the tribe, but they must be the strongest in the tribe - strong in every sense of the word. ”

"So what are you going to do to compete for the position of patriarch?"

"The form of a dragon. Zandar's eyes lit up.

Here it is again, Ian thought. Along the way, he'd heard Zandar mention countless times about his hopes for becoming a dragon, legends, and clues he thought might be possible. Truth be told, on this point he agrees with Alphen's judgment: it can't be. Dragons are a type of Warcraft in ancient legends, and if the Bloodwrath Clan, to which Zandar belongs, is really a descendant of dragons, wouldn't it have become another form of Warcraft left in the human world, and the Lizardmen have become descendants of Warcraft?

"Zandar," Ian stopped him from continuing the conversation just in time, "good luck, but, fish."

Are you all set?"

He looked at the fish at Zandar's feet that were not yet dead, and his stomach growled with hunger.

They were lucky enough to find a source of living water and a rocky area that sheltered them from the wind.

"Tomorrow after a short walk, it seems that you will end up in the place where the power of attorney is written. Zandar threaded the fish on a branch and roasted it by the fire, "hoping it won't be too difficult." ”

Ian watched his skillful movements and laughed, "You don't look like a prince, Zandar. ”

"Before this princely identity, I was first and foremost a lizardman. Zandar smiled too, "The basic skills of living in the wilderness must be mastered. ”

"It's a pity not to be a mercenary. ”

"Yes, but I don't envy your mercenary life. ”

"Oh?" said Ian, slightly surprised, "Alphen is envious. ”

"His status as a prince is also very different from mine. Zandar replied, his eyes still staring at the fish roasted on the fire, "Even if it were a prince, I wouldn't be as restricted in my own country as he was. ”

"After all, you're all going to be fighting each other for the king of the clan, so there's no need to do anything, right?" Ian said with some sarcasm.

"That's half right. Zandar replied nonchalantly, "The other half is, because we live more freely than humans." ”

He added: "Nothing is more important than being free to live. ”

As esoteric as it sounds, Ian shrugged his shoulders and was noncommittal.

"You're not free," Zandar said as he looked at Ian and then back to Zack's spirit, "I can feel you're being bound." ”

Ian gave him a blank look: "You feel wrong. ”

He took out the power of attorney from his bosom and looked at it again, which they had found from the Mercenary Guild before leaving Swamp Dragon City. Of course, it can only be taken in Ian's name.

The commission looks simple, but when you think about it, it's weird. A commission that can be undertaken by the Blackstone level describes a person who is in pain and in need of help because of his psychic powers, but how to help is not written. In the end, he just said again and again that it was very safe and not dangerous, but he just hoped that the mercenary could help the client solve some inconveniences in life. Most importantly, the place where the commissioner asked to go to the meeting was right on the way to Skylark.

As soon as dawn came, Ian and Zandar rode back on their roads.

On the journey between the two, Ian still rode the White Star, while Zandar somewhere in the swamp dragon city got a two-legged rapidsaur that looked like a good match for the lizardmen.

Sure enough, just like Zandar said, he only ran for more than thirty stars before he arrived at the place designated by the client. It is a dilapidated village that belongs to the city of Swamp Dragon.

The village is deep on the west side of the main road, and in order to enter the village, you have to deliberately descend from the main road. It's not like Breeze Village, which is right on both sides of the main road. As a result, as soon as Ian and Zandar entered the village, they attracted the attention of the villagers, and apparently few outsiders came.

Just right, ask them for directions. With this in mind, Ian drove his horse to the nearest one

The farmer.

"Good day, sir. Ian bowed slightly on his horse, his eyes staring straight at the farmer.

"Good day, young man, may the twelve gods bless you on your journey. What's the matter with you?"

Ian pulled his mercenary insignia from his collar: "We got a commission to find a mute ......"

The farmer's eyes widened suddenly, and he asked, "The dumb man...... Did the dumb man let you come?"

"I don't know, sir," admitted Ian, "the client is 'Mister Morgan,' are you familiar with the name? ”

"Mister, it's him!" cried the farmer, suddenly agitated, and raised his voice, "get out of here, whoever you are, don't go to see him. He's a demon!" said that, the farmer walked away quickly.

Ian inexplicably looked back at Zandar behind him, and the lizardman prince was thoughtful.

Ian turned his horse's head, but Zandar jumped off his biped. He saw the lizardmen walk towards the wall and a child peeking at them.

"Look, kid," his expressionless lizard face tried to make himself sound harmless, "what is this?"

He pulled out a candy ball from his bosom, Ian knew it, a gadget from Swamp Dragon City.

Mixed with sugar, flour, and minced petals of the glow flower and twisted into a red sugar ball, it is sweet when licked slowly, but if you are greedy, you will feel the hot taste in your mouth. The children here may not have seen these things, and Zandar uses them to seduce them.

"Taste," he licked the candy ball, "how about it? Hey, let's make friends." You tell me where Mr. Mister is, and I'll give you the candy balls. ”

The child licked the candy ball lightly, and the candy ball was immediately removed. He looked curiously at the red ball in front of him and couldn't help but lick his mouth.

"He's not in the village. He lives in a cave. Over there, to the north. The child stretched out his hand, grabbed the candy ball, and ran away as Zandar turned his head to look.

Zandar returned to his mount and saw Ian looking at him with a smirk.

"It's a reasonable and efficient thing to do. He said briefly, in response to Ian's eyes.

The two men urged their mounts to run north of the village, searching for the cave that the child had spoken of. But they had been running north for twenty or thirty stars before they found a barren hill of dead stones in the wilderness. Their client seemed to be sitting in the open space outside the cave entrance, in a daze.

It wasn't until Ian and Zandar approached him that he noticed them. Ian stepped forward and pulled out the power of attorney to confirm his identity.

"Be louder!" the old man suddenly roared in the quiet wilderness, startling Ian and Zandar.

"I have bad ears!" he yelled.

Ian had no choice but to send the power of attorney to him and ask again if the other party was the person who issued the commission.

"Ah!" the old man finally understood, "yes, it's ours. ”

We?Ian glanced at Zandar.

"Wait a minute. The old man stood up and stumbled into the dark hole.

After a while, he came out, holding a young man who could be his grandson. It's just that the man looks pale, his eye sockets are deep, and he is obviously chronically malnourished and sleepless. Maybe there was even a lack of light, Ian wondered if he had been in the hole all this time.

The young man's eyes were squinted because he had not adapted to the sunlight outside the cave, and his mouth was tightly tied with a strip of cloth, as if he were being treated as if he were a prisoner. But his hands and feet were not tied.

The old man helped the strange young man to sit down on a slightly flat stone, and then said to him, "We are the ones who gave the commission, and Mister Morgan is him." ”

Ian looked at them warily and asked, "What is it that says that you need someone to solve your troubles and 'life inconveniences'?"

"Do me a favor," replied the old man, after listening carefully to Ian's questioning, "kill him." ”

(End of chapter)