"Hey—" Alfin exclaimed fervently, "I...... Barn!"

He had obviously drunk too much, his face glowing red with excitement, and he danced to his feet and invited Ian over. Fortunately, he was not so drunk that he forgot Ian's name and couldn't scream in public, so he changed his words fairly quickly.

"Sit down!" Alphen laughed, "I'm talking to Zandar about you!hey, Zandar, don't sleep, wake up!"

Ian then noticed that there was another person opposite Alfin, who had fallen asleep on the table. The man finally shook his head under Alphen's merciless patting.

"Ah...... Alphen, "The man's lingua franca accent sounded special," ...... What do you say?"

Ian saw the man's head, which turned out to be a lizardman. The limestone-like scales characteristic of the lizardman evenly covered his head and his hands and feet sticking out of his clothing. He was dressed in a robe, and only the tip of his stout lizard tail was exposed.

"The Barn I told you is here, right behind you, you useless reptilian prince!"

When the "Reptile Prince" heard this, he seemed to suddenly wake up and was furious: "Who do you say are the reptiles, lowly humans!" Although his tone was angry, there was no expression in his snake-like eyes, "The lizardmen are all descendants of dragons, and we will one day regain our glory - when I turn into a real dragon, I will be the first to bite you to death!"

"As far as I know, my dear Zandhar," Alfin teased, "lizardmen don't turn into dragons until they die. ”

"Our family has been looking for a way to get back to where we were, but we have not been able to do so. But the tribal warlock has said that there is a good chance that I have dragon blood in my veins. The lizardman named Zandar whispered in a confused voice, but apparently no one took him seriously, and the two red-haired barmaids had a smile on their faces. It's no wonder that a filthy lizardman with only a rag robe on his body is just drunken talk at the wine table about incarnating Jackie Chan.

"Well, let me introduce you to my friend, Barn. Alphen no longer participates in Zandar's argument about dragons, "Barn, this is a new friend and will also be your comrade-in-arms - if you will, of course. ”

"Hello. Zandar seemed to sober up a bit, and his anger subsided.

Ian nodded at him, as if to say hello.

"All right, girls, you go first...... Rest, I'll come to you later," Alphen smiled flirtatiously at the two escorts, and reached out to tap the tip of the nose of one of them, "Now we're going to talk about something terrible for girls, and you won't want to hear it." ”

The escort ladies left in amusement.

"Friends should get to know each other," Alphen began, "and the story of Barn, including yours—another name, I've told Zandar, and I think he's trustworthy." Now, please tell me for yourselves, dear Zandar, about your past and your future, and Barn will want to hear it. ”

"Of course," Zandar nodded calmly, "since I'm going to be a comrade-in-arms, I should be as open and honest with you as I am with Alfin." May dragon fire light your way, young warrior. He crossed his hands over his chest and bowed slightly to Ian.

This is the ritual of the lizardfolk in the Confederation.

"I am a prince in exile......"

"Poof......" Ian squirted out a mouthful of wine, choking and coughing.

Zandar looked at him blankly, then at Alphen, who was laughing, confused.

"It's okay, you continue. Ian steadied his breath and motioned for Zandar to continue. Is it because of the war, why are there so many "exiled princes"?

Ian remembered the reminders from Ryan Giggs and Sid, and began to wonder if he had been deceived.

"I'm not like Alphin, I'm not actually exiled by the royal family. Zandar continued calmly, "My father is still alive, the great clan king Galata, but our clan is not like yours, young human warriors. Our king allows his sons to compete with each other for succession and thus to choose the best one. ”

"The laws of nature. Alphen added with a smile.

"That's right, Your Highness," Zandar approving, "and so I'm in a bloody contest with some of my brothers and sisters. ”

"And has already lost. Alphen chimed in.

"No!" Zandar immediately denied this time, "I'm just...... My chief staff officer advised me to leave the battle for the time being, to keep my head in the dark, to gather strength, and to return at the most opportune moment, and to defeat the others and win the throne. And after that...... "The pale yellow whites of his eyes were covered with a transparent film, and the film reflected the dancing fire around him."

"After that?" Ian asked, seeing him lost in thought.

"On the day I am crowned king, I will ascend to Jackie Chan and restore the glory of my Bloodwrath Clan!"

"Again!" Alfin grumbled in a low voice, not wanting to turn the conversation back to something as impractical as "dragons" or "ascension."

"This is the prophecy of the Great Prophet Rum to me," Zandar retorted, "and not once her prophecy fails!"

"I guess her other prophecies," Alfen rolled her eyes and teased, "it must have something to do with the weather,"

Zandar ignored him and looked at Ian, "I heard your story from Alphen, warrior. But I am willing to walk with you because I am carrying my own goals, not for him to reclaim the throne. ”

"Well, we all have our own goals. Ian responded.

"I don't mind. Alphen laughed, "We're very close to the end, and that's fine." ”

"So, what are your goals?" asked Ian.

"I don't know. The lizardman's eyes became blank, "The Prophet said, I cannot remain in the battle of the court, I must embark on a journey to pursue my destiny." ”

"It's like the words of the prophets. Ian laughed.

"Yes, Rum won't tell me exactly what my goal is, but she's convinced that if I go on a journey, I'll get something. The only clue she saw was a contract from an ancient era, but the imagery was too vague for her to find any specific information in it. ”

"Contract?" Ian glanced at Alphen alertly.

"Interesting, isn't it?" Alphen responded, "The Federation has attacked Oak Shield, and the contract is mentioned in the pre-battle book. ”

"So, I'm going to go with you, and maybe I'll make a discovery. Zandar concluded.

"Understood. Ian nodded, "You're a warrior too?" he wasn't sure, as Zandar had neither warrior armor nor a sword or shield by his side.

"I ......," the lizardman prince seemed to blush, "I'm having a hard time explaining my role in battle, maybe it's more convenient to actually show you than to say it with my mouth." Now all I can say is that I can't be counted as a warrior in the strict sense of your word, the lizardmen have the lizardmen's way of fighting. ”

Among the subhumans, only the cat people and the raccoon people are the closest to the humans. There are also many races that avoid living in other groups, and only a few individuals will live in solitude, such as lizardmen. They always live in swampy areas with abundant water, so Swamp Dragon City is a good area for him to move around, which is the biggest reason why Alphen can meet him here.

"Alright, you've got to know each other! it's time to toast!" Alphen raised his glass, and the other two glasses gathered together.

A few sips of swamp fire wine went down to his stomach, and Ian felt warm all around him. Fire wine is a specialty of Marsh Dragon City, and it is soaked in some dragon grass in the ale wine, which is very spicy when you enter it, but it can drive away the dampness and cold and sweep away the yin poison for the people living in this place.

"Then then," Alphen asked, putting down his glass, "do you two have any specific plans? I guess you won't be in this paradise for long." ”

"Of course not. Ian smiled and asked him, "What about you, aren't you going to join us on an adventure?"

"Adventure?" replied Alfin, "why not, if I didn't have so many tedious things to attend to, and not so many connections to get through, of course I'd be happy to go with you." However, I don't use my psychic powers to fight, I don't have much experience in actual combat, and you need someone behind you to coordinate and take care of you. ”

"What are you talking about, do you mean those redheads?" Ian scoffed.

"Ah, you reminded me, they're still waiting for me!" Alfin laughed happily, "Of course, there are many more besides them...... Something else. I need to make sure that my intelligence network is okay and can't be detected, and I also need to make sure that I have enough gold...... Hey, I'm not like you guys who can make money by delegating money!"

"Okay, okay, you're busy. Ian said perfunctorily, then turned to look at the lizardmen beside him, "I'm going to leave here tomorrow and return to the Federation Oasis Town." ”

"Oasis?" Alven rolled his eyes, "That's the base camp of the Goldtail Chamber of Commerce, and he has a mercenary group called War Scars, have you heard? "Clearly, Alphen misunderstood Ian's purpose.

Ian sighed, "I'm a member of the Scar Mercenary Regiment now. ”

Both princes were stunned at the same time, and Alphen opened his mouth even wider.

"It looks like my hopes of regaining the throne have increased by one more point. "Actually, I just wanted to suggest that you assemble your team through the Mercenary Guild. You should know that the more difficult the task you complete together, the easier it is to form a strong friendship. Of course, I'm not teaching you to deceive them, but the more strong comrades, the better, don't you?"

"I can only be considered an honorary member of War Scars. Ian was still very self-aware, "But I know what you mean, I'll go to the Mercenary Guild tomorrow before I leave here - there's a Mercenary Guild in Swamp Dragon City, right?"

"Yes. Zandar replied, "Call me tomorrow when you leave." ”