"Click!"

There was a crisp sound in his ears, and the black-haired wizard suddenly woke up.

The harsh light softens the eye, and the surrounding environment and touch are transmitted to one's consciousness through the body.

Here it is... Floating City... My room... I... is lying down... own bed......

The intermittent messages converged into a single paragraph, and Loren, who sat up while shaking his head and waking his consciousness, focused his blurred gaze on a figure beside his bed.

“...... Brandon?"

The red-haired boy sitting on the edge of the bed, his fiery red eyes looked at the black-haired wizard who suddenly woke up, and he was still holding a freshly peeled apple in his hand.

"Lo, Loren?!You're finally awake!"

It didn't even take half a second, and His Royal Highness the prince changed his face as if he showed an excited expression: "This is really the blessing of the Holy Cross - when Ain told me that you could wake up today, I didn't believe it yet!"

"But here I am - lo and behold, apples, peeled for you!"

Looking at the apple he handed over flatteringly, the black-haired wizard didn't even have the desire to roll his eyes.

"Click!"

Loren, who took the apple casually and took a hard bite, glanced at His Royal Highness the Prince's relieved and slightly distressed expression, and couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth.

Either way, when he was alone in the Valley of Bones to fight the Eagle King, he was the only one who could think of coming to his aid—though he wasn't at all helped by a full day late, and he had come with the dragon Mirasis.

But at least he came.

No one asked for it, no one forced it, and there was no hint of it... It is certain that he must have rushed over as soon as he got the news of the call for help, otherwise even a giant dragon would not have been able to collide so "coincidentally".

Dragon King, Great Green Sea, Ebolden...... Although the relationship between himself and Brandon has always been just to use each other, this guy can save himself every time without hesitation and keep the agreement.

Even every time, he is "His Royal Highness the Late Prince"......

"Well, I mean, of course I know that an apple as an apology isn't enough, but you bastard doesn't seem to lack anything. Brandon looked at Loren in a daze, his expression full of sincerity:

"So... The magnanimous Duke of Byrne must be able to forgive his friend for being a little late and not catching up with him, right?"

"Late?"

Playing with the apple in his hand, Loren smiled playfully with the corners of his mouth.

"Uh... I guess it wasn't much late, I know I must be late, but definitely at ......the last minute."

"When you came, the Eagle King's corpse was cold. ”

"Maybe the Azorean elves have a different physique from humans, and they cool faster?" Brandon's smile was extremely innocent and innocent: "I may have missed the last scene, but there are definitely thousands of enemies who have not been ......"

"Thousands of enemies... Killed before the Eagle King was killed. ”

"Of course, I'm not talking about the enemies who are still resisting! I mean... The shameless deserters who were ravaged and trampled under the iron horses of the proud knights of the Empire, I must have remembered seeing your last charge when I was in heaven......"

Brandon's smile grew more and more reluctant.

"The last charge is in the evening, and it's early in the morning when you come. ”

"Okay, let's get it straight, what are you going to do to forgive me?" Brandon tilted his shoulders and tilted his head with a "whatever you want" expression.

"......" Loren Turin.

This guy really doesn't have much of a swag as always... Of course, there is no shame.

"Anyway, except for meat compensation and stuff... What I can compensate you for, you basically don't need it, so ......" Brandon looked nonchalant, and the corners of his mouth with a bright smile grinned all the way to the root of his ears:

"Let's get down to business... As is customary, I'll start first. ”

The black-haired wizard whose mouth kept twitching, but he didn't refute it, after all, if the other party was willing to sit here and wait for him to wake up, he was definitely not "doing nothing".

"Tell me, what do you want to know - the battle for Bloodbones Valley?"

"I've listened to your people eight hundred times when I came—eight hundred times, eight hundred different versions, but my dear wizard advisor and Lord of Byrne is the savior of one hundred in each version!"

With a teasing smile, Brandon's expression gradually became solemn: "I want to know the details." ”

"For example......"

"For example......" The fiery red eyes flashed with a strange light, and the obsidian pupils met each other: "The Eagle King... Is it really dead?"

His Royal Highness's expression was different from the previous seriousness.

"You see, I'm a De Salyon, and I'm a direct De Salyon—a lot of information that is secret to others is just a 'behind-the-scenes lace' that I can see with a little effort. ”

"I know that in most cases, it is more difficult to kill an apostle of an evil god than it seems, because they are so closely connected to their respective gods that even if they are killed, they can often be resurrected decades, even decades, or even a few years later. ”

Brandon sighed, "If it's just those ordinary people who have become apostles, it's fine, but this guy is the Eagle King, and if he is made immortal, it will become a very terrible trouble." ”

The black-haired wizard couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, a little surprised.

This is the first time that Brandon is not all for himself, but from the perspective of the "empire".

But......

"I can tell you very clearly that the Eagle King is dead, and there is no way to resurrect him. Loren said in a deep voice very seriously: "The evil gods who once helped him have completely abandoned him and taken away the mark of the evil god from his body, and the traces he himself left in this world have also been erased by my own hands." ”

"Even if it is resurrected, it will be at most a shell manipulated by the power of the Void and cloaked in the headless corpse of the Eagle King. ”

His Royal Highness nodded in a daze, his expression like a sigh of relief.

"Well... Then I'm relieved. With a heartless smile again, Brandon gave Loren a thumbs up: "If you are worthy of being a descendant of the Black Duke, I know that I must be right to believe you!"

Smiling, Loren's eyes moved slightly.

Generally speaking, even if you are assured, you will definitely want to know some details, or at least ask how to do it, whether there are any hidden dangers or costs, and whether there will be any emergencies.

But Brandon didn't ask.

Not only did he not ask, he didn't even want to let himself say it, it wasn't out of sheer trust anymore.

I know you have some secrets that you might not want to tell, and that's fine, because I have them too, so let's keep some of them from each other and not interfere with each other too much.

This is a "tacit understanding" of mutual respect.

"Now it's your turn, just ask whatever you want. Brandon shrugged: "Needless to say, though, I knew what you'd ask." ”

...... So what nonsense are you talking about?

couldn't help complaining in his heart, but Loren still put the apple aside with a kind expression, leaned back against him, and motioned for the other party to start.

"First of all, the information I got for help didn't come from you, but from the Broken Mountain Fortress - shortly after you arrived in the Valley of the Blood, the Broken Mountain Fortress was under a desperate siege by the Azorean elves. ”

"The battle was fierce, and according to the letterhead sent back by Conod, both he and Salika tried more than once to break out and ask for help from you in the Valley of Blood, but both failed... You should have guessed this one, though. ”

Loren nodded, he had a hunch that this might be the case when reinforcements from Broken Boundary Mountain never arrived.

An army of 40,000 elves breached the fortress of Broken Mountain, unleashing hundreds of thousands of monsters to pour into East Sackland... Even the destruction and carnage caused alone would be enough to destroy the foundations of the empire!

Because these rotting demons are not armies, they don't have any "order" other than orders, and they can find a way to concentrate on annihilation in the glacial wasteland, but once they disperse on the East Sacraland Plain, no army can stop them!

"And next, there's something you can never imagine......" Closing his smile, Brandon lowered his voice and said in a deep voice: "Do you remember the Azorean elf entrenched in Eberden, that is, the Prince Rodria Azores who fought with you for a whole month?"

"Remember, what's wrong with him?"

"He broke through the defense line of the Ebolden line along the Gem River, and tens of thousands of troops marched south along the river, and the front of the army was directed towards the imperial capital Golovin!" Brandon accentuated: "Because I didn't expect the defense line to be breached so quickly, the current imperial capital can't even muster the garrison forces!"

"And then... Oh, just as agreed, the Azorean army on the front line of Lothair also began to launch a fierce attack on the deep forest fort, and the Grand Duke of Leuven, who had a fairly large number of troops, was exhausted to the point of being overstretched;

"Because the Azorean elves drove the ogres from the forest to attack his rear line, all the mobile forces he could mobilize were used to encircle and suppress the ogres!"

"When I received the news, the vanguard of thirty thousand elves had arrived in West Sacland, where they burned and looted to gather enough supplies for their consumption. Speaking of this, Brandon couldn't help but sneer:

"This scared the nobles and lords of the imperial capital half to death, they probably never thought in their lives that the war could be so close to them!"

His Royal Highness the Prince paused slightly, and looked at the black-haired wizard's unchanged expression: "Don't be like this, I know what you want to ask - that's right, in fact, I originally planned to leave you and my beloved Imperial Brother Conrad to be a hero to protect the imperial capital, but I finally came to the north, didn't I!"

"Uh... Well, there are many reasons for this, but the one you will care about the most should be... It's the Countess of the Red Blood Castle. ”

"The Countess of Crimson Castle?"

What does this have to do with Charlotte?

Brandon's face suddenly showed an "unspeakable" expression, and for a moment, Loren seemed to see a look of fear in his eyes.

Of course, it's only a matter of a moment.

"That's right, she sent a letter to my barracks, telling me that Byrne would immediately send troops to rescue the imperial capital Golovin, telling me not to worry. Brandon's expression instantly returned to normal, as if nothing had happened:

"Uh... Not only that, but she also wrote to invite the Grand Duke of Arles to send troops with her to form a combined Arles-Byrne army to rescue, so that the final total force would reach 150,000, and if not the elves could be destroyed, at least there was no need to worry about defending the city. ”

The black-haired wizard bowed slightly, indicating acquiescence.

Truly... Charlotte's decision was very wise: Byrne, who had drawn most of his mobile forces, could not rescue the Broken Mountain Fortress in time, so he handed over the rescue mission to Brandon, who was closer to the top, and Byrne, who had gathered most of his troops, went to the aid of the "less urgent" imperial capital Golovin.

In order to find a name for his own troops, he also brought in the Grand Duke of Arles, so that even the nobles of the imperial capital did not dare to provoke and rebel against the two southern principalities at the same time.

But there's a problem......

"I remember that your relationship with Charlotte was not very bad, why did you listen to her this time?" Loren was a little puzzled: "Could it be that she threatened you?"

In the dim candlelight of the room, Brandon's expression stiffened.

"Ahem... Let's leave this aside, you'll find out sooner or later. Smiling reluctantly, His Royal Highness's eyes became more and more panicked: "All in all, you should take care of your injuries first, we are heading to the Broken Mountain Fortress, and my army has already rushed to the rescue......

"Knock knock!"

There were three knocks at the door.

Brandon and Loren, who were interrupted, looked at each other at the same time, and a familiar figure was pushing the door in.

It was Edward the Night's Watch.

"Your Highness, a ranger has returned from the fortress. Glancing at the black-haired wizard who was sitting on the bed and had just gotten up, Edward, with a stiff face, said in a deep voice with his hands behind his back:

"I'm sorry for your delay, there are some things that need to be reported to you right away. ”

"Report, since it's the intelligence of the Broken Mountain Fortress, it's the same if you say it here, anyway... Uh, okay okay, I got it. ”

Brandon had no choice but to get up, glanced at Loren with a "that's not what I meant" expression, and then patted Edward on the shoulder and left the room with him.

Lying alone on the bed, Loren shrugged his shoulders alone.

I don't know if it's a delusion, but he always feels that Edward is really getting more and more like Rut Infinit day by day.

Brandon is gradually becoming more and more like his once most hated "dear brother", wielding armies to liaise with allies, becoming more skilled by the day, and he now even dares to throw his army to others, which is enough to prove how confident he is in his means of domination.

Ain is becoming more confident day by day, Isaac is beginning to have a "human touch", Mentor Dalton Kander is no longer so cold, and Charlotte occasionally shows the appearance of a blushing little girl.

So the only guy by his side who hasn't changed from beginning to end is only one.

Expressionless, Loren shifted his gaze to the side of the bed, and a white-gold head caught his eye.

Asriel.