The door was pushed open with the smell of potions and an indescribable smell that made the black-haired wizard frown slightly.

By the time he left the Thousand Hordes, Master Harim Van Ashamai, who could not stand the turbulence, had already fallen into a coma, and had been awake for no more than four hours a day, and after arriving at the Red Blood Castle, his condition not only did not improve, but even showed signs of further deterioration, and he was in a state of high fever and coma all day and night.

That's why he couldn't wait to come over after hearing the little wizard say that he woke up.

The small room was full of bottles and cans, and the enclosed space on all sides was lit by only two fluorite lamps - in order to be able to dispense medicine in time, Al Yin even prepared a test bench in the ward, and the cultivation tank next to it was full of various materials that had not yet been processed.

A thick and mixed odor reminiscent of a morgue in a church.

And next to the test bench, there was a thin figure.

He was curled up on the sickbed, his stiff back hidden under the blanket, his thin and shriveled body was like a bone frame wrapped in a layer of wax skin, there were few gray hairs left, and the wrinkles on his face seemed to squeeze all his facial features together, and only the corners of his mouth could be seen still open and closed.

Broken breathing, coughing, and whimpering continued to come from the chapped lips, and the chest cavity became the only sign that he was alive, and the faint voice echoed through the hospital room again and again, desolate and mournful.

Looking at the old man in front of him, if he hadn't seen it before, it was really hard for Loren to imagine that he was once a sturdy troll like a troll, able to wield a wand comparable to a mace.

It's like getting thirty years old overnight.

Sighing in a low voice, the black-haired wizard looked back and refused to let go of himself, and the countess who followed, Charlotte, who had a tense face, snorted softly and stood silently outside the door.

Loren walked into the room and closed the door gently, perhaps it was still too loud, and the old man slowly opened his eyes, revealing two yellow, bloodshot eyes.

It could be seen that his expression was still slightly surprised.

"Ahem... I'm sorry, my lord, but I must have delayed you a lot by visiting me at this time. ... cough ......" came from the old man's chest like a bellows-like sound, and he tried to open his eyes:

"Especially... It's when you're in trouble right now. ”

The black-haired wizard was slightly stunned, and his eyes suddenly became serious: "Ain?"

"It's just a doctor's talk to himself while caring for a comatose patient, and don't get me wrong—she doesn't know that I woke up a few times in the middle of my coma. Ashama took a deep breath, and his weak voice had to be heard even closer:

What's more, apart from talking to herself about trivial current affairs, this clever little girl has no other way to take care of an old man who is about to enter the earth and has no way to chat with her to relieve her boredom. ”

Loren tugged at the corners of his mouth, he almost forgot that Ain had told him - the other party had even revealed the biggest secret of the little wizard, and he still had to care about this?

The awkward atmosphere made the black-haired wizard subconsciously want to change the topic: "Master Ashamai, you... How do you feel now?"

"Haha... Cough... You've seen it, haven't you?" the frail old man smiled slightly, a little self-deprecating: "It's no different from a centenarian who is about to enter the ground." ”

"But you can waste your time to-day, from the solemn round table hall to this small hospital room, and I am not going to say some last words to upset you, in fact, if possible, I am prepared to wait until I am thorough, and then have a good chat with you when you have time. ”

"But... Obviously, my body doesn't give me that much room - so you might as well listen to the trivial chatter of an old man, you won't hear much anyway. ”

"Please, I'll listen. ”

The black-haired wizard raised his head and looked at the alchemist with a solemn expression.

"In the past month or so, I have been awake no more than twenty times on and off, and I can only hear a few fragments each time. Ashamai's chest rose and fell, and his chapped lips trembled slightly:

"But every time, I hear something new—the Floating City Project, that letter from you, negotiations with the Cloud Ridge Kingdom, rumors within the Red Blood Castle, the Witcher Guard, the alliance with Ebolden, the new Wizard Academy...... There are many kinds of things. ”

"Some of these things have to do with your governance of the principality, some have to do with diplomacy, and some have to do with your wizarding background... But from these fragmentary events, I came to a very interesting conclusion - I am an alchemist, and I am naturally good at summarizing. ”

"And I conclude that... You're busy, very busy. ”

"It's unusual, it's not normal – it's like you're struggling desperately in an abyss out of sight when you see an enemy that no one else can see. ”

"So... Your busyness is a sign of your fear. ”

"You, the master of the First Duchy of the Empire, the commander of the army, the wizard who has mastered the valve, are deeply afraid of something. Ashamai said lightly:

"And referring to the Centaur War, which cost both principalities so much, I think the answer is already on the horizon. ”

Loren was slightly startled.

It wasn't the first time I'd seen the old man's brilliant insight, but it was too ...... to deduce it from a few trivial things alone

"Please don't show that expression, I'm just saying something I've observed and I've gotten from it, and it's not necessarily correct. ”

The old man coughed, pursed his lips lightly, and then continued to speak: "When a person is old, he will feel bored with the world, because he has seen too much and experienced too much, it is easy to see lightly. ”

"So, while I don't know exactly what you're fearing, and I don't have the right to judge what you've done, now that you're here, can I hear from me, an old man, about my experience?"

The black-haired wizard stared at him and bowed his head solemnly: "Of course." ”

Master Ashamai coughed lightly again and took a deep breath: "You know, I, Freswalker, Corona... The wizards of our generation have basically experienced the era of the Black Duke. ”

"It was truly an extraordinary time, the high-spirited Duke, the unique Empress, and the tenth generation that came with them, the shadow of the tenth generation can still be seen even though the church has deliberately locked down, and even today we can still find their legacy. ”

"Come to think of it, Corona must have told you about the evil god who fell into the world, and the Holy Cross that there is no way to resist... As early as the tenth generation, the Wizard Tower was aware of these and tried to make some efforts. ”

"Unfortunately, this world is not the kind of paradise where you can succeed if you work hard; ”

What the hell is he talking about?

Do you want to use the example of the Black Duke to tell yourself that no matter how "busy" you are, it is impossible to change the established future?

Loren, who was in a slightly gloomy mood, showed a puzzled look in his eyes.

"We tried, we tried, just like the Venerable Dragon Empress and the Black Duke, they tried the same, they tried the same......" Master Ashamai paused slightly, as if this passage had caused him to consume too much physical strength:

"No one can blame their sacrifice, and no one is more qualified to say what he is right than them—not even the Venerable Dragon Empress, whose history books only mention that she finally signed the decree deposing Roland Turin;

But those who lived in the tenth generation know that the empress who returned from the battlefield at that time was seriously wounded, and the person who presided over the Heavenly Dome Palace was her eldest son, and later His Majesty the Supreme Emperor of the eleventh generation. ”

"They were so wise and wise, so willing to sacrifice and dedicate, but... They failed. ”

"Why?"

"Is it because they have done wrong, because their enemies are too strong, because their subjects cannot understand them, because they have done more than they are capable of?"

Master Ashamai whispered softly, like an old man repeating his memories to his children and grandchildren.

"I'm just an old man who has lived too long and seen too much, and I can see problems but I can't solve them – so all I can say is all three. ”

Loren, who listened carefully, fell into deep thought.

Enemies that are too strong......

Subjects who could not understand all this......

Behavior beyond the scope of ability......

When the black-haired wizard raised his head again, he saw the whispering old man raise his gaze and look at him with those bright eyes:

"My Duke, your fears come from enemies that are too strong, your busyness is because they are far beyond your power and you have to increase your strength, and you are behind bars and embattled......"

"It's because your subjects, your friends, are desperate to help you, but can't understand what you're doing. ”

"I don't know if you'll succeed, but what I see is that you're repeating the mistakes of Roland Turin, the Black Duke, in another way. The cloudiness in the old man's pupils is gradually receding:

"Be a 'not understood' hero. ”

Lorenton was speechless.

"You are the Duke of Byrne, and there are many people in the Thirteen Realms of Byrne who have experienced or at least learned about the legend of the Black Duke from their fathers, and they will tell you how much they regret that they abandoned the Black Duke at that time, and promise you that something like this will never happen again......"

"But let me tell you, as an old man, that under the sun... Nothing new. Haringvan Ashamai breathed a sigh of relief, his shriveled chest rising and falling slightly:

"Anyone who wants to save the world on their own will eventually find themselves betrayed by their trust, all their faith, and reduced to the point of confronting the whole world. ”

"The Black Duke is so, the Dragon Empress is so, the wizards... The same is true. ”

"We were born against evil spirits, but in reality we were no different from those heretical orders, and later we became a small group, a special organization, and then we spread ourselves to all corners of the country towns......"

"As we make ourselves ordinary, ordinary, part of the various classes of this empire, we find... We finally have the strength to change the empire, and even save it. ”

The black-haired wizard came back to his senses, and finally understood the meaning of the old man's words.

"You mean to say... Only by making more people aware of the seriousness of the problem, otherwise no matter how much I do, I can only repeat the failure of the Black Duke?"

The old man did not answer immediately, but nodded ambiguously and shook his head again.

"Then what should I do to make the truth of the matter completely public?" Loren couldn't help but ask: "But even if I wrote that letter, most ordinary people still think that I am making a big fuss, or even have a deep meaning—this is still in the Red Blood Castle, and I am afraid that the effect will be worse if I go out of Byrne!"

"It's hard work to convince a group of people of 'fairy tales' at once, not to mention that you have to face pressure from both the Heavenly Dome and the Church, which is even harder than the Black Duke back then. ”

Master Ashamai sighed, "I'm just an old man, and I can't think of any good way to solve this problem. ”

"However, I don't think it won't be long before you don't need to 'make it public' - as you say, the enemy's first step is to destroy the Empire's resistance once and for all, and they will certainly destroy the facts throughout the Empire, and your letter will make reasonable people think about it, no matter how much the Church tries to cover it up. ”

"And I guess that, in addition to internal destruction, sooner or later the enemy will also resort to external forces ... But by then, it was too late. ”

The black-haired wizard thought so.

"We can't convince people who don't know anything about all this, we can't convince people who pretend they can't hear, we can't convince people who are suspicious, hostile, and even bent on making our lives unburied......" Ashama paused for a few seconds:

"But at the very least, we can stop hiding from our friends who are close to us and who have been doing everything we can to help us. ”

"Yes, it will bring a lot of dangers, it will put them in danger, it will make them a target for the enemy... But that's also their right, because if you were them, you'd do the same to you. ”

"You... I really shouldn't hide it from them, so that they still believe it until the last moment... Everything you expected. ”

"Let them see you as a friend in need, not a god to rely on... You are not an omnipotent God, God cannot save us, but only an ordinary and sick person with limited abilities can save another person like him. ”

Loren looked solemnly at Harlem van Ashamai, who was softly whispered, but so serious that every word seemed to ooze blood, and he finally understood what the other party wanted to say to him.

While he was still awake and alive, he opened his wounds and told himself with those bloody scars......

Young people, don't be second, don't be stupid.

"As for the moment......" The old man suddenly raised his head and looked past the dark-haired wizard to the locked door behind him:

"Why don't you let in the little girl behind the door, who has obviously just quarreled with you? ”