Anne jumped out of the carriage with her sky-destroying musket in her hand, and disappeared into the reeds.

Veronica turned her head to look at Anne's back and whispered to Rosen, "You seem to trust this stalker. ”

Rosen nodded: "We trust each other. ”

"Hmm~ It's a blessing." Veronica nodded slightly, and after a few seconds of silence, she said softly: "Maybe Annie is really worthy of your trust, but as your protector, I must remind you that the purpose of those dark magic academies that can cultivate mutants is not so pure. Most of the magicians in the academy are marginal figures in human society, and their methods are very extreme. ”

Rosen frowned slightly: "What do you want to say?" ”

Veronica didn't answer immediately, she listened attentively, and suddenly reached out and gently pulled Rosen's body, and the next moment, Rosen heard a 'whoosh' wind sound in his ears, and a crossbow flew almost close to his ear, and the sound of the wind brought by the crossbow made his side face cold.

"Let's all hide behind the carriage lest we be injured by the knights." Veronica said.

"Okay." Rosen had palpitations.

He now felt that it was the right choice to make Veronica his protector, or he would have been shot to death just now, and if he was remembered by future generations, he would have been described as 'talented and ambitious, but unfortunately he died of a stray arrow'.

It's a shame to think about it.

He greeted John, the coachman, and motioned for him to hide as well, and then Rosen and Veronica hid behind the carriage.

Veronica continued, "In the last few hundred years, a large number of dark mage academies have sprung up in the human world, creating thousands of mutants. As far as I know, the methods used by those dark mages to create mutants are much the same, and they are all called fusions. ”

"Fusion method?"

"Yes. The so-called fusion method is to use monster flesh and blood as the main mutation guidance material, add some medicinal materials to neutralize the toxicity of monster flesh and blood to the greatest extent, and then put these flesh and blood into the body of children under the age of 10, and finally wait for changes. There is a chance that this method will succeed and will raise a powerful stalker like Anne, but it is more likely that the child will die because he cannot withstand the poison of the monster's flesh. I have observed that the percentage of fusion failures is at least 9 out of 10. ”

"Goo~"

Rosen swallowed his spit, he had heard the inside story of the mutant stalker for the first time. As an earthling, he felt that the black magician's methods were very cruel and difficult for him to accept.

"That is, before Anne succeeded, at least 9 innocent children had fallen?"

Veronica sighed, "Yes, the proportions are amazing, and the total amount is amazing. ”

"How much is the total?"

"With a little calculation, a small dark magic academy can create at least 10 or more mutant stalkers a year. And there are at least more than 100 black magic academies on the mainland. Most of these academies are clustered at the junction of the Parathan Empire and the Northern Alliance. According to my observations in previous years, every 10 years after the outbreak of war, a large number of new mutant stalkers will emerge one after another...... You should know where these newcomers come from, right? ”

Rosen nodded: "In the land of war, families are ruined, orphans are everywhere, I'm afraid there are many orphans who have entered the Black Arts Academy." ”

"Yes." Veronica nodded, and finally said, "I can see that Anne is a rare good girl, but she is too easy to trust others and her heart is too soft. Even to those dark magicians, she seemed to have reverence and gratitude. However, those dark magicians are paranoid and desperate to achieve their goals...... Maybe Anne won't be coveted, but you have too many treasures in you. So, you have to be careful not to take advantage of Anne. ”

Rosen nodded slightly: "I understand, thank you very much for the reminder." ”

Veronica's words, he believed at least ninety percent, because her description of the Dark Mage was exactly the same as what Rosen himself saw in the game.

If there is still a limit in the heart of the magician Dias, then most of the black magicians, who act without taboos, regard human life as a mustard, and exchange a chance of failure for a qualified mutant stalker, they may not blink their eyes when they do it.

At this moment, there was a sudden 'bang' of gunfire in the reeds.

About 2 seconds later, the neighing of horses and the shouts of knights could be heard outside the reeds, and the situation on the road outside was very chaotic.

Veronica listened intently, and after a few seconds, she whispered, "Anne shot the cavalry leader's horse, and the hapless knight leader broke his leg after falling off his horse. ”

As soon as she finished speaking, there was another 'bang' of gunfire in the reeds, and the sound of the road became more and more noisy, and many people were shouting and screaming.

"The horse of the number two man was also shot, and the cavalry panicked." Veronica continued to explain to Rosen.

"Bang~" The third gunshot rang out.

As soon as the shots fell, there was a messy shouting on the road, and after a few seconds, the sound of horses' hooves sounded, but unlike before, the sound of horses' hooves was speeding away.

This time, even Rosen understood: "The cavalry was scared away. ”

After a few minutes, Anne returned, and she was still holding a man in a gray cloth robe, who was in a very bad condition, covered in blood, and had a crossbow bolt stuck deep in his back, and the whole back was almost soaked with blood.

Rosen was shocked when he saw it: "How is he hurt?" ”

Anne didn't speak, just shook her head slightly at Rosen.

At this point, the man spoke: "I can't do it. ”

As he spoke, the man's face was full of pain and helplessness, but there was no fear.

In the face of such a fatal injury, Rosen was also helpless. He walked over and helped Anne to place the man beside the carriage and sat with his back against the wheels.

"Do you have any last words?" Rosen asked, the only thing he could do.

Upon hearing this, the man took a few quick breaths, and a hint of flushing appeared on his face: "Mine has a bag hanging right away...... The bag, huh~huh~ There is a scroll box inside...... Box. Beg...... Bring it to ...... Worthy...... Sage Nun........ Niya ~~~Huh~~~"

After saying this, the man coughed again and again, and blood continued to splash in his mouth.

After coughing a few times, he reached out sharply, grabbed Lawson's arm tightly, and stared at Lawson with a pair of eyes: "Promise me, you will definitely bring the scroll to the sage!" ”

This is a person's last wish before he dies.

Rosen nodded hurriedly: "I'll do my best." ”

"No!" The man shouted with all his might, and because of this voice, a lot of blood spurted out of his mouth: "Don't try your best! Be sure to send it over! Promise me! ”

When he said this, the man's pupils had already begun to dilate, and his gaze was unfocused, not so much asking for Rosen, but telling about the obsession in his heart.

"Promise me that you will protect ...... Protect the Academy! ”

"Promise..... cough~~~cough~~"

He began to cough, the heart-rending kind, gasping for breath as he coughed, but the crossbow bolt hurt his lungs, and his lungs were already full of blood, and he coughed and coughed, and suddenly a large mouthful of blood spurted out with a 'wow', and then his head hung limply, and his eyes gradually lost their luster.

Anne reached out and sniffed his breath, then shook her head at Rosen, "He's dead." ”

Rosen nodded with relief, he gently took the man's hand off his arm, reached out and closed the man's eyes, and said, "Let's go, let's go find his luggage." ”

He walked out of the reeds first, followed by Anne and Veronica.

Soon, the three of them walked to the dirt road outside, and after walking along the dirt road for another fifty or sixty meters, they saw the place where the previous battle had been. There were many corpses lying on the ground, both human and horse.

These people, except for one who was the magician's companion, were all cavalrymen who were chasing and killing.

Rosen walked over to the corpse of a cavalryman and took a closer look at the cavalryman's outfit. This guy was just a young man in his early twenties, and he was dressed in well-made cowhide armor, with a steel sword in one hand and a crossbow in the other. On the right chest of his leather armor, a very delicate brass insignia was pinned, and if you looked closely at the pattern, the background was a raging flame, and a cross sword ran through the flames.

Seeing this mark, Rosen's heart was shocked: "Wizard hunter, lackey of the Flame God Cult. ”

At the beginning of the game, these wizard hunters only hunted down the dark mages, but after the end of the Third Northern War, the Cult of Pyro, with the support of the king of the Kingdom of Cowell, the first power in the north, rose in power, and the Cult established an Inquisition. Any magician, as long as he is not registered with the Inquisition, is illegal, and will be hunted down by wizard hunters and, if caught, burned at the stake.

Rosen remembers very well that the headquarters of the Inquisition was set up in Berkeley, the city of freedom, so the wizard hunters in Berkeley were the most arrogant, to the point of lawlessness.

On the other side, Anne had already found the magician's horse, and she simply brought the entire duffel bag to Lawson.

"Lawson, that guy's stuff is here, and the scroll box is inside."

"Good." Lawson turned and walked back in the direction of the carriage: "This is not far from Berkeley, and more wizard hunters will be looking for it soon." Let's hurry away. ”

The three of them quickly returned to the carriage, and Rosen said to John, the coachman, "Turn east, bypass Berkeley, and go to Nilogaard, the capital of wisdom!" ”

Nilogaard is northeast of Berkeley, and the two cities are only 40 kilometers away.

If Berkeley, the free city, is the stronghold of the Flame God Cult, then Nilogaard is the world of magicians, and wizard hunters will not dare to go wild in Nilogade, no matter how arrogant they are.

Anne asked softly, "Rosen, are we going to stop by Holdeborg?" Maybe they just happened to have a solution to the blood-mark magic. ”

Rosen shook his head slightly: "It's too late." With so many wizard hunters chasing down mages just to retrieve the scrolls, it can be seen that this thing is very important. Let's send this thing to Nilogaard first. ”

"But the bloodmark magic on your body?" Anne looked worried, she didn't care about the scroll, the only thing she cared about was the blood-stamped magic on Rosen's body, which had become a knot in her heart.

"It's okay, isn't there still a year left, there's still more time. Besides, there are many magicians in the City of Wisdom, and the sage Nya is there, so maybe she can help me. Rosen laughed.

"Yes, the sage Nya has supreme wisdom, and she must have a way." Anne nodded in agreement.

The carriage was diverted and headed east.

On the way, Lawson opened the dead magician's duffel bag and began to count the contents.

There were not many things inside, except for some daily necessities, there were only three things, namely a diary, a sealed scroll box, and a quartz crystal with many wires on the surface. The crystal looks beautiful, but unfortunately, there are many fine cracks inside, and the metal wires on the surface are also broken in many places.

Veronica glanced at the crystal, and her eyes lit up: "Hmm~ It should be Nilogaard's unique communication crystal, but unfortunately it has been damaged." ”

"Transmission Crystals?" Rosen took a closer look at the wire structure on the surface of the crystal and thought for thought.

Anne looked at him and asked, "Rosen, can you fix it?" ”

Rosen smiled: "I don't have that much ability, but I think the structure of this thing is a little familiar, so I took a few more looks." ”

He put down the crystal, picked up the diary, and looked at it casually, his brows were already furrowed: "Hmm~ I didn't expect that the city of freedom has become a city of chaos." ”