With a brief hesitation, Sölderlin agreed to Bernard's invitation.

He did have doubts about the elf that suddenly appeared in front of him, but he did need a pass right now - although there were many ways for a high-ranking ranger to cross the blockade, it was much better to cross the border safely and legally than those "alternatives", let alone ......

He has been away from his hometown for 700 years, and it is indeed a pleasure to see his compatriots appear in front of him.

"It's too noisy here, why don't we go to my place of stay?" Berna frowned and looked around, the vulgar adventurers and mercenaries who were always trying to get close to each other clearly made the young elf uncomfortable, "I have a nice room in the Grey Whistle Hotel. ”

Thorderlin had another place to stay in the city, but he thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of the opportunity to find out what was going on with the elf in front of him, so he gladly accepted Bernard's invitation - the two beautiful elven "women" left the small tavern together, and the remaining adventurers and mercenaries in the tavern did not change much because of this small episode.

They continued to drink merrily, swaying the extra copper plates in their pockets and the extra topics in their stomachs, discussing the changes in the situation on the border line in the past year and the livelihood after the beginning of spring - two elves, far less important than the next business that could be received.

Sölderlin followed Bernard through the cold alleys, and soon arrived at the Grey Whistle Hotel in the southeast of town.

The young elf girl did rent a nice room, clean and tidy with a small fireplace and a shoddy carpet - it seemed that she was in a good financial situation, or she had not yet experienced the embarrassment of spending money in the human world.

"It's still quiet here," said Bernard as she entered the room, tossing a few pieces of wood into the fireplace, and making a fire, "Humans are a very noisy race, aren't they?" Oh, it's not that I don't like humans, it's just that sometimes I think they're too noisy......"

"Much less than the dwarves," Thorderling said casually, glancing casually at the furnishings in the room—there were traces of a habit, and there was only the breath of an elf lately, "It's not easy to see silver elves in the north, you've only recently come here?" ”

When Berna finally lit the fire, she clapped her hands and smiled with satisfaction as she said, "Yes, I've only recently come here." I set out from the eastern gate of the Dense Forest Barrier and followed the trade route north, through the fertile plains of Typhon and the northern hills, before arriving there...... But I'm not going to go any further north, it's so cold that I'm going to freeze to death any further north. By the way, Sister Thor, don't you take off your cloak? ”

Thorderling casually untied his cloak, revealing the huntress outfit inside - a good ranger can disguise himself in any situation, wearing a battle skirt and long leather boots are part of the tactical suit, Thorderling is satisfied with his camouflage skills, and still can't understand why Gawain is always so surprised that he is wearing women's clothes on missions, isn't this a normal mission requirement?

He hung his cloak on the hook next to him, took another look at Berna's outfit, and asked curiously, "Are you a druid?" ”

"Yes, I'm from the Heart of the Woods," Bernard said proudly, a magical glow flashing from the amulet on her chest, "My mentor is the Master of the Thorn Heart of Moon Valley, and my trip was arranged by the mentor. ”

"Master of the Heart of Thorns? Is she still taking an apprentice? Doesn't it mean that he has gone into seclusion and no longer personally supervises his apprentices? ”

"Oh, mentor, she lost all her pension money by playing cards with the Prophet of Moon Valley a hundred years ago, and then she came back and recruited eight druid apprentices and forty ...... who learned to cook in one go."

"Why are you recruiting forty people who learn to cook?"

"The number of druid apprentices is too small, and the tuition fees collected are not enough to pay off the bills...... "Belnard said these "elven secrets" that may surprise outsiders, but after hearing this, Sölderling only felt a kind of warmth and nostalgia: many people who don't know the truth always feel that elves are old-fashioned, conservative, have a poor sense of time, and are not good at communicating with people, but in fact, elves are a race that knows how to enjoy life and entertain themselves, It's just that most of them are not as enthusiastic and active as humans in terms of emotional expression, which gives people some illusions.

Of course, the Belnar in front of her seems to be an unusual elf: she is as enthusiastic as a human, which is probably the reason why her mentor is relieved to let her go out to travel: with such a character, it is easy to adapt to human society.

"Anyway...... You know the Master of Thornheart, but you don't know about her comeback," Bernard looked at Sölderling curiously, "It's been a long time since you left the Silver Empire?" ”

“…… It's been a long time," Toldling nodded, "I haven't been back for at least six or seven hundred years. ”

"Ah, then you have a chance to go back to your hometown to see, the royal city has changed a lot, the queen ordered a new city to be built, that is the first time since the magic tide that the royal city has been expanded......" Berna said excitedly, but suddenly diverted her attention in the middle of speaking, she looked Thorderlin up and down, and asked curiously, "Speaking of which, Sister Thor, I have always felt that the smell on your body is very special...... It doesn't look like the dirt in this area, but it smells like golden double grass seeds, it seems to be a spice sold by Ansu merchants, right? I smelled it once or twice from a smuggler when I was at Typhon. ”

Thorderlin was a little surprised, he knew that the silver elves had a strong sense of smell, but Bernard's ability to distinguish smells was too strong, but he was not so surprised when he thought that the other party was the "Heart of the Forest faction" that was closest to plants among the druids: the druids of this faction were very sensitive to spices extracted from plants.

"I've been in Ansu for a short time," Thordrling nodded, "so it's especially difficult for me to get through the level - those Typhon soldiers are extra wary of anyone coming from Ansu's direction, even elves. ”

"You've really been in Ansu, huh?" Berna's eyes widened, and her face was full of joy, "Then have you heard about the resurrection of Ansu's very powerful legendary hero, that man named Gawain Cecil?" Have you seen him? ”

Thorderlin's heart skipped a beat, but his expression was indifferent: "I'm from the eastern border of Ansu, so I don't know much about this - but I've also heard that he is said to have established a frontier near the Dark Mountains after his resurrection. ”

Information about Cecil's Frontier had been circulated, and there was no need to keep it secret, but if it wasn't, Sölderling didn't intend to expose his connection to Cecil's Territory—not even to his own countrymen.

It wasn't overly vigilant, it was a sense of duty, he knew he was on a mission, and he had a sensitive identity, and in order to avoid too much trouble, he would have to maintain this vigilance at least until he returned to Cecil to lead Gawain to his life.

Berna didn't care about Soldrin's words, she just muttered yearningly: "O founding hero who came back from the dead...... It's like a story told by a bard, and I don't know what kind of person it is. It is said that Gawain Cecil and Her Majesty still know each other. By the way, although you haven't met him, you must have heard more from Ansu than me, right? I heard that the resurrected hero not only established the Frontier Territory, but also prepared to recover the entire southern fiefdom of Cecil? Is it true that he also raised an army for this? ”

Forming an army to reclaim the southern realm - this is obviously something that adventurers and mercenaries have blown up indiscriminately, although Thorderlin himself thinks that his old friend formed an army that is really likely to beat up children, but he knows that Gawain's preferred enemies are still those monsters that have escaped from the wasteland, so he can't help but shake his head: "It's mostly rumors, I haven't heard that Duke Cecil has a signal to start a war with the Ansu nobles." ”

Berna frowned and thought, "Oh...... But I always think it's not surprising that he fights with the nobles in Ansu, especially the nobles in the south. After all, the entire southern border used to be his fiefdom, and the current lords of the southern border of Ansu are all encroaching on his territory. ”

Thorderlin was noncommittal on the question, but Bernard did not stop asking: "By the way, Sister Thor, you said that if the Duke of Cecil really fights with the nobles of the South, can he win?" ”

"How do I know?" Thorderling couldn't laugh or cry, he felt that the young elf girl in front of him was too curious about the human world—he hadn't been so curious when he first came out to travel.

But it could also be that he was so focused on finding hair growth that he didn't care much about anything else......

Thorderling shook his head, pushing irrelevant thoughts out of his mind for a moment, and then used the weather as a topic to distract Berna: to be on the safe side, he wasn't going to talk about Cecil Collar anymore.

After some small talk, Thorderling got up and took his leave.

"Oh? Sister Thor, you can stay here," Berna said with a warm expression, "My room was originally for two people - and now it's dark outside. ”

Thorderling was a very principled man, and he didn't plan to get too close to Bernard: "I have a place to stay, and I'm not used to being in the same room as others. ”

"Alright then......" Bernard nodded, "Then I'll send you ......"

Thorderling rejected the other party's kindness: "No, you are not used to the cold weather in the north, so you should stay here and roast the fire." How about we meet at that tavern tomorrow at noon? ”

"Okay, that's it."

"That's it."

After leaving the Grey Whistle Inn, Toldling took a deep breath as he looked at the deep night ahead.

The cold winter air of the northern region poured deep into his lungs and was slowly exhaled, taking away some of the heat and making his thoughts clearer.

"At least the problem of the pass has been solved......"

In her room at the Grey Whistle Hotel, Berna went to the window and let the cold night breeze blow through the cracks in the window panels on her face, and her eyes followed Thorderlin, who was walking into the night.

"Saul...... ......"

Bernard grunted softly, then turned away from the window and walked towards the warm fireplace.

The rustle of vines rubbing against their roots resounded in the room with her footsteps.