In the afternoon.

There was a team in front of the door of the Duke's Palace, the soldiers were dusty, their faces were red from the wind, and their movements were a little stiff, and after receiving the order to disband, only two tall figures remained outside the door.

Wellington and Titus.

Evetta has had a lot of things happen recently, except for the accident in Kieg, this year's nobles seem to be uneasy, obviously the Duke of Angmar's health is the main reason - the old duke has no son, although the daughter has the right to inherit, but Sally can only return here after two years, although her title must be "Duke Rusiflon", but it is predictable that before she returns, there is no control over everything that happens in the territory.

The patrol of the two guardian knights is probably to knock these ill-intentioned guys up. However, after completing the task perfectly, the two chatted a little jokingly in the cold wind.

"Actually, the more I think about it now, the more I feel old. ”

"You're thirty-nine, I'm thirty-seven, old?"

"Outstanding juniors always make people feel that time flies quickly. ”

Wellington thought for a moment, then laughed out loud: "... Also, I feel a little unwilling to see the best of the younger generations grow up, but - heh, what can I do?"

"When I went to the battlefield for the first time with the team, the old Cauchy and the Longbottom knights were also our current age, and this world was young after all..."

Titus sighed a few words, and then said no more, and Wellington walked silently. The two of them are not hypocritical, and there is basically no nonsense on weekdays, but every time they see the demon Roddy, they often can't help but sigh like this.

After entering the mansion, they thought that they would have to wait for the duke's lunch break to end, but they did not expect that the old man, who had been coughing for more than a month, would appear in front of them with a ruddy face - both of them were a little surprised, and when they asked, they learned that it was the potion that Roddy had found from Ansatine that worked.

"Such a potion is overdrafting..."

"If you don't overdraw your body, I'm afraid you won't even be able to survive this winter," Duke Angmar looked very unconcerned, and waved his hand: "If I live for half a year longer, I can still do something meaningful, and that's enough." ”

The two guardian knights also understood the meaning of his words, but facing death so calmly made them feel a little emotional in their hearts after all.

"What's the special situation?"

Most of the situation has been reported in the letters, and the Duke's question is naturally something else.

Titus thought for a moment and spoke up, "There's nothing wrong with the nobles in the realm, but there have been some strange reports lately - I didn't care about it at first, but then I thought... Or should I say it. ”

"Several villages near the forest have witnessed strange things - the villagers said they all saw three large black birds flying overhead. ”

"If it's one or two, I'd only think it's a coincidence, but when such a report appears four times, I think it's a little strange..."

As for the necromancer's "blood crow", in fact, there are not many people among humans who really understand it, even if they have a lot of experience like Duke Angmar, they don't understand what this phenomenon means, so the doubts at this time can only be kept in their hearts.

"I went back to Benjamin and asked him what he might know. You go and rest first, or—" The Duke pointed out the window, "go talk to him?"

Titus and Wellington followed Angmar's finger and looked out the window, and then they both raised their eyebrows at the same time, and the Duke was a little puzzled and asked, "What's wrong?"

The two knights did not hide the surprise on their faces at this time, and replied at the same time, "Roddy... It's getting stronger again. ”

At the back of the mansion is a large back garden - unlike the humble garden behind the manor house in Ansadine, the back garden of the Rusiflon family is more than two hundred years old, with towering trees, elaborate fountains and sculptures, which are still cleaned up by servants after a few snowfalls.

In the past, Sally always liked to relax here because of the quiet atmosphere - but at this moment, the "tranquility" in the garden has a smell of solemnity.

Nata held her breath, her body bowed, and she hid behind a tree like a cheetah ready to attack. The black and red "Spike Piercer" suit is worn on her body, and her momentum has changed amazingly - if Nata was a "shooter" with little presence before, now she has the sharpness and confidence of Roddy when she first became a "Ranger".

Nata had never imagined that a set of equipment could achieve such an effect, and instead of feeling heavy or uncomfortable, her body was filled with infinite strength... She could even detect a faint fluctuation flowing on the leather armor on the surface of her body, which sharpened her five senses, made her react faster, ran faster, and even made her feel... His strength has surpassed that of the best hunters in Elsa's village.

The arrow snapped into the string, and when Nata heard a subtle sound in the distance, she immediately ran out, drawing her bow and aiming in the distance as she moved!

The black-red figure was about to turn into a phantom, and the small leather boots stepped on the stone road almost silently. The long arrows were fired, and a series of three arrows were "aggressively" nailed to the trunk of the tree, and the rate of fire was far faster than before.

However, such a sharp attack still failed, and Nata's brow furrowed, carefully discerning Roddy's position from the noise.

But as soon as her pace slowed, an arrow appeared from behind her without warning, and hit her arm with precision...

"Smack!"

The arrow had no arrow, and it was bounced off the spot by the sturdy leather armor, although there was no skin injury, but Nata's arm was instantly unconscious, and the short bow in her hand fell to the ground...

The arrow seemed to decide the outcome, but Nata gritted her teeth on the spot and swooped out, pulled out the dagger at her waist, dodged the second arrow that came at her sideways, and rushed into the woods.

Three seconds later, there was a "pop bang" in the woods, and then her figure was thrown out mercilessly...

This is not a simple "throw", because Nata's whole person flew a distance of ten meters in the air before rolling to the ground, and when her body stopped rolling, the whole person was completely unable to move, and she was lying on the ground in a "big" shape.

"You must understand your advantages at all times, blindly working hard does not mean that you have a chance of winning, and people who really live to the end often have enough patience..."

Roddy's figure slowly walked out of the woods, "It's okay to be ruthless, but don't let emotions affect your sanity, otherwise this is self-defeating." ”

Nata struggled for a long time to get up, but the shock to her body was really not light, and when she saw Roddy's palm stretched out towards her, she was slightly stunned, and then grabbed his hand without hesitation and stood up with strength.

Somehow, her heart was beating fast, and Nata thought it was a bit of a fight...

Luo Di didn't let go of her hand, but looked down at her arm very seriously, and made sure that his arrow didn't hurt her, and then whispered: "It's okay, just take a rest, remember what I just said, let's stop here today." ”

Such a scene looks quite strange: a moment ago he sent Nata flying more than ten meters away, and now he is making a gesture of concern... If the onlookers don't understand that this is the two of them practicing in actual combat, I'm afraid they will all scold Roddy for his hypocrisy.

However, Nata was so comfortable with Roddy's words that she didn't seem to care about the fact that she had been beaten by Roddy five or six times today.

"Tomorrow to continue. ”

"Got it, teacher. ”

She replied in a low voice, with a submissive attitude and a little gratitude: because when she had several times the strength of her previous strength, Nata realized more and more how big the gap between herself and Roddy was...

Silently following Roddy, Nata raised her head slightly, looking up at the rational human in front of her, not knowing what was going on in her heart.

Looking down from the window of the duke's study, the battle scene between Roddy and Nata just now is unobstructed - and from this perspective, the strength of Roddy... It scared Titus and the others enough.

Needless to say, the long-range archery technique is no longer necessary, so what is the power to throw Nata more than ten meters out of his hand?

And the more calm and powerful momentum in him is by no means something that can be cultivated overnight.

Under all kinds of doubts, Angmar had to shake her head and sigh: "Such an outlier... If you give him enough space, where will he go?"

Seeing Wellington and Knight Titus return, Roddy changed his leather armor and went to the duke's study for a chat, and when he left, he agreed to two things: Knight Titus agreed to be an instructor for the cavalry in Kieg, and Knight Wellington said that he would do his best to help Roddy select quality soldiers.

After confirming that the duke's health had indeed improved a lot because of the potion, Roddy finally put his mind at ease. Back in his room, sitting in his armchair, Roddy relaxed, remembering that he had brought two books, and laid them out - one was "On the Self-Consciousness of Defense Systems" given to him by Brudy, and the other was an old notebook from Dukal, the demon hunter when he first changed.

Roddy was more interested in the deeds of the legendary demon hunter, and first opened the notebook, after he had seen some simple events recorded by Dukal, and then read it carefully, and realized that it seemed to be quite an article.

"On the Fourth of May, the headache could not be resolved, the Arcanist remained prejudiced against me, unwilling to come into contact with an alien like me, and Sakya was in good condition and did not show any symptoms of headache. ”

Headache?

Roddy remembered that his head hurt when he released the skill with Sakya's "Soul Link", and later when he released the "Tortoiseshell Shield"... Is there a connection between the two?

"On the 9th of May, I arrived in Elson. ”

Seeing the words "Elson", Roddy immediately frowned - this city seems to have something to do with the "Charged Crystal", and it is the place where Ansadin focused on research.

“... Khadgar didn't want to see me, which was something I couldn't help but do, and now that my identity was too sensitive, it was a luxury to meet these high-ranking guys in public. ”

"I don't know if it's a delusion, it's uncomfortable to be in this city, there's always a voice in my head that speaks, and I know it's not Sakya - I decided to get out of here as soon as possible. ”

"In the early hours of the morning, I had a terrible headache, which was the worst since the symptoms appeared. ”

Roddy looked at the slightly distorted handwriting, and his doubts were even more serious - why did Dukal repeatedly emphasize his headache in a notebook with such a powerful existence?