The white-faced otter stood upright, with two small gloved paws raised in front of its chest, and made a crisp "chirp".

Cremar immediately turned around and stuffed the dried fish into his mouth, which he had caught from the caves in the river, and the adults were only as long as a finger, and under the thin scales were fat, clean fat, and they could be roasted directly on the stone slab with a small amount of salt and winter honey, and the aroma was overflowing—whether it was elves, half-elves, gilles, otters, and otters, they all loved this special little snack.

As a druid who respects nature, Perrant, the keeper of Grey Ridge, is not very appreciative of providing animals with things that are not on their diet, the problem is that it is difficult for anyone to be indifferent to the "threat" of an otter family, their eyes are always dark and bright, more beautiful than polished gemstones, chubby bodies, smooth fur that tempts people to reach out and pet them at every moment—they are also very smart, and if Cremar opens his hands to indicate that he is not carrying food, the otter husband will catch fish and snakes and put them in front of him- Of course, I didn't ask him to taste sashimi.

"When your children grow up," said Cremar as he grilled the little dried fish, "there won't be that deal." ”

He felt that the otter, at least the white-faced otter, would be able to understand him, for he had been bitten as soon as he had finished speaking—and since discovering that the half-elf's skin was much thicker than that of snakes and bony fish, the otter had found a new way to protest.

Cremar paused for a moment, making sure that the little dried fish was no longer in the way of his speech, and then slowly stood up, as the otter had warned, and behind him stood Perrante, and Raven, her hair as soft and bright as a rose in the sun, wearing the corolla of a silvercrown tree, and a dark green silk robe—like a handful of pure water or a leaf taken directly from a river or a dense forest in the middle of summer, and she gave a brief mage salute, and then stepped forward to gently hug the black-haired spellcaster.

The otter looked at them and chatted with Perrante, and they talked for a long time, the complexity of which made the souls from the other world inquisitive.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"He's asking Raven if she's your spouse," Perrante said, before gently holding Raven's arm and letting her back to herself, "I told him no, Raven is my spouse." ”

The otter chirped a few more times.

"He asks you if you have a spouse," said Perrant, who chirped in a short reply, "you don't have a spouse, do you?" he asked Cremar, but his look suggests that he knows the question is unnecessary.

"I told him you were still a kid. Perrante added.

The otter turned to look at Cremar, then down at his wife.

"Chirp!" it said, even if it wasn't a druid, it could hear the elation.

"Ah," said Cremar, "this bastard is laughing at me, is he?"

Perrante laughed, "Yes. He said.

"What's the matter?" said Cremar, who might have thought Perrant was just here for a walk a year ago, but noticed that both Perrant and Raven were essentially dressed in formal attire. The elves are rich, intelligent, and tasteful, but they never pile up gold, precious stones, and embroidery as much as humans do, and their attire is always simple and elegant and functional—only when they encounter festivals, festivals, or when facing worthy friends and foes, they wear their armor and jewels.

Perrant chose a silver-gray robe made of white-bellied spider silk and mythril thread, with a narrow stand-up collar and no embroidery or dark flowers, but these were more than made up for by the original texture of the fabric, like melted metal, and he wore a hazelnut-sized aquamarine collar pin, the color of which matched his eyes and the gemstone ring he wore on his hand.

The manager of Grey Ridge leaned down and said goodbye to the otter - yes, at least Cremar remembered it, though it sounded indistinguishable from the other chirps.

"Tell me," Perrante asked, "do you know anything about Highland Norman?"

“...... Our allies?" Cremar replied, speculating on the root of Perrante's questioning.

"The Norman ruler of the Highlands has sent his messenger," said Perrante—with a precious gift and an invitation: "He invited us to attend the triumphal ceremony which was to take place in the royal capital, the triumphal ceremony for Baldwin. ”

Cremar raised his eyebrows in surprise and hesitation, the terrible battle of a few months ago can only be said to have escaped the Norman humans and the Thunder Castle did not, it lost thousands of soldiers, knights and nearly half of the people, Birdwin Donkray has the best feat of tens of thousands of orc corpses, but he also has a fault, and it is a big mistake, and the final victory does not come from his bravery or intelligence, at most it can be connected with a little bit of his determination.

"Me?" he asked.

"Kerryben," said Perrant, "but without you, we think you should rest a little longer—I think you'd rather see the otters than humans." ”

"There is no doubt about it. Cremar said.

"But another messenger insisted on adding you to the list of travelers—he was Duke John's man. ”

Perrant stopped and turned to look at Cremar: "Do you remember that knight? He worked for Prince Thun, who was Duke John, although he hated the title of prince - his illegitimate son was allegedly assassinated by the thief Glenn, and your testimony saved the thief from torture and beheading." ”

"Just justice. The black-haired spellcaster nodded calmly, "Okay, I'll go." ”

Kerribben and Cremar met Birdwin in the outer city of the capital—he had not even set foot in his home, which was only six hundred feet from him, and although he was eager to see Penny, the king's emissaries and ceremonial officials forbade him to do so, and he had to enter the capital with his knights and soldiers at dawn the next day, when the first rays of morning light fell on the battlements of the capital's walls.

"I feel like I'm a clown or a juggler. "But Your Majesty warned me that if I didn't do that, Thundercastle would not get new knights and soldiers," Bodwin complained. ”

He showed Kerribben and Cremar the armor he had worn when he entered the royal capital—the one the King had given him last night, and which he had to struggle to resist the urge to pout, which was even more ornate than the one worn by the prince's knights, and it was not an exaggeration to say that it was carved and etched in more and intricate patterns than the embroidery on a woman's dress, and the most unbearable thing was that in order to make it look old and full of vicissitudes, the craftsmen also skillfully aged it with acid and earth," If an orc were to strike such an axe," he said, "it would be smashed like a porcelain vase." ”

Comparable to this suit was a cape of sea otter skin, covered in pure black satin, embroidered with Doncree's coat of arms and Baldwin's name in gold and silver thread, and of course pearls and precious stones, "too long." "On the battlefield it can trip over more than a dozen horses," said Baldwin. ”

No matter how much he was dissatisfied, he could not disobey the king's will, and he knew the true purpose of his best friend and allegiance to his master—although he also found the king's idea a little strange, the Highland Norman was his country, and he had the right to decide whether to give the scepter in his hand to his brother or his daughter.

Bodwin also did not want Duke John to be the new Norman king of the Highlands, because Princess Diane and Dylan, Duke John had never had a trace of kindness towards Boldwin.

- They marched on foot, with Birdwin at the front, followed by Kerribon and Cremar, and when they came into the sun, the people of the royal capital thundered with joy, and the bells roared, and white, purple, and purple lilacs poured down like a blizzard, and the petals fell in the golden morning light, paving the road.

Baldwin reached out his iron-gloved hand, caught one, and sniffed it pleasantly and carefully.

"Do you know?" said the otherworldly soul who was not on duty today, "I am quite familiar with this scene. ”

"Your world also has triumphs?"

"No—maybe a long time ago," said the otherworldly spirit, "but I think the one I saw seemed to be some game animation - a prince, well, a good man, called As, Sal, or Mocha? I don't remember very well...... He also returned to his country in the spring, and his royal capital ...... "yellow-brown rock walls, sunlight, fluttering petals, gray-black armor, heavy fur cloak......

"And then?" asked the lich with interest.

Then he killed his father, destroyed his country, and left death and despair to his people.