"Dear Sally, the party is supposed to leave for Finks tomorrow, but Uncle Smith, whom I'm looking for, seems to be back tomorrow. In order not to delay the trip, how about you go there with the team today?"

In the eyes of outsiders, the young Earl Francis has always been polite to his sister Sally, and he speaks and does things well.

He had a pair of sea-blue eyes and a handsome appearance, and although he was not wearing fancy clothes at this time, he still had that aristocratic atmosphere that the commoners could not match.

And Sally, who was standing in front of him, was sixteen years old this year, which was the golden age for girls to grow up. Her long white blonde hair was dazzling in the sun, and her skin was fair, completely devoid of the freckles that most children would have at her age. The material of the goose egg face and light gray linen dress is the same as that of the peasant women not far away, but because of her slender figure, she has a different temperament.

In the face of Francis's words, Sally, who was waving to several children in the distance, turned around and said softly, "So... I need to go to Finks Village alone?"

"It seems that this is the only way to go, Uncle Smith has helped me a lot—well, he forged this sword for me. Francis took off his saber and stared at the well-maintained sword in the sunlight and said, "This is my first sword, he has been with me for more than ten years, and he has witnessed the growth of my swordsmanship." ”

"Then I should thank the blacksmith for that. Sally smiled with two cute dimples at the corners of her mouth, "But then again, don't you really need me here to accompany you?"

To outsiders, this is an innocent little girl and her brother in an unusually normal series of conversations, but perhaps only Francis will notice the slight cunning hidden in Sally's gaze.

"Don't worry, I'm better suited to ride a fast horse than you, and even if my father doesn't let me ride in the carriage, I'll have to make you suffer all this—speaking of which, I still have to take my father's decision with reservations. Francis changed the subject with a smile, not intending to answer directly.

In the end, Sally did not continue to ask, but casually told him to be safe, and soon set out on the road to the next village with five attendants and a maid.

Francis looked at his sister's distant back, his eyes gradually narrowed, and his lips pursed slightly.

His eyes drooped, and the young earl's face seemed to show a hint of struggle, but he finally gritted his teeth, took out a letter written on straw sandpaper from his bosom, read it again, tore it to pieces, and gently chanted a spell, summoning a small cluster of flames in his palm, slowly burning the straw sandpaper that only orcs would use.

In the distance, the girl on horseback gently tugged on the reins, as if she suddenly remembered something, turned to a middle-aged guard beside her, and asked, "Uncle Gesen, how many years have you not seen an orc?"

Sally was accompanied by five guards and a maid to the village of Finks. At this time, the captain of the guard, Gerson, who was following Sally's side, should be regarded as one of the veterans who watched this girl grow up, and now his physical condition is past his peak, but his combat experience and knowledge are far richer than the young soldiers beside him. Listening to Sally's question, Old Gerson thought for a moment and replied, "It must have been thirteen years, right? I have a scar on my knee, and it still hurts a little when it's raining. ”

"That must have hurt... I'm sorry for reminding you of these things," Sally didn't apologize sincerely, and Geson, who knew her well, understood her kindness, so he didn't refuse her apology, but asked curiously, "Why did Miss Sally remember to ask about these things?" Do you think that the orcs would appear in the border villages?"

Sally shook her head, but thought thoughtfully, and asked, "What if- I mean if there were orcs attacking the village, what do you think... Are these villages well guarded for their defense?"

She still had the same slightly curious expression, but no one could see the coldness behind her gaze.

"To tell you the truth, after leaving these villages, I really don't think they have this ability, the scout formation set up here by Lord Duke is not a combat team in the first place, they have no combat effectiveness at all, they are only used as early warning and reporting, and they have no ability to resist when encountering orcs. Old Gerson frowned, "You think it's going to be dangerous?"

After being together for so long, Gerson did not look down on Sally because of her young age, in fact, after so many years by Sally's side, he is the person who can best understand how capable this little child is. So just a two-sentence inquiry, he sensed a hint of something unusual.

"The geographical location of Finks Village should be considered the most prominent in the kingdom and the closest village to the Orc Kingdom Cohen Fortress, right? ”

If it were other girls of the same age, it is estimated that no one would know the exact location of Finks Village so well, let alone mention the name of the Orc Imperial Fortress. However, at this time, Sally's words were calm and natural, even with a little familiarity, and her beautiful eyes looked behind her thoughtfully.

Old Gerson was a veteran, and he wasn't naïve enough to think that war would be forever away from the country, and his knowledge of orcs made him know better than the younger ones around him and whether Sally's concerns were justified. So he frowned and asked in a low voice, "Miss Sally... Do you need me to send someone to contact the people at Fortress Concedon?"

Sally nodded, her eyes narrowing slightly into the distance.

"Someone should be contacted, but I hope that the gates of the fortress will not refuse my request for asylum. ”

When night fell, the fog spread, and the starry sky overhead vanished, replaced by a hazy vapor, and the sound of horses' hooves broke the silence, and sounded slightly abruptly outside the village of Finkx.

This was perhaps the first time Roddy had shown some uneasiness in front of these scouts.

It took only an hour to hurry from the village of Nolan, thirty kilometers away, and his mood changed dramatically, because when he came to the village, he learned from the farmers around the village that Sally and Francis were about to come to the village.

Thereupon... All the doubts and assumptions in Roddy's mind also fit almost perfectly at this time.

The tragedy in my memory should be the same as tomorrow.

He couldn't help but think of the date stated in the orc letter - if the plan had remained unchanged and a squadron of more than fifty orcs rushed over, then the village really wouldn't have even been able to resist.

At this time, there were not many options in front of Roddy, asking for help from the fortress? Maybe Carter still had such hopes, but Roddy knew that it was too late.

He was familiar with the rules of the noble lords of the Karen Kingdom - if he wanted to bring a team from the fortress, no matter how many people there were, he first needed a letter and emblem from a nobleman of the rank of baron or above to prove his identity and intentions, and then the fortress had to start a round of conscription operations, ranging from three days to a month... The normal process is still like this, if a scout from a border village runs to the fortress and says "the military situation is urgent, and immediate support is needed", no one will think about it on his knees.

What if the orcs come out of nowhere?

This kind of question is not considered at all - "the war is over, it is now the age of peace" - and everyone thinks so.

So at this time, Luo Di looked at the Finks Village in front of him, and his heart was complicated.

"Eventually... It's still like this..."

A letter that he thought had nothing to do with him finally made him busy again, Luo Di took a deep breath, picked up the water bladder and poured saliva, then sprinkled it on his face, turned to the scouts next to him and said: "After entering the village, immediately wake up the villagers from house to house, ask them to pack up their things immediately, and tell them that they must evacuate here before midnight, otherwise they and ours will be a dead end, understand?"

"Yes!"

The soldiers on horseback were a little tired, but they didn't dare to be negligent.

Roddy then handed the letter he had forged to Luger, and asked him and Carter to hand it over to the second lieutenant of the scout force in the village, and ask them to cooperate with the other party - this scout team also belonged to the private army of the Roussiflon family, so the letter written in the name of Second Lieutenant Sodin came in handy.

As soon as the task was assigned, the orderly division of the team began to move, and the scouts rushed to all parts of the village and began to knock on the doors of their houses, loudly informing the orcs of the impending alarm - this kind of "cut first and then play" behavior was something that Roddy had to do, and he did not have time to debate with those who disagreed, because even if he was ultimately dealt with, he could still push it on Second Lieutenant Sodin.

Roddy himself rode directly to the manor in the village of Finks. With two scimitars at his waist and metal gauntlets on his arms and a horned bow on his back, Roddy was far more powerful than the other scouts, and if it weren't for the insignia on his chest, ordinary people would have thought that he was a private guard of the Roussifron family.

"Anderson's butler's urgent letter, something is wrong!"

Roddy pretended to be flustered, his tone was tight and urgent, and he poured water on his face just now, which made him look like his face was sweating at the moment. He held up the letter he had written, and shook it as he ran towards the servant who came out of the manor: "Let me in quickly, the matter is very important, and none of you can afford to pay the responsibility if you delay a little!"

This was definitely not a joke, and several servants who did not dare to take responsibility at all hurriedly led him into the stone main house of the manor, and the housekeeper of the manor, whose name was Hall, frowned deeply, and his expression was not very pleasant.

Because just this morning, a scout from Nolan Village came running to tell him that the orcs were going to attack here...

"Is there something wrong with your brain?"

This is what the Hall butler said when he blasted the scout out, he was very angry, after all, the scout formation is Russifron's private soldiers, and in terms of duties and obligations, they are not interfering with Lord Kirk, what are you crazy about at this time?

So when he saw the emblem on Roddy's body at this time, he was directly ready to do something perfunctory, and opened his mouth and said, "What do you have-"

But just then, another servant suddenly pushed Roddy away and hurried into the room.

"Steward Hall, Miss Sally's team has arrived!"

This sentence made Roddy, who was about to speak, immediately lose his right to speak-because he saw that the Hall butler in front of him immediately withdrew his gaze from him, turned to the side and walked out, completely ignoring him.

Obviously, compared with the duke's children, he is not prepared to give any face to a dispensable role like Roddy. Right now, Roddy was left to the sidelines, and he couldn't say anything to ask them to help the villagers move...

The letter signed by Anderson was clutched in his hand, and he didn't even have time to show it.

Hey... These dogs look down on the low-level cubs.

Roddy understood that his position was not at all in the "eyes of the people's leader", and after scolding a few words in his heart, he didn't get angry, and turned around and prepared to urge Ruger and Carter to act quickly, and organized some words in his mind to explain to Miss Sally - after all, time was pressing, as long as he could do it to get the villagers out of the house, the rest of the things would naturally have a general trend to be completed.

But he didn't think that as soon as he turned around and ran out of the manor, he ran into a person who would not have thought of killing him...