The group arrived at the Silver Fox Inn, but it had long since been deserted, and only a few beds remained, and it seemed that someone had come to sabotage their plans.

It was getting late after the bloody battle, so they had to spend the night there. Anyway, there was some wine, water, and food in the store, but the only dry food was bread, onions, and sausages.

The next day, Hippolyta got up early, and she wanted to find some horses to get on her way. Their captain, Neptune, was supervising the repairs of the ship, which had been damaged by the wind and waves, and he had inquired with the local hired men about the location of Hephaestus the previous night, and explained to Hippolyta and Hera and Silea as best they could to find him, and the next day they began to make elaborate plans.

On the third day, the arduous journey began, and Neptune got up early in the morning to prepare their horses, but it took two more days to prepare food. They were heading northwest, across barren jagged mountains. They didn't have a map, so they had to follow the list given by Neptune from village to town.

On the fourth day, after several days of arduous trekking, they finally made their way out of the border of Santoniri, on the outskirts of a beautiful mountain town. As they crossed the city, their locals encountered bandits who robbed the road, but they were quickly killed.

On the fifth day, they walked further to the small town of Fira, next to the caldera, where they were left as guests by Queen Isabella's steward of Castile for the night. In the wilderness, they were attacked by a band of robbers from the desert.

On the sixth day, according to the intelligence, the bandits kidnapped Hephaestus, and also learned that the robbers had spent twelve years in the wilderness, and I really don't know how these bastards escaped the pursuit of the officers and soldiers, Alice on the side thought so.

They must rescue Hephaestus, so they have to try to overcome their fatigue and move on, and no matter what, all three must try to catch up and rescue each other under the men of Mantos.

The three of them came to the top of the hill and looked at the castle in the mountains and forests in the distance, this castle was built to defend against the Athenians, and there was a small town down there, but it should be a den of bandits now.

Hippolyta's eyesight was quite good, and even from a distance he could see Hephaestus' brown artisan bib hanging from the window of his cell. The cell was at the top of the castle's main tower, and there was no fence attached to it, because no one thought anyone could escape from it. If you look closely, you'll know where that confidence comes from.

The façade was built by the finest stonemasons and bricklayers of the era, and is as smooth as a mirror. Without the bib as a marker, Hippolyta would have had a hard time finding it.

Rescuing Hephaestus was a difficult task, and the door to his cell was guarded by two well-trained mercenaries who were said to be well-known local killers, so it was impossible to solve the problem "peacefully".

Celea measured the height of the main tower. When they got to the castle, they had to climb a hundred and forty feet on a tower with no place to stay, so they couldn't carry as many weapons as they could, and Hippolyta thought carefully about it, she was a doer, so her specialty was to kill people, not solve problems, and she suddenly thought of a simple and straightforward weapon: rope.

"Let's get closer." Hippolyta said that in order not to attract attention, they were wrapped in robes, and in addition, each of them carried a long rope around his waist.

"We must not get too close," said Syriah, "or the guards on the other side will see us." ”

"See what? All they could see was a crowd of people who had come to Medina to replenish supplies*. Don't panic, Hiraldo. ”

This sentence inspired Hera, "Shall we go straight into the city?" She said.

For about half an hour, Hippolyta was silent, her brow furrowed, and when the three of them were almost under the wall, she seemed to have figured out something.

"Slow down." Hippolyta whispered.

The three slowed down, and Hippolyta rode to the front.

"Take out all the rope and measure it."

The three of them did so, twelve feet of each rope, and if there were ten, a total of one hundred and twenty feet together. Including Hippolyta's own, it was one hundred and thirty feet, and they could ask for rope from the surrounding stables, so Hephaestus would have to jump from a height of ten feet, but it was nothing.

The next question was how to get the rope to Hephaestus? The people around them remembered Hera, and Hera was the only one who had good archery, and Hippolyta and Hera proposed, and Hera agreed.

But in order to understand Hephaestus's situation, someone still has to infiltrate it, and the matter of the rope is handed over to Hera, so the problem of infiltration can only depend on the remaining two people.

Celea first denied herself, because she felt that she was a rough person, unfit for this kind of creeping work, and had no choice but to rely on Hippolyta.

Hippolyta first gave the rope to Hera, and then used the clothes she had used to kill the robber the other day, and then forged an official letter, which was more like it, and the question was how to get through the outer towers, and if Hephaestus managed to escape from the towers, he would have to find a way to leave the heavily guarded central courtyard through the only gate.

The good thing is that this den of bandits has only been Hephaestus for a while, this castle was designed to defend against the Athenian attack, but this threat has long since disappeared, and this huge castle is too large for Hephaestus to hold alone, in fact, it is not difficult to avoid the sentry.

One of the robbers who had been caught before revealed that the guards in the den were not unkind, and sometimes they had to bring a change of clothes to Hephaestus, but even so, Hippolyta could only think of pretending to send a change of clothes to hide the eyes of the guards. Other than that, she couldn't think of any other way than to rush in and kill and rob Hephaestus directly.

"Celea," said Hippolyta at last, "I have something to ask you. When Celeia returned to the village that night, Hera and Hippolyta camped and rested until the next day, when she returned.

The next day, Syrea brought back a man, who was the head of the den of the bandits, and Hera promised to let him in at a price of fifty gold coins, and the other party was also a rich man, and readily agreed, and after changing his clothes, he reported to Hippolyta, "He will arrange for Hippolyta to go with him at six o'clock in the evening to rescue Hephaestus, and tonight he will return there will be a great celebration, from midnight to six o'clock, so they must be fast, and it will only be a five-minute walk from the castle to the town......"

At six o'clock, Hippolyta and the receiver went into the castle, and everything was as they had been told, and after playing for a while, Hippolyta hurried up to the highest point of the castle, and Hephaestus was not in good condition at the moment, and the bandits shot through his leg bones, making him limp a little.

At two o'clock in the morning, Hippolyta pried open the door, and she had Hephaestus change into the uniform of the guards, and then fastened the rope to the vertical lattice of the window, and then carefully lowered the rope. Despite the cold wind of the night, Hephaestus was sweating nervously. Little by little, he climbed down until he touched the bottom of the rope.

He jumped the last ten feet, and when he landed, Hephaestus' left foot hurt, and Hippolyta quickly picked him up, and he limped through the desolate courtyard to the outside.

The guards upstairs didn't pay much attention to Hephaestus, thinking he was just an ordinary guard.

At the gate, Hephaestus and Hippolyta were nervous, but the man who had collected the gold appeared just in time.

"Alright, I'll take you to the guard room." The other party said.

What happens after that? It's a short journey, but it's a long one.

"Don't panic." The man whispered to Hippolyta.

There were two people sleeping in the guard room. The man just kicked one awake.

"Get up, these two guys forgot to buy straw for tomorrow's stable, so punish them for going buy it now, now take him to the door, explain to the doorman and let him out." The man looked at Hephaestus' leg and said, "This is the lesson, if you are not ready, I will break your legs."

"Yes, sir!"

Hephaestus and Hippolyta followed the guards out the back door and walked slowly towards the town in the moonlight. The door of the castle closed behind him, and Hephaestus finally enjoyed the fresh air, he was now free, and he was very grateful to Hippolyta for his rescue.

Hippolyta took him to the agreed place with the other two: Hephaestus' workshop near the volcano, where they told Hephaestus about the purpose of rescuing him.

"Sir, we need your help." Hera said.

Hephaestus raised half of his eyebrows, and said, "Oh, what's the deal? ”

"We need you to forge a fleet of bows and arrows," Syrea said.

"This is fine," Hephaestus readily agreed, and took out a large dictionary-like notebook and handed it to Hera, "choose the material you like." ”

"No, sir, we do." Hera replied, nodding to Hippolyta, who untied the strap on her back and handed the beak to Hephaestus.

"Oh! This is a baby! Hephaestus complimented, "So what are you going to do?" ”

"We need you to make a bow," Hera said, "and arrows." ”

"How many?"

"Thirty is enough," said Celeia, who was beside him.

"More than enough," said Hephaestus, touching her beard, and she looked at the skin that Hera was wearing, and then said, "Otherwise, little girl, I don't think this close-fitting armor on your body is very good, or how about I use the rest of the materials and your skin to recreate a new armor for you?" He gestured to Syreah beside him, "Just like her." ”

Hera nodded, gave him the skin of the Lion of Nemia, agreed to pick it up in five days, and the three of them left first.

While waiting, they have their own things to do.