From discovering the tree to getting close to it, it took Lothar some time. The Count's exhaustion prevented him from accurately measuring his pace, and therefore had no way of knowing how long he had walked. What he knew was that as soon as he began to approach the tree, an inexplicable power began to emerge from his body, which made the long-suffering Count a little more comfortable, but also semi-forcibly drove him closer to the only thing standing in the wasteland. Lothar also tried to go in the opposite direction without following this will, but as soon as he did so, most of the remaining strength in his body was instantly drained, and the sudden sense of detachment almost made him fall directly to the ground, and he had no other choice.

Well, it's not the first time he's encountered something like this. This situation, which is called summoning, or channeling, has begun to numb a little. He took a deep breath and looked at the giant tree that was growing beyond the edge of his line of sight. Okay, let's see what it's trying to call me in front of you this time.

The river is cold and bitterly cold, and it knows the bottom. If he could, Lothar didn't want to force his way across the river in such a way, it would be too dangerous, even though he knew that there was a clear source of water for drinking. In Heartless Bay, the Earl learns that water, when it reaches the size of a lake, must no longer be viewed in the same way as a creek. You'll never be able to guess what's hiding beneath the seemingly clear waters. Maybe it's an undercurrent that's several times more turbulent than the surface current, maybe it's a whirlpool that pulls a person into the bottom, or maybe it's the caress of a drowning person.

Lothar couldn't help it, he didn't have a choice. He had to cross the river even if he was reluctant to do so, for the tree was on the other side of the river, and he was not sure if the water and liquid in the river would be as familiar to him as he had been in the past two days. In fact, the Earl was a little worried, and there was no reason why the upper reaches of a river would be dirtier than the downstream, but then again, this wilderness was originally a space that could not be explained by common sense, and who could know what kind of laws the river flowed here?

It was not his style to continue to hesitate, and Lothar faced the river, and he deliberately chose a section of the river where the current seemed calmer and the water surface was narrower as the crossing. However, such a passage is not without its pitfalls, and if the same flow of water flows into a narrower channel and is calmer than before, it can only mean one thing, that the channel is much deeper than what can be seen from the shore. And the depth of the water is better than the width and urgency for the current earl. So he took off his clothes and used them to tie the tomahawk vertically to his back to reduce the resistance of the water.

"Come on, the river can't stop you, you've seen the sea, haven't you? you've already swam in the depths, haven't you?" Lothar moved slightly, trying to cheer herself up. But no matter how much he said about self-motivation, it was not as powerful as the spider-shaped amulet hanging from his chest with his right hand, "Phew, bless me, let me go back to our daughter." ”

The splash did not make much of a splash because of a person's entry into the water. Lothar's body tensed under the stimulus of the cold water, and he had to work hard to control his muscles to keep himself from freezing. At this time, it may be better to dive a little below the surface of the water, because the water body itself has the ability to keep warm, and the water flow below the surface tends to be warmer than the shallow layer. Lothar didn't do that, because when he entered the water, he looked down and he didn't see anything. And that doesn't mean there's nothing there. On the contrary, the light source provided by the moorland could not pierce the water as deep as sunlight, and the river became as black and invisible as ink as far as the eye could see.

He couldn't venture deeper into the water, even if it was warmer than it looked. Lothar gritted her teeth and swung her limbs as she struggled to turn her gaze away from the darkness below and instead focus on the other side. It didn't matter what was below him, as long as that darkness and what might be in it didn't come to him.

The Count was so focused that he didn't notice that behind him, the previously clear surface water was turning dark. The darkness that rises from below is like an ignorant monster, instinctively tracking the trail of its prey in a slow and half-beat. The trickles that stretched out of the darkness spread out towards Lothar's body in a way that completely defied the current, like the tentacles of an octopus and the young shoots of a plant reaching out towards the sun. But as soon as these dark streams approached, they were destroyed and dissipated by invisible forces. The tomahawk on Lothar's back emits light while also radiating heat that warms its owner. However, the temperature provided by the witch hunting knife was so imperceptible in the cold water that Lothar didn't notice it.

"Whew, shalf!" he breathed on the water again, and the opposite shore was not far from his sight. At this rate, you only need to breathe again to get ashore, you only need to ventilate again.

Why do you want to go to the other side? A voice whispered in my ear. Is there anything you want on the other side of the river? What is the difference between the side you want to go and the side you came from?

I don't have a choice, I'm going to the tree, I'm going to get out of here, I'm going to go back to Helen. He replied with bloodshot eyes.

Is it. You don't have a choice. It's pathetic. But have you ever wondered how long you will be able to stay with your daughter even if you return to her? She is five years old, and when she is a little older, when she is ten or fifteen, will she still call you Abba? When you take back the Black Mountain Territory, will she still be that innocent child? The world of the nobility, the world of adults, the real world, don't you know very well what they look like? She will become a woman who hides from you and boys, she will indulge in cabaret and no longer listen to your stories, she will eventually find another man, spend much longer with him than with you, leave you and those memories to grow old in nothingness, and when you can't hold your axe, she will even wait for you to die so that she can become a Baroness of Montenegro. Is this your choice?

And rightfully so, who in this world hasn't gone through their lives like this? You're asking stupid questions.

But if everyone is like that, then why do you have to spend your life slowly watching it come true? You can see your end now, and you have to go there step by step? You're going to die anyway, so why don't you leave now? while your daughter still loves you, while your friends haven't seen you old enough to be incontinent. Why not go to her in this way?

Lothar smiled, and he swung his stiff arms again, rushing out of the darkness that surrounded him, and resurfaced. When he climbed to the shore out of breath and looked back at the river, he said slowly, "Because I am alive, I can see my hopes come true." Because you are alive, you can meet unexpected surprises. I'm not a wizard, I'm not a god, how do I know that I see the right future? I don't know anything, so I have to live so that I can know what I don't know and can't imagine. ”

When Lothar tried to put the tomahawk down, he realized that his back was burned. But he didn't mean to blame the tomahawk, without which he would have sunk to the bottom of the river. The Count flipped his weapon, "Who said metal is always cold." ”