After leaving Brookwood, Arnold and Lily abandoned the path along the Ridi River and headed for the shorter mountain path towards Vortagen. At this point, Arnold at least no longer has to worry about the pursuit of the cold mountain collar, and he doesn't need to continue to pretend to be a mountain man - as the heir to the duke, Arnold has been accustomed to the life of fine clothes and food since he was a child, although in order to protect himself, he can temporarily endure some hardships, but it does not mean that Arnold likes to do that, the life he likes to live is naturally the comfortable life in the castle.

Now Arnold, wearing a slightly better quality cotton shirt, dressed as an ordinary pedestrian, without deliberately suffering himself or hiding his identity. It was Lily beside him, who was still in the same ranger outfit, but Arnold hadn't seen her pull the bow and hit anything along the way.

As soon as he entered the Forta Gen Territory, Arnold clearly felt the change in temperature, and the junction zone with the Cold Mountain Collar was better, the change was not obvious, but as he went deeper into the Forta Gen Territory, the surrounding scenery changed, no longer the scene of green grass and black pines everywhere in the mountains, the vegetation gradually became scarce, more bare rocks, and more vines grew on the ground, rather than grass and trees.

This change in scenery is due to the famous mountain of Vortagen, the Black Rock Peak.

"Is Lagres really sleeping here?" Arnold asked Lily abruptly, looking at the mountains that were different from the cold mountain collars.

Lily raised her eyes to look at the peaks on both sides, and replied with some weakness: "This kind of legend can only be said to be half true, and half is false." ”

"How?" Arnold turned his gaze to Lily, who thought that his companion should know the truth about many legends, especially the part that people had spread falsely.

Lily lifted her hand and brushed her sweat-soaked blonde hair behind her ear, her face flushed and drenched in sweat after a day of Vortagan's walk, and there were at least three days to go.

"Blackstone Peak is connected to the portal to the fire elemental plane, which is where Lagres really is, so that peak is constantly transmitting heat outward. However, Lagres's body is not in Blackstone Peak, if his body appears in Blackstone Peak, then the city of Vortagan under the mountain will definitely be the first to suffer, and it won't take long for that city to be swallowed by the heat wave, not to mention people, even monsters can't live. ”

Arnold was silent for a moment, as if imagining the scene Lily had depicted.

"Is Lagres so powerful, and how does he compare to the Nine Grand Dukes of Hell?"

"Compared to the Nine Grand Dukes of Hell, are you kidding?" Lily glared at Arnold, her eyes seemed to feel that Arnold's head was hot, "No matter which demon lord it is, it's not Lagris who can be compared, it's the four elemental lords together - uh, it's a bit hard to say if the four of them are together, but it's also impossible, can you imagine Lagres, the Lord of the Fire Demons, and Ambery, the Lord of the Tides, fighting together? ”

Arnold imagined for a moment, indeed, that the Fire Elemental Lord and the Water Elemental Lord were touching each other - well, this is called the incompatibility of fire and water.

"In other words, a single elemental lord is not an opponent of the Demon Lord, but if the plural elemental lords join forces, they can still defeat the Demon Lord, and the gap between the elemental lord and the demon lord is not so big that it can't be made up in numbers, right?"

"Not exactly. Lily raised an index finger and shook it in front of Arnold's eyes, "There is also a difference in strength between the Demon Lords, of course, it is the same for us, anyway, one finger can crush us." But if you have to say it, there are several demon lords whose strength does surpass their peers, such as the presiding officer of the Nine Grand Dukes of Hell, Lord Lucifer, the actual king of hell, it is said that his strength is stronger than other demon lords, as for how much stronger, it is difficult to say, but it should not exceed too much, after all, according to general logic, if one demon lord is strong enough to kill other demon lords, or even kill all demon lords, then there will be no Nine Lords of Hell, right?"

"Why nine?" Arnold then asked, "What is the origin of the qualifications of the Nine Grand Dukes of Hell, obviously there are demons in the lower realm who also have the strength of the Demon Lord level, but why are they not tied among them?"

"I don't know about this, I'm just a ......" Lily was stunned, then puffed out her cheeks and looked at Arnold angrily, "Okay, it turns out that you are asking so much, all to trick me into words, trying to trick me into telling me your true identity, right?"

Looking at Lily's two tiger teeth, Arnold couldn't help but hold his forehead, he didn't understand why this woman was so capable of making trouble, and suddenly pulled the topic so far. However, if anything, Arnold is curious about Lily's true identity.

"I didn't mean that, but you like to talk a lot. And your identity is so hard to say? You've been so secretive, could it be that you're actually a disgusting demon?"

"You're disgusting!" Lily was like an enraged little leopard, and suddenly pounced on Arnold, "Believe it or not, I'm going to transform and take you, uh-huh......"

Lily paused in the middle of her words, as if she didn't know what to do with Arnold.

"Okay, okay, I was wrong, but can you please get up first?" Arnold, who was thrown to the ground by Lily, was helpless, he looked at Lily sitting on top of him, and the back of his head that had just hit the ground seemed to hurt a little more.

"Don't!" Lily decisively refused, and smiled wickedly, "Hehe, this is a good opportunity, isn't it? Just let me confirm that you are a virgin as you say." ”

"Thank you for your kindness, but I don't think it's needed. Arnold raised his hand, and the scarlet eyes of Beatrice in his sleeve directly frightened Lily, "If a girl is too active, I don't have much interest, especially when she is above me." ”

"What, it's really unsentimental. Lily pursed her lips, but she obediently got up from Arnold due to Beatrice's intimidation.

Arnold slowly got up from the ground and patted his dirt-stained clothes with a frown, which was a nuisance for Arnold, who loved cleanliness, and neither he nor Lily were the kind of people who could do laundry.

"Why are you still wearing this kind of clothes in this hot place?" Lily looked at Arnold's long-sleeved cotton shirt and couldn't help but wrinkle her eyebrows, "Isn't it too hot?" ”

"I wouldn't mind, if you wanted to—I wasn't the one who suffered, anyway. Arnold straightened his sleeves and placed Beatrice in them, "As for me, I'm sorry, this is a tutor, you can't let a nobleman dress indecently, even if he only has a commoner's clothes to cover his shame." ”

"Vomit-" Lily stuck out her tongue and made a vomit expression, "I really don't understand that you humans are so important to save face?"

"Of course. Arnold picked up his baggage and moved on, "And, please don't think of the nobles as ordinary humans, there is a difference between the two. ”

"What kind of human is that noble?" asked Lily, crooking her neck.

Arnold was silent for a moment, and thought for a moment before replying:

"Humans other than ordinary humans. ”

Lily rolled her eyes, the answer was really noble.

After a hiccup on the road, Arnold and Lily move on. And the rest of the journey, just like before the episode, the two of them remained silent, and neither of them had any intention of chatting.

Perhaps, it was Arnold who felt lonely just now, so he took the initiative to find a topic with Lily.

But both of them knew that they wanted too many things to tell each other, and even Lily, who seemed to be whimsical, was actually well aware of this, and she was deliberately funny, but to cover up the things that could not be told to Arnold.

The road to the city of Vortagan is difficult to walk, and if you look at the map, this part of the road is not much longer than the distance that Arnold walked in the cold mountain territory, but it would have taken an extra day or two to walk. In the Territory of Vortagen, there are not villages every other way, as in the Territory of the Cold Mountain, and there are almost no spontaneously established settlements here except for the city of Vortagen, only the many mines established by the orders of the lord, scattered throughout the Blazing Mountains.

The mountain trail was difficult, and now Arnold used his own feet to actually verify the words in the book, and after leaving Ximu Town, they walked for two days before they came across a hotel.

This inn stands abruptly in an artificially carved open space next to the mountain road, with no villages or homes around, and is obviously set up here as a post station for passers-by to stay and rest.

Arnold and Lily walked into the inn, and were surprised to find that there were many people in the small inn, and the first floor of the tavern was full of people, although these people were dressed in different attire, but looking at the weapons they carried, Arnold guessed that these people should be adventurers or mercenaries.

Seeing that two more people had entered, the people sitting at the wine table all raised their eyes to look at Arnold and Lily, and then lowered their heads indifferently, and only a few good guys whistled at Lily.

Arnold walked straight to the counter and said to the innkeeper, "Two people, two rooms." ”

The innkeeper, a middle-aged man with a big beard and a bare head, glanced at Arnold, then at Lily behind Arnold, and made a helpless expression.

"Is one room okay? As you can see, it's almost full now, and I'll have to give some rooms to future guests. ”

"Yes, yes!" Lily immediately coaxed.

Arnold straightened his sleeves, and Lily shut up honestly as soon as she saw him do this.

"I can pay twice as much for one night. Arnold leaned against the counter and whispered to the innkeeper, "We'll leave tomorrow morning, and if twice isn't enough, I can pay a higher price." ”

The innkeeper stared at Arnold's clothes, then at Arnold's hand, and shook his gleaming head at him. "It's not a matter of money, maybe you're rich, but you know, in the Lordship of Fortagen, our hostels are built at the lord's expense, otherwise who would open a shop in a place where there is no one in the mountains? This inn is for the purpose of providing accommodation for people who come and go, and if anyone can't get a room and goes to the city to complain to the lord, then I will not only lose this job, but I will also be kicked out of the territory. ”

Arnold frowned, then looked at Lily behind him, and had to sigh helplessly, accepting this reality.

"Well, just one room. Arnold counted out ten Imperial Gold from his purse and placed them on the counter.

The innkeeper accepted the money and gave Arnold a key.

"Left hand on the stairs on the third floor, the penultimate room. As he spoke, he also deliberately glanced at Lily, "Don't make too much noise at night, if others are noisy and beat you, I can't save you - you can also see that no one here is easy to mess with." ”

Arnold was speechless for a long time, and then he sighed and gave up his intention to explain to his boss.

"May I ask, why are there so many people here?" Arnold accepted the key, but did not immediately go upstairs, "I brought it from Cold Mountain, but I didn't see a few people on the road, why are there so many people living here?"

"Don't you know?" the boss took out two wine glasses from under the counter and wiped them, "Lord Lord has issued a mission to defeat the evil dwarves of Blackstone Peak, and the reward is very good, so adventurers from all over the world are here. ”

Arnold couldn't help but be stunned, he knew the news, but this place was still at least two days away from Vortagen City, and even farther away from Blackstone Peak, could it be that there were so many adventurers who came to Vortagen that they couldn't live in the city?

"Not really. Hearing Arnold's question, the boss shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Actually, this mission was suddenly stopped a few days ago, but many people didn't know the news that the mission had been stopped, and still came to the Vortagan Territory, and now these people are hesitating, hoping that the Rupert family of Vortagen can give an explanation, and until they get a reply, they are neither willing to return empty-handed, nor have any intention of moving on, so they are all stranded here." ”

"Suddenly stopped!, what do you mean?" Arnold asked immediately.

The boss took out another bottle of wine and poured two glasses full of "volcanic wine" made from "Shelf Bay grapes", a specialty of Forta Genling.

"Give. He pushed his glass in front of Arnold and Lily, "You're here for this quest too?"

"Thank you. Arnold thanked his boss, "We don't have the ability to take on this task, it's just that the one who bought a fellow villager came here to inquire about his wife, who is also here for this mission." ”

"That's right. The boss nodded, and put the bottle back under the counter, "Alas—this is also strange to say, the lord and the first adventurers to reach the territory of Futagan went up to Blackstone Peak, and the lord has also led troops to clear the evil dwarves on the mountain before, so it is not surprising that he went out in person." However, after that, there was no news from the lord, and the Rupert family did not give any explanation, so now the market is full of rumors, some say that the lord is dead, some say that the lord has been kidnapped by those adventurers, in short, there is everything. I don't know what the chaos is going on in the city right now. By the way, when did the guy you said come to Vortagan?"

"Ten days ago. When Arnold heard the news that the lord had been kidnapped by the adventurers, he decided to tell the time a little later.

"Ten days ago—" the boss thought for a moment, frowning, "there were too many adventurers back then, and there were quite a few women, but I don't necessarily remember to ask, you'd better go to the city and ask." ”

"I see. Arnold nodded, then drank the wine from his glass.

"Chenghui, two glasses of volcanic wine and ten imperial gold. Seeing that Arnold and Lily had drunk their wines, he suddenly showed a standard profiteer smile and rubbed his hands together.

Arnold's eyes widened, and then he looked at his dry glass, not reacting for a moment.

"Didn't you just say that the money was handed over to the lord?"

"That's the money. The innkeeper smiled and stroked his beard, his bare head seemed to become brighter, "The wine money is mine." ”