Early the next morning, Fern and Barred were ready to leave at the castle gates, Lucius and the queen saw them off, and Olivina stood behind the queen, pouting and looking at the mercenary.

"We'll see you again, old friend, it's been so long since we last fought side by side. Lucius reluctantly hugged Bared.

"I just hope that when the time comes, you won't hold me back, look at you, after staying in the palace for so long, do you still have the demeanor of the past?" Barred patted his old friend on the back.

Lucius laughed, let go of Bared, and walked over to the mercenary. "Fern, if there's anything wrong with the hospitality, I hope you'll forgive me. As he spoke, the king glanced at the queen unnaturally, and then leaned closer to the mercenary and whispered. "There are some things that some people will never understand, don't give up your beliefs, don't forget, we are warriors!"

Fern nodded in relief. "I understand, Your Majesty, you don't have to worry. ”

"That's good. Lucius also gave the mercenary a hug. "I can see that Olivia likes you very much, and I know that Mulina will not approve of you being together, but I can promise you that if you swear to protect Olivia forever, I will help you find a way. ”

"Don't bother, Your Majesty. Fern let go of his hands embracing the king and shook his head. "I have promised the Queen that she will not come to Durham again. ”

The mercenary's answer was clearly unexpected, and Lucius sighed heavily. "Why don't people understand heroes. ”

"Don't sigh, old friend, I've resigned myself to my fate. Barred patted Lucius on the shoulder and looked at the mercenary. "Let's go, Fern, get out of here, no one welcomes us here, no one but Lucius, no one welcomes the man who fought off two demons and saved a dozen lives for them, not even grateful. The warrior deliberately said the last three words very loudly, and the queen's face was extremely pale.

Fern said goodbye to the king and queen, and to Morena and Olivina who had come to see him off, and the princess looked at him with a pout, and the mercenary had to quickly turn his head and step on his horse. Barred simply didn't bother to say hello except for Lucius, and rode directly on his horse. The two of them walked out of the castle in the morning light, the dazzling light illuminated Fern couldn't open his eyes, the mercenary subconsciously looked back at the castle shrouded in golden sunlight, the people who saw them off were still standing at the gate, to Fern's surprise was that Rachel was watching them from the window of a room in the castle.

The two rode out of Durham and headed north towards Ogden, and Fern remembered what the queen had told him, and decided to try to get something out of Barre's mouth. "Bared, the king came to me last night and mentioned something. ”

"Yes, she must have been worried that you would kidnap her precious daughter, you should have taken Olivina with you overnight. Barred smirked wildly.

"I don't care about that, I want to ask about another thing. Fern looked at Barred. "She said you disappeared for a while, and then suddenly you reappeared? Where have you been?"

The smile on Barreid's face was immediately replaced by panic. "This woman, how dare she say anything. ”

Fern stared sharply at the warrior, and Barred moved unnaturally. "I'm sure she'll tell you when you meet Adeline, and she'll be more detailed than I said, but I also know you're not going to let me go now. ”

"It's good that you know. ”

"Okay. Barrede's expression became serious, and his memory went back to the past. "That was almost twenty years ago, I was younger than you are now, and a group of us were called in our dreams, so we got together and discussed it, and decided to answer the call, and we went north of the Far North. ”

"North of the Far North, that's where the Lord of Darkness is. Fern's eyes widened in surprise. "What are you doing there?"

"Someone wants to break the seal of the Dark Lord, and we must stop her. Barred turned his head to look at the mercenary.

"Hell, how can it be so similar to this situation. Fern frowned.

"Actually, I think this incident may be a follow-up to that one, we managed to stop that guy's crazy move, but the seal was broken enough that it was already crumbling. Barrede's eyes narrowed, and his tone became heavy.

"But Adeline wants to free the Dark Lord this time, and so does Etiyès. Fern looked at the warrior suspiciously.

"Trust me, Fern, I've told you everything I know, I told you a long time ago, you should ask Adeline, they know a lot more than we do. A fork in the road appeared not far in front of the two men.

"What did you meet there, what was it like north of the Far North, what kind of existence was the Lord of the Dark?" said Fern three questions in a row.

The warrior stopped the mount at the fork in the road. "Fern, some things are better to discover with your own eyes, and other people's descriptions will only make you lost, not to mention that they themselves can't remember. The warrior patted the mercenary on the shoulder. "Let's go separate here, you go to Bainbridge to find your companions, and I have my own business to do. ”

Fern was used to Barrede's goodbye, at least this time he remembered to say goodbye to himself. "I'm curious about your journey, but I know it's useless to ask. Barred laughed knowingly. "Barrede, no, Rod, thank you. ”

"To live well, Fern, I look forward to the day when I will fight alongside you, it won't be long. Baredra crossed the horse's head, and with a slight grip of his legs, the horse trotted in the other direction. "Goodbye, swordsman, lift up Oberon and charge forward bravely!"

Bainbridge was a small town at best, but now there were more soldiers than the villagers, and cavalry patrolled the border line in small groups. Dark blue flags are planted everywhere, flags flutter in the wind, and the unicorn pattern on them is clearly visible.

Fern was stopped by the sentry and questioned three times before he was able to enter the village, but he remembered that he had not told his companion where he was going to meet, so he had to start from the entrance to the inn by inn. Fortunately, Bainbridge was not too big, and Fern spent two hours searching all the inns he could find, and was surprised to find that there was no trace of his companions. The mercenary sat blankly on the stone in front of the last inn, not knowing what to do next.

A few locals passing by looked at him curiously, residents who did not seem to be affected by the tensions between the two countries, and who were more worried about the cold weather. Crops planted in the fields freeze to death in a short period of time, and livestock stop giving birth due to the abnormal weather, which is more annoying to civilians than war.

Where did they go, Lucius said they had escaped from the castle without incident, but why weren't they here, was there any other danger, or was there a demon outside the city?

Fern searched from memory for an inn he thought was good, and after turning two corners, he walked into a quiet alley. The mercenary slowed down vigilantly, and a strange feeling welled up in his heart. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew from the front of the alley, rolling up the dust on the ground, and Fern subconsciously raised his hand to cover his face, and then the mercenary's experience told him that he had to leave his current position. Fern rolled backwards and drew his sword, the sharp hiss of the clouds in his ears, and a large net of purple light covered the clouds, where Fern had just stood.

"Magic!" Fern looked in surprise at the large net that was slowly tightening, no one was pulling it, but it was shrinking little by little. The mercenary took a stride and swung a sword, and the sword in the stone easily cut through the net, and the dark cloud struggled to stick its head out of it.

"What? why could he cut it?" Fern heard a man's voice, and then an answer from the other direction. "That's the sword in the stone, keep casting spells and catch him!"

The wind was blowing dust at Fern, and he couldn't see anything at all, so he had to instinctively dodge the mages' attacks, realizing that the mages were just trying to capture him alive, or he would have died. It wasn't long before the mercenary found himself cornered, and Fern leaned against the wall to see a mage standing on the roof of each room. "Hell!" Fern cursed anxiously, and at that moment, an agile figure sprang up to the roof on the left, so fast that even Fern was taken aback, and the figure walked lightly on the roof, almost instantaneously behind the mage, and then kicked the mage off the roof with one kick.

The mage's screams stunned the mages on the other side, and the spell was suddenly interrupted, and Fern took the opportunity to run towards the dark clouds, trying to ride it out of the alley.

A familiar voice came, "Come here!" There are people on both sides, you can't escape, you can only abandon your horse and walk on the roof, quick!"

"Hell, this is costing me a lot of money. Fern cursed, ran a few steps, and jumped to the roof, where the figure reached out and grabbed him, and the mercenary jumped onto the roof with a pull. "Sure enough, it's you, Miruria, and what about the others?"

"Get out of here first!" the scout turned and ran, jumping off the roof from the other side. "Keep up with me!"

Fern didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly followed. The two of them ran desperately through the alleys of Bainbridge, sometimes through the front door of the inn, then through the back door of the kitchen, and sometimes through the gap between the two rooms that were full of clutter. Miluria was a very fast runner, and her slender stature made it take Fern almost all of her energy to follow her. Finally, the scout stopped between the two rooms, and the shouting behind him was already soft.

"You don't just want to hide here. Fern took a quick look at both sides.

Instead of speaking, Miruria removed the two boxes, revealing the staircase below that led to the cellar of one of the rooms, also covered with barbed wire. The scouts pulled up the barbed wire. "Hurry down!" Fern frowned at the dark staircase, but stepped into it anyway, and after only a few steps, he tumbled down the staircase. Miruria jumped in after her, closing the barbed wire behind her, and finally pulling the bound box back to the barbed wire with a thick hemp rope, covering the exit.