Nellfi has left, and Rei and Ness have said goodbye to Stan, and the two can't wait to take a shower, they haven't bathed since they escaped from the Mage Tower, their dull hair clinging to their scalp and making them uncomfortable.

Stan sends the three mages away, and the room falls silent. Two days later, he was about to embark on another journey, leaving his homeland, and the knight thought to himself, suddenly feeling a little lonely. This time, he was no longer a commoner who asked the king to be heard, but a hero who helped the king defeat the Dark Tide in a crucial battle, and Byron even reserved a room for him in the castle, which gave the knight the satisfaction of being recognized by his own people for the first time.

The knight paced around the room, contemplating the journey in two days' time, and that there would be no more Doyle soldiers on the rest of the journey, and that everything would be up to them, or rather, to himself. Stan never considered leaving the three girls with the task of making decisions that would have supposed, so of course he was the only one who came, and not only that, but he also had to stop the conflict between Nerfi and Rui, the bitter cold of the north, the tracking of the Mage Tower, and the unknown dangers of the Twilight Forest. Stan clutched at his hair in annoyance, and one more thing that had been bothering him was that after the knight found himself returning from Ferrell's Barrier to Wolfsburg, the smile that Nerfi looked back on often jumped into his brain without warning, and then made the knight forget anything he was doing, and completely immersed himself in the beautiful and charming smile.

Stan doesn't stop until his scalp hurts, and the knight takes one look at the chair Nerfi had been sitting in, sighs, grabs the cloak from the hanger, and walks out of the room.

The hallway was dimly lit, and Stan had roughly figured out the labyrinthine interior of the castle, with the knight walking aimlessly, nodding to each other as he passed by his attendants or knights. Turning after turn is left behind, and before he knows it, Stan finds himself standing in front of a dark brown gate guarded by two Imperial Knights.

"Stan, are you here to ask the king for an audience?" one of the knights recognized Stan and asked politely.

"King?" Stan realized that he had walked haphazardly to Byron's room, perhaps not randomly, but following his heart. "Yes, please convey it to His Majesty the King. Stan remembered a question he had had in his mind for a long time.

"Please wait a minute. The knight knocked softly on the dark brown door three times. "Doyle's Stan asks to see him. ”

Stan didn't hear Byron's answer in the room, but the Knight turned around and nodded to him. "All right, please come in, but don't delay too long, the king has been busy lately. ”

"I understand, thank you. Stan straightens his cloak, puffs out his chest, pushes the door open, and walks inside.

In the room, Byron was sitting on a large chair beside his desk, looking at the knight with majestic eyes. "Sit down, Stan, don't worry about all the rituals when you meet alone. ”

Stan bent down to salute, straightening up again and sitting down in a chair on the other side of his desk. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I'm sorry to bother you, I know you're busy. ”

Byron waved his hand. "No matter how busy I am, I'll leave you a little time, I was ready for you to come to me, but I didn't expect to make me wait so long. ”

Stan looks at the king in amazement. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, I do have some doubts that have been bothering me, but I don't know whether to ask you or not. ”

"But it doesn't hurt to ask. Byron's cheerfulness was beyond the Knight's expectations.

"Before that battle in Sarah, I had been wondering if I should trust you, if I should take you to the armory, or if I should keep this secret in my heart forever. Stan decides to pluck up the courage to speak out.

"Did you hear something before, or know something, I think you may have misunderstood me. Byron didn't show any emotion.

"Yes. The knight licked his lips nervously. "I've occasionally learned that Doyle had something to do with the fall of Sarah, and it seems that Doyle decided not to save him. ”

Byron raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I can't deny that the fall of Sara does have something to do with Doyle, but the truth must be different from what you think. ”

"I don't understand, Doyle can't shirk responsibility for the death of his countrymen, no matter what the reason. Stan excitedly forgot that it was King Doyle who was in front of him, and his tone hardened.

"What if I told you that Sara is stepping into the abyss, and that the best solution is to let it perish?" Byron replied patiently, not angry at the knight's attitude.

"How did you come to this conclusion, Your Majesty?Sarah's King Urel has always been a hero, and the Grand Sage Manfred who assists him has discovered the secret recipe for making holy water, and they are Wallis's best hope of defeating the Dark Tide, I think ......" Stan hesitated for a moment, but continued. "Doyle is trying to keep Sarah from being in the limelight, and he is going to let it be destroyed. ”

Byron's expression finally changed slightly, and the king's brow furrowed. "Stan, if you hadn't retrieved the holy water for us, I'd have kicked you out of Doyle right now. Byron let out a snort. "There are some things you may not understand, in fact, just like many of Sarah's spies in Wolfsburg, there are also our people in Asgard, and judging from their reports, Urel is not what you think. ”

"What?!!, you mean Doyle and Sara are spying on each other's intelligence?" the knight was shocked, he never expected that two countries that were once compatriots would become like this.

"That's right, interkingdom politics is beyond your comprehension, and if you have the opportunity to sit in my place, you will understand that there are no permanent allies, only permanent interests. Byron looked at the knight solemnly.

"I don't think I'll ever have that chance, Your Majesty, but I'd like to know what kind of person you know about Ular, and what makes you want to sacrifice all of Sarah. Stan bowed his head respectfully.

A smile appeared on Byron's face, and wrinkles like crevices in the rocks moved. "Ulel, he is the puppet of the Dark Lord, he has betrayed his own people, he has betrayed his heart to the Dark Lord. ”

Stan's eyes widened in shock again. "Why, would he renounce his faith?"

"I don't know, Stan, but it's not easy to resist this temptation before infinite power, especially for Sara, who is weakened but has to face a gloomy tide, and sometimes I wonder if Doyle was as weak as Sarah, if I would have made the same decision as Urrel. Sadness flashed in Byron's eyes.

"In no case should one give up one's faith, even in the face of death or destruction. Stan's voice grows louder.

"You say that only means that you haven't experienced what Urel has been through, I know him, he is an extremely resolute man, and he must have been cornered in making this decision. ”

"What decision would make you give up so many of Sara's lives and watch them be killed?" the knight rose from his chair and propped his hands on the table.

Byron's eyes glared at Stan with determination and force. "He tried to sacrifice all the Sarahs and make them part of the Dark Tide, in order to gain the infinite power and the right to rule all of Wallis promised to him by the Lord of the Dark. ”

Stan's mouth opens wide in shock and sits back in his chair feebly. "How so? I can't believe it's true. ”

"You have to believe it, Stan, because it's true, Manfred actually noticed Urrel's abnormality, so he secretly stored a large amount of holy water on Sarah's northern border, and he has been hiding this from Urrel, only Algernon, the leader of the Northern Knights of Sarah, and a few cronies. Byron leaned back and looked at the knight indifferently.

"But if Urel is a puppet of the Dark Lord, why would the Dark Tide invade Sara and destroy it?" Stan shook his head in confusion, too many questions for him to accept.

"Sara is doomed, Urel has already sacrificed all of Sarah's people to the Dark Lord, the curse will slowly corrupt everyone, and they will unwittingly become the monsters they once fought desperately with. Byron's expression was gloomy. "The only way to stop this is to kill them before they turn into monsters, so we got some holy water from Manfred and used it in several skirmishes with the Darktide as Sarah's soldiers, making the Darktide think Sara was making the holy water. ”

"So, the Dark Lord stopped trusting Urel and sent an army to destroy Sara and kill everyone?" Stan felt that his nerves could barely bear the facts.

"I don't know, Stan, we're just trying to prevent the tragedy from happening, but we don't know if the Lord is being fooled by our schemes, or if he has his own plans, I believe that he meant to destroy Sarah, and Urel was just used by him, I don't think we can fool him with these little tricks, he, after all, is the Lord of Darkness. Byron crossed his index finger and crossed it in front of him.

"But Sara is still dead, and most of the Sara people are dead, isn't that a tragedy?" Stan's agitation could not be calmed.

"There are tragedies of lessness, they die and sleep in the ground, which do you think is the real tragedy than their rotting flesh being used by the dark tide to become the walking dead?" Byron's tone calmed.

Stan takes a deep breath to stabilize himself. "So where have all these people gone now? Urral and Manfred are said to have disappeared when Darktide stormed Asgard, and that Algernon, where have they gone?"

"I don't know, no one knows, maybe when you get to Artuna and meet Adeline, she'll tell you some clues. Byron sat up straight, tired. "That's all I can tell you, maybe some of you don't believe, but it's true, Stan, I don't see you as a collaborator, I see you as our companion, so I'm telling you this, I hope you understand. ”

Stan sits indifferently in his chair as Byron's answer catches him off guard and completely upends his worldview. Seven gods, show me the way and let me walk in the light.