The first year of the fifth era of the elven calendar, the beginning of December of the first year of the silver moon. That was when Jones had just come home. At this time, Gray had not yet given an ultimatum, but everyone knew that he was going on a northern expedition. All countries are already actively preparing for war.

......

In the northern part of the Celtic continent, in the territory of the barbarian empire Lombark.

Just after a heavy snowfall, the whole world is white. Trees, houses, all covered in snow.

The crow stood on a branch and shook its head to look around, occasionally taking off and shaking off the snowflakes on the ground.

A gust of wind blew, mixed with flakes of ice crystals.

A remote border town.

In the middle of the town stands a towering fortress, also covered in snow. Unlike the architecture of the South, and even of the Gustavian Empire, the fort here looks very rough and crooked, not very beautiful, or even very traditional.

The fort is surrounded by a large number of low, snow-covered dwellings that are almost impossible to see.

The sky is not yet fully clear, and the snow is still falling intermittently.

The streets were empty, as if the whole world had been frozen, and there was not even half a figure. Oh, not only are there no figures, not even footprints. This means that no one has been out for at least a few hours. If it weren't for the smoke rising from the chimney, it would have been thought that this was an abandoned town.

It was cold, very cold, so cold that a lump of ice could fall when you sneezed, so cold that almost no one wanted to move.

......

Hazy, the blood elf Andrew opened his eyes, and then slowly closed them again.

"Are you awake?" a pleasant voice came.

Andrew's ears twitched slightly.

"Are you alright?" the voice asked again.

Andrew's eyes widened and he woke up. He quickly sat up, shrunk into the corner of the bed, and habitually made a spell-casting gesture.

What appeared in front of him was a young girl. A girl with a ponytail, long blond hair, amber eyes, and a delicate face.

He wears an emerald green headband with a green gem on it. Wearing a short emerald green skirt with a light armor over the short skirt.

Like Andrew, she has two pointed ears, but those ears are larger than Andrew's.

At this moment, she was smiling and looking at Andrew: "Don't worry, you're safe." ”

"I've ...... Safe?" beads of sweat slowly slid down Andrew's forehead.

"Yes, you're safe. The girl patted her chest and said, "I have rescued you." ”

"You saved me?" Andrew was a little confused, half-squinting his eyes and trying to remember.

"Didn't I save you?"

"I remember...... Before I fell unconscious, I was fighting a green dragon. You defeated the Green Dragon?"

The girl's expression froze visibly, and she pouted, "No, you're mistaken. ”

"Am I mistaken?"

"Yes. Have you forgotten that you have been kidnapped by criminal slave traders who are ready to sell you. And a passing mercenary group happened to find out about this, so we rescued you. ”

"Mercenary group?" Andrew was even more confused.

"Don't you remember? It's okay, a lot of people have a short amnesia after being frightened. It's good to take a break. The girl picked up the warm water that had been placed next to her and handed it to Andrew.

Taking the bowl, Andrew hesitantly sniffed it with his nose and drank it after making sure there was nothing in it that shouldn't be there.

"I'll go and prepare you dinner, and you'll be able to eat it in a moment. The taste may not be quite right, after all, you are an elf. Still, it's best to eat some. You've been in a coma for a day. With that, the girl smiled and got up and left.

Andrew was the only one left in the room, sitting quietly on the bed.

It's a room that couldn't be simpler, or rather, a room that couldn't be more basic.

The walls are made of adobe bricks, and all the bricks are exposed, and there are no traces of whitewashing.

It is only a dozen square meters in size, an old bed that looks like it has been repaired countless times, a rough table, and two rough chairs. Other than that, nothing.

Oh no, there's also a charcoal fire, right next to the bed. It was built with bricks.

Everything in the room exudes the same smell: poor and dirty. Even the blanket over Andrew's body felt the same thing. This made the Blood Elves, accustomed to delicate and elegant, feel very uncomfortable.

In fact, there was still something in the room a moment ago that made Andrew feel comfortable, and it was the girl. From the elf's point of view, the girl's appearance is still very good, and she can even be called beautiful. The point is that she is very well dressed. However, she is gone now, so the style in the room is unified at once.

That's bad.

Of course, Andrew obviously doesn't have time to think about it now. He had more important questions to think about.

"I was rescued by the mercenary group, but how do I remember that I was attacked by the green dragon?"

It all started six months ago.

Yes, the proverbial battle of Salted Fish City.

As we all know, Andrew ran away at a critical time and became the only defector in the entire Silver Moon Knights. Unfortunately, Gray won the almost impossible war.

When he heard the news of Gray's victory, Andrew almost fainted.

Can you understand that feeling?

Just a few years ago, he was the chief archmage of the Mage Alliance, and although he achieved the status of impersonating a human being, he was an archmage after all, wasn't he? Although because of his identity, he was forced to cooperate with the Holy See and obey the Holy See's dispatch to help them do some dirty work. It doesn't matter, though. After all, the opponents are all weak chickens, and he settled it casually, and his life can be said to be delicious.

Later, he took that damn assignment...... You know, go to the lion king and deal with Gray. So, he planted, not only planted, but also became Gray's servant and became a member of the Silver Moon Knights.

He was almost in despair. After all, even an elf wouldn't be able to survive a lich. This meant that he would only be able to stay in the Knights of the Silver Moon for the rest of his life.

How does it feel to stay with the Knights of the Silvermoon, you ask?

Not...... It's really hard to say. In the beginning, he just wanted to survive first and find a way later. After a long time, he actually quite agrees with Gray's style. But......

"I think there should be justice in this world, there should be people to uphold justice, and there should be people to punish the wicked. Gray did the right thing. But I want to go unpunished when I'm a wicked person. You know, people always want to do whatever they want, and the same goes for blood elves. ”

On the whole, this passage is a true portrayal of his heart.

"I'd love to applaud justice, but it's better not to have anything to do with me. Especially when I'm the one who does the bad thing. ”

If he could, he would have wanted to leave the Knights of the Silver Moon a long time ago. After all, he was different from the others, he was the most powerful force in the original Silver Moon Knights after Gray, Catherine, and Vivien. Without the shackles of the oath, he could have lived more comfortably, just as he had before he joined the Knights of the Silver Moon.

Later, the opportunity presented itself, Gray had an accident, his identity was exposed, and he was in danger.

There are two reasons for not saving Gray, one is cowardice, fear of death. One is that he has long wanted to leave. Although even if he didn't want to leave, he would run away because of cowardice.

Anyway, that's it, he ran away. He survived under Gray for four years, and then on the eve of Gray's real rise, he ran away, giving up the honor and status that was already close at hand. He even gave up the opportunity to walk in the human world as a blood elf.

Is there anything worse?

Of course. That is, Gray became the Lich King, and he became the most wanted man on the mainland.

What could be worse than that?

Gray is powerful, and he, he must forget his past and leave. After all, contacting anyone you knew before could be betrayed and sent to Gray. No matter how strong his magic was, it would be Catherine, Vivien, and even the lichs of the Holy See of Bone Light who would come to capture him. Anyway, he can't beat anyone.

There was no way, he had no choice but to escape.

In fact, he had done this kind of thing before, when he fled from his clan, it was like this. It's the second time, so he's pretty good at it.

Unfolding the map, he quickly chose a target to flee to the north. Gray's power is in the south, so he should run north. The Gustav Empire is definitely not good, and the Lombard Empire can be prioritized.

"It's a long way to go, and I first have to find a way to solve the problems along the way. After all, my contact with humans is too easy to see. Gotta find a way to fix it. ”

Looking for a helper?

No, Andrew thought of a more desperate solution. Disguise yourself as a normal Blood Elf and fall into the hands of selected slave traders.

Because the elven slave trade was illegal, the slave traders would find a way to transport him to the Lombback Empire without even realizing it. In this way, he doesn't have to think about anything, and naturally someone will help him solve it.

Even, because the blood elves are expensive, the slave traders along the way dare not slack off on what they eat, let alone abuse. There is nothing at all.

Andrew, on the other hand, only needs to use magic to get rid of the slave traders when he arrives at the right place.

In fact, it wasn't the first time he had done such a thing, he had done it a lot before, when he had just escaped from the homeland of the Blood Elves. Cheating on food and drink, hiding identity, and making money if you don't get it right. After all, slave traders are quite rich.

Originally, the whole plan went well, and the slavers took great pains to find all sorts of paths that no one took, and Andrew stayed in the carriage at leisure. Over the course of several months, they crossed most of the continent and finally came to the territory of the Lombak Empire.

When the harvest finally came, Andrew had just unshackled and was ready to loot the slave traders as the capital of his new life...... They were attacked by a green dragon.

"So, where did she save me? Why don't I remember such a mercenary group? And I don't think I've ever met her. If I've seen her, I'll definitely remember her. After all, she's pretty good-looking. ”

Sitting on the bed, Andrew felt a faint pain in his head, probably because he had been in a coma for a day and a night. In his memory, when he was about to cast a spell, he slapped the green dragon by the tail and passed out. To be honest, it was really ruthless, and Andrew felt lucky if he didn't die.

After thinking about it for a long time, Andrew didn't come up with a reason, so he simply lay on the bed and fell asleep groggily.

......

The territory of the Lombard Empire can be said to be very different from the human city-states in the south, and even the Gustavus Empire in the north. The vast majority of the place is plain. However, the abundance of plains does not mean abundance, and many times the opposite is true.

The so-called plains here are mostly deserts, sandy lands, and permafrost...... In short, there are very few good places. Barren, and cold. The most precious of these are two prairies and two rivers.

In terms of territorial area, the Lombak Empire was a large empire larger than the Gustavus Empire. In terms of usable area, the Lombak Empire was only on a par with the Kingdom of Isaac. Even if you count by population, at best it is a Duchy of Bert.

However, if you count it in terms of combat effectiveness, it is the size of another Gustav Empire. Even strictly speaking, the Lombard Empire was much more powerful than the Gustavus Empire.

Yes, it's such a place. Strong in force and poor, his influence on the human world can be said to be minimal because of the isolation of the Gustav Empire. In the vast majority of cases, when people think about the human kingdom on the continent, they will even deliberately ignore him. The Holy See, for example, has never had a diocese here.

Even the current White Bone Holy Light Holy See has not extended its influence here.

Why?

Because the "people" here, strictly speaking, are not exactly people.

In addition to the human race, there are many other races living here. And they live here openly and enjoy civil rights. These include: dwarves, werewolves, orcs, cyclops, goblins, goblins, and all sorts of other races that they can't even name. After all, they don't just live together, they also mix blood. So much so that even the pure-blooded humans who live here have been given a new name by humans elsewhere as "barbarians".

At the same time, Lombback is also known as the most free place, because it is almost anarchy, truly "free". Nominally an empire, in reality the emperor had very limited control over the country, and even some city-states and tribes did not recognize themselves as part of the Lombak Empire at all. This is also the reason why the Lombard Empire is extremely powerful, but it cannot defeat the Gustav Empire. Because in addition to competing with the Gustav Empire, he also has a lot of civil wars to fight.

At the same time, this is the reason why Andrew chose this place, because it is chaotic enough. If you throw it in alone, it doesn't matter how powerful you are, you won't be able to find it anyway.

......

After a long sleep, Andrew woke up again, hungry.

"Didn't you say you were going to make me dinner, why did it take so long?

Leaning against the wall, he stood up tremblingly and pushed open the door that was close at hand.

And then......

Well, he saw a green dragon crouching in front of his door, spitting at the stove with its mouth wide open.

Suddenly, Andrew's hairs stood on end, and he was stunned and stared blankly.

Turning around, the green dragon also looked at him.

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