The group followed the woman through a tavern, from the second floor to the higher street, and then over a bridge spanning two spired houses, with a towering cliff on one side. The woman led the group around the city several times, Fern was almost stunned, Enoch became more and more uneasy, the warrior stared at the woman's back with a serious face, and his right hand was only a fist away from the hilt of the sword.

The woman seemed to feel the pressure from behind, and she glanced sideways at the back. "I beg your pardon, I deliberately took a detour to get rid of those mages completely, and you can imagine that if even you can't find the right direction, then even more so those mages. ”

Vernon did his best to keep track of the buildings that could be marked at each turn. "How long do you have to go?"

"We're almost there, and you'll see it after the bend ahead. The woman's tone was smug.

The crowd quickened their pace, turned the last corner, and the sight before them made Queai and Miruria, who had seen the castle for the first time, grow their mouths again.

The castle is built on a cliff with countless steps leading from the bottom to the castle gates. The castle on the top is made of polished white marble, which is not large compared to the castle in Durham, but because of the careful construction angle and craftsmanship, and because of the frequent cleaning, the whole castle shines in the sun, which is quite spectacular.

Enoch snorted. "Only the Queen's castle would be so clean, but clean doesn't do much to keep the enemy off. ”

The woman seemed to hear the warrior talking to herself, gave him a quick glance, and then led the group towards the gate.

The garden on the periphery of the castle occupies an open space almost twice the size of the castle itself, and busy gardeners move through the garden, and despite the cold weather, the gardeners still manage to plant a variety of hardy flowers and plants to make the garden look alive.

Queai looked at everything in the garden excitedly, and whispered to Fern, "Fern, shall we stay in Grand Rapids in the future? ”

Fern smiled at the mage's innocent face. "But civilians don't have a chance to set foot in this garden. ”

"We can grow our own flowers, next to our house. Queai took Fern's hand, walking in a relaxed and cheerful manner, completely oblivious to the fact that they were about to meet the Queen.

"Our house ......" and Ness's agreement suddenly crashed into the mercenary's brain. Ness, how are you doing, and has Etiyesh forced you to do anything dangerous.

"What's wrong, Fern?" Quiai leaned forward, looking at the mercenary's dull face.

"Oh, it's nothing, I don't know what will happen next, let's get past this level first. Fern shrugged his shoulders and looked at the magnificent castle in front of him.

"Women are emotional creatures, so be careful what you say. Enoch looked worried.

"You're too worried. The mercenary patted the warrior on the shoulder. "Women aren't as scary as you think. ”

"Men who are in love are also blind. Enoch glanced at Fern. "I would avoid approaching women, it would make my judgment go down. ”

Queai snorted angrily. "Then you will die alone. ”

Enoch spread his hands and shook his head indifferently.

Fern glanced at Miruria's reaction out of the corner of her eye, and the girl looked blankly ahead, her hands clenched tightly.

The interior of the castle was also very different from what Fern had seen before, with curves minimized, often a straight passage leading straight ahead, with no forks. Everywhere the light could shine in, windows were opened, and even so, the density of candlesticks and torches on the walls was still greater than that of the other castles, and all this light illuminated the passages, without the feeling of walking in the darkness at all.

The group followed the woman around the spiraling stairs to the top of the castle, only to find that inside the castle, there was also an indoor garden, and the sunlight shone in from the top of the castle, illuminating the whole building even brighter.

The woman stopped in front of a white gate on the top floor, and two knights in pure white armor stood on each side of the gate, wearing the same white helmets with a dark blue tassel hanging from the back of their heads. The woman announced, and the knights pushed open the door on their side, and the door opened from the middle. With her head held high, the woman walked between the two knights, followed by the others.

As soon as Fern entered the hall, he felt a white swaying in front of him, and his eyes ached. The whole hall was covered with white satin, hanging from the roof, and the other end was attached to one side of the wall, connecting the surrounding walls to the center of the roof. There were several windows open on the roof of the hall, and as much light was brought in as much as possible, even if no candlesticks or torches were lit, it was still very bright. In the middle of the back of the hall, a well-dressed and richly dressed lady sat on a white throne with a very high back, peeking out from behind the lady sitting on it, with a soft dark blue cushion in the middle.

"Your Majesty, these are the travelers, whom I have brought for you. The woman bowed respectfully, then stepped aside and solemnly announced to the group, "Before you is the queen of Ogden, Darsari." ”

They saluted the queen one by one, and Enoch saluted more respectfully than he had done to Lucius before, and it was obvious that he was really worried that the queen would embarrass them for some trivial matter.

"Good. "The Queen's voice is mature and majestic. "Travelers, you should know that we are helping you now, Catherine has been waiting for you for two days, and if it weren't for her, I'm sure you'd probably be in trouble right now, so let your guard down. ”

No one replied to the Queen's words, and if it was in front of the male rulers, Fern would not hesitate to take it, but he didn't know why he didn't do it.

Fern cleared his throat. "Thank you for your help, Your Majesty, but how do you know that someone is following us? ”

Kathleen shifted uneasily, frowning at the mercenary.

The queen waved her not to worry. "It was Botarus who sent the messenger to me for help, and since he had spoken, of course I had to give him face. The queen changed her position on the throne, and her movements were graceful and full of charm.

"King Botarus?" Enoch was shocked this time. "How could he pay attention to us little people?"

"Polite! Warrior, if you're so rude again, I'll have someone blast you out right away!" Catherine seemed to have put up with Enoch for a long time.

"I'm sorry......" Enoch broke out in a cold sweat on his head. "Dear Her Majesty, I'm just amazed at how King Botarus would know about us. ”

The queen laughed. "I'm not interested in any of this, you should ask him yourself, Artuna and Ogden have been allies for a long time, and this little favor is really nothing, and ....... The queen glanced at Quiai. "I don't like those mages in the first place, and I don't welcome them into Grand Rapids. ”

Catherine immediately picked up the Queen's words on the side. "I'll let the guards kick them out later. ”

The queen nodded in satisfaction, a smile on her face.

Frightened, Quiai ducked behind Fern and tightened his sleeve.

Fern slapped the girl's hand. "Your Majesty, may I ask why you are so prejudiced against mages, the difference between Ogden and the mage tower is not known to everyone in Wallis. ”

"Would I be interested in knowing the answer if I told you that this matter was my private matter?" the Queen's tone revealed a sense of teasing to the mercenary, which made Fern feel bad.

"Your Majesty, since it is your private matter, then I will not take the liberty of asking. Fern bowed and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"You're smart. The Queen's tone suddenly changed to stern. "If it weren't for Botarus's face, I could have punished you for that question......" The queen didn't continue, turning to Catherine. "I'm tired, take them to rest. With that, the queen stood up and left through the side door without looking back.

Kathleen led the group to the room that had been prepared for them, gave a few words of advice, and left.

Fern collapsed on the bed. "I almost ended up in a prison below, and I bet the prisons here must be much scarier than those in other kingdoms. ”

Queai sat at the head of the bed next to the mercenary. "I was scared just now, and I was afraid that she would kick me out with me. ”

Miruria listened behind the door for a moment before finding a chair and sitting down. "You've talked too much, but luckily Catherine did leave, otherwise she would have been in big trouble if she had gone and told Queen Darthally. ”

"I really don't know how this country came to exist until now. Fern sat up, shaking his head helplessly.

"As I said a long time ago, women are such strange animals, and the kingdom they rule is even more peculiar, don't try to guess them, you will find that you can't even understand the tip of the iceberg, and you yourself are being played with by them. Enoch triumphantly poured a cup of tea and poured it down in one gulp.

"How do you know? It's as if you've ever suffered from a woman. Fern raised his eyebrows and looked at the warrior meaningfully, not noticing that Quiai was tugging at the corners of his clothes unnaturally.