Russell remembers that night, when he noticed that Josephine was a little different from usual—Josephine, who was not a big eater, just drank some milk that night and never touched any other food.

He didn't think much of it at the time, but he kept blaming himself for being by her side. That night he trained with André for a run and didn't get home until it was almost ten o'clock.

Before he could open the door of the room, a strong smell of blood had already poured out of the room, and Russell immediately pushed the door open, only to find that Josephine had been out of breath for a long time.

In a bath barrel filled with warm water, Josephine, still wearing a turtleneck, held the moon shield, soaked in blood and water, and even her pale yellow hair was dyed blood red.

Russell picked up his wife's body and sat on the ground crying. André, who had just finished taking a shower, was fourteen years old at the time, but when he saw his mother lying in a pool of blood, he couldn't help but faint.

After waking up, Andre was reluctant to say a word to Russell, not even to look at him. That year, Russell fell into a state of extreme self-reproach and stayed at home. Alan and Bithluvis had no choice but to change the meeting place of the Moon Shield Mercenary Group to Russell's house, and by the way, they also expanded Russell's home to facilitate work.

At that time, Eddie and Julian had already become the backbone of the Moon Shield mercenary group, but neither of them could understand Russell's feelings for his dead wife. Russell furnished Josephine's room exactly as it had been before his death, while André stayed in his mother's room all day long, and he became reticent and outgoing.

During that year, Russell discovered the secret of the Moon Shield, and he was able to perceive Josephine in another form of life weapon from the time he touched it. But this shield can neither make Josephine's voice sound, nor can it reproduce Josephine's countenance, only the inner perception, which touches the bottom of Russell's heart.

Russell would often dream of Josephine in his dreams, and the other party would always say that he did not blame him, hoping that he would be able to pick himself up again and nurture André to be a brave man. And when he touched the Moon Shield, he could also feel Josephine's true meaning - she volunteered to give her life to the Moon Shield, all because she loved him.

Later, in that joint battle, Russell truly saw the power of life weapons. At that time, this moon shield was like Josephine, so Russell took it with him, but he didn't expect that when Russell was in danger, the shield turned into a pure silver shield in an instant, emitting a brilliance that could not be looked at directly - only Russell, from that dazzling light, he saw Josephine.

The burst of light in that moment deprived everyone present of their sight in a second, and the moon shield blinded the mercenaries. I don't know if it's because of the spirituality of the life weapon, the eyesight of the friendly army quickly recovered a lot, that battle of course ended with the victory of the combined army of the Moon Shield Mercenary Regiment and the Kingdom of Salins, and the infantry commander of the Kingdom of Salins, Evan, also wanted to recruit Russell because he saw everything with his own eyes, but was rejected by the other party. Since that battle, countless people have flocked to the City of Honor just to catch a glimpse of the legendary weaponry. However, Russell also realized that the life weapon was too ostentatious, so he kept saying that the battle was exaggerated, and he also put away the moon shield, not wanting people to find out.

It didn't take long for Russell to discover a serious problem - since that burst of invisible light, he felt that Josephine inside the moon shield had become weak, and the strength of the weapon had been reduced.

He began to realize the meaning of the word "life", a weapon of life. Josephine, who was sacrificed in the moon shield, will also die one day, and when the power of life withers, it may be the day when Josephine really disappears.

After another two years, Russell had already made a plan to retreat, he planned to hand over the Moon Shield mercenary group he established to his adopted son Andre, while he took the Moon Shield away from this huge capital city and returned to the countryside, but he was still one step late.

At that time, there was a squadron leader in the Moon Shield Mercenary Regiment named Trevor, who was the squadron leader of the cavalry squadron and Eddie's boss. Handsome, equestrian, and swordsmanship, he was originally a very anticipated rising star in the Moon Shield mercenary group, but after that battle, he began to covet the Moon Shield in Russell's hands - another reason prompted him to decide to start a rebellion, because Russell already had the heart to hand over the position of regiment leader to Andre, who was only a little over seventeen years old at the time, which made the arrogant Trevor unable to accept it.

According to the traitors who were later caught, it took more than nearly two years for Trevor to plot the mutiny. Trevor teamed up with the Mercenary Guild to raid Russell's squadron during a mission, but fortunately got Alain's hard protection and rescued Russell.

However, Trevor himself was seriously injured, and he hurriedly escaped from the Moon Shield Mercenary Regiment with the remnants and joined the Mercenary Guild, and is now the cavalry squadron leader of the "Funeral Mercenary Group", known as the strongest mercenary group in the mainland, with a distinguished status.

Before that rebellion, Bithluvies had already begun to be at odds with Russell, believing that Russell was unwilling to share the power of the Life Weapon with others and intended to possess it alone. However, when Trevor rebelled, Bithluvis did not join the rebels, but remained neutral. Julian, the spearman squadron leader who supported Bithluvis, also planned to kill Russell together and snatch the moon shield, but because Tryvor's troops also regarded his squadron as an attack, he could only defend himself and counterattack first.

Russell told him that although he was not killed, he had dispersed with Alain and their squadron during the ensuing breakout, hiding in a tree hole for the whole night. He was later rescued by the thieves of the Rock Thieves and ended up here.

For the last two years, Russell has been living in the thieves. Although he had always wanted to return to the City of Honor to see how Andre was doing, he was worried that his appearance would cause another bloody storm, and second, he was afraid that Andre would still hold a grudge against himself - in fact, Russell had always thought that Andre and Trevor planned the rebellion together, because a few years after Josephine's death, Andre looked at him with resentment in his eyes, but Andre was very close to Trevor, and he thought that he had killed his mother.

After listening to Russell's account, Fed also let out a long sigh. He didn't know whether it was Russell's weapon of life in his hands that brought misfortune, or the human heart that brought misfortune.

Russell: "This moon shield, when it's not powerful, is like an ordinary wooden shield, inconspicuous, so I hung it on the wall to cover it. His decision was correct, at least in the past few years, no one would have thought that in the room of a dead woman, there would be such a blatant display of artifacts that countless people were fighting for.

Combining Russell's past with the version that Alan had said, plus other hearsay, he had been able to sort out the story of the Moon Shield Mercenary Group over the past sixteen years, and he felt that what Russell said was basically nothing to hide.

He could finally understand why André hated Russell so much and wanted to put his adoptive father to death so much—the revenge of killing his mother. Although it is inferred from Russell's words that Josephine did commit suicide, Russell is also partly responsible. Besides, who can prove that what Russell said in front of him is the original truth? Fielder always had a kind of suspicion and reservation about what people say, and this distrust also made Fielder not put all the stakes into anything.

Beasluvis and Julian's attitude towards Russell was also explained, and it is estimated that Alain and Eddie will also have their own opinions about Russell, but they have not made it public. After all, the commander of a regiment disappeared with the legendary weapon like this, and no one would believe that he died in the war, and he must have secretly hid and planned something.

It all stems from this unfortunate shield.

Feder looked at the shield in Russell's hand, if the moon shield reappeared in the world, the people who fought for it would definitely multiply and multiply, and he would definitely become the target of public criticism at that time - another hot potato. Fidel thought to himself.

"But there's a problem, since Josephine is 'still inside', isn't the Moon Shield..."

Russell shook his head, he knew that Feder would definitely ask that.

"I had been worried about how I would face Josephine's life force when I got the Moon Shield, but when I got it the day before, I found that she had disappeared, or rather, the life in the Moon Shield had died. He said this in a tone that seemed to be gossip, but he could still see his sadness between Russell's eyebrows.

"So that's the case, in this way, the Moon Shield only exerted its power once, and it automatically disappeared into nothingness within six years. The price of the life-awakening weapon is too great. Fed took the moon shield Russell handed him and gently wiped the dust off it.

"You are wrong, for those who want to gain power and wealth by any means, human life is nothing, even the closest and most trusted people," Russell sat on the bed, his voice helpless, "I also trusted my subordinates very much at the beginning, but who would have thought that they would choose to betray for weapons in the end." ”

Fide nodded, having witnessed the rebellion of Alain and Julian, and he knew that in addition to these dangers around him, there were shadows like Archon Manle in the shadows.

Russell took the moon shield back and said, "But don't worry, it is estimated that this life weapon has been restored to its original state, and it is 'empty' inside." ”

"By 'empty', do you mean that Josephine in the moon shield has disappeared forever?"

"Well, that's how it should be, at least I didn't feel a trace of that special feeling when I touched it. ”

Fed began to think about a question: if Russell had been the sacrificer, would the power and longevity of the Moon Shield, the life weapon, be stronger and longer?