"Great Sage...... The leader of the Twilight Cult?" Rui mouthed in disbelief, and the hand that picked up the apple stopped in mid-air.

"Amazing, isn't it? But that's the truth, one of the great sages that people admire so much is a puppet of the Dark Lord. Manfred sighed and moved his hands. "It's not early, I have to rest, otherwise I won't be able to get up early tomorrow morning. ”

"Wait!" Rui shouted to stop the great sage who was about to stand up. "Aren't you going to tell me how he turned his back on the light?"

But the Great Sage still stood up on his own. "What other reason can there be? ”

"But...... However, he is a great sage, how could a great sage be so easily bewitched by the dark lord?How could Wallis, one of the five wisest people, ......" Ruiya stood up and kicked his chair down in a hurry.

Manfred raised his right hand and pressed down slightly on the table. "Don't get excited, kid, you don't want this secret to be heard by everyone around you. ”

Rui glanced around vigilantly, most of the customers in the tavern were eating their food with their heads down, some were chatting, but a few people still heard Rui kicking over the chair and looked curiously. Rui hurriedly sorted out his emotions, picked up the chair, and slowly sat back. "I can't imagine if even the Great Sage has taken refuge in the Dark Lord, then what will the ordinary people of Wallis do, who else can they count on?"

Manfred stretched out his right index finger and slowly pointed at the confused mage. "You, and your companions. Ignoring Rui's still clueless expression, the Great Sage staggered up the stairs leading to the second floor, still muttering. "Drink too much, drink too much, how is this staircase moving. ”

A young waitress held the arm of the great sage. "Old man, be careful. ”

Manfred chuckled. "Thank you, thank you, for the sake of you kind-hearted people, I have to live well. ”

The waitress glanced at the old man who was full of nonsense inexplicably, but she didn't ask anything, it was wiser to talk less to a drunk old man. Manfred disappeared at the end of the stairs, leaving Rui alone in the tavern, her blow to the conversation she had just had. If the first actions of Adeline and Etiyesh could be interpreted as an attempt to destroy the Lord before his power could be restored, now Aloisius has completely cut off Rui's last straw. I can now understand how Ness felt when she knew that what the Mage Tower was doing was actually what she had been trying to avoid, Rui thought and shook her head self-deprecatingly.

This night, Rui tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep for a long time, although his body was very tired, but his mind was full of cranky thoughts. Outside the window, with a few muffled thunders, it began to rain, and the rain poured on the ground, and occasionally the footsteps of a few people running quickly in the rain. The rain grew louder and louder, and lightning pierced the night sky, lighting up the room for a moment, and then fleetingly, followed by the sound of exploding thunder in the ears. Rui simply gave up trying to fall asleep and opened his eyes, staring at the roof with a pair of dark eyes, and scenes of past experiences floated in front of him. Rui had never thought a night could be so long, and it wasn't the first time she had lost sleep all night, but it was the hardest of all. The darkness around her seemed to envelop her invisibly, and the occasional flash of lightning dispelled the darkness, but immediately, the darkness filled the room again.

The rain stopped at dawn, and Rui simply got up, dressed up, and went down to the first floor, where Manfred was already sitting at a table and enjoying his drink.

The two of them rode on their horses again, the snow on the side of the road was washed away by the heavy rain all night, and the fresh, cold air penetrated Rui's nose to dispel some of the fatigue of the night's sleeplessness, Rui blinked and decided to say something to Manfred, otherwise he would fall asleep on horseback in a short time. "Why is it still raining here on such a cold day? ”

Manfred laughed and said, "In terms of natural knowledge, you are as lacking as Morena, and if this question is Fern, it must be easy to get the answer, but I don't blame you, after all, you are all girls, which is why I have been persuading female mages to find a suitable guard for themselves as soon as possible." ”

Rui pursed her lips, and Brewster's figure flashed in her mind, and she frowned. "But it's so easy to find a suitable escort, and besides, you still haven't answered my question. ”

Manfred patted his hooded head. "Look at my brain, it's not far from the Black Swamp, from where the hot and humid smell is the main source of rain, and though most of Tempe is cold now, it's a different story in the Black Swamp. ”

Rui nodded. "Black Swamp...... It's such a magical place, isn't it magic that makes the climate so different?"

"If you want to do this, how powerful a mage can do it, maybe the Great Sage can do it, but there is no reason to do it. Manfred smiled and glanced at the juniors beside him. "Mages, especially female mages, tend to ignore the power of nature, and even Adeline is no exception. ”

"Adeline......" Ray suddenly remembered something. "By the way, there are five great sages in Wallis, besides you, Adeline, Etiès, and Aloiseus, who I mentioned yesterday, who is the other? Why do ordinary people only know that there are five great sages, but they don't know their names, and can only know them from some rumors?"

"There is no need for people to know who the Great Sage is, for ordinary people, they only need to know that on this continent, there are five Great Sages with great powers, and it is enough to save them in a critical moment, and what people need is just a guarantee, or rather, a consolation, which can keep them from falling into a desperate situation when danger comes. Manfred pulled out a bottle of wine from his oversized mage robes, opened the cap and sniffed it under his nose.

"Indeed, if people knew that one of the Great Sages had become a subordinate of the Dark Lord, it would destroy their last hope. Rui nodded approvingly.

Manfred snorted, greedily raised the bottle and drank it.

"And who is the other great sage, is he on our side? or...... Where is the Dark Lord?" Rui asked slowly, she was afraid to hear the answer she didn't want to hear, a great sage had already taken refuge in the Dark Lord, and if there was another one, she couldn't think about it anymore.

"The last Great Sage was also a female mage, and her name was Ilsutia." Manfred put down his glass and licked his lips. "You all already know that a group of people broke into the Far North more than twenty years ago to prevent the Dark Lord from being cast, and Ilsutia was on that team at the time, and she was friends with the rest of the team, but she was ...... Even I don't know where she is now, or what she's doing, so I can't tell you which side she's on. ”

Rui swayed on the horse's back, her mind now a little dulled by the night's insomnia, and the horse's bumpy pace made her drowsy.

At least, that's not the worst answer.