Hodge got up early, carried a small medicine box on his back, and stepped on the heavy snow to go to the nearest snow forest to the village, to collect a rare medicinal herb that only emerges from the snow in the past few days-snow aconite.

It is an intoxicating drug, but it is not addictive to inhalation like poppy, and only the extremely cold and snowy regions can grow such a miraculous herb.

Hodge carefully patted the snow chips from the surface under the tree, looking for the snow aconite that lived at the base of the large tree.

When the snow chips were turned over for the seventh time, a mushroom-like thing appeared in front of him, it had a thick brown stalk, but the crown was white, but this white was not pure, and there were many lighter spots in the white crown, ordinary people might only think that this was a type of poisonous mushroom, but Hodge would not be mistaken, this is the snow aconite he was looking for.

He stretched out his hand and pinched the position of the third of the root of the snow aconite stalk, picking this medicinal herb can not be uprooted, its yield is already scarce, if the roots are destroyed, there will be no trace of snow aconite in this snow forest in the next year.

Just as he was about to close his fingers and pinch off the stem, Daphne, who had been watching from the sidelines, said, "It's not right for you to pick snow aconite like this." ”

"What?" Hodge looked back at her, stunned.

Devany stepped forward, crouched down, patted Hodge's fingers open, pinched the stem of the snow aconite, and looked up at the sky.

"This direction ......" As she spoke, the hand holding the stipe continued to adjust its position, and finally pinched it lightly, cutting the snow aconite from the stalk.

Hodge looked at the snow aconite that Daphne had handed over, and it was no different except that the section was slightly smooth, so he asked suspiciously, "What's the difference between this and me picking it?"

"You touch the cross-section of the stem. ”

Hodge touched the section and sighed softly, noticing the difference.

He usually picks snow aconites with a small amount of mucus sticking to the cross-section, but this one Daphne picked has almost no sticky feeling, and is extremely smooth except for a small amount of water.

"Why is that?" he looked at Daphne in confusion.

"Snow aconite has a certain backlight, but it will not be manifested in appearance, but reflected in the nutrition tube of its stipe, which will gradually tend to the backlit side, and if you choose to pinch off on the backlit side, the nutrient tube of the section will shrink rapidly, and the nutrient solution in it will not drip onto the section. Your method of picking won't have much effect, but it won't be able to achieve the maximum effect. ”

Hodge thought back, pretty sure he hadn't seen it in any books: "How did you know snow aconite had such properties?"

Devonie smiled, "I told you earlier, the wizard's herbalistic accumulation is far beyond your imagination. ”

"Reminding me of the benefits of being a wizard again?"

"It depends on what you think, I'm just telling the truth. ”

The production of snow aconite was very small, and the two searched the snow forest for a whole day, and finally found only four, and found another one, but it looked immature, and was covered with snow chips by Daphne to grow.

On the way back to the village, the two walked side by side, making deep and shallow footprints on the thick snow.

"I'll be back tomorrow. Devine said suddenly.

"Oh. Hodge replied casually, and then reacted, "Should I say it's okay to go or have a good trip?"

"It's better not to say anything. ”

"I think so. ”

Snow flakes fell on Devine's hair, and the red hair lined with the white of the snow, there was an indescribable beauty. She stopped abruptly and let the snow continue to fall on her hair.

"You're not going to be a wizard?"

"Hmm. ”

"Well, I'll do my best anyway, and I won't force you, I'll leave after tonight. She looked at Hodge and suddenly smiled, "Before you leave, shouldn't you treat me to a good dinner, to tell you the truth, the bread you make is really bad." ”

Hodge was stunned for a moment, then laughed too: "Okay, let's go to Uncle Bach's house tonight, Aunt McGonagall's cooking skills will always stop your picky appetite." ”

There are always a lot of words to say about parting, and the two talk a lot on the way back to the village, and it seems that since Devany said that she would give up on making Hodge a wizard, the already small estrangement between the two has completely disappeared, and there are a lot more common topics.

Near the village, Hodge, who was talking to Daphne, suddenly stopped his voice and looked at the village not far away with a solemn expression.

Daphne said, his gaze looking and seeing why.

Compared to when they left, there was a long series of marks outside the village, judging by the shape of the horse, it should belong to the winter night horse, this short horse has a strong ability to withstand the cold, even in the extreme cold where no one can set foot on it, it can gallop at all, as a snowy riding tool.

But judging by the hoof marks on the ground, at least dozens of winter night horses stepped at the same time and galloped into the village.

In the past, there were caravans passing through the village to do some small business, usually using elk. Even if there are winter nights, there will not be too many horses, at most two horses to pull a carriage.

Dozens of winter night horses, this scale could never be a visiting merchant group.

Hodge chuckled in his heart, panic and panic welling up in his heart, and he glanced at Daphne next to him, and then ran towards the village without hesitation.

When I entered the village, the surroundings were quiet and terrible, and there was no sound of washing clothes and drying skin and flesh that was common at this time of the year.

"Uncle Green. ”

"Aunt Maffei!"

He knocked on the door from house to house, but there was no response, and he found that the wooden racks used to dry the dried meat in every house in the village were empty, and the chickens that Aunt Ma Fei had started raising a while ago were now only a few feathers, and there was no trace of the chickens at all.

His heart sank even more, and he ran towards the middle of the village.

Towards the middle of the village, dense footprints began to appear. There are horses, there are people, and there is a certain suffocating smell floating in the air, some slightly sweet, but more fishy.

After a short run, Hodge stopped, staring blankly ahead.

Daphne also caught up, and when she saw the scene in front of her, she subconsciously covered her mouth.

At a glance, only purgatory can describe such a tragic situation.

The hunters that Hodge knew with him had laughed and patted him on the back with their burly bows and arrows, and said that the hunter uncles who were so delicate were all lying on the ground by this time.

They didn't know how many knives had been stabbed in their chests, dark red blood soaked their clothes, some of them were still intact, but many more had their hands and feet cut off, messily laid aside, unable to tell whose was whom, and a few people's heads no longer knew where to roll.

The wives of these hunters, their clothes were tattered and their faces were purple, some of them had their hands cut off, and a few of them were pierced by sharpened wooden frames, and stood in the center, and blood flowed uncontrollably down the thick wooden frames.

Hodge's eyes were bloodshot, and the bursting blood vessels near his temples were clearly visible.

The two women who had been pierced by the wooden frame and erected were familiar to him.

One is Maffei and the other is McGonagall.

It was during the time he was gone. The village suffered a bloody massacre!