Why?

Sometimes Constantine himself almost forgot why, although sometimes in the dead of night, he stared at his hands in the dark, faintly smelled the smell of blood emanating from those hands, and would unconsciously ask such questions in his heart.

"When I was very young, my parents died. Constantine said calmly, "I left my hometown alone, and in the course of my wanderings I met a very powerful man, whose origin I still do not know, and who took me in and made me his pupil when I was at my worst." ”

The flames in the fire danced in the night, reflecting half of the boy's face, and scenes of the past flickered in the firelight, revealing little by little with his prosaic narration.

"My teacher is a very mysterious and powerful being, and in my eyes, there seems to be no knowledge in this world that he does not understand. He taught me the sword, he taught me disguise, he taught me the dialects of all kingdoms, he taught me to recognize all kinds of alchemical materials, he taught me to recognize all kinds of people, and most importantly, he taught me how to kill. ”

"Later, he took me to the guild. The first mission I received was to kill a mid-level mage in the Duchy of Fran, which I thought would be an impossible task for me. For ordinary people, magicians are completely invincible. What's more, I was only seven years old that year, and he could kill me with a single spell, so when I received this task, I was determined to die. ”

"So that day, disguised as a wandering beggar, I followed the magician into an alley, begged him for gold, and killed him while he wasn't looking, much smoother than I had imagined. ”

"In hindsight, at that time, I was still too jerky, I used three knives, no, I remember it seemed to be a full five knives to kill him, he stared at him when he was dying, desperately trying to make a sound, I grabbed his throat, while stabbing the knife into his stomach, my hands kept shaking. ”

"That was the first time I killed someone. ”

Constantine stared at the bonfire, the light of the flames lit up his memories, as if after many years, he saw himself standing at the mouth of the alley, holding a bloody knife, shivering.

"After the task was completed, the teacher gave me a sword and told me that I was qualified to use it, the name of this sword is 'Dawn', the first time I saw it, I was completely fascinated by it, I didn't expect that this cold weapon of the sword can be so beautiful and so vivid. ”

"Later, I carried out more tasks, regardless of pay, purely to sharpen myself, and counted the guys I have killed, including ordinary people, nobles, mages, military officers, slave traders, and heretical species such as werewolves and vampires. Constantine said, snapping his fingers. "I'm killing more and more people, and I'm getting more and more used to killing people. ”

As quest points increased, Morningstar, a bounty hunter, began to gain fame, and in many realms, his name became synonymous with death.

These are all deeds that Mordred has heard, although the owner of the story tells it in a very indifferent tone, but Mordred, who is also a hunter, naturally knows how many unknown dangers are hidden behind these amazing achievements.

He felt more and more that the young man in front of him was very scary.

"I can't remember how much prey I've killed now, and I don't want to remember it, but a hunter once asked me how many people I killed, and I told him, 'Will you remember how many slices of bread you ate in the morning?'

"Do you regret it?" Mordred asked, looking at the young man's face in the firelight.

"The teacher had another student, and he didn't agree with my approach, unlike me, that guy was a very simple, naïve person, and he insisted that the way I chose to practice was wrong. ”

"But I don't regret it, because at least for now, I'm mixing much better than that guy. Constantine said, and was silent for a long time.

He had said those words to himself, although sometimes he wondered if he was still worthy of the surname that made his father proud all his life and still remembered before he died, even though the name Elliott had been turned into the dust of history along with Winterfell after that bloody night.

"When I was very young, I loved to listen to my father tell me stories from knightly novels, and I fantasized about being the main character in those novels, and I told my father that one day, I might become a great knight too. It was very naïve!" Constantine casually waved his outstretched finger over the fire, as if there was some wonderful attraction to it, and the flame leaped out of the fire and hovered over his fingertips. "After so many years, I have almost forgotten those stories, but there is one story that I remember very clearly and have not forgotten to this day. ”

"There is an evil dragon somewhere, and every year the village is asked to sacrifice a virgin, and every year there is a young hero in this village who goes to fight the evil dragon, but no one survives, and when one hero sets out, a man quietly follows. Seeing that the dragon's lair was covered with gold and silver treasures, the hero stabbed the evil dragon to death with his sword, then sat on the dragon's corpse and watched the glittering jewels, which slowly grew scales, tails, and tentacles, and finally turned into an evil dragon. ”

"That's the end of my story. Constantine withdrew his hand and got up and walked to his tent. Mordred still sat in place, head bowed, as if thoughtful.

A day later, the convoy arrived in a small town on the eastern side of the province of Eggers, called Quanshui, a small town on the edge of the Olympian plain, with a population of only a few thousand, and the convoy was stationed near the largest hotel in the town.

Constantine noticed that the moment he saw this town, Diana's face showed a smile that he had not seen for a long time, and the smile was full of relief and even some joy.

The mayor of Quanshui Town was a middle-aged man named Sal, and when he saw Diana and the others in the hotel room, he was not too surprised, but bowed a little stiffly, and then began to talk to the four princesses word by word, as if he was very familiar with this high-ranking imperial princess.

"Uncle Sal, where's Grandpa Clough, why didn't he come today?" said Diana cordially.

"My father is not in good health, he retired a few years ago, and now he has to walk with a cane. "He's been living in the town's chapel lately, and when he heard you're coming, he asked me to greet you, and there's not been a lot of peace in the town lately, and a lot of townsfolk have disappeared for some reason, and I've been dealing with this lately, how many days are you going to stay here?"

"I'll be gone in five days, and I'll be done with my knights. ”

After a few more pleasantries, Sal left, and Constantine turned his head and asked with some confusion, "Your Royal Highness, you are very familiar with this mayor?"

"When I was a child, I left the imperial capital for Baines, passing through this town on the way, at that time Grandpa Clough was the mayor here, he studied magic in the Duchy of France when he was young, and he was very knowledgeable, I would come to the town every year when I returned to the imperial capital to visit his old man, but I didn't expect him to retire this year. Diana's expression was very flat, but her tone was a little stunned.

There was a sense of human wrongness in the words, and Constantine understood this emotion very well, and the thought of the dangers that Diana would face when she returned to the imperial capital could not help but make him feel a little sympathetic to the current situation of this imperial daughter.

Sympathy is sympathy, but Constantine has always been a realistic person, he is not arrogant enough to want to help the Four Princesses solve problems, although this sounds like a very exciting thing, but after a series of events in the past few days, Constantine has understood that Diana's secret enemies are not fuel-efficient lamps, except for his royal brother, the future heir of the empire, the Byron prince is eyeing on the bright side, and there are a large number of big people in the church with ghosts behind him, so he is not very optimistic about the princess's trip to the imperial capital。

Unbeknownst to Constantine, many people in the Holy Empire had similar views on this matter, and in their eyes, the return of the Four Princesses to the Imperial Capital and their admission to the Royal Academy of Magic was a complete obscurity.

He was sitting upright in his room at the moment, and began to carefully read the magic book handed to him by the old astrologer in the library of the seminary, although it contained some very basic knowledge, but for Constantine, who was relatively lacking in this knowledge, it was tantamount to a charcoal in the snow.

The book was thick, but far less obscure than the one in the library, and soon Constantine had succeeded in casting the first spell he had learned in a few days: the Acceleration Technique.

This is an initial arcane spell that can make the recipient more flexible, the reason why this unpopular arcane magic is chosen instead of elemental spells such as fireballs and ice arrows that are loved by the majority of mages, is because the teenager subconsciously still sees himself as a bounty hunter, for the profession of bounty hunter, speed may not be the most important trait, but it is definitely one of the most important qualities, a hunter who can fight and escape is a good hunter, this consciousness has been ingrained in the boy's mind.

It was not complicated to cast this spell, and Constantine chanted the incantation word by word, as required by the book, carefully feeling the arcane fluctuations spreading around him.

When the spell was completed, Constantine took out a handful of silver coins from his pocket, a total of nine, held the hilt of the "Dawn" sword in his right hand, squinted his eyes, and sprinkled all nine silver coins into the air, and the nine round silver coins swirled in the air, dazzling to see.

In the next second, the crystal long sword was pulled out suddenly, and then, a brilliant streamer flashed, penetrating the nine silver shining circles in a blink of an eye, and finally stopped steadily, the sword body was across the young man's chest, and nine silver coins were lying quietly on the slender and beautiful sword spine, but under the crystallization attribute of the morning light, the nine silver coins had turned into nine round crystals, and when the young man's fingertips touched them, the nine silver coins immediately turned into a piece of slag, although it had been expected, but Constantine was still a little distressed.

However, compared to this surprising result, the loss of nine silver coins is somewhat insignificant, before learning this spell, Constantine's limit has been stuck at seven silver coins, and has not broken through, no matter how he trains, he can only catch seven at the same time at most, and under the effect of the acceleration technique, there are two more at one time.

Although it is only two, the difference in swinging speed reflected behind these two is sometimes almost the difference between life and death in the eyes of a powerful bounty hunter.

Constantine, who was still unsatisfied, opened the magic book again and learned two spells in one go, the arcane "rune shield" and the alchemy "mirror image".

The former can provide a wall of protection against magic and physical damage, and is the preferred defensive spell for many low-level arcanists, while the latter can create an identical clone that is identical to the main body, without a substance, but can confuse opponents in battle, and in his early years as a hunter, Constantine himself faced this spell more than once, and was impressed by its usefulness.

Seeing a "self" as realistic as in the mirror appeared in the air, the long-lost satisfaction hit the young man's heart, and he seemed to experience the joy of standing in front of that person, proudly waving his sword, showing the results of his training over the past few months.

In a trance, the dusty past that had been sealed for many years poured into his mind one by one, and he seemed to have the idea of becoming a magician when he was a child...

After hearing this ideal, Archduke Eliot would caress his son's head with his palm, which has been accompanied by ice and snow and sharp swords for many years, and smiled with satisfaction, "Son, what kind of mage do you want to become?"

"Father, your Blizzard mages are very good, I think their magic is very strong, even Brother Rhaegar may not be able to beat it. Constantine Eliot had an eager expression.

"Child, you are going to be the Grand Duke of Azeroa in the future, say this, Rhaegar will be very depressed when he sees you in the future, you better practice the sword skills I taught you first. "Besides, your mother has higher expectations of you." ”

While the father and son were talking, the woman in white stood aside, staring at the snowflakes drifting outside the tall window, but she didn't say a word.

Little Constantine's eyes widened in curiosity and said, "Is Mother also a very powerful magician?"

The Grand Duke blew hot air into his son's cold red palm, nodded and said, "It's very powerful, Dad, I can't beat her." ”

"Then I will become a magician as powerful as my mother in the future. Little Constantine looked at his mother with a look of adoration that he had never seen before.

However, Constantine, who was in the midst of excitement, did not notice it, and a trace of melancholy seemed to flash in his father's eyes.

It seems like a long time ago.