"So, where should I go?"

"Look here, my child. The old man re-lit the lamp, drew a yellowed map from his skin, and gestured with his hand to Bellmond, "This is the place that originally marked South Swadia, now called Rhodok. However, in the earliest days, a large family of the ancient Karad Empire ruled the land, and it fell here. Its Shadow Guardian moved into the mountains with his people, calling themselves the People of the Free. Hundreds of years later, we will call them the hill tribesmen - perhaps, the leader of the hill people knows the story of the Shadow of the Autumn Leaves and can tell you who the Shadow of the Autumn Leaves of your generation is. ‘

"This is the story that has been passed down for centuries in the Calradia Chamber of Commerce and Taverns, the Free People of the Southern Lands. His hand pointed fixedly to the south of the continent of Calradia, traversing the sunrise and sunset and raging snowstorms. To the south, the mountains stretched like dragons across the vast land. Two ancient Calad scripts from the vicissitudes of the ages are marked on one side of the mountains: Sailen.

In another room, Blake was in a nightmare, dreaming of his grandfather, a bronzed, barefoot, unsmiling old man, silently walking through the Celen Mountains, but his steps grew larger and larger, and finally disappeared into the mountains and the wind and snow.

A month later, the lands of the South. Heavy snow covered the Serun Mountains in the beginning of winter, and the majestic mountains and rivers slept like a glittering dragon on the land of the Duchy of Rhodok, connecting the "unspoiled city" of Fort Aramé and the two remote and desolate mountain villages of Seren and Serenmis. "Sailen" means "two-handed sword" in the ancient language of the hill tribes, who believed that the majestic mountains were the sword of creation left behind by Freinhardt. And "Mis" means scabbard - it is said that if you can fly into the stars and get a bird's-eye view of the earth, you will find that Selenmis is exactly a quarter of the way in the Celem Mountains, which is exactly the proportions of the scabbard of a hill tribe sword.

It's noon. On a silent snow trail. A detachment of Rhodok patrols came in the distance, creaking neatly on the fluffy pine needles and snowdrifts. It was a lean team of Rhodok marksmen and veteran Rhodok spear-wielding soldiers, each with a cold helmet pinned to his waist, warm and comfortable animal skins and cotton cloths tied to his hands and feet, and ten fingers with two layers of leather gloves firmly grasping a light white wooden crossbow and a military hoe, and patrolling the white mountain terrain.

"Sir Sheld. A spear-wielding soldier with long black hair and only half an ear said, "Such a ghostly weather. My tribesmen will not disobey Rhodok's orders and run down the forbidden hilltop. Why are we swaying around here?"

"Bannock, I heard that your father was in the battle for independence 24 years ago. Sniped 13 Swadians for protecting Cyren. Sheld, the sharpshooter with a huge shield on his back, said with a blazing eye, "And you, at the cost of your right ear, have bought the lives of two Swadian thieves." You are an outstanding Rhodok warrior. None of us think of you as a mountain man. "He's a middle-aged man with fiery red hair. The eyebrows flew diagonally into the sideburns, and the shimmering details revealed shrewdness and conceit.

"You are wrong, sir. I'm a hill tribesman. I was born to slash with both hands. Bannock's eyes drooped, he had a standard mountain wheat-colored face, a desolate beard, his features were as hard as a knife, and a deep wrinkle between his eyebrows showed his ill-fated nature. "If I hadn't lost my sword. I won't have my ears cut off. ”

"Now there are no mountain people, only the Great Rhodok. You're already a Rhodoc. That's why I didn't starve to death like those fools. "Anyway, you should understand that we are shuttling back and forth in this wind and snow so that more Rhodoks can safely sit in front of the fireplace of their own homes, drinking Viruga wine and making innocuous jokes, without worrying about being burned down and killed by the sudden arrival of Swadian bastards and barbarians." ”

At this moment, the scout of the detachment suddenly made a quiet gesture towards them—they saw in the distance a slow-moving old carriage winding its way up the mountain road, like an ant slowly climbing over the snowy mountains.

"This is the land of the free, Rodok!" the Rhodok soldier cried coldly, threatening the carriage with his crossbow bolts to stop its advancing wheels, forcing the snow-covered coachman to rein in the reins of his horse and stop on the mountainside for questioning.

"Master Jun, I'm a native of Sailen. The coachman was a fat-headed, fat-brained, goofy-looking teenager, with a few stern abrasions on his honest round face, and it seemed that he had gone through many unfortunate fights, "I am the child of a poor peasant, and I took my poor father to the hill tribes to beg for cheap herbs. ”

"You're still at the foot of the mountain, and I smell the Nords mixed with the fishy stench of sea fish, boy. Bannock scoffed. "And the smell of kujits and horses - this qiē is as disgusting as your lies full of holes. ”

"Don't you know that the road leading to the hill tribes has been ordered to be impassable, and any attempt to move forward will be punished by Rhodok. Hearing the delicate underwear peeking out from under the boy's old clothes, he sneered and jumped into the carriage, pointed at the cabin with the trigger of the crossbow arrow, and said, "If the people inside don't come out for ten seconds, this crossbow will pierce your head." ”

The soldiers were well-trained to draw their one-handed weapons and put them on the young man's neck, but he did not panic and looked at the Rhodok people steadily, "Master Jun, we have exchanged Guan Wen, and we are here from the avenue. ”

"We have fifteen checkpoints from Sailen to the hill tribes, and every one of them needs to be rechecked, even if it's the last one. ”

"Is it Brother Sheld......" An old hand lifted the curtain to reveal Odesken's dejected face, "I think you should remember me, the year before last, I brought the spirits of the steppe people from Kugit to Fort Aramme as a witness to the friendship of the Kugit Khanate. There, we used to mix the wines of Viruga with the spirits of Kurmar and create a drink mixture that would make the old man feel so good. ”

"Ah...... Yes, how did you become like this?" Shelder smiled slightly, and continued unhurriedly, but his eyes scanned the cramped carriage with burning eyes, and waved for Bannock to come forward and take a look.

"It's a long story, I'm afraid you don't have the patience to listen to long stories. Odysken exhaled hard, "And don't let your big guy squeeze me, this compartment is so small that I can only pose one position all the time, and I'm going to fall apart when he stuffs it in......"

Bannock's back stiffened, his hands resting firmly on Odersken's seat, his expression solemn and hesitant—the unkind-faced Rhodok soldiers surrounded him like an iron wall, and more than a dozen light crossbows creaked and opened to the old man in the carriage.

Odersken laughed and said, "It is said in our chamber that a good mountain man has a nose like a dog and can smell the smell of the oak plank. ”

"That's just a boring lie, old fellow. Bannock jumped out of the car with a black face, shaking his head to indicate that nothing had been found. Shielded stepped forward silently, looked at Bannock uncertainly, raised his hoe and prepared to pound the inside of the carriage.

Odesken's eyes widened, and his boy turned his head to sneer, "Sir, can such a small car hide a dog or a cat?"

"Yes, Brother Odysken, such a small carriage really has to squeeze your old bones apart. Shelde laughed, put down his hoe and handed his wine bag to the driver, "Boy, I don't care what you're here for, don't make trouble for everyone." Otherwise, you know that a skilled Rhodok marksman's crossbow can shoot through your head from half a mile away - take my wine and warm up, and get out of here. Don't think about going to the mountain tribes, just stay halfway up the mountain and see if you have any luck bumping into one or two mountain people who are still rushing back. ”

An old man and a young man set up a carriage and walked away with a thousand thanks. Shelder ordered his fellow patrol men to continue the final round of the mountain, but he noticed that Bannock, the mountain man, was dragging his weapon in a daze, as if he were preoccupied.

"Sir, listen to what they say. It occurred to me that I hadn't been back to the tribe in a long time. Bannock's eyes flushed, but his teeth chattered, "It's on the top of the mountain, but I never looked back." ”

"Today our mission is coming to an end. Sheldt smiled meaningfully, "And the veteran spearman Bannock will be on a new mission alone, to the top of the mountain to see if any damned Swadians will come to our territory to spread wild." ”

The mountain man complied, and departed with a gloomy expression. He walked into the snow-swept mountain road, looked at the hundreds of black stone houses looming from the top of the mountain, and muttered to himself, "Haven't you escaped, Blake Shipper?"

And Sheld, step after step, walked down the cliff, and suddenly became very suspicious. He beckoned his brothers to come down the cliff to inspect the ruts that had not been hidden by the wind and snow, and his face became extremely gloomy as he looked at the deep track of the wheels, and turned his head to look at the ridge where the wind and snow were raging.

In the Sailen Mountains, the fluttering mountain wind swayed the faint and weak old song on the top of the mountain, which was light and insignificant, like a song in a dream:

"My ancestors came from the sea of Karad,

Philae has given us freedom, glory and sword,

We will never give in, like hard iron,

We are eternally faithful like the immortal mountain,

We love freedom forever, like an unruly sword,

In the name of the hill tribes, sue sù you,

Rhodok, we are the land of freedom!"

To the sound of singing, the carriage on the snow trail galloped towards the top of the mountain in the snow, stumbling and leaving crooked ruts in the snow. A black-dressed, white-veiled teenager held the reins tightly, and a crying voice echoed above Ceren, "Grandpa, I'm back!"

At the same moment, at the entrance of the village of Serenmis, three knights in black cloaks stepped on the snow, hanging spears dripping with the blood of the Rhodoks, and looked in the direction of the Celem Mountains in the distance. (To be continued......)