The drizzle made it more difficult for pedestrians in the grassland to move, and every step on it was soft mud that absorbed the strength of their legs. The humid air and the uninsulated coolness of clothing break people's wills, and no one can walk in such weather with a positive attitude. The dreary atmosphere is like a maggot of tarsal bones following behind the squad, as if it were rumored to be a slender ghost trailing passers-by in the forest, you can always feel it, but when you turn around, it will never appear in sight.

It had been two days before leaving the range of Tianmu and arriving at the station before the Shale Division, and without the grass and trees and exchanges and heart-to-heart conversations when they went, even if everyone was injured, the team's march speed was still much faster. Under the light and shadow of the campfire, rain-soaked grass stalks occasionally emit a puff of smoke. In order not to be smoked, several people had to stay away, but the warmth brought by the fire could not be passed on to them, so in order to keep warm, they had to lean together.

"Speaking of which, what did you use to make a fire? We didn't see any wood along the way, and the grass alone wouldn't last long. Lothar asked with some curiosity, in the past, there would be various problems soon after the army entered the grassland, and the most restricted of their activities at night was that once the wood brought from the blue lion was exhausted, not to mention the torches, even making a fire at night would be a problem.

"Cow. The prairie is the most ubiquitous and reliable fuel. This kid has a lot on him. The cat lying in Atta's arms, oh no, the cat fairy raised his eyelids slightly and replied, although Batu, who was originally in charge of this, is now in a coma, but this cat fairy who has lived in the grassland can still skillfully complete the task that the guide should have undertaken. In some respects, he did a little better than Batu, but his attitude was much worse than the latter.

Speaking of Batu, the female swordsman looked at the young man lying on the side with some concern, but he still showed no signs of waking up. And not only that, during the time that Batu was unconscious, the eagle he raised, Naren, was also missing. With the relationship between humans and birds, Naren should not have given up his owner and partner so easily. Unless, the eagle's instinct tells it that the human body lying here is no longer the Batu it is familiar with. Combined with the predictions made by the mages before, this is not impossible.

"What do we do next?" the female swordsman asked, perhaps feeling confused about the road ahead, or perhaps uneasy about Batu's relationship.

Neither Lothar nor Kairaz spoke, but the Count did it because he respected the mage, while Kairaz simply didn't like the cold and humid environment. So the task of answering this question falls back to Cheese. The grey robe was silent for a moment, his eyes wandering in the firelight, Batuu, and the rising smoke, and for a long time, after Atta had left a slight mark on his fingernails on his hands, he slowly spoke, "Let's turn back." Send Batu back to his clan first, and ask for a few more horses to go on the road. Now, we can't take him anywhere. ”

"Are you going to give up on him?" said Kailas, who didn't open his eyes, but his ears twitched, "Sending this kid back to their clan would be a death sentence." The steppe does not raise useless people, and even if his merits make the tribesmen willing to support him for a while, they will soon forget about the benefits he brings and regard him as a burden to the tribe. This has nothing to do with feelings, any prairie person would do this, because this damn reality of this hellish place, no, it should be said that this world is damn reality. ”

When the other two heard this, they turned their eyes to Cheese, the face of the gray robe was obscured by the hood, and the shadow cast by the campfire obscured his features, and his expression could not be seen, "Those insects went downstream along the river. If you want to keep up with them, you can't take someone with you who can't walk on your own. Batu is faint now, no one knows where the river leads downstream, maybe it won't cause any problems, maybe the bugs will infect a tribe or more. ”

"What's the use of catching up? Don't forget how the knight over there was pulled down to the ground before, the whole grassland is that thing's sphere of influence, and even if you catch up with those bugs, he can stop you completely. You try to confront Him, and you fail, completely. It won't make a difference if you do it again. And next time, there won't be someone like this kid by your side to help you get away with your life. The cat goblin raised her head slightly, her eyes open with a reflection of fire.

The mage still hung his head, letting the taunts of his companions rain down on him, "Batu had hit the worm hard, at least a little wounded. If we want to attack His Son, now is the best time, and when He recovers, we will have no chance at all. And even if I wanted to help him now, I couldn't do anything. Rather than stagnating in this period, it is better to move everything in the most efficient direction. In this way, even if Batu really made any mistakes, we did not fail his efforts. ”

"He's not paying for this, he's not paying for you. But he saved you and saved us all. So we also have an obligation to do our best to help him. Instead of treating people like tools, treat them in the most efficient way you say they are. We are not tools, the world is not a machine made by you wizards, you objectify everything as if you are out of the world, everything in the world is a building block in your hands, you can take whatever you want. Don't you still understand that this is wrong?"

"Kailas. Lothar whispered a rebuke to the cat elf, interrupting his questioning, "You can say these things to any wizard, but not to him. You don't know what this gray robe in front of you has done, what he has saved, the world is not a tool in his eyes, it was not in the past, and it will not be in the future. ”

"Then he's running away. Throw away all his emotions, troubles, torments, these things that he can't handle, and put his reason into reason and think he is smart. No matter how much people like him give, they can afford to pay, because as soon as the problem is beyond their scope, they will immediately become rational bystanders. Yes, they seem to be very sensible, better than most of us. But they just put a new net on themselves. ”

Lothar looked like a retort, but Cheese held out his hand to stop him, "Don't argue." He's right. ”

Silence descended again around the campfire.

"When will this rain stop? ”