Nicole and Quintina were buried by Carl at the foot of Spirit Peak. Now that Lingfeng is gone, Na Shen has destroyed the peak, making Lingfeng look like a broken spear, but it is still the highest peak in the continent, incomparable.

Ian finds Nicole's grave, and Carl doesn't know her name, but uses a bouquet of flowers to separate her from the rest of the grave. It was a bouquet of unknown wildflowers, but it was quite beautiful, with pale red petals and dew hanging from them. Ian thought that if Nicole was still alive, he would be able to tell him the name of the flower. She's always been like this, as if she knows everything.

But did she know that she was going to leave this world in such a way? She was newly married, and she didn't have to be involved in this mission.

But she came anyway. But that's fine, if it's just Dennis gone, she will feel sad and lonely alive. Just like himself, Ian knows exactly what it's like to be left alone, as if abandoned by the whole world.

Nicole Constance. It was her name, and when they first met, she told Ian that her name was Nicole Catherine, which was her mother's name, and she resented her father, so she was reluctant to use the same surname as him, until she learned the truth about the departure of Lister Constance many years ago.

Ian carved the name on a simple tombstone, and in fact he had to try to keep his emotions in check so that his hand holding the dagger didn't tremble too much. He still remembered the first time he met Nicole, the feathered arrow she threw at him in a life-or-death situation, the slightly flushed face, and the look of pretended composure.

How could such a living person die?

"No one is safe from death. ”

These were the last words that the former Elven Queen said to him before she died, and he didn't quite understand it at the time. But as time passed, the people around me left one after another. He was able to understand the weight of those seemingly simple words.

A lot of the time Ian wondered if the dragon hadn't woken up, wouldn't he have kissed him directly? But Ian knew that if it hadn't happened, he wouldn't have left the Messiah, and Dennis would have been a better fit for Nicole than he was.

"Live well in another world with Dennis. Ian said to the tombstone, "I hope there are no dragons and no hunters in that world." ”

After saying this, Ian didn't know what to say. Even after too much separation, he was still a little at a loss, and after nearly a quarter of an hour of silence, he whispered, "I'm leaving, Nicole." ”

Time froze, and Nicole's figure emerged from the tombstone little by little. She was still as pretty as she remembered, smiling at Ian as if she had come to life. But the wind could no longer blow her hair, and the fine rain passed through her.

Ian gave her one last look and turned to leave. The familiar figure behind him dissipated in the wind and rain little by little.

Farewell, Nicole.

......

Leaving Nicole's tombstone, Ian remembered that he hadn't gone to see Quintina yet. The woman who believed that she would win before she died, was actually dragged down by herself. If she and Aris hadn't been on the team, if she had never known herself, then she would at least be alive and well.

But then, when Ian is determined to take revenge on the royal family, she will become her own enemy. It's fate, for Quintina, Ian feels more guilty than anything else.

It's just that he didn't go back, and he couldn't face Nicole's tombstone again. So he just turned his head and looked in the direction of Lingfeng for a long time, which was regarded as a remembrance of Kuntina. Of course, not only Quintina, but also the hunters who died at Lingfeng, although they did not know each other, they were always the same kind of people in the war against the dragons.

......

After leaving Lingfeng, Ian hadn't figured out where he should go. If memory serves, this was the first time he had acted alone, excluding the days he had spent from Alder to the port of Sofia.

From following the Crusaders into the Great Snow Mountain to leaving the Burial God Desert alive, he was not alone. But now, the companions who used to be with him are leaving one by one. Only Grimm and Bowen, who were returned to the imperial capital by him, are left behind, and he is getting stronger and stronger, but there are fewer and fewer people by his side.

He had to think of what the Messiah had said to him: "You may not have realized that you have been on a path called "Hero", so your experience, your suffering, is much more than ordinary people. You gain a lot and you lose a lot of things, and that's something you have to go through along the way. But by the time you're done on this path, you'll be a real hero. ”

Hero? It's a ridiculous word, maybe only children take it as a religion. Ian never believed in the existence of heroes, but the Messiah told himself that he was becoming a hero.

Among the kings of thorns, the only one who can be called a hero is Perseus, who led the human race to win the war against the dragons, and is worthy of the name of a hero.

The later princes, although their achievements are not low, are all the best in the confrontation with the dragon clan, but compared with Perseus, they are all a lot worse.

Did the Messiah wish he had become a hunter like Perseus? But Perseus did not end well, he abandoned his wife, children, and companions, and went to the elves alone, leaving the Terrans alive.

Does being a hero mean that you will also become a person like Perseus, who will be lonely forever?

Ian was in a trance at the thought of this, and he didn't even notice a convoy coming towards him. By the time he noticed, the convoy was already in sight.

Ian glanced at the people in the carriage and was about to avoid it, but felt that something was wrong.

He smelled blood.

The lead groom was a man with a hat on his head, and he kept his head down at all times to keep Ian from seeing his face. But Ian was sure that he had weapons hidden in his coat. The weapon was stained with blood, and the smell of blood reached Ian's nostrils through his coat and the wind and rain.

Ian glanced at him coldly, and the groom's body trembled unconsciously, only increasing the amount of whipping to make the horse run faster.

Just then, Ian heard a slight cry for help, and he stopped.

"Stop. Ian said coldly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the horse pulling the cart seemed to be frightened, and refused to take a step forward, no matter how much the groom whipped.