It was the end of June when Donner and his party returned to the province of Tris, and even if you count the six days from the city of Cohenas to the northern cliffs, the return journey still took a full five days longer than the outgoing journey.

Nearly a month before the end of the Martial Demon Festival, the Divine Elements of the Donner Water and Fire Sect were already close to six hundred, and it was expected that in about ten days, he would be able to be promoted to a high-level magic apprentice like Wesley. In terms of magic models, he did not relax in the slightest, in addition to learning the twin magic of the blazing meteor and the thirty-eight yuan water system magic frost and ice rain, he also raised the three defense magic of the earth and wind system to the level of twenty-four yuan of middle-level apprentice magic.

Since Donner learned magic, he has been facing the problem that the promotion is too fast, the time is too short, and it is simply not enough to build a rich magic system, but at this point in time, before he was promoted to a high-level magic apprentice, he finally made up the mid-level magic to the point that there were no obvious loopholes.

At this time, Donner's mastery of offensive and defensive magic, not looking at the quantity, but only the quality, has finally reached the level of an ordinary mid-level magic apprentice.

If you consider the total amount of perverted Divine Elements that he has cultivated in the five systems (the total number of Divine Elements has exceeded the promotion standard of a first-level magician), and the power bonus of the Perfect Divine Element. Even against a higher-level magician, Donner is afraid that he already has the strength to fight.

However, in ten days, this situation will change, and when the time comes, he will become a high-level magic apprentice who can only use mid-level magic.

With the rate at which the Donna's Water and Fire systems increased by four Divine Elements every day, he would only stay for a hundred days at the stage of a high-level magic apprentice, that is, between six hundred Divine Elements and one thousand Divine Elements. And with the difficulty of high-level apprentice magic, I'm afraid that this hundred days is only enough for him to learn three kinds of magic.

If anyone knew that Donner was fretting about his promotion too quickly, he would be so angry that he vomited blood. Except, of course, for Wesley, who has been facing the same problem lately.

The news that Donner had won the second place in the Martial Demon Festival had already reached the province first. When the group entered the gate of the Academy of Magic, several professors left behind in the Academy of Magic were lining up with all the students of the school to greet them.

After witnessing the dean and professors getting off the carriage one after another, everyone realized that Donner was not in the carriage, only Wesley waved to the welcoming team, looking victorious and high-spirited.

And Donner was riding in Roger's carriage on his way to the Knight Academy. In order to avoid a possible welcome event at the Academy of Magic, he had taken a leave of absence from Dean Devis in advance.

When Donner arrived at the Knight Academy, it was still normal training time, and the school gate was closed and no outsiders were allowed to enter.

Roger had his own way of doing this, and it took a while for him to go in before Richard and Kelly ran out with excitement on their faces.

"Brother, Kelly, she had to go back to the dormitory and change her skirt before she came out...... I'm dying. Is it true that they said you won second place at the event?" asked Richard happily as he rushed up to give his brother a strong hug.

Kelly's face was slightly red when Richard said it, but she still couldn't help but say, "Silly boy! Of course it's true, even Big Brother Roger said it just now." ”

Looking at her current tone, it seems that in front of Richard of the same age, she has already regarded herself as a sister-in-law.

Donner took out the silver poppy medal from his bosom, handed it to Richard, and said with a smile: "Well, the king put it on me with his own hands, and now I believe it, right?"

"Brother, I'm going to win a piece of the same too, and I'll give it to you when the time comes!" Richard carefully took the medal, looked at it over and over again, and then suddenly said, "So, now I'm going back to training." Brother, talk to Kelly, we'll see you in the lab in the evening!"

After saying that, Richard really turned around and left. Donner couldn't help but shake his head, wondering if his brother's move was intentional.

Kelly's face became even redder, her hands pinched the corners of her clothes, her eyes didn't know where to look, and she asked softly, "Is the road going well?"

"Well! Donner looked at the girl's shy appearance, and his heart was relieved, so he took the initiative to say: "Kelly, you can walk with me, I haven't visited Doen City yet." ”

At this time, it was summer, and the girl in the white dress always fell half a step behind the young man in cloth, looking at her feet for a while, and then glancing at the side face of the young man in front of her with her spare eyes.

The sun shone down behind them, casting the shadows of the boy and girl in front of each of them, and the two of them stepped on their own shadows and walked leisurely through the city of Dorne, talking about the trivial matters since their separation, consciously or unconsciously. Regarding that huge event, no one took the initiative to mention it.

Seeing that there seemed to be sweat running down the girl's sideburns, the boy stretched out his hand when there was no one around, not to help her wipe it, but to casually sway the ice and snow in the sky, which was a weakened version of the frost and rain of water magic.

In the midst of this colorful coolness, the girl suddenly stood still, reached out to catch a snowflake, and looked at the boy with a smile, and the latter's smiling eyes were also looking at her, looking at each other, and time seemed to stand still.

The boy took out a necklace of agate stones from his arms, and the girl bowed her head obediently, and the flush that flew from her cheeks had already dyed her neck red, reflecting the agate necklace she had just put on even more crystalline.

"I bought it in the imperial capital, do you like it?"

"Hmm!"

The boy took the girl's hand and continued to roam in this summer afternoon. The weak and boneless little hands were already covered with sweat.

Before the girl knew it, she had leaned over and grabbed the boy's arm with her other hand.

The sun shines through the snow and ice that is still falling, casting a rainbow behind the two of them.

"I went to the North Fall Cliff and saw the Knights Federation. ”

"Hmm. ”

"If one day I go to the Magic Continent......"

"Will you come back, then?"

"Yes. ”

"Then I'll wait for you. ”

"What if I don't come back?"

"If you say you'll come back, you'll definitely come back. ”

……

At night, the dwarf laboratory.

The dwarf sisters, who had been thrown away for more than a month, intervened and pouted, looking unhappy.

"Hmph. Before leaving, I didn't even assign tasks, which is too irresponsible!"

"That's it, there's nothing for a month and a half, and we're all suffocated to death!"

"Aren't you genius engineers, you should be able to set your own goals and design your own experiments. Donner said with a smile.

"We designed a lot of experiments ourselves, and we mixed all the metals in the lab, but what was the use. Elemanda said as she crumpled a piece of wire, and as soon as she let go, the wire returned to its original form.

"yes, yes, what's the use, Manda is just making toys and wasting materials!"

"Mia, didn't you say you were looking for other magic alloys?"

"You're a sister, why should you put the blame on your sister?"

"The credit is divided equally, why should Manda bear the responsibility alone?"

……

Donner, Richard, Kelly, and Idarua all quietly leave the lab, leaving the two sisters to continue their arguments.

"Did you meet Cynthia Vader in the Imperial Capital this time?" Aidaroa asked.

"Yes, there's a dwarf who looks a lot more serious than you. Donner replied.

Aidarua didn't talk back, but continued to ask, "What did she tell you?"

"Don't mention some headless words. Donner shrugged.

Adarua frowned, but no one else could see the change in his face.

Richard and Kelly have trained for more than a month in Adarua, and they have completely surpassed the level of students in their same year at the Knight Academy.

In order to thank the dwarves for their help, after dinner, in front of the dwarf sisters, Donner drew detailed drawings of all the gear forms he could think of, and finally even drew a simple reduction gearbox on this basis.

Looking at such a large pile of drawings, the two sisters were as excited as thieves who had broken into the king's treasury.

***

For as long as Dinorant could remember, his father had been sick, and when he was eighteen years old, the old baron finally died and passed the hereditary title and a small fief to Dinor. In his eighteen years of life, Dino had never set foot on the island named after his family's surname.

For Tino, who had been living in Darren City, the largest city in the western part of the empire, the only point of that island was to provide a pitiful little tax every year. If it weren't for his uncle, Viscount Soth, this tax alone would not be enough for him to spend. For this reason, his aunt and cousins always did not look good at him. Fortunately, for this kind of life under the eaves, Dino has long been accustomed to it.

However, this has changed a bit recently. My aunt didn't know what she heard from one of her best friends, saying that the soldiers of the Thorn Empire were pressing the border, and war was about to break out.

If the news is true, then Darren City must bear the brunt of it, becoming the first city to face the enemy's iron hoof.

In this increasingly panicked atmosphere, Dino suddenly felt that his aunt's tone of voice to him had become more and more gentle recently, and even his cousins no longer deliberately avoided him as they had done in the past.

It wasn't until last night, when his uncle solemnly told him about the family's decision, that Dino knew what all this was for.

I'm afraid the war is not a rumor - the latest news, at the martial arts festival held in the imperial capital, a player actually injured the second prince of the Thorn Empire, the national teacher of the Thorn Empire, Mage Clark, and threatened to make the Femon Empire pay the price on the spot.

And the news that all commercial activities are prohibited on the border between the two countries is ironclad evidence that war is approaching.

Therefore, the Soth family is preparing to temporarily leave their fiefdom in Darren City to avoid the possible war, and the destination of the family's migration is Dino's fiefdom in Tris Province, the island of Lante.

This morning, when the neighbors found out that the Manor was empty, the five carriages in which Dino and his uncle's family were riding had already left Darren City for hundreds of kilometers.

Just behind their convoy, five hundred kilometers away, the army of the Thorn Empire officially stepped across the border.

The strings of war that have been tightening on people's heads have finally broken. The Huls continent, which has been peaceful for 19 years, has been smoky again.