When the bell of the Clock Tower Square had struck twelve times, King Odryk, who had hurried to the place, stood on a high platform in the middle of the square and celebrated with the people of Slom to announce the end of the winter solstice celebration.

With a long early snowfall, winter has quietly arrived.

On the butcher street north of Slom, several shops cooking pork are about to close, and the smell of barbecue and liquor is pungent in the sewage-filled streets.

Raymond Brown staggered down the road, drunk and drunk. A cold wind blew, and he crouched on the side of the street against the wall, vomiting violently.

"Damn...... Damn Alva...... Damn Winter's Maiden...... She's a bitch who pretends to be pure...... What bullshit rules ......"

Raymond scolded, vomited for a long time after a burst of nausea, couldn't help but shiver when the wind blew, and his consciousness was a little sober.

He stood up, took a deep breath, and walked in the direction of home.

Under the dim street lamp, an obese figure walked slowly towards him...... It was a fat man with a full beard and a somewhat cloudy eye, and he hobbled with a bottle of inferior liquor in his hand.

Raymond passed him, took a few steps forward and then stopped.

Turning around, Raymond stared at the back of the drunkard fat man, smelling the stench of blood floating on the tip of his nose, he quickly rushed up and punched the fat man in the back of the head.

The thick-skinned fat man stumbled to the ground, cursed loudly and inarticulately, slowly got up, and turned to smash his bowl-sized fist at Raymond.

Raymond was drunk, chanting more slowly than usual, and blasted his fist just before it touched him, knocking the fat man to his back with flames still bubbling from his body.

The fat man rolled on the ground screaming, extinguishing the flames with the foul snow water, and emitting a faint wisp of black smoke from his body.

Before anyone else noticed, Raymond chanted a light-heat cable, and the electric light bloomed in his hand, forming a blue arc rope that was set on the fat man's thigh.

Raymond pulled hard, lifted the fat man with the help of mental power, and threw his fat body into the dark alley on the side.

Putting away the spell, Raymond rubbed the two fingers of his left hand slightly, and a small bright point of light emerged. With the help of illumination, he walked into the alley, and looked indifferently at the fat man lying at the foot of the wall.

"I know you, you're an ogre's subordinate."

Raymond said coldly.

The fat man bared his teeth in pain, and the bones on his body were broken a lot, and he couldn't stand up at all.

"Magician...... I have not offended you, who are you? Don't kill me......"

"You should know the name Gavin Brown." "If you don't know," said Raymond, "I mistook the wrong person and let you die here." ”

The fat man said in horror: "Yes, I know! Master Gavin...... Master Gavin is dead. ”

Raymond suppressed his anger and hatred, making himself look even more cold.

"How did he die? What happened that day? ”

"I don't ......," the fat man shrank in the corner with a shudder, foaming at the blood in his mouth, "I don't know...... The butchers have broken up...... Most of them have been captured in the Royal Security Corps, and Boss Keef and Master Gavin are dead, and that's all I know! ”

Raymond looked at the witness he met unexpectedly, narrowed his eyes slightly, and said with a sneer: "Why do I think you don't know anything?" If you can't tell me something, then I'll have to kill you. ”

"You bastard!"

The fat man roared in despair, suddenly got up and flew at Raymond.

A fire bomb exploded* in the fat man's chest, and he took a few steps backwards before falling into the corner again, looking a little delirious, just swearing extremely ugly words in his mouth.

Raymond walked slowly up to him, looking down at his blood-covered face, without a hint of pity in his eyes.

"Don't kill me...... No...... Kill me......"

The swear words gradually turned into begging for mercy, and the voice became quieter and quieter.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, the fat man said in a weak voice, "Three people...... Three men were captured that day......

"Three?" Raymond crouched down and calmly looked at the fat man's face, "Which three people?" If you want to live, make it clear. ”

The fat man swallowed a mouthful of saliva with difficulty, spat out another wisp of blood, gasped and said, "I don't know their names...... One of them was the enemy who killed the little young master, and the other was a blonde nobleman...... There's also a poor sour bachelor, that's all I know......"

Raymond's eyes flickered, and seeing that the fat man had taken in less air and more out of breath, he said no more, stood up and walked out of the alley.

Before he could get out of the alley, he suddenly burst out laughing wildly, laughing heartbreakingly, laughing like crazy.

I can't kill the knight Husseil Garcia for a while, and I can't go to the famous Alvar Stewart, but the third man ......

"Levi David."

Raymond put away his laughter and gritted his teeth to pronounce the familiar name.

"Ahh

Levi lay on the bed, reached out and pulled the blanket next to the bed onto the quilt, then slipped in and wrapped it tightly.

"It's so cold......"

He closed his eyes, curled up in a ball, listened to the howling north wind outside the window, and suddenly felt the warmth of simplicity but happiness.

He soon fell asleep due to mental exhaustion, but even in his sleep he had restless dreams.

He dreamed that the robule Keef lifted his neck like a rabbit, and behind Keef stood the smiling Curran, who was wearing a black cloak, and between his raised hand, a red flame erupted from the palm of his hand, and a human face was revealed in the flames, and that face was smiling hideously, it was none other than the magician who was killed by Levi's arrow......

Half-asleep, Levi faintly heard the sound of pages turning, and the yellow candle flame dancing softly, illuminating his cabin in a flickering light.

Levi opened his eyes slightly, and was awakened by the faint movement, first in a daze, and then completely awakened, and sat up from the bed.

In an easy chair behind a dark wooden table, a beautiful woman with dark blue skin and blue hair and red eyes was leisurely flipping through Levi's notes, her cheek in one hand and a book in the other, her pointed ears twitching from time to time.

Sensing Levi's gaze of shock, fear, and vigilance, the beautiful woman raised her head and smiled slightly.

"Do you recognize me, Hammurabi's child?"

An extremely ordinary sentence seemed to contain a huge amount of energy, Levi's eardrums seemed to be hit by a heavy hammer, and there was a buzzing sound in his head.

At this time, he realized that there was a terrifying coercion on the woman in front of him, and it was difficult for him to tell whether this was the shock of the superior to the inferior or the impact of the difference in strength, he could only feel that his whole body was weak and his heart was shaken.

With great difficulty, Levi opened his mouth and whispered her name.

"Terella Cleopatra."

Terella, the Queen of Shadows, or the Lord of Frost, raised her eyebrows slightly, and said with a slight dissatisfaction, "Do you like to call her by her name, or do you not know how to be inferior at all?" ”

She only showed a very subtle emotion, but it made Levi feel extremely stressed, which was not only psychological, but also mentally deterred.

"You are the Queen of the Shadow Country, the witch of pain and pleasure, and the Queen of Shadows in the Dome...... Please forgive my faux pas. ”

A fine layer of cold sweat broke out on Levi's back. That night in the suburbs, he did not suspect that the "Frost King" had left the dragon egg, and the mother dragon had gone into hiding somewhere else...... But he had no countermeasures for that matter, and he resolutely held a non-self-reliant and untainted attitude.

How could he have imagined that this "thing" that he didn't know if it was a dragon or a man or a witch or a queen appeared in his bedroom?

It seems that the "rudeness" I heard that day was definitely not an auditory hallucination - what to do? What now? What is she going to do? What should I do?

Levi's mind raced...... Although countless thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, only a few seconds passed in reality.

Tyrella listened to the long list of names that Levi had uttered, lifted her chin noncommittally, and said lightly, "Don't you think it's funny?" ”

Levi was stunned.

Terella looked at his face and suddenly laughed, and the smile was like an iceberg melting, and the sense of intimidation that was pressing on Levi disappeared.

"Isn't it funny that you're saying respectful words to me while you're lying on the bed?"

With a hint of a smile, she uttered it with a hint of sarcasm.

Levi squinted at Terrella and was silent for two seconds, then unhurriedly changed from a half-lying position to a seated position, and said, "You're right, I'm sleeping, and you're reading my notes by the bedside, which is just as funny." ”

"What a clever boy." Terella rested her notebook on her lap, her wrist on her temple, and languidly on her side in her easy chair, "You can see you have a lot of questions. ”

Levi shook his head, he lifted the blanket and quilt, put his feet on the floor, and said, "I don't have any doubts." ”

"Are you so afraid of having anything to do with me?" Terella asked.

"Getting involved with someone who is too old doesn't always end well, especially a woman who is too old." Levi said calmly.

"How dare you talk to me like that, I'm curious." Terella yawned lightly, her eyes cold, "How did you tell I couldn't kill you?" ”

Levi leaned forward slightly, leaned down, and looked Terella in the eye: "It's not that you can't kill." ”

"So you're not afraid of death?"

"If you want to kill, you can kill me once when you come out of the Frost King's egg, you can kill me once when I was sleeping just now, and you can kill me once when you suppress me with your spirit." Levi said, "I can't count how many chances you have to kill me, so there's no need to figure out if you can kill me." ”

He smiled and said, "I'm not going to be killed anyway." ”

Terella said with interest, "Logic full of loopholes, but no loopholes? You're such an interesting young man. ”

"Passing the prize." Levi modestly said, "Ahh ”

Somewhat embarrassed, he went to find his robe, only to find that it was worn by Terella, so he had to pick up the blanket and drape it behind his back.

Terella's red pupils twitched slightly, and her fingertips tapped lightly on Levi's notebook, saying, "I might as well tell you that I've been with you for more than ten days." ”

Levi snorted and said, "From the time the shell was broken?" ”

"Broken Shell......" Terella was silent for two seconds about this statement, not thinking how to refute it, so she nodded.

"Why didn't I notice it?"

"Because it's smaller, you should have seen it once, I can change my body at will, except for this hair that has no beauty at all." Terrella ran her fingertips around her ice-blue hair, glancing at the ends of her hair in disgust or nonchalant.

The corners of Levi's mouth twitched, and he said, "I see." ”

The thought of Terella's shrinking body and not knowing how many of his secrets he had seen made him feel a great headache, but there was nothing he could do.

Speechless for a moment, Levi touched his nose, pointed to Terella's thigh and asked, "Is it good-looking?" ”

The corners of Terella's mouth curled slightly, and she lifted her slender and smooth thighs up a little, revealing a seductive smile.

"What do you say?"

"I think it's pretty good, after all, the notes are all self-created magic."

Levi was embarrassed again, and the "is it good-looking" he asked was referring to the note on her lap, but the tension in his heart made it unclear, which actually made Terella misunderstand......

Terella didn't dwell on it, smiled disapprovingly, and said, "Your idea is very new, and this era is also new......"

She paused, looked Levi's eyes meaningfully, and said, "I don't know what you're going to do, but I know very well that your plan is not small. ”

Levi's eyelids drooped, and he smiled and said, "I thought a personal vendetta was a small thing. ”

After a moment's thought, he looked up, looked at Terella, and said, "Maybe you don't know, I'm probably the only one left in the bloodline of Nightfall. ”

"A lot has happened in the years I've been asleep." Terrella didn't look too surprised.

"I'll tell you a little bit about it." Levi stroked his forehead, "From the end of Saladin's time...... It's a bit of a hassle. ”

Terrella smiled at Levi and said nothing.

Levi cleared his throat and was about to start speaking when he suddenly paused and asked, "After so many days by my side, don't you need to eat?" ”

Terella was stunned for a moment, then held her chin and said, "Even if I wanted to, you didn't seem to be able to provide real food." ”

For the first time, Levi felt a little ashamed of his poverty.

Aina Cooper was a light sleeper, and tonight the wind was so strong that it whined and whistled through the windows, always reminiscent of the devil's cry.

She lifted the quilt and sat up from the bed, draped her coat over her body, and went to the window with an oil lamp.

Dense snowflakes crashed against the window like waves, and Baker Street outside the window had become a white expanse, and the night sky of Slom North seemed to be stuffed with dancing cotton wool......

Aina stepped down from the warm carpet, put on her shoes, and cautiously pushed the door open—her door was opposite her father's room, and the staircase leading to the first-floor bathroom was at the top of the cloister, past a tearoom.

Coming softly to the top of the stairs, Aina was just about to go downstairs when she suddenly heard a voice that was very soft and deep, sometimes mixed with a slightly shrill voice...... It's two people talking.

Aina looked up suspiciously, and looked at the end of the stairs above, where was Mr. Levi's door.

"Does Mr. Levi have any guests?"

Aina whispered to herself, and instead of going downstairs to the bathroom at once, she groped slowly up the stairs, her steps light, the slight creaking of the planks buried in the howling north wind.

She saw a faint candlelight shining through the crack in the door of Levi's room.

She heard a woman's voice.

Most of the time, it was Mr. Levi who spoke, but the content of the speech was difficult to understand, and sometimes it was even mixed with words that did not belong to the common language of the mainland, and the woman would occasionally ask some questions, which were very profound and complex, and Mr. Levi always listened to her quietly, and then answered seriously.

The content of their conversation was beyond Aina's comprehension, but Aina didn't really care. She stood a little distracted for a moment, until the oil lamp in her hand was accidentally extinguished, and then she suddenly came back to her senses.

Following the way she came, Aina slowly walked downstairs. There was still a faint sound of conversation behind her, and her mood was mixed, as if the north wind outside the house had become colder and colder.

("Saladin's first blood is the sun that hangs high in the sky, and the second blood is the night that obscures the earth.") —The First Year of the General History of the Mainland)