The light from the scorching sun Estel tore through the haze like a long sword, and after banishing the mist that filled the plains, the castle jumped out of the shadows, and the backs of the giant monsters towered above the ground. With the sound of sharp chains grinding against the winch as the winch pulled up the iron gate, the Quaids on horseback walked out of the west gate of the fortress in turn.

The glittering silver waves of the river widened a dozen feet in just two days, but fortunately the stone bridge that crossed it was sturdy and tall. During the centurion's questioning, the garrison of the fortress even swore in the names of his father and grandfather that if he wanted to see the stone bridge flooded by the river, it would be unless the snow and ice that had accumulated on the top of the Sauron Mountains had melted, which sounded as absurd as raising the dead.

Monsoon, who poured into the warrior's arms with its gentle steps, was as hot as a tavern maid, and even the Quaids, accustomed to wearing thick clothes, took off their fur cloaks in the warm weather. Perhaps a few days ago they could see traces of unmelted snow in the dry grass, but now, the hot monsoon must have turned them into slurry mixed with black dirt.

The Harusa garrison in the castle was friendly to the Quid warriors, and even presented each of them with a string of wooden ornaments when they left. But everyone knew that this fat man in a fine linen robe was satisfied with the steel coins in the centurion's money bag. In the past few days, he has not only received excess treatment costs, but also cleared out the horses that were about to be retired in the fortress - the centurion of Longinus boldly equipped the Quaid with horses for the Quaids. The only thing that made the fat man a little unhappy was probably the extra young man in the team. In order to obtain the secret of the Quaid's potion, the doctor asked his disciple, a skilled doctor, to join the mercenary team without asking for advice.

The centurion, of course, expected his wounded warriors to be treated, so he welcomed the young man with joy, and even accepted the 'blackmail' of twenty steel coins from the garrison with a smile on his face. It was more like the fat officer of the Annihilation Merchant shaking the fat on his cheeks, and he told the Longinus people with great grief about the difficulty of cultivating doctors. As a result, this guy who went from a soldier to a centurion really thought he had made a profit. Of course, this is because he does not know what it takes to train doctors, and these are usually handled by logistics officers.

The horseshoe collided with the bluestone deck as the group of mercenaries moved farther and farther away from the fortress in accompaniment. When stepping on Chester's territory, the nasty and clingy mud finally disappears from the ground. Wild grasses have grown on the small slopes bathed in the warm monsoon, and even the low bushes have young yellow shoots and playfully emerging branches.

The territory of the city-state of Harusa was very long, like a wooden stick, running north and south to the west of the Duchy of Moulton, so the Quaids on their horses reached the outskirts of the city after nine hourglasses. At this time, the silver moon had just risen from the eastern sky, and in the soft and hazy moonlight of the tulle, the huge and majestic castle was like a giant beast in the shadows of the clouds.

The gates in the castle's doorways, made of heavy iron blocks, had closed, so the Quaids could only wait a dozen yards from the moat. The centurion skillfully tightened the reins of his horse and controlled the horse to trot around in front of the city gate. "Open the door. The Dragoninus roared loudly.

The walls of blue-gray stone were thirty feet high, so the centurion screamed three or four times before a head wrapped in a cowhide helmet came out. "Who is it?" said the fellow, who was dressed in an oversized brown ragged bursaic coat, and clutched a spear in his hand wrapped in his sleeve. The night watchman put his hat on a somewhat slippery one with his other hand, and then shouted in a sarcastic tone like a show-off. "Going into town will have to wait until tomorrow. "The Night's Watch are vassals of the soldiers of Harusa. They have rudimentary weapons and perform poorly in combat, so they can only be used for menial work.

"Untouchables, open your eyes. The centurion replied to the night watch with a louder roar. "I'm an officer of Dragoninus. ”

The Night's Watch shuddered at the roar, then cowered back in fear. "Wait. The little man replied with a feigned toughness. "I'm going to find the gatekeeper. ”

The officer at the east gate of Harusa quickly came out of his dwelling, rubbed his eyes and stood on the wall. "Who is it?" he said, standing on the highest battlement, shaking and unbuttoning the belt of his trousers.

"That's right, I'm the 300th Captain of the Quaid Mercenary Regiment. Please open the door. Seeing that it was an officer who appeared, the tone of the Longinus was obviously more polite. "Me and my men need sleep and food. ”

"Open the door. The officer yawned hard, and then shivered involuntarily in the cool breeze from above, causing the sound of rushing water to come from the moat. He lazily waved at the night watchman behind him, and the group of night watchmen was woken up by his companions. In a muffled invective, the peasants, who were more like farmers, began to twist the winch vigorously. The rusty chains were quickly tightened by the force, and then the iron gates were pulled up with a clattering sound.

On either side of the cast-iron gates are secondary towers protruding from the ramparts, and inside are rope-straightened drawbridges, behind which are two oak gates studded with copper nails. As soon as the drawbridge was lowered, the Quaids clamped the horse's belly and told Lucius to trot with his hooves. As the sturdy warriors drove their horses through the doorway into the castle, the night watchman at the side of the winch, who was pulling up the drawbridge, immediately trembled. They had never seen such a tall warrior, and the thinnest one even fell to the ground, not even knowing that the long stick he was holding had fallen.

"Good evening. Gal squeezed a smile out of his face and said in the stiff lingua franca he had just learned. But his strange appearance scared the Night's Watch half to death, and almost caused the winch to fall off.

"Don't bully these weak guys. The centurion gave a steel coin to the officer, and turned to it with a smile and said in Quaid. "Let's go to the north of the city, where there are your people who have arrived. ”

The officer touched the cool steel coin in his palm with a drowsy finish, and then smiled and blessed the centurion in Cheerster. After receiving the same blessing from the centurion, he returned to his room in the tower and put on his sackcloth cloak.

"Guarding the gate and figuring out the identity of the other party is sure to open it. The officer arrogantly admonished him before putting on his hood and walking cautiously and stealthily towards the brightest part of the city. It wasn't until his figure disappeared that a whisper sounded from the night watch, sounding like an invective, but the others covered the disgruntled person's mouth just in time.

ps: There's one more shift tonight.

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