，

As the carriage went all the way to the west, but directly in the direction of the city gate, Char had some doubts in his heart, rode his horse to catch up with a few steps, parallel to the carriage, and asked, "Uh...... Excuse me, did the Duke invite me out of the city?"

The coachman named Luo Di smiled slightly and said loudly: "Yes, it is outside the city, go out of the city gate and go south, and it will be there in about another hour." After a pause, he glanced at Char and said with a smile: "That is the annex of the duke's house, and in Pingrì, the duke is recuperating in the courtyard." ”

Char nodded, but frowned: "If you go out of the city, depending on the current time, I'm afraid I won't be able to return to the city tonight after meeting the Duke." ”

The gates of Osgilia are closed at night, unless you have a special official pass to enter and exit, but where does Char have that kind of thing? If you go out so late, I'm afraid that you won't be able to return to the city tonight.

"Huh. Lord Baron is worried about this?" Roddy smiled: "There are a lot of accommodations in the courtyard, can there be no place for you to rest?" ”

At last, going out from the magnificent city gate to the west, passing the stone bridge over the artificial river, and then all the way south, through a grove of trees, the road gradually became deserted, and the sky was already getting dark, except for the occasional flickering lights of some villages in the distance, and other than that, the land was pitch black.

Along a road all the way to the south, the terrain gradually flattened, in the distance, I saw a hillside, in the middle of the mountain is a manor building, the hillside is not high, but the place in the middle of the mountain seems to be suddenly cut into a flat land, along a large road uphill, the flat terrain of the halfway up the mountain also bloomed about a hundred paces wide lawn and flower beds, and the manor is surrounded by this flower garden.

Standing on the hillside and looking into the distance, you can see the vast sea from a distance, this hillside is only a few hundred meters away from the coast, and there is a faint sound of waves blowing along the sea breeze.

Dismounted at the gate of the manor, Char looked at the tall building in front of him and couldn't help but have some doubts in his heart.

If this is the Duke's retreat, but it is already night, and when you look up, the manor is pitch black - is there no light in the Duke's house at night?

Moreover, the outside of this courtyard is deserted, and the flower garden is obviously a little dilapidated, which is not to mention...... There was still a bit of dust on the steps of the manor's gate, and even the corners of the steps were covered with a layer of turquoise moss...... In this duke's house, there are not even gardeners and servants who tidy up the flower beds?

This gate is deserted, not to mention the guards, not even a servant to greet the horse!

So deserted and dilapidated, where is it like the residence of a high-ranking imperial duke?!

When Char saw it, he immediately felt a little nervous, holding the hilt of the sword at his waist in his hand, and staring at that Roddy with his eyes.

Roddy jumped out of the carriage, jumped up the steps in a few steps, slammed hard at the gate a few times, and shouted: "Hey, open the door, open the door, I'm back!"

These words are shouted without the slightest rules of a large family, let alone a dignified duke's house, I am afraid that in a small aristocratic family in the countryside, no servant dares to shout so unruly!

Char's doubts deepened in his heart, and his eyes narrowed into a line.

The door of the manor was opened with a creak, and a head poked out from inside, and a middle-aged woman who looked at Luo Di and frowned slightly, then opened the door and said coldly: "Why did you come back." ”

Luo Di tilted his head: "I met a few caravans crossing the border at the city gate, and I waited in line for a while. After speaking, he turned back and pointed at Char: "Well, this is the guest invited, Lord Baron Char." ”

After speaking, Luo Di raised his hand at Char and said with a smile: "Lord Baron, my task is complete, you can please come in." ”

The woman with a stern expression inside looked at Char with a scrutinizing gaze, and then seemed to be a little unhappy and dodged away.

Char looked at the gate, the light was dim, cold and deserted--there was some hesitation in his heart: there are too many doubts in this place, and that Luo Di said that it was the duke's courtyard, I am afraid that these words are all lies! How could a dignified imperial duke live in such a place...... Hum!

Don't...... What kind of enemy tricked you into coming here?

But looking up, a badge on the gate of the manor, the totem pattern, looks quite old, the raised part of the metal badge has faded, but the pattern of the badge is the family emblem of the Minas family!

The family crest of the Minas family, Char had seen it in Ruhr, but this one could not be faked. Moreover, the family emblem on the gate looks very old, and it is by no means a temporary disguise.

All right...... Although there were strange things everywhere here, Char finally took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, glanced at the Roddy, and still walked up the steps.

No matter what, having come to this place, whether it is a blessing or a curse, you can't hide from it.

If someone really set up a whole set up here to deal with themselves, they have walked to the gate, and now they turn around and run, it's too late. If people can set up an ambush in the house, can't they catch up? At this moment, there is not much point in running again, it is better to be cross-minded and go in and see what is going on!

He touched the hilt of the sword casually, and then reached into his arms with his other hand, and Char regretted it a little in his heart.

He thought he had come to see the Duke of Minas, but he didn't have dragon scales with him, and he didn't bring his fire fork with him, and now he was wearing just an ordinary long sword, and his body was just a warrior's brocade robe.

Despite thinking so, Char strode up the stairs and walked towards the door.

The indifferent woman flashed to the side, Char saw the other party's appearance clearly, this woman was wearing a black robe, the robe was old-fashioned and conservative, as if it was the clothes of those nuns in the church, plus this woman's stereotypical expression - she couldn't really be a nun, right?

The woman was holding a candlestick in her hand and threw it coldly at Char: "Come with me, don't walk around." ”

Watching the woman walk down the hall, Char had to follow. After only two steps, the door behind him creaked and slowly closed.

This hall is very spacious, but it is also obviously old, there is a faint smell of ** dust in the air, and the chairs in the middle of the hall have obviously not been cleaned, and they are covered with a layer of white cloth to block ash. There is a stepped staircase on each side leading to the second floor.

The hall was not lit, but by the candlelight in the hand of the woman in front of me, I could barely see the outline of the surroundings, this hall was very high, it was a hollow and high space, and the fence on the second floor could be clearly seen from the stairs on both sides, and in the middle of the hall, there were several metal lampposts more than one person high erected around it, but it was obvious that the lamp holders above were about to rust.

Beneath my feet was a soft, fine carpet, but along the way, it was noticeably dusty.

Char's doubts in his heart became more and more intense, and the jǐng in his heart mentioned the highest, pressed the hilt of the sword tightly with one hand, walked up quickly, and followed closely behind the woman, and paid attention in his heart, once something happened, he would take down this woman first as soon as possible!

The woman walked in front, not caring about Char's actions in the slightest, she did not lead Char to the stairs on either side, but went straight inside, to the depths of the hall, through a round arched hall door...... The two walked out of the hall, and after that, through a corridor, at the end of the corridor, the woman finally stopped, glanced back at Char, seemed to be a little dissatisfied, and frowned: "What are you doing so close to me." ”

Char didn't answer, just looked at the other party coldly.

A hint of disgust flashed in the woman's god, and then she pushed open the door at the end of the corridor with one hand: "Oh, it's inside." ”

Char looked out the door, took two steps out of the door, and the woman stood in the door, and suddenly added: "Don't be too long!

After saying that, she actually closed the door!

Char was stunned for a moment, and at this moment, his heart immediately lifted!

Outside the door, here is a garden. Obviously, the house of this manor is in the shape of a ring, this garden is in the atrium of the building, at a glance, the area is very large, a width of a hundred steps, the feet are soft soil, the garden is planted with bushes and bushes, and there are some obvious lack of pruning and look messy holly trees, in the surrounding circle, there is a flower garden on the ground, but at this time, there are no blooming flowers, it looks dilapidated, the black soil in the flower garden, just so ** naked exposed there.

Char looked at it at a glance, but was relieved, the terrain of this place is not complicated, obviously there are not many holly trees, if it is an ambush, there are really not a few ambushes here.

At this moment, Char has already determined in his heart that what is waiting for him here is definitely not the Duke of Minas!

He was not polite at all, he gently pulled out the long sword and put it in his right hand, and slowly walked into the atrium garden step by step, and then looked around, and said coldly: "Hey! Is there a living person?

He shouted twice in a row, and after looking around, he finally fixed his eyes in the direction of the slightly taller row of holly trees in the distance—there was only one place in this courtyard where people could hide!

Sure enough, just as Char was looking intently, the holly tree suddenly shook, and the green shrub seemed to be alarmed by something, shook slightly, and a figure flashed out from behind the tree.

Then a little starlight, the figure was tall, and from a distance, the head was only afraid of himself, a long and thin shadow.

Char walked two steps closer, but suddenly saw the person in the distance wiping his two hands, as if some kind of tool to start a fire, and with a bang, a flame came out.

The man held a candle in his hand and carefully lit it, and under the candlelight, a familiar face looked at Char with a happy smile. The face was faintly excited, the eyes seemed to be resentful, there was a shallow smile on the corner of the mouth, and there were two bright lights in those eyes.

"Hey, turtle, don't you recognize me?"

As soon as Char saw the other party's appearance clearly, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and then he became ecstatic.

"You...... Poor worm?!"