"Oh, don't be so sad, let's have a drink."

On the edge of the ruins of the outer city of Cadman and the Great Rift Valley of the inner city, the Paliano Knight, who stood here and looked up at the strange, mysterious and magnificent "Astral Creation" above his head, squinted his eyes, and handed a glass of wine to Murphy beside him in a relaxed and pleasant tone.

Despite his smile, Murphy always felt that the guy was looking at him for a joke, and of course it was possible that Murphy was too sensitive.

Because Tris said she wanted to rest, the two men left after a conversation about the Black Plague and came here to enjoy the "night view".

Murphy wasn't in much of a relaxed mood at this point.

He looked at the strange scar on the top of his head, took the wine glass handed by Paliano, and unsurprisingly noticed a few rose leaves on the wine.

"You guy!"

The vampire glanced at the handsome knight lord beside him, and slandered in his heart:

"You're a vampire, aren't you?"

"Actually, you don't have to worry too much about the Black Plague, not to mention that it will take months to brew, and it will take some time to do a tentative attack after it really takes shape.

Because of the huge impact of the Fourth Black Plague, this time all the forces will go all out from the beginning, and the best case scenario is that the Jackals will not be able to cross the filthy swamp and will be routed by the Rangers of all races on the outskirts of the Dark Mountains. ”

Paliano comforted in a gentle tone:

"Because of the painful lesson of the last time, Lord Pa Ying has also decided to move the camp of the Blood Alliance Knights to the Barren Mountains on the outskirts of the Dark Mountains to the line of the Filthy Swamp. We'll be in front of you, and with the Plantagenet Kingdom and Nordtov Kingdom's military support, you'll have a lot less pressure to defend in Translasia.

It's not as bad as you think.

In His Holiness's most optimistic thoughts, it is likely that the Fifth Black Plague will be the same as the second, just a remnant of a Great Black Plague a hundred years later.

Of course, if your territory is still in this bad state after six months, then I don't say it.

It doesn't even need the black tide of gnolls to rush over, as long as the gnolls roaming the Translancia region are mobilized, it will be turned into powder. But I don't think you, my lord, would let that happen? ”

"Of course not."

Murphy rolled his eyes and said:

"Truth be told, I was about to run away with Tracey, and when you're gone, I'll take her and my current people and escape in any direction, six months is enough time for us to escape to the legendary New World.

Whoever loves this place wants it. ”

"Ha, you're really good at laughing, unlike other dull and cunning vampires, I like you, boy."

Paliano laughed and patted Murphy on the shoulder, and said:

"But there's no chance, Lord Pa Ying has noticed you, beautiful Murphy, and if you run now, you will be executed as a deserter."

"I'm just talking."

Murphy sighed and sipped the drink to his lips, the sweet fruit wine mixed with the faint blood that satisfied his vampire cravings.

He looked back at the ruins of the city behind him, and said:

"This is the territory that my warriors and I have worked so hard to obtain, and I will die here. But I need help, Lord Paliano, I need many, many helps, not just supplies. ”

He thought for a moment and said to the lord of Paliano:

"Can you send some instructors to my territory? I can pay them a certain salary, I just need them to help me train the warriors I have gathered in the war against Salokdal.

As you can see, my warriors are brave enough, but they are sorely lacking in tactics and strength. ”

"Well, their courage to die and their tear-making loyalty are rare in my life!"

The knight lord nodded and said:

"Their bravery reminds me of the human heroes who defended their country in the Fourth Black Plague, and I will choose my servants to teach them, but I have a doubt. I've not been here once or twice, so why don't I understand their language at all? ”

Paliano looked at Murphy in surprise and said:

"Where did you find these strange people?"

"They're mountain people!"

Murphy explained with a serious face:

"It was the inhabitants of the wild mountain forest where the Sachs and the Glacier Bay meet, and the locals called them 'savages', whose hometowns were mercilessly burned and destroyed during the three battles of the Sachs in the Ten Years' War.

The surviving tribesmen had to migrate south, and then luckily I met them.

There are many more like them.

It took me a lot of effort to learn their language, and they promised me that they would gather more people to join me. ”

"Oh, ancient mountain people, that makes sense."

Lord Paliano nodded, and he said:

"There are many more mountain people like this all over the mainland, and I have seen them in the northern mountains of Greeney Island. They have indeed inherited the blood of ancient humans, and they dare to hunt the cunning and powerful flying lions with the help of wooden spears, and they have completely different customs and lives from the humans who now claim to be civilized.

But communication is really a big problem. ”

"Use this."

Murphy took out an orb and handed it to Lord Paliano, telling the story of how he intercepted it in the Smuggler's Woods.

With Triss on the plane, the prodigal lord wouldn't talk about such things in a big way.

However, Paliano's concern is not the acquisition of the Orb, but the thing itself.

He had obviously seen something similar before, and he took it in his hand and looked at it repeatedly, and his expression became strange, and then, under Murphy's astonished gaze, he reached out and opened the rear connector of the orb, and then pointed to one of the mark-like patterns, and said:

"Sure enough, it's the work of that bastard of Sweik Flywheel! I'll just say, how could so many arithmetic orbs appear out of thin air in Transnesia, the Chardon halflings have long forbidden this thing to flow out of the Genoa Peninsula.

Those naïve little dwarfs never wanted their work to be used in war, and unfortunately, everything they made was a weapon that could change the war. ”

"You know him, too?"

Murphy was immediately interested.

From the identification of the items, he knew that these Orbs of Calculation came from this guy called "Sulfur Flywheel", and now that he heard Paliano talk about it, he immediately asked:

"What's going on with this guy? Can he get his hands on the halfling's secret machinery too? Truth be told, my lord is now seriously short of qualified weapons, if he can be contacted."

"Sulfur is a bastard halfling, and some of the Knights of the Blood Alliance occasionally deal with him by some of the Servant Musketeers, and he's the only reliable supplier of machinery in the Dark Mountains, but this guy is a black-hearted arms dealer.

He didn't dare to use his brains against the Blood Alliance Knights, but if others took the initiative to contact him, they would definitely be slaughtered by him.

You have to be careful when dealing with him. ”

Paliano happily took out the map, circled the location of "Hungry Mountain" in it, and introduced to Murphy:

"Sulfur entered the Dark Mountains more than forty years ago, and who knows how he subdued a large group of trolls and bandits entrenched in the Hungry Mountains, and became a wild warlord there.

It is said that this guy has a thriving arms business, and even secretly has trade dealings with some enlightened gnolls, and has a deep relationship with the dwarves of atonement in the Sin Fortress, and he was also involved in the military reform that began thirty years ago in the Plantagenet Kingdom.

He doesn't refuse to be asked to do business with him, but you have to be prepared to pay well, and Spichiro Flywheel is a guy with a very strange personality, he is a man with ideals, which does not conflict with the truth that he is a bad seed, he is a mixture of contradictions.

In short, when your people are ready, my servants can lead the way for you. ”

"Thanks for the info."

Murphy noted down the location of Hunger Mountain and marked it on the map system.

It wasn't very far from the Filthy Swamp, but it was still in the inner part of the outer perimeter of the Dark Mountains, and it was clear that the young players wouldn't be able to get close to it.

However, with their growth rate, as long as 40 guys who have completed the Black Iron Trial form a team, they may be able to try to cross the filthy swamp and have a relationship with this arms dealer Lala.

After talking about business, the conversation between Murphy and Lord Paliano turned into a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere.

Although this First Lord looks unreliable, and he is also a super Sea King-type licking dog that licks nearly a hundred goddesses at the same time, it has to be said that he is the one who has made the best impression on him of all the vampires Murphy has seen so far.

Except for Tracey.

Tracey is never compared to other vampires in Murphy's mind.

This lord of Paliano should be in a high position in the Knights of the Blood Alliance, but he doesn't have any of the bad things of a superior himself, and he is more like a classic protagonist in those romances about knights than a powerful leader.

Aside from narcissism and overly pompous movements, this vampire boss really has no significant flaws.

At least in Murphy's eyes.

So he couldn't help but ask:

"In the Knights of the Blood Alliance, are they all characters like you? I'm just a little vampire who has been practicing for over a year, but I've also heard of the Knights' name. I'm not afraid of your jokes, but after Tracey embraced me for the first time, I thought about leaving the Vulture to find you and join you. ”

"Huhuhu, that's what every vampire who is a little idealistic and unwilling to fall thinks so, but the vast majority of them can't even pass the first ring trial of the Knights' recruits."

Paliano laughed and said:

"I'm an anomaly, Murphy, don't use me as a standard to imagine the full picture of the Knights of the Blood Alliance, after all, I was an anomaly when I was human"

Speaking of which, Paliano shrugged his shoulders and asked:

"Do you know the ruling family of the Isha Kingdom, one of the predecessors of the Plantagenet Kingdom?"

"Hmm."

Murphy nodded, recalling his pitiful knowledge of history in his mind, and said:

"In December 1080, the armies of the Kingdom of Sealand, under the command of the current King Louis, invaded the capital in the name of avenging his father and brother, and the island nation had been under the rule of the Essex-Flanders for a long time before the destruction of the Kingdom of Isa by a despicable assassination.

Every King of Greenie is descended from one of these two marital families.

Queen Elisabeth Marien, the current Plantagenet Kingdom, was the daughter of the last king of the Kingdom of Isa and the rightful heir to the last Essex-Flanders family before marrying King Louis. ”

"Isn't it good to study history, and he deserves to be the heir of Trace. Yes, little Elizabeth, I held her when she was born. ”

Lord Paliano took a sip of wine, a nostalgic expression on his handsome face.

He holds the transparent wine glass in front of his eyes, the amber liquid embellished with the refraction of the starlight, reflecting the taste of history.

He raised the glass to the stars, and said in the most orthodox Greeney royal accent:

"Little Elizabeth's father, the last king of the kingdom of Isa should be called my great-grandfather, and my brother is the third king of the kingdom of Isa. Nicknamed 'The Oak King', he was the most sincere of the Avalonians and the greatest ruler of the kingdom of Isha.

The Isle of Greeney was unified under his rule, and it was during his tenure that the Church of Avalon was established as the state religion, three hundred and twenty years ago.

I.

I was killed in my brother's last battle against the northern hill people in the unification of Greenny, and he prayed to Avalon for my resurrection, but the gods refused him, so the 'Oak King' turned to the forces of darkness.

I still don't know what conditions my brother used to impress Lord Pa Ying.

The fact is that I was resurrected three years after my death, became a member of the Knights of the Blood Alliance, and inherited the position of First Lord after the death of the previous 'Blade of Dignity', Lily Hugo Bartoli Cappadocia, in the Fourth Black Plague.

Murphy

I do not say this to declare to you my noble origins.

I just wanted to tell you that the Knights of the Blood Alliance aren't as perfect as you think, and you'll have to give up your past if you want to join us!

It's not just your identity, it's your last name.

There are very few heirs in the Order who really belong to Lord Pa Ying and our three Knight Lords, and most of the 300 Silver Knights who make up the core of the Order are recruited from other clans.

Cappadocia's original sin is arrogance, and we are atonements all our lives!

Until Eternal Silence comes, we will not be able to own our own territory, we will not be able to own our own wealth, we will not be able to have our own family or even lovers, but we will only be able to cruise around the Dark Mountains all day long, and we will not be able to leave that haunted place for the rest of our lives.

We are bound and protected.

This is an ancient and sacred tradition. ”

"Wait!"

Murphy suddenly noticed a question in Paliano's words, and he stretched out his hand to interrupt the lord's account, asking:

"If you can't have a family or a lover, then your peculiar list of goddesses."

"Ah, you've been tricked by me, right?"

At the mention of this question, Lord Paliano immediately showed an exaggerated romantic expression, he stretched out his hand and coquettishly stroked his long golden hair, and said with emotion:

"Yes, as a member of Cappadocia, I cannot have my love, but that does not prevent me from fanatically chasing all things beautiful and establishing a pure connection with those lovely ladies in my heart.

Not contaminated by dirty desires and achieve the most perfect union in the spiritual world.

That's pure love!

At that time, there was the most precious thing in the world!

It always gives me a little bit of warm comfort in the dark night of vampires, and lets me know that my struggle in the dark is not for nothing. It is because of people like me who roam the night that others can have that wonderful love.

I don't have a lover of my own.

But the crystallization of every pair of pure love people that I protect means that I also have a share of it.

Sounds weird, right?

In fact, in the beginning, I just wanted to find a little sense of participation in the pure love of others, and that's it. ”

"Huh"

A dew-stained black and red rose magically appeared on the Knight's fingertip and was handed to Murphy.

The knight lord looked at him and whispered:

"Just as I have smelled a wonderful love in this ruined land, I wish you a smooth journey in your destined difficult love, beautiful Murphy. Also, as a vampire senior, I feel the need for me to teach you a little life experience as an elder.

You have only experienced a year of dark night time as a member of the Midnight Clan, and naturally you can't understand Midnight's love and torture for us.

Maybe you should start finding yourself a hobby now.

Loving something from the bottom of your heart can always help you find the fulcrum of life and destiny in the increasingly boring dark night and eternal life.

When you get to know our people better, you'll find that the famous Midnight Aristocrats are often the best in a particular field.

For example, Lord Pa Ying is an artist recognized by all race leaders, and his paintings have even been collected by the Elven King in the Court of Nature.

Sarokdal, who was just executed by you, is a well-known gourmand on the mainland, and he always uses the pseudonym of 'Earl Fox' to tirelessly participate in various food tastings.

Edward, the elder of the Wolf Venom Clan, was the finest of the tanners, and even the most discerning of the Dwarven Hilllords were proud to have a set of Edward's handmade protective leather armor.

Your honorable lady, Lady Tris, is the best theologian on the entire continent.

There is probably no one who understands the mysteries of the gods better than she does. ”

With that, Paliano smiled and placed the rose in Murphy's hand.

patted him on the shoulder and whispered:

"You are not enough to get the love of that beautiful thing in your heart, Murphy, but I am optimistic about you, well, brave rose picker, come on, I will bless your pure love from afar.

But if you fail this love that I have blessed one day."

The Knight Lord's tone suddenly became indifferent.

He whispered:

"Then my beloved rose garden 'Paradise for the Bearers' will have a ball of good fertilizer, well, the delicate midnight roses that I have cultivated with my own hands always need to be watered by the blood of the Bearers to thrive.

Do you understand what I mean?

Pure love or death, there is no third option"

(End of chapter)