Over the course of time, many creatures have come and gone, and many kingdoms have risen and fallen. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Culture, rivers and mountains will change, the only one that remains the same, the only one that can be said to be the real eternal protagonist in the long river of the entire Gar-Rigal.

About, it's just the wind.

From the frigid north to Avenella surrounded by the black pines of Ekka, from the swamps of Ridera to the mercenary kingdom of Soradin, from the seaside towns of the southern city-state alliance to the endless golden and green grasslands of Absera.

The wind never stops.

While the smell of the wind and the cold or heat it brings can vary greatly depending on the region, the breeze that blows on your body and swings your hair and clothes around the corners of your clothes has never changed.

For travelers who have been away all the year round, whenever night falls and the cool night breeze blows, they often stop and stay, because of this looming sense of immediacy, this paradoxical everything, the emotions buried deep in their hearts about their hometown, the memories of the place where they lived when they were children, involuntarily emerge, and they stand there silently, doing nothing for a while, just missing.

It is not uncommon for people to be forced to leave their homes in any era, and this cannot be said to be the sorrow of a particular country or a particular system. Just as shadows are bound to arise where the light shines, every country and nation in any era must have its advantages and disadvantages. Most people can only live their lives in ignorance with the crowd, even if it is a certain nation that kills people like hemp, the vast majority of civilians or soldiers are not really bad to the bone.

They are simply unaware of the sins they have committed, and they are just obeying orders and acting on the orders of some high-ranking individuals.

If you dig through the depths of history, the real heinous sins of a people who are fanatical about something, and who do not hesitate to kill unbelievers for it, even if they are not guilty of anything, are often those who are very good at using something to stir up national sentiments, who stay in a safe place, use the brainwashing and foolish policies that have been instilled in the people and believers since childhood, the idea of sacrificing the supreme glory for this purpose, and seek personal gain through the bloody sacrifice of others.

This is true of the vast majority of the world's aristocracy and the White Church, and even the high-ranking clergy of the indigenous faith, even our Royal Highness Prince Edward in Avenella should belong to this ranks, except that he is not only acting for his own personal benefit, but also for the future of Arvenella as a whole.

For the public or for the private, for the country and the people or for the private pockets. The difference in starting point determined that he was completely different from the corrupt old nobles who were destined to be eliminated by the turmoil that was about to sweep the continent, and it was precisely because the young prince had not yet formed his own opinion that he was full of adventurous spirit, which was his capital, and it was also the capital of the young country of Avenella.

It sits on the richest land in the entire west coast, a powerful Avenella is feared by the surrounding countries and even the rest of the world, and those who do not want this to happen will naturally exist, and in order to make all this not fall short, our sage and the Luoan maiden are now in this vast savannah.

The wind is still blowing, day and night.

For these mercenaries and outsiders such as merchants, life on the grassland is quite monotonous, although the scenery is good, and the field is vast, but it is not allowed to run wildly. It is full of dangers, and despite the considerable number of vertical spotted dragon lizards that exist here - it is a medium to large dragon lizard with brown skin and brown stripes and a body length of about four meters - it is still not afraid to attack, and the relatively slender but extremely muscular dragon lizard is the number one predator in the grassland except for the wurm, even if it is more powerful than the usual wild boar, the bow jaw pig is not the hunter of this brutal reptile on its own.

They have incredible endurance and cruising speeds far faster than humans, and are also excellent sprinters, and even the best horses can't shake off this creature when they sprint, and if it weren't for the relatively weak scale armor and the fact that they usually act alone like other dragon lizards, this creature can stand up the food chain and have nothing to worry about except for its own kind and larger dragons.

But it and other predators are only a few things you need to worry about, in addition to all kinds of wild beasts in the vast grassland, there are also a large number of terrifying monsters, defined by humans as a sub-human race, an ogre with an average height of more than two meters and two, this creature is also inhabited here, it is said that among the tribes of the Absera steppe, it is recognized as the first warrior, the sign is that you must be alone, carrying only light equipment, and then bring back the heads of three ogres.

In any case, even though the wind and waves seem to be as calm as the eye can see, it is obviously a costly form of entertainment to run around as if you were in Inznir or Ecasta and just enjoy the breeze blowing on you.

It is only possible to follow the requirements of experienced scouts, when to set off, when to stop and go out to reconnoiter where it is safe, and even to light a bonfire in the field at night has extremely strict standards, in order to reduce the attention of all whether from beasts or from the same kind, so as to reduce the possibility of sneak attack, so that at least it can be dealt with in time.

This simple truth is known to most mercenaries, but it is one thing to know, and it is obviously quite difficult to get these people who are already loose by nature to suppress their temperament and obey orders - at least in the past few days, one of the younger green card mercenaries in the team has been muttering several times: "If I want to obey orders, I will go directly to the mercenary group or become a regular army soldier." Such words clearly show his dissatisfaction with all this.

The language he spoke was the kind of hybrid language we had mentioned, but Mira noticed that the man was quite young, only around seventeen or eighteen. As we mentioned earlier, the port on Corryconrad's side is not very large, so although the waterway is very close, it can only be reached in a day and a half by foot, and the cost of transportation is generally only possible for older mercenaries with some savings, and young people like this rarely have enough funds to venture here.

- But what made Mira conclude after a little observation was that the man was wearing clothes that were clearly more Southern-style.

His blouse, which peeked out from the collar of his lined plate armor, had a lapel and was made of wooden buttons instead of the leather ropes more common on the West Coast, and the following cinched trousers were designed to match boots, while the mercenaries and adventurers of the West Coast preferred to wear loose trousers with the legs tucked into their boots, all of which made him fit well with the concept of the "second generation" described in the Lamanite books that the sage bought her after she arrived.

It has not been long since Cori Conrad and other mercenaries from other countries in the Soradin Heights have come to the South in search of work, and as we have already said, the local residents of the South prefer to be hunting mercenaries rather than war mercenaries, so the vast majority of these free mercenaries who are more war-oriented and often accept small caravan escort missions are naturally foreigners.

In addition to the people from the West Coast like Mira and Henry, there were also two black-haired and pure-blooded East Coasters in the team, but they were not citizens of the powerful Padrosi Empire, but from several small principalities in the south near the Dwarven Mountains. More than 200 years ago, during the civil strife in the Padrosi Empire, many regions took the opportunity to become independent.

After the land forcibly conquered by the former Lamanite Empire was inherited by Paderossi, the rulers did not improve the treatment of the people in the conquered areas, and these people, who were classified as third-class or even fourth-class citizens, had complex feelings and attitudes towards the Lamanites, on the one hand, they were brought up by the influence of Lamani culture, but on the other hand, they had a deep-seated hostility towards the empire because of their past history.

After all, this young green-card mercenary judged by Mira to be the "second generation" is the evidence left by the mercenaries on the West Coast for so many years - he was born and raised here, and the southern border is so wealthy after all, and the mercenaries who choose to stay here after going out to fight are tempted by the happy life here naturally exists.

And judging from the fact that he is still not of high rank and will choose to come to the dangerous Abu Sera steppes for high pay, and that he speaks not southern Lamanite but a mixed language, it can be judged that his parents did not have a good time here.

Basic food and clothing may be guaranteed, as can be seen from the simple but not worn armor, weapons and clothing. But when he becomes an adult, if he wants to live a better life in the materialistic south, he will have to support himself.

Can this kind of person be considered a West Coaster, his values may have been corrupted by the people of the South, and it is precisely because of this that he complains and complains about something like Opimio who has acted together before. Everything they say and do is obviously influenced by the local culture, compared to the mercenaries who are also from Soladin in the team, they are all silent, and although they are dissatisfied, they will not try to vent them in words.

This may also have something to do with age, most of the older mercenaries who will accept this mission and come here are required to provide for their families, they have the pressure of life, and they must become the breadwinner of the family. The young junior mercenary didn't have this kind of worry, his parents were local, even if this mission failed, as long as he didn't die and saved his life, he could still rely on his parents to support him.

"People are really ...... You can't live too comfortably. The procession went on slowly, the temperature slowly rising and falling, and Mira, sitting on horseback with nothing else to do, thought wildly, and then suddenly sighed in a way that did not fit the maturity of her mere teens, or rather the old age.

"......" The sage in front of him calmly glanced back at her, and the two men met eye contact, Henry shrugged his shoulders and said nothing.

“...... Mr. Sage is such a terrible adult. Mira gave him a blank look, and the latter was a little innocent: "I didn't say anything." He shrugged his shoulders again, and the girl ignored him, but followed the reins of the group that was not too fast and commanded the horses earnestly.

The wind is still blowing, thousands of years ago, and it is still the same after their group left.

Her white hair, tied in a ponytail, swayed slightly, and when she didn't have a break, she was always there alone and earnestly learning everything - the two of them were paid a sum of five grams, except for armor and some other equipment for field operations, such as better saddles and horseshoes, and leather bags, the rest was quickly spent by Henry and replaced with some books.

Because they have money now, they don't need to sell the books they have already read, and although Mira didn't bring all the new books with her due to the weight, the few small books protected by the hard cover on horseback alone are enough for her to spend a long time.

Since the previous swordsmanship and mentality on the rapid development of the recent period of time she has not sparred with Henry, the important thing for her at this stage is not to rush into the next step, but to stabilize the current stage first, lay a solid foundation, along with the hone of thinking and consciousness, and then the improvement of skills is just a matter of course.

"The flesh can withstand almost any ordeal, the only thing that needs to be polished is your spirit. Many times our situation is not so hopeless, we just keep telling ourselves that there is no way to do it, and in the end it really becomes helpless. These were the words that Henry had spoken to Mira before he set out, for the two of them had been more dangerous than before, and the meadows were so vast that no one could guarantee what they would encounter when they went out, and the sage might have said this only to reassure the white-haired girl, but in any case, it made her think deeply.

"Keep a cool head and judge the situation reasonably, and don't be swayed by your emotions...... ......" she muttered to herself, then suddenly remembered some of the things that had happened in the past after Sivalier had just registered as a mercenary and completed her first mission, and her little eyebrows furrowed again: "I can't do it......"

A little mixed with some words of self-doubt dissipated in the air behind them, and night fell again, and for days they did not encounter anything, except for plants and waterholes and the never-ending wind, and even wild horses and bison only saw them from a long distance and ran away.

Hunting in the grasslands where there is no concealment is very difficult, even for the battle-hardened predators and native nomads, the change in the direction of the wind is often sudden, and the ambush tactics that outsiders are good at sneaking up in the forest are almost completely ineffective here, and a split second change in the direction of the wind is enough to alarm these nimble creatures and quickly run away.

This is the main reason why for so many days, no one has been able to taste any fresh barbecue except for marmots.

There are very different customs from place to place, from the creatures to the plants to the people who live here, just as the sedentary peoples can never understand the nomadic way of life, so the people who grow up on this side of the steppe often have quite mixed feelings towards the people of the west coast and the south. This can't be summed up by a single hatred and contradiction, in fact, whether it is the South or the Soradin Heights, the only people who really hate the steppe people are the believers of the White Church, and the vast majority of ordinary people, no matter which side they are in, are more curious about the other party, but the way the steppe people express their curiosity is usually to take you home as a slave and then slowly understand.

Time passed slowly, and after the nearby grass was deliberately cleared to avoid a large-scale fire, several bonfires burned.

It is also a good thing to have the sky covered without the shade of big trees and the like, and the bright stars and the bright moonlight have paved the earth with a layer of silver, and Mira holds the book in her hand and looks up at the twinkling starry sky.

A cool night breeze blew, and the sea on her forehead and the ponytail behind her head swayed with it, and the girl closed her eyes comfortably.

Smile slightly. (To be continued.) )