"Don't use the word 'dispose'. Ashrufa fixed his mind and said. "You don't know the word, it's a word that makes people's hearts ache. ”

"Hmph. Kaye snorted coldly through his nose.

"You don't have to feel sorry for your blood. Ashrufat said. "It would have been foolish to judge ability and good and evil by blood. ”

"You're a prince, and if you don't have bloodline and origin, then you're no different from everyone else. Kaye's voice, no matter how it sounded, sounded sarcastic.

"Do you think I'm not worthy to be a general?" said Eshurufat.

"It's just a chance match. Kaye replied dismissively. She turned her head away, but Ashrufat took advantage of the opportunity to lean in and grab her shoulders with his hand, pulling her body back in front of her.

"You don't have a noble lineage, but you have something else. Ashrufat stared at her. "Something so much more important than pedigree or something. Your courage, and your ...... Good looks. ”

"Nonsense!" Kaye slammed his hand, but Ashruphat grabbed her wrist. He noticed that Kaye was coming with a slap in the face.

"I wasn't lying. Eshurufat's hand slowly relaxed. He noticed that Kaye wasn't struggling. "Your eyes...... It's like a gemstone, full of mystery, and I can't take my eyes off it. ”

“......”

"The first time I saw you, I thought about it unconsciously...... How could this guy named Kaye be so unruly? not like a Azul at all. Now I understand. ”

Kaye seemed to want to speak, but Ashrufat didn't give her a chance to speak.

"I'm sure before you met your father, you must have been terrified all the time. This is how the Truzzies began their lives, and only dreams of revenge and anger sustained them. Your loved ones cannot protect you, on the contrary, they are the first to hurt you. They are the ones who sent you into the temple of the God of the Bloody Hand. You're proud. How can you not be proud? What are you left but pride? You are also strong. How can you not be strong? Neither Yasur nor Truuzy look down on the weak. The only way to inherit Duruzi's bloodline, but to be recognized among the Yasur clan, is to rely on strength and courage. You're still fierce. Of course you will be fierce, you will not be able to go back, and only by fighting Duruzzi can you prove yourself to the Azuls. ”

"Whenever the battle is over, you cheer with the soldiers, but there is no joy in your eyes. When you cross the battlefield covered in pain, you must prevent your tattoos from being seen by others...... No matter what you do, you can't get recognition from others...... The song you played that day was so sad and lost, and that was your true heart. ”

"If you can, you don't have to keep this mask in front of me. In my eyes there is no Yasur and Duruzzi, only a girl who likes to play. He said softly.

He leaned forward and gently lifted Kaye's chin with his hand. The elven girl's eyes were filled with tears at some point.

"I have only one hope, and that is that there is less of that desperate sadness in the songs. He leaned forward slightly, slowly, pressing his lips against Kaye's. Those dark green eyes full of tears looked like two dazzling gems in a crystal clear stream.

......

"It's a lot better than I expected. As Ashrufat walked towards the wall, Carrie said happily in her mind. "It's a long time coming, but we've finally solved a major problem within us. ”

"yes, it's a pity it's a little late. Ashrufat replied.

"It's a bit of a pity, but it's not a bad thing. Now, there is no particular difficulty in achieving our goal. ”

He came to the city walls. During his assault on the city, Ashruphat experimented with the elves' highly developed magical communications. It turned out to work well. When his army arrived, the defenders of Grey Star Harbor thought he was still heading towards the mines, so they were completely unprepared. A small group of shadow warriors disguised as Truzzy opened the gates for the main force. This allowed the walls to remain fairly intact after the battle, rather than the devastation they would have been like after a normal urban assault and defensive battle.

"Well, although I said that I was interrogating the prisoners, I didn't expect to get that kind of news. Ashrufat looked at the gray desolate wilderness. All the necessities of life in the city are imported from the outside, and the surrounding areas are barren. "Carrie, how much time has passed since we set off?"

"It's been more than 10 months since the day we left. Although it has gone through countless twists and turns, I finally got the answer I wanted, and it was the best one. Master, I just made a contact with the clones in the Dark Castle. ”

"You can ...... with the castle"

"Well, essentially, it's magical communication. However, because the transmission speed is very slow, you can only have a limited amount of communication. Mimilu is in good condition, host, according to my judgment, it is not a problem to hold on for another four or five months. In other words, we are not far from our ultimate goal. ”

"Confirm it at the last time, master. Ashrufat's eyes were looking into the wilderness, but a map actually appeared in front of him. It is not appropriate to describe this pattern as a practical map, because it is not so much a map as a painting, a delicate picture drawn by a painter standing at a great height in the air and putting everything in his field of vision into his pen. In this picture, the rushing river is also like a filament.

"Our target is here, an ancient portal that has been abandoned. Carrie said, as a display, a dot lit up on the map. "On this portal, there's a chip we need. ”

"Hmm. ”

"And the portal opened by the dark elves is located here. "Somewhere on the map lit up again, the two weren't very far apart – it didn't look very far on this map. But if the average traveler is on foot, it should take a day or two to walk. "Judging from the distance between the two sides, the portal opened by the dark elves this time is not the one we are going to at all. ”

"Well, the only question is, what the captives say...... Maybe ......," Ashrufat said.

"We didn't come from one source. Multiple captives gave the same answer...... And it's not a high-level secret to them. Master, I think its reliability is as high as ninety-five percent. ”

"Well, that's pretty much it. So, there's more than one portal here?"

"The desolation of this continent does not seem to be due to natural factors, but to some kind of ...... Something human that I can't judge either. Carrie said. "According to the data I've gotten, there are a number of abandoned portals here, about fifteen. These portals did not have to be abandoned because they were damaged, but were abandoned by their creators for some special reason. I'm sure quite a few of them are still functioning...... In fact, there are quite a lot of them, for example, just near the city, about a day's or so, and there is a portal on the top of a small hill here. ”

"Then there should be a chip on this portal, too?"

"Yes, but that's a solidified chip, which can only be used for portal control, and it doesn't make any sense to us. Of these portals, only the one we are looking for is a programmable chip that has the value of recycling. You don't want to use these portals, do you?"

"The portal can travel between two places in an instant, so it should be useful, right?"

"I strongly advise you not to make this choice, as it is impossible to judge the damage to these portals. If you try to open and utilize them, there is a good chance that you will be connected to some of the Void...... If you do, you will be sucked into the void. ”

"What happens if I fall into the void?"

"Strictly speaking, they don't die. But bodily functions soon stop. If there is no one to rescue you, you will have to float in the void forever. As for how you feel...... It's probably like being locked in a dark coffin, enjoying eternal silence. I'm sure you won't like this outcome. ”

Ashruphat was no more.

"Anyway, based on the current situation, I suggest you don't need to take out Gals. Because he has a limited threat to you. Carrie said. After today's events, it is already completely certain that Kaye cannot be the "watchman" appointed by the Emerald Queen, in other words, the only one left is Gals.

"Hmm. Ashrufat replied approvingly.

"Now the question is, how are you going to end this?" asked Carrie.

"I want to ...... Do you have any suggestions?"

"Well, my advice is, make the most of this army you have at hand. Considering that if we go it alone, we will most likely be attacked by the Dark Elf skirmishers, so it would be better to go out with the whole army. Then find a time to sneak out of the army, and you will be able to reach our destination safely while your men have attracted the attention of the dark elves. As soon as we got our chip, we sent it back. ”

“...... And what about the army, if the general suddenly disappeared when he was attacked by the enemy......" Ashrufat did not continue. Anyone with a modicum of common sense knows what that means in this situation. And because the expeditionary force is a lone army, the result is ...... Probably there was no place to retreat.

"Master, you've done enough for them. Without your efforts, the Divine Martial Elves would not have organized this expedition at all, and they would not have been able to achieve such great results as they are now. To put it mildly, even if the expeditionary force were to be wiped out immediately, it would be a big deal for the elves. ”

"So...... What's next?"