"Is that an exaggeration...... Ashruphat wanted to end the conversation with a laugh, but the problem was that he couldn't laugh out.

"I ...... It's a vampire, isn't it?" he asked in a low voice, not knowing if he was asking himself or Carrie.

"I can assure you of that. Physically and mentally, you're a complete vampire. ”

"Aren't vampires supposed to be hated and hated by humans?" Ashruphat remembered the accounts of the Church. Although at this moment he already knew that these records were not necessarily completely correct, or even completely foolish, for ordinary people, these were a point of view that could no longer be argued and modified. According to Carrie, ordinary humans have been "brainwashed" by the church, and it is extremely difficult to change back. Even Carrie never tried to change these views, but only tried to exploit them.

Of course, Leia, who has the ability to predict the future, may be an exception.

"Because the owner is very gentle with the girls, it is natural for them to have this kind of feeling. In her mind's eye, Carrie replied. "However, it's also fortunate that there is a scarlet. Léa's eye was injured and bleeding too much to do such a thing. ”

"You have to understand that this time you're not just fighting for your own survival. Carrie added.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Although it is said that the struggle for survival is the instinct of all life, for intelligent beings, it is sometimes possible to get bored and give up. Master, your previous mental state was not good, it wasn't the mentality of fighting for victory. If you go to the battlefield with that level of mentality, you're simply giving up on your life. ”

"Yes......" Ashruphat suddenly summoned the Sword of Withering. He gripped the sword, his gaze fixed on its edge.

"I got it. Carrie!" he jumped out of bed, his movements very lightly, and did not affect Scarlet, who was still asleep.

"You don't have to worry about waking her up. Although she needs a lot less normal sleep than ordinary people, now that she has lost a lot of blood, her body has become weak, and she will not wake up for a while. Carrie explained. As she spoke, Ashruphat quickly got dressed. The outfit was right next to his bed, within reach.

"Let's go. He said in his head.

"Master, I suggest we go to the platform at the top of the castle and go first. Carrie suddenly made a strange suggestion.

Ashrufat didn't understand what Carrie wanted to do, but he didn't refuse the request.

If you stand at the foot of the castle and look at it, you will feel that the top of the castle is high in the sky. However, there is not much way up the stairs inside the castle. In fact, an ordinary person can even reach the small platform at the top of the castle before he can feel the need for respite.

The small platform is irregularly shaped, barely a triangle as a whole, and is flanked by a balustrade on which visitors can lean on and admire the style beneath the castle. This land used to be called the "digging ground" and was originally a valley surrounded by steep mountain peaks. The people of the church built it into a huge labor camp with huge manpower and material resources and decades, and dug a huge deep pit in the middle of the valley. But after the previous turmoil, the earthquake that Carrie controlled, it turned into a plain, with only a few slopes of limited height.

Perhaps it was Carrie's design, with each side of the triangular platform facing a different view.

If you look down from one side of the triangle, you can see a plain. It's already spring, and the green grass has taken over the field with its unique vitality. From the top of the mountain, you can see an endless piece of green.

Turn your head and you can see the sea from the other direction. At this moment, there is no wind, and the sea looks blue, which is not the ordinary blue of indigo, but a dark blue that is more and more difficult to see through the more you look closely, and is full of mystery, as if it can attract people's thoughts to it. Nearby, there are undulating waves and a sand beach that is washed by the waves and looks unusually white.

In the third direction, you can see the newly formed town. Although it is still a small town at the moment, you can feel the vitality of the newly built neatly lined houses, the newly cultivated fields, and the pedestrians on the streets.

"Isn't it pretty?" asked Carrie in her mind.

"Hmm. Although Ashrufat had just come to see it casually, he was attracted by the scenery of the land under his feet and stood there for a long time.

"In fact, the reason is very simple, as long as you can be condescending and have a wide view, even if it is a very ordinary scenery, or even something that is not a beautiful view, it will become very beautiful and magnificent. ”

"That's true. ”

"And this scenery is yours...... Master, can you now feel the feeling of a powerful person, in your hands you have the power to shape everything, or to destroy everything. It is the ability to be free from external constraints, completely at your disposal. This is the power of the ruler, which is called 'power'. With this power, you can put yourself outside of everything and put everyone else in the palm of your hand to play with. It's like standing on a high spot and looking at everything from a bird's eye. You are free to appreciate everything, change everything, and distort everything, without yourself being affected. ”

"Ah......h

"This way of overlooking is, after all, congenitally deficient. That's because you have an excessively broad field of vision, and you will feel the 'distance' directly from outside the body, that is, you will experience the gap between the worldly realm. After all, it was too far away to create a real sense of such a scene. And power makes up for this shortcoming. Even if you have everything in your hands, you won't feel estranged, and you can be detached from the outside, but you can integrate into it. ”

Ashrufat just listened quietly to Carrie's story.

"The owner can feel the past. Knowing in his heart that he was a vampire, knowing that he was disgusted and feared by all humans, and knowing that he should hide himself as much as possible, he always couldn't help but have an urge to 'do something'. Maybe you don't even know what this urge is. ”

This impulse is the ambition of those who have the strength. Those who have strength will not be resigned to the ordinary. Even if it's the owner, there will be no exceptions. ”

Ashrufat still didn't answer, he just silently looked at the scenery under his feet.

"Master, do you still want to die now?" asked Carrie suddenly.

"Not at all. Ashrufat replied. "I'm determined to live!" his hand casually touched something hard.

It was the diary that Thomas had left for him.

Instinctively, he took out his diary. Ever since he left Greenskin, he had been carrying the diary in his purse, and had been taken out from time to time to read, so the pages of the diary had been visibly worn.

In fact, Thomas's diary is not a diary in the usual sense, but a record of his own feelings and feelings. But he learned a lot from this book.

"Master, look at that. Carrie reminded. Ashrufat also noticed the small gap in the journal.

That's because it has been bumped and rubbed in the bag for a long time, so a gap has been worn out on the edge of the fiefdom of the diary. A piece of paper with a completely different texture than a diary peeks out of the gap.

There was a thin compartment on the back cover of the diary, and Ashrufat opened the compartment and took out a piece of paper from it. The handwriting on it is familiar, and it actually matches exactly the handwriting of the diary itself. It was written by Thomas, and (no doubt of all) it was put in a mezzanine.

"Ashrufat, I must have been dead when I read this letter. Ever since I took you as an apprentice, I have been amazed at your growth. From an ordinary person who does not know how to soldier, he has gradually grown into a general, and from a beginner to a student that I am most proud of. I have seen your performance on the battlefield, and I have seen you gradually understand the true meaning of war, arrange your troops, and sweep away thousands of troops. Look, you just need a little pointer to immediately grasp the spirit behind it. I know that one day, you will finally master all that I have left you, and even far surpass me and become a generation of heroes. ”

"But my guess (and I've always been accurate) is that when you read this letter, you are on the verge of a possible metamorphosis that may become what I hope or what I fear. I know that you must be like me back then, you want to pursue the perfect art of command, want to seek the ultimate way of generals, and go to various battlefields. Maybe you're a mercenary leader now, or maybe you're still fighting for St. Jean. Of course, you may also serve other countries. ”

Seeing this, Ashrufat smiled bitterly, even Thomas couldn't guess fate.

"I know that in your heart, there is a strong self-control. That is the root of all the strength of a general, but there is also cruel bestiality and instinctive impulses lurking in it. You don't have to be afraid, everyone is the same – and so am I. You will stand at a crossroads and face your life choices. Do you pursue the true way of command, master absolute restraint of reason and soul, or are you deluded by your own desires, and finally embark on a path that seems right but is in fact very wrong. ”

"If a general has a realm, then the highest realm is to give up the desire to win. This is a realm that even I have not been able to reach. A general needs a very different sense of honor and strong self-control from ordinary knights. But the desire for victory may be the biggest and strongest enemy after the worst. It is important to know that the desire to win is not the same as the ability to win. The obsession with the pursuit of victory is a good thing, but it is not to be indulged in the attachment itself. ？”

"This inner battle is tough, because impulsiveness, anger and cruelty often seem to defeat calmness, reason and self-control. But you always have to remember one thing, defeating the enemy is not the end of everything. Understand the nature of war and understand what role you have to play in it. With this in mind, you may be able to find the strength that supports you from within you, so that you are no longer fooled by the greatest bait of all: victory. ”

Of course, you might think it's just some old man's boring nonsense. Maybe you're now facing a life-and-death battle, but you're both strong and weak. You have a plan to defeat the enemy (I am convinced), but you are not sure of victory. You don't know if the enemies will give you a chance, and you don't know if they will swallow the bait you set. ”

"I'll give you a hint, just like I said above. The greatest and most detrimental danger of a general is the pursuit of victory itself. When there is no chance of victory, people will not hesitate to switch to victory, but when victory is certain, they will pursue the perfect victory - fewer casualties, more results, and so on, and so on. And in this desire, there is a gap that can be exploited. When desire, even the desire to win, blinds one's eyes, one becomes stupid. ”

"Of course, there's the last thing, and that's luck. It's also a very crucial, but ungraspable thing. It is ethereal, but it must not be missing. You have to believe in your luck, as a general, you have good luck. Your encounter with me is the best proof of this luck. It's so ...... for you and me."

At the end of the page, Thomas scribbled the words: "Life and liberty are not innate rights, but can only be attained by sword and blood." ”