The New Year's festival in Padrosi, the East Coast Empire, is not in December.

The country that invented the metric unit retains two calendars because of the beliefs of the White Church, the Jetina sect.

The first is based on myths and legends, taking the whole number, a year is 360 days of the imperial calendar, also known as the divine calendar. The other calendar is based on the change of the seasons, through reliable scientific theories, proposed by scholars 20 years ago and spread to the rest of the world, the year is divided into 365 days.

This is the calendar that is now adopted by most of the human nations of the world in Rigal. Along with units of length such as kilograms/kilograms, centimeters/centimeters, meters, and many other units of measurement such as weight, temperature, etc., were invented and popularized by Padrosi, an old powerhouse.

To be sure, it would be unfair to portray this great empire of the East as resting on its laurels.

Affluent and advanced compared to the West Coast, with a good relationship with the inventive pygmy people, and inheriting the Lamanites' excellent applied engineering skills, the Padrossi were very good at innovating.

Whether in terms of people's livelihood or military application technology, the empire is a bellwether for other countries to imitate.

But it would be a mistaken statement to say that it is an innovative, vibrant country like Avenella on the other side of the Mobigas Inland Sea.

Thousands of years of heritage have made many things within this country unique, far from being easily understood by newcomers to the country. Their complexity is probably poorly known even to the native Lamanites, and the New Year's celebrations, involving both calendars, are the most visible and yet most incomprehensible parts of the year for many foreign travelers.

The similarity and deviation of the two calendars has led directly to the traditional New Year's celebration in Padrosi, which generally takes place from the end of January to the beginning of February.

In this empire, which uses daisies as the national flower, it is natural that gold is the main color of the New Year.

On this special day, the proud Royal Knights will be replaced with light and ornate ceremonial armor made of brass and gold, etched with a large number of golden chrysanthemum coats of arms. And they are accompanied by a giant black cape representing the royal family, which is limited to mobility, and further sets off the golden luxury.

This nationwide move is known as the Golden Parade.

During the process, the Emperor and the Royal Knights wore ceremonial armor that was only useful to look at, and they held hollow weapons that were not suitable for actual combat. The work of the guards is all the responsibility of the local nobles, and this seemingly stupid and unguarded pursuit of expressiveness is a testament to the strength and self-confidence.

New Year's celebrations, golden parades. It was almost the most important annual event for the Padrossi, and it was not postponed, no matter how urgent the situation was, even when the rebels were already in the city.

The annual convention of the thunderbolt, the pride of the Padrossi, has never been postponed as a national celebration.

It has never been postponed.

Until this year.

The town of Scotti on February 3 did not have the slightest trace of the festive atmosphere of previous years.

The mercenaries recruited from the port of Parniera and the Imperial troops mobilized from other places were well supplied, murderous, and ready for battle.

The barracks were set up outside the low walls of the small town of Scoti, and one after the other, snow-covered tents were neatly laid out on top of each other. On its far left, the slightly darker ones are where the Imperial mages stay.

It's always easy to tell where the mercenaries are, and the different sizes of the tents are stacked haphazardly on the one hand, and how noisy they are.

Mercenaries, who are good at drinking, talking, and having fun, have always been unaccustomed to the disciplined regular army of the Empire.

This year, in particular, there has been a lot of more outsiders from Wislan, who don't know anything about the local customs and can only say "hello" and "goodbye" in Laman, and who don't care about the terrible mood of the locals who can't celebrate the New Year's event and the Golden Parade has been canceled.

But this dissatisfaction only stayed in the circle of the upper aristocratic officers.

Many of the soldiers showed envy, and the military regulations did not allow them to participate in the mercenary's banquet when they could not celebrate the New Year.

"Any penny of supplies must be saved to prepare for war, the port of Parniera is rich in supplies, but it is not wasted in this way!"

The quartermaster's cold words made these young men hang their heads like fallen vegetable seedlings.

"If you can't get what you want, you can only do this virtue, hopelessly, hopelessly!"

And the words spoken by the angry officers also represent to a certain extent the conceptual gap between the two classes.

Padrosi, after all, hasn't experienced a decent war in many years. The old people call these younger generations the Beat Generation, and the soldiers composed of the Beat Generation are naturally no longer as reliable as they used to be.

Strict military rules and discipline cannot change the hedonistic character and weakness in the bones cultivated by pampering.

So much so that as a truly elite Imperial Frontier Knights, not only with the mercenaries, but also with their own regular army, they have distanced themselves considerably.

"To deal with such a big threat, our only helpers are these mercenaries who will run away when they see that the situation is wrong, and the garbage stationed in the border city that has been soaked in women and alcohol and softened their bones......" The knight chief Brom in black armor sighed, and his similarly dressed colleague Dior did not look much better.

"There is no way, counting together with the coordinated infantry and attendants, the total number of the nine brigades of the Knights is less than fifteen hundred. If the bloodless guys are right, we're going to face a pretty formidable adversary. After Dior finished speaking, Brom waved his hand: "Don't let them hear what you say." ”

"I didn't say anything wrong. I stay in the research room all year round and can't get the sun, but I like those bright colors, and I look like a pale ghost when I wear them. Perhaps they would be more in the company of the witches' walking corpses than we were—" A cold wind blew through, and the door to the tent was opened, "Hey Dior!" Brom hurried to stop him, but the words were already clearly heard.

"It is not good to shake the morale of the army and engage in internal struggles in a chaotic position. "The person who walked in was already in his late fifties, and his beard was white, he was the captain of the first brigade of the Imperial Southern Frontier Knights, and he was also the grand master of the knights.

"I'm sorry, Captain. The two knight captains, who had just been teasing a little flirtatiously, settled down, but from their expressions and movements, it was clear that this was not out of fear, but out of respect from the bottom of their hearts.

"Our independent order is the result of that lord's hard work. Wandering outside the regular army system of the Empire, and having the privileges of action and selection, all of which make the Knights superior to the local legions, does not mean that we have privileges above them. ”

"If you leave a handle to anyone to make a stumbling block, it may be dissolved at any time. ”

"You are where you are now, on the one hand, because of your own efforts, and on the other hand, you must also thank the Lord for this opportunity. ”

"Don't ruin what he built with his own hands, our belonging. Grand Master let out a long sigh, and although there was no accusation or intimidation, both captains hung their heads deeply.

"Speaking of which, the Lord ...... him"

"There is no news, I can only hope that it is safe and sound. ”

The wind and snow continued to fly, and in the thick snow people had to use shovels to carve out many roads to connect with each other, and after a sigh, the barracks fell silent.

In the Baao Forest, which is still a short distance away from the small town of Scoti and the ground is even more icy and cold, a group of nearly 100 people who are packing up and preparing to get back on the road witnessed the first black snowflakes falling from the sky.

If the pure white snowflakes of the past can still give people the impression of purity and purity, the black snowflakes like the gray-black embers of volcanic eruptions or fires that have burned everything out of the sky have more or less a hint of death.

"Don't touch it. Mira subconsciously reached out and tried to catch the snowflake as she had done before.

Horno stopped her.

After revealing everything and the discernment, she seemed to be a different person in an instant: "It was condensed by her magic power, which was a little uncomfortable for ordinary people at most, and really harmful to magicians." ”

"Although you are still immature, there is still a lot of room for growth under his teaching. "She is very small compared to Mira, but the temperament of Orno who said this is very similar to that of her teacher. Mira looked back at Horno blankly, she didn't know what to say, since the elven magician had told the truth about it all a few days earlier, the girl felt that she couldn't look her in the eye so easily.

Despite the ups and downs of her life, Mira never felt how tragic her experience was or how worthy of pity and sympathy.

Rather than feeling sorry for herself, she prefers to spend this time trying to become stronger.

This is the character of this girl, always unstoppable.

But even Mira would have felt hopeless when she thought about what had happened to Orno.

The dilemma is not terrible, meet the right person, master the right method, and with enough hard work, you will always see a rainbow after crossing this hurdle.

What's really scary is the kind of thing where you do everything you can to make things better, only to end up watching it slide like a loose horse in the direction you least want to see.

Nothing you can do can change it.

Any action you try to make it better will make everything worse.

This mixture of powerlessness, hopelessness, and self-blame almost consumes her whole person just by imagining it.

"Don't sympathize with me. Horno apparently noticed the change in Miss Luoan's eyes, and she said calmly. "No, I-" Mira subconsciously tried to argue, but the elf just shook her head, "I recognize that look." ”

"Don't do that. ”

“...... Well. The white-haired girl lowered her little head, and Minna, who was on the side, slowed down and kept pace with her.

"This is the iniquity that I have bought, just as your teacher has carried his iniquity. Orno said word by word in a flat tone, "So I'm going to rely on my strength—"

"—put an end to it. Back in the cavern of a few days ago, in the flickering light of the fire, Henry Mayer spoke, speaking in a steady but powerful voice.

At this moment, the inside of the cave is already a tense atmosphere.

The mercenaries and merchants didn't mention it, and even the Imperial knights could barely hold themselves, drew their swords, and swung them at Orno.

All of their suffering, their suffering along the way, their dead comrades and partners, all thanks to this elf.

And if she hadn't been forced by Henry, would she have planned to pretend to be innocent and continue to stay in the team?

Knowing the truth of all this, and knowing that the witch is coming for her, she uses other unsuspecting people to protect herself, and sits firmly in the center of the team and lets others sacrifice their lives to protect herself.

Anyone would be furious when they learned the truth.

Orno could defend herself as much as she could, but she was silent.

She couldn't do it, and she couldn't defeat the thing that had been her daughter.

Concealing her identity intent on alarming enough humans to mobilize an army to defeat and destroy her.

Instead of going to the small town of Scotti with Henry, he stayed with Constantine and the others in order to give the humans time to mobilize their armies and get ready. She knew that the witch was coming for her, so she lured her into the forest, giving the humans a chance to gather a strong enough army.

She could have kept her identity hidden from beginning to end, trying to return to a peaceful life after the upcoming battle.

No.

No.

No, no, no.

Orno, what are you still thinking.

If it weren't for this man who exposed this lie and forced you to wake up from the fake acting, how long would you have to do this delusion?

After making so many mistakes and causing so many sins, do you still think you can escape from all this and return to the warmth that no longer exists?

Do you still want to run away from the responsibilities you should bear, again and again?

I can't find a place to go back to.

Able to accept that their people have been turned into food or filthy spirits.

And that person is around.

If he learns what he has done, I'm afraid that even he won't forgive himself.

This is my iniquity.

"Finish it, that's something you can only do. He said.

"Hmm. And she replied.

A single word, but it seems to have unloaded a thousand pounds of burden.

The black snow was slowly falling, and the aura in the team was still unrelieved. Despite Henry's and even Constantine's efforts to protect Orno, it didn't stop the knights and mercenaries who had suffered so many bruised and bruised knights and mercenaries from hating her.

The sage led the line ahead.

In this environment, only he can still find the right direction.

Orno sped up the pace of his car and chased in the direction where Henry was, and Barrow, who had been silently following her, followed him like a shadow.

"This kind of thing. ”

"This kind of thing is not right. ”

"It's not like that. Mira hung her head, and Minna pulled away to take command of the longbowmen, most of the supplies were worn on the knights, mercenaries, and merchants, but the lack of horses, combined with the lack of experience in the environment, did not increase the speed of the young men's movements, even if the weight was lightened.

Exhaustion caused them to make mistakes, and the blonde dame was exhausted.

The lonely, white-haired girl slowly moved the horse under her forward.

With a voice that only oneself can hear.

Whisperingly, he said.

"Between relatives, it shouldn't be like this. ”

"'She' is clear. ”

"I'm crying. ”