The cold wind swept across the plain, stirring up waves of snow dust. Amidst the heavy snow, a man rode a horse, heading north against the wind.
Along the road, Joshua drove his war horse and entered the border of the Moldavia Territory. The horse's hooves stepped down and splashed with bits of ice shards.
Along the way, there were more and more people on the road, not only the Dixinglong caravans, but also many carriages under various banners. They might be businessmen, or they might be wealthy people simply going for fun. , after all, ordinary civilians will not consume precious calories in winter.
As for those driving winter wolf sleds on the roadside, they are basically fishermen or hunters. Since they have to go to the waterside and forest without roads, it is inconvenient to ride horses and cars, so sleighs are the best choice.
"Winter wolf..."
Noticing the group of large white dogs pulling sleds and running happily, Joshua couldn't help but shook his head. The name sounded handsome, but in fact its habits were similar to those of huskies. He remembered that he had raised one back then. Handsome but handsome...
His memory went back to a long, long time ago. At that time, the Continent of Disputes had just opened its server, and he was still working hard alone in the Far South. He happened to see a winter wolf at an auction. He had no intention of raising a war pet, so he bought it inexplicably. Come down…
"Wait, who is that?" A familiar black figure seemed to flash in front of him. Joshua's memory was interrupted. His eyes instantly focused and looked into the distance. The figure coming from the direction of the main city subconsciously He murmured: "So familiar."
Just one glance made him feel familiar. This situation couldn't help but make Joshua become serious. He urged the horse to approach the slow figure, but the closer he got, the more familiar he felt, but he couldn't figure out who it was.
It wasn't until a while later, when he faced that person face to face, that the doubts were solved. Joshua was surprised: "Old housekeeper... Fan?!"
The old man named Fan, who was wearing a black butler uniform, raised his head and looked around in surprise after hearing the voice. Then after spotting Joshua, he dismounted with a smile and bowed politely:
"Ah, long time no see, Master Joshua."
There was no reply. Joshua's eyes were full of surprise and confusion. He also dismounted, quickly walked over to help the old housekeeper up, and then quickly frowned: "Your hair...hands?!"
He held the old housekeeper's hand roughly and looked at it seriously, while the old man just smiled and looked at Joshua, letting him look at him.
It was an old man's hand.
The skin has become loose, and wrinkles cover it. If you get closer, you can even vaguely see the blue blood vessels and tendons, and the muscles on the arms are no longer as strong as they used to be.
Looking at these hands, Joshua felt an unknown anger rising from deep inside his heart.
That was the anger of Joshua in this world.
Fan, the old housekeeper of the Radcliffe family, has been taking care of him since he was born. They have lived together for more than ten years, and their relationship is no different from that of father and son. It can even be said that Fan is better than Joshua's father. Care about him more.
In fact, it was because he was so familiar with this old housekeeper who had lived with him for more than ten years that he felt shocked and angry about these hands.
On the man in front of him, traces of time are everywhere. Even though the white hair is neatly combed, it still shows the aura of aging. Countless small wrinkles are spread all over his face. Although it makes His face was more angular, but this also confirmed his weakness once again.
According to common sense, it seems normal that this middle-aged man named Fan is no different from the old housekeepers of other families, and his appearance is consistent with his age - after all, Fan is the same age as his father, and his father is also Already over fifty.
It is not a strange thing for a middle-aged man in his fifties or sixties to have gray hair on his head after going through many hardships and battles.
But that's what's not normal.
Neither Fan nor Joshua's father is an ordinary middle-aged man!
Let’s not talk about anything else. Count Bello de Radcliffe of Winter is a gold-level knight, which means that his natural lifespan is two hundred years. It is not difficult to live for three hundred years if he pays attention to maintenance. Even those in their fifties and sixties are still in their prime.
And where...
When Joshua was born, Fan looked eighteen or twenty years old. When Joshua was running around in the territory, Fan who looked after him looked eighteen or twenty years old. When Joshua could wield the giant sword, his father While giving instructions with a cold face, Fan, who was smiling quietly and serving tea, still looked eighteen or twenty years old. Even when Joshua had joined the army and returned to the territory due to the holiday of the military academy, the first Fan, who ran out to welcome him and entertain him, still looked about eighteen or twenty years old.
Joshua once asked his father this question in the past - even if this is a magical world, youth is still a problem. Except for elves, it is difficult for him to think of any race that is born with eternal appearance. But there was no need for the former head of the Radcliffe family to answer. He actually knew that a person with black hair, golden-red eyes, and normal ears could not be an elf.
But he is definitely not a human being. There is no doubt that he must be an immortal species.
Until the end, His Excellency the Count did not answer his question directly. He just said a few vague words, "You will know it later anyway." "This kind of question is meaningless." and the like.
In fact, the humans on the Continent of Dispute don't care at all about this kind of problem, and the same goes for Joshua. There are so many immortal species around him. Maybe the owner of the bar where you often go to drink is an elf. Who has the patience to verify it one by one
But this time is different - the thing that can make an immortal species age like this is undoubtedly related to a series of recent events - and the death of Joshua's father.
What happened in the guarded place
"Fan, what is going on?" Joshua raised his head and looked directly into the eyes of the old man in front of him, with an aggressive attitude: "Answer me!"
Since the time travel, the warrior has always had an unreal feeling of confusion. Although everything here is undoubtedly real, he has no real feelings. Everything is familiar and strange, and seems to be distant.
But it was different now. His heart was beating violently, and blood surged through his body with anger. Joshua's eyes were extremely cold, as if they were piercing the void, pointing directly at the unknown enemy.
"The guarded place..." The white-haired butler seemed to be hesitating. He pondered for a while and said, "My young master, you can't know yet."
"Why?" His words were almost threatening. Joshua took a step forward and asked without any emotion.
"Because young master, you are not 'qualified'." Fan did not care about Joshua's question. Fan replied in a brisk tone as before, "If you want to know, you must inherit your father's title and become Moldavia." The owner of this land, the lord who protects this land, this is a contract that cannot be broken and is engraved in my bones."
"qualifications?!"
After a brief exclamation, Joshua felt an incredible absurdity, "Earl Bellou of Winter has only one descendant, and that is me, the only successor! After his death, he can automatically inherit the title without even being granted a title by the emperor. , I, Joshua, am the natural lord of this land!”
"Now you tell me that I am not qualified? Then who is? That uncle who doesn't know where he comes from?" At this point, Joshua couldn't help but show a ferocious smile and said with fierce eyes: "That's right, he also has the right to inherit. , then just kill him."
Without answering the question, the white-haired old man looked at Joshua's left and right wrists with slightly dim golden-red eyes, then frowned and shifted his gaze elsewhere.
"'Qualification' is not some illusory title, but a real object." As if he was considering his words, Fan spoke slowly after a moment, and Joshua listened patiently: "I don't I know where the master put it, but you should know."
"What on earth is it? Where is it? How could I possibly know!"
"Please believe me, young master, it's not that I don't want to say it, it's that I can't say it."
Joshua was not the kind of person to be long-winded. After realizing that Fan seemed to be unable to speak due to the 'oath', he didn't bother to talk nonsense. He simply called up the system and used a detection technique to throw out any disagreement. .
[Investigation and judgment... Level crushing advantage, attribute crushing advantage... ]
[Detection successful]
[Name: Van Amos]
[Template: Excellence]
[Race: Divine Machine - Racial Skill: Divine Machine Transformation, resonates with the contractor who is connected by blood, and transforms into a weapon]
[Level: The contractor is dead, the level is forced to be 1]
[Attribute board: The contractor has died, all attributes are forced to the basic values]
[Shape: Medium humanoid alien life]
[Health value: The contractor has died, and the health value is forced to the basic value]
[Physical strength value: The contractor has died, and the physical strength value is forced to the base value]
[Incarnation weapon: Amos Dragon-Slaying Sword]
[Status: Life passed (remaining life 10 days)]
[Occupation: The sixth generation uses the divine machine/butler against Aragami]
[Talent: The contractor has died, all talents are forcibly erased]
[Skill: The contractor is dead, all skills are forcibly erased]
[Equipment: Black Butler Uniform]
[Powerful weapon, loyal steward.]
Wait... stop! Please stop for a moment!
Joshua felt a little bad—the unexpected amount of information shocked him so much that his expression became weird.
Divine machine? Joshua vaguely remembered that this word was often mentioned in his war group for a period of time before time travel, and it was also very popular on the forum. It was said that it was a super precious contract race, and its specific abilities were because he was concentrating on opening up the legendary dungeon [Wan World Sacrifice Site] I didn’t care much.
The memory gradually became clearer, and Joshua recalled a lot of information. The contract mission of the divine machine was indeed in the Northern Empire. It was very difficult and had a time limit. By the time he finished conquering the Ten Thousand Realms Sacrificial Site, it was over. There were only No more than ten people made the contract successfully, and those lucky ones deliberately concealed the information together. The entire mission process was shrouded in mystery. Time passed, the craze cooled down, and the divine machine became a rumored race.
But now it seems that the divine machine's ability should be transformed into a weapon! And the level must be extraordinary, just like the old butler's incarnation of the Amos Dragon-Slaying Sword, which is the powerful giant sword that Earl Winter is famous for. He once killed twelve white dragons and forced the White Dragon Plains in the North to sign a peace contract!
And the initiator of the God Machine mission... seems to be the Radcliffe family in Moldavia!
The information buried deep in his memory gradually revived, and Joshua felt a sudden realization. By comparing the intelligence of the two worlds, he suddenly discovered that the Radcliffe family he belonged to had participated in the historical process of the game. Through the scattered information, he can even guess what is guarding the place he is guarding, and what is the so-called mutation now!
If he guessed correctly... that's really something amazing.
But compared to these, what is more important now is the passing state of Fan's life.
"Fan." Joshua looked at the old housekeeper in front of him and frowned. Now that he had roughly guessed the truth, he simply made it clear: "You don't have much time left."
"..." Fan remained silent.
"Even if you don't tell me, I can probably guess... But it's not important anymore. You know, I always thought that after I inherited the family, you would still be our steward. When my son inherited the family, you would still be our steward." Our butler!" Joshua just looked directly at Fan: "You are my most important family member, I just want to know what happened to you, that's all!"
"..." Fan raised his head and looked at Joshua. The original red eyes with gold edges had become no longer bright due to the passage of life force. They were turbid, but still sharp.
"I'm very touched." He finally spoke, seeming to have made up his mind, and said in an extremely serious tone, "But an oath is an oath, and the most I can tell you is something insignificant."
"I - as you can see, I am not a human being. A long time ago, my elders and I made a contract with the Radcliffe family to serve you. This contract allows us to live and die together. Now Master If I die, my life will not be long."
Having said this, the white-haired old man bowed: "I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you."
"I can't say much else, even if you guess it, I can't say it. Unless you become the head of the family, unless you take on the heaviest responsibility of the Radcliffe family, I won't be able to tell you. the truth."
In the heavy snow, silence spreads.
After a while, Joshua said: "I probably understand."
The soldier sighed and shook off the snow on his body. The sigh was blown to pieces by the cold wind and disappeared into the snow: "So, now you only have ten days left to live, where are you going now?"
"Don't be sad for me." After touching his horse, the white-haired old butler looked at the expressionless Joshua and chuckled: "Dying to fulfill one's duty is the most glorious end for a warrior, no matter what Both the master and I have nothing to be ashamed of."
"There is only one thing I want to say now." Fan turned his back to Joshua and said this, his tone was meaningful: "Now, we have a group of uninvited guests in our home. What is more regrettable is that , I’m not in good shape right now.”
"Then, I will sweep away this garbage, just like you did before." Joshua understood what he was talking about: "It will be clean, leaving no one behind."
"Well, good luck to you, my lord,"
"...Goodbye, Fan."
The old butler got on the saddle and galloped in the opposite direction to Moldavia.
Joshua, on the other hand, looked into the distance indifferently.
"Become the lord of that confederated land?" He whispered, and then sneered.
At the end of the field of vision, there was the main city wall covered by heavy snow, with only a vague shadow.
The uncle who traveled thousands of miles to the Northland and tried to snatch the title from him was there.