In the black and white world of shadows, Gawain, Amber, Betty, and an unknown wild mage sat around in a simple wooden house, and in front of them was the lunch that Betty had just made—a simple piece of bread slices, fried sausage, and some vegetable broth.
It's all colorless, like an old black and white photograph.
Gao Wen didn't intend to touch the food in front of him. Although it is true that cooking can be done in the Shadow Realm, he is really not sure what the consequences would be if he, a living human (probably), ate something from the Shadow Realm.
Amber and Betty next to them also did not use their knives and forks.
The wild mage across the table didn't urge them, he just ate the food in front of him silently, looking very quiet.
A strange tacit understanding lingers in the wooden house.
It was Gao Wen who broke the silence first: "How long have you been here?"
"It's been a long time," the wild mage put down his knife and fork, looking very polite, "I've settled here since the second year after I left the secret law society."
"You used to be a member of the Mystic Association?" Gao Wen asked with some surprise, "I thought you were always a wild mage."
"I was originally a second-level member of the Arcane Society," the wild mage said quietly. "According to the standards of the Arcane Society, I am a poor spellcaster-I am good at calculation and reasoning, but I lack the ability to convert it into a spell model." Ability, in other words, my spellcasting level is always at the elementary level, such a mage is not welcome in the Secret Law Association."
"So they drove you away?" Amber felt incredulous. She knows that a real mage is very precious, even if his spellcasting level is crappy—it's just that to those masters of arcane magic, in the eyes of ordinary people, even a mage who can only release a small fireball is an incredible big shot , even if these low-level spellcasters are not valued in the secret law society, they will not be swept out.
"I left by myself," Wild Mage shook his head and turned to look at Betty. "For my daughter and to cure her, I had to leave."
Betty stared blankly at Wild Mage, then nodded in confusion.
Gao Wen did not dwell on this issue, but stared into the eyes of the wild mage, pressed the hilt of the long sword at his waist with his right hand, and said slowly: "You should know what we are here for—we are not too serious. So much time to waste."
The stiff and dull expression of the wild mage finally changed slightly, his body trembled a little, and then he lowered his head: "...guest, I don't quite understand what you mean."
Betty looked at Gawain nervously: "Master?"
Gao Wen frowned, and after a while, he removed his hand from the hilt of the Pioneer Sword, and he took a breath: "Then just wait a while."
The wild mage lowered his head, and continued to eat his meal quietly and silently. During the eating process, his only extra movement was to raise his head from time to time and glance at Betty next to him.
The food must be finished eventually, and Gao Wen couldn't wait indefinitely.
The Wild Mage ate the last bite of sausage, and then carefully wiped the vegetable soup on the soup plate with a slice of bread. After he finished his meal, he looked up in Betty's direction—but his eyes didn't focus on Betty at all. Instead, focus on more distant places. His body swayed, as if he wanted to stand up, but he tried several times without success.
In the end, it was Betty who helped him up.
"Father, I'm leaving." The little girl supported the arm of the wild mage, and then let go after confirming that he was standing still. She moved to Gawain's side with small steps, "Miss Rebecca and Mrs. Hetty are still waiting for me —and the master is here too."
The wild mage moved his lips, and finally nodded slightly. His expression had calmed down, and he explained carefully: "Don't eat things given by strangers." "Sleep on time." "Remember to listen to the teacher " "Don't fight with other kids."
The brilliance of reason was gradually fading from this poor man's eyes, and Gawain knew that what he said now was all nonsense.
Although he was barely awake the whole time before.
The figure of the Wild Mage gradually faded away, but within the dimming phantom, a flame-like thing suddenly ignited. Gawain had been waiting for this moment for a long time. He quickly drew out the Pathfinder Sword, and the blade There was a faint gleam of light.
Amber quickly pulled Betty into her arms and covered the little girl's eyes in time.
Gao Wen pierced the long sword into the flame on the wild mage's chest, the flames shook violently, the wild mage who had already transformed into an evil spirit suddenly stopped transforming, the illusory figure quickly re-solidified into a solid body, and then the raging flames swallowed He, and burned his whole body into a horrible scorched corpse.
After burning for half a minute, the corpse was completely wiped out.
Crackling sounds came from all directions, the cabin quickly disintegrated after losing its owner, dense cracks covered the walls and roof in the blink of an eye, and the pale light of the outside world spilled in through the cracks in the wooden boards. in the house.
Gawain pulled Amber and Betty and ran out of the house quickly, and the moment they ran out, the wooden house completely collapsed.
The collapsed wooden house burst into flames before their eyes. The fire lasted for a short time, as if what was burned was not a wooden house, but a paper house.
While the wooden house was gradually reduced to ashes and drifted away with the wind, Amber suddenly pulled Gawain's arm and pointed at the foundation of the wooden house and exclaimed, "Hey! Look at that!"
Gao Wen looked intently, and saw that under the ashes of the wooden house, a flickering line was brightening up. The light penetrated the flying ash, and gradually formed a complex and huge structure—it looked like a large magic circle .
"This is probably the highest achievement of that wild mage in his life," Gao Wen nodded slightly. "It's probably because of a problem with the magic circle that caused him to fall into this situation."
While speaking, Betty's figure began to gradually transform into floating light spots. These light spots flew around twice in place, and then quickly flew towards the direction where Gawain and Amber came.
Amber looked down at her hands, the hands that had turned gray and white were now glowing blood again, and as the color returned to her and Gao Wen, the rejection of them from the Shadowlands became more and more obvious .
Some indistinct things condensed from the surrounding thin mist. They were completely shapeless, but they obviously had malicious intentions. The native residents of the Shadow Realm finally smelled the breath of outsiders, and some things in the shallowest layer emerged. , Gathering like hyenas smelling blood.
"We have to withdraw!" Amber said to Gao Wen, "We are not welcome in this place anymore!"
Gao Wen took a deep look at the ruins of the hut for the last time, trying to memorize those glowing lines and symbols, and then pulled Amber's arm: "Let's go!"
After a short period of dizziness, the scene of the real world appeared before his eyes again.
The fog of resentment has dissipated, and the dense forest has returned to its original appearance. Rebecca and Hetty, who have lost their strength, are supporting each other and leaning against a tree. Beside the master, the two surviving soldiers had collapsed to the ground.
Betty should be the one in the best condition among all of them—she was standing next to Rebecca in a daze, holding a frying pan, as if the dazed expression had already solidified on her face.
After seeing Gawain, Heidi immediately stood up supporting her body: "Ancestor—it's great that you are safe and sound!"
Then she saw Hu Po who was following Gao Wen, and her expression became subtle in an instant: "So the thief didn't run away?"
"Hey! What do you mean by different treatment!" Amber immediately jumped up like a cat whose tail has been stepped on, "I and your ancestors just went to the Shadow Realm to save you after a narrow escape, okay! You big boobs! Brainy old woman…”
Hediwan didn't expect that the lady thief would dare to yell at him, and his face immediately turned ugly: "Shut up! It's extremely rude! You know what it is to offend the nobles like this..."
Gao Wen hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over: "Don't quarrel, don't quarrel, Amber didn't lie, we did resolve the crisis together just now—of course it's her fault that she scolded you for having big breasts..."
The scene was quiet for a while, and Rebecca raised her hand cautiously: "My lord ancestor, just now Amber said such a compliment in total, and you rejected it..."
Hetty looked hopeless.
Gao Wen: "..."
Fortunately, Hetty is also a person who understands the general situation, so she didn't dwell on these small issues for too long. After Gao Wen explained what happened before, all misunderstandings disappeared.
What Gawain and Amber saw and heard in the Shadow Realm surprised everyone, and even Knight Byron, who knew nothing about magic, couldn't help but listened for a long time.
After all, this is an unimaginable experience for ordinary people.
"You can actually enter the Shadow Realm?" Hetty's first concern was really Amber's special ability. She sized up Amber several times suspiciously, as if she wanted to read the answer from Miss Half Elf's face, "Only Only a small number of high-level wizards of the shadow system or the "chosen" of the gods of the shadow system have this ability, how did you do it?"
Amber turned her face away: "I am the Goddess of the Night Goddess, okay?"
Hetty stared at her: "Don't make trouble, can a God Chosen be slapped on the ground by Byron with an ordinary steel sword?"
"Forget it, don't ask any more questions," Gawain finally stopped Hetty's pursuit, "I have already promised her not to pursue these things—she will naturally say it when she wants to."
The ancestor of the world is the biggest, and even Gao Wen spoke like this, so Hetty could only choose to die.
"Bury the dead first." The fog dissipated, and the warmth returned to everyone. Seeing that everyone had recovered a little bit of strength, Gawain got up and went to the soldier who died due to his broken soul, " He fought bravely and deserves to be buried like a warrior."
The two surviving soldiers looked at Gao Wen in surprise.
Gao Wen was a little puzzled: "Why, what did I say wrong?"
"After he became a serf," Knight Byron walked over from the side, "it was the viscount who promulgated the grace order, so that serf children like him have the opportunity to enter the territorial army and serve to redeem themselves—but he has only served for half a year, so now Still a serf, such an identity cannot be buried as a soldier."
Gawain frowned and looked at Rebecca: "Is that so?"
Rebecca immediately became nervous as if she had done something wrong: "Yes... I'm sorry! But I don't think the serf system is... not very reasonable, so I let them redeem themselves by serving. I know it's against the rules, but... "
Gao Wen's brows slightly relaxed: "No, I don't blame you."
Then he bent down, fumbled to take out a coin from his arms, and stuffed the coin into the breast pocket of the dead soldier, placing it next to his heart.
That coin was placed by Charles I himself when Gawain Cecil was buried seven hundred years ago.
The moment Amber saw the coin, she realized what it was, and immediately covered her eyes: "Oh my god...at least half the manor..."
But Gao Wen himself didn't realize it. He just finished these things according to the rules in his memory, and then he clapped his hands and stood up: "Now someone has redeemed the debt of his soul, bury him."
Byron hesitated slightly: "But the rules..."
Gao Wen glanced at him: "I am the rule."