In the afternoon.

A team came to the door of the Duke's Palace. The soldiers were dusty, their faces were red from the wind, and every movement was a little stiff. After receiving the order to disband, only two remained outside the door. A tall figure.

Wellington and Titus.

A lot of things have happened in Everta recently. Except for the accident in Kig Town, the nobles this year seem to be uneasy. Apparently the Duke of Angmar's deteriorating health is the main reason - the old Duke has no son, although his daughter has the right to inherit. , but Sally will not be able to return here until two years later. Although her title must be "Duke Luciferon", it is foreseeable that before she comes back, she will not be able to control everything that happens in the territory.

The inspection of the two guardian knights was mostly to beat up these evil-minded guys. However, after completing the task perfectly, the two of them chatted jokingly in the cold wind.

"Actually, the more I think about it now, the more I feel that I am getting old."

"You are thirty-nine and I am thirty-seven, the youngest?"

"Outstanding juniors always make people feel that time flies by so fast."

Wellington thought thoughtfully, and then laughed out loud: "...Yes, I feel a little unwilling to see the best among the younger generations grow up, but - ha, what can I do?"

"When we went to the battlefield for the first time with the team, old Cosey, Knight Longbottom and others were also our current age. This world is for young people after all..."

Titus sighed a few words, then said no more, and Wellington walked beside him silently. Neither of them was pretentious, and they basically didn't talk nonsense on weekdays, but every time they saw the monster Rody, they often couldn't help but say this A sigh.

When they entered the mansion, they thought they had to wait for the Duke to finish his lunch break before meeting, but they didn't expect that the old man who had been coughing for more than a month would appear in front of them with a rosy complexion. Both of them were a little surprised. After asking, they asked. Knowing that this was the potion that Rody got from Ansardin worked.

"This kind of medicine is overdrafting..."

"If I don't overdraw my body, I'm afraid I won't even be able to survive this winter." The Duke of Angmar looked very unconcerned and waved his hand: "I can live for half a year more, and I can do more meaningful things. That's enough. Already."

The two guardian knights also understood the meaning of his words, but facing death so calmly made them feel a little emotional after all.

"What's the special situation?"

Most of the circumstances had been reported in letters, and the Duke's question was naturally about something else.

Titus thought for a while and said: "There are no problems with the nobles in the territory, but there have been some strange reports recently - I didn't pay attention to it at first, but then I felt... I should still say it."

"Several villages near the forest have witnessed some strange things - villagers said they saw three large black birds circling overhead."

"If it were one or two, I would only think it was a coincidence, but when such reports appeared four times, I felt something was strange..."

In fact, not many people in the human race really know about the Necromancer's "Blood Crow". Even those with extensive experience, such as the Duke of Angmar, do not understand what this phenomenon means, so there are doubts at this time. You can only keep it in your heart.

"I'll ask Benjamin about this later. He may know something. You guys go to rest first, or--" the Duke pointed to the window, "go and talk to him?"

Titus and Wellington followed Angmar's hand and pointed out the window. Then they both raised their eyebrows at the same time. The Duke was a little confused and asked: "What's wrong?"

The two knights did not hide the surprise on their faces at this time, and replied at the same time: "Rody...has become stronger again."

****

Behind the mansion is a large back garden - different from the simple garden behind Ansardin's original manor, the Lucifron family's back garden has a history of more than two hundred years, with towering ancient trees and...

There are exquisite fountains and sculptures, and even after several snowfalls, the servants still kept the place neat and orderly.

In the past, Sally always liked to relax here because the atmosphere here was peaceful - but at this moment, the "quietness" in the garden had a chilling feel.

Nata held her breath and bent her body low, hiding behind a tree like a cheetah ready to attack. Putting on the black and red "Spiker" suit, her aura changed astonishingly - if

Before, Nata was a "shooter" with little sense of presence, but now, she already has the energy and confidence that Roddy had when he first became a "Ranger".

Nata had never imagined that a piece of equipment could achieve such an effect. Putting it on, instead of feeling heavy or uncomfortable, her whole body seemed to be filled with infinite power... She could even detect a faint wave flowing through it.

On the leather armor on the surface of her body, this wave made her senses sharper, made her react faster, run faster, and even made her feel...that her strength had surpassed those who had been the best in Elsa's village.

hunter.

The arrow was clasped on the string. When Nata heard a slight noise from the distance, she immediately ran out, drawing the bow and aiming in the distance while moving!

The black and red figure quickly turned into a shadow, and the small leather boots made almost no sound on the stone road. The long arrow shot, and three arrows in a row were nailed to the tree trunk "aggressively", and the shooting speed was much faster than before.

Several times faster.

However, such a fierce attack still failed. Nata frowned and carefully distinguished Rody's position from the noise.

But just as her pace slowed down, an arrow appeared from the side behind her without any warning and accurately hit her arm...

"Crack!"

The arrow had no arrowhead and was bounced off by the strong leather armor on the spot. Although there was no skin injury, Nata's arm instantly lost consciousness and the short bow in her hand fell to the ground...

This arrow seemed to determine the outcome, but Nata gritted her teeth and pounced on the spot, pulled out the dagger from her waist, sideways dodged the second arrow that hit her, and rushed into the forest--

Three seconds later, the sound of fighting resounded in the woods, and then, her figure was thrown out mercilessly...

This was not a simple "throw", because Nata flew a full ten meters in the air before rolling to the ground. When her body stopped rolling, she was completely unable to move and lay completely in a "big" shape.

On the ground.

"You must understand your own advantages at all times. Just working hard does not mean you have a chance of winning. Those who truly survive to the end often have enough patience..."

Rody's figure slowly walked out of the woods, "It's okay to be cruel, but don't let your emotions affect your reason, otherwise you will be asking for death."

Nata spent a long time trying to get up, but the shock to her body was really severe. When she saw Rody's palm stretched out towards her, she was slightly stunned, and then grabbed him without hesitation.

Using his hand, he stood up.

The heartbeat was somehow fast, and Nata felt guilty and thought it was caused by the fight...

Roddy did not let go of her hand, but seriously lowered his head and turned her arm over to check to make sure that his arrow had not hurt her, and then whispered: "It's not serious, just take a rest."

, remember what I just said, that’s it for today.”

This scene looks quite strange: one moment he knocked Nata flying more than ten meters, and now he looks concerned... If bystanders didn't understand that this was an actual sparring match between the two, they would probably

He yelled at Roddy for his hypocrisy.

However, Nata took Rody's words calmly, as if she didn't care at all about the fact that she had been beaten five or six times by Rody today.

"Continue tomorrow."

"I understand, teacher."

She responded in a low voice, her attitude was submissive, and she was also a little grateful: because when she had several times her previous strength, Nata began to understand more and more how big the gap between herself and Rody was...

Following Rody silently, Nata raised her head slightly and looked up at the overly rational human being in front of her, not knowing what she was thinking in her heart.

Looking down from the window of the Duke's study, the battle scene between Rody and Nata could be seen clearly - and from this perspective, the strength Rody showed... really scared Titus and others to death.

There is no need to say much about long-range archery, but what about the power to throw Nata more than ten meters casually?

And the increasingly calm and powerful aura in him cannot be developed overnight.

Under all kinds of doubts, Angmar had to shake his head and sighed: "Such an alien...if you give him enough space, how far will he go?"

****

Seeing Wellington and Knight Titus returning, Rody changed out of his leather armor and went to the Duke's study to chat for a while. When he left, he finalized two things: Knight Titus agreed to serve as the instructor of the Kiger Town Cavalry.

, and the Wellington Knights stated that they would try their best to help Roddy select high-quality soldiers.

After confirming that the Duke's health had indeed improved a lot due to the medicine, Rody finally felt relieved. After returning to the guest room and sitting on an armchair, Rody relaxed and remembered that he had brought two books, so he put them out - one

The first one was "On the Self-Consciousness of Defense Systems" given to him by Brody, and the other one was the old notes of the witcher Dukar when he changed jobs.

Rody was more interested in the deeds of the legendary witcher. He first opened the notebook. He had seen Dukar record some simple events in it. Now when he read it carefully, he realized that there seemed to be quite a lot of articles in it.

"On May 4th, the headache problem has never been solved. The arcanist has always been prejudiced against me and is unwilling to contact an alien like me. Sakya is in good condition and has no symptoms of headache."

Headache?

Rody remembered that his head hurt when he released the "Soul Link" skill with Saga, and later when he released the "Turtle Shell Shield"... Is there a connection between the two?

"On May 9th, I came to Elsen."

Seeing the word "Elson", Rody immediately frowned - this city seemed to be related to "charged spar", and was the place where Ansardin focused his research.

"...Khadgar doesn't want to see me. There's nothing I can do about it. Now my identity is too sensitive. Meeting these high-ranking guys in public has become a luxury."

"I don't know if it's an illusion, but staying in this city makes me very uncomfortable. There's always a voice talking in my head. I know it's not Sakya - I decided to leave here as soon as possible."

"In the early hours of the morning, I had a severe headache. This was the most severe headache since the onset of symptoms."
Chapter completed!