Jefta put away his pen and paper: "Did he bring any livestock?"
"No," the hostess replied, "Joshua took away a pack of the best cheese made this summer and planned to go to the weekend market to exchange for some fabrics and nails. We wanted to give it to Jonah at the window with a view of the scenery. Set up a small bed so that he can wake up in the sunshine every morning. Joshua has prepared the wood and can start work when he comes back. He is the best in the neighborhood..."
"The best carpenter," the dark fire mage stood up, "I will go to the chain bridge to have a look. If I happen to see him, I will come back with him."
"Thanks, Jeffta," Jove's voice was apologetic.
Jeffta knew that the other party couldn't see it, but he still waved his hand as a farewell.
He walked eastward along the path on the hillside. He had just walked three hundred yards when he saw a small figure appearing in the distance. It was too far away to see clearly, but at this time he was walking towards a small wooden house independent of the village. , it can only be the male protagonist himself.
"Joshua," he shouted, waving to the other party, "it's me. You came back too late. Your lunch is almost cold. I have some big news for you."
The figure didn't seem to hear his call, and walked over slowly, "What a laid-back guy," Jeffta muttered, standing there waiting for his old friend. It wasn't until a few minutes later that he realized something was wrong.
He has a black and thick mustache on his upper lip, is slightly bald, and has a strong body. Joshua's figure gradually becomes clearer, but his steps are limping, his ruddy face is gray and white from blood loss, and he is holding a bloody knife in his hand. The sword leaves a bright red footprint behind every step it takes.
"Joshua,"
The young dark fire mage exclaimed and ran over. The moment his hands touched Joshua, exhaustion and pain finally took over the male master's body, "Jove..." Joshua fell down on Jay In Futa's arms, he called his wife's name, his eyes distracted.
Jeffta gritted his teeth, carried his old friend back to the cabin, and knocked on the door frantically: "Jove, open the door quickly, Joshua is back, he is injured,"
A second later, the panicked hostess appeared at the door. Her trembling hands were still holding the wooden spoon, and she was obviously reheating the cold lunch. The two people carried Joshua to the bed, unbuttoned his clothes, Wiping away the blood, a deep and long sword mark appeared on his thigh, and blood was still pouring out from the hastily wrapped wound.
Jove showed the strength of a farmer's wife. She didn't shed a single tear, but silently prepared hot water, towels and bandages to clean her husband's wounds. Joshua held the sword so hard that Jeffta couldn't do anything. Take the bloody sword from his hand.
"Did you hear that, Master?" Jove untied the rag that wrapped the wound. The hideous wound was exposed to the air. He wiped it gently with the towel, causing the male host's body to tremble violently. With a muffled groan, Joshua's eyes recovered. After a brief moment of clarity, Jove immediately called her husband softly.
"...Jove," Joshua said weakly, and immediately showed a panicked look: "Where is Jonah, where is little Jonah?"
"He's already asleep in the cradle, so don't worry about him," the hostess replied immediately.
Joshua barely raised his upper body and stared at his wife: "Jove, we have to leave. Now, take Jonah away and go to a place where no one can find him..."
"Tell us what happened," Jeffta stretched out his hand to hold his old friend's back, feeling his muscles tense up due to tension.
"... Jeffta," the male host discovered the existence of the dark fire mage at this time, "very good, you can also help. Do you still remember what you learned from the Magician Association?"
"You mean fire magic, of course, and I also found a more powerful one..." Jeffta responded in confusion.
"That's enough." Joshua sat up with all his strength, and blood immediately flowed out from the wound, splashing all over Jove's face. "I killed three of them and bought some time. We must leave before reinforcements arrive. Far... pack up, Jove, take the cheese, the sickle and the dog, take the gold coins out of the sheepfold, and forget about the rest..."
The hostess didn't ask why. She wiped away the blood with a hot towel, wrapped the bandage tightly around her husband's wound, stood up and packed her luggage. Jonah was awakened by the adults' conversation and lay on the small bed looking around curiously. Look, it makes a babbling sound.
"At least tell me what's going on," the Darkfire Mage couldn't help shouting angrily.
Joshua gritted his teeth and stood up, holding his long sword on the ground, breathing rapidly: "I don't have time to elaborate. Someone is looking for me. They are a group of organized villains. Everyone has different parts of his body." There is the same crimson bird-shaped tattoo, at least, the three people I killed have it. This should be the logo of their organization..."
"Looking for you, why?" Jefta was stunned. He didn't understand why his independent, hard-working old man in farming would be hunted down by a mysterious organization. This was supposed to be the plot of a vulgar knight novel. Why did it happen in this place? On a farmer.
Geoffrey packed his luggage neatly, carried Jonah on his back, and held on to her husband's arm: "Master, which direction are we going?"
"Go west through the village of Kanno and enter the endless mountains," Joshua looked to the west.
Darkfire Mage angrily yelled: "You are crazy. There is nothing in the endless mountains except barren rocks and ferocious monsters. You can't survive there,"
The male host coughed twice, "I'm not crazy, Jeffta. The most important thing is to leave hope for survival. As long as there is hope, all difficulties can be overcome."
After opening the door, Jove supported Joshua, carried little Yona on her back, carried simple luggage and the family's shepherd dog, and walked towards the mountains in the west. Jeffta still couldn't recover from the shock, and his steps were stiff. He followed behind, "Jove, tell me what is going on,"
The hostess looked at her husband inquiringly, and Joshua sighed.
"I curse your dark fire magic, Jeffta," Jove said, "it will indeed bring disaster... The three of us grew up together in Kanno Village, but there is a secret that you don't know... Joshua has the blood of a traitor in his veins,"
"Betrayer," Darkfire Mage was a little confused.
"I can't say more, it will bring greater disaster," the hostess looked back at the infant Yona with distress. The little boy had clear eyes open and did not cry, as if he was treating his escape as an outing. , "Ever since Joshua found the letter left at the bottom of the box by his long-lost father, he told me that his life would be far away from all crowded places, far away from cities, far away from powerful people, and if he wanted, I would accompany him. Build a beautiful house in a beautiful place, give birth to a beautiful child, and be a pair of happy farmers. But after so many years, there are no signs of danger. We slowly relax our vigilance. Unexpectedly, it is time to come. Yes, it’s finally here…”
"I still don't understand." In Jeffta's eyes, his childhood playmate gradually became a stranger.
At this time, seven or eight black shadows appeared on the hillside in the distance, and people with weapons were approaching quickly. Joshua's bloodless face showed a look of despair: "They are coming. I killed the people who reported the news and destroyed them." After crossing the chain bridge, they still came so quickly..."
"Block me," Qiao Fu immediately pushed the dark fire mage forward, threw away the bag, took off Jonah's swaddling clothes, looked around, chose a big tree with dense leaves, climbed up dexterously, and carefully placed the swaddling clothes on both sides. In the middle of the branches of the tree with thick roots.
"Mother……"
The apprentice astrologer stood in a void of space and witnessed all this happening. He stretched out his hand many times, but could not touch his mother's body.
"Baby Jonah," Jove looked down at his own flesh and blood. The little boy looked around with his skeletal eyes, neither crying nor laughing. "Mom will be back after a while. Don't make any noise. Do you hear me?" The hostess made a silencing gesture, took out the bottle from her arms, and stuffed it into Jonah's mouth.
The child who has passed the age of weaning but is still obsessed with the pacifier showed a satisfied look, stretched out his little hand, and hugged the warm bottle.
Jove gently stroked his soft hair, left a farewell kiss on his rosy cheek, jumped down from the tree, and stood next to her husband.
"You are still as good at climbing trees as you were twenty years ago," Joshua stared at his wife's eyes that had crow's feet but were still young.
"You haven't changed at all," Jove replied with a smile.
Jeffta glanced nervously at the big tree where the baby was hidden, and took out various spell-casting auxiliary materials, scrolls and gems from his robe, preparing to fight, "By the way, you said what you found," Joshua stretched out his hand With a bloody hand, he patted his old friend on the shoulder.
"Since you are keeping this secret from me, I also decided to keep this secret from you," Darkfire Mage said angrily.
The enemy arrived, four lightly armored swordsmen, one heavy infantryman, two archers, and a gray-haired middle-aged man wearing ordinary summer clothes and cowhide boots. Although he was empty-handed and without weapons, the middle-aged man suddenly The child attracted everyone's attention.
"You, follow me," the man pointed at Joshua and said in a tone he was accustomed to giving orders to.
The farmer raised his sword in reply, the loyal sheepdog growled menacingly, and Jove pulled out the grass-cutting scythe from her bag.
The middle-aged man looked at the team carefully and couldn't help but cover his mouth and let out a weird giggle, "Hahaha, is this today's mission, farmers, peasant women and dogs?" He turned to the soldiers behind him, "Gentlemen , it was they who caused the casualties of three soldiers,"
A swordsman pointed at Joshua slightly nervously: "It's him, sir. We were patrolling the weekend market in Red Stone Castle, and Pastor Donovan suddenly issued an order, saying that the detection circle had found the 'blood of heresy' Our five-person team rushed to the indicated location and found that he was exchanging cheese for something in a blacksmith shop. When he grabbed the iron nail, the sharp nail pricked his finger,"