The Amber Sword

“… the legend of the green people in the forest has long been known by the mountain people of Manowell and Lantoniland as the tree people. Some say they are the descendants of the Minors, and indeed after the Battle of the Saints, there is a part of the Minors' path that we have taken today to escape into the frosty forest. They rolled over the Needle Mountains, went out to sea from today's Silver Pine Coast, headed north, and have been missing ever since. ”

“No one knows where they eventually went, but some say that the Minor people in the forest were divided into two parts, and the leader of the team was reluctant to give up secular power and deceived a group of people to stay. The result of these latter arrivals is conceivable: the one who stayed behind became the later green people; but they have been assimilated by the forest - their cheeks are like a wood texture, their stubborn eyes are deep inside, their roots are covered, they are constantly wandering in the forest, day after day, regretting the decisions they made. ”

“Dark magic turns this regret into resentment, and they are lost in this forest like ghosts without hearts, killing all the creatures they encounter. Most of these remaining Minors are nobles among the Minors, who are good at using language to seduce people, especially when it contains the magic of forests. Many of the people who have seen them have not returned. ”

The flame calmed the branches in the bonfire, and the tiny branches turned golden red in the fire, from time to time snapping a spark. Brando's voice was high and low, bringing the legend of a man on a tree that was spreading around Manowell, but most locals knew it only, but could not tell the story in such detail that everyone in the fire could hear God.

Only the little prince curled himself in the corner and heard Cesar tremble. He wanted to walk away and not listen, but he couldn't resist curiosity.

“What about the Minors who left?” Metisa's a little curious. She put a dead branch in the campfire, and the bright light made her face much more red.

Brando picked up the roasted fish from the bonfire and threw it over to Haruze beside him. The little prince stunned, unconsciously reaching out to catch it, and it burned again and threw the roasted fish away. Then he reacted, hurrying to grab the wooden mark and pick it up, but some of them were overwhelmed by the dirt and snow stained on the roasted fish.

Brando sighed and shook his head. He handed the other roasted fish to the nearest Nemathis, the Nemathis Heartcollar, reached out and took the roasted fish from the little prince's hand and exchanged it for him.

“Thank you...” Haruze muttered softly, blushing like an apple.

“His Royal Highness, in order to assume his responsibilities, he must first learn to overcome his fears.” Nimaisis reminded him: "The world's legendary forest species, but Your Highness, you are too old to believe in bedside stories. ”

“... me, I'm not afraid.” Haruze stared at the roasted fish on her hands, some grievance: "Because my sister said that Lord Martha would bless every one of her children...”

Laurena couldn't help laughing at this reason to comfort herself: "Your Highness, you are so cute.” She replied with some laughter.

Brando shook his head and couldn't have expected more from His Royal Highness, at least he had become more independent over the years. Until then, he wouldn't dare say his thoughts in front of so many people, which is at least an improvement. So he went on to answer Metissa's question: "The Minors rolled over the Needle Mountains, and someone saw them sailing from today's Silver Pine Coast, only too long ago. But the souls of the dead Minor ancestors, still wandering in the ancient isthmus north of the Needle Mountains, were often extracted from the seabed in that area. ”

“Where's the heartless knight? I've heard such legends before.” Laurena asks that Brando has been telling them a lot of stories about the forest every day since these days - nothing seems to her to be unknown to the Count of Tonigal.

“Lost Knight? That's another story ——” Brando was about to speak, interrupting him with an almost grieving wail in the distant forest, a voice that swept beneath the silver moon and beneath the forest, like a wolf. But Brando heard it. It was the voice of man, the voice of a woman.

The little prince was shaken, and everyone turned back in that direction at the same time. The voice came from the south of the camp, in the direction of the original camp of the hunters.

‘Wow,' suddenly a man came out of the bush with a gun on his back. She looked at Brando somewhat overwhelmed, but the latter had come to understand: “What happened? ”

“She ran away...” replied the Mountain Girl.

“Running out?” Brando slightly flashed, "didn't you stop her? ”

“But she said she was going to find her own brother. ”

“Her brother? Was her brother among the hunters? ”

Syd shook her head slightly, indicating that she didn't know.

……

When Brando saw the hunter for the second time, she was in the hunter's camp during the day, when she was kneeling in the snow crying low; the young girl had a thick dark brown hair, spread over her shoulders, slightly curled, very pretty. She was dressed in thick hunter's leather, except that the long bow and arrow on the strap had long gone missing when she was discovered. The bare skin on her hands and neck was a little dark, sort of like Sue. She looked at most sixteen or seventeen years old, but much more mature than Nemathis or even Freya.

The hunter girl lay on the edge of a pit dug out in the snow, holding onto the frozen soil with her hands and making a whimpering sound almost like a beast, which gradually became a low cry. Freya, next to Brando, sees this kind of impatience, walks over and tries to lift each other up, but Brando stops her first -- he looks at the body of the hunter who's been dug up again in the pit, and he turns around and says, "Is her brother in there? ”

Bonnie Maisey shook her head gently, "All the bodies buried earlier were identified to her, and there was no body of her brother inside. The surrounding woods have also been searched and no trace has been found. ”

“So her brother is still alive? ”

“Not necessarily, or possibly, the bodies were taken by wild beasts in the forest. Or, like that body we met before, we might as well run further away and die.” Female knights are not optimistic.

Brando nodded slightly, endorsing the speculation. But it also adds: "Without excluding the possibility of being taken away, Alec always needs a guide. ”

Nimaisie can't let it go.

“Brando?” Freya looked at the girl kneeling in the snow somewhat worried about her injuries, not to mention the fever the female hunter had. Inflammation of the wounds is a very dangerous thing in an environment where only the priest of Finzan is good at getting rid of the disease, although there is a sacrifice of Pahimira in the team.

But Brando glanced at the girl and replied softly: "Let her vent for a while, her brother may not be dead, but normal people will not be able to take such a big shock. At least let her calm down first. ”

Freya softly held her lips, much of her sympathy for each other stemmed from her own encounters; that night at Butch watched her loved ones who were living together in the morning and evening, torched by an old home, a feeling of humiliation and powerlessness that was difficult for ordinary people who had not experienced all of this.

But she thought about her experience at the Royal Knights Academy —— some things that had to be on their own to get out of trouble, and Brando taught her that -- so she stopped and looked at each other silently.

Fortunately, the Hunter Girl was much stronger than anyone imagined, and she cried in the snow with her voice suppressed. Then she silenced herself —— it took a while for her to get up and wipe her tears. The look of the out-of-control Hunter Girl made everyone look stunned; she didn't have that blatantly heartbeat beauty on her, but her dark painted eyes were like a female beast, filled with rays of untamed wildness.

“Thank you for saving me, knights," her voice was a little dull, not just a crying voice, but the original voice. But as Brando said, the Hunter Girl has calmed down a little after saying this, and she asks softly with the sound of sand: "Are you going into the Frost Forest, gentlemen? ”

Everyone looked at Brando.

Brando asked back, "I want to know what kind of idea it is, and let you ask that question. ”

“If I say I can be your guide, will you please take me with you, Lord Knight?” The Hunter Girl immediately stared at him and asked, with her eyes full of wings, as though she was trying to remain calm but fearful that Brando's refusal would inevitably reveal a hint of tension.

Brando blurted a little, though he'd have expected it. However, he had listened to Nimatis and others convey the original words of the hunter girl, saying that the hunter was unwilling to enter the dyed forest that day, which caused Anrek's death, but she came to this request without expecting this moment.

“That's what you said, but you want to go into the woods and find your brother's men, right?” He asked.

The Hunter Girl hesitated for a moment, but eventually ordered: "Yes, I don't want to hide you, my lord. Dead or alive, at least I want to see my brother's body.” Brando is satisfied with her honesty, but still asks: "But our time is running out. Are you hurt enough to keep up with us? ”

“I can! This little injury is nothing to us hunters!” The Hunter Girl immediately answered loudly, but caused the wound to cough.

“Have you ever been into the Frost Forest? ”

“I did not, My Lord Knight, but my father had entered the frost forest three times in his life. He was the only hunter around Shallow Town who could come back from the woods alive, but his companions who entered the woods with him stayed there.” The Hunter Girl said that she stopped here as if she remembered something unpleasant. “For this reason, he was implicitly called a cursed man by those who, after my father's death, and Aruta and I were ostracized by the hunters of the town. ”

She sighed in the shadows: "Before entering the forest this time, many hunters were enthusiastic when the nobles offered a large price. But the owner needs someone who's familiar enough with the north side of the Arather Forest, in shallow water town, that's just me and my brother --"

“I thought I could get this money and get out of here with my brother and go to Karasu. I didn't expect...” The Hunter Girl had red eyes and hurried to wipe them with her hands.

“Your brother is not necessarily dead. You don't have to be sad. It's unlikely that Alec will kill everyone. By the way, you must be familiar with the hunters in town. Have you counted the bodies and lost them? ”

“Alec?” The young girl slipped a little before realizing what it meant to come to Brando: “I counted, there were three people missing. ”

“Two men, plus your brother.” Brando hesitated for a moment, and this number was a little too much. If Alex needs a guide, two people are quite enough. But he didn't say it. He looked at the Hunter Girl and said, "What's your name? ”

“My name is Paia, my lord. My father's name is Tyco, he's a small famous hunter in Shallow Water Town, and my brother's name is Aruta, and he's 15 years old.” The Hunter Girl immediately introduced herself with humility.

But Brando didn't really care about her introduction, and he asked seriously, "You think about it, Paia. You are with us, and even if you may meet your brother, I will not necessarily allow you to move freely by then.” In the eyes of others, Brando seems to have changed someone at the moment, but they don't know that it's Brando's habit as a captain - Dye Forest is not an entry-level copy in the game, let alone players who can start over, where they don't have a chance to do it again - so he never allows a team to have an element of instability. “Remember, you're joining our team as a guide, not us taking you to save your brother. ”

Paia revealed her struggle, but Brando reassured her a little, at least not if she was merely lying to be a guide. Eventually she nodded her head and raised her hand to swear, "I see, Lord Knight. I swear in the name of my dead father that I will keep my promise at this moment. ”

Brando nodded.

Freya, beside her, seemed relieved and hurried over to lift the Hunter Girl out of the snow. Brando turned around, and he didn't really need a guide, just that he didn't want to break Freya's heart.

Besides, his own conscience may be overwhelmed if he leaves the Hunter Girl alone. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote on recommendations, monthly tickets (qidian.com), and your support is my biggest motivation.)