945, Iberian Peninsula — Plains of Aragon.
A stream meandered along the forest. A rather young man was sitting on a rock by the stream. He was squatting by the river and washing his face. His short gray hair was stuck with branches, and his clothes were torn by thorns. It looked very messy.
It was the escaped prince, César.
After running through the night for a whole day, he escaped from the manor's control area and climbed several mountains and forests. He didn't believe that his female officer could catch up with him now.
But even if she did, César was not very worried because he had an owl. The owl could help him keep watch in the sky. Anyone who came within a thousand steps of him could be warned.
After flying for a day, the owl was tired. It was now combing its feathers on a branch. It was daytime, and it looked a little dispirited.
"What's your name?" César asked the owl.
The owl was focused on combing and ignored him.
César threw a handful of water at the owl. It jumped to avoid it and croaked unhappily, "What are you doing?"
"What's your name?" César asked again.
"No name," the owl replied listlessly.
"Why don't you have a name?"
"Because I don't need one."
The owl said coldly.
"Why not? We all have names."
"Where did you get so many whys?"
The owl croaked angrily, "Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you my real name. Once you know the real name of something, you can completely control it. As a wizard, don't tell me you don't even know this. "
"I don't know. No one taught me."
César said honestly.
"Well, now you know," the owl croaked and continued combing.
"Although what you said is very profound, but …" César rolled his eyes. "But … you always croak when you speak. I'll call you Frog."
"Croak!?"
The Night Owl jumped angrily in protest.
"Frog, frog, croak croak croak ~"
"Shut up, stupid. Do you still want to go to Pandora to find a wizard? "
"Yes," César said. "Otherwise, why would I come out with you?"
"I'm hungry," the owl said righteously. "Help me find food. If you can help me find some food, I'll be happy to leave early and take you to Pandora."
Food …
When the owl said that, César also felt hungry. After running all night, he did not notice. Now that he stopped, he heard his stomach growling.
It was the first time he experienced this feeling after being watched by countless people since he was young. afraid that the maid would catch up to him, he brought almost no luggage and went into battle alone. Which meant that he did not have any food.
"Frog, brother, what do you want to eat?"
"Snake, rat, rabbit, rabbit, as long as it's not mushrooms.
"Frog?"
"Croak!" The Night Owl flapped its wings and fiercely extended its claws to pounce on him.
César laughed as he dodged the Night Owl's hooked claws and easily ran out.
The owl, The owl was, The owl, The owl, The owl, The owl, The Owl.
Before he could run far, his hunger surged once more.
Croak, croak, croak …
César's stomach growled even louder. He did not dare to play around. He quickly got up and broke off a branch. He used a small knife to sharpen it and got up to walk into the forest.
The forest was not rich in resources. After searching for a full ten minutes, he found a small animal eating berries on the ground in the forest.
This small animal looked very similar to a rabbit, but it did not have the three-petaled mouth and long ears of a rabbit. It only had a pair of round ears that looked like a mouse's and two black eyes.
César had learned riding, shooting, and hunting from the guard captain in the manor. He was very confident in his body.
He held his breath and walked forward, one step at a time. Beneath his feet were dried leaves that had accumulated for an unknown number of years. They were soft and even elastic, completely absorbing the sound of his footsteps. There was no sound at all when he stepped on them.
Then, when he was about five meters away, he suddenly jumped out and launched an attack. Before the little beast could react, it was stabbed in the leg by the tip of the stick.
It struggled and twitched as it ran in another direction. César pounced on it and pressed it down. He pulled out a small knife and pressed on the animal's vein. "Sorry."
Then, he killed the struggling prey with a single slash.
Blood seeped into the tree trunk. César picked up his spoils of war and could not help but grin. This was his first time killing, but he did not resist.
This small achievement made him feel very good. He had obtained the right to survive with his own hands. The manor in the past could not give him such a feeling.
Just as he was about to go back and enjoy lunch with Ye Xiao, he suddenly felt that something was looking at him from the side. He looked down and saw that it was a dark green python hiding in the grass, hissing and spitting out its tongue.
"Hey!"
Czerville glared at the python with the prey in his hand. "I found it first!"
The python flicked out its tongue and turned to leave slowly.
César did not know if it was an illusion, but he felt that the snake's eyes were filled with mockery before it left.
The hunger in his stomach washed away his other thoughts. He carried the prey and rushed back. He had already thought of more than a hundred ways to cook it in his mind, even though he knew nothing about cooking.
After walking back for about half an hour, César's footsteps gradually slowed down. He remembered that it had only taken him about ten minutes to come, but it took him more than three times the time to go back.
Not only that, but the stream he had washed his face in was nowhere to be seen. It was clearly nearby just now.
The surrounding scenery was very similar to when he had just passed by. Apart from the trees, there were more trees, but they were not exactly the same.
However, he could not tell what was different.
"Strange."
He touched his head and thought for a moment before taking small steps in the direction he had decided on.
He walked for another ten minutes.
The stream that had separated from the owl was still nowhere to be seen, which puzzled him. Then, he suddenly stopped and took two steps back.
There was a beech tree to his left. There was a pool of red blood at the roots of the beech tree.
When he saw the blood on the beech tree, he frowned deeply. There was no other reason than that this was where he had just stabbed the prey to death. The shape of the blood was exactly the same.
He had clearly been walking back, but why had he returned to the same place? César did not understand.
He looked around again. It was getting late, and the sun was gradually setting. The gloomy north wind blew the shadows of the trees like ferocious living creatures. He felt that he was being watched by a cold and inexplicable thing that did not have a good impression of him. This made him unavoidably nervous.
Where is it? How do I get there?
His sense of direction was a little confused.
He was also a little afraid …
But on second thought, he was a wizard and could talk to the owl. They were both Mysteries. Why should he be afraid of Mysteries?
He gestured with his hands and decided that it was better to go in the same direction.
He set off again. This time, his steps were firm and decisive. Every few steps, he would turn back and look at the footprints he had left on the ground to make sure that he was walking in a straight line.
But ten minutes later, he still couldn't return to the stream where he washed his face. Not only that, but there was also a row of footprints in front of him. He followed the footprints, dumbfounded. After a while, he returned to the place where the beech tree was stained with blood.
The shape of the blood on the beech tree was exactly the same as ten minutes ago, except that it was a little dry.
A cold wind blew, and the air seemed to freeze. There was a whisper in the wind that sounded like magic. "Hiss … Hiss … You took something that did not belong to you … Hiss …"
Even the bravest person could not hold it in. The corner of César's mouth twitched. He shuddered and ran. He wanted to escape this strange place as soon as possible.
This time, he did not choose a direction. On the contrary, he kept twisting left and right to change directions. He quickly left the trees behind him and jumped over all the obstacles that could stop him.
However, after running for five minutes, he came to a sudden stop. There was no other reason. César still returned to the same place. The blood-stained beech was like a maggot attached to a bone. He could not shake it off no matter how hard he tried.
"Wow! What happened? "
He shouted alone.
Thinking of the story that his personal maid had read with him and the mysterious phenomenon that Scholar Hugo had told him, César could not help but sweat. Could it be that the ghost of the rabbit had come to find him?
So he untied the prey hanging from his waist and looked at it. He said hoarsely, "Are you unhappy …? I want to eat you because I'm hungry. If I don't eat you, you will die. That's inevitable. I've already apologized. Why are you blaming me? "
The prey did not answer. It stuck out its tongue, and its eyes were empty. It looked dead and lifeless. It did not look like it could cause a storm at all.
"Fine, you win …"
César gave up on the prey and put the corpse back under the beech tree.
He retreated and left the beech tree step by step.
When he retreated about ten meters, a soft sound came from behind him.
He turned his head like lightning and saw a dark-green python emerge from the bushes. It grabbed the prey placed under the beech tree in its mouth and turned to run.
"I knew you were the one behind this!"
César was furious. He immediately rushed out of the bushes and shouted with his dagger raised. The humiliation of being fooled rushed to his head.
Although he did not know how he returned to the starting point again and again, he was sure that the snake was behind it. He was a prince, but he was fooled by a snake. It was outrageous.
The snake saw that he was coming menacingly and slithered away with the rabbit in its mouth. It was very fast.
"Stop!
César followed closely behind the python and ran faster and faster.
In the end, he was so fast that it was like a Mirage, but he did not realize how fast he was.
Thinking of how he had been scared by the strange phenomenon, he could not help but feel ashamed of his fear. Scholar Hugo had taught him since he was young that a true king should remain calm even if Mount Tai collapsed in front of him. He thought so deeply, but he did not do it.
Fortunately, Grand Secretary Hugo had also told him that he should never forgive his opponents easily. Only after he had won would he be merciful. He still had a chance to do that.
Now, he was going to cut the reptile that humiliated him into pieces.
The python turned its head to look at him and was frightened by his aura. It did not dare to race with the young man and found a hole in the ground to burrow into.
César pounced and grabbed the python's tail firmly a second before it entered the hole. Then, the veins on his neck bulged, and he wanted to pull the python out of the hole.
The python hissed in pain.
Then, the earth shook.
The ground shook violently, and leaves and branches rustled.
César was abnormally focused. He did not care about the shaking of the ground at all. He was going to drag out the snake that humiliated him and kill it today.
"Caw! Caw! Caw!"
At this moment, an owl flew over from the sky with all its might. As it flew, it shouted, "Go, fool, don't pull it!"
César looked up and saw the owl. He immediately said happily, "You're here. Come and help me!"
"Help my ass!"
The owl was about to cry. It shouted anxiously, "Go, we're in the wrong place. There's a snake here!"
"Nonsense, of course I know there's a snake here!"
César indicated that the snake was in his hands.
However, the ground shook more and more violently.
Amidst the violent shaking, César shouted attentively, "Hey, Brother Frog, don't just talk. Come and help! Use your claws to grab it. Our dinner is in its mouth. "
"I'm not helping you. Fool, you're on your own!"
The Night Owl squawked as it flew upwards frantically.
"Hey, what!? You're flying away by yourself? "
César shouted angrily, dissatisfied with the owl's disloyal behavior.
However, the owl did not fly far.
As it flew, a large hill rose from the ground in the distance. The large hill covered the sky and blocked all the light. Not only that, but the entire hill turned around. With a rumbling sound, large chunks of soil and trees fell to the ground.
"Jesus Christ!"
César's eyes widened.
He finally knew why he was lost.
A snake, an extremely huge snake, he didn't even dare to imagine how big it was.
The snake coiled on the ground, its body covered in soil and a forest growing all over it. The snake's back was a forest. When it woke up, it slowly moved its body, causing the forest to keep spinning. It also caused him, who was walking in it, to return to the starting point again and again.
The mountain-like head of the snake slowly opened up in the afterglow of the setting sun, but with a thunderous momentum, it fell down heavily.
Boom!!
It was accompanied by an earth-shattering blow.
The owl, César, and the python in his hand were all swallowed into the stomach of the incomparably large snake.
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