Brando understood that the Knight named Trevor was talking about what happened a day ago. After they left Vargas, they headed north along the Surging Milky Way. They encountered a battlefield left behind after a fierce battle on the north side of the avenue. The two sides of the battle were obviously the private army of the Imperial nobles and the underground creatures of Jorgendy Ridge. The battlefield spanning the long river and woodland avenue was covered with corpses of humans, drakes, griffins, cavemen, and harpies. The blood had long solidified in the bone-chilling cold of winter, forming a dark red color on the pebbles. The nobles of Cruz recognized many familiar faces from the pile of corpses. Sir Moore was one of them. A bone arrow pierced through his throat, causing him to fall on his back on the battlefield, becoming one of the many cold corpses.
Such a scene usually represented a fiasco of the Empire. The nobles of Cruz would not easily leave the bodies of their companions behind for the sake of dignity. Even the corpses of the nobles were ignored. It was almost possible to imagine the scene of Earl Alcorn and his men stepping on the cold river to escape to the north.
As for Jorgendy Ridge, the underground creatures rarely cleaned up the corpses on the battlefield unless they were short of rations. The impact of the plague on them was even less.
"Brando, they seem to be planning to sneak into the town." The Roman suddenly reminded in a low voice. The merchant lady's eyes shone in the twilight, like a cat's eyes in a low-light environment.
Brando also noticed this at this time. He immediately said to Rogers, "Mr. Knight, do you have any way to contact them?"
Rogers thought for a moment and said, "I know that the local army of Anzeruta has a secret signal. Maybe we can try it."
"You can try, but don't let those things above us find us."
"I understand." Rogers nodded and crawled into the bushes. He lay there and looked at the dark trees below. Then he put his thumb and index finger into his mouth and whistled. The whistle echoed in the forest under the twilight. It sounded like the scream of an owl, but obviously sharper. The cry of the owl attracted the attention of the harpies above. These monsters drew a huge eight in the air and flew in this direction. The people in the bushes were motionless, quietly waiting for the patrolling eyes in the sky to leave. After a while, the feathered beasts did not find anything unusual and flew back again.
Brendel heard the people around him heaving sighs of relief, and he himself was slightly relieved as well. Only the merchant girl beside him did not seem to be afraid at all, as though she did not have a care in the world.
The surroundings were silent, gradually leaving only the sound of insects in the darkness.
The silhouettes in the goose-eared stalagmites also stopped moving. Rogers' forehead was full of nervous cold sweat. He knew several secret codes of the Imperial Army in the Anzeruta region, but he was not sure if they would come in handy at this time. He knew very well what the private armies of these local nobles were like. What he was most worried about was not that these guys could not hear the secret signal, but that they misunderstood the secret signal and did something out of line. If it attracted the attention of the garrison in the city, then it would be a ghost. At this time, he suddenly realized that maybe it was the right choice to not speak just now.
The silence lasted for a while, and then the trees below moved again. There was a rustling sound.
"Hey." The Shire looked a little surprised. "There are magicians among them."
It was as if a gust of wind had suddenly risen in the forest. The mountain breeze brushed past the canopy and rustled the branches. However, everyone could hear a human whisper amidst the rustling noise. "Who … is … that …?"
This was the Wind Message Spell, one of the few communication spells that could be used in areas that were blocked by magic. Because it relied on the power of nature instead of breaking the law of space, this time, spells like the Elemental Anchor could not work on it. The best elven envoys and druids could even send messages to areas thousands of miles away. However, the Wind Message spell was slow. It sometimes took a week or even a few months for the wind to travel from one area to another. Moreover, for most elemental envoys, the Wind Message spell was only a short-distance communication spell that did not exceed the visual range. The sorcerers in the army often used it as a supplement for sign language and lip-reading.
Brando turned to The Shire and said, "Tell them that we are Earl Jean's men."
The Shire looked at his Lord in surprise, wondering if Earl Jean, who was now a prisoner, would die of anger after hearing this. Of course, he still did as he was told. Although he was not an Elementalist, there were several commonalities among common magic spells. Moreover, one of the characteristics of magic spells was the Law of Imitation. For an existence of his level, it was not difficult to imitate a magic spell like the Wind Message. He easily transmitted the message over, and even the words in the wind were more fluent than the other party's.
The Shire's method obviously surprised the other party. After a short moment of silence, Brando saw six or seven people standing up one by one under the goose-eared mahogany bushes at the bottom of the hill. They poked their heads out and looked in his direction. He deliberately waved to them to let them know where they were. When the latter saw him, they immediately rushed to the top of the hill. The vegetation on the hill was very dense. Apparently, their short run did not attract any attention from the sky. After a while, they came to a circle of bushes at the top of the hill. The person running at the front was the first to see Erouine's delegation behind him.
"You —!"
The man obviously recognized Brando. His face changed and he subconsciously wanted to retreat. However, Brando did not give him the chance to do so. He directly raised his hand, and the Lines of Law in the vast space lit up at the same time, like a net covering the seven people. Then, he pulled his hand, and the seven people appeared around them at the same time, and then fell heavily to the ground.
The seven people fell to the ground one by one. When Rogers saw one of them, he whispered in surprise, "Sir Cooper, you're still alive!"
The man called Sir Cooper looked to be in his early forties or fifties, but he was short and had a shifty look. His appearance obviously did not match his aristocratic status. However, those who knew him well knew that he was a shrewd guy. When he heard his captain's whisper, he knew something was wrong. He subconsciously turned around and wanted to escape, but unfortunately, he was a step too late. Before he could take a step, he felt his body being pulled up by an invisible force. He was lifted into the air and then fell heavily to the ground. Just as he was scared out of his wits, he faintly heard someone calling his name. Naturally, the monsters of the Jorgendy Ridge would not recognize him. The person who spoke Cruz was also a standard local accent of Anzeruta. His mind was working fast, and when he heard the whisper, he immediately calmed down.
"Don't shout!" He hurriedly whispered to his men, and then raised his head and looked around suspiciously. His eyes first fell on Brando, and then his face changed. Apparently, he recognized the Count who had turned Anzeruta upside down. But then he noticed Rogers, and his eyes were slightly surprised. "I know you. Your father is Burgart. Weren't you selected to join the Royal Knight Regiment? Why are you here?"
"It's a long story," Rogers did not dare to reveal his true identity. He smiled bitterly and said, "I came to Anzeruta for a special mission. I didn't expect to encounter such a thing. Now, I'm almost the same as you, a prisoner of the Count. But the Count has promised to take us to a safe place. In comparison, the Count only wants a ransom. Sir Cooper, don't tell me you want to be a prisoner of those monsters? "
Cooper shuddered. Those monsters were murderous. He had seen with his own eyes how the cavemen beheaded an aristocrat and stuck his bloody head on a spike. He hurriedly shook his head and ordered his subordinates to take off their swords and hand them over to Brendel. He then bowed to Brendel in a manner that was much calmer than the hesitant Count Jean: "Count Jean, my safety is in your hands. I have absolute trust in your words."
Brando smiled. He did not know that he had any credibility in these people's hearts. The only friendship he had with these Anzeruta nobles was that he had captured a large number of hostages from them. Just half a week ago, they still called him a demon. But now, he had become the Count with outstanding credibility. Not to mention Brando, even Avram, who was hiding in the woods behind, could not help but be speechless when he saw this scene. The chubby young man could not help but turn his face and ask the duke's daughter who was squatting in the bushes with him, "Tell me, am I dreaming, Eugenie?"
The duke's daughter's expression was very complicated, and she responded softly.
Brando knew that Rogers was beating around the bush to remind Cooper of his attitude towards him, but he did not care. This Knight of the inner court was very good at talking.
"Sir Cooper," Rogers noticed Brando's attitude and continued, "Why are you here, where are the others?"
When Cooper heard this question, his wrinkled face crumpled into a ball, "Don't mention it, Count Alcon has been caught by those monsters."
"What! The Count is not dead yet? "Rogers was taken aback and also attracted Brando's attention.
"This … As far as I know, he shouldn't be dead yet, but I can't rule out the possibility that something happened during this period that I don't know about yet." Cooper was obviously shocked by Rogers' reaction and had to carefully consider his answer.
"No, no, I thought you were all wiped out at Linye Avenue." Rogers realized that he had misunderstood and hurriedly corrected himself to explain.
"Not really, but it's almost there." Cooper sighed, "It's all those damn monsters' fault. That night, we were all in a hurry to rush north. These rats were waiting in the dark to ambush us. Sir Moore, who was at the front, was the first to be attacked. Sigh, poor old Moore. He was as strong as an ox. We all thought that he would live until the end of time. Things are really unpredictable! At that time, in the dark, none of us knew who the enemy was. They came from all directions, everywhere in the sky and on the ground. We were quickly defeated. I was at the southernmost side and only saw the Count and the others fleeing north across the river. "
"And then, how did you know that Count Alcon was caught?" Brando suddenly asked.
"I saw it with my own eyes. After I was separated from the Count that night, I have been trying to find out where the others went. Later, I learned that they went to Buos."
"Buos!" Rogers, Trevor, and Natasha couldn't help but blurt out the name at the same time when they heard the answer.
"What's wrong?" Cooper looked at them in confusion.
"Nothing, continue," Brando replied.
Cooper nodded with some suspicion and continued, "Actually, it wasn't Buos. Before the Count and the others reached Buos, they were surrounded at the North Mountain Sentry Post. When I arrived there, I saw them being captured by the Cavemen with my own eyes."
"North Mountain Sentry Post? But why would Count Alcon go in that direction?" Rogers asked, puzzled. "Buos is a dead end."
Brando had asked Princess Magadal about Buos in advance. He knew that there was a crystal mine there before the Year of Thunder. However, that place prospered because of the mine, but it also declined because of the mine. Ever since the mine was cut off, the town that was famous for the mine also declined day by day and gradually became a forgotten corner. However, he thought that the Count probably wanted to find a place to hide. He knew that he couldn't be faster than the Cavemen, nor did he have any delusions about breaking through the encirclement and escaping to Asgard or Loen. He could only hope that the first target of the underground creatures of Jorgendy Ridge was Asgard, and that they wouldn't find trouble with him.
But unfortunately, things didn't go as planned —
"I think the Count has underestimated the size of the army of monsters. According to my observation, there are at least four different dungeon lords on the battlefield at Anzlova. They are confident that they can take down Asgard in the first place, and they can also spare some troops to deal with the defenders of Buos." Cooper shook his head.
"No one would have thought of that. We didn't even expect them to come." Rogers shook his head with a wry smile. "Those underground rats know us too well. We don't even know who's leading them, but they know us very well."
On the surface, he was just complaining, but he carefully concealed the chilling speculation in his heart. He didn't forget that the Cavemen had besieged them. Although the existence of the internal court Knight was a semi-open secret in the Empire, few people knew about their identities outside. The internal court Knight's contact method was only in the hands of a few people. He really couldn't imagine how the Cavemen found them.
Was it a coincidence or a man-made factor? Several names came to his mind. If any of these names betrayed the Empire, it would be an unimaginable disaster.
He could only pray and hope that it was just a prank by Lady Martha.
Brando listened to the conversation between the two, but his eyes fell on the shadowy valley in the distance. He suddenly felt something and asked, "Is Count Alcon in Graystone Town now?"
Cooper stopped talking and looked back at Brendel. After a while, he said, "I saw them enter Graystone Town around four or five o 'clock in the afternoon. The sun hadn't set yet, and the long line passed through the valley. They came from the direction of the North Mountain Sentry Post, and I could clearly see that there were many human prisoners in the line. If the count is not dead, I think he should be inside."
"Was Graystone Town captured before that?"
"It was captured before that."
"Then how can you confirm whether Count Alcon and the others are still in the town, or have already left the town from the other side of the valley and been transferred to other places?"
Cooper opened his mouth, "To be honest, I haven't thought about it." He looked at Brando in confusion. He didn't expect the young Count Erouine to think so carefully.
Brando didn't care about Cooper's question. He then asked, "Have the patrolling harpies in the sky changed shifts?"
"Once." The latter replied truthfully.
"Then, were there any harpies in the Jorgendy Ridge army that attacked Count Alcon?"
"This … doesn't seem to be the case."
"That's right," Brando pulled the collar of the count's trench coat to prevent the cold night wind from blowing into his collar. He stared at the valley and replied, "The Shadel cavemen have two famous lords. One is Gerard the Wizard, and the other is Tampo. Neither of these two clans has allied with the harpies. That is to say, the Jorgendy Ridge garrison in the town has not exchanged defense with the Shadel cavemen — "
"They've already left?" Cooper asked cautiously.
"That's not necessarily true. What I mean is that there might be more than one lord's army stationed in this town." Brendel's brows were tightly knitted together. This was not good news for them.
Cooper also subconsciously shut his mouth. He didn't understand what the count was thinking.
"Sir Cooper, are you sure that the Jorgendy Ridge army returned from the North Mountain Sentry this afternoon?"
"What do you mean by that, Count? My scouts won't lie to me." Cooper was a little angry because he felt questioned.
"Don't be angry. I'm not doubting you, Sir Cooper. I just want to confirm one thing. Did your scouts really see the Jorgendy Ridge army return to Graystone Town after attacking Count Alcon at the North Mountain Sentry?"
Cooper was about to answer yes, but he only said half a word before he was stunned. Then, he looked surprised.
Roger's reaction was even stronger than his. He almost jumped up and shouted, "They returned directly to Graystone Town after attacking the North Mountain Sentry? What about Buos? Were they just going for Count Alcon? "
"This …" Cooper was at a loss. "I don't know what's going on either!"
… …
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