Silver Blade and Rose

The forest guard didn't have a good impression of Edwin, but unexpectedly he had a good impression of Zals. He seemed to think he was the same as when he was a child, and he was willing to talk to him a few more words.

Edwin shrugged at him with his back to the Ranger, motioning him to concentrate on talking to the Ranger.

At the same time, Zals heard his voice in his head: "It's up to you, lend me the key."

He looked at Edwin, then at the forester, to make sure that the latter hadn't heard Edwin's voice, and sighed secretly.

He didn't even know what the "key" was for, and Edwin asked him to borrow it, but the forest guard might not be willing to give it.But it's all here, he has to give it a try to know whether the other party is willing or not.

"So, you work for him now?" The forest guard looked at Edwin unsatisfied, his tone full of disgust, "I don't think such a boss can give you any good treatment, not even those from hell what a good thing—"

"You know other people from hell?" Zars asked following his words.

"I've seen a few of them," said the forest guard angrily. "They're not all good things."

Prejudice is not advisable, of course, you can’t say it, Zals thought about it, and said half-truth: "Actually, my current job is also a coincidence."

The forest guard looked at him, he smiled helplessly, and explained: "I just graduated from college, and I started working as Edwin's assistant after getting a recommendation. He helped me a lot, at least without him, I would definitely There is no way to thank you in person."

"He has other plans." The forest guard snorted coldly.

"But it's also for saving people." Seeing that his attitude had softened, Zals immediately pursued the victory, "If there is a chance to save a life, I believe we will not hesitate too much."

The forest guard stared at him for a while, then suddenly said: "You don't even know what he wants to borrow the key for?"

Zars was stunned for a moment, before he had time to say anything, he said again: "Borrow the key from me in his own name, have you considered the possibility that he is lying to you?"

Edwin did not tell him the specific task content, but he did this every time, and Zals found that he had gradually gotten used to listening to lectures when he was in a place, and it was the same today.He also understood that even if Edwin gave him the case information early, he would not be able to see anything at his level.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help raising his eyes to look at Edwin. The latter stood still, and he couldn't tell what he was thinking from his expression.Searching for an answer from his face was fruitless, so Zars could only look back at the forest guard in front of him.

"To be honest, I don't know if he lied to me." In fact, there is no need to lie about this kind of issue, Zars honestly said what he thought, "I have worked with him for less than half a year. I didn't know that hell was a real place...but since I chose to be his assistant and act with him, I thought, I should trust him with all my heart and entrust my life to him."

This is the education he has received all along, and he is also willing to trust Edwin like this—the other party has been very patient with him during this period of time, and has not deliberately concealed anything important. In his opinion, it is really rare. Good boss.

Zals wouldn't doubt Edwin's sincerity just because of the forest guard's few words, but he didn't take his words on deaf ears either.He turned to Edwin in front of the forest guard, and asked him seriously: "Would you like to tell me the situation first?"

Edwin had been standing silently just now, like a beautifully carved portrait. After hearing his words, he came back to his senses and raised his eyebrows.

"Of course, I originally planned to borrow the key and discuss it with you, but now I just said it a little earlier." He sat down on the old chair that had just been wiped, and kicked the other chair opposite with his toe, "Mr. Wagner You can sit down and listen together if you want."

One evening about a few days ago, Edwin received a letter.

At that time, Zales had not met Grant at his home, and No. 179 was calm and quiet. There was no new case to be dealt with for two consecutive weeks, like a leisurely ordinary office.Edwin found an old acquaintance who gave him Kururu, and asked him for a few boxes of pastries, but while waiting at home to receive the goods, he got a letter ahead of time.

It's not some nonsense to exchange pleasantries, this is a distress letter.

At first he thought it was some kind of prank--there were always such bums to give him trouble--but when he opened the letter and read it, Edwin thought it was real.

The handwriting on the letter is very messy, with ink marks everywhere, as if you accidentally wiped it with your hands when you were in a hurry to write. Many letters have been stained by ink, and you can only identify what you want to express when you look carefully. mean.He looked at the dirty letter paper for a while, and finally understood what was going on.

This is a distress letter drifting from the cracks in space.

He was not surprised that the letter would drift to No. 179. After all, there is an unstable passage here. If something accidentally enters the gap in the space, it will indeed follow something along the gap to find the exit.Occasionally, they would catch some small things that escaped from the "door". Sometimes they were living monsters, and sometimes they were objects. This letter probably got mixed up like this.

There were only a few words in the letter, which probably meant that I accidentally walked into a forest to relax, but found that I was trapped in it and could not leave.He was trapped for many days, always wanted to ask for help from the outside world, exhausted all available methods, and wrote many letters, but there was no way to send them out.It was the last piece of paper and ink he had left, and he had to cry out for help when he was done.

It was signed "Veronier Hines," presumably because the writer had been trapped for so long, he seemed a little delirious, and he had misspelled several words.The letter may have been swept away by the wind, or brought in by an unstable space, but Edwin had some guesses about his location, thinking that the person who wrote the letter should still be in the original place.

"You mean, the trapped man walked into the 'Forest of No Return'?"

After listening to Edwin's description, the forester Wagner asked.

"Here is the letter, you can read it yourself."

Edwin took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket. It was so badly smeared with ink that it was indeed illegible.The forester looked at his hand for a while, and reluctantly admitted his conjecture: "It does look like this."

"A person who has been lost for too long may never come back." Edwin handed the letter to Zars next to him, and then continued, "But the 'Forest of No Return' is not a place where everyone can go back and forth safely. So to save this man, we need the Key of the Forester, and a man of firm will."

The forest guard snorted coldly: "Don't tell me that person is you."

He accused himself of possibly taking the key for himself, but instead of being angry, Edwin laughed at his remark.

"Of course it's not me. I don't have much confidence in whether I can get out of that forest." He said with a smile, "As you think, most of the people in hell are greedy and unwilling to give up the benefits they got. What a good guy—I don't think I can pass the test of the 'Forest of No Return', so I won't be the one who carries the key to save people there, and I won't even touch the key."

The forester frowned, and turned his gaze to Zals who was still reading the letter.

"He's too young," he said disapprovingly.

"But you can't deny that he is a very suitable candidate." Edwin has already seen through his thoughts, and lightly revealed his subtext, "Young, upright, courageous, and determined-such a person, Isn't that what you want?"

They played charades for a long time, and Zars didn't understand most of them, but he felt Edwin and Wagner's eyes focused on him, combined with their dialogue...

"You mean, let me go?"

he hesitated.

"To be precise, you go alone."

Edwin helped him complete the sentence without further explanation.The forest guard sighed, took his words and explained to Zals: "What he said just now are the necessary conditions to become a forest guard—don't look at me now, I used to be like what he described Only those who meet these conditions can carry the key through the forest and reach the place where the person who wrote the letter was trapped."

"The heart of the 'Forest of No Return', the sanctuary of the Foresters," Edwin said.

"It's right for him not to go." The forest guard still didn't wait to see Edwin, but he had already admitted his decision. "If he walked in with the key, he might disappear into the forest after halfway through—— The will of the forest will not recognize him, after all he has no good qualities to praise."

Zals subconsciously wanted to speak for Edwin, but saw Edwin shaking his head very slightly on the opposite side, so he had to swallow the words back and sighed helplessly.

"Honestly, what good qualities do you say I have, what are the necessary conditions to become a forest guard, even I am not sure if I really have them." He put the ink-stained piece of paper on the table, looked up Edwin and Wagner, who sat across from each other, said, "I haven't tried to walk into a place full of unknowns alone, just like Edwin has always done; I don't have a wealth of knowledge reserves, and it is very likely that I will lose everything when I encounter it. Courage, to give up the rescue of the trapped people..."

The forest guard wanted to say something, but found that Edwin hadn't moved, with a faint smile still on the corner of his mouth, and sat back in doubt, waiting for Zars' next words.

"But if you guys are willing to give me the chance, I'll try hard," Zales said.

He doesn't have any extraordinary talent and rich experience, and he is even just a novice. It is almost impossible to solve the problem without any danger.But Edwin decided to take him with him before he left, indicating that he originally planned to borrow the key by himself, and he might even plan to enter the "Forest of No Return" by himself to rescue the trapped person.

According to the forest guards, Edwin does not have the quality of not getting lost in the forest. If he enters alone rashly, he may get lost in the forest. In the end, he will be like a trapped person, unable to leave. .Of course, Zals didn't want to make such a thing possible. If there was a possibility of success, he was willing to try it himself.

Couldn't say what kind of impulse it was, but he hadn't seen Edwin fail and didn't want him to.Since the Ranger agrees that he has such potential, it's not bad for him to give it a try.

Anyway, it was really irreparable, Edwin would definitely come to rescue him.If something happened to Edwin in the forest, the role he could play would be so small that it could be ignored. Under such a premise, Zarles believed that no matter who it was, they would make the same decision as him.

"Let me try it," he repeated again.