Paladin

——Does he mean to only look for me?

Hewitt looked at Evan's side face with his head lowered and concentrating on fiddled with the bonfire. For a moment, he wanted to ask him the meaning of this sentence directly, but this question went back and forth in his mind for a long time, but he still didn't say it.

"Hewitt," Evan said suddenly, "I have been in this era for a while. This continent has been too long, too long... so long that I feel strange. I still can't judge whether the Holy See and the Masters, who is right and who is wrong, and where did this thousand-year-long confrontation start..."

The paladin sighed with emotion, and said, "At least, the mages and priests I know are kind and just."

Hewitt was silent for a moment, then said suddenly, "I'm assuming you're complimenting me. When you try to do that, the words should be more obvious."

Evan replied with a smile: "Well, you know, I was just thinking. Mr. Mage, you are the most just, wise, and most... good-looking Mr. Mage I have ever seen in this era."

Hewitt raised his eyebrows, and said without any concealment: "Thank you, I think so too——you haven't seen a second mage in this era, have you?"

Evan finally couldn't help but laughed.

The flames in the bonfire flickered, and the red light illuminated the chiseled faces of the two.

Hewitt was thoughtful in the silence, and then said: "I am not as kind as you think, Evan. An arcanist who believes in equal value exchange will neither accept gifts from others easily, nor I will give others anything casually. I enchanted your earrings, so I should ask for one thing."

The corners of Evan's mouth twitched slightly, thinking: This rule hasn't changed for many years, and these mages are still a bunch of tsundere...

The paladin jokingly asked: "I'm penniless... Do you want to use the 'Law of Accident'? Ask for the first thing I saw when I got home?"

The mage looked away a little, and stopped on Evan's blond hair—the blood elf had been in that fire for too long, and his shoulder-length blond hair was broken, and now it covered him a little messily. neck.

The pale platinum gold is extremely mysterious and noble under the moonlight, but it is a bit dim at the moment, but the blood elves have not noticed this at all-Evan never cares about such trivial matters.

At this moment, Hewitt said leisurely, "Hair. I want your hair."

Evan was taken aback for a moment, and then without saying a word, he took off his Phoenix Double Blades, intending to cut off another section of his hair.

But at this moment, Hewitt stopped him: "Wait a minute. It's too short now. What I want is at least twenty centimeters long."

"Well..." Evan pondered for a while, and said with some uncertainty, "Are you sure? I have never had long hair, and I don't know how long it will take to grow it to twenty centimeters..."

The blood elf put his sword back, and compared the length with some embarrassment.

"Patience is the basic quality of an arcanist. Whenever I want to ask for this reward, I will tell you." Hewitt folded his hands in his sleeves and said lazily.

——Then until you speak, do I have to grow long hair for you?

Evan couldn't help laughing, then lowered his head and thought for a while, still couldn't help smiling, and nodded.

They spent half the night watching the long conversation, and the sky has already faintly revealed the light of the sky.

Dawn is coming, and the brief silence and leisure will soon be gone.

Evan's long ears moved slightly, and he suddenly turned his face to the side, and exchanged a glance with Hewitt.

At this moment, they all heard a slight noise from the corner of the wall—it was not an enemy attack.The voice came from inside the house, and someone sneaked out.

The blood elf's hearing was sharper, and he could hear an unusual grinding sound.

It was the sound of immobile legs and feet rubbing against the ground.From this voice, Evan understood that the person who walked out of the house was Connor—his leg had not healed yet.

Hewitt quickly guessed what was going on from the slight change in Evan's expression.

The next moment, the mage suddenly said to Evan: "Evan, it's almost dawn. We still haven't found a guide who can take us out to sea to search. It's too time-consuming if it's just the two of us."

His tone was clear and slow.

Evan was looking into his eyes, watching his expression, and knew clearly: Hewitt was deliberately provoking this topic, so that Connor in the dark could hear.

The paladin was reluctant to cooperate with the mage, even though he knew that the mage's speaking skills were only triggering Connor's guilt, so that he could help them out to sea.

Huitt frowned slightly, and said, "Don't forget the purpose of our business, Evan. If we delay for a few more minutes, the cursed will have less hope."

Evan sighed silently, and finally said: "I understand, I will ask those fishermen, no matter what...the source of the curse must be found."

"Your Excellency Paladin, I'm here to go to sea."

Connor, who was standing in the corner, finally spoke out. He leaned on a branch and moved to the front of the campfire with difficulty. When he sat down slowly, his body was tilted and almost fell——with Evan's support, he barely sat still. .

Hewitt showed a slightly surprised expression. Seeing Connor's injuries, he thought that the fisherman would not venture out to sea, but unexpectedly, he stepped forward in just two sentences.

"I've heard that, sirs, I have indeed been to that sea area." Connor panted for a long time in embarrassment, and put his badly injured right leg on a high place, "This leg was also injured at that time." Injury, there is a monster there, maybe an octopus, or the tentacles of something else... It curled around my leg, and after I tried my best to pull my leg out to escape, it turned out like this when I came back..."

Evan and Hewitt looked at each other, guessing that the monster might be the Sea Demon Anemone raised by Gray Robe Gray—the Sea Demon Anemone with translucent pink tentacles once used Evan as food, and it was almost in the The bottom of the sea fought.

Connor's right leg has been unable to heal for several days, and because of the hot weather, it has festered shockingly.He said numbly, "I'll take you there, Your Excellencies. I still remember the route."

Evan shook his head, a bit impatient, and cast two magical spells on Connor to ease his pain: "Is your injury okay? At that time, we may need to enter the sea and search for the hole hidden under the sea. This will take a little time, if you can't hold on..."

His magic can maintain Connor's vitality, but if he wants to heal his leg, he may need a high-ranking priest to perform the healing spell for him.

"I can hold on, Lord Paladin." Connor said, "I still want to go to the sea with you. Sea water is something I am more familiar with than land. On land I need to move this damn leg, but in the sea, the water Will hold it up for me, I can swim in seawater more easily than a moray eel, and I don’t know how many times easier than on land.”

Evan and Hewitt looked at each other, and the latter said, "Thank you for your assistance, Mr. Connor."

Connor gave a bitter smile, and suddenly asked, "Your Excellency Paladin, did you... take away the name tags of the two guards at the entrance of the cave?"

Evan nodded, and took out the two copper ID badges with names printed on them.

Connor took them, rubbed them carefully for a moment, and muttered the two names.After a while, he said: "I don't know these two young people. They happened to be here on patrol, and they were suddenly attacked by bats... All the young people in the village who could walk left, and the two guards supported them. The rest fled and went back to find out if there were any survivors... Later they were injured and couldn't walk, and there was no food in the village, so we gathered water for them to drink...but they didn't move at all."

Evan remembered the two guards, they stood at the door, solid as a rock.

The paladin lightly crossed himself.

Connor continued: "In the wee hours of the morning I heard them talking to each other. One said 'I'm hungry' and the other said 'Drink some water' and then 'It will make you hungrier and eat people'. Then a young man stood guard at the door, and the other went out to pick up branches and came back, camouflaging the hole... When I woke up this morning, they were dead, they wiped each other's necks with long swords... I didn't know until then that they were killed by foxes The bat bite, the bat poison, and the curse."

Evan murmured: "The friend who cut the neck..."

The other two couldn't understand what he said, and Evan shook his head without explaining.

Hewitt pondered for a moment, and said, "They died to protect the weak, and God the Father will lead them to his kingdom of God and enjoy eternal bliss."

The paladin was a little surprised that the mage would enlighten Connor in this way, but when he saw Connor's red eyes, he felt a little relieved.

The mage does not believe in the God of Light, nor does he believe that people will enter the kingdom of heaven after death. He just hopes that the living can get out of grief.

Connor made a sign of the cross, and said with a sob, "I...wasn't religious, Mr. Monk. It was that idiot sitting on the rock... who enlightened me. Your Excellencies, you may not know, but that idiot is A highlander who belongs to a scout team of the Holy See, they came here 60 years ago to find traces of the evil mage...

"It's been 60 years, and the other humans in that team have all died. Some were unfortunate enough to go out to sea to search, some were killed by mages, some fell ill, and some died... That highlander's life expectancy is longer than our Mankasa's. For a long time, because of his stupidity, he was asked to stay on the coast and wait for them to come back.

"When I was young, that fool was alone. He sat on a rock alone, waited for more than ten years, lived on bark and weeds, didn't know how to communicate with others, and only asked everyone passing by. Is the stranger a mage, he still remembers that he is here to clear up the evil mage, but he is too stupid... really stupid. He is covered with the ID cards of his dead teammates, and there are a few lost and never seen again. I couldn’t find them, so I stubbornly felt that they were still alive, so I was still waiting every day..."

Evan was suddenly moved. He didn't expect that the fool named "Gaoshan" he had seen three times had been waiting there for so many years.

Connor's eyes were full of tears, he took a deep breath and swallowed the hot tears, and then said: "Until then, I suddenly felt...we really need the church. Mr. Brother, I didn't believe in the existence of God in the world at first." ...But when I saw those two young guards, and saw that fool, I felt that there are still people who protect us humble lives, and that there are still people who are willing to pay any price to maintain the small and insignificant peaceful life here... It's them Let the pallid creed of the Holy See become a holy doctrine—not a god.

"Forgive me for saying something that might offend you, Your Excellency. I still don't believe in God the Father, but I am willing to believe in those who believe in God the Father, and believe in their love and justice. It is their existence that makes me feel: Faith is good."