Douluo's full-time soul master

Chapter 259 Interlude: The Moment of Return ([-])
Someone is singing?Although the sound was very soft and almost inaudible, it was indeed singing.She couldn't help but focus her attention, trying to capture the source of the voice, but her mind was in a daze, and she couldn't figure out where the singing voice came from.

She was sure she had heard the song before—it was written by a knight-errant many years ago to his fiancée who died young.The knight who traveled in various kingdoms and spent most of his life as a chivalrous knight finally returned to his hometown with countless wealth and honors, only to find that his childhood sweetheart who had been waiting for him to marry him had passed away.He shed all tears in front of her grave, crying blindly.Then the blind man stood guard at the girl's grave every day, singing in a sad voice the love song he had written for her a long time ago, until he passed away with the girl he loved a year later.People passing by memorized the song and spread it all over the world.

Now, the familiar tune sounded again—with a deeper pathos.

who is it?Who is singing?Why do I feel so sad when I hear singing?Had the man who sang the same pain as the knight-errant?

She struggled to find an answer to the mystery, but was eventually overcome by fatigue.Accompanied by the seemingly never-ending singing, the Mercenary Queen finally fell into a deep sleep.

Serna woke up from the cold.She opened her eyes, and found that the bonfire beside her had been extinguished at some point, and she was wearing a dirty shirt.Thinking about it with my toes, I knew that the clothes, which were no different from the beggar's attire, could only belong to Wayne.

"Is that kind?" she muttered.As soon as I see this shirt, I will naturally think of its owner, and then I will recall what happened yesterday - a strange man, who went together for some unavoidable reasons, but witnessed his love for the living hell unfolding in front of him. don't care.This man named Wayne even showed an almost perverted taste for those disgusting blood and corpses.

Selna took a deep breath and found that even after a long night, she could still catch the subtle smell of blood in the air.This undoubtedly made her feel very uncomfortable.

"Trampling on the way of knights, insulting the lost life, what is this..."

She was still full of resentment.If she had the chance to choose again, she vowed not to accompany Wayne to the Western Plaguelands, even if she would lose a coveted job and fifty gold coins for it.

——Speaking of which, this guy who looks like a top-notch poor man, where did he get so much money?Fifty gold coins is definitely not a small amount for ordinary nobles.

"By the way, talking about money..." Selna suddenly had a thought in her mind, so she took out a booklet from her coat. "I remember that there was a treasure hunting reward nearby, and the reward happened to be fifty gold coins."

Flipping through this notebook, which was specially used to record various rewards or work commissions, she found what she was looking for—a reward order issued by a prominent duke in Stormwind City.

"Crown of Perenolde... the former ruler of the kingdom of Alterac, the heirloom of the Perenolde family. Made by the jewelers of Ironforge from the most perfect emeralds... the kingdom of Alterac was betrayed When the Alliance was destroyed, the crown was also lost. The ruins of the Kingdom of Alterac are now occupied by ogres, and there are rumors that one of them, a guy named Grellberg the Miser, got the crown... The last time the scouts found At the time of its whereabouts, it was wandering among the ruins...Anyone who finds the crown and gives it to the agent of South Sea Town will receive a bounty of fifty gold coins..."

"Yo, is it an ogre?" A voice suddenly came from behind her.

Selna was so startled that she almost threw the notebook away.Looking back, Wayne was standing less than two steps away from him, looking at his chest with a smile.

"What are you doing?! Isn't it fun to sneak up on someone's back?!" She got annoyed at the sight of this guy's face, and yelled at him without thinking.

"Hey, hello, miss, this doesn't look like a lady." Wayne didn't take her snarl seriously, "I was in the hotel in South Sea Town, and I heard that you are a famous big shot, the queen of mercenaries. Treat me like this Isn't it too disrespectful for poor civilians to yell? At least treat me kindly."

"Why should I treat you kindly?" Selna wished she could pluck out his lecherous eyes right now, "You have no respect for the dead, and you insult the way of chivalry..."

"Wait, you're digging into a dead end again." Wayne waved his hand, "I just have a set of principles that belong to me."

"I haven't seen any of your principles..." Selna stared at him with disgust, and then threw the dirty shirt over. "Insulting corpses and liking blood are also principles?"

"I'm not obliged to explain to you what my principles are, am I?" Wayne smiled and took the shirt and shrugged. "Okay, why are we talking about this? Now we have to go on the road. The weather doesn't seem too good."

Only then did Selna finally notice the surrounding situation—there was a thick fog on the Alterac Mountains for no reason, and at this moment, except for things a few steps away, she could still see clearly, and the rest was completely white.No wonder it was so cold in the morning, the abnormally heavy fog had already lowered the temperature to winter level.

She couldn't help frowning slightly, "It's summer now..."

"It's like this around the Kingdom of Alterac." Wayne spit out a sentence casually, "There is still snow on the top of the mountain... Speaking of which, there is a fork in front. If you go north at the fork, you can see The ruin mentioned in the reward order is gone. Do you want to see it?"

Selna ignored him, but picked up her big backpack and walked up the mountain with big strides.

"Aren't you going to the ruins to get fifty gold coins for yourself?" Wayne asked suspiciously after following her.

Serna shook her head impatiently, "How many times have you asked this question? I don't want to go there!"

"Why? Afraid of those ogres?"

"Afraid?" Serna snorted, "Am I afraid of those mindless guys?"

"Then why don't you plan to try it at the ruins? That bounty is pretty good, isn't it?"

Serna stopped in her tracks, then turned around and gave him a hard look.

"I don't want to provoke ogres when I'm with a guy of unknown origin like you. Seeing your words and deeds yesterday, I can't guarantee that you will stab me in the back when I face the enemy. Didn't you say that when you go out, your personal safety is the most important thing?"

"Your words are very vicious, miss..." Venn pursed his mouth to express his dissatisfaction.

"Then I'm really sorry. But this is what I mean, whether you like it or not has nothing to do with me." Serna said, "I'm not your friend, I'm just a mercenary who was entrusted to hunt you down. Now I went to the Western Plaguelands with you because I agreed to your request, not because of that, I have nothing to do with you. I only agreed to go on the road with you, but I didn't promise to do everything you said .Now we need to hurry, go to the Western Plaguelands as soon as possible to find that friend of yours. That's it."

"Hey, you can't trust me so much..." Wayne immediately pretended to be crying, "I just kindly persuade you, since you are here, don't let go of this job opportunity... "

Selna felt goosebumps all over her body-this guy is a waste of talent not going to the circus to be a clown.She didn't want to listen to his nonsense anymore, so she simply turned her back and continued walking forward.

"Wait, miss, wait!" Wayne continued to pretend to be innocent, "That's all right. Since you don't trust me, then I won't go to the ruins with you. Anyway, you can defeat it by yourself." Those ogres, right? I promise I won't stalk you or do anything against you, just here for you."

Serna scolded herself for being so greedy while carefully groping forward in the white mist.Wayne assured her verbally that he would not follow her.But who can guarantee that this guy with a weird personality will not break his promise?After much deliberation, even though she was taking such a big risk, she still missed the reward after all—not because of the generous reward of fifty gold coins, but because of the crown.

The Crown of Perenolde—in her childhood memories, she had heard this name countless times from her father.It is one of the most mysterious treasures in the world. It not only symbolizes the wealth and luxury of the Perenolde family, but also symbolizes the entire Alterac Kingdom.From the first time she heard the name, she wanted to see the treasure with her own eyes, to confirm with her own eyes whether it was as beautiful and noble as the legend said.

Regarding the history of the Kingdom of Alterac, perhaps the countries of the Human Alliance are unwilling to mention it again-in the war many years ago, the Perenold family betrayed the Alliance.They surrendered their kingdom to the barbaric invaders and willingly became the minions of those monsters.After hearing the news, the angry human alliance organized a powerful army and wiped out the entire Alterac Mountains.And this kingdom has disappeared forever from history, leaving only the ruins in front of us.

"Betrayers should be punished." This is what her father once said.Although she was still young at that time, she couldn't understand the meaning of this sentence, but she had already branded every word in her mind.

But the traitors are only the Perenoldes.Is it necessary to destroy the entire kingdom?
——If she was given a chance to face her dead father, she would definitely ask this question.

The surroundings were strangely quiet, and Selna couldn't help becoming nervous, looking back and forth non-stop, and her steps became lighter.Could it be that the ogre knew in advance that someone would come here to hunt for treasure, so they all ambush?This is obviously impossible.Because those guys are purely simple-minded and well-developed limbs, the only way to fight is to charge head-on.To a certain extent, this coincides with the way of knights, and it can be regarded as aboveboard.The thinking level of the ogre is absolutely impossible to think of any advanced tactics.

So, where did the ogres who originally gathered in the ruins of the kingdom of Alterac go?

Serna has already touched the outside of a dilapidated wooden house.She put her ear against the wall and listened carefully for any sounds in the room.But there was no sound inside.After confirming again, she believed that the house was safe, so she quickly rushed in through the door.

As soon as she entered the room, a foul smell of blood was poured into her nose, making her dizzy.She quickly covered her nose, but what caught her eyes next made her even more unbearable.

An ogre mage lay face up on the ground.The monster's fat belly was cut open, and the messy internal organs and dirty blood flowed all over the place.The blood had already coagulated, and the rough skin was covered with green corpse spots. It was obvious that he had been dead for a long time.

"It's a dead person again..." Selna couldn't help taking a breath.

Wait, why does this ogre look so familiar?
She hurriedly took out the notebook, flipping the pages quickly with trembling hands.Soon, his eyes fell on the alluring reward order again.There is a portrait there, painted by scouts sent by the nobles.In the portrait is an ogre wielding a thick staff, that is, the miser Grellberg who "possessed the crown of Perenold" mentioned in the bounty order.

The body of the miser was right in front of him.Evidently, if it had ever held the crown, the treasure had been taken from it.Maybe that unknown person is now happily taking the crown to Nanhai Town to receive the reward, or maybe after careful planning, he buried the treasure in an unknown place.

Selna sighed—even if she took such a big risk, she was still one step too late.

Accompanied by frustration, new anxiety quickly spread in her heart—from stepping into the Alterac Mountains until now, she has not seen any living person except Wayne.All the syndicate bandits who had been entrenched on the ridge were killed.But now, the corpse in front of her seemed to show her that the ogre was facing the same fate.

A ray of sunlight streamed in through a gap in the roof.The fog outside has gradually dissipated.As soon as Selna walked out the door, she saw the ruins that had been covered by the mist just now.Now I am standing in the middle of the ruins, and the ancient Alterac Palace stands quietly not far from me.A high mountain of corpses was piled up on the roof of the palace—all dead ogres.Unlike any description in the literature, the stone walls of the royal palace are not noble white, but as black and red as the blood of an ogre.

"sorrow……"

Selna put one palm flat on her chest and whispered a prayer to Elune, the moon god.

Wayne sat on a small hill outside the ruins, looking at the eastern sky.The sun had broken through the fog, casting a warm golden light on the once glorious city of the Kingdom of Alterac.Moisturized by the mist, the dilapidated city walls became damp, reflecting a crystal-like transparent color under the sunlight.It didn't take long for the entire ruins to be surrounded by this misty color.

(End of this chapter)