The reserve food raised is the Elf King

After leaving the Sisitali Forest, we arrived at the main city on the northern border of the Sisel Kingdom, Eisberg.

The further north you go, the later the sun rises and the darker the sky becomes.

Even at noon when the sun is at its strongest, the kerosene lamps on both sides of the streets of Eisberg are always on, and the dim yellow light shines down, winding along the road until the end of sight.

This is because of the polar night.

Polar day and polar night occur once every 100 years on the continent, and this year happens to be the 100th anniversary of the polar night.

The polar night environment will cause all natural light to disappear, leaving only endless darkness and coldness. For the creatures hidden in Helsius and the Lost Forest, darkness is their best nourishment, and the polar night is their most carnival celebration.

But the restlessness of the monsters in the darkness has nothing to do with the four Isabellas now.

They were very far away from the Lost Forest, and the effect of the polar night on Eisberg was only a slight dimming of the light.

However, if you go further north, the situation may be different...

It was afternoon when Isabella and her group entered the main city of Asberg.

The sky has become as dark as sunset. At the tall street lamps on both sides of the avenue, there are night watchmen with tall ladders, replacing the kerosene wicks in the lampshades that are about to burn out in advance.

"Isn't the main city of Asberg using magic lamps?"

It was the first time for Arthur to go to such a remote border as Sissel. Everything he saw was novel. Everything here was different from the places he had stayed before.

Carlos patted the ignorant boy on the shoulder, "Of course, the price of the magic lamp is not low, and it requires regular maintenance by regular magicians. Border cities have always been short of resources, and even the number of magicians in the main city is not sufficient. A magician is precious on the border."

Isabella lay in the arms of the elf, and curiously poked her head out of the black hood after hearing the words.

The milky white dragon horns raised the hood to a large sharp angle, and the light shone through the gap onto the cub's head, like a piece of dark chocolate with a white strawberry sandwich that had been bitten into.

She returned to her animal form.

This time it took nearly half a day to transform into human form, which was much longer than before, indicating that Isabella's unstable period was almost over.

Carlos speculated that at this rate, Isabella would be able to stabilize her human form by the time she returns to the academy after this mission.

Arthur's big bright orange cat eyes looked at the elf, and Qiqi Aiai asked: "Senior, can you let me hold Bella for a while?"

He had been coveting the cub's tail for a long time along the way, but Lancelot was very strict with her and even had to tuck her into the same bed when sleeping.

Arthur was never able to hold her successfully.

It was obviously not like this when we were in Atlantis qwq...

Wuwu, it's been a long time since I've touched the cub's big tail.

The hair on Arthur's head was swaying in the wind, which made Isabella's hands itchy, wanting to give him a little prick.

So he looked at Lancelot eagerly, "Yes, yes, I want to chat with Arthur."

Lancelot looked down at the cub, but did not refuse directly.

He put the hood that was half hanging on the horns back up and said slowly, "The main city of Esberg is the border between humans and beasts. Due to various reasons, it lacks good public security. In the dark There are often dangerous desperadoes hiding there, and there may even be lichs and demons hiding their identities, so we cannot take it lightly."

Carlos smiled with a pair of fox eyes and helped, deliberately lowering his voice to create a scary atmosphere: "Lance is right, the lich likes to catch fresh children and throw them into the pot to cook the black potion."

"A cub like Miss Bella that cannot be cooked at one time can be soaked in a pot and reused many times. It saves materials very much. It must be the lich's favorite child."

Isabella: "..."

Last time Arthur scared me with the name of the dragon Eric, now Carlos is scaring me with the name of a lich!

I, Isabella, am not one to be scared!

The cub was unconvinced and wanted to show off that the dragon family's recipe included not only the tender and juicy human princess, but also the red-furred fox.

Before he could speak, he heard the gentle voice of the elf:

"Bella, we agreed before going out that you won't put yourself in a dangerous situation, right?"

Lancelot did not intentionally scare the cubs like Carlos did.

Instead, use the gentlest and harmless tone to say the words that can best cure Isabella.

He is a very reasonable and principled elf.

As a competent college guide, Lancelot wants to teach Isabella to keep her promise.

Isabella: "...Yes."

I swallowed all the words silently.

It's all her fault that she can't resist the temptation of beauty, she opens her mouth whenever her brain twitches, and she promises to listen to the elf's words at all times.

The cub sniffed and glanced at Arthur reluctantly, feeling that his tail was wilting.

Arthur's dull hair also wilted.

It feels like a wild mandarin duck (bushi) that has been forcibly separated by its parents.

Seeing the cub's depressed mood, Lancelot took the initiative and said, "Let's go to the market tonight. I'll buy you whatever you want, okay?"

The cub's voice in the cloak was muffled, but also a little interested. His voice grew louder and louder, "...can I buy anything?"

"Yes, this is your reward for keeping your promise." The elf said softly.

"Okay!" I was coaxed.

-

"Boom, boom, boom..."

At night, the streets of the main city are brightly lit, and the streets of the market are extremely lively.

The four of them were walking in the center of the market. Isabella's vision was affected by the dark shadow of her cloak, and she could only see the nearby scenes on the street.

The big head rested on the elf's shoulder, and he leaned into his ear and asked: "What was the rumbling sound just now?"

Lancelot answered her, "It was the giants on the street next to the giant who passed by. They must have stepped on the boardwalk."

Isabella was surprised, "Is it such a loud noise?"

As he spoke, he lifted his hood and took a look outside.

His eyes suddenly opened wide.

Next to the street on the right is a row of one-story bungalows. Looking along the roofs of the bungalows, you can see the huge body of a giant walking on the other street.

He stopped just in time, stretched his arm over the roof of the bungalow, and purchased a large bag of fresh meat from the vendor.

Carrying dozens of kilograms of meat in his hands was as easy as holding a small piece of candy.

"Boom, boom..."

The giant staggered away, like a moving mountain.

Isabella and Arthur were stunned.

Arthur: "How could there be such a big giant?"

The giant race is similar to the dwarf race. They were both a branch of the human race in the earliest times. They have most of the characteristics of the ordinary human race today.

Most of the common giants, such as the professors who manage the Forbidden Forest in the academy, except that they are taller than ordinary humans and have lower movement sensitivity, there are not many other differences.

Lancelot explained: "A certain generation of this giant's ancestor should have been a large orc. Over several generations, he lost most of his orc characteristics, leaving only the orc characteristics of his body shape. "

"But aren't half-orcs, like the orcs, able to transform into normal-sized humans?"

Isabella thought of Lydia. After she transformed, she looked like a sixteen or seventeen-year-old human girl.

Lancelot: "The blood belonging to the orcs in this giant gentleman is too thin, and he can no longer be called a half-orc. His excessive size is defined as one of the atavistic characteristics."

Isabella seemed to understand, "With such a big body, wouldn't it be very inconvenient for him to live."

Just to eat, he would eat countless times more than other people.

Lancelot nodded.

Now that the topic of blood and inheritance was brought up, Lancelot, in the interest of popularizing science, told Isabella a few more words about things within the human race.

"It is precisely because of the unpredictable atavism in future generations that most humans will not choose to intermarry with orcs."

Half-orcs are also greatly ostracized within the human race.

Therefore, most half-orcs will choose to be with the orcs in the future. But despite this, there is a certain probability that the children born from half-orcs will be human beings who cannot transform but are atavistic.

No matter where this kind of human race is, life is very difficult.

However, Lancelot did not say these last words.

Isabella said "Oh" and didn't ask any more questions.

She is a giant dragon and is not very interested in these complicated stories between other races.

After hearing it, I put it behind me, craned my neck and started looking for new fun on the street.

"Hey, I seem to see someone familiar." The fox suddenly said.

Carlos was concentrating on chewing chicken legs when he accidentally raised his eyes and saw a familiar face flashing past the door of a candy shop on the street.

The red fox immediately put down the chicken leg, quickly walked around the crowd, and grabbed the back collar of a little boy in front of the candy store counter.

The little boy shrank his neck sensitively and almost jumped up.

He turned his head and said in surprise: "Uncle Carlos?"

Carlos paid the candy money to the boss for him and patted his head again, "Little guy, why are you here alone, where is your father?"

The little boy was one of the children of Turto, a friend of Carlos's turtle tribe, and Carlos took care of him for a while when he was still in the egg.

"My father is at home. He doesn't like to go out." The little boy replied obediently, shrinking his neck involuntarily every time the fox touched his head.

Many times, the little boy asked resentfully, "Uncle, have you had enough?"

Turtles have very sensitive necks and will retract into their shells at the slightest touch. Even if the Turtle Clan is not yet an adult and turns into a human form, it will instinctively shrink its neck if its head is touched.

The red-furred fox withdrew his hand without hesitation and said shamelessly, "Haha, I don't dare to touch your father's head, so I can only play with his cub."

"..." The little turtle wanted to spit on the face of the beautiful fox in front of him.

"Ahem, let's get back to the topic. Why did you come here from home? The distance between your home and Asberg is not close at all."

"A distant grandma of mine lives here. My father has not woken up from hibernation this year. We children have no food to eat, so we came to see grandma."

The little boy pointed to a stall not far from the next door. An old lady carrying a huge turtle shell was sitting behind the stall knitting a sweater.

She wore a pair of reading glasses with thick lenses on the bridge of her nose, which made her look very old.

"Grandma!" The little boy waved to his grandma.

After hearing the sound, the old lady raised her head very slowly. It took her a long time to twist her neck and find her grandson.

Carlos followed with a wave.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

The old lady now happens to be a ready-made turtle orc. Maybe you can ask her about Isabella's metamorphosis.

Carlos called Lancelot and the others over, and they went to the old lady's stall together.

The little boy told his grandma who Carlos was.

The old lady slowly took off her glasses, slowly looked up at the fox's face, and slowly showed an expression of realization.

"Oh, you little bastard from the Firefox family." The old lady smiled very kindly, her eyes seeming to be recalling the past, "When your grandma was born, I even went to attend her baptism!"

"Is your grandma okay?"

Carlos behaved well in front of his elders, without his usual frivolous and casual appearance. Hearing the old lady's concerned inquiry, he whispered, "My grandma has been dead for some years..."

"Ah...that's it." The old lady wasn't too surprised.

The Turtle Clan has a particularly long lifespan, and she has been used to all kinds of separations in her life.

Then he asked Carlos what the four of them were doing in Esberg.

Carlos simply said a few words, they were going to complete the academy's mission.

After hesitating for a moment, he asked: "Grandma, can I ask you a question?"

"About the Turtle Clan child's transformation."

The old lady put on her reading glasses again and nodded slowly, "Of course, kid, you asked me to the right person."

Carlos organized his words and glanced at the hidden dragon cub who was held in the arms of the elf. He knew that there were many people on the street and it was inconvenient to speak directly about the transformation of the dragon cub.

So I hid the identity of Isabella's dragon clan, only saying that I picked up a cub that had just hatched from the shell on the roadside, took it home and raised it for a while, but found that she was stunted.

The old lady listened carefully and confirmed again: "The child you are talking about, is she also an egg-born beast tribe?"

"Yes, Grandma."

"Then when you picked her up, did you pick up the remaining eggshell fragments from her broken shell and take them home with you?"

"Eggshell fragments——?"

The four of them said in unison, as if they had never thought of this thing before.

"Of course, eggshells are also part of our Dansheng Beast Clan." The old woman spoke very slowly, as if her teeth were not very good and her enunciation was not clear.

She said slowly, "The eggshell stores the energy accumulated since our embryonic development. The longer the embryonic period of the race, the more energy is stored in the eggshell."

"Human children will drink milk as soon as they are born. The first thing we, the beasts hatched from eggs, do when we are born is to eat all the eggshells around us."

She seemed to notice that among the three people in front of her, the tall blond young man had the most remorseful and serious expression, and she guessed that he was the parent who found the child.

The old lady smiled kindly and consoled her, "But if you don't eat eggshells, it's not a serious problem. At most, it will be affected in early childhood, such as slow development, lack of energy, etc. But when the child grows up, By adulthood, these disadvantages will automatically disappear."

Lancelot frowned when he heard that these stunting effects would not disappear until adulthood.

A weak little girl's voice sounded in his arms.

"Then if..."

From the large black cloak in the elf's arms, a small silvery-white paw quietly stretched out.

The tip of the claw holds a piece of silver and white fragment, which reflects the bright light under the dim kerosene lamp in the street market at night.

"...Is the eggshell still there?"