Path of light

Chapter 97 98. Castle Ellington

Castle Ellington is right on the edge of the Malaga jungle. When the expedition team walked to the mountain road between the mountains, they could already see the castle surrounded by mountains along the winding mountains. .

The trees on both sides almost completely cover the entire mountain road, and occasionally the blue sky can be seen through the gaps between the lush leaves.

It was a bit hot in the jungle, but fortunately the mountain trail was not too difficult to walk.

Although this road has not been repaired for a long time, and a lot of weeds have grown from the gaps between the stone slabs on the road, at least this road is not muddy, and there is no need to cut down some thorny trees and vines.

The academy allows freshmen to undergo wilderness survival training in the Malaga jungle, mainly because the vegetation here is lush and wild berries can be found everywhere.

Even if the elves don't bring any food, as long as they are willing to actively look for it, they can find many kinds of edible food in this jungle.

Not far along the mountain road, Roy and Claire found a big tree with berries on the top. Strings of blue-purple berries hung like braids on the top of the tree. It looked like They look a lot like blueberries, but they grow in clusters on the braids and are blue-purple.

Although Claire can climb trees, this tree is at least twenty meters high. The bare trunk is as smooth as a flagpole, and there are no extra branches, making it impossible to climb.

Roy planned to cut the big tree in half with a machete in order to obtain the berries on the top of the tree. This behavior was immediately resisted by other elves.

Unexpectedly, Claire put on spike shoes, tied a rope to the tree, climbed easily along the trunk to the top of the tree, cut off a bunch of ripe berries with a dagger, then hugged the trunk with both hands, and actually slipped directly from the top of the tree. down.

Claire showed this skill and immediately won praise from the members of the expedition team.

Claire picked a whole branch of berries, and Claire gave some to each member of the team, and put the rest into a small cooking pot.

Perhaps a little overripe, these juicy berries have a unique flavor of chocolate and wine, and the juice is sweet.

After Roy took a few pills, he felt that the energy he had spent this morning was suddenly replenished.

In fact, this kind of berry is also sold in Castletown, but it is rarely seen in the lower city. The main reason is that the price of this kind of berry is not cheap. For the mixed-blood elves in the lower city, they prefer the fullness and taste. Better breadfruit.

Walking on the mountain road leading to Castle Ellington, we saw several other expedition teams along the way.

They also planned to make their first stop to Ellington Castle, located on the edge of the Malaga jungle.

The castle is at the end of the mountain col. From this mountain road, you can see the highest roof of the castle.

However, it can only be seen from a high place where there are no dense branches blocking the view.

The jungle path before was not easy to walk. Although it is a shortcut, it requires everyone to concentrate, not only to pay attention to their steps, but also to observe the dense jungle on both sides of the path, and someone needs to cut down the vines blocking the road in front, so the expedition team does not move very fast.

Roy's expedition team did not arrive at the main entrance of Ellington Castle until noon. They looked up at the towering and majestic castle gate. There was also a delicate relief of a Silver Pegasus knight holding an elf sword high, but at least half of the relief was covered with vines. Covered.

The walls on the left and right sides of the gate are built on the cliff and covered with a layer of vines, blending perfectly with the surrounding jungle.

A depressed and dilapidated old castle stands at the end of the mountain range in front of you. The high wall on the left side of the gate has collapsed for a long time. When you enter the gate of the old castle, you will see a stone bridge about ten meters long. On both sides of the bridge are valleys dozens of meters deep, and opposite is the ancient castle built on a solitary peak.

The castle is made of piled stones, and the mud poured into the gaps between the stones has been severely drained, forming deep gaps. In some places, the gaps between the stones are filled with grass.

The buildings inside the castle no longer have doors and windows, and some places have even collapsed.

Entering the castle, you can still see some small workshops and shops on the left and right sides of the street. The rotten plaques at the door can still jingle when the wind blows.

There is also a small square in front of the main building of the castle. Originally, a drinking pool should have been built in the center of the square. However, I don’t know how long this stone sculpture pool has been dry. It is filled with bird droppings and dead branches. It may have been dry. It has become a temporary nest for some birds.

There happened to be an expedition team setting up a tent in the small square. When they saw Roy and the others walking in, they said hello very politely.

Seeing that all the camping spots in the square were occupied by this inspection team, Edith led everyone around the square and a street, pointing to the stone house built against the wall and said: "This was once used to store weapons and supplies. The surrounding walls are stronger than other places, and the terrain is relatively high. Even if it rains heavily, the place will not be flooded. Let's camp here for the next few days!"

The girls in the expedition team were responsible for cleaning the stone house, which had collapsed in one corner. They removed weeds and the feces of some small animals.

A boy actually took out a silver water cup from his magic waist bag. He placed the silver cup on a stone platform at the door of the stone house and embedded a magic crystal fragment into a magic groove of the silver cup.

When Roy curiously came over to take a look, a shallow layer of water had already condensed in the silver cup.

Although the water gathering speed was very slow, the water in the cup was very clear. He also placed a small pot for making tea next to it.

Just waiting for the clear water in the silver cup to overflow, it can flow into the small iron pot along the gap of the silver cup. The elves do not have the habit of cooking porridge, but they drink fruit tea or scented tea every day. This kind of small pot It is also used to make tea.

Roy and Claire walked around the weapons depot and found that it was a really good campsite, sheltered from the wind and rain and quite shady.

The girls' tents were set up inside the weapons depot, while the boys' tents were set up at the entrance of the weapons depot.

Roy and Claire still couldn't eat with the members of the expedition team. They needed to find something to eat around the castle.

But Roy walked all the way into the castle and didn't see any bushes...

Edith put her hands behind her back and slowly walked out of the weapons warehouse.

She came to Roy, smiled and said to Roy:

"Roy, can I help you?"

"No problem! What do you need from me?"

Roy agreed casually, and then asked Edith what it was about...

Edith blinked her blue eyes that looked like moon buds when she smiled, and pointed to a narrow path on the side of the weapons depot. This path was close to the wall and led to the backyard of the castle. A few stone steps could still be seen vaguely.

"Go back from here, pass through the corridor behind the stone steps and an arch, and you will see the back garden of the castle. There is a breadfruit tree on a platform near the edge of the back garden. Can you help me there? Pick three breadfruit from the tree?”

The smile on Edith's face almost burst out...

"I am very willing to serve you." Roy said excitedly.

After saying that, he called up Claire who was standing on the wall looking around. The two of them followed the path beside the wall to the back of the castle. Sure enough, after climbing a few stone steps, they entered a corridor that was almost about to collapse. Inside, several broken stone statues fell among the grass.

Through the arched stone gate, you can see a bread tree growing on a stone platform.

This bread tree is less than three meters tall, but its trunk is very thick. It is estimated that twenty young people holding hands can barely surround this bread tree.

There are not many branches at the top of the bread tree, and the leaves are very sparse, but there is a fruit hanging on each branch.

The breadfruit tree was half dead, and its trunk was covered with lifeless old bark.

The other half of the bread tree is still alive. Not only are the branches covered with leaves, but there are also large and small breadfruit hanging on the branches. It looks very tenacious.

"Bread tree, Roy, it's bread tree! Our dinner is ready..."

Claire cheered with excitement!

Roy ran over and discovered that although the breadfruit tree was very big, it was located on a platform. Although it was very close to the back garden, there was a high wall between the back garden and the wall.

Moreover, the terrain of the platform is much higher than that of the back garden. If you don't walk from the cloister, the breadfruit tree will be blocked by the high wall of the castle.

If you don't search carefully, it will probably be difficult to find...

Claire climbed the breadfruit tree and soon cut down five breadfruits.

Roy raised his head and glanced at the high wall of the castle. He always felt that this abandoned ruins had an eerie feeling.

The two brought the breadfruit back, and Edith was setting the table with the other girls.

They dismantled the discarded weapon racks and pieced them together into a long dining table, which was also covered with a white floral tablecloth. They placed a kettle filled with water, a row of wooden cups, and a fruit basket on the side. It was filled with cinnamon, blueberries, plums and green apples.

Seeing Roy carrying the breadfruit back, Edith said with a smile: "At least you won't be hungry during these three days in the castle..."

Roy placed breadfruit on the dining table. This fruit is easy to store and can be stored for a long time as long as the pulp is not removed from the inside.

"Thank you, Edith...are you familiar with this place?" Roy thanked him quietly.

Claire poked Roy with contempt and said to him in a mocking tone: "You must have forgotten her name, right?"

"Edith Ellington... Castle Ellington, this ruined castle shouldn't be your home, right?"

Roy said Elise's name, and then he realized that her last name was Ellington...

The elf girls around were looking at Roy with strange eyes, and their eyes seemed to be full of: 'It took you so long to know? ’

Edie glanced at the castle outside indifferently, then sighed and said:

"It used to be that after it was abandoned, it no longer belonged to the Ellington family. My father announced that he had given up his inheritance rights here when I was born. Now the ruins of Ellington Castle belong to the Silver Moon Kingdom."

"..."

Although he didn't understand why Edith's father would give up the inheritance rights of the castle, Roy still said with some regret:

"Actually, if it can be repaired properly, this castle will be quite good."

The 16th group had lunch and took a short rest before starting their on-site inspection of the castle.

A group of people came to the gate of the castle and found that there were actually many students from the Elf Academy here. Some of the inspection groups could not find a place to camp in the castle, so they had already set up their tents on the grass at the gate.