ninth dragon stone

"Enough, you go back." Veronica said.

After being able to control the power in her body more freely, she gradually realized that things were not that bad.She has been one of the most powerful knights in the knight order for quite a long time afterwards. Although many people dismiss her "unhealthy" power, no one can defeat her.Until Inge was 18 years old, he defeated her for the first time in the autumn tournament that year, which made many people breathe a sigh of relief, and let him win a dragon stone as a reward by the way.

"I didn't expect that you have become so strong." When Veronica said this, she was picking up the back of her big sword from the ground, and the wound on her body was still bleeding, but she didn't seem to care , because most of them will be gone tomorrow.

Inge propped his sword on the ground, his breathing was still a little unsteady, and his expression looked quite relieved.He showed her a smile: "Don't dare to do it, if it's not because I want Dragonstone too much, maybe I can't beat you."

Veronica raised her eyebrows, and the two walked towards the exit of the arena together: "You? Do you want Dragonstone?"

"Is it strange?"

"...It's not surprising," Veronica admitted. "Dragonstone is a good thing, and everyone wants it. I just always thought you were a guy who was indifferent to fame and wealth."

Inge showed a clear expression, and said quite meaningfully: "Ah, as you said—Dragonstone is a good thing."

Dragonstone is of course a good thing, and it is a rare thing.As the name suggests, it is a magic core trained through a special magic circle after killing a dragon. It can be used to strengthen weapons and equipment, and many people like it.But defeating a dragon is not an easy task, not to mention that dragons rarely appear openly in front of people, so it is even more precious.Inge spent a long time winning this one, and it starts from a demon riot that the Knights Templar was ordered to "suppress" a year ago——

The era that Rolanders, Inge, and Veronica lived in, if compared with the history of the establishment of the human kingdom, it should be regarded as more than inferior than inferior.On the one hand, compared with when the Knights Templar was just born 40 years ago, the human territory on the mainland was torn apart and monsters were rampant; I don't know why the "Ishield Seal" has been greatly loosened. Sporadic demon hunters can often pass through the seal to the surface world to do evil (this is how several of Veronica's teammates died in the same way. ), riots on a scale large enough to require the use of the Knights Templar also began to occur.

Last autumn, a large-scale seal breach occurred in a province northeast of Anglos, the human kingdom. What is surprising is that this time the demons came prepared, with an organized army and a lord who ruled them .Immediately after the incident, the Knights Templar, the priests of the Holy See, and the Academy of Mages under the control of the Holy See were dispatched there. With the assistance of ordinary human troops and hired private mage unions, it took two months to completely solve the problem and repair it. seal.

In that expedition, the Knights Templar defeated and killed the opposing lord, and the Dragonstone was the spoil from him.But the lord actually inlaid them on the crown as decorations. Even Rolandes was amazed when he saw this scene: "This is really a luxury to show off."

There are 9 dragon stones on the crown. After the discussion, the Holy See took the largest and best one, and the other eight were shared equally between the Knights Templar and the Academy of Mages.It just so happens that the Knights will hold regular martial arts competitions at the turn of summer and autumn every year, and the momentum is not small. Warriors from other places often take this as a springboard to enter the Knights Templar to join in, and Rolanders simply takes them as prizes up.

When Inge heard the news, he had an idea. For this reason, he decided to win as many dragon stones as possible, preferably all four.But this is not so easy to do - none of the people who can be selected into the Templar Knights through layers of selection has no unique skills, and none of them are fuel-efficient lamps.He won the first piece, but in the second year he didn't even make it to the final. In the third year, he met Veronica in the final after a lot of hard work. He thought it would be another fierce battle, but he actually won a lot of money. easy.

But he didn't feel happy: "Although I want Dragonstone, I don't want you to deliberately let it go."

"I didn't. What are you thinking so much about?" Veronica shrugged. "Rolanders must also want you to win."

Inge was a little annoyed: "He won't care about such things. Besides, even if he wins like this, what's the value?"

Veronica raised the corners of her eyes with black demon patterns, and said sarcastically and nonchalantly: "Is it worthless? You have already won almost the entire knight order. If you have one more and one less, what will it do to your reputation?" The difference? Besides, no one will be free enough to trouble you because of this, so don't worry."

Inge couldn't find anything to refute her for a moment, even though he felt she was wrong.So in the fourth year, probably out of a kind of juvenile innocence, he decided to hide his identity to participate when the competition was approaching.Before the start of the game, he withdrew from this year's game on the pretext of an old injury that had not healed. In fact, the previous injury had not affected him at all; after that, he ran to find a friend who lived in the southwest corner of Silver Spring Town, the young man And his father was a blacksmith.After listening to his words, the blacksmith father and son found out a set of armor that had been sent by someone else for repairs, but the owner lost its whereabouts afterwards, cleaned it up and lent it to him.

Before leaving, the blacksmith's son asked him: "There is a woman's veil on this helmet, which is probably a token. Do you want to take it off?"

Inge looked at it for a while, then shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter, just keep it."

Later, he appeared in front of people wearing this unfamiliar armor, and signed up for the competition as a foreigner. Because he was taciturn and carefully avoided showing his face, he was not noticed from the beginning to the end.

The rest of the race went smoothly.After participating in many competitions in a row, he has already figured out all the doors inside.The audience were all surprised that this foreigner had such good luck this year—you must know that although there are many fighters who come from afar every year, it is not easy to make it to the last two rounds.People are curious about his name, but he still refuses to say a word, so everyone refers to him as "Red Helmet", because that helmet is tied with a red silk scarf with white beads on it.

Veronica was also surprised. She hadn't fought Red Helmet so far, but watching him fight all the way up, she always felt that he seemed to be stronger than Inge.However, she sneered and thought, since the other party is not Inge, there is no need to take Rolanders' feelings into account and show mercy—how can a foreigner who dare not even show his face and name be allowed to compete in the Knights? Top of the list?Wouldn't that be an insult to Rolanders and all of them?

In the end, it was Red Helmet who stood with her in the final.The atmosphere off the court was very lively, and a gamble was even set up, and the odds of her winning were even higher.Someone whistled and shouted: "Defeat him, Lord Veronica!" She looked around the field, but did not see Inge, and remembered that she didn't seem to see him much during the entire competition, although she had said before Although she was recuperating, her keen intuition still made her wonder for a moment: could the red helmet be Inge?

But what is he hiding his name incognito?Didn't he want Dragonstone?With his previous excellent record, his name alone is enough to deter some opponents.Besides, she immediately denied her unfounded guess, and thought sarcastically—is Inge the one who can wear a lady's token?

Putting aside her useless doubts, she swung her big sword and rode her horse towards the opponent amidst the sound of the gong.

—Whoever you are, she felt that the other self locked deep in her body slowly opened her mouth, with fangs showing from the middle of her black lips, she is not a member of the Knights Templar, it is just a stepping stone to victory ——

Inge grabbed the reins and took two steps back. The horse barely stopped, and he felt dizzy as if he was on a boat.The heavy breathing was trapped in the mask, which made him feel a tightness in his chest, and his vision became a little blurred.Today's Veronica is a little different from before. He looked at the other party through the gap in the mask, and she was panting on the horse with a big sword in her hand. The black lines on her face were cold and strange.The meandering cracks and cracked clods on the ground showed her powerful destructive power, and the contrast between the bleeding wound and the nonchalant expression made Inge feel that she was a little crazy and scary for the first time.

She wasn't like this, he thought perplexedly behind the mask, he knew she was always not afraid of getting hurt and bleeding, and he also knew that she seemed to dislike him for some unclear reasons, but at most it was indifferent to others, he never I felt real murderous intent and hatred from her.However, the Veronica in front of her now seems to be the kind who really regards him as an enemy and puts him to death quickly. The strong hatred emanates from her uncontrollably, and becomes aggressive and exposed—because Doesn't she know her true identity?However, this is not really a battlefield where you can live and die, right?

Of course, Veronica on the opposite side doesn't know about the endless problems in Inge's stomach. She is now in a very comfortable state. Human rationality and the "she" in her body each control half of her consciousness. Completely out of control to cause irreversible damage, and you don't have to be restrained and unable to exert your strength.Because of the existence of "her", everything other than the battlefield at this moment, such as the whispers in the audience, the changes in the odds of the game, and the frown that Rolanders began to frown, will not bother her anymore.

"What's your name?" She called to Red Helmet through a hideous crack in the ground, but after waiting for a long time, the other party remained silent.

"Okay," the corners of her thin lips curled up in an unfriendly way, "you don't have to tell me!"

Before she finished speaking, she had already rushed out.Inge immediately tightened his nerves. He knew that he couldn't face such a rampant Veronica head-on, and planned to avoid the attack range of her big sword.He counted the timing and quickly dodged when Veronica could no longer turn around. He knew Veronica's attack style and knew that the heavy sword limited her flexibility, so he was sure to dodge This blow.

However, what he didn't expect was that Veronica also saw through his plan, and pulled the rein while he dodged, her war horse raised its front legs and stopped suddenly, while she increased in height Grasping the rein firmly with one hand, he swung his sword with the other, turned sideways and slashed at Inge condescendingly!

At that moment, the neighing of war horses, the uproar in the audience, the host's hurried gong beating, and the sound of the sword touching the armor all rang out together, and the voice of Rolanders calling her name was submerged in it. Ronika's intuition made her turn her arm hastily, so that the side of the sword instead of the blade hit the foreign knight on the back. Although he still fell directly from the horse, but if it weren't for this, he would now be in two pieces. up.

At that moment, she clearly heard the ear-piercing ridicule in her heart, and she couldn't tell whether it was hers or "her"—outsider, aren't you amazing?Isn't it even stronger than Inge?That's all!

It's just another defeated opponent, your time of death is coming——

She got off the horse, walked towards the injured opponent who fell to the ground, raised her sword, and the distant memory fragments overlapped with the scene in front of her. At that time, her usual weapon was not a big sword, and Inge, who was still a young man at that time, fell down in the same way. In front of her, in Veronica's dim, ghastly phantom vision, his platinum hair turned into a clump of dry bones, or a wandering will-o'-the-wisp—

"Veronica!"

The boy propped himself on the ground with one hand and looked at her with eyes full of horror.

"Veronica."

The strange knight, who had not shown his face from the beginning to the end, also propped up his upper body on the ground, and pressed his sword against her abdomen that was not covered by the armor with his backhand, his voice was soaked in cold sweat and blood.

Those fading feelings returned to her body, except for things other than the battlefield, the exclamation of the people around, the mage chanting spells, and the sound of footsteps coming one after another.Her hand holding the sword began to tremble, and she also felt tired, sore, and the burning pain of the wound.

"She" retreated quietly with a treacherous smile.Veronica used her last strength to insert the big sword into the empty ground beside her. She wanted to stop her opponent, but she couldn't make a sound. Blood's armor hastily withdrew from the battlefield.Before Veronica had time to say anything, people came to her carefully with weapons, and the mage's incantation was over. She was nailed to the cage that fell from the sky and could not move. , methodically appease and direct the evacuation of the audience.

Her hearing is very good, and she clearly knows what the people around her are saying. Those slanders and accusations with deep fear tighten her heart like thorns.

She closed her eyes.

The venue of the competition was not at the Knights Templar's garrison. When the competition was over and the group returned to Silver Spring Town, Veronica immediately went to Inge's house and, as expected, found him missing.She told Rolanders about this, and said that she went out to find him, but she didn't say that she suspected that the "red helmet" in the competition that day was Inge, because if that was the case, she would have to explain why he concealed his identity and wore someone else's token, She wasn't sure, so she didn't say anything for the time being to let others guess wildly.Although Rolanders didn't show anything, Veronica could feel that he still had complaints about her, so she advised her not to go; but someone told him the next day that Veronica took the dog with her at dawn. I used to go out of town by myself.

■

It is rare to have such a warm autumn day.Leiana looked at her flock of sheep grazing quietly on the grassy slope by the river, running her fingers through the soft long hair of the shepherd dog, and felt that she was almost falling asleep.She knew that the water level of the river had dropped, and the pastures in the field would soon wither, and the days when she could bring the flock out were numbered; There is an illusion that summer is still long.She is the eldest daughter of the farmer on the other side of the river, and her life remains the same throughout the summer—going out with the sheep and sheepdogs in the morning, and bringing the sheep to the place chosen before, close to the water source, far away from the beasts, and not too far away from the village. Far away, just take care of them so that they don't get lost.She has six younger sisters, those little girls want to come with her, but unfortunately they are too young, now only 15-year-old Alyssa can come out to talk with her, and now she is too warm and comfortable Intoxicated by the autumn afternoon, she fell asleep in Leyana's lap.

Ah, really sleepy.Leiana yawned, and reached out to rub the big dog's head, but the dog didn't appreciate it as usual, not only didn't show a comfortable expression, but also stood up in a certain direction.

Leana shuddered.The flock of sheep on the grass slope seemed to feel something too. Some of them stopped to eat grass and turned their heads in the same direction as the shepherd dogs.Leiana also followed their line of sight and looked there, only to see a figure on horseback coming out of the woods.No, to be precise, it was not a man riding a horse, but a man was being carried by a horse to come here - he looked like a warrior, and he was wearing armor, but there was a lot of blood on it; the helmet was nowhere to be found Gone, he bowed his head, his light-colored hair dangling, like dead leaves hanging on the treetops in autumn.

Leiana reassured the collie, then reached out to wake Alyssa.Alyssa was still in a daze, but she was startled when she saw that the person had suffered such serious injuries. The two sisters got up quickly and came to the horse.It was only when she got closer that the rider on the horse was still conscious, which made Leiana heave a sigh of relief, but just as she was about to speak, the rider lost his balance and slid off the horse.

Inge is indeed still conscious, but the remaining weak strength is no longer enough for him to effectively identify the direction and control the horse to where he wants to go. The sharp pain from his back and the continuous blood loss make him He had trouble thinking.In a daze, he was carried by a horse through an unknown forest, and met Sister Leiana who was tending the flock by the river.But at that time he didn't know who he was meeting. When he fell off the horse, he was already close to the limit. He vaguely recognized that one of the two should be the priest, and asked her for help.He thought it should be like this, but he didn't know what he said.Because after saying that sentence, he had no impression of what happened next.

Leiana did not hear clearly what Inge said, but anyone with a discerning eye knew what was going on. She and Alyssa immediately decided to send him home. Their mother was the only doctor in the village, except for the lord The people in the castle, others came to her when they were injured or sick.No matter what she said, there should be some way.

The two of them pushed Inger back on the horse, and Leiana wanted Alyssa to take him back, but the horse would not let Alyssa ride on its back.Leiana had no choice but to ask her younger sister to take care of the sheep, stepped on the stirrups and rode on the horse, held the reins nervously and rode towards home.Fortunately, Inge's horse finally stopped being awkward, and honestly carried his master and the strange girl to the other side of the river.Leiana didn't dare to run too fast, firstly because she was afraid that she would not be able to control it, and secondly, more importantly, she was afraid of aggravating Inge's injury.Looking at the bloodless young man lying on the horse's back in front of her, she felt like her heart was being grabbed by force and she almost cried.

Why would you do this to a stranger?She doesn't understand either, but her entire mind and heart are now only occupied by such a strong thought:

You must be fine!

The author has something to say:

Do not take the BG line, rest assured (.