The Book of Hibernation

Ryan followed the servant all the way around and came to a position he had never gone deep into.

Aldin's mansion is a large-scale courtyard, with many houses in it, all hidden among lush flowers and trees. There are many places that Ryan has never been to or even seen.

The servant entered a large two-story house.The front hall of the big house was pitch-black, without lights, so it didn't look like there were people living there.

Ryan did not rush in, but hid nearby to observe.

After a while, the man came out again, his hands were empty, he didn't take out the dinner plate, his posture relaxed a lot, his hands were far away from the sword at his waist, and he even took out a small flagon and took a sip.

Judging by his appearance, it seems that he has finished his day's work, and he can rest and relax next.

Lane continued to hide in the bushes.Not long after, it was completely dark, and two more armed guards came over and entered the house.

After a while, two people came out of the house, but not the two who had just entered.

Apparently it was the changing of the guard.From this, Ryan confirmed that a certain place in the house needs to be guarded, and there are two permanent guards.

Ryan once worked as a city guard for a short time. Based on his experience at that time, he can roughly calculate how long it will take to arrange the next guard change in the case of two people on one post.

He still did not act rashly, but continued to observe patiently.

The moon has risen, and the courtyard is so quiet that there are only insects chirping.Ryan waited until the next guard change, thus verifying his guessed frequency of guard change.

He planned to observe for a while, waiting for the right time.

The so-called suitable timing is the stage when the guards have been on duty for a long time, and they are starting to be irritable and lax.

Feeling that the time was almost up, Ryan quietly approached the big house and drew his sword out of its sheath ahead of time.

He gently opened the door.When opening the door, he let the pendant light up for a moment, then immediately turned it off again.He used this moment to see clearly the structure of the front hall of the big house, and then continued to explore in the dark.

There are two staircases on the left and right facing the gate.Ryan didn't try to go upstairs, because he had observed two rounds of guard changes before, and the guards were all wearing armor and walked heavily. Ryan could be sure that these people didn't come down from upstairs.

Behind the stairs on the left, there is another small single door that is less obvious.

Ryan walked to the small door and pushed it lightly, but the door was locked.There was only a brass handle on the door, and there was no lock or keyhole.

It was locked from the inside, so there must be someone inside.

Ryan lit up the luminous pendant again in front of the door.He turned it on for a while, then alternated light and dark a few times before listening to the door again.There was no response from the door.

It can be seen from this that the people inside are relatively far away from the door panel.

The light from the pendant can see through the cracks in the door, and if the people inside are close, they should be able to see the flicker and react.

After making a basic judgment, Ryan knocked on the door, then leaned against the wall.

Sure enough, there were people inside.He heard "Who is it?" from inside.Judging by the distance of the sound, they are really far from the door, and there is a certain depth.

Ryan did not remain silent, but answered casually in a murmur.

He believed that keeping silent would cause the guards to be on high alert and they might come together.But if he answered quickly, pretending to be other servants in the mansion, but slurring his speech so that the people inside could not hear clearly, then the guards might come to check the situation.

The guard asked another question, and Ryan answered again, still deliberately speaking unclearly.He also lived in Harbor City for a while, and he was able to learn a little accent of the locals.

The sound of footsteps approaching, followed by the gentle clang of metal latches.The guard came to open the door.

The moment the door opened inward, Ryan appeared in a flash, rushed directly into the door, swung his sword hilt and hit the guard on the jaw.

Taking advantage of the guard's stagger, Ryan quickly made another punch with his left hand, and the guard fell to the ground completely and passed out.

Inside the door is a small platform that is not long, connected to the downward stairs, which should lead to the basement.

At this time, another guard also rushed over.This person is about the same age as Ryan, and his physique is a bit larger, but his movements are far less flexible than Ryan, and his attacks are not rational enough. Ryan knocked him down without much effort, and before he got up, he rushed to beat him on the spot faint.

Although he drew his sword in advance, Ryan tried not to let it get blood here.

Both guards fell, and no one else caught up inside.Ryan did not let his guard down. Before leaving, he closed the outside door back to its original position to prevent people from outside from seeing the problem.

Holding his sword, he walked carefully down the stairs.

There is a hanging lamp a few steps on the wall on both sides, and the light is enough to see the environment clearly.The basement is very spacious, about the same size as the upstairs hall. There are two sets of tables and chairs near the wall. There are some kettles, some scones and dried fruits on them. It should be the resting place for the two guards.

Looking into the distance, there are small doors embedded in the wall on the other side.The door panel is iron black, made of metal, with a small transom at the lower part.

The nearest door was open, and looking towards the end of the wall, there were only five doors in total that were locked.

A tray stood in front of the farthest door.It was the tray that Ryan saw being delivered.The lid was open on one side, and on the tray were bread, pickles and a glass of water.The food was untouched and the water was spilled on the plate.

Presumably that was all right, there was no food at all in front of the other four doors.

Ryan realized that this was no ordinary basement, this was a dungeon, a private dungeon in the anaconda mansion.

Ryan walked slowly towards the cells, not forgetting to check the vacant rooms passing by, for fear that there were people hiding inside.

When he came to the first locked door, Ryan knelt down and leaned over, trying to look inside through the transom.It was too dark in the cell, and there were no windows to the outside in the walls, so he couldn't see anything.

The first four doors were very quiet. Ryan touched the transom lightly, but there was no movement inside.

When he reached the last door, the sound of his footsteps awakened the people inside, and there was a sound of iron chains rubbing in the cell.

Ryan tentatively asked, "Who is it?"

No one in the cell answered.So Ryan asked a few more times, asking who he was and how he was caught here.

Halfway through the question, the sound of iron chains came from inside again, mixed with small gasps.It was the people inside who were dragging their bodies as close as possible to the transom.

Then, Ryan heard a weak and hoarse voice: "Is... Ryan?"

Ryan froze.The person inside choked up a few times, and asked him if it was Ryan, and then he realized that it was Dorin, the elf from the Isle of Yor!

Ryan felt a chill down his spine.He first lay down on the ground and looked inside vigorously, then he remembered that the guard should have a key on him.

He hurriedly groped around the guard and the table, and sure enough he found a bunch of keys.

Since he didn't know which key was right, he had to try one by one.At the end of the trial, the lock was successfully opened.

Before he opened the door, Dorin could be heard inside sobbing softly.

Ryan quickly opened the door and walked in.The corridor was dimly lit and could only illuminate half of the cell. There was a simple wooden bed by the wall. Dorin was not on the bed, but huddled in the corner on the other side.

A thick chain bound his ankles, and the other end of the chain went into the stone of the wall.

Ryan took two steps towards him, but he curled up even more, with fear in his eyes.

Ryan didn't know why this happened: he clearly recognized me?Then why are you still afraid of me?

"Dorin?" Ryan knelt down and approached slowly, "Dorin, what's wrong with you? Why are you locked up here?"

After getting closer, Ryan held the lighting pendant in his hand, covered it with his palm a little before turning it on, and then adjusted it to the lowest brightness.

The cell was very dark, so that it could illuminate the field of view, but also let the light be milder, so that it would not irritate Dorin's eyes.

Duolin's left foot was bound by shackles and iron chains, and although his right leg was free, it was even more immobile—the right ankle must have been fractured, and the injury had already been treated, with splints on both sides and a tight bandage.

There were more than these injuries on his body, there were also some bruises and scratches, which seemed to be the marks left by fighting and resisting.

The color of the ointment can be seen faintly near the wound, and someone has treated him initially.Probably his captors didn't want to kill him, but wanted to keep him for further interrogation.

"What's going on... What's going on?" Ryan looked at the elf's appearance, his voice trembling.He wanted to go up to support him, but he was afraid that he would hurt Duo Lin, so he hung his hands in front of him, at a loss for what to do.

Dorin was silent for a while, then slowly turned his face away from the wall, and raised his eyes timidly: "You...you really don't know...you are not with them?"

His voice was too low in the second half of the sentence, and his voice was very hoarse. Ryan couldn't hear clearly, but only heard the sentence "Really don't you know?"

He leaned closer and asked, "Know what?"

Dorin looked him in the eye, shook his head, and didn't ask again.

Ryan took a few deep breaths, observed the shackles and chains, and went out to check the movement outside.

When he came back, his gaze was much firmer than before.He knelt down and said to Dorin: "My mind is messed up, and you must have a lot of things to tell me. The most important thing now is to get you out and talk about other things when you are safe."

Dorin nodded, frowning at the shackles and chains that bound his left ankle.

Ryan wanted to try that bunch of keys, but after careful observation, he found that the keyhole on the shackles was very small, and none of the keys in this bunch were right.

So Lane straightened the chain a little, and drew his sword.

Dorin was shocked: "You want to cut it off? It's impossible!"

Ryan said, "Okay. Trust me, don't be afraid."

After speaking, he took out a sealed pouch from his pocket, tore open the stitches, and pulled out a piece of soft leather the size of a palm.The soft leather exudes a sulfur smell, one side is blank, and the other side is densely written with arcane characters.

Lane wiped the blade with the written side.After the soft leather came into contact with the metal, the arcane characters shone one after another, slowly emerging from the leather, and moving to the surface of the blade.

This is a small tool that can temporarily enchant weapons, and of course it is also made by Winter Thistle.This thing can only be called a "gadget", and has not yet been officially named, because no one has made anything of the same kind except the winter thistle.

As long as the artifact meets the enchanting criteria, the caster can temporarily enchant it.Generally speaking, this can only be done by spellcasters, and it is impossible for people who know nothing about magic to do it.

However, Winter Thistle's works have broken through this limitation and made tools that anyone can use.

So Winter Thistle tells Lane that it's a "tool," not a "magic."As long as the method is correct, anyone can use it. Of course, this kind of thing is called a "tool".

Lane only knew how to use it, but not how rare and amazing this gadget was.

Dorin looked at Ryan and sighed in surprise: "Are you not only a day knight, but also a mage?"

Lane said: "I'm not, my brother is a mage. That's what he did."

Dorin only has a little idea of ​​magic, and doesn't know much about it.He could see that this was a temporary enchantment, but he couldn't see the particularity of the casting process.He didn't understand what Ryan meant at all, so he had to understand that his brother taught him a spell.

After the temporary enchantment of the sword was completed, Ryan cut the heavy iron chain without much effort. It was as easy as cutting vegetables with a knife, without even making too much noise.

This kind of blade is not only sharp, but it has completely changed the hardness of the sword casting metal, temporarily changing it to a property equivalent to that of magic alloy.

This kind of power is short-lived. After a while, the words formed by the temporary enchantment dimmed one by one, and finally disappeared from the sword.

The sword returned to its usual state, and the spell on the leather disappeared and could not be reused.

Ryan once asked curiously if he could keep his sword sharp forever, but Winter Thistle said no.This sword is just an ordinary weapon, without pre-installed runes, and the craftsmanship is not very good. Winter Thistle said that it already has other enchantments, and it can no longer withstand frequent reforging. At most, it can only be used as a temporary emergency.

Ryan didn't understand the principle, and didn't ask much.

Winter Ji gave the solution, and he followed suit, it doesn't matter if he doesn't understand the reason.During their journey, they have always gotten along like this.

Now that the chain is severed, Dorin can leave his cell.Although he still had separate shackles around his ankles, they would always find a way to pry them off if they could get out.

Ryan put away his sword, squatted down, and held out his hands to Dorin.Dorin shook his head, indicating that he didn't need to hug him.So Ryan went to get the guard's sword and let Dorin use it as a crutch.

Dorin held the sword in one hand, grabbed Ryan's arm with the other, leaned on him, and slowly walked out of the cell with him.

Seeing the unconscious guard outside, Dorin frowned: "Are they dead?"

Only then did Ryan realize that these guards had seen his face... If he followed the smartest but most ruthless approach, he should kill these guards.That way, no one can pinpoint who let Dorin go.

But he doesn't want to.

The guards are not incommunicable monsters, not purely evil creatures, they just obey the orders of their masters.

Ryan said hesitantly: "They're not dead, they're passed out. I think..."

Before he finished speaking, Duoling tightened his sleeves: "Don't kill them! They didn't come to torture me, they are just ordinary guards. Let's leave together, as long as they can't catch up."

Ryan looked at the elf in a little surprise, feeling a sour feeling in his heart.

His tense expression softened, and he nodded firmly.