The Book of Hibernation

"What do you want?" Winter Thistle asked.

March said: "Do you know why you brought the three of you here alone? It's not because you all have pointed ears, it's because the three of you are very suitable to be our messengers." As she said, she looked at De Lisi, " After knowing her identity, we originally planned to let her be an emissary. She is the illegitimate daughter of a deceased elder in the Carlos family. Although her identity is subtle, she is now considered to be a prominent person. The temple and the city-state should pay attention to it. her personal safety."

Although Deris was mentioned, Deris obediently did not interrupt, but shrugged her shoulders, expressing a little helplessness.

Winter Thistle asked: "Do you want the hostages to deliver news, or even be in charge of negotiations?"

"Correct."

"What do you mean by De Lise's 'personal safety'? As long as you don't hurt her, what's wrong with her?"

Sanyue shook her head: "Is this your first time in the Gem Forest? Obviously you don't know what the execution squad and hunters are like here. Anyway, we were all ready to send her there, but in the end—" She turned to many Lin and Winter Thistle, "Now we have caught you two again. Dorin, the emissary of the Isle of Yor, a kind-hearted elf traveler, a good friend of the temple knights, is very good, and you are also very suitable as an envoy, maybe more than Deris is still suitable. We discussed it just now and considered letting Dorin be the envoy, and Deris stays. It is best to make them feel that she is still suffering, so that our weight will be heavier."

Winter Thistle said, "It's better to let me go."

"It's not a good job."

"I know," Winter Thistle said, "I'm actually more suitable than both of them. You also said that Dorin is a good friend of the Knights of the Temple. If there is a young man among the knights who wants to save him on impulse, maybe It will cause the negotiations to break down. And De Lisi... you can definitely see that she is very sophisticated and cunning, and may not accurately convey your demands."

De Lisi finally couldn't help it: "My dear, let me remind you that a truly simple person can't see other people's sophistication and cunning."

"I didn't say I'm innocent, I'm just more suitable for this than you." Dongji nodded to her, then looked at March again, "Besides, if you didn't mean to choose me, why should I be with them? All of them are here? Obviously, you originally wanted to choose one of the three."

"If you become an envoy, your identity may be exposed," De Lisi said. "There may be people from the Chamber of Commerce on the opposite side. They will recognize you, and then the necromancer will know who you are."

March shook his head: "That's not true. We won't send people to follow the emissary. After all, there are execution squads on the opposite side, and we don't want to take risks. The real danger is that you may meet dead hunters on the road. Those people don't want to see When it comes to peace talks, maybe something will be done... so I am more inclined to send Dorin. Dorin seems to know one or two of them?"

"Then I'll go," said Dorling, "just as I know the way in the forest better."

De Lisi said: "I also have blood from the Isle of Yoll! And my brain is more flexible than theirs."

San Yue's eyes lingered on the faces of the three of them, shaking her head and sighing: "Are you all going to compete to do this dangerous thing now?"

Winter Thistle sighed: "Let me go. I am very suitable to be a hostage, and I can guarantee that I will get back and forth safely. If I encounter monsters or dead hunters, both of them may be in danger, but I can protect myself. "

De Lisi immediately said: "No, you can't protect yourself at all, last time you..."

"Just give me time to prepare." Winter Thistle interrupted De Lisi.He knew she wanted to talk about the bandits.

March thought for a while and said, "We can let you prepare self-defense spells, but they must be completed under our supervision. Irrelevant materials will never be given to you."

"Of course. You can also cast spells to restrict me," Winter Thistle said, "I will definitely obey your orders strictly. Because I have to protect myself and also take into account the safety of other hostages."

March has seen Winter Thistle's masking agent before, and it is estimated that he will use a similar method this time.

In fact, winter thistle is indeed the best candidate.Even if he uses his spells on others, others cannot replace him.He has a stable and calm personality, and he will not make sudden impulsive actions, nor will he play tricks and only care about himself.

March moved her fingers, and the golem in front of Winter Thistle moved away to let him out, and bent slightly, stretching out a hand to let him stand up.

"Then come with me," March said, "I have to discuss the specific matters with you alone."

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Today is the third day since I received the necromancer's letter.In the past three days, the ordinary villagers in Hamer Village have been sent away, and now the people living in the village are all people from the city.The city-state guard set up a rectangular tent on the small square in front of the village office as a temporary barracks.

The letter said that envoys would come to Hammer Village today to negotiate at the village office.The letter mentioned the date of the negotiation, but did not say the specific time.

Beginning in the early morning, the city-state guards were on standby, patrolling outside the village all night, waiting for the envoys to arrive.

Winter Thistle really set out in the early morning.The necromancer put a black cloth bag on his head again, took him from the cave to the forest, and walked around for a long time before the cloth bag on his head was finally lifted.

He is still in the forest.It was still a long way from here to Hamer Village, and Winter Thistle obviously didn't know the way.

The necromancer asked him to look up, and there was a strange bird parked on the tree beside him. The body of the big cuckoo was matched with the head of a raven, and the eyes were spell conductor medium crystals, which glowed slightly green.This is clearly a chimeric flesh and bone golem.

The necromancer told him that the golem bird would lead him the way, and that the bird would fly away when it was close to the village, and when Winter Thistle turned back, as long as he left the village for a certain distance, the bird would take the initiative to find him.And so Winter Thistle set off.

In the dark night, the green light of Golembird's eyes is quite obvious, looking like fireflies in the forest from a distance.Winter Thistle cast the lighting spell on herself, and after walking a certain distance, she cast the thin shadow spell and the silent rune on herself one after another.

These are the spells that the necromancer allowed him to use, and the materials he brought were only enough to do them.

The closer the settlement is, the more likely there will be dead hunters. Those fanatics may directly kill the messenger, no matter whether the messenger is a necromancer or not, so Winter Thistle has to cover his whereabouts.

These spells are nowhere near as effective at concealing as a full-blown concealer.He wanted to make a full-effect concealer for himself, but it was a pity that he didn't have enough time this time.

Fortunately, this is a mountain forest, and the terrain is inherently complicated, so simple concealment spells should be able to play a greater role.

The forest in the early morning is very cold.Winter Thistle didn't wear much, his winter clothes were only suitable for moving around the city, and it wasn't enough for him in the early morning forest.Before departure, March gave him a woolen cloak, which can block a little cold wind, but it can't block the humidity at all.

In order to resist fatigue and cold, Winter Thistle kept pondering spells to disperse the pain.It just so happened that there was a chimeric golem bird in front of him, allowing him to ponder as he walked.

This bird is not very smart.It often gives straight-line guidance. Winter Thistle is facing a ravine that is as wide as a person, and he can't jump over it at all. He has to go a little farther to find a way to walk; sometimes, he is in front of a frozen stream, and he can walk directly across it. But the bird insisted on a detour, and Winter Thistle had to wait for it when it stepped across the brook.

From the behavior of this golem, it can be seen that the preset spell on it is anchor point positioning, rather than precise positioning or remote real-time manipulation.

Winter Thistle couldn't help thinking: If this bird is a metal golem, I have dozens of ways to make it smarter...but it's a flesh and blood golem, and it's really not easy to improve it.

Besides the design flaws of the golem bird itself, Winter Thistle also vaguely noticed something else.This bird was like a microcosm, through which Winter Thistle felt hasty, naive, and taken for granted—for a necromancer, exchanging hostages and negotiating are not wise moves.

But judging from the current situation, the necromancers themselves don't seem to realize this at all.

Winter Thistle walked and rested for a while, and when it was daylight, he ate some dried fruit and scones that March had given him.

Gradually, the sky turned from pitch black to blue-gray, and the dense forest was a little brighter, at least the ground could be seen clearly.Winter Thistle extinguished the lighting ball, and deeply lamented that she was walking too slowly.

The sunrise here is late, if it is in Harbor City, the sky should already be bright by this time.

Moving on, over the hill, Winter Thistle could see the lingering smoke of the campfire in the distance.But he hadn't reached Hamer Village yet.

Not far away, a deep yellow color that does not belong to the trees appeared, only a little bit was exposed.Winter Thistle recognized it as the camp banner of the Knights Templar of the Day.He had seen quite a few of them at St. Delian's before.

So he deviated from the route led by the golem bird and walked towards the small camp.He knows how to communicate with the Knights of the Day.

He guessed right, it was indeed a simple camp.It is still a long way from Hamer Village, it is not a formal barracks, it is temporarily used for repairs when the execution team patrols.

Most of the knights went out on patrol, only two rested under the shack.One of them heard the rustling of the trees and immediately woke up. When he looked up, he saw a person suddenly appearing behind the bushes not far away.

The two knights were startled, and immediately jumped out, pulling out the hatchets from their waists.

Winter Thistle just finished dropping Thin Shadow and Rune of Silence.If the Cavaliers weren't paying attention, he certainly looked as if he had appeared out of thin air.

"Madam Baitian," Winter Thistle spoke without waiting for the knight to ask, "I finally found you!"

Hearing what Winter Thistle said, the two knights relaxed a little, but they were still on guard.

Winter Thistle did not move, and his hands were within sight of them, so the knight lowered his arms in respect.

"Who are you?" One of them approached.

Winter Thistle went straight to the point: "I am a hostage taken by the necromancers. I was sent to negotiate for them and go to Hammer Village. I have their spells on me. If I disobey the orders, I will die."

In fact, Winter Thistle was a bit exaggerated. He did have the necromancer's spell on him, but it was just a positioning spell, and it was used to prevent him from escaping.If he escaped or was detained, he himself would be fine, but other hostages might become spell-casting materials.

The two knights were shocked, and immediately offered to escort Winter Thistle to Hammer Village.They were very nervous, so nervous that they didn't know if they could touch Winter Thistle, and they even forgot to use the holy symbol to check if Winter Thistle was a necromancer.

Looking at the two of them, Dongji couldn't help but want to laugh.They were about the same age as Ryan, and Winter Thistle could see Ryan's shadow in their expressions.

Winter Thistle asked, "By the way, do you have stretchers for first aid in your camp?"

"Yes, yes," the knight asked, "what's the matter, is anyone hurt?"

Winter Thistle stretched out a hand to them, and walked a few steps unsteadily: "Use it for me. I've been tortured a lot, and I've been on the road all night. I can't hold it anymore, and I'm about to pass out. Fortunately, I persevered." Found you. Can you carry me on a stretcher?"

"This, this is certainly possible!"

A knight came to support Winter Thistle, and another hurried to find a folding stretcher among the camp supplies.After holding the winter thistle, the knight remembered to take out the holy emblem and give the winter thistle a necromantic fluctuation test.

After the stretcher was ready, Winter Thistle lay down on his own. The knight fastened his waist with a wide belt. He put his hood over his eyes and let out a long breath.

He wasn't hurt, just wanted to sleep for a while to clear his head.

He was indeed almost unable to hold on, but it wasn't because he was tortured, it was mainly because he was too tired... It was right to say it was torture, but it wasn't the kind of torture that the knights understood.

Although lying on the stretcher was very bumpy, Winter Thistle fell asleep quickly.

About noon, two knights carried him into the village of Hamer.

People around kept talking, but Winter Thistle did not wake up.Maybe it was because he was too tired these days, and now he felt very safe, so he slept more soundly when the sky was bright.

Everyone was terrified at first, thinking that the hostage was cursed.The pastor came to check on him and found that he was just in a deep sleep.

Lane and Aldean were also in Hammer.Ryan was so surprised that he almost cried out when he saw Winter Thistle.

He wanted to rush up to see if this person was a fake, and if there was any cover-up on his face.Aldin sighed and stopped him.

"Let your brother sleep for a while," Aldin said. "It's almost time for lunch. Let's eat first and leave a portion for him. Wake him up in the afternoon and talk about business."

Ryan asked: "But how could he also be a hostage... How is he here? You sent him to the Gem Forest?"

"How is that possible. If I had asked him to come, I would have brought him with me."

"Then why aren't you surprised to see him?"

"No, I'm surprised."

Aldin had the winter thistle carried into a private house, and added a quilt to him.

Glora came to ask the identity of the hostage, and Aldin walked away with her, whispering in her ear.Some matters are considered internal affairs of the Chamber of Commerce and do not need to be discussed publicly.

Ryan followed outside the private house and hesitated for a long time before walking in.

The room was very small, with no distinction between inside and outside, and Winter Ji slept on the only bed.Ryan stood in the doorway and could see Winter Thistle's sleeping face.

Reunited with his brother under such circumstances, he didn't feel very happy, but inexplicably irritable.

This feeling puzzled him and made him blame himself.

Ryan looked out the door, but there was no one nearby.So he approached the bed, and gently brushed the hair on Winter Thistle's forehead.

There is no scar on the forehead, indicating that the injury was not serious at that time.Ryan breathed a sigh of relief.He always remembered the night before leaving Harbor City.

Ryan pondered: I heard that Winter Thistle also left Harbor City, and now she no longer serves Aldin.Then Winter Thistle didn't appear here for the Chamber of Commerce, but probably because he also heard that the situation in the Gem Forest was complicated. As a mage, he definitely wanted to check it out, and then he was caught by the necromancer.

If so, then things are moving in a good direction.This shows that the two brothers did not drift away, but returned to the same track.

Lane sees hope.He thought that after this matter was resolved, maybe Winter Thistle could stay in Fesisit.They could be the same as before: he performed his duties as a Templar, and Winter Thistle went to work in a workshop or a supply store in the city.They can both do what they like, and they can both help others, just like they did in San Delian.

"Okay, everything will be fine."

Ryan looked at his brother's sleeping face, his expression relaxed, and he gradually smiled.