Home of the Brave

This is a road that has been carefully renovated.

The width of the road is large enough to accommodate two carriages running side by side, the road surface is leveled with gravel, and special drains are dug on both sides of the road to ensure that the road can be unimpeded even in rainy days.

The Gulambel Kingdom is inland, and all parts of the kingdom mainly rely on horse-drawn carriages for material transportation, but such magnificent trade routes will basically only appear around the capital. It is almost conceivable that what this road connects is either a major economic town with rich products and developed trade, or a military hub with important strategic value.

However, it is puzzling that there is no trace of the flow of people on this majestic business road at this time. And not only that, even the road itself seems to have been abandoned for a long time. I saw weeds growing out of the gravel, almost half a person tall, scattered in scattered clumps all over the road, adding a bit of depression and desolation to this originally sparsely populated commercial road.

The end of this trade road is the Lanlos collar on the northwest border of the Gulambel Kingdom. In the past, when the name "Langlos collar" was mentioned, people would immediately think of some kind of purple, known as the "droplets of gods". Liquid-in fact, Lanlos Ling is known for producing the best wines in the kingdom. In the past, in the wine-making season, merchants who came to snap up wines were constantly on this trade road. However, it is a pity that such a grand occasion has not occurred in nearly 30 years.

This is because, thirty years ago, the Lanloth Nation still belonged to the territory of the Gulambel Kingdom, but now, the lord here has been replaced by someone else.

Thirty years ago, a silver dragon chose the Frost Mountain Range near the Lance Neck as its lair, and then the area surrounding the mountains was automatically drawn into the silver dragon's territory.

On this Palamia continent, the dragon race is the highest predator at the top of the dominating food chain, and it is difficult to confront it head-on even with national-level force. In order to conquer this evil dragon entrenched in the frost mountains, the Gulambel Kingdom has sent four crusade troops, but every crusade army has suffered the fate of sinking boats and halberds without exception. As a result, the Gulambel Kingdom had to recognize the silver dragon's dominance over the Frost Mountains and the surrounding areas. As a result, the Lanlos leader broke away from the kingdom's territory, renamed Lanlos Town, and belonged to the silver dragon.

The once rich territory was taken by the dragon in this way. Of course, the kingdom could not give up. When the armed confrontation was unable to win, it changed its strategy and imposed an economic blockade on the Lanlos, and announced the prohibition of everything in the surrounding territories and Lanlos Town. trading. As for the result of the economic blockade, the kingdom has lost its best wine producing area, and this prosperous business route in the past has also lost its significance.

Occasionally, some people can be seen on this deserted business road, either adventurers peeking at the treasures of the Dragon's Nest, or smuggling merchants who ignore the kingdom's prohibition.

However, Xia Luwei is not one of these two. She is a knight, or more correctly, she is an apprentice knight who has not yet received the name of a knight.

"Father, please watch, I...I will definitely resurrect the Isére's house again!"

Xia Luwei put her clenched fist on her chest and heart, swearing so.

She was wearing the light armor of a trainee knight, her blonde hair was shining in the sun, and a five-foot long sword hung on the saddle behind her, and a steel round shield hung on the other. The center of the buckler is studded with a gleaming scale. The scale is as big as a palm and has a regular hexagonal shape. On the Palamia continent, only one creature can grow such scales—in fact Whether it was this shield studded with dragon scales or another great sword that was said to have slashed a dragon, it was Xia Luwei's family treasure.

Xia Luwei's full name is Xia Luwei von Ishere, judging from the word "Feng" in the middle, she is undoubtedly of aristocratic origin.

Although she is dressed as a trainee knight, her true identity is actually the eldest daughter of the Earl's family, a noble daughter of the earl. In the history of the Gulambel Kingdom, the Isher family was once a famous military commander with many heroes. Not only did they stand countless on the battlefield, they also reportedly defeated an evil dragon that harmed the kingdom, and the dragon scale on the buckler. It was left at that time.

Unfortunately, with the passage of hundreds of years, the glory of the heroes of the past has gradually declined. Xia Luwei is the eldest daughter of the Isailey family, but after her mother ran away and her father died, she became the only heir to the earl family. In the noble society of Gulambel, the Isher family is already a name that is almost dying out.

As a fallen aristocrat, his father died of illness in poverty. The only thing left for Xia Luwei was this set of equipment used by her ancestors and a dilapidated swordsmanship guide. Xia Luwei was eager to rejuvenate the former glory of the Isailey family by her own strength, and for this reason she became an apprentice knight of the kingdom and devoted all her time to hone her sword skills.

A few days ago, the newly appointed prime minister of the Gulambel Kingdom issued a message to crusade against the dragon, calling on the warriors of the world to crusade against the dragon that entrenched in the frosty mountains and harmed the surrounding creatures. And in the name of the royal family, he promised that as long as someone succeeded in defeating the dragon, he would be rewarded with rich rewards for the marquis and nobility, and would be reused by the kingdom.

For Xia Luwei, who wanted to rejuvenate the Is'Ere family, this message was undoubtedly a god-given opportunity. She packed up her clothes and embarked on the road to Longling with little hesitation.

※※※

"Good horse, bear with me again, and wait until the town I'll let you have a good meal."

Xia Luwei patted the mount's neck affectionately, and the thin horse that had been driving her for a day and night, flung her gray tail, and responded with a weak nose.

A knight must have his own mount. This is Xia Luwei's firm belief. For this reason, she specially sold the gray horse before setting off. Although Xia Luwei would certainly wish to have a better mount if she had a choice, the reality is that her meager financial resources simply cannot afford the effort of a horse. Even this grey horse was sold by the horse dealer at a super low price after looking at her title of Earl's Daughter.

Even so, most of the Earl's property was emptied, and only a small amount of travel expenses remained in Xia Luwei's wallet. For her, there is no room for retreat in this crusade against the dragon, and if it fails, there will be no tomorrow.

When she thought of this, Xia Luwei felt an uncontrollable sense of anxiety in her heart. She involuntarily held the horse in her belly and urged the grey horse to speed up.

Since Gulambel's official map no longer has the area of ​​Lanlos, Xia Luwei had to inquire about the route to here privately from the adventurer. Judging by the high-priced map in his hand, Lanlos Town is not far ahead. If you work harder, you should be able to arrive before dark. However, having said that, characters like adventurers were originally criminals who drifted out of order, and their credibility was even rarer than gold, so even if this map was fake, it was nothing strange.

"Troublesome, if you can't arrive before dark..."

Night is the time when monsters are active. According to the information provided by adventurers, minotaurs and ogres often appear in groups on this waste road. If you sleep in the wild, you are likely to encounter these dangerous monsters, and that is the real trouble. Xia Luwei bit her finger and looked at the drawing in her hand with some distress, worrying about whether to continue on the road, or find a place where she can safely spend the night before it is dark.

At this time, the gray horse carried her up a steep slope. Xia Luwei stood on the top of the steep and looked around. She wanted to find out if there was a suitable place to spend the night around, but she saw an incredible scene.

"Then...what's that?"

Xia Luwei's eyes widened, and she couldn't understand the meaning of the scene she saw for a long time.

In her vision, there is a long abandoned road that stretches into the distance along the plain, and in the wilderness on both sides of the abandoned road, there are a large group of minotaurs lying horizontally—or more accurately, the group of muscles. A terrifying monster with a strong physique, standing three meters tall and always holding a heavy iron axe, was lying on the side of the road in an indescribable miserable posture.

"...Minotaur?"

Xia Luwei shook her head and rubbed her eyes to make sure that she was right. The more than ten monsters lying on the ground are the minotaurs known as "wilder slayers".

"How can it be…"

There is no doubt that this is a scene that is enough to shatter the common sense in Xia Luwei's mind.

You know, the Minotaur is arguably the most dangerous monster in the wilderness. Under normal circumstances, only ten minotaurs are enough to cause devastating damage to a medium-sized town. No matter how powerful a warrior is, when encountering this kind of monster with terrifying power and steel body, the first choice is definitely to turn around and escape.

Of course, Xia Luwei did not escape, because it was not necessary.

With such a large number of Minotaurs, even Xia Luwei was not confident that he could handle it, but no matter how you looked at it, the Minotaur in front of her had no room to attack her. In fact, Xia Luwei thought that these minotaurs lying on the ground had already been killed, but after riding her horse closer, she found that this was not the case. There was no blood on the Minotaurs, nor any obvious scars, but they fell to the ground somehow, and showed a rather miserable appearance.

Some turned white, fainted and fell to the ground...

Some foam at the mouth, cramps in their limbs...

Looking at the appearance of the Minotaurs, let alone attacking Xia Luwei, even if Xia Luwei drew his sword and chopped them off one by one, I am afraid they would not have any room for resistance.

Of course, Xia Luwei just thought about it, and didn't really pull her sword off her horse. Firstly, taking advantage of people's danger was not what the knight did, and secondly, the miserable appearance of the minotaurs also made her feel lingering.

In Xia Luwei's view, since the Minotaurs have no trauma, there are only two possibilities for turning into this appearance. Either they are under some vicious curse, or they are under some horrible poison. Regardless of which type, Xia Luwei didn't want to have anything to do with them. So she held her breath, held the horse's belly tightly, and urged the grey horse to run away from the strange path.

Xia Luwei ran two or three miles away in one breath, until she turned her head and no longer saw the shadow of the minotaurs, Xia Luwei breathed a sigh of relief. However, thinking back to the unspeakable situation, I couldn't help being afraid for a while.

"Well, what is going on?"

Xia Luwei frowned and thought hard, but in the common sense she knew, there seemed to be nothing that could explain the scene she had just seen. Not knowing what happened to the Minotaurs means that there is no defense. In this land ruled by dragons, even if anything happened, it was not surprising. When she imagined herself turning into a Minotaur inexplicably, Xia Luwei couldn't help feeling a deep chill.

Just when she was at a loss, her ears caught some kind of abnormal noise. It was like the sound of wheels running over rubble and passed into her ears across the intersection in front of her.

"anyone there?"

Xia Luwei immediately became excited, and urged the gray horse to run quickly across the intersection, and saw a carriage not far in front that was slowly driving on the overgrown road. If the driver is a local in Lanlos Town, he should be able to inquire about the news from the other party, so thinking Xia Luwei ran after her horse, and it didn't take long to catch up with the slow-moving carriage.

"That, please!"

"Um?"

The driver turned around and turned out to be a young man with black hair. The young man looked like he was in his early twenties, and his appearance was ordinary, but a pair of black pupils was very rare. He is wearing a set of clothes cut from coarse cloth, which makes him look like an inconspicuous apprentice in a certain shop, and it is difficult to make an impression in memory.

"Excuse me, is this the road to Lanlos Town?"

Xia Luwei controlled the gray horse to slow down while opening up the topic with this question.