rune hunter

Chapter 18 Reaching Istaron
300 years ago, Istaron was still an uncultivated and wild land. The rough gray water river flowed through here and turned to the south.Until the White Lion family was ordered to garrison here and build a military fortress to defend the King's Road.Time flies, the Hundred Years War is over, and the old people have turned into loess. This fortress lost its military strategic significance and gradually evolved into a city where ordinary people live together.

Due to its outstanding achievements during the war, the city was given to the White Lion family by the former king as a permanent fiefdom.For hundreds of years, the white lion lords of Istaron have been committed to expanding the living space of human beings on this land. They used their troops to cut down forests, fill up swamps, drive out alien races, and finally succeeded in reclaiming the land on the banks of the Graywater River. Thousands of miles of fertile farmland has become one of the most important food producing areas in the kingdom.

The blood and sweat of the White Lion family has been recognized by the gods. The god of agriculture, Xue Ensi, the god of commerce, Ludne, and the goddess of rivers, Wendini, issued an oracle to announce that the city was protected.Throughout the ages, only a large city at the level of a royal capital can win such an honor.

This means that perhaps in the near future, the White Lion family may very well establish a principality with the help of the gods, write the name of the family in the history books, and create their own legends.

Passing through the famous double Cambridge to reach the North Gate of Istaren, the road is bustling with pedestrians.El looked up and saw sharp crossbow arrows on the towering granite city tower, and well-trained and capable soldiers standing under the flying white lion flag... From the first glance, this city is full of sturdy fighting atmosphere, Like a sleeping lion, it contains subtle and unfathomable power.

Prior to this, El had also visited some small towns around Queensland, where occasionally powerful lords would appear and build stone fortresses in their territories to defend against wild beasts and robbers, but compared with the fortress in front of them, those were like A gentle and cute little sheep.

El suddenly felt that his previous worldview was a bit narrow, presumably the owner of this city is much more noble than the viscount in Queensland.After the plague broke out, the order of Queensland City also collapsed.As a commoner, he dared to rely on the herbs in his hands to negotiate with the Viscount, and even use force.

But here, just the looming iron-blooded aura in the city makes him feel depressed, and the sharp blades that can be seen everywhere remind every traveler in the past that this is not a place without rules.

The weak must be deterred, and the strong must be kept in awe. This is the law of survival in the forest, and it is also El's own law of survival.So he bowed his head and saluted the city with three parts respect, three parts prudence, and four parts curiosity.

Looking back at the front and back of the caravan, most of the young people still looked bruised and swollen, which was the result of the last fight.The effect is very obvious. Most of the victims now dare not look him in the eye, and some even show friendly or flattering smiles.Now basically no one dares to come over to provoke him, but the number of enthusiastic people around Tika continues unabated.

El rubbed his temples in distress. What he was worried about now was not the little maid's suitor, but another sick and problematic girl.

With plenty of rest and a safe environment with no interruptions, Tiana is recovering at an amazing speed every day.Before meeting the caravan, her mental strength had already returned to the level she had in Queensland, and it was still improving these days.Long-term exhaustion of physical and mental strength brought her serious injuries, but at the same time helped her break through her own bottleneck.With the power of insight into runes, El was able to observe that the magic power in her body was constantly rising, burning like a torch in the dark night.

El can't judge Tiana's situation when she fully recovers, but at least now she has definitely broken through the level of "light magician".

The girl sitting sideways on the pack horse closed her eyes tightly, tightly holding the bottle full of bright red potion in her hand. It was a potion she simply mixed with lantern tomatoes and several other herbs. It is said that it has a great effect on the stability of her own magic power. Great help, but don't take it until your body is fully recovered.

The prescription is very simple, without much technical content. The key is that the lantern tomato, a spore plant, can be encountered but not sought after.First of all, only that special monkey will be planted. Secondly, its freshness period is only a few hours, and it must be used as medicine immediately after picking.

Similar genius treasures in the forest are actually not rare, but not many people can identify them.El was lucky, he had a well-informed old man, and learned from him how to use insight runes to find valuable herbs in the forest.Those flowers and plants with magical effects tend to automatically condense the surrounding natural elements.Now his physical fitness is different from ordinary people. Apart from insisting on exercising, he also benefits from some rare fruits.

Although the unsightly scars on her face and hands are still difficult to deal with, in general, Tiana can be said to have basically recovered now.This made El joyful and a little sad, because the girl no longer needed his protection, and the journey was about to reach the end, and he had no excuse to prevent the girl from leaving.

"Do you have any plans after arriving in Istaron?" he asked Tiana in a low voice.

The girl opened her eyes, staring directly at El with bright eyes, she tilted her head, and a smile appeared on the corner of her mouth.

"I thought you should go to receive the reward according to the plan."

"I suddenly felt that it would be better to keep such a valuable treasure." El said with a shy smile, "Maybe it will appreciate in value soon or even double the price."

"You'll probably be broke before then, raising a girl isn't as easy as you think"

Perhaps because she was in a good mood, Tiana joked along with El's words.

El wanted to refute her, because girls in the village, such as Tika, could feed on two potatoes a day.Of course, he also knew that if he really said that, he would be slapping himself in the face.Tiana is not only a noble lady with status, but also a distinguished magician. Before she was disfigured, she was a stunning beauty. Who would have the nerve to eat potatoes every day for such a girl?Don't look at him now has a savings, and the future seems to be very bright, but if compared with the real nobles in the city, it is far from enough.

El is a person with a very traditional concept. He thinks that a man without capital naturally has no confidence to speak.Since he is not yet able to make any promises, he would rather keep some words in his heart and not cause trouble to each other.

He looked at the white lion army flag flying above the city gate, turned to Tiana and said: "If one day, I also have a flag that can stand on my fief, then even if I want to raise a princess, it's fine." ?”

Tiana glared at him angrily, with a look of helplessness and disappointment on her face, she curled her lips and said, "You are really a good person with lofty ideals, if there is such a day in 20 years, I will definitely consider taking my daughter marry you."

El pretended to be contemplative for a while, causing Tika to cast him a contemptuous look.The little maid couldn't understand the ins and outs of the words of these two wise men, but she was born with a keen intuition about certain things.She looked from Al to Tiana suspiciously.The two turned their heads and looked away unnaturally as if they had been caught rape.

"Wait a minute, El, is that girl... from the caravan?"

Tiana suddenly lowered her voice and asked.

what girlEl was taken aback, and turned his head following the girl's gaze.Under the organization of the guards, the people entering the city lined up in two orderly lines, so the caravan was also drawn into a long line.I am in the middle of the caravan, and there are six or seven carriages full of goods behind me.Beside the young mercenaries driving the cars, a mysterious girl appeared at some point.

The girl was about the same age as Tiana, with short, short black hair.She was wearing a jet-black coarse hooded robe with a loose hem and tight cuffs. According to El's limited experience, this style of clothing seemed to be the symbolic clothing of ascetic monks of certain sects.However, monks' clothes are usually loose, but this girl's robe is close to her body, and there are belts of the same color wrapped around her arms and waist, revealing a graceful figure curve.

In El's eyes, the graceful body curve is of course not the kind of graceful curve that protrudes forward and backward, but is like a cheetah lurking in the forest, well-proportioned, light and slender, full of beauty of balance and strength.

But that's not why Tiana and El noticed her. What's really weird is that this girl is standing in the line, and the animals around her with excessive secretion of hormones don't notice her existence at all!
Seemingly aware of the gazes of the two, the girl raised her head, and also looked at El and Tiana with curious eyes.Against the background of her black clothes and black hair, her complexion looked extraordinarily fair.The corner of the girl's mouth turned up slightly, she pulled up her hood, and took a step back to hide behind the unaware young man beside her.

El's face changed, and his eyes instantly turned blue.Just now, under the gaze of both him and Tiana, the girl in black changed positions and disappeared out of thin air!
With the ability to see through the runes, he could feel that the girl was still staying near the position just now, but if he observed with the naked eye, even with his eyesight, he could not find the trace of the girl at all.

Tiana frowned slightly, and flipped her hands hidden in her sleeves quickly, instantly forming a light that was ready to go.Out of caution, she habitually prepared to fight back.

Perhaps feeling the hostility emanating from her, the girl who hid her figure nodded slightly to this side, and took a few steps back beside the carriage, indicating that she was not hostile.

Lurker?rogue?Or something else... In the stories El heard from the old man, there were similar legends.However, that girl's stealth ability seems to be very strange, and it can make other people turn a blind eye in broad daylight. If I didn't see it with my own eyes, I'm afraid I would find it hard to believe it.

"Brotherhood." Tiana withdrew her gaze, and carefully collected the magic wave she released. "It's not for us, maybe it's just to enter the city, don't provoke her."

El nodded. Although he didn't know the name Brotherhood, he knew it wasn't a charity organization just by sounding it.The world is so big that there are so many wonders, I still need to see more of the world.

As expected by the girl, after the caravan entered the city, the mysterious girl disappeared into the vast crowd without a trace to follow.If it weren't for El and Tiana's perception ability far surpassing ordinary people, they would never know that such a person would pass by them.

(End of this chapter)