It felt so good to be close to the witch!

Lilia walked up to the unconscious Crimson Knight, looked at his exposed, purplish-black hands, and remained silent.

Judging from the residual battle aura fluctuations within the other party's body, she determined that this was a Gold-rank knight.

A Crimson Knight of the Gold Rank... that should meet Lord Roy's requirements, right?

After hesitating for two seconds, Lilia raised her hand and snapped her fingers crisply.

A giant shadow wolf emerged from the shadow beneath her feet, snatched the unconscious crimson knight, and then, enveloped in Lilia's magic, the two merged into the shadows and vanished into thin air.

The biting wind and snow completely covered up any traces Halad had left behind in less than five minutes.

The world is once again covered in snow.

……

The chaotic ocean churned, causing consciousness to rise and fall, making it difficult to find peace.

After an unknown amount of time, when the storm subsided and all that remained in darkness before him, Halad felt an indescribable warmth wash over him.

Like the warm sun in March, it makes people feel so comfortable and relaxed.

After an unknown amount of time, the warm current receded, and Halad slowly opened his eyes. The light that came into view made him subconsciously close his eyes again.

He blinked, and as his pupils adjusted to the sudden brightness, what he saw reflected in his eyes was a sky filled with falling snow.

Strangely, the snowflakes falling from the sky completely melted when they got within two meters of his body, as if they had been scorched by some kind of high temperature. They turned directly into steam and rose up. Then the steam cooled rapidly, turned back into ice and fell down, only to be burned back into steam by the high temperature... This process repeated itself, filling his eyes with a large amount of white steam.

This is?

The strange sight quickly brought Halad, whose mind was still somewhat hazy, back to his senses.

The coldness behind him made him realize that he was lying on the snow.

But before he could even sit up, a deep male voice suddenly appeared in his ear: "You're awake?"

"who!"

Halad propped himself up with one hand, rolled over and knelt down, quickly looking in the direction from which the sound came.

A knight clad in dark, grizzled armor leaned against a large tree not far away, his face, completely obscured by his helmet, facing him.

"It doesn't matter who I am."

A deep voice came from the black-armored knight: "All you need to know is that I saved your life. In return, there is a letter that you need to deliver to the border duke."

“Saves my life…” Halad frowned, and only then did fragments of his memories before he lost consciousness come to mind.

The terrifying venom of the spider monster... Snow's blurred consciousness... The feet she saw before losing consciousness...

"It's you?" Halad asked uncertainly.

He vaguely remembered that the foot was very small, unlike the one that the burly knight in front of him could have.

Shaking his head, Halad stopped thinking about it. In any case, it was an undeniable fact that the toxins in his body had disappeared and his physical strength had been restored.

"A letter for His Excellency the Duke?" Harald frowned slightly. "You saved me, so you shouldn't refuse such a simple task as delivering a letter. But since it involves His Excellency the Duke, why don't you deliver the letter to the Duke's mansion yourself?"

The knight in black silver armor shook his head: "I don't want to reveal my presence."

"This letter is extremely important; it concerns the life and death of the province of Rafa and is closely related to the recent spate of monster incidents."

"I've given you the letter; whether you deliver it or not is up to you."

After leaving those words, the knight in black silver armor turned around, his figure gradually disappearing into the snowstorm. At the same time, a voice echoed in Halad's ears: "Oh, by the way, if you're worried, you can open the letter and check it. It's alright."

After the black-armored knight left, the invisible power surrounding Halrad disappeared, and ice crystals and snowflakes fell softly.

Raising his aura shield to block the falling ice crystals and snowflakes, Halrad stared in the direction where the black-armored knight had disappeared. After a long silence, he lowered his head and opened the letter in his hand.

Although opening the letter might seem like a sign of distrust, given that it involved His Excellency the Duke, he had no choice but to do so.

As Halad read the letter, his pupils shrank further, cold sweat poured down his back, and an intense look of shock appeared on his face.

"This this!"

"If the intelligence is true... then we must report to His Majesty the Duke immediately!"

……

Roy stood in the shadows, gazing at the golden-red knight who, after reading the letter, transformed into a streak of light and headed south.

When he, Ais, and Tonière returned to the lord's mansion, Lilia, who had just captured Halad, also returned.

In order for the golden-red knight to complete his "message delivery" mission, Roy had Shanika heal his poison and injuries, and then took him to the snowy ground by the official road at the entrance to the Golden Orange Territory, where he waited for him to wake up.

The Golden Knight had a very strong vitality, and without the corrosive effects of the poison, he awoke not long afterward.

Roy believed that the Crimson Knight, after reading the contents of the letter, would present it to the higher authorities immediately.

Whether the matter stated in the letter is true or false is not something he should concern himself with; the Duke's mansion has its own ways of verifying it.

All he had to do was submit the letter.

After all, the contents of the letter were too sensational, and if it were true... if he missed the opportunity because he didn't deliver the letter in time, he would be guilty beyond redemption.

As for the slight possibility that this golden-red knight is connected to the person behind the "artificial miniature magic pulse point"... Roy had also considered it.

He planned to have Lilia guard the area and capture several more Golden and Crimson Knights to deliver messages.

Roy simply didn't believe it.

Could the Crimson Knights, the trusted forces of the Border Duke, really have all "betrayed" him?

……

Having accomplished the important task of "sending a message" to the Duke of the Border, Roy relaxed a little.

Next, he will begin searching for the remaining "artificial miniature magic points".

Try to find as many as possible to absorb before the border duke finishes dealing with the situation and gain new talents.

This time, the only witch accompanying him was Ais.

With Ais's "area lock" ability, there's no need to bring Tonière along anymore.

After all, according to Tonigne herself, "After so many days, even if there were fluctuations from 'mechanical colonization,' they have mostly dissipated."

And so, Roy began his search.

……

A wall of solid stone.

Ignoring the depletion of his battle aura, Halad traveled at top speed and traversed the two territories of "Golden Orange" and "Star An" in a very short time, arriving at the entrance to the Solid Wall.

The knights guarding the gate naturally recognized one of their superiors and bowed to greet him. Normally, Halad would at least nod in acknowledgment, but at this moment, he was so anxious that he had no time to care about etiquette and rushed toward the Duke's mansion.

"What's wrong with Lord Halad?"

"I don't know, but the master looks very anxious. Could something serious have happened?"

After Halad disappeared, the two knights guarding the gate began to whisper among themselves.

As one of the vice-commanders of the Crimson Knights, Halard has always valued "virtue" and has never encountered such a situation before.

He hurried along, ignoring the greetings from the knights beside him. After some time, Harald arrived at the Duke's mansion. Just as he was about to ask the gatekeeper to announce his arrival, a young man dressed in exquisite crimson armor stepped out from the gate.

Upon seeing this person, Halad was delighted and quickly stepped forward, saying, "Young Master, there is a very important letter to present to His Excellency the Duke. It concerns the magical beast incident in the province of Rafa. You may take a look first."

“So it’s Deputy Commander Halad.” Anok Soros looked at Halad and smiled faintly. “What letter is so important? Let me see.”

After taking the letter, the young man glanced at it, and the smile on his face gradually disappeared, replaced by an extremely solemn expression. His hand, which was gripping the letter tightly, even trembled slightly.

"I will deliver the letter to Father immediately. Come with me."

Anok Soros immediately turned around and returned to the Duke's mansion, with Halad quickly following after him.

The main hall of the Duke's Palace.

Deep within the grand and imposing hall, seated, the border duke quietly finished reading the letter in his hand.

After inquiring about the entire process of how Harald obtained the letter, instructing him not to divulge its contents, and rewarding him with a large sum of cultivation resources, the border duke waved for him to leave.

After Halad left, the hall fell silent once more.

The oppressive silence made Anok, who was standing in the hall, very uncomfortable. Finally, he couldn't help but ask, "Father, what should we do?"

"The number of Warcraft appearing this year is too abnormal. Regardless of whether what is said in the letter is true or false, it should be verified."

In response to the young man's voice, the border duke sighed slightly. He rose from his seat, walked to a five-meter-long table displaying a map of the empire, and said:

"Arnok, come and see."

The young man stepped forward with a puzzled look and gazed at the map of the empire on the table.

"According to the intelligence we have received so far, a total of 79 monster incidents have occurred in the two days since the beginning of winter in various provinces of the empire. In our province of Rafa alone, there have been 8 incidents, accounting for one-tenth of all monster incidents."

"The red dots on the map indicate the locations where monster incidents have occurred. As you can see, monster incidents have occurred in every province of the empire without exception."

"At this time of year, there would never be more than five Warcraft-related incidents. In other words, the chances of Warcraft appearing this year are more than ten times higher."

"And this is only the data from the first two days of winter."

"This is very abnormal."

"The 'artificial miniature magic pulse points' mentioned in the letter, although not yet investigated, are likely to be true."

"The ever-growing Kolei Empire... continuous blizzards... a large number of magical beasts... artificial miniature magic veins..."

"A troubled autumn..."

Beside the long table, the border duke sighed softly.

Even though he was the empire's first legendary knight, he felt powerless.

"If most of the magical beast incidents in the entire empire are related to 'artificial miniature magic veins'..."

The border duke did not continue speaking, but Anok, who was standing to the side, clearly knew what was to come—according to the letter, only a legend could break through the "artificial miniature magic pulse point" and take out the forbidden object inside, but how many legends were there in the empire?

With so many "artificial miniature magic pulse points", is it really possible to process them all in time?

Such a deplorable situation.

And who is behind this massive undertaking...?

Thinking of this, Anok felt a chill run down his spine.

My daily book recommendation: "Help! Dating my senior is terrifying!"