Pioneer Wizard's Notebook

Red Pine Ridge, Pine Cone Village.

This is a remote corner of Bordeaux County, a province in the north of the kingdom.

There are no rivers nearby, making it difficult to cultivate the land. The territory is named after a group of red pines.

The people living here can't afford bread and can only rely on unpredictable prey, various grains, and powder made from tree bark for food.

Songguo Village is one of the most representative villages among them.

Pine cones provide too little energy to feed many people.

The entire village has fewer than forty people, and the village could disappear into the snow and ice at any moment.

In previous years, in this forgotten corner of the world, the villagers of Songguo Village lived a difficult life in isolation.

But those days were shattered this morning.

Two villagers walked along the road, their eyes trembling with worry as they looked at the dozen or so monster corpses with ice-blue skin piled up to the side.

These monsters appeared outside the village in the morning and killed their village chief.

Just as the villagers were in despair and knelt down begging for mercy.

A knight in a white robe arrived and easily killed the terrifying monsters as if they were melons and vegetables.

This was originally a good thing.

Before the villagers could express their gratitude, a group of soldiers dressed in leather armor and carrying long swords followed closely behind.

The young man in the lead and the white-robed knight seemed to be in cahoots, but they got into a heated argument.

The young man even drew his sword, intending to kill the villagers, which frightened them once again.

Looking at the fierce-looking soldiers guarding outside the room, the villagers dared not approach.

However, the village chief's rescued daughter, young Sally, picked up the dinner bowl and ran to deliver it to the room.

At this moment, the argument, or rather the one-sided insults, between the young man and the white-robed knight in the room continued.

The young man's name was Morris, the eldest son of Jason, the current temporary city lord of Windcliff City.

He was ordered by his father to hunt down his escaped cousin, Tinia, the sole survivor of the Hyacinth family.

This will eliminate the hidden dangers of Fengya City.

The white-robed knight standing before him was the renowned "White Knight of Windcliff City," the Knight of Carey who had once served the Hyacinth family.

"Wai En! Don't think I can't see through you; you deliberately let that bitch escape!"

Morris glared at Wayne and spat at him.

"Get your place! You're a dog of the Alger family now. I tell you who to bite, and you'd better bite them obediently!"

Morris continued to rant and rave.

A powerful knight with one foot in the extraordinary realm, hunting down an ordinary knight and a defenseless young lady.

They actually let them get away, were they just making a fool of him?!

Now that bitch Tinia has hidden herself in Blackrock City, his pursuit has failed.

Morris received information from his inside contact that the rising Sunflower Second Son was about to pass through the area, and he decided to intercept and kill him.

This would demoralize the military alliance between Tinia and Blackrock City, thus making amends for their past mistakes.

Unexpectedly, Huai En dared to disobey orders, leaving the road where he was supposed to ambush and running to Pinecone Village to kill Icefield Demons, which almost made him furious.

If it weren't for the fact that his father needed Wayne as a role model to attract more knights to join him.

Morris swore he had long ago cut off the head of this so-called White Knight to vent his anger.

The insulted Knight Wayne lowered his head and remained silent, calmly enduring the abuse.

Seeing his cold and hard expression, Maurice's anger intensified.

"Your poor young daughter has contracted a cold-induced illness at such a young age, and no one in the entire Bordeaux region can cure her."

Morris changed the subject, and seeing Wayne's body suddenly tense up, he felt a surge of pleasure.

"Only my father can ask His Majesty the King to send someone to treat her, but it seems you don't need to. In that case, let her die with resentment, tormented by her illness."

After saying that, Maurice walked out with a cold laugh.

Caught off guard, he was bumped into by Sally who ran in, and food from the bowl spilled onto him.

"You blind beast, you're asking for death!"

Maurice flew into a rage and drew his sword to strike the wild girl.

However, in mid-air, the blade was suddenly gripped, and blood flowed down the sword.

Looking at the Knight of Wayne, who had grasped the longsword in his hand and was blocking his way, Morris's eyes were filled with even more mockery.

"This is your last chance. My men will take that Sunflower family bastard to Pinecone Village and kill him."

Morris sheathed his sword and walked out of the house without looking back.

"Otherwise, I will cut off this brat's head, and your daughter will only die a painful death in Wind Cliff City, and you will be able to change nothing!"

in the room.

Knight Wayne stared blankly at Sally, who was terrified.

He recalled his daughter lying in the hospital bed, writhing in pain yet still comforting him.

At this moment, the man who held the sword with an unchanged expression began to tremble uncontrollably.

Something seemed to be burning in his chest, and his bloodied hand gripped the hilt of his sword.

But he didn't know where to swing his sword.

Finally, he leaned weakly against the wall, gazing at the sun in the sky with a lost look in his eyes.

......

Guided by Tony, the sled glided along.

As they continued north, large tracts of red pines appeared around the road, indicating that they had entered the territory of the Red Pine Territory.

The smoke rising from distant chimneys guides the way.

Before darkness completely fell, the outline of a small village came into view of Linde and the others.

"That's Pinecone Village!"

Tony excitedly explained that they quickly stopped the sled as they approached the village.

Lin De looked towards Songguo Village.

As a small settlement in the northern ice plains, this village is pitifully small.

More than twenty wooden houses are crammed together, with a population of probably less than fifty people.

There's nothing we can do about it; this is the norm on the ice sheet.

The environment is harsh and food is scarce. Unless a city like Blackrock has mineral veins and coal for heating, its population simply cannot grow.

Everyone got off the sled.

Two soldiers stayed behind to care for the livestock.

The others headed straight for the village, intending to talk to the villagers about staying overnight.

But Mark and Broad, who were walking ahead, quickly sensed something was wrong and tensed up.

The wooden planks of the fence surrounding the village were scattered all over the ground, as if they had been attacked by some wild beast.

The snow on the ground was etched into furrows and grooves.

Instructed by Sir William, Mark and Broad immediately determined that these were drag marks left by a corpse in the snow.

"Sir, there's something wrong with this village!"

The two quickly came to Linde's side, protecting him while keeping watch on their surroundings.

Two soldiers raised their shields and spears, guarding their rear.

"This is... the aura of the Icefield Demon?"

Linde stopped and, through the traces of magic remaining in the snow, sensed the presence of those monsters.

His all-seeing eye swept across the surrounding information, and scenes quickly formed in his mind.

A battle took place here not long ago.

It was probably morning when a group of Ice Demons launched an attack and destroyed the village's fence.

But soon after, a knight joined the battle and easily killed the monsters.

The fence bore the sword marks of that knight, a testament to his immense strength, likely only one step away from reaching the extraordinary realm.

"Is a baron's entourage stopping here?"

Lind guessed, but it didn't seem likely.

His question was quickly answered.

Tony, leading the way, kept walking.

The steward of the Auster family seemed not to hear his order to stop and hurried off into the village.

At the same time, a somewhat familiar-looking young man walked out of Songguo Village.

"Lord Maurice! Excellent, I've successfully brought the person to you!"

Tony approached the young man, bowed deeply, and spoke in a fawning tone.

"Maurice? I see."

Seeing this scene, Lin De was quite surprised, and finally understood the situation.

He recognized the young man, Maurice Alger, the eldest son of the usurper Jason and Tinia's cousin.

A year ago at the banquet, it was because of Maurice's harassment that Tinia, after much annoyance, finally managed to bring Lindall into the ball.

According to Tinia, Morris was also the one leading the pursuit during her escape to Blackrock City.

Judging from Tony's obsequious behavior, the Auster family of the Ranch Guild has probably already betrayed them.

He secretly allied himself with the usurper Jason and set a trap to lure him in.

No wonder they were so generous in giving him the livestock; they knew they would get them back.

"You let the heir of the Hyacinth family escape, so you want to take it out on me?"

Lind found it somewhat amusing; there were so many barons on the road to Blackrock City, yet he was the one who had been targeted.

It seems that his image as an easy target has truly taken root in people's hearts.

Just as Lind was sighing, Morris looked at him with disdain.

"Look who I see! The Sunflower Knight, who's all the rage right now."

"Defeat the Ice Demon, protect the Sunflower, ha, it's been over a year, you really feel like a stranger to me."

Morris offered a feigned compliment, slowly drawing his longsword.

"What a pity, this sunflower will wither here today. Blame it on you for listening to that bitch Tinia and making an enemy of the destined-great Alger family!"

Morris declared loudly.

Behind him, ten soldiers clad in leather armor and wielding swords emerged from the house, surrounding Lind and his men with cruel smiles on their faces.