Shire half dream half awake, the mind filled with many hazy ideas, demons wandering, mortal bath fire, king aristocratic rotation, peddlers wandering. He saw his predecessors who had died in battle, he saw the girl who kissed him, he saw the blade demon Gladius constantly laughing at him loudly, and his head was covered with acute angles.
Get out of my soul...
"You need me, you need me." A voice kept repeating, "No matter how much you hate me, you need me." I am the executioner of all your companions and the saviour who brought you back from the brink of death. I am your worst curse and your most reliable ally. Do you wish to be destroyed? If you want to live, you must accept me --"
Char awoke from his dream.
"You're dreaming about all sorts of things." Graddiu's voice rang out from within.
"It's nothing." Char was a little dizzy.
"Oh, I will teach you. Promised to be a noble, fine, beautiful woman, and then some random whore eats you to death." Graddiu was swearing.
"Don't you think she's pretty?" Char said to himself.
Graddius held his breath for a while, then replied: "... Yes. But how can you not know that people are using you, want to borrow you to get out of the misery, and use you as a tool man?"
"Shut up."
"Can't you be a heartless, tough man and ride her until you're tired of it and then find another wild horse?"
"Why don't you stop?" The Shire curses.
'Why? Graddius was heartbroken, "Because I'm very bored! You don't know what it's like to be in your broken body, because you're weak and your brain is limited, so I can only think like a human."
"What's wrong with that? Aren't my brains enough for you?"
"Think about how it feels to put a man in a child's clothes, no, to put a lion and a million swords in a child's clothes... That's what I'm going through. And you refuse to even talk to me!" "Growled Graddiu.
"Tell me how I can make you quiet."
"Get some soul, please, please." "I'll be quiet when I'm full," said Graddius. "Human beings are the best. You see there are hundreds of soldiers around, and they won't find one missing."
"What if I say no? The more powerful you are, the more dangerous I am."
"I would only be very disappointed in you." Graddiu's voice had been sharp and spontaneous, but now it became low and dumb, like a fire silently bursting in the magma, "When we cooperate, we can become the most powerful partner, and the whole world will crawl at our feet." If you think with all your heart that I am only trying to murder you, your generosity is very pathetic."
"It's still not convincing enough." Char disagreed. "Let's meet each other halfway. Soon you'll have a soul to enjoy, but not a human one."
It belongs to another demon.
The whole army broke camp and marched west, searching for signs of winged demons. Shire set out with the army, and when he had walked a few miles, he looked back and noticed the wreckage on the hillside, full of rubbish and dirt pits. Although the soldiers had all set out, they had left a rather ugly mark on the spot, and the whole hillside had been ruined beyond recognition by the hundreds of men. If it is a noble war between lords, thousands of people camped, I don't know what kind of landscape.
Shire watched the operation of the army carefully, and he was used to paying attention to the details around him. In the center of the army were wagons full of baggage and supplies, and the women and logistics were also on them, so that if the wagons were stopped in an orderly manner and slightly spread out, the soldiers in front and behind could gather in the center and defend themselves against the wagons. The soldiers looked full of spirit and eagerness, and to them demons were no different from ordinary beasts and could be disposed of with steel.
Rocher divided the troops into hundreds, each with a flag bearer, and messages were sent between the divisions through flags and shouts. The knight mounted his horse at the front, and the standard-bearer beside him could mobilize the whole army by waving his flag.
'Speed up! There was a cry far ahead, and Shire saw the flag in the front move forward twice.
"Speed up!"
'Hurry up!
The flag officers in the rear also waved their flags in their hands and shouted in response to the flag. These flags, all printed with green hyacinths, could be seen far away, and the little ones dared not think of the army.
The family emblem is an important symbol to distinguish the noble family of Loman, and the symbols of the ancient family are usually classical, traditional and conservative, and look solemn and elegant. The new nobility could only use the more rare and fanciful coats of arms. Six months before, Charles had seen a knight with two naked men kissing each other on his shield, and Etienne had told him it was a ploy so that no one would dare look at his shield in a duel.
As orders were given, the sound of armor grinding and swords clashing became more frequent, and the soldiers stepped quickly.
Many farmers and country folk in the fields stopped to watch the army approach, at first leaning on their farm tools with complicated, fearful eyes and occasional sighs. But soon they saw Rocher, who was riding in front of them, and they let out another spontaneous cheer.
"Uh-oh!
"Lord Rocher!
Shire could not see what Rocher looked like in front of him, but he guessed that the knight must have looked flat and focused on the road beneath him. The Loman revered knights, who were the lowest of the nobility and the source of all honors, and commoners could be awarded titles by virtue of merit. Shire had imagined that he might one day win recognition and a knighthood, from which he could hold hereditary estates and shadow his descendants, but now that he had taken on the duties of a demon hunter, worldly authority did not appeal to him much.
Proulx mounted a horse and rode from the front to the Shire.
He wore a nose helmet, tied his beard with a rope, carried a cavalry axe, and looked very good, not as untidy as before.
"Hey! 'he said to Char.' How do you feel? '
"Very good, except that I can't ride yet." 'said Shire.
"No problem. You're young and a quick learner. I'll teach you when I can." Proulx said breezily, "Riding a horse is like riding a woman. It looks hard, but it's easy, and men like it."
"All right." Char hasn't tried either yet, so he doesn't know if it's true.
"Lord Rocher wants you." Proulx pointed forward.
They probably found something. The whole army stopped in the middle of the flag. Shire and Proulx turned away from the road and came to an open field.
On the grass lay a dead cow, or what had once been part of a cow.
Shire saw a cow's head that was cut open from the middle, as if something grabbed the cow's upper and lower jaws, tore it hard, and pulled its head straight apart, the white skull of the cow and the black and red flesh residue stuck together, quite scary, the brain inside was all sucked clean, there was nothing left, only the fist-sized cow's eyes fell alone beside it.
Further away from the cow's head, there was blood all over the place, thick and disgusting. The hoof, tail, and bones of the cow were thrown randomly on the ground, probably by a very greedy creature, eating wildly, wiping the whole cow dry, leaving only this little residue.
"Is this the work of the devil?" Rocher, sword in hand, came towards the Shire.
"Yes." Charles assured, at the same time in the heart and Graddiu asked about the relevant situation.
"I smell it." Graddius whispered, "It must be a winged demon, perhaps a servant of the sky Maharaja, a creature of the air demon, a servant of the dragon demon, or a follower of the gliding Prince." Not demonic, but not weak."
"Far from your match."
"A hoe-scr-r-ritch, throughout the hell, dare to against terrible blade fiend are numbered. But it's too late for you to start kissing my ass. Think about it, why is he eating so fast?"
"Because he's hungry. He needs food. He needs a soul."
"You're beginning to understand demons." "Said Graddiu approvingly.
Rocher took another look at the scene.
"It's not far." She said to the mercenaries in the distance, "We are about to encounter the devil, please prepare as soon as possible."
"Of course." Tibert called his men and told them to bring the crossbow by horse.
However, the horse made a harsh neighing, did not dare to approach the scene after being attacked by the devil, and constantly kicked and kicked, wheezing, desperately swinging his head, just refused to move forward. Looking at the strange shape of the two horses, the mercenaries looked a little sour.
Tibert frowned, too. After all, how can a ballista this heavy be transported if it can't be pulled by Malay? But animals are very afraid of demons, and their nature warns them to stay away from them as much as possible. Char sighed in his heart.
"That's weird." "Murmured Tibert, addressing Rocher." They don't seem to be in a good temper today, but that's all right. Just wait for my men to calm them down."
"I can't help it." Char shook his head. "Horses are afraid of demons. You have to take them far away to make them normal."
"Oh, Mr. Demon Hunter is a genius." Tibert had the horse led away, and sure enough, a little away from the wreckage of the attack, the horse recovered as usual and led the crossbow back to the road.
"Don't be weird, just say you're afraid I'll take the reward." Shire went straight in.
"How can I be 'worried'? Why should I be 'worried'?" Tibert shrugged. "Isn't it obvious who is strong and who is weak here?"
"Is it? Lord Rocher, I have heard that the Count has offered a reward of a hundred gold pieces to anyone who can kill the winged demon." 'said Shire quietly.
"A whole hundred Lohmans, bearing the face of Lavigne III, were neither made up of the old Goldels, nor deceived by the light money scraped from the relief, but were counted out by the count himself, out of his possessions, for the hero who would kill the devil." Roche's tone was even and even-handed.
'All right, Tibert,' I said. Shire head held high, "This money is definitely mine."
"Fool." Tibert retorted, "We shall see." Behind him, the mountain mercenaries have shown a fierce look at the Shire.
Shire had been humiliated before, and now had to show that he was not the type to be bullied.
Rocher looked sideways at the scouts riding up in the distance.
The scouts wore light leather armour, four feathers on their helmets, and golden whiskers, like those of the Wild men of the North, and carried javelins and spears. He spoke loudly to Rocher in a foreign dialect, and Rocher responded in an unfamiliar language.
"Can you understand what they're saying?" Charles asked Graddiu.
"Talking in the language of your world, 'We have found traces of winged demons flying high in the wilderness', 'I understand, what is its condition'... Boring things like that. Your communication style is very backward." Graddius listened slowly. "Wait, what do you take me for?"
"I'll make it up to you." Shire fooled it, "first help me translate."
"He looked so lazy and didn't see us at all." "Said the savage scout.
"You think it could be a trap?" Roche frowns.
"I didn't say that. Trap or not, we have to be careful." The scout answered.
Demons are always cunning, it's part of their pattern of behavior and you have to watch out for it. Shire thought to himself. Man has always been schemed by the devil, but will man one day be able to cheat the devil?
"Let's go." Rocher looked back at the mercenary and the demon hunter, "... I don't care which of you ends up with the bounty, just kill the winged demon."