"Iland, we'll see you at the floating pier after sunset."

The 648th chapter race against time

This year, 300 Oren can hire a demon hunter to kill a pterodactyl, buy a few beautiful jewelry for a noble girl, enjoy a few days in the best brothel in Novigrad, and buy a mule. Or a river cargo ship that hires water mice will carry you secretly to the dock in Island.

"Three hundred Oren, too expensive, for a journey that only takes two hours."

The faint candlelight swayed back and forth as the ship swayed on the river, making Resso looming in the shadows. The cabin is very damp. This is the cargo warehouse. The bottom cargo warehouse is also an isolation layer used to rescue ships after the bottom of the ship leaks. The extremely low top floor gives people an unbearably depressed feeling. Zelin sits cross-legged on the wooden board, and the board below separates them from the cold river water, but the wooden board does not have much sound insulation effect, which makes it difficult to feel relieved. .

"He's sitting on the floor and raising the price." Reso tapped his finger on the wooden crate in front of him. "He can also find an opportunity to betray you."

"It's possible, it's impossible." Zelin shrugged. There is only this candle in the cabin to provide light. The unstable candlelight makes the warehouse fall into intermittent darkness from time to time. "But this is the safest and most reliable route. They blocked this section of the river. There must be some people in Mahakam. The border with Island is monitored. If we go by land, someone will pass the news to the Knights headquarters when we arrive at the first village. I know the captain, and he wouldn't do that."

"Betrayed by a trusted person is betrayal."

"I will carefully screen out who is trustworthy."

Ships are swaying, and the river channel is densely covered with dark beaches downstream of the floating port, but the dark beaches are not the most dangerous. The further downstream, the more monsters are hidden in the river. Zelin crossed his legs and closed his eyes, and the current rolled up the waves as the boat moved forward. He could almost hear the creak of sharp nails rubbing against the bottom of the boat when the water ghost approached the bottom of the boat. But this is a cargo ship, and the claws of the water ghost have not been able to tear the ship out of a hole.

Under the action of currents and wind, the cargo ship arrived at the coastal wharf of the Duke of Island before the moon traveled halfway across the sky. As the ship slowly approached the shore, several duchy inspectors followed behind several soldiers, who wanted to make routine inspections. It's just that this time there were a few more soldiers accompanying him in the inspection queue.

"We are transporting Cowend's fur and pepper to Tritog and Sidaris." Standing on the deck, the water rat explained to the soldiers and officers who boarded the ship. "There are candles and firewood, all. It’s the legal goods of Hotham-Jasper Trading Company."

These soldiers seemed to be suspicious of any place. They carefully opened one after another wooden barrels and long boxes that could hide an adult, or they pierced a sack full of pepper with a spear to make sure it was filled. It is indeed pepper, not something else.

The silver-white moonlight spread on the deck was replaced by the light of torches for a short time, but in a place where the fire could not reach the light, the river rolled for a while, Zelin cautiously climbed from the river water to the bank and hid in the nearby bushes. He gestured to the back, and Reso appeared behind him. Killer whale potions can allow them to safely escape the interrogation of these soldiers from the water.

The Duke of Islande used to be the Principality of Islander, just like the Principality of Maribo. With the death of the previous Grand Duke of Islander, the only female justice with inheritance rights was the mother of King Foltest. After Test came to the throne, he took this territory under his command in the name of the king. It's just that Ayland has been incorporated into Tamoria in less than ten years. Today, the Duke of Ayland still calls himself a prince, not a duke.

Zelin couldn't believe that the soldiers here would remain as neutral as the soldiers elsewhere, especially after learning that the dear duke was the patron of the White Rose Knights. It now seems that his suspicion is correct. With the help of the local garrison, the Knights can monitor the entry and exit roads of the entire Duke without any extra manpower.

"We need two horses, otherwise we won't be able to rush over before dawn." Reso raised his head and looked at the moon in the sky. It was cold, and the water droplets dropped to the ground along the demon hunter’s leather armor. They circled the pier from the outside. When they looked back, the water rat’s ship had completed the inspection and began to move the goods to the pier warehouse, waiting A merchant from a local trading company came to pick up the goods.

This is a small village built on a wharf. Zelin does not yet know the name of the village. It was originally just a few trading companies to facilitate the transportation of goods to Island and along the road to the shore warehouse in Maribo. , But with more and more people coming and going, here has become a village, relying on these passers-by and coachmen to provide services to earn money.

"Yes, but we have horses."

Out of the range of the pier, the moonlight once again became the light source to illuminate the road, and there were a few candlelights from the windows of the village houses. However, most of the houses in the village are in darkness, not because there are no people living in them, but because the price of candles is not a necessary expense for ordinary farmers, but it is not a small expense. Even if you don’t want to take a break too early at night, there will be pubs that provide people with a place to vent their energy.

Zelin was walking on the street. From time to time, a boatman and a coachman passed by him. The eyes of the demon hunter moved from door to door, carefully distinguishing the symbols on it. Among them, there were some troublesome children among others. Something was scribbled on the door, but it didn't take long before he heard an inconspicuous house on the edge of the village.

"We are here."

"Here?"

"What we need is here."

There is a standard painted on one side of the door panel, Zelin knows it, the logos of Curdin and Finn Law Firm.

"The door is locked." Reso pointed to the door panel. "Your partner did not come over."

"The door is locked."

Instead, he circled the house half a circle and walked to the back of the house. He bent down, fumbled behind the house, beating the house made of logs, and finally he was in one place and found the hollowed out place. Take out a key. This is one of the many hidden strongholds that Kurdinger does not know. Of course, it should be said that it is an unmanned stronghold, and his customers will come to these places to take away what they need.

Opened the door with the key, Zelin snapped his fingers, the candle in the house lit up, and the smell of horse dung came on his face. Two ponies, some whetstones, glass bottles, magic and herbal materials, and food . The horses are still lowering their heads and eating the prepared fodder. They are not very good horses, but if they have one, it's not bad. Kedinger considered it very well. On the desktop, a letter was pressed under a legal book.

"Let's dry the clothes and eat something to prepare for departure. We can arrive before dawn. There are also these materials, enough for us to do some preparatory work."

Chapter 649 The Royal Messenger

A strong wind is oncoming, and in the night, two demon hunters are rushing all the way. The shadows of the willow and poplar quickly receded beside them, and the horseshoe stomped on the ground, crushing the fallen leaves into the soil. Zelin lowered his body, the wind whistling in his ears, and there was only the clatter of horseshoes on the silent road.

"What about the castle?" Resso's horse followed Zelin, two positions on his left side and back, "We can't go back."

There is a hill in the dark shadow in the distance, which is one of the many unknown hills in Ailand. Near Mahakam, Island is dominated by hills and woodlands. Only a few places are low grasslands near Island City, or the plains on both sides of the Islina River appear to be slightly flat.

"I believe George can handle it. He knows what to do."

Zelin had prepared enough in the castle, he needed an unexpected attack. Two people are enough. "The faster we are, the faster the whole thing will end." For the classmates of the Demon Hunter brothers, Zelin believed in George’s abilities, not just his fighting skills and the power of the seal.

When the moon passed most of the sky, the towering tower of the Knights headquarters castle finally appeared within Zelin's field of vision. Zelin took the reins, and they were stationed on a high **** near the castle, looking down towards the castle. The castle of the Order of Knights is much larger than the castle of the Demon Hunter. After all, it used to be a garrison site in the Principality of Iland, and Zelin’s castle was abandoned when the people who explored the area around Mahakam left. After some reconstruction and expansion, maybe it can be compared with this Knights castle a little bit.

There are four towers around the castle. There are sentries and a ballista fixed on the top of the tower. There was a faint candlelight from some windows on the tower. Obviously, there were still soldiers on duty at night. They could cooperate with the ballista on the top of the tower and use bows and arrows to deal with the invaders who tried to attack the castle under the cover of the tower. There is no shelter around the castle, only a few bushes. Any trees that can be used as shelters have been cut down, leaving only a few stumps. The gate of the castle is closed. Unlike the arrow tower, there are not many training soldiers on the walls, and there are no night-time personnel.

This time, most of the members of the White Rose Knights who could fight were sent out.

"Are you ready?" Zelin said to Reso. "Just tell me when you're ready, and we will start to act."

If it is on the battlefield, thousands of organized and trained soldiers are more valuable than a dozen warriors with superb fighting skills and powerful strength. But now, it is nothing to deal with the Knights and Zelin against the Bandit Guild in Heshan in Tousent. Difference. The only difference is that there are no more than a dozen foot knights and dozens of soldiers and knights around him. Thanks to the last time he has experience in attacking castles, this castle is about the same size as Heshan's castle, and the defense is much more relaxed.

"I'm already ready."

Resso took out two north wind bombs specially made by the Viper School. He made a batch when he was in Mahakam's castle, but Zelin didn't take it with him. He left the bombs behind. Zelin had always envisioned whether the magic bomb could be combined with the artillery shells. If the artillery shells can have the effect of the north wind bomb, this can solve the problem of artillery hits and avoid the possibility of special north wind bombs. The problem of accidental injury.

Of course, the premise is that this thing will not explode in the barrel.

"These are the last few, the special solvent has run out."

The Viper School specializes in alchemy, and they have unique research on this kind of alchemy bomb.

"Enough." Zelin looked at the light blue solution in the transparent test tube in his hand. The solution now looks very calm. It is estimated that looking at this appearance, it is difficult for anyone to imagine that this thing can turn a ship into ice. The model freezes any living thing close to 30 meters within the explosion range into ice sculptures.

"Your plan?"

"Go straight and straighten your waist." Zelin urged, and the horse trot along the hillside towards the direction of the Knights headquarters. "We are the king's messenger now."

"What?"

Resso asked, but he still followed Zelin and rode towards the castle.

"Wait for my signal, don't talk now." Zelin hid the north wind bomb in his hand. The large dark brown cloak could hide a lot of things, whether it was the explosives in his hand or the long sword behind him.

The horses ran at small steps, and not far from the castle, they were spotted by the night watch guard at the gate of the castle.

"People in front, stop! Explain your intentions!" The soldier who was still yawning rubbed his eyes and straightened the helmet that was about to fall from the top of his head, holding spears in both hands, and pointed at the sudden appearance of the rider. "Stop immediately, and then show your identity, otherwise we will shoot you with a bow and arrow!" The sentry shouted, and touched the comrades who had been sitting on the ground with their backs leaning on the city wall and sleeping with their spear handles. Where are you coming from?!"

"We are coming from the south." Resso is a Gureta from Aden, and Zelin himself is a Tamorian, but in terms of language, his voice is impeccable. "We bring forward information, war, and There is an order from His Majesty the King, the Territorial Guardian and the Guardian of Law in Tamoria. Open the city gate immediately." The two sentries are obviously young, and there are many cocoons on the middle and index fingers of the hands holding the spears. , The hair is messy. This is not caused by training. The Knights will recruit some farmers as conscripts to guard the castle, especially at the beginning of the war, many knights temporarily retreat due to various unexpected circumstances.

"Why, how do you prove your identity?"

The sentry stammered.

"Open the door." Zelin didn't answer, but said coldly. He took out a sealed letter paper and shook it in front of them. "Hurry up." The emblem that looked like a white lily flashed past the fire.

Zelin knew what the royal messenger of Tamoria looked like. They didn't need to explain anything to non-transmitting targets, and they also had the right to collect horses from anywhere on the road. The owner of the horses could rely on the paper stamped by the royal messenger. Articles go to the local city hall in exchange for compensation, and any hostile acts against the royal messenger can be sentenced to death.

The two sentries looked at each other, and then one walked behind and shouted to the person on the castle wall, "Open the door, it's the royal messenger, with the king's order."