Soul of Burning Steel

December 31st, the last day of the year-end, night.

Amidst the flying snow, a huge stone platform was erected on the square of the main city of Moldavia. This blue-gray stone platform was extremely huge, with a depression in the middle, and there were many strange patterns on it, just like an altar. More than a dozen knights in bright armor patrolled around it, flags with black background and gold borders were erected on both sides, and several torches were blazing around the square.

This afternoon, the knights were ordered by their lords, and in accordance with the tradition all the year round, they quickly built the huge stone platform at night, and lit the inextinguishable grease torches around them, illuminating the entire square It's extremely bright.

And around the venue, many citizens wore thick cotton-padded clothes and stood around the huge stone platform. They gathered together, chatting and laughing loudly about some interesting things in recent days, and most of them wished and complained to each other The harvest and labor of this year.

It will be a new year soon.

This year's Moldavia is very different from previous years. It is not the death of the old lord and the appointment of a young new lord, nor is it the Kuroshio that is bigger than in previous years. The biggest difference is the powerful strength of the new lord.

And it is stronger than anyone imagined.

In mid-October, the old lord passed away for unknown reasons, and a group of unknown knights surrounded a fat man and captured the main city and entered the lord's mansion. They declared a curfew and martial law, and sent many wandering warriors to patrol the streets. The group of people did not allow the dragon cart caravan to freely trade in the market, and their attitude was extremely fierce.

How could the kind and amiable Northland residents, who have always had good law and order and simple folk customs, endure this kind of thing? Just as many people prepared their knives and shovels at home and were about to give these strangers a good look, the new lord who had been watched by many old residents came back.

To be honest, no one knows how the new lord got rid of those dozens of silver knights, because the speed was so fast, there was no more than 3 In a few hours, many people just had breakfast, and they were surprised to find that the group of strange knights who had not been stationed for a long time had all been dealt with--a golden warrior who didn't know where they came from.

The new lord named Joshua forcefully announced that he would be the successor of the Earl, that is, the new lord of this land. Naturally, no one would object. Who would dislike the fact that their leader is too strong? For the simple Northlanders, having enough strength is the most important thing. After all, as long as it is not the kind of idiot before, whoever rules is the same, so why not let the strongest come?

"I heard that if there is no Lord Joshua, the Black Forest Fortress will be breached by the Kuroshio."

Among the crowd, a middle-aged man who looked like a hunter was stroking his greasy beard and talking to a fisherman beside him. He seemed a little emotional: "My son and his family live not far from the fortress. In the distant ore town, if the fortress falls and monsters flood into the territory, I really don’t know what to do.”

"If there is no adult, then we can only wait to die."

The fisherman shook his head, he didn't seem to talk much, he glanced at the stone platform, and said in a low voice, "I don't know what this year is..."

"I think it should be a bear beast or a big ice snake. The black tide just broke out recently. Those monsters that don't hibernate are basically dead. There are probably a few hibernating bears and snakes in the forest that survived."

Sensing that the people around him were not enjoying the conversation, the hunter shrugged and said to himself, "I don't know how many lucky guys will get it."

Not only these two people, everyone was discussing excitedly, but suddenly, the voices in the square naturally decreased and disappeared, until there was no sound.

Feeling an inexplicable sense of oppression, the hunter frowned. He felt a coercion coming from afar. When he raised his head, the hunter found that in the distant night sky, there was a red spot of light across the snow, bringing out a long line of light. The long red light band, the sense of coercion from this light spot is bigger and thicker than the strongest monster he has ever encountered, making people so oppressed that he can't speak, but there is no sense of threat inexplicably.

"What……"

Before he had time to finish his subconscious question, the hunter saw the light spot in the distance suddenly speeding up, arriving at the edge of the city like a teleportation, and then above the square - a gust of blood blew past, and a strong smell of blood poured into the scene In the nostrils of everyone, a huge black shadow slowly descended with the red fighting spirit light. This scene immediately brought a large group of citizens who were shocked by the coercion just now to their senses.

"Boom boom boom..."

At this time, the sonic boom slowly came from afar.

After dispelling the gravitational gravitational energy surging around him, the black-haired warrior was suspended in mid-air. He was holding the silver-haired girl in his right hand, and the huge headless dragon body of the flying dragon on his back. First, the soldiers landed slowly under the horrified gaze of everyone in the square.

Seeing this scene, the people below were silent for a while, and then a huge exclamation and shouts broke out quickly:

"Oh my god, what is... what is on the Lord Lord's back and hands?!"

"Dragon? It's actually a dragon?"

"This year's year-end festival actually uses dragons as sacrifices?!"

"No, it's just a flying dragon. It's not a purebred dragon, but it's enough!" A well-informed old adventurer quickly identified the original owner of the huge head in the midair warrior's hand. The expression was shocked: "It's the ice tooth dragon! My God, it was just a carapace hedgehog last year. Although they were both silver-ranked, the difference was too big... Could we have dragon meat this year?"

While Joshua was slowly landing, he casually threw the huge dragon body he was carrying on his back into the center of the depression on the platform. The frozen meat and the stone collided with each other, making a dull sound, and stepped on the blue-gray rock. On the ground, the soldiers looked around - dense crowds filled the square, and almost half of the people in the entire city came here.

The corners of his mouth were slightly raised, and Joshua smiled.

There are many customs and festivals on the Continent of Disputes, not to mention the emperor’s birthday and founding day, the new birthday at the beginning of spring, the star festival at midsummer night and the carnival on autumn harvest day are all very well-known festivals. All human beings, even Even elves and dwarves hold the same celebration on the same day.

And New Years, of course.

As a custom that has been passed down for thousands of years, as a lord, Joshua needs to hunt and kill a high-level monster during the New Year's celebration, and share food with his knights and subjects, so as to reflect that human beings' heart to conquer nature will never be extinguished, and with themselves Enough to protect the strength of the people.

Gold monsters are hard to find, especially after the Kuroshio, even Joshua can't find any remaining gold monsters, but a high-level silver flying dragon is enough to prove his strength.

Amidst the noisy sound in the square, Joshua didn't say a word. He stood on the stone platform, raised the dragon head in his hand and showed it to everyone. The dragon's death-defying eyes seemed to frighten everyone, but then came more news. Huge cheers and praises—even such a terrifying monster died at the hands of their lord. Although it was a bit frightening, there was an unexpected sense of peace that could make people feel at ease in farming.

Different from the news of repelling the Kuroshio and rushing to aid Moldova from afar, ordinary people who have not seen Joshua fighting with their own eyes can't understand the strength of the fighters at all, so they still have some doubts in their hearts, but now, in this hideous situation In front of the dragon head and body, any doubts had completely disappeared.

"As expected of a strong man who can defeat the Kuroshio twice in a row..."

An adventurer carrying a large shield stood among the citizens. He looked at his calloused hands and said with a vague voice: "Moldavia, Moldova, the two black tides in the Northland this year are almost It can be said that they were all repelled by him, and now I can easily capture and kill a high-level silver flying dragon, when will I reach this state..."

Not caring about the hot discussion of the crowd, the soldier put the dragon head, which was a circle larger than his body, on the stone platform. To be honest, Joshua was very satisfied with the expression of the flying dragon. After the celebration, he planned to dispose of it and put it in the hall of the Lord's Mansion as a decoration in the future.

After waiting for a while, when the discussion subsided, Joshua took a step forward. Standing on the edge of the top of the stone platform, he naturally shouted to everyone in front of him: "My citizens, the new The year is coming to an end, in this middle age, many things have happened, good and bad, but the gratifying thing is that everything has a gratifying ending, and there is no need to repeat everything, your peaceful life proves all of these."

The soldier smiled and faced all the people who looked up to him in front of him, and said loudly: "The year-end sacrifices in previous years were not enough for everyone, but this year, I went to the ice sand desert to hunt and kill an ice tooth dragon. Come on, I think every family will be able to share my prey this time, so I won’t say much—”

After finishing speaking, he pointed his finger up, the red fighting spirit condensed, and Joshua waved a few times at the body of the middle-aged ice-toothed dragon on the stone platform out of thin air. The body is cut into several pieces.

"My citizens, the year-end festival has begun!"

Cheers resounded through the square.

Amidst the voices of "Long live" and "Praise the lord" resounding through half the city, Joshua slowly walked down the stone platform. The leaders who received the dragon meat went to the central tower next to the city wall instead.

And Yingying followed the soldiers all the way on the street.

Walking into the tower and stepping up the spiral stairs, it didn't take long for the two of them to reach the top of the tower. The warrior sat cross-legged on the edge of the city wall, looking at the mountains and plains in the snow in the distance.

His gaze was extremely calm, and he seemed not at all excited by the respect the citizens showed him. Joshua just stared at the dark sky and the earth at night, not knowing what he was thinking, and the silver-haired girl was also silent. Sitting beside him, he was in a daze with his master.

Time passed quietly.

Starfall 831, December 31st, night, 11:59.

"indeed so."

A leisurely voice of emotion sounded: "It feels great to be praised."

Even such a bitterly cold place is his territory, where his people live, and as a lord, soldiers should protect them and then accept praise. This is the so-called noble duty.

Starfall 832, January 1, 00:00.

"Clang—clang—clang—"

The grand bell of the church rang and spread throughout the main city.

And the new year is here.

——At the same time, in the east of the Great Ajax Mountains, Moldova.

"Brandon... are you leaving the day after tomorrow?"

In the main city of Moldova, in the lord's mansion, the purple-haired countess hugged her lover, and said with some reluctance: "The children want to play with you for a while longer."

"I want to too, but Dany, my responsibility prevents me from doing so. It is my responsibility to report and deal with the huge black tide caused by the time-space gate and the black erosion dragon." The blond swordsman looked helpless, and he touched The female mage sighed and said: "Even if it is for the safety of your territory and this kind of disaster does not happen again, I will rush back to the imperial capital as soon as possible--it has been delayed for a long time to spend the New Year with you now. I know that although the time-space gate has been broken, it may be reconnected at any time."

"...You're right, I can't ignore the safety of the entire territory for my own desires."

With a similar sigh, Verdani let go of the hand tightly holding Brandon's waist. She took a step back, and then read a secret word. The female mage took out a small box from the void, and told the blond swordsman in front of her: " On the way back, don’t forget to take this with you, it’s a thank you gift to the Earl... and don’t forget to give him the processed golden monster materials, he left in too much haste and didn’t take anything with him.”

"This time, Joshua really did us a big favor... To be honest, I don't think it's enough for me to give you such a small reward, and I can't let you prepare the gift alone."

Taking the small box in Verdani's hand, Brandon recalled the long-lost holy words that the warrior uttered in front of the gate of time and space. Further admitting that I should also send a big gift...Okay, when I return to the imperial capital, I will start preparing immediately."

"I think, compared to gifts, he should want to fight with you more."

Hearing this, the countess covered her mouth and let out a chuckle. She looked at the blond swordsman tenderly, with a smile in her eyes: "But, my swordsman, do you have the confidence to beat him?"

"Although Joshua is indeed very strong, obviously stronger than me by a few levels... But if it's just confidence, then of course there is."

Clenching his fists, Brandon turned his head sideways and looked at the dark clouds outside the window, his eyes full of confidence: "Anyway, between fighters, you can only know if you have fought."

——In the distance, the city of three mountains, the capital of the empire.

The brilliance of the double moon illuminates the whole city, and the white marble city wall reflects the elegant moonlight, making it look extremely sacred.

Nostradamus stood on a star observation tower in the center of the imperial capital. He looked up at the sky with a strange expression on his face.

"The weather is good, but the fluctuation of magic power is not very suitable for teleportation..."

The white-haired old mage muttered, and then shook his head: "Forget it, anyway, I have dealt with the affairs of the imperial capital, and I have plenty of time, so I don't want to go anywhere."

If there is a mistake in the transmission, then send it again.

Thinking of the so-called emergency method in his heart, the white-haired old man immediately took out a scroll. Nostradamus read a few secret words, and then activated it with his spirit. In an instant, the scroll turned into a ball of flame, attached to his hand. On the ground, I saw the chief archmage of the empire stretch out his flaming right hand, and slashed in the void, immediately bringing out an obvious scratch in the space.

The flames burned blazingly, and then turned into blue light, the scratches gradually expanded and became deeper, and a dark blue door quietly opened, appearing in front of the eyes of the white-haired mage.

Behind this door is a vast plain filled with ice and snow, which cannot be seen at a glance.

"It seems that the destination is not wrong, it is indeed the Northland."

Nodding his head and confirming his goal, Nostradamus straightened his mage robe and strode towards the gate of time and space.