Araka did not respond, he just watched silently as his guards cleaned up the battlefield.

Thales sighed and lowered his head, turned around and walked towards the military camp.

Putilai was the first to follow Thales, followed closely by Wyatt and Rolf. Ada looked at the corpses around and walked to the back of the team.

Willow supported Gennard, while Ramon followed dissatisfiedly, pushed by several soldiers.

"child!"

Thales turned back in surprise,

On the snow, Araka lowered his head and put the motionless bow back on his back.

"More than half of my soldiers, including your envoy, died," the Kingdom's Wrath said silently, "just to send you here."

Alaka Mu raised his head, his eyes full of emotions that Thales couldn't read:

"Don't let their death be in vain."

Thales was startled.

But the wrath of the kingdom has turned.

Araka grabbed a rope, dragged the bodies of four or five soldiers, and walked towards the way he came from without looking back.

Behind him were the remaining Fury Guards, and the complete or incomplete remains of their comrades who were dragged with ropes through the snow.

The back is lonely.

————

The Exterian military camp looked wild and rough. The camp walls were simply built from tree trunks cut from the nearby large coniferous forest. The tents where the soldiers rested were built with thick branches. But in comparison, it was even more impressive.

What impressed Thales deeply was the people of Exeter.

They are so "enthusiastic".

Thales even suspected that if Tuleha hadn't been leading the way with his horse, the Exeter people would have pounced on them.

The Exeter soldiers standing guard stared at the group of Starmen with unkind expressions, and one sentry even spat viciously at his feet.

A group of cavalry who had just returned to camp passed by them, looked at the star flags they held high, and laughed provocatively at them.

"Go back, you Southerners," an Exeter soldier carrying heavy armor and a sword shouted in disgust at the mission: "The Empire is not welcome in the North!"

"Go ahead and dream of your empire!" A naked upper body man sitting by the fire sharpening a giant ax thumped his chest and roared: "First we have to spit out our territory! The Northland only belongs to

Northlanders!”

"They killed our prince, but let a child sue for peace!" They walked past a circle of soldiers sitting around on the left. A leading soldier pointed at the envoy and shouted: "This is the shamelessness of the 'Empire'

!”

The people around them responded angrily and glared at them.

"Do you know why?" The soldier shouted: "Because we killed all the men in their country twelve years ago!"

The people around him burst into laughter and echoed him: "Let them send a princess!"

"Little boys can do it," one soldier said sarcastically: "As long as he is pretty enough - we don't care about the front or the back!"

Another burst of laughter.

"Should I be surprised?" Thales raised his head and sighed: "Or is this the Exeter's way of saying 'hello' to the Star People?"

"Don't be surprised, Your Highness," Putilai said easily to Thales, who looked stiff:

"For more than 600 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the relationship between Xingchen and Exeter has always been poor. Both the history of the empire and the competition in the Western Continent are enough reasons for our hostility - Cold Castle is where we were from 400 years ago.

It was snatched from Exeter's hand."

"History first gave birth to hatred, and hatred will write history again."

Putilai sighed:

"Only the Continental War can make us temporarily forget our feelings about each other and rarely fight side by side. During the Third Continental War, the hero Sarah and the oath-keeping king Midir were close friends. Together with Kaipeng, the prophet of the Conmas Alliance,

We worked together to fight against the Eastern Continent's expeditionary force. But unfortunately, they eventually broke up and turned against each other, and the rare opportunity for dragon and star to reconcile was lost."

"But this is a military camp, and other places will be much better. Many Northlanders don't care about those nihilistic things," Huaiya nodded: "After all, civilians running for life are different from soldiers who have suffered from blood."

"They call us 'Empires', why?" Thales frowned and asked: "In the end, isn't the Empire a history of more than 600 years ago? Even if there is real hatred, it must be traced back to more than a thousand years ago.

The ancient empire, isn’t it?”

"This is their mockery of us." Putilai shook his head and said with a complicated expression: "The Star people have always been proud of the blood and heritage of the empire, but unfortunately, the impression left by the empire on the world is not good."

"Not only the people in the North, but also the Kingdom of Allenbia in the Thornlands and the Principality of Anrenzo in the Dragon's Kiss Basin, the people there also have a bad opinion of us. Whenever there is a need - such as a war, this kind of thing is passed down from generation to generation.

The ancient emotions will be exaggerated and amplified, which is much more effective than increasing the reward money for soldiers."

empire.

Imperial people.

Thales sighed and hid this information in his mind.

"Speaking of this, the recruitment and mobilization of more than 10,000 people is almost the limit of the Black Sand Territory." Putilai looked at the densely packed military camps in front of him: "I think Lomba's supplies and expenses are not enough, and the Black Sand Territory is not wealthy.

The place."

"For the northern border, they must have been planning for a long time and spent a lot of money."

Xingchen and everyone finally followed Tuleha and walked to a huge tent.

A tall nobleman in military uniform who had been waiting in front of the tent came forward and nodded gently to Tuleha.

The tall noble bowed to Thales and said, "Is this His Highness Thales? This is the first time we meet. I am Lhasa Kambida."

"Viscount of the Kingdom of Exeter, whose fiefdom is located in Menton City in the Black Sand Territory."

"Everyone in the mission, please follow me to rest. As for His Highness," Viscount Cambida nodded and looked at Thales: "The Grand Justice is waiting for your visit."

Thales raised his eyebrows.

"This is a separate meeting," Cambida looked at Thales with burning eyes: "The Grand Duke of the Black Sand Territory and the Prince of the Stars."

"Don't worry," Viscount Cambida raised his hand, stopped Putilai and Huaiya who were about to say something, and said resolutely: "His Royal Highness is already here, at least until he arrives at Longxiao City to see His Majesty, he will not

Something will happen."

Thales sighed softly and smiled: "I guess we still don't have much choice, do we?"

"You know, Your Highness, I suddenly figured it out." Putilai said silently, his eyes shining: "Rumba is not crazy."

Thales's heart moved.

Cambida frowned and made a "please" gesture to Thales.

————

The Grand Duke's tent was very tall and spacious, but not very bright. The floor was covered with a thick carpet with a powerful iron fist pattern embroidered on it.

Sitting next to a thick square table filled with food is a rough-looking man, about forty years old, with gray hair and blue eyes, a stubble on his chin, wearing a chainmail with fine iron rings, and is chewing on the table

a plate of barbecue.

An iron brazier burned brightly on one side, making the man's face look even more mysterious.

Thales noticed that a sword with a polished leather scabbard was also lying across the table.

He looked calmly at the actual ruler of the Black Sand Territory, Grand Duke Charmaine Lombard.

Lumba put a piece of barbecue into his mouth and looked at him intently, which made Thales feel uncomfortable for a while.

"You're a little more calm than I thought."

The Grand Duke said slowly.

Thales sighed.

"Maybe," he walked to the table, climbed up on the chair and sat down: "But facing the enemy who owes me hundreds of lives, I really can't think of any other expression... Even anger seems redundant."

Rumba picked up a wooden wine glass and poured it into his mouth, his Adam's apple swelling as he swallowed.

The Grand Duke put down his wine glass, wiped the flowing wine with the back of his left hand, grabbed a piece of hind leg meat, and took a bite.

"According to the news from the stars... you really don't look like a seven-year-old child."

"When life is not easy, you have to learn to mature earlier." Thales shrugged.

"Eat the best venison," Rumba pushed a plate of roasted meat over: "The prince of the stars cannot starve to death in my military camp."

Thales looked at the plate of rude barbecue and frowned.

"You are very talented. The reverse impact is indeed beyond my expectation," Lomba said coldly:

"Who made this decision? Maybe I should reward him well so that all my planning over the past few years will be ruined."

"You." Thales pulled the plate in front of him, took out the dagger without raising his head, and began to cut the meat.

Lumba raised his eyebrows.

"This is your decision, His Excellency the Grand Duke," Thales said calmly while cutting the venison: "You killed half of our people on the first day I stepped into Exeter's border...forcing us
To be continued...