"How are they?"

[No, the tribesmen will die.]

"Then wait a little longer."

…

"What about him?"

[Yes, he is the faction that tends to capture us and use us to open the space gate.]

"You know it very well."

[They have been fighting each other for hundreds of years. ]

"Okay." Lann nodded and patted the ground, summoning the power that had descended upon this world long ago to himself. Several bright emerald spots lit up around him.

"Then take care of yourselves, and we'll see you later!"

…

"Avallac'h, you said you felt the fluctuations in space, where exactly is it?" An impatient scolding came from the side, "It's been three years, and we haven't even encountered a unicorn!"

At your feet is the shallow water area of ​​the lake, which should be a place where the animals living nearby often drink.

However, at this moment, not only the lakeside, but even the entire valley was lifeless, with no birds or insects chirping. But the lake water was clear and transparent, and beautiful in its own right.

The elven knights took a short break and soothed their horses on the sandy beach mixed with many gravels. The elven sage Avallac'h was in the center of the team, and he couldn't help but frowned when he heard the question beside him.

"Watch your tone, Eredin. Don't forget who got us into this situation because of us!"

The leader of the Wild Hunt was still wearing the skull-shaped armor, and his ferocious temperament formed a sharp contrast with the other knights around him.

He is still trying to rebuild his cross-border combat force, so he is particularly concerned about the whereabouts of the unicorn. At this moment, he couldn't help but blush when he heard the elven sage's blunt reply.

"You are very happy, huh? You have always been against the slaughter of unicorns and stopped us from capturing the Ancient Blood." Eredin stood up suddenly, "You have been preaching your 'peaceful solution' tone everywhere! Now that all my troops have been lost in the mountains, you must be the happiest one!"

Avallac'h maintained a calm expression, as if the Wild Hunt leader was not criticizing him. He was doing two things at once, trying his best to sense the fluctuations around him while glancing at Eredin.

"Your doubts mean nothing to me. No one is more saddened by the loss of our compatriots than I am; and your Red Knights have provided for us for so many years, and I remain grateful to you."

"But you are the commander. You have an unshirkable responsibility for the annihilation of the Red Knights. Everything we are doing now is due to your wrong decisions." The elven sage's expression and tone did not change from beginning to end. "And your description of the power of the Ancient Blood has always been one-sided. We don't know what happened in the mountains."

"That 'Lion' wiped out multiple forces including the Red Knights alone - that's what you reported." Avallac'h raised his head. "Even Laura back then couldn't reach this level of power. You said that her descendant, who is only 20 years old, can burst out this level of power by herself... It's really hard to believe."

"You mean I, Eredin Brick Glass, am lying?" The armor plates on Eredin's body opened and closed violently with his heaving chest.

"Avallac'h! You..."

The Elf Sage suddenly stood up, and the Wild Hunt leader almost thought that he was going to attack him, but the next second he heard the other party's surprised voice.

"Found it! There is a new space fluctuation, and it is very close to us!"

The knights used their iron boots to knock against the horses' bellies, and the horseshoes made a loud noise on the cobblestones, and then moved to the ground, the frequency became more and more rapid.

Ahead was a forest, and Avallac'h uttered a spell rapidly. The forest in front of him suddenly moved, and the vines and tree trunks seemed to make way for these ancient creatures as if they had consciousness, opening the door to welcome them.

The knights set up their bows and spears according to their training, and they thought they would have a fierce battle. However, to their surprise, the enemy had almost no ability to fight back.

A dozen exhausted unicorns gathered in the clearing in the forest, licking each other's wounds, and even staggering when walking. The bright sunlight in the forest shone on them and the grass, looking very holy and moving.

The equally elegant elves had hearts of stone, and their eyes burst into surprise when they saw these scarred creatures.

"Surround them and capture them alive!" the Elf Sage shouted immediately.

The skilled driving skills allowed the elven knights to pull the reins in time, almost letting the horse's mane brush their noses. They surrounded the panicked unicorns in layers with tacit understanding, with a playful look on their faces.

However, Eredin released the bowstring regardless, which made the unicorn leader's pupils shrink. He leaped up with his agile body to block the fatal arrow for his people.

With a "crack", lightning flashed across the sky.

The broken arrow shaft fell to the ground. Avallac'h retracted his left hand, which was dancing with arc light, and looked at Eredin coldly: "I said - surround it."

"It's been three years, Avallac'h! Three years!" The Wild Hunt leader roared. "It's rare for unicorns to appear again. Now is not the time to use your tricks! We should cut off their horns and drain their blood as soon as possible to rebuild my Red Knights!"

"It is precisely because of the tight time that we cannot do that, Eredin." The elven sage shook his head, "That would be too inefficient."

"The unicorns haven't appeared for three years. It must be because of our previous massive hunt that they took the risk and left this world. And now that they have returned again, there is only one thing that can be said - they encountered an accident in the new world."

Avallac'h's eyes swept over the wounded bodies of the unicorns: "Their leader is among them. They may be the last unicorns."

"Then kill half and keep the other half for breeding!"

"Like I said, it's too slow."

The Elf Sage still shook his head: "These ten unicorns have the ability to travel through space independently. After stripping them of their materials, they can only equip a troop of more than a hundred people. What can they do?"

"But if we can persuade them to surrender, with the magic power of me and your majesty, as well as the remains of the space-time gate, we may be able to directly achieve cross-dimensional legionary combat."

Eredin clenched his fists in disbelief: "How can you be sure that you can persuade them to surrender? What we need now is time. Three years!"

"If they can agree to our terms, we can start the action tonight." Avallac'h refused to give in. "Don't forget that they are intelligent creatures and can communicate."

"We have been fighting them for so many years. Apart from the beginning, when have the unicorns ever yielded to us?"

"When a race is on the verge of extinction, the leader will seize any glimmer of hope." Avallac'h looked at the tallest unicorn.

"The most important thing is - your sins have not been completely redeemed, Eredin. You must obey my command now!"

The leader of the Wild Hunt, who had no subordinates, had no choice but to give up no matter how unwilling he was. He took a fierce look at the unicorn that he had been dreaming about, turned his head and closed his eyes, not wanting to look at it anymore.

Avallac'h whistled, and the knights who had surrounded the herd of unicorns skillfully took out their slings.

The sound of breaking through the air continued, and each unicorn was pulled in different directions by at least four ropes at the same time. The hard hooves kicked up the sand and soil, which flew as high as a person, but could not move away from the ground under their feet.

"Collect their blood and bandage their wounds before injecting them with anesthetics," Avallac'h instructed. "Your Majesty has needed their blood for three years."

…

"I should have executed you long ago, Fringilla Vigo."

"You are merciful, Your Majesty." Fringilla bowed her head.

"I kept you, not because of your uncle, not because of your family, but because of your loyalty. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Fringilla stared at the floor tiles and took a deep breath.

"Over the years, you have trained many warlock soldiers, participated in the reform of the army, and presided over the design and construction of many magical instruments." The shadow in front of him turned around. "Now, my magic advisor. Can you tell me - why did we still collapse when we met Lannister?"

Fringilla didn't dare look up.

The man in front of her was just like an ordinary soldier, but his aura was like a storm. Although there was only a pair of eyes staring at her ten steps away, Fringilla felt that there was the weight of an entire empire in that gaze.

"We launched an offensive far more aggressively than before, but the results we achieved were not as good as before."

"We had more soldiers, a more rational troop structure, and more advanced equipment - but we still failed."

Fringilla didn't dare to speak.

“Because as we change, the North is also changing.” Emhyr didn’t need Fringilla’s answer. “The North, which has not changed for hundreds of years, has suddenly changed now.”

After a moment of silence, Emhyr suddenly sighed and said, “It’s time to end the war.”

"……His Majesty?"

"This is hard to accept, but we have to accept it. We must also learn from this lesson, find out the root cause of the North's ability to suppress us, and then defeat them in the next battle."

Emhyr said word by word. “So I will spare your life this time, Fringilla. Can you live up to my trust?”

Fringilla was sweating profusely: "Your mercy, Your Majesty!"

“I didn’t hear the answer I wanted.”

"I will not betray your trust, Your Majesty!"

…

When Fringilla left the palace, she felt like she had been reborn.

Until five years ago, she had been outside the empire's military system, relying on her family background, talent, and appearance to maintain her pride and believe that magic was supreme.

Now, five years later, she still had trouble breathing in front of a man who was not even old enough to be her son.

"He doesn't even have a bit of magic..."

Fringilla's mind was filled with chaotic thoughts, and at the same time, there was another figure that made her even more dizzy. In addition to fear, she also had other mixed emotions towards that figure.

"His magic...is hard to find a match in history or poetry."

Fringilla took a deep breath and returned to her residence.

There were mountains of information on her desk. No one knew why a sorceress who had been uninterested in politics in Nilfgaard would devote herself to the magic reform of the empire after fighting a battle in Cintra.

But the achievements she has made over the years are real.

Just as she was about to bow her head to the mountain of documents on her desk again, several dark shadows appeared on her balcony.

"Crackling" the hot lightning jumped out of the window in the blink of an eye. Since joining Lann's army, Fringilla has been tense to the extreme every day.

However, the dark shadow outside the window was strangely suspended in the air, and with a wave of its hand it split the blazing lightning.

This shocking scene actually made Fringilla feel relieved.

Three vampires walked into her room leisurely.

The sorceress was about to raise her eyebrows and scold them for their sudden visit, but the next second her eyes widened in horror.

The sticky blood, like mud, stained the vampire's body, and with each step they took, they left clearly visible footprints in the house. Philippa was still holding the half-naked upper body in her hand, and was burying her head in the other's neck intimately in intoxication.

“These are assassins sent by Emhyr. It seems you have pissed him off.” Philippa shrugged after taking a swig of wine. “Look, their arrows and daggers are made of hyrdomite!”

Fringilla's heart began to thump.

After two breaths, she rubbed her fingers together and sparks flew out, causing flames to spread across her desk.

"Fortunately, fortunately..."

"Are you crazy? Even if they don't kill you completely, you will be dead in Nilfgaard in the future." Philippa sneered, "You are useless to the ancient blood."

Fringilla shook her head. "What I meant was... luckily I carved the teleportation array in the lobby of your mansion because there was not enough space."

Ophelia van Moraham, who was next to Philippa, showed a dissatisfied look: "Because of you, I haven't held a party for so many days."

Fringilla showed visible rejection, but she quickly concealed her emotions because the other party had just saved her life.

"Take me back to your manor now. I will activate the teleportation array today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow. Now I have plenty of time to be on standby."

Philippa recalled the huge magic circle in her manor. It couldn't be seen from the outside, but the people inside knew that those mysterious runes had filled every corner inside, some of which even made the knowledgeable vampires feel mysterious and difficult to understand.

"Speaking of which... do you have any way to stun that unicorn?" Philippa touched her throat, "I've had my eye on it for a long time... just one sip, I'll just drink it."

Fringilla didn't bother to hide her expression this time: "Watch your mouth, Philippa! This is all for the Lannister plan!"