Chapter 236 The Old Man in the River

As night falls, the entire ruins of Na Sa Star become eerie and terrifying. Some sounds that sounded normal during the day now sound a little chilling.

"It's really not a good idea to spend the night in the ruins!" Marwin said as he lit the insect repellent he found during the day to drive away the mosquitoes that gathered around him, while looking at Lind with envy.

Although the weather has turned cooler, the cold air from the north has not reached Na Sa due to the obstruction of the Norvos Hills. The climate here is still warm, and this climate coupled with the accumulation of water in the fountains all over the city The water is just suitable for the growth of various mosquitoes. At night, all kinds of mosquitoes will overwhelmingly cover the entire Na Sa star.

However, this is not a trouble for Linde, because he uses the Frozen Dragon Rune to form a layer of cold air around his body, and the temperature changes also cause those mosquitoes to actively avoid him, and those mosquitoes that do not avoid him will He was instantly frozen to death the moment he came into contact with the cold air, so a thick layer of insect corpses had accumulated around where he stood.

In the thick smoke caused by the mosquito repellent, Marwin coughed twice, looked at the mosquitoes flying around, and felt that the effect of the mosquito repellent was a little slow and poor, so he scratched a bump on his face that he had just bitten and looked at it. Linde, who was standing aside and watching the movement on the water, asked, "Lord Linde, can you also give me a layer of protection?"

Lind turned his head to look at the embarrassed Marvin, then looked at the choking smoke around him, and then activated the power of the Storm Dragon Rune, combined with the Frozen Dragon Rune, to quickly form a layer of extremely cold fog around him. , and quickly spread to the entire Na Sa Star ruins.

Under the influence of the extremely cold and dense fog, all the mosquitoes were frozen to death instantly, leaving only insect corpses on the ground.

"Sir, since you have such a good method, why didn't you use it earlier?" Seeing the mosquitoes in the sky disappearing at a speed visible to the naked eye, and finally disappearing, Marwin couldn't help complaining as he scratched the bites on his body.

Linde replied with a calm expression: "I need to be prepared for the sudden appearance of the old man in the river. I can't waste my magic power on things like repelling mosquitoes."

As Linde's voice fell, a wave suddenly appeared on the surface of the main channel of the Naen River in the distance. The movement of this wave was not very loud, and it was difficult to detect it under the cover of the night.

However, these movements could not escape Lind's eyes. He noticed the abnormality immediately, and from the fluctuations on the water surface, he could barely tell that there was a big guy swimming in the water and approaching the dock.

Linn immediately said to Marwin: "Here we come! You hide in a safe place first. If you do anything, I'm afraid I won't be able to take care of you."

"No need, I am also a qualified warrior. I have fought many times in the Essos continent over the years." Marwin picked up the ax at his waist and the shield in his luggage, and said confidently: "Lin Lord De, you don’t have to think of me as one of those weaklings in the city.”

Seeing Marwin's insistence, Linde said nothing more and asked Marwin to continue to stay by his side.

Linde could not see what was going on under the water, but he could roughly judge from the magic aura he saw that the approaching big guy possessed a huge magic power that was much more powerful than the glutton.

Faced with such a giant beast, Linde did not rely on his strength and put his hands on the sword of the lost knight. Although he also wanted to tame the old man in the river like a glutton, but if he could not tame it and it was necessary, he would He will still take action to solve it completely. After all, if he really wants to rebuild Na Sa Star, then the old man in the river who lives in this area will be a big obstacle.

Just when Linde was ready, a huge wave set off on the river out of thin air. This huge wave moved like a high wall towards the deep water bay where the dock is located, and then swept away the dilapidated boats on the water. The wreck rolled in and sank into the water again.

The huge wave did not hit the pier, but hit it hard not far away from the pier, splashing a lot of water directly towards Linde and Marwin.

However, before these water splashes could get close, they were blown to the open space on both sides by a strong wind blowing out of thin air. The strong wind also carried the boat that was lifted into the air by the waves in a circle, and fell back to the undulating river surface. superior.

Lind motioned to Marwin to stay where he was, and he walked to the steps in front of the dock near the water, staring at the rippling water in front of him.

Suddenly, the water surface that was choppy just a moment ago suddenly calmed down, all the waves disappeared, and the entire water surface became as flat as a mirror, and even the sky was clearly reflected on it.

Then, the river water in front of Linde suddenly slid to both sides, and then he saw a huge one-horned turtle emerging from the water.

In terms of appearance, this giant turtle was not much different from the river turtles Lind had seen before, except for a sharp horn on its head and several horns on its shell.

But its body shape is thousands or even thousands of times that of ordinary turtles. According to a rough estimate, not counting the head and tail of the giant turtle, just estimating its body, the diameter has reached about 20 meters, and the height is even more. It is more than ten meters long, and it looks like a hill from a distance.

Although the size of the giant turtle is much smaller than that of the glutton, in places like inland rivers, this size is already very large, which is basically invincible in inland rivers.

After the giant turtle appeared, it did not attack Linde. Instead, it lowered its head slightly, approached Linde, and looked at Linde, with the same curious look in its eyes as a human.

If when he first saw the glutton, Linde felt more of animality from the glutton, then from the giant turtle in front of him, he felt more of humanity, and even he could He clearly felt that the giant turtle in front of him should have considerable intelligence, at least not much lower than the current glutton.

Thinking of this, Lind took the initiative to salute the giant turtle, and with the help of the pure Rhoynar language he learned from the orphans of the Greenblood River, he said: "I salute you, the old man of the river, son of Mother Lorne."

The giant turtle had a human-like expression on its face. It was obviously the first time it saw someone saluting it. People who had seen it in the past all yelled and called it a monster. , many people will even attack it.

Just as Linde guessed, this one-horned giant turtle is intelligent, and its intelligence is not low. It is already equivalent to the wisdom of an adult. The inheritance of its ancestors allows it to understand the ancient Rhoynar language. , so it can also sense Linde’s kindness from his words and deeds.

But while feeling goodwill, the giant turtle also felt threatened by Linde.

The giant turtle's gaze swept across Linde's body and paused several times on the sword of the Homeless Knight at Linde's waist.

It could feel that the sword of the Homeless Knight was a dangerous weapon, which made it feel threatened like never before. The last time it felt this kind of threat was a long time ago, and the ones that threatened him were those tall giants. dragons, and the threat brought to it by this little one is even stronger than that of the giant dragon.

Therefore, under the influence of this feeling of threat, the giant turtle also appeared to be quite humble. Almost after Linde saluted, he immediately approached Linde and nodded slightly.

Unlike Glory and Gluttony, although Linde could feel that the giant turtle possessed intelligence, he was unable to have any mental contact with the giant turtle, and naturally he was unable to communicate normally and pass on each other's thoughts.

Just when Lind was looking for a way to communicate with the giant turtle, the giant turtle suddenly raised its head and made a loud sound like a steam whistle in a previous life. Then he saw the frozen thick fog that Lind had just created and had not completely dissipated. , all disappeared, and the ruins of Na Sa Star returned to their original appearance.

Then, the giant turtle lowered its head again, closed its mouth, and let out a low hum towards Linde.

Linde could see that the magic power on the giant turtle was very strong when it hummed, but he did not feel any threat from the giant turtle, so he did not dodge and still stood there listening to the low sound.

However, when he heard the sound, Linde's mind immediately came up with the meaning of the hum.

It was asking why Linde smelled like a queen.

Lind seemed to understand what the other party meant and asked in Rhoynar: "Queen? Is the queen you are talking about Queen Nymeria?"

The giant turtle nodded.

Lind explained: "My wife is also named Nymeria. She is a descendant of Queen Nymeria."

The giant turtle nodded again when he heard the words, and then used a hum containing magic power to convey the message to Linde again, saying: "Are you here to fulfill the oath back then on behalf of the queen?"

"Oath?" Linde was stunned and asked, "I'm sorry, I came here just because I heard the old man from the river appeared and was curious. I don't know what the oath is between you, the old man in the river, and the Queen of the Rhoynar. ”

When Linde said this, he deliberately and secretly tested whether the one-horned giant turtle was a group or one.

The one-horned giant turtle in front of it did not show any abnormal emotions towards him calling the old man in the river as a group, but its emotions may have been all focused on the disappointment of Linde denying that he was here to fulfill his oath, and it did not notice the meaning in Linde's words. Test.

The disappointed one-horned giant turtle saw that Linde was not here to fulfill his oath and lost interest in communicating with Linde, so he prepared to leave.

"Wait! Wait a minute." Linde immediately stopped the one-horned giant turtle and asked: "What is the oath you are talking about? Although I don't know the oath very clearly, my wife is Na As a descendant of Queen Melia, I am also obliged to fulfill the Queen’s oath.”

When the one-horned giant turtle heard Linde's words, he became excited again. His huge body swayed on the river, making waves, and it took a while to calm down.

Then it made another burst of magical sounds towards Linde, telling Linde what the oath was.

It turns out that the Rhoynar people made a contract with the Old Man of the River a long time ago. The Rhoynar people worshiped the Old Man of the River, and the Old Man of the River helped the Rhoynar people manage the Rhoyne.

Continuing to Nymeria's generation, the Rhoynar were defeated, and Nymeria had to flee the continent of Essos, but before she left, she made an oath with the Old Man of the River as the leader of the Rhoynar.

This oath is very simple, that is, Nymeria believes that one day she will return to Na Sa and re-establish the Rhoynar city-state, so she asked the old man in the river to guard Na Sa and wait for her to return to rebuild it. Here, she and her people will continue to worship the old man in the river and continue the tradition of countless years.

I think that Nymeria, who had made an oath with the old man in the river at that time, was still very confident that she could return to Na Sa. However, these confidences were soon completely shattered by the Valyrian people, who fled all the way to Dorne. In the end, in order to preserve the last fire of the Rhoynar people and prevent anyone from returning to the Essos continent, the ship was burned, completely cutting off the possibility of the Rhoynar people returning to the Essos continent.

"Why didn't Nymeria leave with you back then?" Lind asked curiously after hearing the oath.

The one-horned giant turtle quickly gave the answer. It turns out that the one-horned giant turtle family is all freshwater turtles. They have strong allergic symptoms to sea water and cannot live in the sea at all, even close to the sea.

When Prince Guerin commanded an army of 250,000 to attack Volantis, he asked the Old Men of the River to join the battle, just as they assisted Prince Guerin and launched a flood to submerge Velonthes and submerge Volantis.

But Volantis is located right at the mouth of the Rhoyne River, and there is more or less sea water in the surrounding waters. If the one-horned giant turtle approaches, let alone join the battle or cast magic, even if it moves, It was very difficult. In the end, all the old people in the river did not join the war, but returned to Na Sa Star.

As a result, Prince Guerin lost the help of the old man in the river, and the other party sent more than a hundred dragons, and all 250,000 people died outside the city of Volantis.

Linde could tell from the words of the one-horned giant turtle in front of him that he had also participated in the war between Valyria and the Rhoynar. This means that the giant turtle in front of him is at least more than a thousand years old, which also explains why Understand why the magic power fluctuations on the opponent's body are so much stronger than the glutton's magic power.

"I can also fulfill the oath for Queen Nymeria, rebuild the planet Na Sa, and re-enshrine the old people in the river." After understanding the situation, Lind immediately said to the one-horned giant turtle.

Hearing Linde's words, the one-horned giant turtle shook its body excitedly again.

Lind controlled the wind to sweep away the splashing river water, and let himself fly into the air, level with the head of the giant turtle. He continued to say to the other party: "But I have a condition."

The one-horned giant turtle quickly calmed down, looked at Linde, and signaled Linde to state his conditions.

"I need to sign a new contract with you old people in the river, but this time the contract is no longer with the Rhoynar, but with me, my wife Nymeria, and my descendants."

After hearing this, the one-horned giant turtle was silent for a long time. Finally, it looked at Linde who was controlling the wind and suspended in the air. It felt the powerful but ancient power in Linde's body. Finally, it slightly lowered its head towards him and embraced it. His own vocal organ, instead of the magical voice, spoke words to Linde that ordinary people could hear, saying: "I will obey your holy decree, ancient one."