"You mean, Hickrad is in this city now? That Hickrad?"

Kara looked at the small piece of paper held by Karen excitedly and swallowed, "God, I always wanted to see him."

"Since that's the case, then let's go," Karen waved the paper in his hand, and his eyes swept over Erin and Kylord intentionally. "Hickrad must also want to meet you old friends."

For this small group, Sarenna's style of doing things seemed to have deeply influenced them, so the four of them immediately returned to their respective rooms, dressed up for a while, and then left the hotel together.

"To be honest, guys, I'm so excited," Kylord kept yelling all the way. "I met Hicklad in the days that followed, and he followed Saren and came to me to deal with an extremely evil item."

"It was from then on that time that he and I became good friends who could talk to everything."

"I knew him earlier than you," Erin covered her face with a fan, and a sound of excitement came from behind the fan, "But I haven't seen him for a long time, I really don't know if he still remembers me."

The group headed straight to the air rail station. After a difficult journey of pushing forward, they finally successfully squeezed into the air rail train.

"What an annoying invention," Erin muttered twice dissatisfied as soon as she entered the carriage, "The imperial capital has such a large population!"

"Say a few words, Erin," Kylord, who was standing beside him, smiled proudly, "This is a miracle created by the power of engineering and science. Will humans a hundred years ago think that the world has become like this now?"

"Besides," he poked Erin with his elbow, "Aren't you Strand synonymous with scientific development?"

"You don't need to tell me about this truth, you fool," Erin rolled Kylord's eyes, "This is just a way for a woman to vent her inner emotions!"

◇◇◇◇◇

When the train arrived at their scheduled destination, the debate between Kylord and Erin calmed down. With Karen's slightly warning eyes, they honestly packed up their things and followed Karen out of the car.

"Then, the address should be here," Karen and his group stopped at the entrance of a magnificent four-story building. The reason why it was said to be grand is that the building was made of marble and on the walls outside the shop, a gorgeous imperial flag with black gold edges hung.

Even the signs protruding on the side are extremely gorgeous, with the antique delanthi wood with big words "Shikrad Alchemist House" written in gorgeous floral characters.

"Of course I know it's this, you fool novelist," Kylord kicked Karen in the ass, "and it's all written on the store's sign!"

Karen glared at him, Kylord smiled and jumped to the steps at the door of the store first, pushed open the door, and a pleasant wind chime rang out.

"Please come in, guests." A gentle and steady voice came from the depths of the store. Karen took off his shoes at the door politely, then walked towards the depths of the store, and everyone followed closely behind him.

"Trex is here, and this friend of Marley is too rich," Kara kept striking as she walked. "Even the floors of the entrance passage are all century-old Delantimus. How much does it cost?"

"It's enough for you to arm a well-equipped 500 mercenaries, Kara." Erin, who was extremely sensitive to numbers and was once a senior executive of Strand, covered her mouth and chuckled and gave an answer.

"Sorry, guests," a voice came from the other end of the passage along with footsteps, and a tall and thin figure soon appeared in everyone's vision.

He covered his mouth and coughed slightly, "I was conducting a very important alchemy experiment just now. Let's talk about what do you need?"

"Mistel's beard!" Kylord exclaimed and ran up with an arrow, "Shikrad, it's really you!"

Hickrad lowered his head in amazement, and the astonishment on his face turned into ecstasy after a few breaths, "Is it you, Kylord?"

"It's me! And Erin, right here!"

Kylord grabbed Hickrad's arm and pulled him in front of everyone.

"Long time no see, Hickrad."

"Oh my God, it's really you, Erin, long time no see."

Hickrad shook his head for a while, then took a small pot of whiskey from the ledge next to the passage, and took several mouthfuls to get out of his somewhat confused state.

"Nine Holy Spirits are here! I'm so happy to see you again, who are these?"

He looked at Kara and Karen and asked politely.

"I'm Karen," Karen took a step forward, "a retired soldier of the Royal Rune Division."

"I'm Kara," Kara also imitated Karen, took a step, and then stretched out his right hand, "Well, you may not know me, but you must know my teacher, Salenovis, although I usually call him Marai."

"Ha! You are Caredos!" Hiccrad clapped his hands with a smile, "I have never seen you look like a human, but I was there when Saren took you as a student. I remember you were a young blue dragon."

"Since you're all here," he rubbed his hands with some anticipation, "Where is my old friend? Is he with you too?"

"Yes," Karen replied, "but he left the capital and went to the north, and it is said that there were demons attacking humans in the north."

"The devil attacked humans?" Hickrad first put down his hand in disappointment, then nodded in a sudden realization, "No wonder, this is his style, he always can't rest."

"Ah, let's take a look at my hospitality!" He suddenly slapped his head and stood up, "What do you want to drink? Hot cocoa? Coffee? Or tea from the East?"

“Just hot cocoa.”

"I prefer tea, I used to drink this one in Strand."

"I want coffee, your cocoa may not be as good as Marley."

"Oh my God, don't you have beer here! The whiskey in your hand is OK!"

"Okay, I'll bring it to you now. As for you Kylord, my old man, how could I forget what you dwarves like the most?"

Hickrad hurriedly left, and after a while he walked up with a tray, which was a cup of steaming cocoa, a cup of fragrant coffee, a cup of dark red, hot tea, and a cup of air-conditioned beer.

He put the drinks in front of everyone in turn, then picked a comfortable position to nest into his sofa, "Okay, now we can have a good talk."

"Let me talk about what I'm most interested in first," Hickrad took a sip of coffee. "I remember that guy Sarah ran to seclusion, why did he suddenly run out again? He brought out... so many people?"

“My teacher and I had opened a hotel in the village of Verak near Brinto,” Kara said. “It was pretty good in the past few years, but things have become more and more strange recently.”

"First, Nelbito appeared nearby, and then the resurrected undead legion and demon lord, the teacher suspected that Strad was coming back."

"So that's it," Hickrad nodded with a serious expression, "that's understandable. This guy has never given up on his revenge."

"This time he went to the north, in addition to investigating the devil's affairs, he also wanted to find an old friend of his. In fact, he came to the imperial capital to summon two old friends."

"Two old friends? Did he mention their names?"

"No, but thanks to Talos, we know one of them is Glendill."

"Ah, Grundill," Hickrad nodded, and his face showed a unique expression that only appeared when remembering the past, which was a longing for the past.

"That bitch raises a demon hunter with a bad temper," Hickrad's mouth slightly raised, "but his character and strength are worthy of recognition."

"What about the second friend, do you know who this person is?"

"I don't know," Karen shook his head, "we're thinking maybe it's you."

"What, me?" Hickrad pointed to himself, and shook his head. "Impossible," he said confidently, "Saren told me that he would not want to get me into any trouble again."

"It's not necessarily, Hill," Erin spoke, her voice soft and elegant, "Do you remember, Savos once said firmly that he would never contact me again in his life."

"What you said makes sense, Erin, but I still think..."

"I have an idea," Karen interrupted them, "actually," he looked at Hickrad, "I was collecting Saren's stories, and he told them, and I was responsible for compiling them."

"I'm thinking that it's a good idea to collect stories from your perspective, and we can also analyze something from the story."

"Good idea, where did Salon talk about?"

"Well, Kapophis' civil strife, he just talked about the part of meeting with Rana."

"Ah, it's this part. I'm very impressed by the civil strife in Cabofis. In my memory, this is the first time that the Empire has been willing to provoke civil strife in another country for one person. No, it should be said that this is war."

"Come on," he put down his coffee, stood up, and waved to everyone, "Let's go to the study, and you'll stay here for the time before Saren's return."

He ran to the door, locked the door of the workshop, hung the sign for today's rest, and then called everyone into the study.

◇◇◇◇◇

"Okay, little bat," Saren threw the vampire holding hard onto the ground. This was a clearing in the woods surrounded by a dense forest. "It's very quiet, there are no people, and there are no vampires, so as I said before, if you want to survive, answer my questions honestly."

"Of course, of course, great Salon," the vampire nodded vigorously, "I'm not the kind of fool who doesn't know how to cherish life."

"It seems that I'm very famous on your side. You not only know me, but also my sword," Saren squatted in front of the vampire, casually picking his nails with the dagger in his hand.

"Of course, you injured the powerful ancestor of Strad. This is a horrible story that everyone knows among vampires, not to mention the terrible behavior of killing more than forty vampires in five seconds. The most experienced and powerful hunter can't do this. This is something that only the devil can do! And what I don't like the most is to anger the devil."

"Very good, I like to talk to smart people," Saren inserted his dagger into the ground and looked at the vampire with a smile. "I have received news that demons are raging in these northern provinces of the empire, and now it seems that you are driving it."

"Yes, yes," the vampire nodded repeatedly, "these demons are all from the plane of Lord of Mist. According to some of the big figures above, Lord of Mist seems to have some plans for this continent."

"When I checked the town that you burned, I found red and white blood. Strangely, I didn't see a single body, not even the burned remains. Maybe you can tell me where they went?"

"Yes, I know," the vampire nodded again, "In fact, after solving the town's guards, Marquis Prest ordered all the civilians to be controlled, and then he led the large army to escort the civilians north. As for what these civilians would be used for... I don't know, after all, I am just a small baron."

Saren frowned. The fool knew that being captured by a vampire would not end up being a good outcome. "Do you know where they are going?"

"I know, they've headed north all the way," the vampire nodded again, "I heard that they're going north all the way, until they enter the ice field where snow and cold winds are raging all year round."

"So north?" Saren's brow frowned even more. "Do they have any other plans?"

"Uh..." The vampire showed a thoughtful look, "It seems that there is no more... They should still plunder all the small towns and villages on the road. I think I heard the Marquis Prest say before, and this is not enough."

Saren nodded, "What else?"

"Sorry, great Salon," the vampire hurriedly crawled to the ground when she heard this. "I want to tell you more, but I only know so much."

Saren poked out several spiritual tentacles in a very obscure way, and he nodded until the fluctuations from above told him that the vampire in front of him did not lie.

"Get out," he slapped, and an invisible force blew the vampire out directly. He rolled on the ground several times before he could barely stop.

"You really let me go?" He raised his head and looked at Salen in surprise without caring about the bruises on his face.

"I have always kept my word," Saren said impatiently, "I am for the sake of the Earl of Rose. If you don't want to leave, I will take your life."

"Will, I do," the vampire hurriedly kowtowed to Saren, "May the Nine Holy Spirits bless you, the great and kind Saren!"
Chapter completed!