"Now I understand why you asked your precious apprentice to do things," Karen put down the quill and yawned. "If he hears this story of yours, he will definitely be very worried."

"That's the reason," Saren nodded, "but only he can handle this matter as soon as possible." He looked out the window, his profile looking very vicissitudes of life, "Recently, demons have appeared more and more frequently, and even cast

Trad’s men are coming specifically for me.”

After Saren said this, he pushed away the chair and stood up, "I don't dare to risk the village being attacked and go there myself." He slowly walked to the window, then looked back at Karen, "You and Karako

There is no way to deal with those demon lords."

"I have another question." Karen also stood up and walked to Saren, "Have you never thought about dealing with these mithril ingots before?"

"I thought about it, Karen," Saren turned to look at the young retired rune master, "but due to various... accidents, I kept these mithril ingots until the day I came to this village."

"As for coming to the village," Saren opened the window and looked to the northwest, "I really want to go find my old friend. He may be the guy who is most familiar with mithril in the world."

"However, there is a problem," he pointed to himself. "Even today, eleven years later, mithril is still a very precious metal. Why should I keep these things incognito?"

Mithril is forged into armor and weapons, especially when I can summon formed mithril weapons at will?"

"I don't deny that mithril is a precious and powerful metal," Saren looked at Karen who was thoughtful, and continued, "but it can also cause endless riots and bring endless chaos.

and destruction.”

"Actually," Saren sighed, "if the devil hadn't come too strangely, I still wouldn't have planned to take out these mithril ingots and make them into weapons."

"Actually, it was for you and Kara that I decided to make these things into weapons. This is indeed a magic weapon for you to kill demons."

"That's it," Karen responded, bowing to Saren somewhat flattered, "You are really, very generous."

"You can't call it generous," the innkeeper just smiled faintly, "I have always wanted to be a qualified innkeeper, so I don't want to see the guests die in my hotel," he pointed at Kai

Lun, the latter was stunned for a moment, and then laughed along with him.

"As for Kara," Saren crossed his arms on his chest, raised his head and said with emotion: "I still remember this little dragon jumping up and down next to his mother, begging to learn from me. He is

I will not watch my only student be killed by these demons."

"Then if you give him so many mithril ingots, aren't you afraid that something might happen to him on the way?" Karen asked worriedly after hearing this, "You said it yourself, that is a sum of money that can make the whole world crazy.

wealth."

"You see, this is what Carla is capable of." The innkeeper took a bottle of wine from behind the bar, and Karen recognized it immediately, the 2690 Silver Pine Winter Spring wine.

He took out two more wine glasses from under the bar, gently removed the corks, and poured a glass of wine each for the writer in front of him and for himself.

The rich-colored wine hit the bottom of the glass, releasing a fragrant aroma. Karen took the wine glass handed over by the innkeeper and took a deep breath.

"It's such a good wine," he said to Saren in admiration, "I didn't expect you to have such a good thing."

"Personal hobby," Saren also laughed, holding up the wine glass and clinking it with Karen, "the villagers don't like to drink this, so Carla and I always enjoy it. Speaking of this, where did we just talk?

?”

"Kara's ability lies there." Karen reminded softly.

"Ah, yes," Saren showed an expression of sudden realization, "This is Kara's ability. If you think about it deliberately, you will remember that he is a blue dragon. There are not many people in the world who can threaten him."

"But if you don't pay attention, you will always unconsciously regard him as a young boy, a waiter who has never seen the world. This is his best disguise," Saren said, pointing to Karen's

Head, "I just talked to you once when he set off."

"So don't underestimate him," Saren said with a smile when he saw the writer who looked suddenly enlightened. "He is actually a very smart guy, so I believe he knows how to deal with those mithril ingots."

◇◇◇◇

While his respected teacher and Karen were warming themselves by the fire and chatting about Kara, the person at the center of their conversation was trekking through the forest, enduring the cold.

The leaves of most of the trees have begun to turn yellow, and many leaves have fallen to the ground. The sun does not seem to bring much heat. A cold wind blows by, and Kara subconsciously wraps up her clothes tightly.

"This damn forest," he muttered, "and this damn weather, too. The thought of Mare and Karen warming themselves by the fire in the inn and telling the next story makes me so angry!"

He pulled his feet out from the pile of rotten leaves and continued walking deeper into the woods. "And what about me?" he said with some indignation, "I trudged through the woods full of rotten leaves and endured the cold wind.

With so much blowing, I couldn’t even find an open space suitable for transforming into a dragon shape!”

He cursed and took a few steps forward, and the anger on his face was replaced by worry. "What's wrong with Mare?" he muttered to himself with some worry, "I once advised him to keep these secrets."

He turned silver into weapons, but he never agreed." Kara raised her head, as if recalling the past, "He always said that these mithrils can easily cause chaos, 'I'm not here to attract attention.

Yes, Carla.'" The young disciple playfully imitated the teacher's tone of voice, so as to relieve some of the worries in his heart.

"But this guy still has a conscience." Kara continued to mutter to himself and walked forward. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and a large open space appeared in front of him, which was enough for him to transform into a giant dragon.

"He is finally willing to teach me alchemy," Kara dropped the small bag wrapped with mithril ingots on the ground, "I have been begging him for a long time."

He took off his clothes one by one, revealing his toned body, and then lay naked on the ground.

"Ouch" an earth-shattering roar sounded from the forest, startling a large number of birds.

The naked man lying on the ground had disappeared, replaced by a giant blue dragon that reflected dazzling light under the sun. Its beautiful streamlined body was covered with blue shining scales, and a pair of wings were quietly retracted.

on the back.

Even so, it almost filled the open space and even accidentally knocked down a few unlucky small trees.

"I haven't been in this form for a long time, and it actually feels a little inconvenient," Kaledos said in a voice that sounded like a grunt to a giant dragon but thunder to a human. He stretched out his giant claws and pinched it easily.

The clothes and packages, which were as small as ants to him, were carefully placed in his mouth.

"What Mare taught is indeed useful," the giant dragon's big mouth grinned slightly, making people vaguely think of the laughing young waiter, "I will definitely scare those blue dragons to death when I go back."

"Okay," he closed his mouth and scanned the surrounding environment with a pair of vertical pupils to make sure that nothing was missed. "It's getting late. I have to complete the teacher's task as soon as possible." As he said this, his wings flapped sharply.

Stretched out, "I have to rush back to listen to the story."

The pair of dragon wings behind him started to flap continuously, setting off hurricanes one after another in this peaceful forest. More and more animals rushed out and ran away from the center of the storm.

The giant dragon that caused the commotion in the forest slowly rose into the air with a roar, and the wings on its back flapped vigorously over and over again, leading him to gallop towards the northwest.

The biting wind hit Kaledos's face, and the itching sensation on his face made the giant dragon laugh. "It's been a long time since I've flown so freely," he said happily to himself high in the sky.

He muttered to himself, "How long has it been? It seems that he has never transformed into a dragon since he followed Mare." He narrowed his eyes with satisfaction, enjoying the comfort brought by the strong wind hitting his face, "Take advantage of this opportunity

It’s not bad to enjoy it.”

"It's noon now," he looked up at the sun in the distance, and he quickly came to a conclusion, "We should be able to arrive before noon tomorrow."

So he no longer wasted time hanging in the air, flapped his wings and flew into the distance.

◇◇◇◇

"Maybe we should have lunch first," Saren suggested, stretching. "I'm a little hungry, how about you?"

Karen touched his belly. It was obvious that the innkeeper's suggestion was quite tempting to him. "I'm hungry too," he said to Saren with a smile. "Feeding your stomach is the first priority."

"Okay," Saren snapped his fingers, "Then I'm going to prepare lunch." He dropped these words and quickly walked into the kitchen.

Karen sat there and began to look at the hotel again and again. Saren had obviously put a lot of effort into this hotel. Traces of careful decoration and maintenance could be seen in many places, and the bar was even more neat.

The most dazzling part of the hotel.

Karen just looked at every corner of the hotel, lost in thought, until Saren came out of the kitchen carrying several large plates, waking him up from his thoughts.

He deftly took off the dishes one after another from the tray, placed them in front of Karen, and then deftly opened the lid.

On the largest plate in the middle was a whole piece of grilled lamb chop. It was steaming and oozing fat, and an appetizing aroma wafted towards Karen's nose.

Karen looked at the fragrant grilled lamb chops, then looked at the sausages, potato soup and freshly baked bread next to it, and laughed, "This is really a luxurious lunch."

"While Kara is away, let's have something good to eat," Saren also laughed, "What were you thinking just now? You are so absorbed in it."

"It's nothing." Karen casually tore off a piece of bread, dipped it into her own soup, and cut off a piece of lamb chop. "I was just wondering what was going on in your mind when you were decorating this hotel."

"What are you thinking about..." Saren laughed when he heard this, "When I first came to this village, it would be an exaggeration to say that I was completely disappointed. To be precise, I was completely disappointed, so I decided to open a hotel here.

"My childhood wish came true." He looked at the hotel with some emotion, "I originally thought I could live a stable life like this, so the decoration of the hotel was as inconspicuous as possible."

"Indeed," Karen nodded, "I can see that the style of many places is very rustic."

"Yes," Saren took a sip of the wine, "but in the past, if you just waved your hand with determination, it would disappear from your world and never appear again." When he said this, he showed that kind of

Reminiscing about the past, he cut himself a piece of sausage, "In the beginning, this hotel didn't have such a big bar, nor did it have a basement."

When he said this, he pointed to his head, "But I was blessed by the fairy, so the knight armor and Broken Steel have always followed me, even if I left the Kingdom of Valenlia," he said,

He showed a somewhat helpless expression, "So I have to find a place to put these things. Carla told me that we might as well brew some wine ourselves, so I dug a cellar, brewed wine outside, and built a compartment inside.

Come and store this armor."

"But it's still not enough," Saren continued before Karen could speak. "Your past living habits and the things you like cannot be changed. Even if I want to disguise myself as an innkeeper, some habits

He ran out naturally."

"Sometimes I miss the taste of fine wine, and I also want to sing a few more songs. All in all, I like the excitement and high-end food."

"But it's very strange in a village like this," Saren then laughed. "You have met the people in the village. They are not people of this level, so in order to avoid their suspicion, I made up another story for myself.

The identity was revealed, and you know this made-up identity, Seventh Legion, sharpshooter, just injured."

"But lies always need details to support it. It happened that the gun in my hand had nowhere to place, and I always like to drink good wine, so I first built a somewhat exaggerated bar, and then asked the carpenter in the village to make it

I did some work and the plan was successful. No one suspected that I was a retired soldier due to injury. They still liked to come to my place to drink. No one connected me with the red dragon Saren."

"But," Saren put down his wine glass heavily, startling Karen across from him, "I still underestimated the power of the past. First it was you, and then Strahd's lackeys. The ghosts of the past haunted me one after another.
To be continued...