Mountain and Forest Kingdom

The long night passed quickly, and Lawrence and others soon welcomed the sun.

At this time, there was still a month and a half before the end of the cold winter, and more than ninety days were too stressful for Lawrence.

After a week of eternal night and the daylight hours returned to about four or five hours, Lawrence quickly began to mobilize.

"I will go to the north first and take a look. If I can go, I will take this road. If not, I will come back within two days."

Lawrence looked at Lathander, who looked much younger than when she first met her in the Vale of Clodagh.

He is not very old to begin with, but after spending the past two years pampering himself and dressing up carefully, he has acquired the so-called aristocratic temperament.

"Mother, I'll leave this spring to you. I'm going to visit the land that the West gave me as compensation and build a port there."

Lathander has already known about Lawrence's plans for this year and has no objection to Lawrence's arrangements.

"Just leave it to me, it's not difficult."

Lawrence quickly looked at Emma, ​​"Emma, ​​Candice will be responsible for taking care of her mother. You and Bull will stay at my house in Pumexiu Town during this time."

"You are responsible for guiding the production in the town. When you encounter dangerous enemies, send someone to notify mother. There are not many people in Pumixiu Town. If necessary, you can return to the manor to preserve your strength."

Emma said seriously: "Yes, Master! I will protect the territory with the sisters in the territory!"

Lawrence then explained: "A large number of babies have been born in the town and the manor this year. Pregnant women and children have been gathered together. Those who have no milk will be fed milk powder. I will be back in about a month and a half."

“This year’s farming will be done according to the proportion I mentioned before.”

"Khalan also stays to assist mother. Salil and Sophia, you will follow on the glacier in a sled team. I will explore the path in front with Catherine first. If we encounter a fork in the road, I will leave a mark."

Kohalan nodded and said, "I have no problem."

Saryl and Sophia also said: "We don't have a problem either!"

Delen asked: "What about me?"

Lawrence considered that he would have a dangerous accident. In order to prevent himself from being rescued in time after danger appeared in the front, Delen's participation was also necessary.

"You and Salil are together. I will arrange three teams of sled dogs for you to use. Brick is responsible for driving and taking care of the dogs. Sophia and Salil are responsible for guarding. Delenn, you are responsible for fighting."

Delen said cheerfully: "Okay!"

Lawrence has arranged for Andrew and others to set off first together with the Sidel people and the Wakili people.

These men sailed westward along the coastline, forming a fleet of forty ships.

Lawrence had already roughly understood the terrain on the other side of Mount Agama. After eating and drinking and making all preparations, he quickly rode on Catherine.

"Set off!"

Lawrence rode out on a leather-clad black horse.

The Black Unicorn's neck, chest, and limbs have an extra layer of windproof tights made of fish skin.

Not only that, the Black Unicorn's feet were also put on special tooth-marked cotton shoes. The weight of Catherine and Lawrence allowed the tooth marks on the soles to firmly grip the ice and snow ground, preventing slipping.

Lawrence also put on a windproof and warm leather jacket, and this time he carried a hoe instead of a sword.

The hoe can be used for climbing. It can be used with the rope carried to pull two people up from the cave and used as a mountaineering hoe.

There are some candy cubes and dried meat hidden in the clothes, as well as hay and paper for ignition, and a fully charged lighting bead. These can be life-saving at critical moments.

The black unicorn ran quickly on the ice that had been frozen for more than three months. The glacier ahead kept twisting and turning, and there were many branches and stones on the ground.

Soon the snow layer in front began to thicken, accumulating more than 40 centimeters thick.

Catherine continued to run wildly, but soon lost her direction. There was white snow everywhere, and the location of the river could not be clearly seen.

Lawrence, who was squinting, opened his eyes and observed the surrounding environment.

A clear outline of a large mountain appeared in the north. A section of raised mountains blocked the north, and he was now facing the northwest.

"The river is already turning. Let's keep walking. I'll show the way."

Lawrence stretched out the long hoe, and the iron block of the hoe was placed more than one meter in front of the unicorn.

With Lawrence's guidance, Catherine quickly ran in the direction of the hoe.

Lawrence quickly sprinkled a handful of plant ash to guide the team behind, and then changed the angle of the hoe according to the surrounding terrain and direction.

The river is crooked, and sometimes it goes around a few times before moving forward.

Because there was frozen soil under his feet, Lawrence quickly stepped on the grass in a straight line and passed through these curves.

What Lawrence wants to go to is not the end of the river, but to find a shortcut to the Hokuriku Kingdom!

The sky soon became dark, and the black unicorn could not see the road in the distance, so he could only stop and walk forward slowly.

The sky is not completely dark. There are a large number of bright stars in the starry sky, and a colorful aurora is constantly changing in the sky.

Lawrence looked around. He could see the outlines of many mountains in the distance, and the visibility of the snow on the ground was very low.

"Let's stop and find a place to rest."

Lawrence got off the unicorn and dug on the ground with a hoe. He found that the snow on the ground had frozen solid.

Freshly fallen snow is very soft, while snow that has been frozen for two months will be as hard as dirt.

There were no trees around. Lawrence could feel that he was downstream, and he felt that he should not be far from the Hokuriku Kingdom.

But based on the last report from Brick and others, it feels like something must have gone wrong!

It took Brick two months to make the round trip last time, and that was while the river was still flowing downstream.

I haven't found any useful information in two months of going back and forth. I just arrived five or six hours after I came out?

Lawrence felt that something must be wrong with him, so he walked towards the hills in the distance to the north, intending to see what was on the other side of the mountains.

The unicorn waited at the foot of the hill, a slope unsuitable for a unicorn's anatomy.

Lawrence quickly climbed up the sloping hillside, which was more than 60 meters high. The slope was about 40 degrees, but there were some places where you could step on it, and it was not particularly sloping.

After climbing to the hillside, Lawrence lay on the stone and looked at the outside world, and soon saw a vast forest.

Lawrence thought about where he was.

"I am not facing the north now, but the west. It should be the west."

"At first we set off towards the north, and then we took many turns. Now Catherine is going south, I am facing west, and the real north is the direction we came from."

"Then I should be near the Hokuriku Kingdom now."

"If that's the case, were Brick's group... lazy last time?"

Lawrence thought of the most likely possibility, and suddenly became angry!

The efficiency of the people in the snow cave is obviously slow. This group of people can row and escape very fast, but in fact, they have been living in the ice and snow environment for a long time, which makes them good at saving energy.

"That's not right. Catherine's speed is more than ten times that of a normal Dome sheep. Considering the speed of rafting and the obstacles in the river, Catherine's six-hour journey is at least more than three hundred kilometers."

Lawrence felt a little better. It wasn't that Brick and others were too useless, but that Catherine's speed was too fast, which was roughly equivalent to the speed of an ordinary motorcycle.

The distance by boat is actually just over a day, so based on this distance, the forest in front of you should be in the direction of the Hokuriku Kingdom.

Lawrence felt that Salil and others would not be able to come over until at least tomorrow morning. The speed of the sled dogs was not low, at most it would be five or six hours away, but he was worried that they would get lost along the way.

Lawrence quickly went down the hillside and used a hoe to expand some volume near the wall of a pit on the hillside.

The black unicorn behind him quickly transformed into a black-haired beauty with a pure white body. Lawrence opened up the bearskin coat he was wearing.

Catherine spread her fur coat in the hole and got into Lawrence's bearskin coat. The two of them spent a long night huddled in the hole.

After dawn the next day, Lawrence went to the forest outside to check the situation, while Catherine went back to look for someone.

Lawrence climbed over the hill into the forest.

Looking at the quaint and quiet forest in front of him, Lawrence was even more certain that he was in the southeastern region of the Hokuriku Kingdom.

There are tall and straight spruce trees everywhere, which are green even in winter.

After picking up a large bundle of branches for a while, Lawrence quickly retreated.

Before the arrival of the generals from behind, it would be better not to stay in this primitive forest for too long. Bears in this world are not protected animals and are overpopulated.

Lawrence, who had determined his position, was very patient and quickly raised a flame to wait for reinforcements from the rear. At the same time, he climbed to a high place and continued to check the appearance of the area.

Stretching forests spread from the south to the north. There is no ocean visible to the north, only rivers, forests, and mountains!

"The territory of Blonde Mercia is a high mountain area, and the terrain of the Kingdom of Kojako is high in the north and low in the south, so the river flows to the south and the mountains are to the north."

"Right! This is it!"

Lawrence was very excited. If it only took him five or six hours to reach the new territory from the north, then the construction of the new port and the new territory would be several times faster!

Unfortunately, this road can only be taken in the cold winter. After the ice and snow melt in spring, we can only use the longer and one-way water and land route.

Lawrence soon waited for Catherine to return, and another three or four hours later waited for the sled dog team to arrive.

Salil climbed down from the quilt on the sleigh, stood up and asked, "Lawrence, why don't you leave?"

Lawrence said directly: "We're here. Behind us is the Hokuriku Kingdom. Let's go there now."

This time, I planned to take a boat there if I failed to explore the route. If I succeeded, I would go directly to the port to wait for someone.

Andrew's fleet can arrive in three or four days, but he has already been delayed for a day and a half.

Salil and others thought it would take more than a month to reach their destination, but they didn't expect it only took more than a day.

"Lawrence, are you right?" Salil looked at Lawrence in confusion.

Lawrence didn't waste any time and led everyone over the mountains and quickly approached the mountains in the north.

After arriving in the evening, everyone saw a village that was smoking. (End of chapter)