The world-devouring dragon

Night, silent.

Although the three Roberts nominally cooperated with the guy who called himself Umberto Bruni, their distrust of Umberto made the three choose to share a bedroom to prevent accidents. Wendy and Joan slept on the double bed in the bedroom, while Roberts made do with the small sofa lying nearby.

For the first time since escaping from Boston, the three of them had a rare sleep. At least as long as Uberto didn't cause trouble, they would be safe for the time being. But once the tension and vigilance in the past half month relaxed, what followed? What comes is the many confusions and questions...

"Tick tock...tick tock..."

The wall clock on the wall was ticking. Although the sound was clear, it was clear enough in the dead of night. No one spoke, but everyone knew that no one was asleep. The three of them were lying on the bed and sofa with their own thoughts. Can't sleep either.

A long silence...

Lying on the sofa, Roberts breathed very slowly and fell into a state of false sleep. His ears were listening to any slight sound around him, and he would wake up if there was the slightest abnormal sound. This was a habit he had learned from being a witcher for many years. Otherwise, he would have been killed countless times while sleeping.

"dad."

At this time, a voice suddenly sounded in my ears.

"Um."

Without opening his eyes, the demon hunter lying on the sofa just responded, as a response to his daughter.

"Actually, even now, I still can't believe it all..."

In the darkness, Roberts could only hear his daughter muttering to herself, a slightly childish voice filled with confusion.

"Suddenly, the father whom I rarely see in daily life turned into a legendary demon hunter for many years, and the kind and kind aunt turned into a cold and decisive female warrior with a rocket launcher on her shoulders, and then before I had time to react,... To be forced to fight against the legendary shadow government or something... It’s too weird no matter how you think about it. Isn’t this really a movie?”

"Joan, I'm sorry for bringing you into this."

Faced with her daughter's words, Roberts could only reply apologetically.

"Well, it's nothing. I just feel like I've been cheated, like I've been excluded from this family. I'm a little... unhappy."

Unable to see her face clearly in the darkness, Roberts could only hear the female voice muttering, with a hint of dissatisfaction in the hesitant voice. Roberts was silent. He didn't know what to say to his daughter. After all, he was the one who chose to hide all this with Wendy, and Wendy just obeyed his wishes.

"I'm sorry, Joan... I'm really sorry."

Roberts apologized to his daughter in a low voice, but Joan did not mean to blame him, but remained silent for a moment, and then murmured.

"I feel as if I have never understood you. Dad, can you tell me about your past?"

"There's nothing to talk about."

"Tell me a little bit~"

"..."

With his daughter acting like a spoiled child, Roberts finally couldn't resist, so after thinking about it for a while, he began to speak slowly.

"Joan, I told you that I am an Englishman. At the end of the last century, your great-grandfather was a highly respected knight in Wessex, England. Our family even retained an old castle and a small piece of about 172 Acres of territory…”

As he spoke, his voice dropped inexplicably, and then he said.

"Of course, this is all based on the information I collected later."

"Why?"

The daughter asked curiously, but Roberts did not answer her directly, but continued.

"I was born in 1961, nearly 20 years after the war ended. I vaguely remember that there were many women in the family. Except for some maids, they were all my aunts and aunts, because several of my uncles, grandfathers and Several distant male relatives died in the war that year. My father survived because he was still young at the time and was not old enough to join the army."

"After he and his mother gave birth to me, I became the only newborn male in the entire family. The entire family had high hopes for me, but I couldn't understand this at the time..."

As he spoke, his voice was filled with memories and rare tenderness.

"To this day, I can still think of the time when I rode the pony and ran happily on the plains of my family's territory. When the pony and I were tired, I would lead it to a small spring... Actually It's not even a spring, it's just a gurgling stream of water flowing out of the cracks in the rocks. I remember that the water was very clear and sweet. After drinking the water, I would play with the pony next to the stream, and then I often came back with my clothes covered in mud, and the maid secretly complained that my clothes were difficult to wash. But the women in the family were worried that the water was not clean, because I was the only male heir of the family, so they gave the rock to It was bulldozed, and I cried a lot because of this..."

"More often, I would lie on the grass and feel the wind blowing on my cheeks. The grass was very dense and soft, and I couldn't feel the presence of stones at all. I just lay like that, and the grass beside me Sometimes hyacinths and granola will fall on my nose and make me sneeze. I look at the clouds above my head, and sometimes I imagine that they are monsters with snarling teeth and claws, as well as heroic knights. In order to imitate those knights, I He also secretly made a wooden sword out of twigs, but no one knew about it.”

As he spoke, Roberts chuckled.

"The women of the family, the ancient castle, the vast plains, the father who rarely appeared... these are all the memories of my childhood."

"and after?"

"Later, they all died."

Roberts said calmly, without any tact or scruples. He knew that his daughter could now know about his family's past. The daughter was obviously shocked by Roberts's too calm tone. Even though they had never been masked, they were her relatives who were connected by blood, so she couldn't help but feel a little sad.

"In the spring of 1967, when I was 6 years old... I remember it very clearly. It was a very bright day. I took the pony out to play, and then I played until it started to get dark before I realized it. Although the family It has declined a lot, but there are still some old aristocratic rules. I knew that I would inevitably be taught a lesson when I went back, so I was very scared and did not dare to go back directly. I had to go back only after I was so hungry that I couldn't survive. As a result... "

"When I went back, what I saw were corpses and red blood all over the ground. Among the corpses stood a cold nobleman and many monsters. I was so scared that I wanted to run away, but he found me. At this moment, John My brother showed up and saved me.”

"Brother John?"

The daughter asked doubtfully.

"It is a mercenary group that specializes in hunting monsters in the other world. It was formerly the Knights of the First Crusade, and it is also one of the forces controlled by the monastery."

Roberts explained her doubts to her daughter.

"Later I found out that one of our ancestors was once the mortal enemy of that vampire. However, after the death of the ancestor, the guy came to seek revenge after his injury healed. That's why Brother John came and saved my life. .After that, I joined Brother John’s training camp for revenge, and eventually became a member of Brother John.”

"After that, I got the nickname "Iron Heart" because I was cold-blooded and cruel and never showed mercy. As for Wendy, when I was 21 years old, Wendy was only 8 years old, but because of her... Cong Hui has become one of Brother John’s little spies... Speaking of which, it’s been so many years without even realizing it.”

He muttered.

In the darkness, Joan was silent for a moment, and then asked hesitantly.

"Then...what kind of person is mom?"

Her voice was a little hesitant and cautious, because she knew that her father didn't like to mention her mother's things. She knew almost nothing about her mother, and even Wendy, who loved her the most, never wanted to talk about it.

She was answered by a long dead silence, and she felt as if she was facing an oppressive volcano. After a while, a slightly hoarse voice sounded.

"Betty...she is a very lively and kind girl."

Joan realized that her father was not in a good mood right now, so she thoughtfully did not mention the matter again and turned to Wendy.

"Speaking of which, Bruni said that Sister Wendy is the guardian of the Priory. What is that?"

But the next moment, she realized that she had said the wrong thing, because Wendy, who had been turning her back to her and silently listening to the father and daughter's night talk, suddenly froze...

The eldest sister who always loved her the most was rarely afraid and uneasy.

"Joan, there are some things that we don't need to know too much about. Everyone has their own little secrets. I believe Wendy, she will tell us one day."

Not far away, Roberts' voice sounded, and the voice was somewhat relieved, not only for Joan, but also for Wendy.

He was saying that he would no longer doubt Wendy, but he was waiting for Wendy to take the initiative to tell all this one day.

"...One day, I will tell you."

The murmuring voice said this with his back to the two of them.

Although the voice was very weak, Roberts still heard the words with his keen ears. Not long after, he closed his eyes and fell into a slumber. In his dream, he seemed to have returned to that day 18 years ago...

He was 25 years old that year. He was on a mission in the United States and was sitting in a taxi. There was always traffic jam in the bustling city. His face was unsmiling and cold as frost, quietly waiting for time to pass.

Suddenly, a red-haired girl opened his car door like a dancing flame. Just when he subconsciously tried to take out the gun from his arms... the red-haired girl hurriedly made a quiet movement.

"Shhh...can you hide for a while?"

The slender fingers were raised in front of her lips, with a slight blush on her face. Her bright eyes were full of curiosity and excitement, and she said half-begging. Behind her, not far away, several people wearing black clothes could be vaguely seen. A big man searching everywhere.

For some reason, the young man who should have refused looked into those eyes, but couldn't refuse.

"All right."

So, the story happened...

…

Two months later, among the glaciers of the Antarctic continent, an icebreaker was moving forward.

"It's finally here."

Wearing thick clothes and looking at the Antarctic frozen soil that has not changed for hundreds of millions of years, Roberts murmured, and several people on the boat looked at the endless glacier world.