Scanning the complete letter, Er Mu felt a chill run down his spine.
A devil grand duke capable of opening the gates of hell and allowing troops to come and go freely?
Undoubtedly, this was extremely important intelligence—in fact, he had been puzzled by the unscathed fall of Snowfall Fortress. Apart from confirming that the devils had invaded the city from due north, other accounts he had gathered were wildly inconsistent. Apparently, the civilians who had witnessed the devils' descent had all perished in the invasion.
Now, he finally had confirmation.
However, what shocked him even more was that this devil grand duke was well-versed in human rules, not only interacting with nobles but also quickly becoming the de facto controller of Eternal Winter. Currently, the mobilization of conscripted civilians from various territories was primarily at its behest. And the benefits promised by the other side were quite generous, far beyond what Graycastle could offer.
Additionally, the letter's record of the conscripted civilians' movements was also valuable. Although it couldn't be equated to the distribution of the devils' forces, it could at least be used to analyze where they were generally heading.
It was certain that the person who wrote this letter was not a rat or a merchant. From the perspective, this person must be in the upper echelons of Eternal Winter.
The entire page was well-organized and clearly stated, requiring neither transcription nor further simplification. Sending it out in its entirety would constitute crucial intelligence, undoubtedly belonging to the highest priority level.
The problem was that the merchant team used to deliver the information had left Snowfall Fortress yesterday—to avoid attracting attention as much as possible, Black Money had only placed one person in the caravan, as a driver. It was almost impossible to get the team to turn back, and the next caravan wouldn't depart for another week.
If the time spent traveling was added, the delivery time would only be extended.
Ermu hesitated for a long time, then abruptly stood up, placing all the other papers on the table into the cabinet, leaving only the letter.
Next was the waterproof sealing wax treatment.
After completing all of this, he blew out the oil lamp, carefully tucked the letter against his body, returned to the first floor, and gestured to the Silent One.
"I need to leave the city personally. If anything happens here, light the fire oil downstairs."
Just as Ermu turned to leave, the Silent One reached out and stopped him, shaking his head almost imperceptibly, then pointing to himself.
Let him stay and take care of this place, letting him take care of the dangerous task...
Ermu chuckled. "It's just delivering a letter, I'll be back in two or three days at most. You can't speak and don't know where the rendezvous point is, so you can't help me with this task."
However, sign language did not have such complex words, so he only made one gesture: "This is an order."
The hand holding him released.
Ermu patted the other's chest and left the house without looking back.
Since the master required him to fully assist Graycastle, delivering this letter as quickly as possible was the top priority. After all, according to the Graycastle people, intelligence had a shelf life, and the longer some news was delayed, the more variables there would be.
For this reason, they had also set up emergency contact points in villages more than ten miles from the city and equipped them with incredible animal messengers, which he heard could send messages from here to Dawn in just a few days.
And that village was his destination.
Leaving Snowfall Fortress without permission did have risks, but overall it was still within controllable limits. In fact, people were leaving the Northern Lands every day through various means, even leaving Eternal Winter—although the red mist and blood-red moon overhead had not had a substantial impact on people's lives, Graycastle's propaganda and rumors of devils had gradually taken root. No matter how the lords tried to stop it, they could not completely dispel people's fear of these terrifying aliens.
Those escapees were undoubtedly his best cover.
Ermu knew that as long as he acted alone, the possibility of being targeted by flying devils was not high, and the guards on the main roads were even easier to deal with—gold dragons were, after all, the standard currency in the human world.
The reality was much the same as he had anticipated.
When the sky was dimly lit the next morning, Ermu passed through the south gate of Snowfall
Fortress without incident. To exclusively pocket the gold dragons in his pocket, the guard didn't even alarm anyone else and quietly opened the small door on the inside of the city wall.
Once past the Icy Abyss, the road ahead would be unobstructed.
Whenever he saw a dark shadow appear in the sky, he would quickly dive into the snow, his white coat becoming a natural camouflage. And those footprints looked no different from those left by wild animals when viewed from high altitude.
By afternoon, he could vaguely see the smoke rising from the village.
Wiping the white frost from his nose, Ermu couldn't help but quicken his pace.
Like the way letters were received in the city, he didn't need to connect with the Graycastle people. He only needed to place the information in the agreed location and leave a code.
But at that moment, he heard the sound of horses' hooves behind him.
Ermu couldn't help but be stunned. He looked back, his heart sinking slightly. Damn it, why would there be Snowfall Fortress cavalry here?
The Graycastle people chose this village precisely because it was remote, and it would be difficult to detect one or two foreigners sneaking in. Usually, nobles would block refugees near the main roads, so there was no reason for them to come here.
The distance between the two quickly narrowed. Obviously, the other party had also seen him and it was no longer possible to hide.
Ermu simply stopped and put on a flattering smile towards the people coming—there were two of them. As long as he gave them enough gold dragons, they shouldn't make things too difficult for him.
The cavalry reined in their horses in front of him, looking down at him, "Hey, I knew these fleeing people would choose some out-of-the-way paths, and we actually found one."
"Ah, lucky you."
Sure enough... was it a patrol team catching refugees?
"L-Lord, please spare my life!" Ermu pretended to be extremely frightened, kneeling down in the snow with a thud, holding up his money bag with both hands, revealing the conspicuous gold dragons inside. "I really don't want to stay in a place with those devils from hell. They are monsters who don't blink an eye! I am willing to offer all my savings, please let me go!"
"Oh? You have quite a bit of savings." The cavalry leaned over to take the money bag, a hint of a smile in their voice.
"It's all yours now... R-Right, I have relatives in Wolfheart. As long as you don't take me back, I will definitely find a way to repay you in the future!"
"Get up."
Ermu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Generally speaking, this step was basically passed. Being a refugee who could save gold dragons was definitely a minority, and the "relatives in neighboring countries" would also add a lot of credibility—if there was no benefit to killing, they would not want to cause more trouble. After all, letting go of one or two refugees would not cause them any loss, and there was no need to cut off the possibility of future repayment.
But the other party did not wave him away. Instead, he lifted his visor, "Look at me carefully."
On his cheek was a conspicuous scar, as if gnawed by some beast. His entire ear was missing, and even half of his eye had become deformed and twisted.
And the curling flesh showed that this injury had obviously just healed recently.
"Lord, what happened to you..."
"Injured by the Graycastle people's firearms." The cavalry said slowly, "At the time, everyone thought I was beyond saving, but I survived. Even now, I can still feel the burning pain on my face, reminding me who caused all of this—"
By the end, his voice had completely cooled down.
A strong sense of foreboding rose in Ermu's heart.
But before he could create distance, the other man, claiming to be his brother, had already raised his whip and lashed it hard across his face.
Ermu felt a darkness before his eyes and fell down, covering his face.
"That's right, it's you! If it weren't for you damn escapees, why would I have to fight the Graycastle people! What Divine Will War, what human destiny, it's all bullshit!" As he said this, the other party's voice was close to roaring, "Don't worry, I won't take you back, and I won't kill you here—all I want to do is let you taste my pain too!"
Then
He pulled on the reins and rode his horse to trample on Ermu's legs.
"Crack—"
An unspeakable pain instantly flooded Ermu's brain, and he instinctively screamed out.
Then came the second leg.
Not until the snow was stained with blood and his legs became a mass of blurred, connected flesh did the pursuer stop the mount from trampling.
"Don't worry, you're not the first, and you won't be the last." The knight sneered sinisterly, "Now... you can run as much as you want."
Ermu didn't notice when the two left.
He bit his lip hard to barely concentrate his scattered consciousness.
His lower body had completely lost sensation, and the ice and snow were slowly taking away the temperature in his body.
He touched the clothes on his chest, and the letter was still in its original position—in the eyes of those two, he was probably as good as dead.
Unexpectedly, there was no resentment towards the two in his mind, nor was there any strong unwillingness. Under the torturous alternation of stinging and cold, thinking was an extremely difficult thing. The only remaining thought was the intelligence in his arms.
Ermu used his last strength to move towards the agreed location.
As he climbed to the top of a hillside overlooking the village, night was gradually enveloping the earth. The occasional flickering lights in the village seemed to be close at hand, yet as distant as stars.
He did not put the letter in the hiding place, because he himself was the final container of the intelligence.
As darkness was about to engulf everything, the kind face of his master Barihe.Losar appeared before Ermu's eyes.
He closed his eyes and whispered.
"Father..."