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The next day. As the day broke, the people who had been asleep began to wake up.

Despite the fact that it couldn’t be called a comfortable sleep, the people’s complexions were bright. The fatigue from the previous day had been so overwhelming that they had literally collapsed like mud and slept soundly. The bloody battle with the hellish undead had left them with psychological trauma, and the nightmare-like bad developments had, fortunately, not occurred the previous night.

In the vitality of the morning, the people began to move again. They drew water from the camp’s well, tended to the horses, repaired the wagons, rolled up the tents, and rekindled the embers of the campfire to reheat the leftover stew from the night before. After breakfast and tidying up, they were soon ready to depart.

Casually glancing outside the camp, some people began to murmur in surprise.

“Whoa, what on earth is that?”

“Have the monsters gone mad?”

What made them murmur was the scene unfolding outside the camp. The people who followed the murmuring sounds couldn’t help but gape at the intense scene outside the camp.

Kyaaa!

Keruk, kerurr……

Kuwa, kuakakya!

The sight of monsters slaughtering each other wasn’t something one could see often. Of course, monsters had their own hostile relationships and predator-prey dynamics, but that didn’t mean such scenes were common.

This was because monsters, like other creatures in the ecosystem, had the characteristics of ‘territorial creatures.’ It was inevitable. With the concept of ‘hunger’ and the structure of solving it through ‘predation,’ predators had to become hunters, and hunters needed hunting grounds.

Since the survival methods of monsters weren’t much different from other carnivores, they needed to secure their own hunting grounds, which also had to be places where they could avoid threats from other predators. Consequently, those who could do so survived, and those who couldn’t died, so it was perhaps natural that monsters adapted to the current ecosystem had the instincts of territorial creatures.

In that sense, the scene unfolding before their eyes outside the camp was unusual.

Monsters with two hind legs and one front leg, with worm-like heads, were opening their circular beaks wide to swallow the heads of nearby goblins. Inside the circular beaks were countless layers of saw-like teeth, capable of crushing the swallowed heads like a millstone.

As for the goblins, they were shooting poison darts at the necks of creatures resembling Ricardo. In turn, those creatures were smashing the heads of monsters that looked like a mix of lizards and pangolins with primitive maces.

Everywhere was more or less like that. Although it was a camp located on a road, there didn’t seem to be any large or flying monsters nearby, but a grand free-for-all survival party of monsters of a size one might see around the road was in full swing.

Without knowing the inside story, one might first think that the monsters had gone mad.

But the reactions of those who knew the inside story were slightly different.

“Tsk tsk, this is why monsters…”

“Indeed, I heard the report last night, but this is beyond expectations.”

Common sense dictated that with soldiers properly on guard, no one could fail to notice what was happening outside the camp’s palisade.

Having heard the report from the night watch about the abnormal situation outside the camp and grasped the general situation from the spellcaster Brantley Somz, the two Friedrichs watched the chaotic slaughter of monsters without showing any surprise and exchanged glances.

‘This definitely has some exploitable aspects.’

‘It looks very useful militarily, my lord.’

To suppress the chaos in the empire, they had to consider not only politics and diplomacy but also military movements. A method to hide allies or confuse enemies without the spellcaster’s intervention was a treasure beyond measure for those leading an army.

The spellcaster Brantley Somz was different. Having already heard from Sophia about the intricacies of the formation, he knew that the formation surrounding the camp didn’t have any mechanism to trap monsters.

All it had was a function to distort the sense of direction of approaching creatures and induce illusions to mislead them…

It seemed that these greedy and grotesque monsters, even after being driven out, kept returning to the formation, expecting the scent of humans. The part where they couldn’t smell the other predators inside the formation was perhaps due to Sophia’s formation functioning too well.

After such events repeated, the formation unintentionally became like a pot of solitude, and the monsters ended up engaging in a bloody feast of killing each other, influenced by the illusions shown by the formation and other monsters that had ‘voluntarily’ entered it. This was the scene people witnessed outside the camp at this moment.

“So, what should we do with them now?”

Brantley Somz suddenly asked Sophia. Now that they had to set out again, they couldn’t just leave the rampaging monsters outside the camp.

Originally, they might have had to fight another defensive battle at the camp, but thanks to the formation, they had a relatively comfortable sleep. However, they couldn’t stay holed up in the camp forever.

In response to Brantley Somz’s question, Sophia blurted out:

“Would you like to give it a try?”

It seemed like a rather abrupt statement. But upon hearing Sophia’s words, Brantley Somz hesitated for a moment, then nodded and stepped forward. The two Friedrichs, who had been paying attention to Sophia and Brantley, focused their gaze on Brantley as he stepped forward, their eyes sparkling with interest.

‘Somz isn’t usually the type to confidently step forward like this. There must be something worth seeing this time.’

They were well aware of what kind of man Brantley Somz usually was. Whenever asked for anything, he would always say things like, “A spellcaster isn’t as convenient as you think,” or “I’m a rune mage, not an elementalist or druid,” always with a lot of grumbling. That was Brantley Somz.

For such a man to step forward without his usual grumbling, it was both puzzling and intriguing.

As the two Friedrichs watched with keen interest, Brantley Somz calmed his racing pulse by steadying his breathing and began to check the spell he had newly engraved in his mind that morning.

Rummaging through his pockets, Brantley Somz held three rune stones between his fingers. His drowsy, flickering eyes suddenly widened. In an instant, a pale spell circuit flashed across the whites of his eyes, and the next moment, the three rune stones left his hand and shot towards key points of the formation.

The names of the runes were ᛞ (Dagaz – Day), ᛊ (Sowilo – Sun), Δ (Teiwaz – Branch). The gates of the formation they were heading towards were the Rest Gate, the Scenery Gate, and the Shock Gate.

Tsu tsu tsu――, gru gru gru……

As if finding their rightful places, the rune stones settled into the core positions of the formation and were soon enveloped in light, transforming into massive rune stones reminiscent of ancient northern fantasy stones.

Now, here’s a question. If there’s a device where colorless, transparent water circulates in a constant flow, what happens if you drop a drop of dye into this flow?

‘The answer is, ‘The flow becomes colored by the dye!”

The white glow of Dagaz released from the Rest Gate, the yellow glow of Sowilo released from the Scenery Gate, and the eerie glow of Teiwaz released from the Shock Gate didn’t take long to merge. At this moment, the energy flowing inside the formation began to function as the manifestation of this new rune combination.

The image created by this rune combination was ‘the midday sun on a branch.’ But for the northern skalds, a branch was a metaphor for a staff or a sword, a kenning (a type of skaldic poetic device).

Then Brantley inscribed the activation word for his new spell.

“Khaelad-teinn (Midday Sun Sword)!”

It was released. Intuitively, Brantley Somz felt it. The sensation of the spell being fully liberated to its finest tip, the most successful release of a spell. For a moment, his consciousness expanded beyond the confines of his body, following the flow of the formation, and in a sense of omnipotence, he swung the spell sword in his hand.

The next moment, people felt a pungent, acrid smell刺激着他们的鼻子。仿佛空气本身在燃烧一样，令人毛骨悚然的气味。接着，空中开始零星地出现闪烁的火花和细微的风。

起初，它们看起来像是虚幻地出现，但不久后，它们的样子就完全改变了。换句话说，它们开始不可控制地扩大势力，最终变成了一场席卷营地周围区域的超级热风暴。

“哇，火疯了！快逃！”

“逃到哪里去啊？！”

士兵们惊慌失措，骚动起来，连两位弗里德里希也不禁冷汗直流。他们做梦也没想到会看到如此威力的咒语。或者说，他们根本不知道布兰特利·索姆兹这个人竟然有释放如此威力咒语的能力。

与此同时，随着世界的流动，旋转的火焰洪流维持了一段时间的猛烈势头，然后逐渐减弱，最终完全消失。

在耀眼的热风暴消散的地方，只剩下白色的灰烬和怪物的遗骸。刚才那激烈的屠杀现场，连痕迹都没有留下。

在那可怕的火焰威力面前，士兵们感到敬畏的同时，骑士们发现了一些奇怪的东西。

“真是惊人的火力！我都不禁脊背发凉了。”

“确实很厉害。不过，不知道是不是我的错觉，总觉得有点奇怪？”

“奇怪？什么意思？”

“你看那面旗帜，不是完好无损吗？连怪物都烧成灰了，那火焰席卷而过，旗帜却一点事都没有。”

正如负责左翼前锋护卫的骑士罗兰特·米兰森和负责左翼后卫的骑士汉斯·瓦格纳的对话内容一样。

那压倒性的火焰席卷而过的地方，营地外各处插着的旗帜却完好无损，连一点烧焦的痕迹都没有。

“确实，再怎么想，连一点烟灰都没有，这也太奇怪了吧？到底是怎么回事？”

不仅仅是旗帜，周围的其他地形地物也是如此。堆砌的石堆、水坑、土堆等，前一天索菲亚为了布置阵法而设置的东西，在那场火焰中竟然毫发无损。

感到奇怪的人们将目光投向索菲亚和布兰特利，希望得到解释，但他们从两人那里没有得到任何回答。只是，刚刚展示了大咒语的布兰特利·索姆兹向索菲亚默默表示了敬意。

在各种惊讶和波澜之后，马车再次离开了营地。大约半天后，正午时分，施瓦本伯爵一行人终于到达了他们的目的地——维也纳。

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低地的代表性小吃中，有一种叫做“华夫饼（wafel）”的东西。制作方法很简单，将面粉糊倒入格子模具中，用模具压住烤制即可。

然而，深入探究的话，这种华夫饼小吃蕴含着相当丰富的可能性。最明显体现这一点的就是不同地区的华夫饼形态变化。

虽然都是用格子模具烤制面糊，但奥兰治式华夫饼和拿骚式华夫饼却是完全不同的两种小吃。

拿骚华夫饼以其特有的厚实和松软口感而被称为“柔软华夫饼（zacht wafel）”，而奥兰治华夫饼则像饼干一样薄脆，中间夹着焦糖或糖浆，被称为“糖浆华夫饼（stroop wafel）”。

吃法也不同。拿骚华夫饼像煎饼一样，上面涂满奶油和糖浆，享受其柔软和嚼劲，偶尔还能品尝到华夫饼中嵌入的珍珠糖的脆感。而奥兰治华夫饼则是将层层叠叠的薄脆华夫饼夹着糖浆，在咖啡的热气中稍微融化时，与咖啡一起享用。

斯特拉本赫尔的人们也是低地人，喜欢华夫饼的倾向是一样的。不过，斯特拉本赫尔人并没有特别偏爱某一种华夫饼。或许是因为地理上不属于拿骚或奥兰治？斯特拉本赫尔人只是根据当时的情况和口味，随意享用两种华夫饼。

在温馨的茶馆里喝咖啡时，他们会享用奥兰治华夫饼；在街头简单填饱肚子时，他们会大口咬下涂满奶油的拿骚华夫饼。斯特拉本赫尔人的这种态度，简单来说，就是只要好吃就行。这真是最典型的低地人实用主义思维。

玛丽亚跟随她的师父来到斯特拉本赫尔后，最喜欢的零食也是这种华夫饼。首先，它很方便，随时想吃就能买到。在斯特拉本赫尔的街头，最常见的零食就是华夫饼。

不过，除此之外，玛丽亚也很喜欢斯特拉本赫尔的华夫饼文化。这种格子形状的饼干或煎饼，涂上甜味的东西来吃，至少在她住在瓦伦西亚的时候，是无法想象的。

这种普通的街头小吃，对于当时只是为了生存而活着的她来说，简直是奢侈得离谱。

“嗯。”

玛丽亚咬了一大口涂满奶油和糖浆的拿骚华夫饼，再次感受到了时代的变迁。如果当时她没有接受带领那位少年游览瓦伦西亚的任务，她现在会过着怎样的生活呢？她的生活正处于变革的中间阶段，甚至让她害怕偶尔会梦到过去。

现在，她已经有了足够的零花钱，可以毫不犹豫地买这种奢侈的街头小吃；虽然没有家人，但她有了敬爱的师兄和师父；而且……

而且，她也有了在必要时保护自己的力量和技术。

是的，就像现在这种情况。

“唔唔。（还没吃完一半呢。）”

玛丽亚看着手中还热乎乎的华夫饼，露出了遗憾的表情。如果说面无表情也能露出遗憾的表情，那就是玛丽亚的脸了。她犹豫了一会儿，盯着手中的华夫饼，最后无奈地扔下华夫饼，施展轻功向斯特拉本赫尔主教教堂跑去。

她那双明亮的眼睛，敏锐地追踪着那群可疑人物前往斯特拉本赫尔教堂的动向。

 

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