In the face of martyrs who are willing to sacrifice, all you need to do is adjust the angle of the blade in your hand, count down three, two, one...

And then, enjoy the gushing hot blood from his chest.

But when faced with a lunatic...

Only a lunatic can deal with a lunatic.

I foresaw the spring offensive of the kingdom, but I never thought they would give us despair in this season symbolizing hope.

When I'm with my wife, time always flies by. I'm almost forgetting the position I'm in.

Everyone is doing well, despite the chill of spring. The enthusiasm of the people's sowing has not been forced back at all. I am learning how to plant seeds in fertile soil and how to raise cattle and sheep. All of this is preparation for the future.

It has been five hundred and twenty-five days, and the diary has reached its seventh volume. How much knowledge can the human brain absorb? I think there is no limit. The absorption of new knowledge depends entirely on your level of enthusiasm. I still retain the same enthusiasm as when I first started.

Marital life has really become mundane. Sasa is used to me occasionally bursting out with a few sentences in Chinese, and I no longer nitpick at her habits. Now, as I watch her slowly descending the stairs, I would simply tell her to "take it slow." Certainly, we have lost a lot, like our eyes and our daughter, but what more can they take from us?

But they can still take away the admirable and lovely people around us.

In the morning, when Wilt reported to Wolfgang that he had killed two kingdom mages, I had a sense of foreboding. The kingdom raising troops is still too early, so they may be scouts sent to gather information, but something feels off.

"They were carrying two wooden boxes."

"What's inside?"

"It's said to be gold coins, but they haven't opened them yet. But the boxes are heavy and make a clanging sound."

Wooden boxes? Think about it, two soldiers from the opposing force carrying two wooden boxes onto our territory. It's definitely not filled with gold and silver treasures.

"The two mages claimed to be messengers seeking peace, and there were gold coins in both boxes."

"Why did you kill them all?"

"Because Raul ordered it. Regardless of whether they have hostile intentions, as long as they are kingdom mages, they must be killed."

Wilt glanced at me. Indeed, I gave this order to the werewolf patrol. But no matter how you look at it, there's something strange about this. So, I asked further, "Did you several manage to handle two mages without any resistance from their side?"

"Yes, they only claimed to be messengers seeking peace and didn't resist at all."

"Did you bring back the boxes and the bodies?"

"We did."

"Let me take a look."

Sasa heard the conversation and put on her coat, preparing her bow and arrows.

"Husband, I have a feeling..."

"Yes, something is off."

"Should I inform Auntie first?"

"Not yet. Honey, do you think it's possible for the kingdom to actually seek peace with us?"

"Impossible."

"Then do you think the two mages would completely surrender without resistance when facing werewolves?"

"Absolutely not."

"That's the problem. Wilt, immediately get everyone far away from those bodies and wooden boxes, as far as possible."

The conversation between Sasa and me was to explain to Wilt and the others why the situation was suspicious. After hearing it, Wilt acted swiftly to evacuate the crowd.

"Wife, you and Simmon go to the rooftop. You understand what I mean, right?"

"Um, be careful, husband."

"I know, love you."

"Love you."

Wolfrang was slightly surprised, and he began to admire the battle skills of our couple in dealing with emergencies.

I made various guesses about the two boxes and the unresisting magician. After all, I had a wild imagination. I speculated that there were bombs in the two boxes, controlled by the two magicians to explode when they were close to me, in order to assassinate me. I even considered the possibility of zombies intentionally sacrificing the two magicians, with something in the boxes that could revive the magicians and turn them into zombies to fight against us...

But when I saw that one magician had his head severed and the other was missing a heart, I immediately dismissed the zombie hypothesis. Werewolves were always ruthless, unless the situation didn't allow it. The crowd formed a large circle, with a distance of ten meters between the boxes and the bodies. I still felt unsafe at this distance and urged everyone to do something.

On the roof, my wife and Simmon respectively aimed their rifles and bows, in case the magicians suddenly played dead.

I stood five meters away, looking at the two boxes with Wolfrang and Park for a long time, but I couldn't see anything suspicious. The simple wooden boxes were suitable for transportation, but they didn't have the elaborate metal edges or locks for opening. The tribute to the king would never be packaged in such crude packaging, so now it could be confirmed that there were no coins in the boxes.

It was frustrating, not because I knew there were conspirators trying to harm me, but because I didn't know how they wanted to harm me. If I could confirm that there were bombs in the boxes, I would actually feel relieved.

"Wolfrang, is there any way to examine the bodies without touching them?"

"Ned should be able to."

"Then let him come and try. We should first check the bodies."

Ned was the eldest son of the horse ranch, and although his equestrian skills were not much better than mine, he surpassed me in the tricks on horseback. For example, skills like tying things with a rope, similar to those of a Western cowboy.

Soon, he used a rope to drag the two bodies closer to us. Because of what Huaier had said earlier, the magicians showed no abnormality other than not resisting. I boldly searched the clothes on the bodies. The magicians were as fast as a monk. There wasn't a penny in the pocket of their robes, only an edict and some random small items.

But I still found a problem, there were extra stitches on a part of the fabric of the robe.

"Wolfrang, cut off this part, yes, this piece."

Soon, the sharp claws of the werewolf cut off a piece of cloth from the robe. Inside this piece of cloth was a sheepskin paper with a palm-sized magic circle appearing before our eyes.

"Raul, this is..."

"A magic circle..."

My brain started to work at high speed, something it hadn't done for a long time. Magic circle, magicians who sacrificed themselves, rectangular wooden boxes...

What exactly were these clues trying to tell me?

"Everyone run! Run fast!!!"

Underneath my suddenly distorted face, another bold idea sparked in an instant - in the zombie hypothesis, they brought dead people in, so could it be that they also brought living people in?!

In addition to coordinating spells, magic circles also had a sealing function. When the two magicians died, the magic circle also became ineffective. Were the seals on the two wooden boxes released?

What would happen if someone came into contact with the seals?

I didn't dare to think about it, I just kept shouting and driving away the people around me.

No one ridiculed me for being easily startled because when Raul was in a panic, the situation must have been extremely dire.

"Burn those two crates for me!"

He ordered hastily, and torch after torch was thrown at the two coffin-like wooden boxes.

Sasa stood up on the rooftop and I quickly gestured and shouted for her to get down.

"Raul, what's going on? Tell me!"

"Call Leya, bring Leya here! And all the orcs, Nephila, any helpful monster, call them all!"

"Ah!"

Wolfrang grabbed a handful of wolf fur on his head, avoiding the wooden crates and went to find Leya for help. Huarte had already stood to my left front, ready to protect me with his body at any moment. I handed Park a gun and the two aimed at the wooden crates.

The crowd had been evacuated, Sasa prepared her magic arrows, and Simmon stood ready for precise shooting.

No matter what demons may jump out of these two Pandora's boxes, bullets will take care of them first!

However, this time, I, who advocated a preemptive strike, was the one struck first...

"Pong!"

There were two muffled explosions from inside the wooden containers, along with the burnt wood fragments flying in unison. I learned this from Huarte's injuries.

Huarte looked a lot like his brother Wolfrang, with the same gray-white fur on his back representing the Griesen family. But his back was instantly stained red with blood, shining under the 10 o'clock morning sun.

"Ha..."

Huarte turned around with difficulty, holding me and Park in his arms, pressing us down on the ground. In his last moments of consciousness, he wanted to protect us with his own body, the loyalty of a werewolf extending to death.

Before falling, I saw a unique white line from the magic arrow of Sasa.

It seemed that those two crates were not just bombs.

Looking back, if it weren't for this "crate incident," I might still naively think that everything was under control. Just like at a gambling table, the kingdom gets a third King to form a set while I only have two Aces in my hand, the situation changes in an instant.

Simmon's gun fired closely behind, seemingly hearing the crisp sound of metal clashing.

I struggled to move out from under Huarte's body, straightened my glasses and looked for the enemy who had broken out of the crate.

"Huh? Haven't breathed fresh air outside for a long time~"

"Brother, I want to sleep a little longer..."

A boy and a girl, with somewhat childish voices, were scattered amidst the shards on the ground. They were dressed in green clothes, their hands chained with heavy shackles that did not match their fragile bodies. I found the arrow shot by Sasa on the ground, but the arrow shaft was already cracked.

The boy was about fourteen or fifteen years old, with fair skin and messy chestnut curly hair.

The girl was probably a little over ten years old, with fair skin that was pale, and her golden long hair was much neater than the boy's.

Their green linen clothes were plain, short-sleeved and shorts, the kind of uniform worn only by prisoners.

"Sister, look, there's big brother over there!"

"Ah, it's really big brother!"

There were many pieces of burning or smoking wood debris around them. I stared blankly at the brother and sister who were stepping on the amethyst shards barefoot but without a scratch. Although I was scared, I didn't retreat. One of the main reasons I didn't run away at the time was because of Huarte's serious injury while protecting me.

"Hello, big brother. I'm Katherine~"

"Brother, today I should be Katherine~"

The little girl pouted and acted spoiled towards her brother.

"Well, okay."

"Hehe, big brother, I am Katherine and he is Katherine's shadow~"

I don't know what these siblings are up to, but it's certain that there's something wrong with them. At least the innocent smile on their faces, like Lulu, seems a bit twisted.

"Oh, this looks like a werewolf!"

"Yeah, the book says werewolves will eat disobedient children, didn't expect it to die so easily~"

The girl crouched down and poked Wirt's arm with her finger.

"So, big brother, play with us~"

The boy grinned, missing a front tooth.

"Sure, big brother has some fun toys here~"

I cocked the hammer of the revolver, which I had been hiding behind my back the whole time...