The Fourth Volume of Ice and Snow Road 015. Rare and Precious

  "No..." Casimir shook his head weakly, "I'm not a fool, of course I knew that if they were willing to pay so much money, then this task would be absolutely not simple. So at the time, I didn't hesitate and refused the task."

  "What's next?" Du Fan asked.

  "Then... when I was about to leave, that person added another condition, which I accepted without hesitation." Casimir's face twisted in distaste. "He said one more thing as I left: if you can complete this task, not only will you get the 100 gold coins, but I guarantee that from now on, the Snow Fox Mercenary Band won't have to do jobs like this anymore. You'll be able to live and work in the southern part of the empire with a decent job and a suitable status... as long as you can come back alive..."

  Du Fan furrowed his brow and said, "With such a simple condition, you can change your mind at will?"

  "It's not... that simple," Kasimir shook his head, "We mercenaries, although we're bloodthirsty and good at killing, making a living on the edge of our blades, but do you think there are many people willing to do this? We fight for our lives all our lives, which one of us doesn't carry some hope with him? If there's an opportunity that can let us get rid of this kind of life... then... even if it means paying with our lives, we're willing."

  Du Fan nodded thoughtfully and after a moment, said: "So...since you've given us such benefits, what exactly is your next task for us?"

  Kasimir let out a long sigh, suddenly shook his head, and gestured to Dufan to look at his tattered boots, saying: "Dufan sir, the things you want to know are all recorded in there. I just hope that after you find out about this matter, you can give us a quick end."

  Du Fan smiled faintly and said, "Didn't I already agree with you guys a long time ago?"

  Kasimir smiled faintly, as if he had seen through the vicissitudes of life and death.

  Du Fan didn't look at him again, but instead frowned and stared at the smelly boots on the ground without saying a word.

  Although Fei Re was nauseating to death, looking at Du Fan's expression, he had no choice but to bend down and search inside his shoes for a moment before pulling out a sheepskin scroll the size of a palm.

  The bright energy on his hand flashed by, burning all the strange objects on the sheepskin roll clean, and then he respectfully presented the sheepskin roll to Du Fan.

  Du Fan glanced at the sheepskin scroll, his eyes flickering for a moment before he shook his head and said: "So that's how it is. I understand what your mission is without you needing to say it. However...I had originally planned to spare your lives if possible, but in this situation, it's not possible to let you off...Kasimier, don't blame me when you get to hell, blame your own bad luck."

  Kasimir burst out laughing with a loud guffaw.

  But just as he was laughing halfway, his voice suddenly stopped, and Dou Fan's sword had already swept across his throat. Kasimir's head was squeezed out of the blood jetting from his neck into mid-air, and before it could fall to the ground, the bloody head was frozen in place, a crystal clear red connecting his body and head, which was quite a rare sight.

  Du Fan silently shook off the bloodstains on the sword tip and sighed again: "Good sword!"

  However, after the sword had spun a few times in his hand, it was thrown into Ferre's arms. Dufan's eyes swept over the three mercenaries on the ground and he said in a low voice: "Kill them."

  He said, and he walked out of the tent without looking back.

  Ferré grasped the long sword still dripping with fresh blood, slightly furrowed his brow, hesitated for a moment, and then slit the throats of the three mercenaries on the ground one by one.

  A yellowed parchment lay spread out on the table, inside a warm and cozy tent, where Dou Fan, Nicolas, Tasia, and Alfred sat separately.

  Although no one spoke, everyone's eyes fell on the sheepskin scroll.

  That sheepskin map, with its coarse lines and rough details, was recognizable to all four of them. The destination indicated on the map was not somewhere else, but the very place Dufan and his companions were headed for - the Temple of the Gods.

  Alfred knocked on the table with his hand and said in a low voice: "What do you think this represents?"

  Nicholas smiled and sighed, "Specifically what it represents I'm not quite clear, but one thing is certain, this sheepskin volume has existed for more than a hundred years. In other words, before the Roland Academy, someone had already discovered this temple, otherwise, this map wouldn't have been passed down."

  Tasia didn't say a word, just nodded and then glanced at Du Fan.

  Du Fan let out a bitter laugh and said, "You don't all have to look at me. In my opinion, this thing shouldn't be something that someone from Roland Academy came up with. If it were them, they would have gone to the Divine Palace as soon as they discovered this map. How could they possibly wait until now?"

  The others nodded slightly, which was tantamount to agreeing on this point.

  Du Fan thought for a moment, then said in a low voice: "In any case, we should now consider that there seems to be a third party intervening in the affairs of the Temple of God outside of us and Roland Academy. Although we unintentionally solved one group of mercenaries, who knows if this is their vanguard? For mercenaries, they can easily promise them an identity, from this point of view, the power behind them must not be small, even if it's not as high as our Holy Church, but it's absolutely not simple."

  Several others exchanged a glance, and they all saw the horror in each other's eyes. If Du Fan's guess was correct, an organization with such power would not do things so simply. What they feared most was that apart from this group of mercenaries, they had no idea how many more people were brought into this northern ice field.

  Alfred slammed his hand on the table and said decisively, "No matter what, we don't have time to rest tonight. Nicholas-sama and Tasia-sama, please don't hold back from now on. Our top priority is to reach our destination as soon as possible. If we're even a minute late, I'm afraid we won't even have the chance to regret it later."

  Du Fan nodded and said, "The current situation is unclear, but we have grasped a few advantages. We should hurry to that place as soon as possible. If everything goes well, it's not impossible for these mysterious guys and the people from Roland Academy to have a big fight."

  In this number of people, the faith in the God of Light is so devout that when Du Fan said such words, he immediately indicated that even if it means abandoning his own sanctity and benevolence for the sake of the God of Light, it would be acceptable.

  That night, Du Fan and his team set off again, with Tasia's magic cloak making her no longer afraid of the cold, and Nicholas no longer holding back his strength, the team's progress was indeed faster.

  In the following days, a team of people marched day and night, rapidly advancing towards their destination. Finally, after three days, they arrived at the mouth of the valley where the temple was located.

  On this road, due to the clashes with the demons, nearly half of the dozens of Temple Knights have been sacrificed. The remaining less than thirty Temple Knights are all injured, but Du Fan and the other four people did not take action for their own reasons. Du Fan was because he knew his strength was not enough, taking action would be suicidal, so he was happy to stay out of it. As for what the others' reasons were, it was not something Du Fan could understand. Also because of this, these four main characters had nothing to do with each other.

  This place is the boundary between the northern ice field and the frozen forest. If you continue north, it's a dense white forest, and after the frozen forest, there's said to be a vast and desolate continent, but no one knows what it's like.

  But Du Fan and others' destination this time was in a valley on the outskirts of the Ice Forest.

  Perhaps due to the relationship of thousands of years of geographical changes, although most parts of the northern ice field are flat and even, there is a continuous mountain range at the junction of the ice-enclosed forest. This mountain range stretches for thousands of kilometers, and it's unknown whether it connects with the Dawn Mountains on the eastern side of the Roland continent.

  Du Fan stood on one side of the valley, and at this moment he had nothing but the cotton clothes on his body. He faced the warm wind blowing from the valley and frowned, saying: "This place is really strange."

  Nicholas stood beside him, and due to the unmasked divine power, a layer of pure white light appeared on his body. He stared at the scenery in the valley and sighed: "It's indeed strange, in this icy northern land, but there is actually a valley with four seasons like spring. If no one had seen it with their own eyes, who would have believed it?"

  Du Fan slightly shook his head and said, "This place is so secretive, I don't know how Ordas discovered it that day. I think no one would be interested in coming to this place for sightseeing."

  As they spoke, the few of them exchanged a glance, and each saw the shock in the others' eyes. Du Fan didn't say anything, but this conversation made everyone understand that if Orid wasn't here to play, he must be here to cultivate. No wonder he could enter the 8th level at such a young age. It's clear that his determination and willpower are truly rare and precious.

  As soon as he thought of this trip, Du Fan couldn't help but feel a bit numb in the scalp, wondering if such characters could really be dealt with by those conspiracies and tricks.