"He said so himself."
Alatar left those words and walked confidently toward the palace.
Near the pavilion, Levi leaned to one side while Halbarad sat on the steps, and they waited there patiently.
"This Blue Wizard might indeed have some special abilities."
"Yes, after all, he is a wizard."
The two placed considerable trust in the Blue Wizard.
But even when mealtime came, they still hadn't seen him return.
Seeing his hunger meter had dropped by one point, Levi suddenly pulled out a basket of cram spread with butter and honey and took out two pieces, one for himself and one for Halbarad.
"A specialty of Dale. You can't see this in these parts. Want to try?"
Halbarad took it and bit into it.
"Sweet and delicious. Whoever invented this must have put a lot of effort into it."
"I think so too. This was given to me by a pastry shop owner. I've always carried it but haven't eaten much."
Under the warm sunlight, the two chatted as if they were out on vacation.
The scene looked quite peaceful and harmonious.
Until a wind blew by.
Whoosh.
A sea-blue shadow flashed past in front of them.
A moment later, this blue shadow slipped back.
"Run quickly!"
He shouted this and continued racing into the distance.
"What?"
Halbarad was chewing cram and hadn't quite reacted yet.
Levi looked in the opposite direction, swallowed his bread, then quite calmly took another bite of jerky.
He saw that from the direction the Blue Wizard had come, a golden army of several hundred people was rapidly advancing toward them.
Yes, a golden army.
Those people were each strong and serious-faced, wearing well-crafted gold-plated armor with exquisite and gorgeous decorations on their helmets, clearly an elite appearance.
At this moment they were pursuing aggressively in this direction.
"Shouldn't we also run?"
Halbarad looked at that army, his legs already barely able to stand.
Burp.
The jerky went down.
Levi said without looking back: "It's fine. They're not chasing us. As long as we don't panic, they probably won't suspect us."
"After all, from the beginning it was only the Blue Wizard running, and they're only chasing the Blue Wizard."
"We're just two ordinary civilians passing by who don't even know him."
"That makes sense."
Halbarad nodded.
The so-called most dangerous place being the safest place. This method did have some feasibility.
Just as the two were contentedly eating bread in the pavilion.
"Why are you still here? They're about to arrive. Run quickly!"
The Blue Wizard suddenly returned to shout, his voice so loud it could be heard echoing from somewhere.
Levi looked up at the Blue Wizard with his 'I'm doing this for your own good' expression, then at the army that had changed direction toward them.
Finally, he exchanged glances with Halbarad.
"Now we should run."
"Agreed."
Whoosh. Without warning, both immediately got up and ran, directly leaving Alatar behind.
"Wait for me!"
The Blue Wizard panted as he chased after them.
"Levi, think of something quickly. I know you must have ideas."
After running for a while, seeing pursuers surrounding them from all directions, Halbarad's feet went left then right, keeping him busy and sweating profusely.
The city was full of enemy troops, and outside was even worse. Tens of thousands of orcs plus a group of beasts were stationed there.
No matter how you looked at it, engaging in battle here wouldn't be wise.
"Huff, huff..."
At this time, Alatar came running over, leaning on his staff and panting heavily.
Two not-very-friendly gazes pressed down on him.
"Ahaha..."
The old man laughed sheepishly.
"You better think of a good solution, or I won't be able to look after you when I draw my sword."
Levi was now convinced this guy did it on purpose.
Dense footsteps grew closer and closer.
Alatar suddenly struck his staff on the ground. With a flash of white light, the three figures disappeared from their original location.
The palace guards who arrived belatedly looked at the empty space before them in bewilderment.
"I clearly heard voices."
"..."
A moment of silence.
Thud!
Not far from the city gate, on the inner side of the city wall, the three appeared.
"Is this the power of wizards?"
Halbarad looked around in wonder. There was no longer any sound of pursuers nearby.
Not only Halbarad, but even the Blue Wizard himself was amazed.
When did I have such authority?
"The danger isn't over yet. The city gate is full of orcs. We need to figure out how to blend our way out."
"I remember someone saying to leave everything to him."
Halbarad stared fixedly at this Blue Wizard.
"Trust me, this was an accident. For various reasons, after I temporarily expelled the darkness harbored in the heart of the king on the throne, he still chose to cooperate with Sauron."
"Now there's good news. The king here has become slightly more lucid and no longer blindly follows the Great Enemy's commands."
"The bad news is he's still hostile to us."
"If you, like me, are here to oppose the Great Enemy, then you'll have to face the Easterlings too."
Hearing this, Halbarad looked troubled.
After briefly explaining the current situation, Alatar looked around and asked:
"Where's Levi?"
Halbarad pointed toward the city wall.
There was now a two-meter-high hole there.
"Oh, breaking city walls like this really isn't something law-abiding people should do, but this isn't exactly a place of order..."
Alatar quite naturally walked outside.
"Block magic..."
He said, watching Levi, who was still digging outward: "Any city wall becomes as fragile as paper before such methods."
"It's just a pity we're always cast in the role of defenders."
"How dare you assume it can't be used for defense?"
Pat pat.
The city wall was sealed again.
Alatar stood there stunned.
"Very good, excellent, absolutely wonderful. This power, now I understand what the title 'Master of Miraculous Block Magic' truly means."
"Don't be curious about me for now."
Outside the city wall, Levi asked: "I'm more interested in knowing about you and that army you mentioned. What exactly is your situation?"
"That's a long story."
Alatar placed one hand against the somewhat rough protruding wall nearby and said: "The Great Enemy's tyrannical rule has continued on this land for a long time, ever since I arrived here."
"Except for the end of the Second Age, during that Last Alliance battle when the Great Enemy was defeated. When he was defeated, the people here briefly escaped from tyrannical rule for a while."
"However, though the Great Enemy temporarily departed, the influence he brought never faded for long. Darkness remained in people's hearts, and even expelling just a corner of this darkness took much time."
While speaking, Alatar suddenly staggered and nearly fell to the ground.
"What's wrong? Too much exertion?"
"No..."
Alatar steadied himself and looked up.
He saw a pair of big eyes looking down at him from above.