As night fell, the entire Na Sa Star ruins became eerie and terrifying. Some sounds that seemed normal during the day now sent shivers down one's spine.
"Staying overnight in the ruins is really not a good idea!" Marwyn said, lighting the insect-repelling herbs he found during the day to drive away the mosquitoes and flies that had gathered around, while looking enviously at Lynd.
Although the weather had turned cooler, the Norvos Hills blocked the cold air from the north, so the climate in Na Sa Star remained warm. This climate, combined with the standing water in the fountains scattered throughout the city, was perfect for the growth of various insects. At night, all sorts of mosquitoes and flies covered the entire Na Sa Star.
However, this was not a problem for Lynd, as he used the Ice Dragon Rune to form a layer of cold air around his body. The change in temperature caused the insects to actively avoid him. Those that did not avoid him were instantly frozen to death the moment they came into contact with the cold air, so a thick layer of insect corpses had accumulated around where he stood.
In a thick smoke formed by the mosquito-repelling herbs, Marwyn coughed twice, looked at the flying insects around him, and felt that the effect of the mosquito-repelling herbs was a bit slow and poor. So, scratching a swollen bite on his face, he asked Lynd, who was standing by the side, observing the movements on the water: "Lord Linde, could you also give me a layer of protection?"
Lynd turned his head to look at the somewhat disheveled Marwyn, then at the choking thick smoke around them. He then activated the power of the Storm Dragon Rune, combined with the Ice Dragon Rune, to quickly form a layer of extremely cold dense fog around them, which then rapidly spread throughout the entire Na Sa Star ruins.
Under the effect of the extremely cold dense fog, all the insects were instantly frozen to death, leaving only a ground covered in insect corpses.
"My Lord, since you have such a good method, why didn't you use it earlier?" Seeing the sky full of insects disappear at a visible speed, Marwyn scratched his bites and couldn't help but complain.
Lynd replied calmly, "I need to be prepared for the sudden appearance of the Old Man of the River, and cannot waste magical power on something like repelling mosquitoes."
As Lynd's voice faded, the surface of the main channel of the Naen River in the distance suddenly rippled. The movement of these ripples was not very large, making them difficult to detect under the cover of night.
However, these movements could not escape Lynd's eyes. He detected the anomaly immediately, and from the ripples on the water, he could roughly determine that a large creature was swimming in the water, approaching the dock.
Lynd immediately said to Marwyn, "It's here! You go hide in a safe place first. If I have to fight, I'm afraid I won't be able to look after you."
"No need, I am also a qualified warrior. I have fought many battles on the continent of Essos over the years," Marwyn said confidently, picking up the axe from his waist and the shield from his luggage. "Lord Linde, you don't need to treat me like those soft fellows in the Citadel."
Seeing Marwyn's insistence, Lynd said nothing more, allowing Marwyn to remain by his side.
Lynd could not see what was happening underwater, but he could roughly determine from the magical aura he perceived that the approaching large creature possessed a vast amount of magic, far more powerful than the Glutton.
Facing such a behemoth, Lynd did not underestimate it. He placed his hand on the Lost Knights Greatsword. Although he also wanted to tame the Old Man of the River like he tamed the Glutton, if he couldn't tame it and it was necessary, he would still act to completely eliminate it. After all, if he truly wanted to rebuild Na Sa Star, then the Old Man of the River inhabiting this area would be a major obstacle.
Just as Lynd was standing by in full alert, a giant wave rose out of nowhere on the river surface. This giant wave moved towards the deep-water bay where the dock was located like a high wall, then swept up the dilapidated sunken ships on the water surface, sinking them back into the water.
The giant wave did not hit the dock, but instead crashed down heavily not far from it, directly splashing a large amount of water towards Lynd and Marwyn.
However, before these splashes could get close, they were blown to the empty ground on both sides by a strong wind that rose out of nowhere. The strong wind also carried the small boats that had been swept into the air by the waves in a circle, returning them to the surging river surface.
Lynd gestured for Marwyn to stay put, while he stepped onto the stairs near the water at the front of the dock, gazing at the endlessly rippling water ahead.
Suddenly, the water surface, which had been constantly turbulent a moment ago, became calm. All the waves disappeared, and the entire water surface became as flat as a mirror, even reflecting the sky clearly.
Then, the river water in front of Lynd suddenly parted to both sides, and immediately after, a gigantic horned turtle emerged from beneath the water.
In terms of appearance, this giant turtle, apart from a sharp horn on its head and a few horns on its carapace, was not much different from the river turtles Lynd had seen before.
However, its size was thousands, even tens of thousands of times that of an ordinary turtle. A rough estimate, not including the giant turtle's head and tail, just estimating its body, showed that its diameter had already reached about twenty meters, and its height was more than ten meters. From a distance, it looked like a small mountain.
Although the giant turtle's size was much smaller than that of the Glutton, in a place like an inland river, this size was already extremely massive. In inland rivers, it was basically an invincible existence.
After appearing, this giant turtle did not attack Lynd. Instead, it lowered its head slightly, approached Lynd, and observed him, its eyes revealing a curious gaze similar to that of a human.
If, when he first saw the Glutton, what Lynd felt more from it was bestiality, then from this giant turtle in front of him, what he felt more was humanity. He could even clearly feel that the giant turtle in front of him should possess a considerable level of intelligence, at least not much lower than that of the current Glutton.
Thinking of this, Lynd took the initiative to bow to the giant turtle and, using the pure Loisne he had learned from the Greenblood River Orphans, said, "Greetings to you, Old Man of the River, son of Mother Rhoyne."
The giant turtle's face showed a stunned expression similar to that of a human. Apparently, it was the first time it had seen someone bow to it. In the past, all those who had seen it had, without exception, screamed and called it a monster, and many even attacked it.
Just as Lynd had guessed, this single-horned giant turtle was intelligent, and its intelligence was not low, equivalent to that of an adult. The inheritance from its ancestors allowed it to understand the ancient Loisne language, so it could also sense Lynd's goodwill from his words and actions.
But while sensing goodwill, the giant turtle also felt a threat from Lynd.
The giant turtle's gaze swept over Lynd, lingering several times on the Lost Knights Greatsword at Lynd's waist.
It could feel that the Lost Knights Greatsword was a dangerous weapon, which made it feel a threat it had never experienced before. The last time it felt such a threat was a long time ago, brought by those towering Dragons, and the threat it felt from this little one in front of it was even stronger than that from the Dragons.
Therefore, under the influence of this sense of threat, the giant turtle also appeared much more humble. Almost immediately after Lynd bowed, it approached Lynd and nodded slightly.
Unlike Glory and the Glutton, although Lynd could feel that the giant turtle possessed intelligence, he could not establish any mental connection with it, and naturally could not communicate normally or transmit their thoughts to each other.
Just as Lynd was looking for a way to communicate with the giant turtle, the giant turtle suddenly raised its head and emitted a loud sound like a steam whistle from his previous life. Immediately after, the frozen dense fog that Lynd had just created, which had not yet completely dissipated, all disappeared, and the ruins of Na Sa Star returned to their original state.
Then, the giant turtle lowered its head again, closed its mouth, and let out a low hum towards Lynd.
Lynd could see that the giant turtle's magical fluctuations were very strong when it hummed, but he did not feel any threat from the giant turtle, so he did not dodge and remained standing in place, listening to the low sound.
However, as he heard the sound, the meaning related to the hum immediately appeared in Lynd's mind.
It was asking Lynd why he had the scent of the Queen on him.
Lynd seemed to understand the other party's meaning and asked in Loisne, "Queen? Are you referring to Queen Nameria?"
The giant turtle nodded.
Lynd explained, "My wife is also named Nameria, and she is a descendant of Queen Nameria."
The giant turtle nodded again upon hearing this, then once more used a hum imbued with magic to convey information to Lynd, saying, "Are you here on behalf of the Queen to fulfill that vow from back then?"
"Vow?" Lynd was stunned for a moment and asked, "I apologize, I only came here out of curiosity after hearing that an Old Man of the River had appeared, and I am not aware of the vow between your Old Man of the River tribe and the Loisne Queen."
As Lynd spoke, he discreetly tried to ascertain whether the single-horned giant turtle was a group or an individual.
The single-horned giant turtle in front of him did not show any unusual emotions when he referred to the Old Man of the River as a group, but its emotions might have been entirely focused on its disappointment that Lynd denied being there to fulfill the vow, so it did not notice the probing in Lynd's words.
The disappointed single-horned giant turtle, seeing that Lynd was not there to fulfill the vow, lost interest in communicating with him and prepared to leave.
"Wait! Please wait a moment." Lynd immediately called out to the single-horned giant turtle and asked, "What is the vow you speak of? Although I'm not very clear about the vow, my wife is a descendant of Queen Nameria, and I also have an obligation to fulfill the vow made by the Queen."
Upon hearing Lynd's words, the single-horned giant turtle became excited again, its massive body swaying on the river surface, stirring up waves, before finally calming down after a while.
Then, it let out another magical sound towards Lynd, informing him what the vow was.
It turned out that the Loisne people had made a covenant with the Old Man of the River a long time ago. The Loisne people worshipped the Old Man of the River, and the Old Man of the River helped the Loisne people manage the Lorne River.
By the generation of Nameria, the Loisne people were defeated, and Nameria had to flee the continent of Essos. But before she left, as the leader of the Loisne people, she made a vow with the Old Man of the River.
This vow was simple: Nameria believed that one day she would return to Na Sa Star and re-establish the Loisne city-states. So, she asked the Old Man of the River to guard Na Sa Star and wait for her to return and rebuild it. At that time, she and her people would continue to worship the Old Man of the River, continuing the tradition of countless years.
Presumably, Nameria, who made the vow with the Old Man of the River at the time, was still very confident that she could return to Na Sa Star, but soon this confidence was completely shattered by the Valyria, who fled all the way to Dorne. In the end, to preserve the last spark of the Loisne people and prevent anyone from returning to the continent of Essos, she even burned the ships, completely cutting off the possibility of the Loisne people returning to the continent of Essos.
"Why didn't Nameria take you all with her back then?" Lynd asked curiously after hearing the vow.
The single-horned giant turtle quickly replied that the single-horned giant turtle tribe were all freshwater turtles and had a strong allergic reaction to seawater, making it impossible for them to live in the sea or even get close to it.
When Prince Garin commanded an army of 250,000 to attack Volantis, he had asked the Old Man of the River to join the battle, just as they had assisted Prince Garin in flooding Velonthos, to flood Volantis.
But Volantis was located at the mouth of the Lorne River, and the water in the surrounding areas contained more or less seawater. If the single-horned giant turtle approached, let alone joining the battle or casting magic, even moving would be extremely difficult. Ultimately, all the Old Man of the River did not join that war, but returned to Na Sa Star.
As a result, Prince Garin lost the help of the Old Man of the River, and with the enemy sending out over a hundred Dragons, all 250,000 people died outside the city of Volantis.
From the words of this single-horned giant turtle, Lynd could tell that the other party had also participated in the war between Valyria and the Loisne people back then. This would mean that this giant turtle was at least over a thousand years old, which also perfectly explained why the magical fluctuations on its body were so much stronger than those of the Glutton.
"I can also fulfill the vow for Queen Nameria, rebuild Na Sa Star, and once again worship the Old Man of the River tribe," Lynd immediately said to the single-horned giant turtle after understanding the situation.
Hearing Lynd's words, the single-horned giant turtle excitedly shook its body again.
Lynd controlled the wind to sweep away the splashing river water and made himself fly into the air, level with the single-horned giant turtle's head, and continued to say to the other party, "But I have one condition."
The single-horned giant turtle quickly calmed down, watching Lynd, and gestured for Lynd to state his condition.
"I need to re-sign a contract with your Old Man of the River tribe, but this time, the signatories will no longer be the Loisne people, but rather me, my wife Nameria, and my descendants."
The single-horned giant turtle remained silent for a long time after hearing this. Finally, it looked at Lynd, who was controlling the wind and hovering in the air, felt the powerful yet ancient strength within Lynd, and finally bowed its head slightly towards him. Then, using its own vocal organs, not the magical sound, it spoke words that ordinary people could hear to Lynd, saying, "Your Holy Decree shall be obeyed, The Ancient Ones."
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