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Act 3, The Devil on the Bridge

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The next morning, the dawn was still lost in the thick fog, but the legion had already set off. They each performed their duties, pulling up tent pegs, donning armor, and mounting horses. Constanz wore a heavy cast iron helmet, and with a command, Sandra and the soldiers of the legion followed his horse, galloping towards the east.

The group of horsemen raced along the exposed riverbed, in a desolate and bleak landscape. The stern gazes beneath the armor seem as if they could pierce through the low-flying mist above the river. The cold wind mixed with the frosty mist seeped into the armor, causing the knights to shiver, and the steaming heat accompanied by neighing sounds leaked out from the gaps in the horse's bridle. As the search range gradually extended upstream, the horse hooves, which were stuck deep in the mud and gave off a dull drumming sound, gradually turned into light and short sounds on pebbles and sand, as if mocking the legion for its lack of progress.

The legion was forced to set up camp on the riverbed about a day's journey away from Danton. Constanz sent out a search party, but they found nothing for several consecutive days. It wasn't until the third day that a soldier washing his face by the river found an object floating up and down in the water. Curious, he waded into the water to fish it out and pulled up a comrade. That person was like a floating corpse in the village, and was stabbed and cut open with a blade, bleeding to death in the river.

Constanz, who was shaving, noticed the commotion of the army. When he put down his razor and went to the scene, Sandra was already kneeling beside the dead, praying for his soul, while the soldiers around them were discussing in whispers. Constanz stopped a engineer from Margolita Bridge and inquired about the details. The deceased was Palmer from the infantry squad, who, along with Ricasso, also from the infantry squad, had gone out for scouting three days ago.

Sandra lifted her head. At the same time, someone shouted, "Ricasso is back!" Everyone rushed to the other end of the camp and saw the mentioned soldier, with half of his body dyed bright red starting from his right shoulder, dragging his legs in confusion. As soon as he returned to the camp, he fell into Constanz's arms.

"Who did it?" Constanz asked.

"The demon that blocks the bridge!" Ricasso stretched out his left hand towards Constanz's face, squeezed out the last bit of strength to answer, and then passed out. Constanz handed him over to the soldiers near by and ordered the squire to prepare his horse before walking into the tent. When he reemerged, he was already in full steel.

Constanz mounted his horse, took the sword handed to him by his attendant, deftly turned the horse's head, but was blocked by other cavalrymen who had also jumped on their horses.

"What's going on?" Constanz steadied the horse's raised front hooves, uncovered his heavy visor, and projected anger with his eyes towards his subordinates.

"We want to fight alongside you!" the captain protested openly, but only received a sneer from Constanz.

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"It's not necessary." Constanz urged his horse forward, but the proud cavalry remained unmoved. The old commander squinted while the captain broke out in a cold sweat and continued to disobey.

"Isn't this despicable, boss?" he nervously swallowed and continued, "To hog all the credit again."

Faced with his subordinates' doubts, Constanz closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and spoke in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear: "Yes, that's right. Do any of you dare to stop me?" As soon as these words were spoken, everyone avoided his sweeping gaze. "What about you, Pugio?" Constanz questioned the leading cavalry captain. He just lowered his head and gave up a narrow path.

Constanz raised his head high and urged his steed forward. With the onlookers watching, he disappeared into the thick fog.

Alone in the world of falling ash and flying snow, even if one is wearing thick armor, they will feel as helpless as if they were naked. Constanz tried to squeeze out his vision from his old eyes and searched for the shadow of the devil bridge in the endless white mist. He uncovered his visor, and the cold froze his beard white, causing his lips to turn purple and tremble uncontrollably. He stopped his horse, touched his chest, and felt the coldness of his armor, not the warmth of life. Just as he was shaking and about to fall off his horse, a warm stream flowed into his old body, and he grabbed the reins again.

Crisp hoofbeats came from behind. He turned his head to see wet chestnut horse hooves wading towards him. The beautiful silver armor seemed to be magically fixed on the horse's back, appearing lightly and silently out of the mist.

Constanz's black steed continued to gallop forward, with Sandra's chestnut mare following closely beside. "How can a true leader utter such words of taking all the credit?" asked the silver-armored knight below the delicate visor, but it only made Constanz burst into laughter.

"We've known each other for too long that you've forgotten I am not a leader. The legion was not founded by me, and those followers are just clinging to me," he said, but then he turned serious. "Obtaining the Flamma Varmah has always been my only goal."

"So that's why you initially refused the mayor's request...because there's no way a beast could contain divine fire, and you had no benefit from it," Sandra's muffled voice came from under her helmet, sounding a bit annoyed, but Constanz didn't seem to mind as he answered:

"Correct."

"You never change, do you?" she said.

Silence lingered between them for a moment until Constanz broke the sound of the horse hooves and asked calmly, "Even so, you won't leave me, will you?"

"I am a virgin, not a prophet. I cannot see fate, Constanz, neither yours nor mine," Sandra replied somewhat vaguely through her helmet, unwilling to lift her visor. "Until today, I'm still not sure whether you'll become a cunning 'world rebuilder' or an ambitious 'usurper', but I have no regrets about the journey we've shared. I can only believe in that."

After that, the sound of the horses' hooves filled the silence again until the horses suddenly refused to move forward and neighed. Looking along the turbulent river hidden in the mist, the two saw the steep bridge floating in mid-air. The devilish stone bridge spanned the high valley between the banks, and the wind blew through the hollow arch, as if countless resentful spirits were wailing together.

Constanz rode forward, feeling that this was no longer a matter that could be solved by talking, but he was stopped by Sandra behind him.

"As a maiden, I implore you to be careful."

She said, with a layer of frost still covering her eyebrows and lips. However, the lips were hesitating to speak and the brows were difficult to calm were surging under the thin layer of ice, as if there was an emotion that wanted to break the ice surface.

Constanz pulled down his visor, gestured with his hand, and then lightly kicked his horse's belly with his heel, leaving the riverbed and leaping onto the winding path covered with overgrown weeds.