Looking at the map, the three of them were a little silent. There is so little information now that it is difficult for even Qin Lun to make an accurate judgment. The plot humans and elves possessed by them seem to be small people, with almost no original memories left.
At this time, the three of them had a vague feeling that perhaps the plot characters possessed by the three of Nicole were the key to this elf caravan. If they were found, they should be able to understand the mission of this elf caravan.
"Qin Lun, what do you think?" Steck turned his head and asked.
Hearing Steck's question, Qin Lun didn't answer immediately. Instead, he sat down on the blood-stained grass, rubbed his chin and fell into deep thought.
However, just thinking for a while, Qin Lun showed a trace of helplessness on his face. It is a good thing for Broken Starry Sky to give hints, but it also means that it is not easy to directly understand the truth behind the hints.
Apart from being able to roughly determine that the attacker belonged to a nearby human lord, it was difficult to judge other aspects. He wasn't a roundworm in the attacker's stomach, so he didn't know which direction the opponent would retreat.
More than 1,600 years ago, the lords of the Jondas Kingdom must still remember the magical flood that turned a large area of land into a vast ocean. After all, everyone can see the rough Weihong Sea in the north of the kingdom.
No matter what difficulties the Jondal elves are facing now, it is certainly nonsense to say that the human lords near Elbad are blatantly breaking the peace agreement between the two tribes. In other words, at least on the surface, they will attribute the attack to the bandit group, so that the attackers cannot enter Elbad with looted goods and hostages with great fanfare.
According to this logical reasoning, it is a good choice for them to go south to the lower reaches of the Naga River and use the river to transfer the spoils. The Naga River is the natural geographical boundary between the Kingdom of Jondas and the Kingdom of Sespeits. It will be oriented at the south end of Lake Naga, changing from east to west to north-south until it flows into the Weihong Sea. There are several prosperous human cities along the way .
For example: located in the golden plain, Ompetar, the second commercial port of the Jondas Kingdom, and Nimpeth in Sespeits are both major commercial cities. The rice from the Golden Plain, the native products of the three major forests of Winter Forest, Anker, and Jondal, and the cotton cloth and ironware from the Kingdom of Shaar were all imported into the northern continent of Faerun.
Of course, the tributary of the Aran River to the south of Elbad can also play the same role, but this tributary has to bypass the outside of Elbad after all, and when the Jondal elves ask, if they don't know, it is tantamount to deception. As long as the attackers moved south, they would definitely not care about taking a detour for dozens of miles, otherwise they might as well go directly to Elbad.
However, this inference only has the maximum possibility, not all possibilities.
The attackers can also split into two groups. The looted goods are too conspicuous, so they can only go to the Naga River in the south. The prison cart escorting the three captives can be sent to Elbad in the dark, secretly attacking the mastermind of the elf caravan, perhaps wanting to get the real situation of Jondal Forest through interrogation.
The reason why Steck had difficulty making a choice was because he also thought of these two coexisting possibilities. Even Qin Lun thought of the last possibility, the horseshoe prints to the north of the camp could not be ignored. Although the possibility is small, it cannot be ruled out that the attacker deliberately walked a certain distance, and then dropped the captives or corpses on the edge of the forest to confuse the eyes and ears.
If there are reasons unknown to Qin Lun and others, it is not completely impossible. For example: the personal enmity between a certain human lord and this elf caravan, or a group of thieves attacked the caravan, and then blamed the humans in Elbad.
Thinking of this, Qin Lun no longer struggled. With the current information, it is impossible to have a very accurate answer.
"Maybe it's not enough for us to divide into two teams!" Seeing Qin Lun's expression, Philip's face darkened again. He and Stark are both experienced adventurers. As long as they can calm down, most of the conclusions will be It can be derived by itself.
"If Nicole is taken by the attackers to the Naga River, or into Elbad, we will have to work hard." Stark couldn't help feeling a headache when he thought of Qin Lun's speculation about the Magic Cup Court.
"If there is really a big turmoil in the court of the Magic Cup, then our affairs here must be resolved as soon as possible." Philip's face was green, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Stike, let's divide into two teams, and I will lead the team to Ai. Elbad, you go to the Naga River in the south, even if you consume some hole cards, we must bring Nicole back as soon as possible."
The reason why the apostles are difficult to deal with is not only that they can fight for a long time by virtue of the law, but also because they have huge explosive power.
High-level skills, magic scrolls, golems, and summoned objects, even though the fortress team only has ten people, they really have all their cards in their cards, and it is no problem to destroy a small town of Elbad. It's just that the mission world has just begun, and it's not a good sign to consume hole cards during the guide mission.
"No, Elbad is right there and won't run away. Let's go to the tributary of the Naga River first. If we can't find Nicole, they can turn back. We can't spend too much at this stage." Stark shook his head resolutely as expected. , made a final decision.
Based on everyone's judgment, the hostages were most likely to be taken to Elbad, but they couldn't choose this side right away. It's just because if the judgment is wrong, the three female apostles were taken by the attackers to the Naga River, but they couldn't even chase them back, so they had to choose the Naga River in the south first.
"That's it!" Philip wanted to say something more, but was interrupted by Stark waving his hand, "I will go to the south with you, as for the guiding task... Qin Lun, I will leave it to you!"
"Let Longer go with him. Compared with our side, the ability of the elves and thieves is more needed to find the Magic Cup King's Court." Philip said calmly with a flash of his eyes.
"Qin Lun, I'm sorry! The manpower is too tight, and I can only entrust you two with the task of finding the Magic Cup King's Court." Stark turned his head and said solemnly, "Of course, if you don't want to, we won't force you to." …”
"It's a great honor to be able to undertake such an important task for the team!" Before Stark could finish speaking, Qin Lun smiled and bowed, accepting the task. This was exactly the purpose of his intervention before.
After a short time together, he has already seen that these apostles of the fortress team can be regarded as excellent apostles, but this kind of excellence is only manifested in specific affairs. However, in some intelligence analysis, the strategic judgment of the mission is not very good, and can only be evaluated as mediocre at best.
Qin Lun suggested that Stark and Philip rescue the three of Nicole together, seemingly worried about the force of the attackers, but actually contained unknown intentions.
Rescuing Nicole and the others is important, of course it is. The fortress team, including Qin Lun, only has ten people. The loss of three female apostles is equivalent to a one-third loss of force, not to mention that Nicole is still a second-level apostle.
However, Stark and Philip did not realize the meaning of the "Magic Cup King's Court". Qin Lun vaguely reminded them to rush to the Elven King's Court as soon as possible to avoid missing important plots, but they still did not understand the true meaning of the words .
"Magic Cup King's Court" is a guiding task, which does not have much benefit itself, but it can trigger the main storyline. Broken Starry Sky has reminded everyone before that there are many historical plots in the Elven King's Court, and there is not only one main line.
Rushing to the Elven King's Court as soon as possible is not only to avoid missing important plots, but also to preemptively choose the direction of the next mission.
How can this kind of thing related to mission strategy be faked by others? If Qin Lun made some arrangements in the Elven King's Court and took over a historical plot that didn't fit the team's reality, what would the fortress team do
Philip thought of something, that's why he let Longer follow Qin Lun. But Longer himself was not strong enough to suppress Qin Lun at all, and it didn't make much difference whether he followed or not.
Fortunately, Qin Lun had no ill intentions at this time, he only hoped that he would replace Stark and make strategic choices for the team. When he reminded the two of them, he was actually implying that Stark would entrust him with the task of finding the Elven King's Court.
…
"Qin Lun, is there no problem with this direction?"
In the vast and boundless forest, two elves in leather armor jumped and flew on the huge tree, almost ignoring the birds and beasts under their feet, and rushed towards the interior of the forest.
The leading elf, with silver hair and blue eyes, was handsome and wore a black leather armor. The tiny scales on the leather armor exuded an ancient wild atmosphere, while the small beasts nearby were silent.
The elf following behind is equipped with two curved daggers at his waist. He has light yellow curly hair, a healthy body, and an ape-arm wasp waist, but his appearance is much rougher than that of his companions. The elf's unique pointed ears are not as slender as the former. This is a half-elf .
Hearing his companion's words, the leading silver-haired elf's eyes flashed, and he stopped on a tall oak tree with his hands on the trunk. His long silver hair was fluttering in the wind, and he looked at the elf thief behind him with a half-smile.
"The Jondal forest is too big, and the story elves possessed by us don't have much memory left, and the incomplete life picture is not helpful for finding the magic cup king's court. However, in terms of technology in this world, no city can do without a water source , along the tributaries of the Arran River, we will surely find clues."
"Or...do you have a better suggestion?" Qin Lun looked at Longer and smiled meaningfully.
"No, no!" Long Er was embarrassed, fell silent, and looked at Qin Lun with a slightly apprehensive gaze. Before the two set off, Philip secretly asked him to test Qin Lun, not only to maintain independence, but also not to destroy the harmony between the two, which made him deeply distressed.
"After walking for a long time, let's take a rest first!" Qin Lun jumped off the ground.
"But it's not dark yet!" Long Er frowned slightly.
"It's the first day we entered the forest, save some energy, and then observe the monsters that are active at night here. In the next few days, we can avoid more dangers."
"Then... alright!" Longer pondered for a while, and agreed.
Qin Lun smiled lightly, he didn't care about Longer's temptation at all, a little psychological suggestion from time to time was enough, and it didn't take long for the elf thief to accept all kinds of "reasonable" arrangements subtly.