The director of the Deland branch, Rommel, wearing a gorgeous gold robe, appeared here.
His expression was not very good at this time, because not long ago, he received a relatively bad news. Although this news had little impact on the overall situation of the Southern Free Confederacy, it succeeded in ruining his mood.
So Rommel frowned slightly, pushed the door open and walked into the office of Canon, the branch manager.
Kanon was sitting behind the desk in the office, seemingly holding something in his arms. The moment Rommel opened the door and walked in, he saw a white light leaping out of his arms and quickly hiding in the darkness in the corner of the room.
Canon was startled at first, then stood up quickly, gave up his seat to Rommel, and asked with a slightly nervous expression: "Director Rommel, why are you here suddenly?"
Because of his mood, Rommel did not ask what was in Canon's arms just now. He said bluntly: "There is something wrong with the Holos branch."
"Horoth?" Canon was slightly startled after hearing this, but he knew something about Horos.
That is a remote branch of the Truth Society in the Southern Free Federation. It has always been ignored by people. It usually cannot make any outstanding contributions or cause any trouble. I don't know what happened this time.
"Is there any trouble with Horos?" Canon asked aloud.
"It's not trouble, but it may be a sign of a certain problem." Rommel spat, "There is an ancient forest in the area managed by Holos. I have made several previous inspections and found nothing wrong, but there is nothing wrong with it. During a recent expedition, an entire team lost contact completely.
Although the team was very weak and did not even have the core members to lead it, it would not be wiped out casually. The current loss of contact obviously indicates that some unknown and dangerous changes have occurred in the forest. "
"Then..." Canon looked at Rommel, "How to deal with it?"
"Follow the process." Rommel said, "There are too many things that the entire Southern Free Federation has to deal with now, and it is impossible to devote all the energy to just one small matter. I have ordered the Holos Division to Let’s raise the danger level of that forest, and then send a more powerful team to explore. After understanding some basic information, we can find a way to solve it completely.”
Canon nodded and couldn't fault Rommel's approach. After all, this was how most accidents were handled.
At this time, Rommel looked at Canon again and asked aloud: "By the way, how is the situation in your Deland branch recently? Don't be like Holos, and bad things happened."
"No." Kanon quickly shook his head and replied, "Everything in the Delan branch has been normal recently, and everything is progressing according to the established plan. The progress that was delayed because of the arrival of Inspector Chekhov has now been completely caught up. Some It even goes beyond that.”
"That's good." Rommel nodded.
Suddenly Canon thought of something, blinked his eyes, and said hesitantly: "It's just..."
"Just what?" Rommel asked, raising his eyebrows.
"It's just that the number of points circulating in the branch has changed recently, with a moderate amount exceeding the normal value." Canon said.
This is indeed something worth noting, because the number of points in circulation reflects the status of branch members to a certain extent. Moderate changes are nothing to be alarmed about, but you still need to pay attention to.
"Can you find out what caused it?" Rommel asked.
"It's been found out," Canon replied. "According to the results of the investigation, the main reason is that a peripheral member consumed a large amount of points to redeem branch spell materials."
"Peripheral member?" Rommel was slightly surprised, "Who?"
"You know him, Richard." Canon said.
"Is that Richard?" Rommel asked, meaning something.
"Yes, that's Richard." Canon nodded.
"It's interesting." Rommel narrowed his eyes slightly, "He actually has so many points?"
"He has a strong talent for magic patterns and has been providing related services to the branch. He also helps other members repair magic props in private. Naturally, the points on his hand are not low. And according to your previous promise, the supervisor, the transformation of the crystal ball has also been completed. For the other reports he submitted, many rewards were given to it.
All these added up are already a rather exaggerated number. The sudden massive consumption naturally caused fluctuations in the flow. Canon said.
"Then do you know why he exchanged a large amount of spell materials?" Rommel asked.
Kanon shook his head: "I haven't learned about this before, because the spell materials he redeemed were quite messy, and it didn't seem to have any clear purpose."
"Okay." Rommel didn't pay too much attention. "Just observe it first. If the other party makes further moves, report to me."
"Yes." Canon nodded.
"Okay, I'll go check out the other branches." After Rommel finished speaking, he stood up and left without wasting any more time.
Kanon kept sending Rommel out and watched Rommel leave.
Then he walked back to the office, closed the door tightly, took a long breath, and looked into the darkness in the corner.
"Pap tap tap..."
There was a sound, and a fluffy white rabbit jumped out of the darkness and jumped into Canon's arms.
While gently stroking the white rabbit, Canon walked back to sit behind the table and said with twinkling eyes: "Isn't it supposed to have been discovered just now? Well, probably not... Even if he was discovered, Director Rommel didn't seem to care. The best… well, the best.”
Heaving a sigh of relief, Canon sat upright with the rabbit in his arms and started reviewing the documents with a quill in hand.
"Shashasha..."
…
the other side.
Early morning hours.
The area under the jurisdiction of the Horos branch is the forest of silence.
A team of seven wizards from the Truth Society walked into the forest, including three core members and four peripheral members. The strongest leader was a high-level level two wizard.
The group of people held short staffs and maintained a high degree of vigilance as they explored the forest, as if there were terrifying enemies hidden in every corner of the forest.
It’s not surprising that they were so cautious. You must know that the previous loss of contact with the entire exploration team caused a huge disturbance in the Holos branch. The people in the branch have already regarded the Silent Forest as an absolutely dangerous place, so no matter how careful they are, they must Not an exaggeration.
The team leader, who possesses the high-level strength of a second-level wizard, is a tall bald man with a fierce expression. He is at the front, ready to fight at any time.
"Ta-ta-ta..."
Footsteps sounded, and a group of people moved forward. After walking a few miles, suddenly there was a "rustling" sound in the grass on the side of the group, as if some creature was passing through.
"careful!"
The bald leader shouted, making the entire team feel like they were facing a formidable enemy. Two people even directly activated the shields of the magic items.
But after waiting for more than ten seconds, nothing happened, and the group couldn't help but look at each other in shock.
Finally, the bald leader spoke up, pointed at a peripheral member, and ordered: "Dirk, check the situation."
"Yes." The person whose name was called was a one-eared wizard with a scar on his face and a ferocious expression. He looked more sinister than a bald head. After listening to the words of the bald leader, he nodded and cast a petrified skin spell on himself. He remained vigilant and approached the grass that made the sound step by step.
Gently pushing aside the grass, the one-eared wizard named Dirk was stunned and saw that there were no dangerous creatures inside, only...
"Dirk, what did you find?" The companion looked at the one-eared wizard with a strange expression and couldn't help but ask.
"Look." The one-eared wizard said, bending down, gently picking up the creature from the grass, and placing it in his palm. He saw that it was a pink little hedgehog. I don’t know what I ate, but my belly is bulging, my nose is pointed, and my eyes are twinkling. It’s very cute.
The one-eared wizard's ferocious expression disappeared, he smiled, and said with a click of his tongue: "It's such a little thing."
Everyone looked at it and breathed a sigh of relief, understanding that it was a false alarm.
One of the wizards joked: "What did I think it was? It turned out to be a hedgehog, and it was so small. It's not even enough to add food to lunch. It's gone in one bite."
The one-eared wizard glared at him: "If you dare to eat it, I will eat you first. The cute little hedgehog I raised before is in need of a companion, and I want to take it back."
"It's up to you." The person being stared at shrugged.
"Then let me see if this hedgehog is a male or a female. I hope it's a female, and it will match the one I raised." The one-eared wizard said, gently picking up the little hedgehog and looking towards its belly.
At this moment, the hedgehog's body shook, and a spike on his back suddenly flashed purple light.
"call out!"
The spikes shot out like darts. With almost no time to react, they hit the one-eared wizard's eyes and penetrated deeply.
The one-eared wizard was stunned for a moment. He touched his pierced eye with his hand and felt a lot of blood before he realized what had happened. He opened his mouth to speak, but without uttering a word, he fell to the ground with a thud, and the hedgehog he picked up also fell to the ground.