Brando and Charles stopped.
In front of us is a weird building, like a large illegal building composed of many roofs stacked on top of each other. An iron chimney winds up along the roofs, and a lazy red tile lies on top of it. The glamorous black cat is wagging its tail and half-squinting in the sun.
The old white wall was covered with ivy, and a wooden sign was placed outside the door of the shop with a large line written in italic Cruz-"Indulge in roses".
Seeing this line of text, Brando knew that he had found the right place.
This is No. 5-201 Suman Street. On the bright side, there is an alchemy shop with a thirty-year history, but in fact, there is a hidden secret underground. Brando knows that this is the Hazel people in the city. One of the secret contact points.
"Is it here?"
Brando nodded.
Charles looked up and down the place and couldn't help but said: "It doesn't look any different, but those Hazel people hide so well. Sir, do you really think they need to intervene?"
"This is not a question of whether it is necessary," Brando replied as a matter of course, sweeping the dust on his chest with his hand, "This is just a convenient thing for them, but it can get a lot of benefits. Even if they fail, there is no loss to them. Why would they disagree?"
"But there is no impermeable wall in the world, Lord Lord, they should be very clear afterwards that the Cruz people must have found out who helped us behind."
"So what?" Brando asked back, "It seems that you don't know the Hazel people too much, Charles."
"Does Lord Lord know it well?"
"nature."
In fact, the relationship between the empire and Hazel is very special. Before that, Hazel was a loose city-state. The short Hazel people are naturally good at magic, but unlike the Bugga, they are more keen on magic. Researching and developing all kinds of storage devices, they believe in the dragon crystal of wisdom and believe that the spark of thinking and wisdom is the power that inspires everything.
In that era, the empire’s strategy for Hazel was to secretly support some city-states, create contradictions between the city-states and maintain balance and balance of power, so that Hazel could never form a political and military entity that threatened the empire.
This balance of power has been maintained for hundreds of years.
But about one hundred and thirty years ago, a prophet was born among the Hazel people. This sage put forward a famous hypothesis-the theory of'the individual is all'. In this theory, the Hazel people believe that individual wisdom is limited, but the collision of thoughts can sublimate wisdom and give birth to god-like brilliance.
Therefore, the Hazel people believe that in a whole, the wisdom of each individual is vital, and the whole is composed of individuals, so the individual will also be an indispensable part of the overall wisdom.
Under the guidance of this theory, the Hazel people carried out a complete revolution-the revolution of the popularization of magical technology. At the same time, a republic consisting of city-states seemed to be established like lightning, and when the Cruz people reacted, they realized that a powerful opponent had appeared next to them.
The enmity of the past hundreds of years has made it almost impossible to produce peace between these two countries. On the one hand, the empire holds a powerful force, but the army of the Hazel people armed with magical technology is not at all in the opposing empire. Down the wind.
So the war broke out.
Although the empire is strong, at most only one of ten people can be trained as a qualified knight. Although the individual strength of the Republic is weak, their ordinary soldiers can be nearly knights with a little training and equipped with magic devices. Strength.
The empire has a group of magicians. Although the wizards of the Hazels are not good at fighting, they have artillery and tanks. The empire has Pegasus knights and griffon knights. The Hazels also have planes and airships. There is a slight difference, but they can also be used to make up for it.
It takes almost five years for the Empire to train a qualified Pegasus knight, and the Hazel people can build an airship in only six months at most. Even if three or four airships are exchanged for a knight in the Empire, it is also cost-effective.
In fact, after decades of popularization and advancement of magical technology, the Hazel people have gradually restored the situation of retreat on the frontal battlefield, and even launched a counterattack. If the magic wave hadn’t erupted, the Cruz people would probably be in the West. Faced an embarrassing failure online.
"In fact, the most recent war between the Cruz and Hazel was seven years ago. At that time, the White Army invaded Banlin Valley and occupied Banlin Valley for three years, but it was not long after that. The Hazel rushed back."
"Banlin's defeat, the empire did not publicize the war much for this reason, but in fact the Hazel people have the upper hand on the border at this moment."
"This war hasn't ended yet. It's just that both parties involved are exhausted and unable to fight anymore. They can only stare at the confrontation front-and also the border line."
"Under such circumstances," Brando replied, "Do you think the Hazels would be afraid of the crusades? They would like to extend the battle line elsewhere—"
"Haven't they considered a truce?" Shire was a little unbelievable: "Especially the Empire is not only an enemy of the Republic of Hazel."
"How can the hatred of hundreds of years be so easily dull," Brando shook his head: "Perhaps one day in the future the relationship between the Hazel and Cruz will return to normal state-to-state relations, but that It was also after they shed all their blood."
"This is the hatred of generations, and it must be quelled with blood."
"It's terrible." Charles couldn't help sighing.
The two of them stood outside the house for a while, and they caught the attention of the people inside the house—a decent-looking young nobleman from a foreign country, with his wizard and attendants, and wearing a sword, the scabbard black leather and the upper part Silver jewellery is very valuable at first glance-at first glance, you know that this is a generous client.
In many big cities, magic shops are not just for wizards. Ordinary talents are their main customers. Deodorants, insecticides and some convenient alchemy products, including all kinds of incense, are daily necessities. Taste.
But if you want to talk about the real big clients, you have to be wizards.
"Mr. outside, don't you come in and have a look?" The boss, with a big belly, shouted to them from behind the counter.
"What I want, you don't have it here." Brando smiled back.
The boss was displeased: "Hey, young people, don't speak big words. I promise you with the reputation of indulging in roses for 30 years. The Imperial Capital can't find more complete products than here. It's well-known here. You can ask. ."
It's like that, Brando thought to himself.
"Really, then I want the brilliance of Zell, the sword of inflexibility, the light of thinking, the brilliance of wisdom."
The boss's face changed: "I don't understand what you are talking about, young man."
"It doesn't matter if you don't understand, let Mudd come out to see me, I want to talk about big business."
The boss glanced at the faces of the two with complicated expressions. Even though they were far apart, he still saw Charles showing his white teeth and smiled at him. His face became gloomy and his shoulders sank slightly.
But Brando opened his mouth: "I know you have an IV flintlock under the counter, but that thing is useless to me, and the cavalry will pass by here in a quarter of an hour. You can't do stupid things, right?"
The boss's movements froze, and it took a long time before he spoke again: "Who are you guys?"
His voice is a little hoarse.
"Foreigner," Charles replied with a grin.
Brando shook his head; "It doesn't matter who we are to you, the important thing is that we are not malicious."
"Then I can't guarantee." The boss replied, frowning.
"Although the imperial capital is big," Brando glanced at him lightly; "But I can still find where Robbie Castle is."
Fort Robbie is the headquarters of the patrol cavalry. After hearing Brando say this, the boss believed two points. He put down the gun and took a close look at the two of them. Then he replied: "You guessed something wrong, Eruin Sir, I have a Type III rifle in my hand."
Brando then remembered that in this era, Hazel's IV had just been developed and had not yet been formally installed, and it was naturally late for these foreign spy agencies to change their outfits.
He smiled disapprovingly at this small mistake.
The boss looked around warily before beckoning to them: "Come in and talk, two people."
Brando and Charles walked into the shop. The light in the room was slightly dim. The first thing that caught your eye was the various closets and the shelves on the walls. There were a dazzling array of weird items, most of which were Various potions, a few daggers and a light crossbow on the counter, and a box with flannel covered in it, and the groove in the middle seems to be used to hold these weapons.
He looked back again, and on one side was a huge glass showcase, from the inside of the shop you could clearly see the situation on the street outside.
It seems that these Hazel people are still very vigilant. The layout of the shop is very conducive to observing the movement outside, and it is easy to defend and difficult to attack. The specially arranged messy house is also convenient for hiding weapons. As long as there is an invasion, the people in the shop can check at any time. Risk defense.
The point is that even after this arrangement, "Indulge in Roses" is still the most traditional magic shop.
At least from the outside, there are no flaws.
Hazel and Cruz have fought for hundreds of years, and they don't know how many spies exist in their respective territories. They are already experienced in this regard.
"Two gentlemen, please wait a moment, I have to ask Mr. Mu De's opinion."
"As you wish."
The boss just tapped a few times on an iron plate inlaid on the counter, long or short, without any regularity. But after a while, he raised his head and said to Brando; "Mr. Mudd agreed, but there is one condition. You can go in and your entourage must stay."
"Then I'll stay." Charles shrugged and replied indifferently.
The boss was slightly stunned. He originally thought that the other party would hesitate for a while, but he didn't expect it to be so simple. And why does that wizard attendant seem to care nothing about the safety of his master, no matter whether it is dangerous or not, how can he let the protector leave his side casually as a follower
Of course he didn't know that Shire could be summoned by Brando at any time as a Travelling Mage card, so he did not separate. In fact, there was no difference.
Brando smiled at him: "Since I dare to come here alone, I am sure of it all."
"In that case," the boss's face changed again: "Then follow me."
He opened the door and let Brando in. The two went up the stairs to the second floor. In a room facing the street on the second floor, Brando saw the principal here.
The Hazels, who are only half the height of ordinary humans, wear a decent black dress with a white waistcoat inside, a silver chain hung on their trousers, a pocket watch in their purse, holding a civilization stick, wearing a top hat, and combing their hair. Meticulous.
He didn't look like a spy boss, but a gentleman.
This little Hazel has a mustache and a monocle. While Brando is looking at him, he is also looking at Brando through the lens of his glasses.
"An Eruin." He said; "Why is an Eruin appearing here at this moment?"
Brando looked at the dwarf, he only knew that the other person was called Mude, and he learned about his experience as the principal here at the moment, or later learned from his personal resume.
This shows that this guy was promoted later, because only those Npcs who have reached a certain level of status will players make detailed resumes for them to facilitate tasks and gain reputation.
Judging from Hazel's bureaucracy, this guy is likely to be promoted to a certain ambassador abroad or the undersecretary of the security department after serving his merits.
"I'm here to let you do me a favor." Brando said straightforwardly.
Mu De smiled: "I think I know who your Excellency is."
Brando didn’t care. It would be strange if the other party couldn’t guess who he was. As a spy network, if you don’t even know what happened in the empire in the recent past, it’s better to go home and plant it. sweet potato.
"Your Excellency is the Earl of Tonigel, oh, it is said that I will soon become the Earl of Jean Dnell, you know, I am very happy to see Mr. Earl here at this moment, because Mr. Earl is here, it means that the empire is in trouble. NS."
Mudd shrugged: "You know, whenever the empire is in trouble, I am very happy-praise the light of wisdom and thinking, then Mr. Earl, how can we help you?"
"Also," he waved the civilization stick: "What benefit can we get?"
"It won't be troublesome for me to ask you to help." Brando replied.
"No trouble," Mu De nodded, "This is one of them. I know your Excellency has something to follow, please continue."
"I want you to help me investigate the whereabouts of a person. This should be just a matter of effort for you."
"Then who is he?"
"It's her," Brando corrected. "Countess Valachi, you must have heard this name."
"It turned out to be her," Mudd's monocle reflected the light: "I see, it's wonderful, it looks like Mr. Earl wants to make the Empire lose a big face."
"It's not just a matter of face," Brando said openly: "There are also mountain people."
Mudd took a breath: "I have to say, you are right, it looks like this is a good deal." He paused: "In other words, we only need to help you investigate Varach. The whereabouts of the Countess—"
"It only needs to be so, and I will finish it naturally."
"Then what benefit can Mr. Earl get? As far as I know, the empire is the enemy of the Republic, but it is not necessarily the enemy of Eruin."
"It's the greatest benefit to be able to save my subordinates."
Mu De couldn't help taking a deep look at him: "The Republic never abandons any of its subjects. Wisdom and glory are one, and the individual is all—"
He stretched out his hand: "It seems that Hazel and Eruin don't have to fight side by side on the battlefield, but they can still be good allies."
Brando smiled and shook his hand: "Happy cooperation."