Hao Ren wondered why Ovra, a dignified marshal, had to come here in person, but he couldn't find a chance to ask this question. After the female marshal informed the matter, she casually asked about the situation of the mercenary group and the process of retrieving the orb of the temple. Finally, Becky took the initiative to ask about the situation of the bearded man and the others: "When will the four masters come back?"
In fact, Becky didn't pay attention to the four ascetic monks at all, she just wanted to increase her sense of presence in front of Marshal Ovra.
Ofra shook her head: "The four masters will naturally rest in the priest's house, and they will pray and meditate for a long time according to the scriptures. You probably won't see each other until the next departure."
Hao Ren had been thinking about other things. He was not interested in the so-called rewards, so he raised his head and asked, "Then what... Do I have to go to the capital to receive the reward?"
Ophra raised her eyebrows unexpectedly, her eyes lingered on Hao Ren's face for a long time: "What does this mean?"
"We want to stay here to help," Hao Ren spread his hands, "I've seen the situation here, those stone giants are a big threat, and I'm very good at dealing with them, I think it's better to go back to the capital to collect rewards, It is more valuable to stay here and help you fight."
What Hao Ren said was high-sounding. Of course, he couldn't admit that the real reason he wanted to stay was to study the secrets of the Dragon's Back Mountain Range and Blood Lake—the wealth and fame of the Dream Plane meant nothing to him. Only the legend of the extermination of the world 10,000 years ago could give him that level of salary...
But Ophra definitely didn't know what Hao Ren was thinking, she was just surprised that this seemingly ordinary "mercenary" could say such words. She stared fixedly at Hao Ren for a while, as if she wanted to see clues of hypocrisy from the latter's face, then she stood up, the iron armor on her body rattling: "I'll talk about these things later, one or two more can fight It won't change the situation much, and what can truly end the current chaotic situation is the knowledge of the rector of Girton. Of course, you can still apply to stay here to fight after you return from the capital, we have a long-term shortage of people here."
After leaving these words, Ofra left without delay. Becky didn't dare to speak loudly until the female marshal left. Then he rushed to Hao Ren in a short while: "Hey! What were you thinking just now! What if Mrs. Ophra really misses your dedication to serving the country and nods to cancel our reward!?"
Hao Ren squinted at Becky: "I still have important things to do—the rewards from your side are of no use to me."
Becky almost jumped up: "But it doesn't work for me... oh, it doesn't seem to work for me..."
Hao Ren: "... that's fine. Let's put these things away later. We have limited time. If we go to the capital once, we won't have a chance to come back. It may be another month after we come in next time. How many accidents can happen. I plan to go to the mountain tonight, and you can also help me to go to other things... "
Hao Ren didn't talk about what to do at night. After leaving the rest place specially prepared for the mercenary group, Ophra didn't go to the church again. Instead, he rode his war horse directly across half of the town to the residence of the Knights of the Kingdom. In front of the Knights' camp, an old man who looked no different from an ordinary groom was waiting. Ofra got off her horse and handed the reins to the old groom: "I have met all of them, including the four masters. And the group of mercenaries who suddenly appeared."
The old groom who was leading the horse followed Ophra silently, and asked casually as if talking about the weather: "How is the situation? Is it true or not?"
The conversation between the two did not lower their voices at all, but as long as they were two meters away, no one could hear what the content of the conversation was. A strange mental disturbance permeated around Ovra. As a result, anyone who tried to eavesdrop on the conversation could only hear a constant humming in their heads.
"I didn't see the orb, but it should be on a certain master. They abide by the teachings. Even in front of the rector, they will not easily show the orb to me to verify the authenticity, but the orb should be real." Ophra turned her head Showing a light smile, "Because those four masters are all real, I can distinguish their aura."
"That is to say, the return of the orb is certain," the old horseman followed Ophra into the depths of the camp unhurriedly, "It seems that this is not someone's arrangement. What happened to the group of mercenaries?"
"They claimed to be traveling mages from the Horner Empire in the north. They traveled around to increase their knowledge. They were involved in the orb incident and rescued the four masters. It was basically a coincidence. The whole story was leak-free. Only instinct made me feel that they were hiding something. "Ophra's footsteps paused slightly, "Elson, what about your investigation?"
"They appeared out of nowhere. They first appeared in the town of Lumber in the southern part of the grassland. Yue disappeared out of nowhere, and the informant almost ran away without any clues. In addition, I found some mercenaries who had been in contact with that group of people. Those mercenaries mentioned that their fighting methods were weird, not at all What kind of mage is not even any known combat profession, it is closer to instinct and talent, perhaps some kind of secret warrior that we don't know about."
Ophra lowered her eyes: "...Are ghosts and ghosts... You can't even find a clue after they disappeared suddenly? Is your wolf nose degenerated or can they really jump out of the sky?"
"You are the same as before, the jokes you make are never funny," the old "stableman" expression remained unchanged, "Is there something wrong with those mercenaries?"
"They themselves are fine, at least my hunting instinct can confirm that they have no malice, no evil thoughts, and no greed. The last point is what surprised me the most. Their leader frankly tried to refuse the reward, and there was no fake in his emotions. I even felt that that person was thinking purely like a saint at that time, he didn't even pay one ten-thousandth of his attention to fame and fortune, but..." Ophra suddenly raised her head after saying this, " The lack of provenance is the biggest problem in itself."
"Then continue to investigate," the old horseman nodded, "Although I don't think there is anything worth noting about a group of mercenaries...but your intuition has always been accurate."
"Intuition..." Ophra said to herself and looked up at the sky, "I hope my intuition can help me solve the trouble here. I have some bad premonitions, this holy land is shrouded in a cloud, Some incongruities lurk around us—the only Rector of Girton who can hold the scene is an old priest who is more than pious and less than responsive."
The undercurrent surged under this ancient and mysterious holy land, but most of the people in the undercurrent were ignorant of it. They were just exhausted under the harassment of monsters as before, and became more and more numb in the battle. As night fell gradually, the Longji Mountains ended an unsettled day, and then ushered in an equally unsettled night.
Under the cover of night and shadow power, Hao Ren and the others left Layton Town at the foot of the mountain and came to a high ground not far from the town.
"Although I wanted to stay here to investigate the matter clearly, but after going back and thinking about it, it is necessary to go to the capital." Hao Ren saw that everyone was here, and simply sat cross-legged on the ground, "It is said that the king has The large library that stores all kinds of files accumulated over thousands of years since the founding of Holletta, the cathedral and the palace also have secret files that have been handed down from the last season of civilization, all of which need to be investigated. We will be in this world It takes a lot of energy, and it is necessary to integrate into the upper class here. Taking advantage of this canonization, it is a good opportunity. Tonight, let's investigate the movements of the stone giants. The main reason is to understand that since we left here two months How much has the mountain range changed. There is also the side of the blood lake—Vivienne and Lily, you two are fast, go to the blood lake again, I am still very concerned about the tunnel, last time we only walked in one direction, This time you go and see where the tunnel leads in the other direction."
Lily seemed a little excited. Apparently, this kind of plot of "no one secretly operating in the middle of the night" made her feel very powerful. When she heard Hao Ren's order, she nodded immediately, jumped onto the big rock next to her and howled, "Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo — Wang!"
The howling of wolves echoed in the forest, and Vivienne rushed forward with sharp eyes and hands, but still didn't cover it...
"It's okay." Hao Ren shook his head, "It's normal for there to be wolves in the mountains."
Vivienne stared: "But it's not normal for a wolf to catch a bark after howling!"
Hao Ren waved his hand and looked at Y'zaks: "You and Becky, you are strong in combat, and Becky has rich local experience. You two go to the main peak in the north. It is said that there is one of the few peaks where stone giants surge. Observe whether there is any change in the splitting and multiplication of monsters, especially when those monsters split up but did not attack the town, what are they doing? I always feel that mindless creatures like stone giants will not plan to attack like this It’s a clever move, but they did design a sneak attack to break through the line of defense half a month ago.”
"Finally, Nangong Wuyue and I went to the 'overpass' to the south to have a look," Hao Ren threw the data terminal in his hand, "A mountain won't deform out of thin air, there must be some secrets there, the locals don't have energy detectors, Hehe, I have." (To be continued~^~)