Bi originally sat on the opposite side of the gray cloud, and from beginning to end, this lady with a single expression with a pointed chin did not say a few words in total. Now she stood at the banquet table with her arms stretched out in front of her. But her hands were gone, as if they had melted into the darkness.

Bi took a step back, her arms trembling a little, and she could see that she was straining. She retracted her arms, and the first thing that appeared in the darkness with her hands was a white collar, followed by the back of her head covered in blonde hair. Catherine and Ace watched as Ferry was lost in the onslaught of the hoplites, and was suddenly carried to the banquet table.

The priest who had survived the death had a dull expression, and he did not seem to realize that he was out of danger. It wasn't until Ace rushed to his side and gave him a slap that was not serious, that the poor wanderer came to his senses.

Ferry covered his face and looked at As, and then at Catherine, who was relieved. The poor guy let out a "wow" and hugged Catherine's thigh and cried.

"Captain, why did you leave me? Where have you gone? I thought the Supreme God had really come to summon me this time. Ferry wept like a child, snot and tears rubbed onto Catherine's robe.

"That's enough, you!" Ace kicked Ferry out of the air. However, the deputy head of the regiment has just the right angle of strength. It wasn't so much a kick as it was a step on Fee's ass and it knocked him off. Looking at this proficiency, it's certainly not the first time that the tender priest has "released" it.

"Don't think that you can take advantage of it by pretending to be pitiful. Ace pulled Catherine behind his back and said with a straight face, "Play this game every time you get out of danger, and next time you do this, I will deduct your vacation and commission." ”

"Flutter" Catherine couldn't hold back her laughter. Ferry had some lecherous little faults that she knew, but Mr. Pastor was usually in good shape, only occasionally—like in the case just now, he would use the question to make a little move.

Usually at times like this, Green Wind, who likes to play tricks on the tender priest, will use his speed to get in front of Catherine. Then everyone will see that the squinted Ferry is holding the elf's thigh and rubbing and touching, and then the dwarf with one tendon will say, "Ferley, I always thought you liked women." ”

It's a pity that such a scene will never be seen again. Catherine's mood instantly fell, because the little happiness generated by the members of the mercenary group who saved the day was like droplets of water dripping on a red-hot soldering iron, "swishing" into nothing.

"Where is Green Wind now?" Catherine subconsciously forced herself to think of some practical questions, "He's probably found the corner city based on the code we left behind." But how will he deal with the situation?"

Catherine believes that for Green Wind, who has the ability to communicate with nature, it will not be too difficult to enter Corner City through the guardian forest outside the city. The difficult thing is how he can find out the situation of Catherine and give the three of them maximum help.

For Catherine, Green Wind is now her last card. Although this hole card can play a limited role in the face of the mysterious and powerful corner city. But the hole card is the hole card, and if this hole card is not played for a moment, it means that the Kuhl mercenary group still has spare strength, and there is still the possibility of maneuvering with the executive committee.

"Captain Catherine, it seems like it's time for you to make good on your promise. Lady Visse's voice interrupted Catherine's musings, "Please tell us why His Majesty sent his army to attack Mos, and his relationship with Busso. ”

What should come is always coming, but Catherine had already thought of the line when she agreed, "Dear Lady Vicie, unfortunately we don't know what's going on. It was only in a hurry that I took the liberty of agreeing to your request. Now I can't answer your question, these are the secrets of the kingdom, and His Majesty will not tolerate ordinary people knowing these secrets. ”

"You're humble. Lady Vicie put her hand in front of her mouth and laughed a few times out loud, "If a magician is an ordinary person, then who is not an ordinary person in this world? As far as I know your current Majesty, he is not a tolerant and benevolent monarch. If you really are an ordinary person who knows nothing, I am afraid it will be difficult for you to leave Mosi Town alive. ”

"I know that you are a student of the Grand Magician, Mr. Quisling, and you would say that His Majesty the King should consider Mr. Quisling's feelings. There may be some truth, but it is not enough for His Majesty to let Mr. Ass go. Mrs. Visie didn't give Catherine a chance to defend herself, "By the way, I have some information about your mercenary group here. ”

Lady Vicie took a record from nowhere, and said as she flipped through it, "According to the information we have gathered, you and Mr. Ace formed the Chur Mercenary Regiment immediately after the earthquake in Mosi Town. Strangely, you are not registered with the Mercenary Guild, which is cross-managed by the Political Affairs Bureau and the Military Department, but with the Adventurers' Guild. ”

Catherine frowned and asked, "Is there anything wrong with this?, the Mercenary Guild has too many restrictions, not only is the registration fee high, but also has to pay an additional management fee every year, and the commission tax must be extracted for doing tasks, and it must fulfill the kingdom's emergency recruitment obligations. I don't think more than ninety percent of the mercenary groups on the mainland will be willing to register there. In comparison, the Adventurers' Guild is much freer. There is no official color, it is a purely non-governmental organization, and the fee is only a small mission intermediary fee, which still refers to the tasks issued through the Adventurers' Association. ”

"Captain Catherine, you and Mr. As's registration with the Adventurers' Guild is the biggest problem in itself. Lady Vicie shook her head helplessly, "The reason why I am reasoning with you is that I hope you will be able to fulfill your promise. This is not forcing you into anything, I want you to recognize that this is a fair and reasonable trade. We did what you wanted, so you should show that you're being sincere, right?"

"As the highest official academic research institution of the Kingdom, the Royal Academy's working magicians, alchemists, and other related staff members are not allowed to participate in any civil society with the nature of a military organization in their private name. Mr. Fangbi added on the side, "This is what the first dean of the Royal Academy, the master of the elements, the Grand Wizard of Condor, personally wrote into the House Code of the Royal Academy. Captain Catherine, I'm not mistaken, am I?"

When Catherine heard this, she secretly bit her lip.

"It's a modest code, but it's been well enforced. Therefore, despite the restrictions of the Mercenary Guild, there are still many powerful mercenary groups registered there. The biggest feature of these mercenary groups is that they all have at least one academic magician as their leader, and there have even been several pure magician mercenary groups unbelievably. Over time, the Mercenary Guild managed far more magicians than the Adventurers' Guild. Therefore, the folk also call the mercenary guild the 'magic guild', which is exactly the same as the name of the 'warrior guild' of the adventurer's guild. However, there are not many people who know the real reason behind this. Mr. Fangbi said with a smile.

Although Ace had served as a member of the Royal Academy's bodyguard, he was not familiar with these rules and regulations. He cast an inquiring look at Catherine, who nodded slightly.

"So what?" said As, deliberately disapprovingly, "it's all old rules, like rotten grain in the corner of a warehouse, and rats don't eat it." We didn't do anything unreasonable, and we didn't plot to rebel, so who cares about that?"

"Really?" said Mr. Fangbi with a smile, "Several of them are now wanted criminals in Wangcheng, and the crime is precisely conspiracy to rebel. ”

Ace tried to retort angrily, but Catherine squeezed his hand and motioned to the deputy head not to be impulsive. Lady Visie was willing to sit and talk to them, only because the corner city had the absolute advantage. Behind being polite and reasonable, there is a terrible strength that cannot be resisted.

Don't look at Ferry is out of danger, but in fact, the mercenary group is still under the control of Corner City. Catherine had no doubt that if the two of them continued to avoid Lady Visse's question, they would be in for an extraordinary measure.

But things are not so simple, and it is no coincidence that Catherine went to Mosi Town to buy experimental materials. At that time, she was on a special mission with His Majesty the King. Catherine has not told Ass about this to this day.

In fact, every member of the Kuhl Mercenary Regiment has some secrets that no one knows, including Catherine herself. For example, one of Catherine's official identities is a magician at the Royal Academy. This seemingly enviable profession is actually not easy.

The Royal Academy is known as the Kingdom's elite talent pool. The mages and alchemists of the academy receive a high monthly research grant and living allowance, and they also have the right to use the most valuable resources of the entire kingdom to conduct research and study. Even their birth, old age, sickness and death are best cared for by the Kingdom.

At the same time, the elite also has a high social status. In the royal city of Daxt, a commoner or even a slave does not need to be a magician or an alchemist, as long as they can enter the royal academy as an apprentice, it means that they are at least qualified to be equal to those ordinary nobles.

Of course, there are very few people who can enter the Royal Academy as a commoner. As for slave origins, they are even rarer.

As far as Catherine knew, the only person in the Royal Academy who had ever been a slave was the alchemist Griggs. As a young man, Griggs was taken captive and enslaved by the enemy during the kingdom's foreign wars. But he was a blessing in disguise and was fortunate enough to be bought by an alchemist, who accidentally came into contact with alchemy.

Having said that, the scholars of the Royal Academy, when they enjoy superior treatment, must also fulfill corresponding obligations. The regular faculty members of each academy, including apprentices, cadets, and even temporary workers, may be called up by the Kingdom to take on special missions of one kind or another.

This obligation is known as the "Call to Duty" and is semi-confidential and not publicly available. Missions often come with great risk, such as Catherine's trip to Mos, which involves rebellion that can cost you your life if you're not careful.

And the norm formulated by Condo, the first president of the Royal Academy, should be interpreted from a different perspective. On the surface, this rule seems to restrict mages from the academy from joining paramilitary organizations such as mercenary groups at will.

Because mercenary groups have both military and civilian characteristics, their characteristics determine that these small armed groups are more likely to be controlled by people with intentions or illegal organizations. So to a certain extent, the mercenary group poses a hidden danger to the security of the kingdom.

The kingdom spends a lot of money and material resources to train talents in magic and alchemy, obviously not so that they can be easily used to the detriment of the country's interests. This is the implicit content of the Condo specification.

But on the other hand, as long as a mercenary group is registered with the Mercenary Guild, then the Royal Academy recognizes that it is officially supervised and recognized. Because the Mercenary Guild itself is cross-managed by the Political Affairs Bureau and the Military Department, being subordinate to the Mercenary Guild is equivalent to de-civilianization. This kind of adaptation is equivalent to opening the door for the magicians of the academy.

In addition, more importantly, the mercenary group of the Mercenary Guild has the obligation to fulfill the obligation of emergency recruitment. This seems to be causing a lot of inconvenience to the mercenary group. In reality, however, "emergency call-up" is only used in times of major crisis in the kingdom, such as war. For the magicians and alchemists of the Royal Academy, an added benefit is obvious. That is, those who have fulfilled this obligation will no longer be called up by the Kingdom for special missions.

The significance of this is extraordinary. Because this allows some scholars in the academy to no longer have to worry about those "unlucky errands that need to be killed" to fall on their heads. This is also the reason why there are always some mercenary groups in the mercenary guild, and after they are established, they do not do any tasks except pay the annual management fee.

Catherine didn't know how much the Corner City commissioners knew about the kingdom's rules of duty, but the outcasts had shown their incredible intelligence skills. Not only have the details of the mercenary group been found out clearly, but even the wanted warrant that Wang Cheng had just issued not long ago was also obtained.

Corner City, due to Catherine's academy status, questioned why the Kuhl Mercenary Regiment was not registered with the Mercenary Guild. Because of Catherine's behavior, it conflicts with the norms of the Royal Academy.

But Catherine was unable to tell the committee that one of the important reasons for this was that she had accepted the call-up and could no longer evade it with an emergency call-up. Therefore, in this case, the Kuhl mercenary group is registered in the mercenary guild, which will bring additional high operating costs to the mercenary group.

And one of the more important reasons is that this is what His Majesty the King meant. Because at the beginning of the establishment of the Kur Mercenary Regiment, it was to carry out two follow-up missions for His Majesty the King after the "Mosi Town Earthquake".

To put it bluntly, Catherine joined a civil society with the nature of a military organization, not in her private name, but in the name of the king.

As to why His Majesty the King asked Catherine to register with the Adventurers' Guild, it may be understood that even if you are Your Majesty, you sometimes do not want to let family affairs become state affairs. Then His Majesty, who wants to deal with some personal affairs, naturally does not want the Kur mercenary group to be managed and noticed by official institutions.

However, no one could have imagined that Catherine, after serving His Majesty the King, would fall in love with an adventurous career, run the Kurid mercenary group well, and make a lot of fame on the entire continent. So much so that Catherine's teacher, Master Quisling, felt a dull ache in his heart every time he thought about it. I regret that I should not have recommended such an outstanding student to that hateful King in the first place.

As the other party, Ace always thought that His Majesty was willing to let them go at that time because the two of them, especially Catherine, were under the protection of the Royal Academy. And His Majesty the King promised to recognize their loyalty to the Kingdom if they were able to complete the test of the tasks His Majesty had given them—that is, not to hold them accountable for their involvement in Kingdom secrets.

Of course, Ace had wanted to get close to Catherine. The creation of the Kurid mercenary group to carry out the king's mission together is a godsend. For this, Astar thanked His Majesty the Great King.

It was impossible for Catherine to tell the commissioners of Corner City all the secrets of Mosi Town. But it was not easy to find a reasonable excuse for that norm of the Royal Academy. At the same time, Catherine must also be careful not to let Ace hear any flaws.

After pondering for a long time, Catherine finally spoke slowly. However, as soon as the words reached her mouth after careful consideration, Catherine's head suddenly "buzzed" and became groggy, and the whole person instantly lost self-control.