The Pyonggyona Hills are located on the southwest side of the Northern Plains, and are topography an extension of the Tria Mountains in the direction of the plains, where there is a buffer zone between the flats and the hills. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

How far is the location of the incident from the location of Kiss of Death? There is no accurate data to support this, but according to the vague perception of the investigators, the distance is roughly between 70 and 80 miles. It's not a long journey, especially for adventurers.

Ciel and Alex had set out from town around eight in the morning, and they were both adventurers who had reached level 15 and had no shortage of experience in navigating the grasslands. Despite a lot of noise along the way and a delay for lunch, they reached the vicinity of the hills by 3 p.m.

As you get closer to the target location, both the terrain under your feet and the surrounding vision change greatly. Seeing the silhouette of the distant mountains approaching a little closer, Alex's heart couldn't help but feel a sense of kindness.

Alex's hometown is located in the middle of that mountain, in the kingdom of Nome, which is separated from the northern plains by mountains, and its topography is basically mountainous - it may not make sense to say this now, but Alex's village is actually located on a high mountain more than 100 meters above sea level. Seeing the shadows of the mountains in the distance, she couldn't help but recall the carefree times when she was a young child playing in the mountains.

Hill was unaware of the changes around him, and he was humming a cheerful tone as he stepped forward mechanically.

Ciel's subtle brisk steps stopped after the noon meal had begun, and in place it was the barely noticeable sound. Whenever a conversation takes place, the sound stops abruptly, but a moment after the conversation ends, the clear and cheerful singing voice quietly resounds. Along the way, Alex couldn't help but sneak a few times to look at the boy's expressionless face and tightly closed lips, as long as she moved a little louder, the voice coming from that side would suddenly disappear, replaced by Ciel's nonchalant expression and innocent clear eyes.

…… What's this, this cute creature.

Alex suppressed her emotions as she turned the conversation to other concerns.

"Speaking of which, when I was in the office before, the president called you 10086, right?" Alex turned her head and asked curiously, "What does that mean?" Is it a codename? Or is it numbered? ”

Hearing Alex's question, Ciel stopped humming and turned his head to look at her.

"It's numbered."

"Is that really the case?" Alex nodded, and then showed a slight expression of admiration: "Although the people I have met so far are like that, Kiss of Death is a huge organization with 10,000 members. It's okay to look forward to it a little from now on, right? ”

Hearing Alex's words, Ciel looked at her face and blinked slightly.

"It's not ten thousand, it's seventy-four."

"...... huh?"

"There are not ten thousand, there are only seventy-four."

"Wait, wait for me!" The girl had an expression of disbelief: "Your number is obviously after 10,000!" ”

"Everyone's number starts from 1000."

"What's this pretentious way of counting!" The girl had a deceived look on her face.

"The president said, it sounded mysterious."

"What kind of mystery do you say...... Isn't it purely for bluffing? ”

What a petty approach this is, and this kind of budget-conscious style is too shabby.

"Now, Ciel. Kiss of Death is really a well-known organization on the mainland, right? Can I really expect that? ”

“.…..”

"Don't be silent! What is it like to say that even you are silent? If even the ace of your organization is silent, doesn't it mean that there is only despair!? ”

"It's okay." Hearing this, Ciel, who realized that he couldn't back down, gave her a thumbs up: "Alex should feel as if she was sitting on a mud boat." ”

"Can you rest assured that the mud boat is going to say!?"

As they said this, a trade path had already appeared in front of them, so the two of them walked south in the direction of a trade road.

In a short time, the messy scene in the photo was presented before their eyes.

"Wow, it's like being swept by a typhoon."

The real-life scene has a stronger sense of impact than in the photo, and Alex can't help but sigh as she looks at the messy scene in front of her.

Ciel's words ignored Alex, and he was already walking straight over the uprooted trunk of the tree towards the carriage that had fallen to the ground.

Seeing that Ciel had already started to move, Alex quickly followed, and the uneven ground was quite difficult to walk on because of something.

The closer you get to the carriage, the more shocking the surrounding scene becomes. Ground turned over and vegetation with bare roots everywhere, and the smell of damp earth wafted through the air.

"Sure enough......"

Alex heard Ciel's whisper.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Hill's look was clearly certain of something, and Alex remembered the question she had forgotten to ask when she was in the office.

Hearing Alex's question, Ciel turned his head to look at her lightly, then held out his finger and pointed to the ground around him.

"There were no footprints, no blood."

Ciel's words alerted Alex, who looked down at the ground, the fresh dirt only bearing the footprints of Ciel and Alex when they came.

This is certainly a strange place, and no matter how the caravan escorting the wagon disappeared, it is clear that the location where they first encountered the "anomaly" is here. Whether they fled on their own initiative or were kidnapped by unknown assailants, at least a set of footprints should be left here.

She was thinking when she looked up and saw the mark on the ground next to Ciel.

"Hey, aren't the footprints next to you?"

Ciel looked down at Alex in the direction, then shook his head.

"This isn't."

“…… What do you say, it's clearly footprints. ”

Hill turned his head in the direction of the east, then slowly reached out.

"These footprints are theirs."

Alex looked in the direction Ciel was pointing, and there was a duo of bandits walking in laughter.

※

When the two robbers spotted the girl in their way and lunged at her with an ugly smile, Alex only slightly raised the corners of her mouth.

Although she had shown an embarrassing scene when she tried with Hill before, Alex was also a new star in the entire tribe and even the entire Nome, and she was worthy of the title of a genius girl in terms of level and combat quality. Even if you lose your attack power now because of the deviation of the ritual, you can easily deal with it in the face of two unruly thieves.

Easily blocking the attack with a round shield, Alex kicked the bandit in the chest as he swung his knife on the other side. In the time he fell, she had already stabbed the weapon of the man next to her with the long sword in her hand, and skillfully knocked him out on the head with her round shield.

As the two bandits who fell to the ground tried to get to their feet, Alex put the sword in her right hand around their necks.

Of course, this is a bluff, even if she cuts down the other party, she will only take 1 point of damage, but it is enough as a threat to the uninformed.

The two men began to beg for mercy, and Alex looked at Hill behind him with a smug expression, which was of course not to show off, but to prove that she was by no means incapable of fighting.

Ignoring Alex's gaze, Ciel slowly stepped forward from behind.

"Whew!" ”

At the sight of Ciel, the two bandits on the ground let out an unsightly exclamation for some reason, and their faces were as if they had been awakened from a nightmare, and when they opened their eyes, they saw the nightmare itself again.

Seeing their performance, Alex instantly understood, and tried to take advantage of the situation.

"You know this person, right? I don't know what he'd do if he didn't answer the question honestly. ”

As she spoke, she turned her head and gave Hill a look, hoping that the boy would cooperate with her.

However, in his life so far, Hill has not learned what it means to sing blackface, and he does not know what intimidation is. If you want him to understand the meaning of the girl's eyes, it is inevitably difficult for some strong people.

"Alex, sand in your eyes?"

"Not really!" Alex shouted, "Read me the atmosphere!" Now is the time for you to cooperate with me!? ”

"However, Alex hasn't shaken off the baggage yet......"

"Who told you to cooperate with the funny thing! I don't mean this kind of thing when I talk about cooperation! ”

"Well, I don't."

"Hey!"

Ignoring Alex's mood, Ciel faced the two bandits on the ground.

"Please answer my question."

The two men nodded like woodpeckers, and it seemed that the shock they had received was far worse than Alex had expected.

Of course, in fact, there is no need for Hill to make any fierce expressions or threaten with words. Nothing lifted the nightmare in their hearts better than the boys' usual expressionlessness, and the undulating voice of the boys as always. Hill broke their common sense and cognition in that way, and his lifestyle and life were all fragile enough to be broken in front of this puppet-like inorganic teenager. Realizing this, nothing elicits fear in their hearts more than that.

Hill didn't think about it, he held out his finger and pointed to the carriage behind him-

"Did you take those things?"

He was talking about the supplies in the wagon, the goods in the photo, which were still held together by rope and blue canvas, and at the moment there were only empty shelves.

"No, it's not just us! There are others who ...... too! ”

"How many times?" Before he could finish, Ciel interrupted him in a flat voice.

"It's, this is the sixth time, and every other week, there are goods like this that no one is scattered around here. I—We thought it was something that no one wanted......"

Alex didn't have the heart to pay attention to the excuses and excuses behind the man, and she was anxious to get more practical clues.

"What about the attackers!? Have you seen any of the attackers? ”

The two bandits shook their heads, much to Alex's disappointment, but she quickly pulled herself together, and if it was that easy to solve, it wouldn't be a trial.

"So, what about the rest of the information about the attackers? Whatever it is! ”

The two men looked at each other, and one of them hesitated, "We don't know anything else, but Cook - is one of the other group, and he seems to have some information about the attackers." ”

Alex was thrilled by the bonus, and she eagerly grabbed the bandit's clothes.

"Where? Where do you say that person is? ”

"That...... He's been gone since last week......" The other man said cautiously, "Earlier he said that he had found the stronghold of the 'prisoner' by chance, and he also suggested that since the other party only attacked the caravan and didn't want anything, then maybe we could work together and want to encourage us to ...... together."

"But the two of us have resolved to change our minds and stop doing such things! So of course rejected him! The other man interjected loudly into his words, trying to defend himself

Before Alex could speak, the man who had spoken could see what she was interested in, and he hurriedly pointed in a direction ahead.

"Over there! They're just going over there! ”

Ciel and Alex looked back in the direction of his finger, a patchwork of mountains wrapped in dense woods.