Strange Rock City Residential Area, Strange Rock Tavern. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The wooden decorations were all lit up in the yellow light, and there was no noise as usual, and the people held their breath and the tavern reverberated with soft and gentle singing.

Every "holy night" in the middle of the month, the church in Qiyan Castle will send singers to sing sacred songs, the content of which is mostly legends about church heroes in the history of the mainland. And in order to refuse uninvited Holy Singers to ruin the atmosphere in the tavern, the mercenaries usually invite some troubadours to liven up the atmosphere on this night.

Unexpectedly, this time it was a dusty girl with green cheeks under her brown eyes.

Named Katy, he is a skilled piccolo master. Some of the mercenaries here are actually no strangers to her, in the early days of Strange Rock City, Katie was a girl selling fruits, and she often encountered her on the streets leading to the market. And after the upheaval of the "Wind Shadow Wolf Invasion", she moved out of the city with some of the people.

At this moment, he returned as a troubadour, and his appearance has matured a lot, which makes them all sigh.

“・・・

The boat to the blue sea rocks non-stop,

The cold iceberg hides behind the waves,

The child of fate took the hand of the goddess,

Spin the wheel,

smile

The iceberg miraculously melted,

The sea is calm again,

Bless everyone who is loved,

Singing the praises of the miracle of emotion,

・・・”

"Ode to Pure Elegy" is a popular piece in the royal capital of Astaire, and it is said that it is impossible to play its charm without a solid foundation. From the Gate Avenue of Strange Rock City, it takes several days to reach the royal capital of Astaire, even the fastest unicorn carriage. Everyone looked at Katy's skillful movement of pulling up her skirt, and they were all guessing how rich her experience was in the past few years.

The tidal wave of applause gradually calmed down, like the waves in the song. Everyone waited for Katie to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes, waiting for her next story.

The long night was long, and if the troubadour kept singing, the softest of the voices would become hoarse, so they would replace the songs with all kinds of stories along the way.

"The imperial capital lives up to its reputation, the avenue is full of traffic, and the nobles are generous. There is only one handsome silver knight who is different..."

"Blue quartz, spindle grass, and this... tsk, the scholars of the frontier don't even recognize a stone."

In the corner of the tavern, unlike the mercenaries who listened intently to the story, he laid the paper flat on the small table that no one was, bulldozed the corners with a wooden cup, and read the contents carefully.

Mark May: All the content they harvested was on it, and he privately printed a copy.

The higher-ups of Strange Rock City would judge the value of these materials for themselves, but he knew very well that the value of different things would change when placed in different hands.

For example, the "Yin Rock", which has very few uses, may not be as good as a piece of blue quartz in the eyes of the city lord, but it will be regarded as a treasure in front of the eyes of the people of the Necromantic Sect.

In the face of this big business opportunity, he touched his chin and thought about various possibilities, but there was one condition, that is, how to get a business cooperation opportunity with Mark May one step ahead of the official of Qiyan City.

Just like the mineral chamber of commerce "Tonglun" behind him, there must be various other chambers of commerce that want a piece of the pie.

"Checkout, two glasses of ale."

He carefully pocketed the paper, slapped the table and stood up, and the tavern attendant on the side hurriedly ran over.

The mercenary on the side showed a non-smug expression at his sudden move, but he didn't pay attention and left the tavern with a snort.

Joke aside, he didn't come to avoid hymns, or to love wine and stories.

This is a monologue by a businessman.

・・・

"Please take a look."

The civil official presented the neatly stacked documents in his hand to the old man in front of him, the respected civil official of Qiyan City, and one of the mentors of the city lord.

"These guys are still staring at those copper plates, don't you have any news about Warcraft?"

The old man glanced at it cursoryly, and bowed slightly.

"Yes, there's no news from Knight McCrow either, maybe Mark May's exploration is progressing too slowly."

"Well, another document, then."

The old man nodded, and flipped through another document that contained some things about Leo.

The Sweet Fruit Chamber of Commerce, the Mercenary Guild, E-class missions, etc., small and small things, as long as they can be detected, are all written on it.

"Hmph, these thieves in the black market are much better at finding out the news than us."

The old man smiled self-deprecatingly, waved his hand to the civil servant, and then looked out the window at the night.

"Peace won't last long, is that also the guidance of the gods?"

A perfect full moon hangs high in the sky, constantly emitting a soft glow, below which are brightly lit residential areas, the roofs seem to be plated with a layer of silver, and on the east side you can see the beautiful "Lake of Tranquility", which glows quietly in the moonlight.

・・・

"Ding! Gain 120 XP and 513/1800 XP!"

The silver glow gradually dissipated, and a huge gap appeared in the dense jungle, and below it was a monstrous ravine, and the body of the revenant broke in two, and the ground stopped twitching.

This strange monster did not insult its strength, and directly caused Leo's experience points to increase by a small amount, and as its corpse gradually turned to green ashes, Leo was disappointed to find that there was still nothing left.

The green crack in mid-air trembled violently, like a balloon that had burst into air, and quickly shrunk into a green mark, just like when it had been confronted against the silver demon.

He whispered to Iros a few times, but still didn't respond.

"Sure enough, it's unreliable at a critical time."

Leo thought helplessly that he had just tried the skill [White Hot] a few times, but he couldn't hurt the green mark.

At this moment, he could only wait for the charge of [Flowing Fire Strike] to completely destroy this "mark".

The waiting time was a bit torturous, but he felt fortunate that Green Mark hadn't summoned any more demons during this time.

"Ding! Skill [Drift Fire Strike] has been released, and the current charge is 0/10! ”

The golden flames burned the green streaks into nothingness, and little by little, the sparks spilled down, dispelling the night.

At this time, he could no longer find the location of the green torch, and Iros had not responded to him, and most of his skills were in a cooldown state, so it was impossible to find trouble with the "mark".

The night was purple, and as it approached dawn, Leo couldn't help but think about returning.

It's just that when I was chasing the green torch, I walked in such a hurry that I forgot to leave a mark on the road.

"Let's take a walk with the feeling."

He could move, remembering the path he had traveled, his figure flickering through the jungle.

As the colors of dawn came through the cracks in the mist, Iros woke up in a faint light, and Leo had to explain to her what had happened next.

"This is not the right path... I've left traces of magic, but I can't feel it here."

Iros whispered, she couldn't feel where the green torch was, it seemed to be far away.

The terrain in the forest was intricate, and due to the fog and low visibility, it was only natural that Leo was disoriented.

"Huh?"

While Leo was distressed, Iros, who was watching around, made a new discovery.

In front of me, there seemed to be a gap in the vine-wrapped rock, which looked like a path.

They came to the bare rock, only to find that it was not a path.

The exposed rock is the corner of a huge platform, and its full view is a huge stone statue of a god, dragging a plate in his left hand, sitting in a natural and upright posture, with a peaceful expression, and different degrees of moss on the eye sockets and other grooves.

"What is this?"

Leo looked at the stunned Iros and asked softly.

"There are many gods that have not been handed down without names, no, maybe they are demon gods in human form, but in short, they are old gods."

As he spoke, Iros leaned down and motioned for Leo to remove the moss and vines around the stone seat, where there were faint words.

With a [Fluorescent Blade] on his body, under the patient command of Iros, Leo can be regarded as experiencing the hardships of archaeological work in the previous world.

The stone pedestal is carved with distorted script, very different from the upright script of the Astaire Empire.

"This is the god of shadows, the embodiment of the night."

"The eternal fire of nothingness turns light to ashes, taking on the form of shadow in the darkness."

Iros clearly had a wealth of knowledge of ancient scripts, and it was easy for her as a Luna to decipher them.

"The God of Shadows is one of the pagan gods, its true identity is a giant demonic serpent, but most importantly, it was once the object of worship of the Mage Society, their banner."

"Rituals of sacrifice usually take place in front of the statue, which was once a huge temple."

Iros kept saying her speculations, and Leo could only listen obediently.

He looked at the surrounding fields of trees and weeds, and it was hard to imagine that this was once a solemn and sacred temple.

"There is a temple in every stronghold of the Mage Society, and if we look closely, we may be able to find something important."

Just as Iros proposed this to Leo, the white mist that filled the surrounding area suddenly thickened, and a faint roar filled it, which was the usual voice of the Wind Shadow Wolf.

"Wait, let me see."

Leo frowned, and when he wanted to act, he was stopped by Iros.

Pale blue magic lit up in Iros's eyes, and the flow of magic around her turned into a physical body, reflecting in her eyes.

"The Wind Shadow Wolf is chasing a human?"

"This direction!"

The magical form in the distance seemed to be somewhat familiar, and it was an ordinary human in terms of scale, but why did it appear here, this is the deepest part of the Misty Swamp.

Iros pointed the way to Leo, who didn't hesitate to pick up the Fluorescent Sword and rush in that direction.

The green shadows of the trees whistled behind them, and Leo quickly caught up with the Wind Shadow wolves, their scarlet eyes striking in the white mist.

[Spike] + [White Hot]!

The incomparably skilled sword skills came out of his hands, and as soon as his figure entered the wolves, it set off a bloody storm.

"Ding! Current experience 515/1800!"

After killing several of the largest Wind Shadow wolves, the panicked wolves scattered and fled, and Leo spotted the trembling figure in the shade of the trees.

When he got closer, his expression became exciting.

"Leigh, Mr. Leo—"

"--I thought, I thought."

Lindsay stood up with a crying voice and hugged Leo tightly, her body was covered with mud stains, her clothes were torn in many places, and there were faint blood marks on her arms, which must have suffered a lot.

After confirming that Lindsay was not injured by the Shadow Wolf, Leo breathed a sigh of relief.

"Why are you here, Mark May?"