On the day of the Church's first formal contact with Ofiicher, Ofiicher was still asleep in his tavern room as the sun rose on the horizon east of the town of Fork River, casting the morning light on the leveled fields to the east.

But some woke up before him.

For example, while the morning star was still hanging in the twilight that was about to break, the goods and convoys were gathered and ready to set off.

For example, near dawn, the city guard team is responsible for handing over the morning patrol on the roads near the town. It is their presence with the sunshine that makes the business travelers have the courage to set off early.

For example, the mist in the mountains that was carried by the morning breeze into the fields. Until the beginning of winter, Chahe Town will not be foggy everywhere in the morning. Excluding the toilers who cling to the town for their living by manual and menial work, most townspeople don't eat the more important brunch of the two meals a day until nine o'clock, after which they open for business or leave for work.

Another example is the murderous road bandit who took advantage of the thick fog to shoot at the merchant and the guards, and the chief paladin of the Chahe Town Church, Blanca, who broke through the thick fog and came to the scene of the murder on the side of the road in the field.

The paladin, bathed in the morning light, had his short, untended grass green hair rudely parted with oil, and his hazel eyes looked out over the distant mountains to the southeast, like a mighty statue of a hero. The wind and sand of time made the skin on his face a little loose, but it did not prevent his body from being as full as a young man in his prime.

"Paladin Chief, I've checked it again and again, and there is no source energy left on the scene. There was nothing unusual about the wounds on the deceased's body, and there was enough reason to believe that it was just another ordinary case of road robbery. ”

The three Battleguard Clergy stripped off their white gloves soaked in crimson and walked towards Blanca. Behind them, the wide road that allowed the two large caravans to walk side by side could no longer tolerate the chaos of the murder scene.

Many of the limbs that had lost their lives, the parts of the trucks, and the goods that had not been taken with them were scattered into the fields. Some of the members of the guard were already in the direction of the scattered past, organized by the captain of the city defense.

Blanca didn't move, just opened his mouth and said, "Ramiro, what do you think?"

A vulture hovering in the sky suddenly fell on the shoulders of one of the Battleguard Clergy, and suddenly a strange human voice emanated from its beak.

"What should I think? May Ji'an bless us, there are enough troubles in the town. Two weeks ago, we were told not to disturb the poor little girl, so that we could hardly do anything about such a big incident, and last night a sudden message came back to retrieve the original instructions, so that we could find out the circumstances of the incident as soon as possible. We should focus on that little girl, the people around her, and that damn Finn. ”

Blanca and the three of them didn't seem surprised at the strange thing the animals were talking to, but Blanca rolled his eyes to meet the vulture's dark eyes.

He said: "The road bandits did not hesitate to fight for their lives to plunder the merchants, and this month has happened five times. This is unusual. ”

Even the vulture's strange voice could hear the impatience in its words: "What's unusual? It's nothing more than those bandits who saw that the church's battle guard priests were not participating in the city defenses, so they came to take advantage of the situation to grab more." ”

"Ramiro, they rob things for treasure, not for honor. Blanca denied, "No one would give up their lives to rob a little more treasure." ”

"Don't let me guess, what do you mean by that? ”

Blanca rode a resting horse and walked briskly to the southeast. Seeing this, the Guardian Priests trotted up on the side of their horses. The vulture flew onto Blanca's shoulder.

"I've learned from the cases I've documented that when bandits don't even want their lives, they're either hired by someone else in a bad war, or they're collecting a fortune to get away from a place. Either way, it means they knew something bad to make them do what they did. ”

"O holy, my noble chief paladin, is Gian only blessed your body, but not your intellect?" the vulture sighed loudly and said very strange things in a very strange voice, "Are you going to the southeastern mountains to see if Kuroshio is near us?" Besides, I can't sustain that far range. Well, more importantly, what about the emergency directives from above?"

Blanca's face seemed to be carved out of stone twitched slightly: "It was the emergency orders that made us ignore the little girl's pleas for help, and even more so that we focused on Finn, which eventually led to this result! ”

"Alright, my venerable Paladin, you have the final say. Wait......"

The gloom in the vulture's eyes began to disappear, and suddenly it flew out in shock, and after a few roars, it flew away in a hurry.

After a while, the group had walked more than three nautical miles, and a bright red robin fluttered onto Blanca's shoulder.

"Wait, wait! this distance is already my limit!" Ramiro said in a sharper tone this time.

Say. Blanca slowed his horse's march a little, and he was not far from his destination, the end of the foothills of the Alb.

"We just found that guy," Ramiro said with some staggeringness, "the same messenger who met with Charlotte's imp last night." He... He was killed last night, and his body still has a little residual warmth. He appears to have been interrogated in his room. ”

Blanca's eyes were a little solemn, and every time he replied to Ramiro's words without any pause, he fell silent.

"Isn't that what Finn or Charlotte did?" he asked.

"At least not them, and at least not the people they came into contact with. Their actions are basically in the church... Well, we're watching, and we're the only one who doesn't know what Finn is doing every time he's hiding in his studio's lab. Ramiro hesitated and continued, "There is a high-ranking clerk who is convinced that it bears the imprint of the Panthion Society, but it has not been approved by the others. ”

How could anyone else agree with that? This proves that the church didn't even notice that the members of the Panthion Society had infiltrated the town. Blanca jumped off his horse, not looking like a middle-aged man in heavy steel plate armor, "You go and test the little boy who survived with Charlotte, and bring him to me as soon as possible." ”

"Here!?" Ramiro's scream matched the robin's voice.

There was a golden glow that shone from the paladin's long hazel eyes.

"If the little boy is hiding something we don't know, he might not want to tell us for money, or for honor and duty, or for something else. "But no one, after witnessing the surging Kuroshio, cares about their little thoughts." ”

After a moment of silence, Ramiro spoke again through the robin's strange voice: "May Gian protect... You... Do you see the Kuroshio?"

Seeing that Blanca didn't answer, Ramiro hesitated and asked him one last question: "Okay, I'll do it." But what if the little boy still insisted?"

"Bring him here. The Paladin Governor walked towards the robin's seclusion, which seemed to retreat under his gaze, "I'll let him not hold out." ”