My name is Akatosh,

Well, the development as expected.

—4E, 201, Moon of the Fire, 18th, 7:47 a.m.

Since the predecessor of [Twilight] was called "Eltánvold Cathedral", it is obvious that it is not too far from the ruins of Eltvanvold, and under the leadership of the snow elf scout Art, the "adventurer" team from the surface can easily see that the city is gradually approaching.

————

"That's the free-range Zerus herd, and they dig mosses on their own to feed and drive away other underground creatures, so there are no herders...... You! ”

Far from the road, and with few ghostly mushrooms, there are a large number of yak-sized creatures chasing and fighting each other, but they are all black, and at first glance it is difficult to distinguish between the pursuer and the pursued.

Sophie's rabbit shook its ears and slammed it out, then ran back with a scarlet Neengen in its mouth that had been brought in by the beasts of the ground out of nowhere.

The snow elf was very surprised and wanted to take it, but Rabitt looked at him, and swallowed the grass directly with a few movements of the three-petal mouth.

Art is sluggish.

"This thing doesn't look very rare." Ella picked up the rabbit and handed it back to Sophie.

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"This is a border checkpoint, although it is only a formality...... Damn it! ”

At the front of the road, there is an abrupt, dwarven-style checkpoint, with a towering watchtower and a solid fence gate, but there are no walls or guards at all, and you can go around it if you want.

Before anyone could comment on the strange building, Rubbitt had already rushed out, flipping the fluorescent mushroom bush on the side of the door and eating the red plant in a few bites.

Art began to tremble.

"Wang?" Babas slapped the running rabbit, sniffed it carefully, and then, with a little disappointment, let go of the frightened rabbit in nothing.

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"There are many delicious blind fish in this lake, they are not dangerous, and adventurers in the city often ...... Rabbit! ”

After passing through the checkpoint, as the city approached, large mushroom fields and scattered stone dwarven houses began to appear on the roadside, and then the gravel road turned into a stone pavement and turned around the shore in front of a small lake.

Then, as expected, Rubbitt pulled out a scarlet Neengen from the lake, shook it off the water, and swallowed it in a few gulps.

"Little girl...... Is this rabbit of yours for sale......" Art said to Sophie in a sleepwalking tone.

"Do you know where there's more red grass?" Sophie held up the rabbit and looked left and right: "If I feed it enough, will it become that big?" ”

"......" the snow elf silently turned to leave.

Perhaps the scout thought the little girl was refusing, but Arthur knew very well that Sophie probably really did think so—if Rubbit was big enough, she could play with it in dragon form.

"Incredible," Septin implied, as he threw a barrage of inspection spells at the rabbit, "and if the research is correct, it should have been poisoned ten times, Demon God?" Holy Spirit? ”

"Wow!" Babbas shook his head vigorously.

——10：52——

"In front of you is the entrance to the city, but no one will enter or leave if it is not necessary, and if any [blood thistle] starts to grow in this vicinity, it will be immediately found and stand, carved, harvested, and cut." The Snow Elf gritted her teeth and stared at Rabitt with eyes that were almost slit.

"Huh?" The hare was honestly held by Sophie, and had no intention of jumping out at all.

While we can understand the snow elves' desire to see and regain their sanity, we don't want to get angry with a rabbit.

Arthur shrugged and looked at the Twilight Zone, which was already in front of him.

The most eye-catching, of course, is the huge fireball that has no support and is suspended above the city out of thin air, and when it is so close, the restraints on its outside are completely invisible, and you can only vaguely see the black core inside, and if you look at it directly, you will even feel the dazzling heat like the real sun.

Below the black sun, the upper part of the huge dwarven building that can be seen even outside the city walls, unlike the Nords or elves who like to build spires, all the tops of the building are hemispherical, the outer walls are yellowish white as a whole, and the doors and windows are quite narrow and high,

Further down, the lower and middle parts of the cathedral were obscured by other buildings that were no less than low, and at the top of the dwarven buildings, the bridges connecting each other, and the thick walls, the group finally saw other snow elves.

Although the distance was still far away and the faces could not be distinguished, Arthur could confirm that they were not as thin and thin as the snow elf scout Arter with him, and if he wanted to speak, they were more similar to the body shape of those Somo elves on the surface, so the king had really found a way to make the snow elves turn back?

At the end of the road, beneath the tall walls, was a large brass-colored, very dwarven-style gate, ajar and unguarded.

"Someday......" Art muttered to himself, looking up at the snow elves.

"Baron, we are surrounded." Taking advantage of the fact that the scout was far away, Ladia walked up behind Arthur and whispered.

"That's right, the ones that gradually gathered after we passed the 'level' didn't seem to have the intention of attacking, but it seemed to confirm that we would enter the city." Ella also walked over and whispered in agreement.

"Wang! Are you two stupid? Barbas spoke suddenly.

"Whispering in front of snow elves, known for their hearing?" Septin interjected lightly, "I have already set up the silent barrier in advance when you walked towards Arthur, and you still have a little time to pretend to be amazed by the beauty of that city, five sentences." ”

"It won't take that long," Ella patted Arthur on the shoulder, "advance or retreat?" ”

Enter the city, improvise, or retreat and fight an unknown enemy that surrounds you.

What is there to hesitate about? With the strength of this "adventurer squad", even if the elves of the entire city are killed together, there is no pressure, go into the city to see what they are going to do, and decide whether to do it or not according to the specific situation.

"Of course it is—" Arthur was about to make a decision, but suddenly remembered some doubts.

If this snow elf kingdom has long been established and warmly welcomes all visitors from the surface, then why is there no rumor about it on the surface at all? On the contrary, the Black Drop is still seen as a dangerous underground world that no one wants to explore.

The information about an underground city is not clear to others, at least Satya is very willing to buy it, for so many years, has not any adventurer entered the [Twilight Zone] and returned to the surface? Or is it impossible to get out as long as you get in?

If the Snow Elf Art wants to invite adventurers as guests, why would she sneak in the middle of the night? If the Underworld communicates with many adventurers, it is natural to know that this time is a rest time for surface creatures.

In the end, when I first looked into the distance, there were only snow elves in that city, and where were the visiting adventurers and those snow elves like Art who failed to transform?

As Arthur thought quickly, the time of the five sentences ended, the barrier was withdrawn, and the Snow Elf Scout turned around.

"Go into the city, Your Majesty will be glad to see you." He said.

"We ......," Arthur had just said halfway when he saw a somewhat familiar woman walk out of the gate: "Jane Lasse? ”

Jane Lassell is a dark elf archer and mercenary, although Xueman does not discriminate against dark elves, curiosity is inevitable, she is disgusted by those who look at rare animals, and eventually abandons the "mare banner" and stays in the "drunken hunter" all year round.

Because of Satya, Arthur's most frequented tavern is the mare banner, so it's unclear when Jane Russell was commissioned to go out and how she ended up here.

"Hi, Jane~" Ella, who is also an archer, greeted her: "You also came to the black to take an adventure?" How's it going? ”

"Good, but there's a [blood thistle] growing outside the city, and I'm about to harvest it." Jane Lasse seemed to be sane, natural in her movements, and her eyes were in focus, but she didn't answer the question as she watched Ella speak.

"Jane? What happened to you? Ella asked, confused.

"[Dismantle]." Septin raised his hand slightly, and several ice-blue points of light circled around the dark elf twice, scattering and disappearing.

"It's fine, but if you can't find the [Blood Thistle], you'll have to harvest the fluorescent mushrooms and feed them to Zerus." Jane Russe nodded to Ella and walked around her in the direction the group had come.

Delirious, answering the wrong questions, focusing on some kind of "task", but outwardly everything is normal? Arthur looked at the old god in the snow elf scout, who seemed completely unafraid of their exchange of information, and frowned and raised his hand to grab Jane Lasse.

Burst.

Arthur felt as if he had punctured something like a bubble and grabbed the Dark Elf's arm.

Arthur ...... Baron? Jane Lasse's expression instantly became much more real, and her eyes clearly revealed doubt.

"Don't be in a hurry, do you need our 'help' for your 'work'?" Because of Septin's implicit reminder before, Arthur didn't make it too clear when the snow elf was still paying attention to this side, but while he turned his back to the guy, he frowned and hinted.

“…… You will get [Blood Thistle] for your work, and even if you help, you won't be given it. Jane Lasse said with the same attitude as before.

Fortunately, she is a sane archer, and if it were some muscular brute, she would probably have already fought.

"No, no, Jane, we're a little nervous about entering a strange city, so why don't we help you finish this job, just introduce us to what kind of work is in the city and how it pays." Ella also came over to talk, but a little too much.

"Yes, but I'm going to harvest the [Blood Thistle] as soon as possible." Jane Lasse forcefully shook off her hand and walked towards the wilderness, it was clear that her original pattern of action did not allow her to stop talking, and even if she was awake, she still had to disguise herself like that.

"Huh? Wait a minute? Ella chased after her.

"Thank you for showing the way, Art," Arthur greeted as he turned back, "We'll go into town together after we've helped our friends finish their work, so you can go back first." ”

"Wow!" "Oh~work~" Barbas and Sophie performed in their true colors, and Septin kept his aloes and followed, and the snow elves, who were quite afraid of him, did not dare to stop him.

"I'm waiting for you in the city~" Art waved goodbye, and then lowered his voice to a level that an ordinary person couldn't hear at all: "...... [staring at them]. ”