"I see...... Thank you very much. Heliga picked up the communicator in his hand and said to the person on the other side, "After that, you can leave on standby." I'll pay you later as I had planned. ”

"Okay." The voice on the other side looked tired, "Because the mission location is also considered to be in the brothers' own territory, it doesn't take much effort." Are you really sure it's okay, though? It's just a village that was abandoned for an unknown amount of time. ”

"Hmm. That's it......" Haliga paused, "Anyway, it's none of your business anymore, do your job." ”

After hanging up the phone, Heliga remembered a surprise call he had received earlier.

——————————————————————————

While Haliga was planning to complete the entire project for Oliebat, he received a call from the Church of Qiyao - using his own ARCUS. As we all know, this is a trial product that is only available on a small scale by the Ryan Forte Society, and its functions are still limited at present, and the person who can contact him is Ain Sernat, the "Obsidian" who has not been in contact with Helliga for a long time.

"What's wrong?" Helriga didn't bother to wonder why Ain was able to use ARCUS to connect with him—how could the Church of Qiyao have fewer secrets than the Society?

"Why, you're not surprised at all. I thought the product I had shipped from Lehman would do a good job. Ain was also surprised - Hailiga's attitude disappointed her.

"I'd be a little surprised if you came here in your boat to find me yourself." Heiliga sneered, "You can really sit still, the empire and the autonomous prefecture are in chaos like this, and all kinds of strange forces and gods are thrown out to make trouble, but you are sitting there and watching it very happily." ”

"You can't say that...... Kevin and Waji, those two guys are also working hard, right? There's nothing I can do about Thomas, that's it. Ain shrugged nonchalantly—Helliga could occasionally hear about Waji and Kevin fighting at Crossbell, but for Thomas, it wasn't at all clear, "I'm here to tell you something else, though." By the way, I heard you're interested in Northumbria? ”

"yes...... What's going on, it's now a secret that you all know? Heliga frowned—he didn't seem to have made a big deal about it?

"Martha told me. Although she is now nominally a chasesser, she has always been in contact with me. However, you don't blame her for this...... Because after all, it involves her own hometown. She has always been very hostile to the Empire's attitude towards Northumbria's affairs, so it is natural for her to be confused about it. More importantly, have you forgotten a little that I understand that you want to keep this matter secret, but it seems that for us, the secrecy work has been overdone, right?

”

"I don't remember saying that I had to report to the church for everything...... Before, Kevin was a kind of face for him, but anyway, on the Empire's side, your manpower can't cover ......" Helliga pouted.

"yes...... So I'm not here to pursue the question of how you use power. The archbishop has said that he has no impact on the world, and I am naturally happy not to provoke you. However, we cannot assume that we do not know about this matter...... You should know that, right? The area where the "Salt Pile" occurred has always been under the jurisdiction of the Seven Yao Church. ”

"But you just let the Roaring Lion go over there and dig out the core of the wreckage of the Pile of Salt, and then bring it back to make a crossbow and arrow, right?" Heiliga said lazily, "Isn't there no danger there?" You're just sealing it off and managing it in name, right? Rather, you can't do anything about the salt sea over there, so it's actually a desert. The locals won't go out of their way to see this sad place, and outsiders won't mess with you—"

"I know what you're trying to say...... But in fact......" Ain hesitated, "the core of the Salt Pile was indeed taken away by the Qiyao Church...... Aside from the special weapons that Kevin made them, it wasn't for nothing. ”

"For example?"

"For example, it's actually an "external principle."

"It's not hard to guess...... Anyway, as long as it's not recorded in your books, you can say that. "What else?" ”

"And ...... Forget it, I don't need to tell you about this for the time being. The key problem is that after the "Roaring Lion" arrived there, it was discovered that the outer remains of the "Salt Pile" appeared to have been opened once. Although upon inspection, there were no more traces, and the most dangerous salted core was still there, but ......"

"Wait...... That doesn't seem right. If I'm not mistaken, didn't that "salinization" swallow the whole land and the people on it in an instant? "In that case, the man arrived at the heart of the Salt Pile from the outside before you?" ”

"yes. Moreover, they didn't take the most dangerous part of it, which seems to mean that they don't have enough means to stabilize that existence. Of course, it may not be necessary - but in short, Lord Roaring Lion is not the first person to get there. ”

"And then?"

"For now, the church is really not doing anything about the salinized land, as you say." Ain sighed, "But for such a big thing, there are still people in the church who have been there to stay there. According to the members of the Order who carried out this mission, as well as officials from the Ministry of Ceremonies, the "Salt Pile" has been entered and investigated by non-church personnel since then. ”

"Really...... Has anyone been paying attention to the movement of the "Pile of Salt"? Even after the core of it has been taken into the custody of the Church? "The question piqued Heiliga's interest," he said...... Haven't you been discovered? ”

"There's no way the Guardian Knight would be sent to such a mission. Therefore, the personnel in charge are generally the probationary knights and monks of the canonized province, while the officials of the ceremonial province are responsible for the overall work of unified scheduling, as well as ...... Representations with the Autonomous Region Government. Ain sighed, "The person who did this doesn't seem to be weak, so he hasn't been caught all along. But there's plenty of evidence that people have been doing it all the time. ”

"So, why do you want to do that?" Heliga asked softly.

"I don't know." Ain shook his head, "Martha has also carried out this mission there before, and she knows a lot about it, and after learning about your interest in the Northumbria region, she once suspected that you were secretly asking people to investigate, so she told me the news. ”

“…… But that person wasn't me. If I'm going to do that, I'll just have to negotiate with you later. Heliga frowned.

"yes. However, I think this is an opportunity. Ain nodded, "Although the Ministry of Rites has always believed that the 'Northern Hunters' are doing tricks...... However, due to well-known reasons, the autonomous prefecture government is unable to do anything to govern the "Chasseurs of the North". No matter how hard the provincial side tries to ceremonial, the actions of the autonomous prefecture side are postponed or pretended. ”

"There's no way around it...... Until now, the people of Northumbrian have been plagued by famine and lack of heating. In the small villages far from the cities, if there were no young men and women who could go out and become hunters, they would all starve to death because they had no source of funds. "The attitude of the Imperial Government towards the government of the Autonomous Prefecture of Northumbria...... and the diplomatic strategy based on it, which even most countries on the continent cannot do anything about. ”

"Hmm...... Therefore, her distrust of the empire is understandable. "That's the first reason I contacted you. Martha, she still thinks of her old love with you, but I think the most important thing in her heart will always be her hometown. I think you should find an opportunity to seek her complete trust—she is actually quite influential among the hunters of the Northlands. ”

“…… I know. Heliga nodded slightly, "What about the other than that?" ”

"The high-ranking officials of the Canonization Province and the officials of the Ministry of Ceremonies all suspect that the person who secretly peeked into the wreckage of the 'Salt Stake' has something to do with the Imperial side." "But this happened twenty years ago, so I concluded it couldn't be you." In addition, since the chaos in the Northumbria region was largely due to the fact that they did not have the support of the imperial government, it was ...... to use the reverse logic."

"The empire created chaos in Northumbria, thereby creating unfavorable conditions for the administration of the salinized regions in favor of their own ...... of action?" Heliga understood the idea. According to this theory, it is very likely that the person who secretly conducts a long-term and continuous investigation of the salt pile behind the back of the Seven Yao Church has something to do with the empire, and the two sides are trading on this premise. In connection with the Empire's recent big moves, Helliga understood what Ain meant.

"So, if you can...... Can I ask you to investigate the interior of the empire to some extent in this situation? In the Northumbria region, on the border with Erebonia, there used to be a village that was Martha's hometown. I'll send you the coordinates and addresses there, and you can use it to gain her trust...... On top of that, maybe the nearby villagers can provide you with some catches? ”

————————————————————————

Ain's information is detailed—using a point of reference on the border between the states of Notia and Lamar to clearly point out the location of the abandoned village that once served as Martha's hometown. Heliga secretly contacted the detachment leader of the "Northern Chasseur" he had hired and asked him to give him some help from him, without hiding from Martha. The captain seems to have mistaken Helliga for a "surprise" for Martha, so he readily agrees, and has his soldiers search for the place, and finally finds the location.

And now that the matter that Olibat had given him was almost settled, it was time for him to take care of his own affairs. This will be the only chance before being entangled by Kane. So when Helriga suddenly returned to the town and called a dazed Martha, she had no idea why.

"Where is this going?" Looking at the "portal" that opened in front of her, Martha asked hesitantly.

"Go to a good place." Without saying a word, Heliga dragged her through the door—and to Martha's exclamation, the two landed smoothly in the canyon on the northern border of the empire.

"Cold cold cold ......" Martha was naturally unprepared for this - the climate in the south of the empire was mild, so Martha was only wearing ordinary winter clothes. Soon, though, she didn't feel the chill anymore - for Heliga didn't know when she took out a small ball, and the warm glow gathered around them.

"This is the northern border of the empire, where the states of Notia and Lamar meet. Originally, there was a border monument built along this mountain range. Pointing to the snow in front of him, Heliga said, "But now ......."

“…… Wait, this is ......" Martha realized that despite the wind and snow around her, the scenery was familiar to her—so she immediately asked, "This is the southern part of the border between Northumbria and the Empire?" ”

"Yes." Heliga nodded, "Five hundred and seventy cels to the southwest from here, which is the town where you and I were the only ones left when Volquan left. ”

“……”

"I'll talk about that later. I had people set up a signpost yesterday, and if I didn't go, I was worried that when it snowed for a while, I would bury the sign they had so hard to erect. Heliga said, pointing to a marker leading to the northern gorge.

"......" looked in the direction the mark pointed, Martha did not move on the surface, but the inside was turbulent—an inner undercurrent that surged and made her suppress vividly. For some reason, Martha suddenly felt the urge to cry out loud.

Boys and girls, under the warmth of magical energy, walked silently on the gradually melting ice and snow, and in the cold wind that gradually became bleak. Occasionally, Heliga paused to check for the "sign" that was about to be blown off by the wind - and beckoned Martha to continue.

The further she went, the more a wonderful feeling rose in Martha's heart. Eventually, the feeling was completely released when she saw the scene in front of her.

What appeared before her was a village—or rather, what was once a village, but now nothing more than the ruins of a pile of house remains.

At the same time, it was something Martha hadn't been to for a long time...... Hometown.

Set a small goal first, such as remembering in 1 second: book guest residence