Tonight, in the small town at the foot of the snow-capped mountains of St. Maurice, every hotel is crowded with a lot of people,

Harold squeezed into one of the hotel lobbies, and in the midst of the cacophony, he rushed to the counter like a war, clutching his money bag and shouting, "Boss, are there any rooms left?" ”

"And, there's another one! The last room. ”

Harold immediately took out fifteen silver coins from his money bag and said, "I want it!" There's still a wagon outside to be deposited. ”

"Pay an extra ten silver coins deposit."

Harold poured out another 10 silver coins from his purse, and the bulging purse immediately flattened.

The innkeeper collected the money, and he shouted to the others: "There are no rooms, and one person who wants to live in the stable." ”

Harold paid the money, received the key, and rushed out of the hall again.

The carriage already had a few waiters from the hotel already helping him pack his luggage. Edith stood by and waited for him.

"There's only one left, so I'll barely do it tonight."

"Wait ......"

Harold didn't wait for her to finish, and pulled her up to the guest room on the second floor without saying a word.

The two entered the door, and the luggage was moved into the guest room by several waiters.

Harold flipped through his duffel bag and said, "There's no way, who would have thought that the Knights of Punishment would close the mountain today?" As a result, all the adventurers and hunters who wanted to go into the mountains to pick ice roses were blocked. ”

"Well, let's live in the wilderness like last time....."

Harold began to feel a little annoyed in his heart, and he asked rhetorically, "Who asked for a hotel before, saying that you don't want to sleep in the snow?" ”

Edith Waiti: "Then don't just have one room, and...... Why is there only one bed? ”

Harold rolled his eyes: "Everything else has been robbed, and it's too early for us to turn back, otherwise we wouldn't even have a room." This condition is already good, it's pretty clean, don't dislike it, Miss. ”

Harold said, pulling out a lot of gear from his package, such as seal oil to protect his bare skin from frostbite, hiking boots and iron claws to climb rocks, and two-handed axes to use as self-defense weapons.

"We.... We're not, we're not pampered girls. Don't say that. Edith was starting to get anxious.

"Then why?" Harold frowned.

"Nothing why! You can clean up here! Let's go take a shower. Edith stomped her foot in shame.

"I don't understand..... Harold muttered as he continued to sort through the package.

In a moment, there was the sound of water in the bathroom, but Harold didn't care, he finished sorting out the package, laid the floor on the ground, and sat on it to read the map of the snow-capped mountains of St. Maurice.

"Well, you can walk this place into the mountains, and quietly enter the mountains from this cliff."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Please open the door!"

Harold's heart skipped a beat as he heard the sound of metal weapons clashing outside the door.

"Here we are!" Harold reached behind him and grabbed the dagger at his waist.

He slowly opened a crack in the door, and found several young men standing outside the door, all dressed in dwarven metal armor, carrying a musket with a bayonet, and a short-barreled musket in a brown holster stuck behind his waist.

Harold could tell at a glance that this was the foreign mobile unit of the Punishment Knights, and the murderous aura between his eyebrows and the equipment on his body were different from the security forces that were only responsible for law and order.

Harold tightened his grip on the dagger a few more moments, and he chuckled, "Sir, what are you doing?" ”

The punishing knight at the head took out a small notebook and asked, "How many people are there in your room?" What are you doing here? Planning to stay here for a few days? ”

This interrogation-like question made Harold slightly stunned, but he didn't hesitate, and immediately said, "Two, me and my other female companion, the two of us plan to leave tomorrow." We are students at St. Phelan College and plan to take advantage of the winter break to visit the snowy mountains of St. Maurice, but the road is closed, and our plans are in ruins. ”

Harold said, took out his school badge from his pocket, and let a few punishment knights look at it, the knight who was the leader glanced at the school badge, his face softened, he didn't say anything, just explained: "Then this classmate, we are very sorry." However, please understand that the order to close the mountain must be carried out. Within three days, outsiders were to leave the town. ”

"Dare to ask, what is the reason for the closure of the mountain?"

The Punishment Knight looked at Harold indifferently, and he said, "Classmate, you don't need to know. ”

"No, no, no!" Harold took out a pair of aristocratic young masters (miss?!) ). "I have a right to know the cause of the matter, and you have not said anything about the disruption of our journey, and you have not come up with a reason to relieve me and my traveling companions. Such a fanfare closure will always make people speculate, and if there are strange rumors, I don't know who did it. ”

The Punishment Knight, who was the leader, said coldly: "The civil war in the Northern Salga Empire has caused congestion in the upper reaches of the Emerald River, and today the fierce battle of the Valin Fortress has also begun, and we are to defend against the rout and outcasts from the north from the snow-capped mountains of St. Maurice to the papal territories. ”

"Oh." Harold replied, thoughtfully. "I see, I thought something terrible was happening on the snow-capped mountains of St. Maurice. Those gentlemen, please do your job, it's a blessing. ”

The Punishment Knight, who was at the head, just nodded, and led his men down to the next room to check.

Harold closed the door, and he took a few steps, sat down on the bed, and fell into deep thought.

"No, these Punishment Knights, including the Punishment Knights who participated in the closure of the mountain at the pass of Mount St. Maurice, are all mobile troops transferred back, but such troops are needed to execute such a character? No way"

Harold recalled the change in the expressions of the men just now.

"Those people are not lying, but they are ordered to do just that, and they don't know anything about the situation. So, what is the purpose of the Holy See? This is the way to prevent a major crisis. ”

Harold seemed to figure it out, but he couldn't figure it out, and he suddenly remembered the stalker he had been feeling lately, but hadn't yet made it visible.

"Could that recent stalker have something to do with these strange phenomena? It seems that this time it is not only necessary to get the ice and snow rose that the old orc asked, but also to go to the Snow Mountain of St. Maurice to investigate. ”

At this time, the sound of water in the bath stopped, and Edith came out of the bath with a tightly wrapped bathrobe, her face flushed, probably because of the hot bath.

"Who just came?"

"A few people from the Knights of Discipline sent me away." Harold paused. "I've thought about it, since the Punishment Knights have closed the mountain, you don't have to follow me tomorrow, go back to Academy City by yourself. I'll just go and pick the old orc's stuff to coax my wife by myself. ”