This inter-state meeting convened by the General Association of Adventurers in Manning City in the Continental Winter has left a strong mark on history. Continental historians basically believe that this is the beginning of the Third Age, and although later chronicles still count this period as the Second Age, most refer to this year as the first eight years of the Third Age or simply the first eight years.

Because this winter, the word dark magic reappeared in the eyes of mainlanders. The Adventurer's Guild officially announced that the sporadic dark ability events that have occurred in recent years are the emergence of dark magical forces in the former Magic Empire. In fact, the surge of dark magical forces created a greater rift in the already crisis-ridden continental order, and the delicate relations between countries became more tense, and also laid the groundwork for the later Second Continental War, or what can be called ***. This inter-state meeting organized by the Adventurers' Guild was called the First Continental Congress.

At the First Continental Congress, most of the representatives of the rulers of each country were the top nobles of each country, and they were at odds with the dark magical forces that were currently emerging.

Desik's representatives hope that they will send elite strike forces to carry out clearance missions deep into the countries and eliminate the scattered dark magic forces. But in the face of the Desik Empire, which is eyeing the tiger, all countries are not fools, the fight against darkness is fake, and the invasion of countries is real.

The San Jose Empire, the rumored Eastern power that inherited and secretly used the power of dark magic, advocated that they should lead the investigation into the power of dark magic. Later analysts believed that San Jose wanted to gain more magical knowledge in the name of the investigation. Around the end of the Second Age, San Jose had been secretly developing magical strikes, which in fact was the same as the Magic Empire's practice.

The Nine-Nation Merchant Alliance feared that the forces of all parties would trigger drastic changes on the mainland, and this was not a good outcome for an alliance consisting of merchant republics, small principalities, and independent city-states.

As a result, the nobles of various countries with their own evil intentions were not able to reach a unified consensus at the First Continental Congress. The president and elder of the Adventurer's Guild, as well as several well-known chief hunters on the mainland, helplessly played the role of useless mediators, and in the end, they only facilitated all parties to form a small team to go to the Sunset Mountain Range where the latest incident occurred to conduct a more in-depth investigation.

Unlike the Adventurers' Guild's Investigators, which consist entirely of hunters, the new squad consists of a court mage from San Jose, a Wasteland Samurai from Desik, and a chief hunter from the Adventurers' Guild, accompanied by Xiao Mu as a representative of the Principality of Kaman, where the incident took place. All forces and various talents have reached a delicate balance in the squad.

So, when the cold winter came, at the Kist Manor under Sunset Mountain, Kester, who was playing sledding with Lolita, Feida, and Lina, actually received the news that a special dispatch team would come to the Kster Manor in the ice and snow. In Xiao Mu's notification letter, the investigation team will arrive at the manor in three days at the earliest.

Seeing Xiao Mu's vague description in the letter, it was said that he wanted to re-investigate the beast tide in the Sunset Mountains, and the shrewd Kist immediately sensed that something was wrong.

The beast tide in the Sunset Mountains is a special natural phenomenon, a phenomenon of wild beasts going crazy caused by a special climate. Usually every few decades, the beasts of Sunset Mountain will run wildly through the mountains in groups, attacking any creatures they come across, whether they have ever eaten humans or not.

When the attack is over, a large number of wild beasts will die of exhaustion. Generally speaking, when the adventurer's guild detects the phenomenon of the beast tide, it will send hunters to investigate, and after confirmation, it will generally send a warning to the lords in the border area of the Sunset Mountain Range and wait for the beast tide to pass.

In fact, after each beast tide, lords large and small would rush into the mountains to cut off the skins of those exhausted beasts and make a fortune.

However, this time, when he heard that there was a beast movement, he thought it was just another ordinary beast tide, so he actually waited for a hurried letter from Xiao Mu. The letter emphasized that it was a special investigation team from Manning City, much to the surprise of Kester. Isn't it just a simple beast tide?

In the winter of the continent, the light of the red and blue days is not as good as at other times, and sometimes, throughout the day, the two planets in the sky are lazily emitting light, without power, and sometimes they can't even penetrate the shallow clouds.

For most of the winter, thick clouds and snowfall are the hallmarks of the season.

Since receiving Xiao Mu's letter three days ago, Kist has not gone out to play in the snow with a few girls, but mobilized the people in the manor to clean up his small castle.

This year's autumn harvest of wheat was piled up in the barn, and Kster ordered a few hearty meals to be prepared. At the same time, the lord's flag, which had not been used for decades, was dug out of the warehouse.

For decades, this quiet manor has not had a more senior nobleman come to visit, if it weren't for the reminder of the butler Drew, Chester wouldn't know that a nobleman would not have flown his family's flag when he was a guest, which was an extremely rude move.

It's a pity that the flag of a ring-shaped snake on a white background has been dyed black because it has been stacked in the warehouse for a long time. It took Lena half a day to wash the flag. Finally, the flag of Lord Koster was flown in front of the small castle.

In the cold wind, the more Kester looked at this stupid snake, the more depressed he felt, how could his family symbol be such a stupid snake. Xiao Mu's family is a golden jasmine, how much vitality and how expensive.

Frustrated, on the morning of the third day, Kester still put on his lord's suit, which did not particularly fit, and took Steward Drew to wait for the so-called special dispatch team on the avenue next to the manor. Under the huge projection of Sunset Mountain, the cold wind and white snow fell, and the serpentine flag trembled, not knowing what it was telling.

Finally, at the end of the cold wind, a group of figures appeared in the distance. A convoy of several wagons slowly approached and then stopped on the side of the road. A head wrapped in fur protruded from the carriage, "Hey, Koster, here we are." Little Mu's unique voice came, and Kerst couldn't help but smile.

There weren't many people in the group, and there was no point in greeting in this kind of weather. With Drew Steward leading the way, the team followed Kester into the manor castle.

Xiao Mu, who came out of the carriage, shook the snowflakes on his body and gave Kist a big bear hug. Then he turned around and introduced him, "We are a special investigation team formed at the invitation of the leader of the Adventurer's Guild, and we are about to enter the Sunset Mountains to investigate extreme events. I'm sorry to take a break from your place today. ”

Xiao Mu's entourage included the court mage Sei from San Jose, the wasteland warrior Kuigang from Desik, and the chief hunter of the Adventurers' Guild, Green, as well as their respective follower guards, a total of more than 20 people.

In addition to Xiao Mu, there is also an old acquaintance in the team of the Adventurer's Guild, who is Clay, the senior hunter of the Adventurer's Guild who came to Kerter Manor to borrow a horse. Clay joined the dispatch team as a guide for the local adventurer's chapter, and in fact, Xiao Mu was in the same situation.

Kist greeted Clay and asked Drew to arrange for everyone to live in the castle's guest rooms and in the various farmsteads. As a friend of Koster, Xiao Mu naturally followed Koster into the castle's study.

"Tell me, what's going on?" The wooden door of the study was closed by Xiao Mu, and Kerst immediately couldn't help but ask, "Is it related to the investigation of the Adventurer's Guild?"

"It's true that this matter is not on the table yet, but it has something to do with dark magic. Xiao Mu explained.

"Dark magic?" Kerst was shocked, and despite all the possibilities he had thought of, he didn't expect this to be the reason. After all, there has been no trace of dark magic on this continent for a thousand years. In his and Xiao Mu's concept. Dark magic is more of a legend in the book. "Quick, tell me more about what's going on. ”

"I don't know too specifically. It was also this time when I went to Manning to attend the conference that I learned that the remnants of dark magic have existed for more than a hundred years, and they often cause all kinds of incidents on the mainland. The Adventurers' Guild noticed that these incidents had become more frequent recently, so they organized this team to investigate the latest accident in the Sunset Mountains. ”

"But the dark magic has been gone for hundreds of years, how can it suddenly come out and make trouble again?"

"Of course, it didn't come out of nowhere. I've heard that San Jose has been secretly studying dark magic there. The so-called court magician they came with this time said that he was proficient in healing magic, but I doubt that he should be interested in dark magic. Including Desik, their purpose is not pure. So this time, it happened in Karman, and it was really not a very good situation. My sister told me privately that she should try not to get involved and simply keep things within the Sunset Mountains. ”

Kester listened to Xiao Mu's story, and his doubts were slightly resolved, but he was not completely dispelled. It happened in the Sunset Mountains, which are also the closest territory to the Sunset Mountains, so Koster felt that this was a rare opportunity, so he suggested that he would like to join the investigation with the dispatch.

Xiao Mu didn't object too much, after all, this investigation was organized by the Adventurers' Guild, and Kaman would also have some guards here, and Kist could appear as a guard. So in the end, the two said they would be together. The rest of the time, Xiao Mu cared about the lives of Feida and Lolita in the territory, and learned that the life of the two was still peaceful for the time being, and at the same time, Feida's injuries were also healed, so Xiao Mu didn't say anything more.

On the second day, with the arrival of a team of dozens of escorts sent by Princess Mu from King Kaman, the special dispatch team officially completed the assembly, and Kist officially joined the dispatch team as Xiao Mu's personal guard. In the cold wind and snow, the team leaves the Chester Manor and embarks on an adventure in the Sunset Mountains.