As the door slowly opened, the three Karl followed in Esha's footsteps into the dwarven kingdom's council chamber. The Dwarven King Xos Stormhammer was already sitting on the throne waiting for Cal, and under the throne a dwarf that Karl had seen but didn't know sat sitting smiling at him.

"Great King, Lord Karl is here. Esa stepped forward and saluted on one knee.

"Honorable Stormhammer, son of Barnack, Karl Unolia greets you, and may Henry Morton protect you. Karl bowed slightly, "Your Majesty, please allow me to introduce my partner." Half-elf Velia Lunaris and half-orc Goliath Wayne, they're all my trusted friends. "Greetings, Dear Stormhammer. Vilia and Goliath saluted the dwarven king Xos at the same time.

"Since he is a partner of His Excellency Karl, there is no need to be polite. For many years, no elves have set foot in the city of Anko, let alone orcs. Xos stood up from the throne, much taller than ordinary dwarves, and at this moment, a huge sense of oppression on the throne hit the three of Karl, "Lord Karl, I don't know what you are thinking. ”

Karl smiled slightly, as if he didn't feel the suppression of Xthos, "Your Majesty, I met Your Majesty today just to explain what I mean to Your Majesty." As long as Your Majesty agrees to my conditions, then my companions and I will complete the task of exploring the ruins of the city of Kuskes. ”

"Conditions, Your Excellency, please say. Xos sat back on his throne, and Dwarts, the Hammer Sage beside him, looked at Karl curiously, wondering what Karl would offer.

"Your Majesty, although the city of Kuskez is a relic of the dwarves, I still hope that in the process of exploration, Your Majesty will allow us to explore alone, without using any magic on us. As an explorer, it's hard to be watched all the time in the ruins. ”

Xos Stormhammer did not speak after Karl finished speaking about his first condition, and the Fire Hammer Sage Dwach on the side spoke: "Your Excellency, your first condition, we need to consider it, and you know that the reason for finding Your Excellency is that you want you to help us find out what is going on in the city of Kuskes. ”

"Who are you?" Karl still didn't know the identity of the gray-bearded dwarf in front of him. However, guess at it, it should be the descendant of the fire hammer sage to see the status, but I don't know which sage it is.

"Dwach Thunderhammer. Dwach stood up and bowed slightly.

"Hello, Sage Dwachi. Please forgive me for being rude. Karl hurriedly replied.

"Sir Karl, the words of the sage of Dwach mean exactly what I mean. If we can accurately determine the cause of the anomaly, it will help us prevent similar things from happening in other dwarven territories. The other teams that have been commissioned by us do not have any concerns about His Excellency, and besides, the blessings of magic will be in front of the idol of Lord Muradin, and will not explore your secrets. Nexos's words made Karl understand that if he didn't agree, then there was no need for them to negotiate.

"Your Majesty, can we each take a step back? We can accept that you install engrams on us to meet your requirements, how about it?"

When he arrived in Anke City in Moscow, Karl had heard from the Oak Tavern that the Dwarven Kingdom was going to be blessed with the Exploration Divine Skill for those teams that were allowed to enter the ruins of Kuskes, and they would record every word and deed of the exploration team.

For such a request, Karl was unacceptable. Since you are willing to leave it to yourself to find out the reason, then you can rest assured that there is still surveillance like this.

Kerthos and Dwach glanced at each other, and Dwarch spoke: "Your Excellency Karl, in fact, from the very beginning, His Majesty and I were not prepared to bless you with the Divine Exploration Technique. We still have a lot of trust in Mr. Karl. ”

Hearing Dwarts' answer, Karl couldn't help but want to roll his eyes. How could this honest and honest dwarf make a joke?

"Since Your Majesty agrees to my first condition, then allow me to speak out the rest. ”

Karl spoke again, "I hope Your Majesty can provide you with a map of the ruins of the city of Kuskes. ”

After Carl said this, the entire conference room fell into a dead silence.

Carl is a little unsure, so, why is my condition too much?

And Vilia, who was standing behind Carl, looked at Carl in disbelief, and she didn't expect Carl to make this condition.

Before coming to Anke City in Moscow, Karl had discussed with Vilia and Goliath what kind of conditions to propose with the Dwarven Kingdom. After thinking about it, Karl and the three decided that first, they should not let the dwarves monitor their movements, second, the dwarves must provide all the materials they needed, and third, the dwarves needed to inform them of all the news they knew about the tombs of ancient emperors.

But they didn't discuss Karl's request for a map of the ruins of Kuskes just now. The simple reason is that they don't think about it.

Although the city of Cusquez was crumbled and destroyed by the attack of the demon dragon Alexianko, the secrets of the dwarves are still hidden. So far, the dwarven kingdom has not finished digging up the hidden secrets.

In fact, the inheritance of the current dwarven kingdom is not complete. While most of the dwarves identify with the kingdom, there are still some who don't. This part of the dwarves chose to wander between the planes, and the more extreme ones directly submitted to the wrath of the dragon.

Therefore, after the recovery of Kuskes City, the dwarven kingdom did not stop excavating Kuskes City. They hope to bring back the ancient glory of the Dwarven Kingdom and recreate the great Dwarven Empire. One can imagine how important the map of the ruins of Kuskes was to the Dwarven Kingdom.

Of the few teams that accepted the commission from the Dwarven Kingdom, it was not that no one wanted to ask the Dwarven King for a map of the ruins. But their minds are not so simple, many people think of making a copy of the map of the ruins of Kuskes City, and then placing a spatial locator in the ruins, preparing to return to the ruins through spatial jumping. For such a team, of course, the dwarf kingdom directly canceled the commission and pulled it into the blacklist.

Veria looked nervously at the dwarven king on the throne, for fear that the other party would be angry, and directly expelled them from Moscow Anke City.

The Dwarven King Xos, who had been silent for a long time, spoke: "I wonder what His Excellency Karl is asking for the map?"

Karl also realized that he had said the wrong thing, but if he explained at this time, it would arouse the suspicion of the dwarven king, so it was better to explain the situation directly, "Your Majesty, I and my companions are not familiar with Kusquez City at all. If you go straight in, you'll be bumping around like a headless fly, which will only delay time. ”

"Well, Your Excellency is right. But do you know what the other teams do?" asked Xos.

Looking at the dwarven king's expression, Karl knew that the other teams definitely didn't get the map of Kuskez City, so what did they rely on to investigate? Could it really be that they went in blindly? In that case, even too much manpower would be able to complete the exploration.

"I don't know that, to be honest, I don't have any connection with the other teams. Karl had no choice but to answer truthfully.

"This brings us back to the first condition mentioned by His Excellency Karl. Dwach began, "The magic we have blessed the exploration team with also has the function of guiding the way. In the city of Kuskes, there are many stones that can sense the divine power of the gods, and we have made those stones a gift from Muradin. As long as it is blessed with Muradin's divine power, it will glow as long as it is close to Muladin's gifts. And with that, they will be able to get to where we are asking us to be!"

After hearing this, Carl showed a wry smile, but he didn't expect that he had dug a hole for himself with the conditions he proposed.

Sitting on the throne, Xos spoke, "The task we have given to Lord Karl is different from theirs. ”

"When the dragon Alexianco attacked the city of Cusques, my ancestor Mogrella Growler bravely faced the dragon's breath with the hammer of the storm, and after a long battle, disappeared into the dragon's flames, along with the artifact Stormhammer that Muradin had given to the first dwarven king Terella. Now you see on the idol that the Stormhammer was forged by the Builder Sogor and blessed by Muradin. ”

Kerthos paused and continued, "While you are exploring the ruins of Kuskes, you are also hoping that Your Excellency will help us find the whereabouts of the Stormhammer. ”

"Didn't His Majesty organize a search before the change took place in Kuskes City?" Karl wondered why he suddenly said this.

"Every Dwarven King has made it his goal to find the Stormhammer since its loss, but even a hundred searches of the places where Mogarella Growler fought, we have not found the whereabouts of the Stormhammer. ”

"But this time is different, after the change in Kuskes City, a team we sent out once found an unusual place in the southwest corner of Kusquez City, where the strange gray fog was blocked and could not invade. And the dwarves who have been infected and fallen seem to be very afraid of it. ”

Xos sighed, "When I heard the news, I sent a team to it, but not long after entering, the team lost news. Judging by the effects of engrams, there seem to be evil creatures out there that are different from the Fallen Dwarves. ”

After listening to Xthos's words, Karl knew that the trip to Cusques City would only be more difficult. Originally, there was only one infected and corrupted dwarf, but now an unknown evil creature has appeared.

"Lord Karl, if only you could bring the Stormhammer back and find out the true cause of the mutation in the ruins of Kuskes. Then you will get the lifelong friendship of the Dwarven Kingdom, and whatever you ask for in the future, the Dwarven Kingdom will make it happen for you after all. ”

It looks like the map will be handed over to you. When Karl heard Xthos's words, he knew that the dwarven king was willing to give everything in order to retrieve the Stormhammer and find out why.

"Your Majesty!" Dvarch stood up in shock and looked at Xos, he didn't understand why he gave Karl such a promise, it was equivalent to tying up the dwarves and Karl, if Karl wanted them to start a war against a country in the future, then where would they go then?

"Sage Dwachi, this is not just my idea, it is God's will. Xos whispered.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Dwach sat back in his seat.

"I wonder what Lord Karl is thinking?" asked Xos.

At this time, Karl was silent, and he was a little hesitant to stand between Vilia and Goria. If it's easy to just probe the mutation, even if the final probe is not clear, it's just because of the ability, and now the dwarf king has handed over such an important matter to Carl, then with Carl's character, if he doesn't complete it, he will be troubled for the rest of his life.

"Karl has changed now, so let's think about it again, shall we?" Vilia advised. "That's right, Vilia is right. The situation is not what you knew it was now. If you rush there, you may fall into a trap. Goliath was also on hand to persuade Karl.

"You're right, it's just that my dead daddy once told me that the most important thing about getting along with a friend is not what you do for him, but that you always believe in him. If His Majesty is willing to entrust me with such a heavy task, how can I refuse?" Karl shook his head.

Then taking a step forward, Karl said to Xos: "The great king of the dwarves, the Stormhammer who rules the mountains, I, Karl Unoria, the son of Banak Unolia, in the name of Morhenris, the god of adventurers who explore the ruins and protect the adventurers, would like to search for the lost Stormhammer for the dwarven kingdom, and the father god Aberham is on top to bear witness to this oath." ”

An illusory figure of an explorer wearing leather armor and a hooded middle-aged uncle with a face that could not be seen clearly appeared between Karl and Xos. I saw that the phantom was holding a searchlight in his hand and pointed it at Karl, and then at the dwarven king Xos. A mysterious sigil emerged from Karl and Xos' bodies, merging in the air and being sucked into the searchlight.

Seeing that the oath had been made, Vilia knew she couldn't go back. She walked up to Karl and said to Xthos, "Great Stormhammer, since Karl has made a pact with you, I believe you will agree to the rest of Karl's conditions." ”

Seeing that the oath had been made, a smile finally appeared on his tired face, "Miss Vilia, your father should be the Elven Lord Enovic Sunstrider. I just didn't expect him to be so cruel as to leave tears on your nose. Xos asked.

Vilia smiled elegantly and said, "Honorable Lord of the Mountains, I am only a small half-elf, not the daughter of an elven lord. ”

Carl looked at Vilia beside him with some curiosity, and Vilia rarely mentioned her background in front of them. What Carl knew was that Vilia was just an ordinary half-elf in the kingdom of Ryosuan. Because he loves the way of the ranger, he chooses to leave his homeland and wander.

As for Goliath, Karl also knows very little. The first encounter with Goliath was when Goliath was being hunted by the Inquisition, and when he saw that Goliath would save a frightened child even if he would be injured, Karl chose to intervene. But why Goliath was hunted down, Karl did not ask, and Goliath did not say.

Despite this, in the following series of adventures, Karl formed a strong friendship with Goliath. Until the separation.

Carl believes that things in the past cannot be changed, and as long as they can intersect in life and death in the future, then they will always be good friends.

"I've ventured with Enovic between planes, he's a virtuous elf who ended up abandoning the barriers between races and becoming good friends. It's just a pity that he had to end his adventure early because of the War of the Roses, which I have always regretted. Xos sighed.

"Since Miss Vilia is not Aenovic's child, it may be that I have recently been in a trance because of the ruins of the city of Kuskez, and I have confessed my mistake. I apologize to you, beautiful young lady, and please forgive me for my recklessness. "As a dwarf who has ventured between planes, Carl can rarely find a dwarf tradition in Xos, and when facing Xos, it is more like facing a human.

At the same time, Carl noticed that Vilia's expression changed somewhat when referring to the War of the Roses. It's just a fleeting moment, and if Carl hadn't been observing Velia's state, he wouldn't have found out.

As for the Wars of the Roses mentioned by the dwarf king Xos, Karl, who knows a little about the history of the main plane, also knows a little.

About three hundred years ago, a war broke out between the then Elven Empire Evereil and the Principality of Lannelens, the Elective Empire of the Holy Third Reich, to determine the survival of the Elves.

The cause of the war is simple, the elven prince who is adventuring on the continent falls in love with the beautiful princess. But providence makes people, and the beautiful princess already has a fiancé. Knowing that his fiancée was taken by an elf to the elven kingdom, the princess's fiancé could not accept it and launched a war against the elven kingdom.

In the face of human attacks, the Elven Empire, which had not recovered since the war of Julius Caesar's unification of the main plane, was defeated and retreated, and finally lost the Shadow Forest that had lived for thousands of years and fled overseas. And the elven prince was also seriously injured, and his life and death are uncertain.

The princess, who was already pregnant with the child of an elven prince, died in childbirth after the war when she heard the false news that her lover had died in battle, leaving only the crystallization of their love.

And this ill-fated half-elf child is also missing after the end of the war.

This war, known to later generations as the War of the Roses, has affected the pattern of the continent for nearly three hundred years. Carried away by his anger, the Grand Duke of Lansnes ordered the elves who did not have time to escape to be enslaved and captured on a large scale.

This result made the slave merchants of the main plane very happy, and for a time the upper nobles of the Third Reich were proud to own an elven slave. This eventually led to the emergence of a whole new race, the Half-Elven race.

For the half-elves, the main plane has already appeared, after all, the beauty of the elves no human can refuse. Before the outbreak of the War of the Roses, the relationship between the elven kingdom and the human nations was quite harmonious, and there were contacts in terms of culture and magical exchanges. The attitude of human countries towards elves is very ambiguous, although the trade of elf slaves is expressly prohibited, and it is forbidden to raise elven slaves, but human beings are greedy, and elves will still appear in the fireworks land of many countries.

The elven kingdom also protested about this, but every time the limelight passed, it returned to normal.

Under this atmosphere, the half-elves also appeared in front of the elves. For the half-elves, the attitude of the elf kingdom is very tough, and it directly identifies the half-elf as a blasphemous life, and refuses to accept the half-elf. And the half-elves are not easy in the human kingdom, being bullied and oppressed.

And it all ends with the appearance of a half-elf named Thrandy Lightchaser.

Thinking of this, Carl knew that even if the elven lord Ainovic Sunstrider mentioned by the dwarf king Xos was not Vilia's father, judging from Vilia's reaction, it should have something to do with it, and it seems that he needs to talk to Vilia after exploring the ruins of Kuskes City.

"Your Majesty, there is no need to apologize, after all, it is not a good thing for a half-elf to have a relationship with a human or an elf. Velia smiled.

"Thank you, beautiful young lady. Xos thanked Vilia and then said to Karl, "Since Karl is willing to fulfill our commission, then Sage Dwachi asks you to bring me the map of the city of Kuskes." ”

"Yes, my majesty. Dwach stood up and bowed, then walked outside the council chamber to get a map of the city of Cusques.

Central Mountains, Mount Andervillema

A team of about twenty men was slowly advancing towards the mountain. Sir Wacoul, who was leading the way, was looking down on the map to compare his surroundings when he suddenly felt an evil aura rapidly approaching. And the rest of the team noticed the evil aura. Without Sir Wacole's reminder, he quickly lined up his defensive formation. Mages are inside, warriors are outside, and rangers and assassins are around.

"What does it feel like? Chris. Sir Wacole asked, walking up to Chris's side. Although the young man named Chris still has a little immature on his face, there is a trace of vicissitudes that do not belong to his age.

"Nope. It can only be felt that it is an evil creature, and it moves very fast, and it is impossible to tell what kind of monster it is. Chris wiped the sweat from his forehead. Casting the fifth-level magic of life exploration is still a bit difficult for Chris, who is now only a black-robed mage, if he can successfully advance to a white-robed mage, then he will be able to master the sixth-eighth-level magic that the white-robed mage can learn, and the fifth-level magic can be easily released.

Hearing Chris's words, Sir Wacole was not disappointed, but only nodded slightly. Today is the fifth day of entering Andwilma Mountain, and as a member of the Mercenary Society, Sir Wacole knows how much the Guild has paid to gain access to the ruins of Kuskes City. So Sir Wacole adhered to the principle of preferring to be slow rather than make mistakes, and let the squad move slowly.

In the past five days, I don't know if it is affected by the gray fog of the ruins of Cusques City, there will be many monsters attacking the team, and they are all creatures that have never existed in the main plane, or Sir Wakel has not seen them. Luckily, these monsters were weak and didn't have much of an impact on the team's progress.

However, the evil aura that Sir Wacole had just sensed was obviously different from the monsters he had encountered before, and the extremely chaotic and evil aura shocked Sir Wacor.

"Be careful, they're coming. Sir Wacole reminded loudly.

The warriors standing at the outskirts of the defensive formation saw a large shadow envelop them.