When the men who followed Aimia back to the room to count the remainder of the supplies, they saw Cheese sitting against the wall with his head bowed in thought, and the others who behaved differently, but were undoubtedly all emotional. The older witch turned her suspicious gaze to her daughter, who needed to know what had happened during this time. Kolandi noticed her mother's eyes, and hurried over to tell him the shocking news that the rain had just arrived.

"What did you say, the Molten Iron City has collapsed?" The conversation between the witches was not meant to be secret, and coupled with the Wolfwalker's keen hearing, Jack quickly grasped the most attention-grabbing information in the entire incident. He exclaimed in some exaggeration, and then Mona covered her mouth with her hand, and the female warrior looked at the mage with her eyes, signaling not to disturb the latter's thoughts. But even so, Mona's own hands were trembling slightly. The Molten Iron City, the city of the Hammer Grand Duke, has experienced countless nomadic attacks, and the fortress known as the first iron wall of the blue lion will end up like this! You know, Colanty's words are very clear, the molten iron city was not captured, but the entire city collapsed and turned into ruins, which is obviously not something that the rat people can do. All of us present could think of one thing that could do this, magic.

"It's not magic. Cheese said suddenly. "If magic caused the collapse of the Molten Iron City, I can't think of anyone else in the world who could wield such a huge amount of magic. I'm afraid that even my teacher can't do it overnight. ”

"Maybe the caster isn't alone?" questioned Kolanty. The mage just shook his head, "It's not something that can be done by accumulating numbers. Besides, it's hard to stack the mana between different casters, at least as far as I know, there's no way to perfectly connect more than three casters. Too many sources of mana will only bring chaos. ”

"Perhaps, they've been preparing for a long time?" said Jack. "It's also impossible, and while adequate preparation can make it easier to cast spells, that doesn't mean that the preparation itself isn't difficult. With a spell of this level, even if you know how to prepare, you don't have to worry about the material, and the operation alone requires a cycle calculated in years, and a large number of magic reactions will inevitably occur during this period. It would be nice if the guys in the Molten Iron City were all people who didn't know magic, but the Grand Duke of the Hammer himself had recruited quite a few spellcasters, and he couldn't have known anything about magic. In addition, one of my classmates was also there recently, and with his ability, no one could hide from him to make such a big move. Cheese's words were firm, and in the process of thinking, he had come to a conclusion about these possibilities.

"So you mean, someone has brought down the entire city by non-magical means?" said the wolfwalker with a frown, because this conclusion is even more exaggerated than magic for them, and what kind of means must be used to achieve such a result with Dragonspine Mountain on top, could it be that those nezumi hollowed out the foundation of the molten iron city overnight? Jack didn't realize that his seemingly ridiculous idea was actually very close to the truth, but the truth was often hastily regarded as impossible.

The gray-robed mage stood up, shook the dust off his robes, and said, "I don't know why the Molten Iron City collapsed, but I know what the people who brought it down wanted. The King has told us what happened to him in his youth, and it is clear that the walls erected by the Hammer Archduke have prevented it from waking up as prophesied. ”

"In that case, we should rush to the Molten Iron City immediately, right? Lothar lifted Hearn's hand and said in a deep voice. What Siggett told Cheese he had heard from Jack in small talk that his sense of duty as a Count of the Kingdom made him unable to tolerate an ancient and terrible evil god awakening in the Kingdom.

"That's right, I'll call Migo back now. With its help, we'll be in the Molten Iron City before sunrise tomorrow!" Cheese said, pulling out the dragon flute. However, the mage's hand was held down by an unexpected person. Elsa's other hand rubbed the corner of her dress, as if she was hesitating to speak, and after a few seconds, she finally made up her mind, looked up at Cheese and said. "Wait a minute... Don't you think that's weird?"

"What's strange?" the mage apparently didn't realize what the proprietress meant, and he looked at the other party suspiciously.

"Don't you think this scene is all too familiar?" Elsa said, then looked at Cheese's still frowning brow and quickly continued to explain, "I mean, it's never been the royal capital, no, since earlier. The trajectory of our movements has been controlled in this way, you go to raid the Apothecary Guild, the nezumi will come to attack the city, and the demons will wreak havoc in the city. When he went to visit the king, he suddenly realized that he was possessed. We finally got a clue, and before we could have a dinner, the ghouls rebelled. Now that the rebellion is over, and then I get the news that the Molten Iron City has collapsed, it doesn't feel right to me..."

"Elsa is right. The door opened, and Roland, with his pipe, led Sparrow into the room. The old man's face was very bad, and he looked like he had not been well rested for a long time, and he took a sharp puff of his pipe, and two puffs of smoke came out of his nose. "Don't look at me like that, the rain found me before informing you, or I told him you were here. After explaining why he was here at this time, Roland habitually pressed the brim of his hat, "Back to the topic just now, what Elsa said is not wrong at all. I analysed your experiences, and I was shocked by the results. Cheese, if you think about what happened to you along the way, was it really a plan you set for yourself, or was it just a trick to take advantage of the situation?"

"At first glance, your investigation has been deepening, and you are methodically moving towards the truth. But is that really the case? Let's count, the destruction of the Ssalonians has nothing to do with you, but why did you happen to run into Miss Gloria, the last orphan of the Ssalonian family? How did a lady like her run to Dragonspine Mountain alone without an escort? In Sweetwater, you saved the townspeople and joined up with Lady Heather, which is good, but compared to the Knights of the Hammer, if you can get to Vale a day earlier, the Kingdom Knights will also be your allies, right? Why did the kingdom issue a killing order as soon as you came into contact with the sober nezumi, well, of course, now we know that the Apothecary Association has long been replaced by monsters, and even His Majesty the King may have been affected by the demons in his body at that time. But why did those guys try to make a decision at that time, was it a pure coincidence, or did they deliberately want to let Ms. Heather's team go, leaving you alone?"

"Wait, I don't understand. Do you mean that what I went through was all arranged? it can't be, and besides, I've succeeded in stopping the further spread of the plague, I'm just—" Cheese argued, not because he was afraid to admit that he was being teased for his stupidity, but because he was afraid that if he accepted the inference, he would have to accept that the man behind the rat-man plague, the broker, had his own means that were completely incomparable.

But Roland didn't stop, the old magician knew that reality was often cruel, and in the face of this cruel reality, escaping would not solve anything. "You're just a step slower every time, aren't you? When you were in Turbidity, you didn't notice the fake apothecary in the first place, and when you were in the Iron Castle, you didn't realize that the plague seed had taken root in the city, and Miss Elsa had just said it when you were in the royal capital. Although you have made amends after the incident, and you have grasped the small clues in each incident to deduce the corner of the truth, but those clues, how can you be sure that the other party did not deliberately leave them to you? Admit it, Cheese, you have not been able to stop anything along the way, everything has happened as expected. ”

Cold sweat flowed on the mage's face, and he suddenly felt that his legs were a little weak, and he could no longer support the weight of his body, so he had to take a few steps backwards, leaning against the wall, gasping for breath. Jack couldn't sit still at this time, he walked up to Roland's side, and said, "I think you're talking too much, how can anyone really count so much." And everyone we meet, whether they are enemies or friends, they have their own reasons for doing things, and they can't see that they are forced to do things by someone at all, it must be just a coincidence. ”

The old man shook his head, revealing a rather complicated expression, and he took off his pipe and let out a long sigh. "Coincidence? Fate, or just plain probability? Yes, most things in the world can be explained in this way. People's hearts are unpredictable, the world is unpredictable, and it is not easy to see through. But there are beings in this world who can do that, and some of these beings, we call them, God, and others, we call them different names, so cheese, can you think of one of those names now?"

"Broker. ”

Roland was stunned when he heard the name, and it took him a moment to react, smiling wryly and tapping his pipe. "It was Him. Then it's not strange, hehe, it's not strange. It was a privilege for a middleman who never lost money to be involved in the events he had planned. ”

"What should I do? What should I do to escape the fate He has set for me?" said Cheese in despair, the fear of being dominated by the invisible had made the mage almost give up independent thinking, and the dignity of the seeker of truth as a spellcaster was completely shattered at this moment.

The magician looked at the mage, "Do you know why we call them gods? That means no one can resist." You're actually lucky, at least knowing who's joking with you this time. As for what to do...... My advice is to leave him alone. Because it's useless to do anything. ”

Everyone present was confused by Roland's words, and Colandy said, "What do you mean to ignore him?

The old man did not answer, because he could not answer the question. Although Roland learned a lot of things that he shouldn't know as an ordinary person because of certain experiences, it didn't mean that he had found answers to all these things, and he could only choose to put aside those questions that would take him a lifetime to see through.

As the magician fell silent, no one spoke again, everyone thinking about what they had done, trying to find a shadow of what had been influenced. For a long time, a voice broke the silence, Cheese's voice.

"I see. I know what to do. ”