The Expeditionary Force is a well-known event in the surface world of the Redstone Continent, but it is rarely mentioned, as a dusty past, it brings too many painful memories to mankind.

It was the events of Tinvort Mountain that became the introduction of the expeditionary force, and the war between the dark elves and the ground elves continued, although the war did not spread, the neighboring Komohe proposed to form a force to help the elves defeat their old enemy. At that time, the army of the Komoch Empire had been greatly weakened by Derek's rebellion, and the war in Tingwu Mountain had been going on for thousands of years, and no one thought to solve this problem once and for all. At the same time, there is already history as a reference, and it is almost impossible to destroy the dark elves, and in such a situation, Komoch proposed to form an expeditionary force, and the others were only surprised.

After a few months of development, the other empires agreed to Komohe's idea one by one. The elven world is closely related to the human world, human beings have been favored by the elves for a long time but have not been able to repay them, not only that, but the appearance of the dark elves is partly due to humans, and now let the elves accept the ordeal of war alone, which is the greatest irony of human civilization, in order to let the elves enjoy peace, and in order to completely eliminate this scourge, human beings naturally want to help the elves achieve the victory of Tingwu Mountain.

After a long period of peace, the human world has developed a considerable army, and there is also a technology that is not inferior to the elves, compared with the beginning, the combat effectiveness has been greatly improved, with noble motives, and a powerful army, the human world quickly formed an expeditionary force.

This expeditionary force was mainly composed of elite troops from various empires, and also absorbed some civilian forces. Under the premise that the ultimate goal is to maintain peace, many righteous adventurers and warriors actively joined the army, and more young people regarded this expedition as a glorious journey and joined it without hesitation. Tarrant's father, who was then the captain of the guard at the Royal Palace of Serenço, also joined the army.

Such an army, combining the advantages and technology of various empires, represents the strongest combat power in the surface world, and everyone believes that the end of the dark elves has come. After assembling on the borders of the Komoh Empire, the expeditionary force marched towards Mount Tinvor.

The tragedy happened on the final route, from the border of the Komoch Empire to the Tingwu Mountains, it can be reached in ten days at the slatest, but after a month, the elves did not join the expeditionary force, and the glorious expeditionary force disappeared on the border of Komohe, or possibly in the territory of the Serenso, in that area, mostly woodland, there are no towns, no one knows how the expeditionary force disappeared, and until now, there is no news about this army.

After that, both humans and elves sent reconnaissance teams to conduct a comprehensive search of the area, but found no traces, no battles, no footprints, as if they had never appeared, and the expeditionary force was reduced to the biggest joke, and countless warriors were forgotten in this joke, including Tarrant's father.

After that, there was a lot of speculation about the possible conspiracy behind the expedition, the most mainstream theory is that Komoher arranged this plan to weaken the other country after suffering a loss in combat effectiveness, but one of the most direct counter-proofs is that they also sent a large number of troops, including their most famous generals, who did not show up again. Such accusations are the most dangerous and severe on the continent, it betrays the entire human world and the elven world, and the groundless accusations will cause a catastrophe, and in the absence of evidence, all speculation slowly loses its voice, and finally becomes a memory.

Tarrant's mother, devastated by this, lived anxiously waiting every day, standing on the walls without eating or drinking and looking to the west, and died soon after. Since the Expeditionary Force incident, Tarrant began to look for clues, he gave up his original plan to join, and instead joined the Light of Protection, hoping to find something during the mission, since he stumbled upon a clue to the Soul Sucking Monster during a mission, Tarrant firmly believes that the events of the Expeditionary Force can only be done by the Spirit Sucking Monster, and the root cause of the disaster is the Spirit Sucking Monster, and because of this, Tarrant turned into a Judgment Paladin.

The Paladin profession is a warrior who is blessed by the god of justice, who gives them the power of healing, while the paladins of judgment often carry hatred, they will have old enemies, and they can get the additional protection of the god of justice when fighting old enemies, but unfortunately, those who harbor hatred will also be punished by the god of justice, and after becoming a trial paladin, the god of justice will never use them to perform their divine grace.

After becoming a Paladin of Judgment, Tarrant focused more on the affairs of the Psicos, he rarely contacted his former friends again, his main social circle moved to the Light of Sanctuary, and it was during this process that the relationship with Catrina became estranged, Catrina believed that Tarrant had become paranoid and lacked calm because of the incident, and every time they met, the two of them broke up unhappily for the Psicos.

Thinking of this, Tarrant's heart was tightly clenched, he loved Katrina, but the matter of the expeditionary force made him unable to let go, even if it was forgotten by everyone else, Tarrant would not give up the search for the truth, even if there was only a glimmer of hope, but it was Katrina who kept persuading him to give up this little opportunity.

He is now walking at the junction of the White Fog District and the business district, compared to the noble and elegant White Fog District, the commercial area must be noisy at the moment, there are many industries there that only come out after dark, black market merchants who hide in the sewers or dark basements during the day, and those rich people waiting to find "bodyguards" or thugs waiting to be hired to teach people, and quite old and quite profitable meat sellers, Tarrant does not like that atmosphere, but that environment often has a lot of information, information that is helpful for his mission.

From one corner, a man in a hurry appeared, tightly wrapped in a cheap coarse cloth cloak, whose face was also covered by the shadow of the cloak, and who, judging by his physique, was a burly man, who seemed to be holding an object in his arms, not very heavy, and at this moment he walked straight in the direction of Tarrant.

At this time, it is normal for people to appear reluctant to show their faces, and those who do dirty business will cover their bodies with this wide cloak after the event, and then quietly sneak out of the business district. Tarrant is no stranger to this kind of mysterious man, he calmly walked towards the mysterious man, when the two were close, the candlelight on the side of the road leaked through a gap in the mysterious man's cloak, revealing half of the other party's face to Tarrant, although it was only a very short moment, Tarrant still remembered the other party, thirty or so up, elegant hair, smooth face, deep eyes, firm expression, not a marketman, definitely a high-class person who pays attention to his image in ordinary times, that kind of aristocratic temperament, and he is not like a gentleman who will have fun。

The mysterious man lowered his head and didn't pay any attention to Tarrant on the side, and quickly walked past him, Tarrant stopped and looked back at his figure, which quickly disappeared into the darkness by the night. An inexplicable feeling, that look, should have been seen, Tarrant can't remember it for the time being, but he must have seen that person.

Just as Tarrant was immersed in his memories, he was suddenly hit the leg, causing him to stagger and take a step forward, and he turned to see that it was a halfling child.

Halflings are basically the same as humans in appearance, but only about half of the height of humans, it is said that because of some early habits that caused their height to be the same as humans, halflings have no independent society, and have been mixed with humans for a long time, they are often weaker than humans physically, but the level of intellectual development is the same, compared with dwarves, halflings have a certain advantage in height. In human society, they tend to be engaged in some low-level service industry, bar waiters, messengers, newsboys, and so on.

The halfling kid was holding a large stack of leaflets in his hand and looked at Tarrant in panic, "Sir, I didn't see it, it's too dark, I didn't mean to hit you." ”

Most of the people who come out at night have a bad temper, and the halfling child must have understood it a long time ago, and his body is trembling, for fear of being beaten up by this strong stranger in front of him. Tarrant patted his clothes and said with a smile: "It's okay kid, what's going on in front of you that makes you so anxious." ”

The unexpected forgiveness relieved the halfling a lot, and he gasped twice, "My lord, something happened ahead, and the Harrison family's heirloom treasure was stolen. ”

"Harrison," Tarrant thought for a moment, and Serenso's Secretary of State was also called Harrison, "Is that the Secretary of State?"

"Yes sir", the halfling adjusted his breathing, pointed forward with his little finger, and continued: "Lord Harrison's mansion is not far ahead, the big house with a fountain in the garden, just now a thief entered his house and took away his treasure, the thief touched a mechanism when he left, and now Harrison's guards are searching for him. ”

Tarrant had heard of the treasure before, but it was a little too long ago for him to remember the details, "That family heirloom seems to be a head ring." ”

"Yes, my lord, it's called 'Spectator', a treasure made by Harrison's ancestors, and it is said to clear the user's mind and see things that cannot be seen with the eyes. ”

There was a tavern not far away, which Tarrant frequented when he was bored, and thinking that he had nowhere to go now, he patted the lower half of the man on the head, "Kid, do you want a drink?"

The halfling immediately understood what Tarrant meant, and showed an undetectable expression of reluctance, but immediately turned to a smile, "Okay, sir." ”

In a place like the national capital, where people come and go, a lot of information is sold and passed on every day, and these halfling newsboys have a lot of information, they go to and from the streets every day, deal with strangers, get information from various channels, and then sell it to customers who need it, they even know all the big events at home and abroad, some newsboys also have part-time jobs, and they work as connectors or eyeliners for certain organizations, and Tarrant hopes to learn about what is happening these days from this little guy.

As Tarrant sat at the tavern bar, he realized that perhaps the pine nut biscuit shop was better for communicating with the halfling, who was too small, and he kept trying to jump on the chair, and the bar chair was so unattainable for him that Tarrant had to lift him up and put him on the chair like a chicken.

After ordering a large glass of Rontenay for the kid, Tarrant got straight to the point, "The thief who stole the 'bystander' must have a high level of stealth, and Harrison has a lot of guards and agencies in his house. ”

The halfling carefully held the large cup, shyly drank a small sip of Roundney, and immediately choked and coughed, and it took a while to stabilize his breath, and when he heard the question, he replied: "Yes, my lord, when he went in, no one saw him, but when he came out, he accidentally stepped on an alarm trap, the kind with the alarm bell, and the sound of alarm bells was all over the street." ”

It's really funny, he dodged countless guards and traps, but he ran into the bell, which is a great shame for the master, even if the state is bad, the master will not make such a mistake, Tarrant jumped out of an idea, this matter may have been done by someone in Harrison's House, it may be that the inside and outside should be combined, and the receiver outside clumsily pulled the alarm.

"Any other big news?" Tarrant continued.

The little guy was about to take a second sip when he asked cautiously, "My lord, what kind of news do you want to know?" ”

"In any way. ”

"Yes, sir. Recently, it has become popular in the palace to use feathers to decorate clothes, swan feathers such as swan feathers, and many rich people have begun to look for solid geese, as well as other good-looking birds with hair......"

"No, no, I mean about... People's news, is there?" Tarrant wore a noble robe, making the halfling think that he was asking for information about the fashions of the palace.

The halfling carefully took a small sip of wine, this time not choking, and he continued: "I understand my lordship", his eyes rolled twice, and finally remembered a piece of news about people, "The mysterious thief stole two more households last week, and then he spilled the money all over the slums. ”

"Which mysterious thief?" Tarrant had never heard of it.

"My lord, I'm not sure when he appeared, but recently he has been on a high profile, stealing things and sprinkling them in the slums himself, and many people have seen him, wearing a handsome cloak and a mask stained with feathers, he can come and go freely in the night. ”

The feather-stained mask, what kind of scene this is, Tarrant can't imagine what kind of scene it is, however, he doesn't care about the chickens and dogs, "What other news, heavier." ”

"Yes, my lord," the halfling was slightly excited, "after touring 36 shows in the Circus de Gonzas, the 37th show will be coming to the Santre business district the day after tomorrow, and the agent has already started pitching tents here. The halfling looked at Tarrant with sparkling eyes, and he was sure that Tarrant would like the news.

The circus can always make the halflings and dwarves laugh, but they never pay attention, the "actors" who are desperately chased by lions and bears are usually halflings or dwarves, and the ones who are thrown off the horses are usually halflings and dwarves, the more miserable the "actors" are rectified, the more enjoyable the audience, Tarrant can't understand where the charm of the circus is, he sighed, "Is there any news abroad?" ”

"Okay sir...... A brave adventurer in Komohe went deep into orc territory and lived with them for two months, and when he returned, he released a new map of the redstone continent, which belongs to the orcs", the halfling looked at Tarrant cautiously, he could no longer understand what news was of interest to Tarrant.

It has been mentioned before that the map of the orcs is different from the map of the human world, and they divide the territory according to their clan, ignoring the humans, it seems that this matter has been confirmed, Tarrant asked, "What kind of map is that." ”

Finally, there was a piece of news that interested the adults, and the halfling smiled happily, "Yes, my lord, it is a crude map, there are no mountains and woods marked on it, only rivers and land, the seventeen clans of the orc clan divide all other lands except Serenity, and their range of activities is delimited according to this map, and the people of this clan cannot cross borders to invade the territory of other clans. ”

I see, although the orcs live in the form of clans, and many of them have been mixed in the human world for a long time, they often look weird, and they will not violate the boundary when they reach a certain place, and they will understand the reason by comparing this map, and they may not need such a map for future adventures, Tarrant asked curiously: "Do you have this map on hand?"

The halfling shrugged, "No, my lord, the National Geographic Society is still considering whether to release such a map, which could hurt the orcs and our friendship. ”

This reason made Tarrant snort contemptuously, when did humans and orcs have friendship. He took a big sip of Rontenay and the tiredness returned, and he wanted to ask one last thing, "Well, have you ever heard about ...... Political conflict or ethnic conflict, or ...... Anything that could start a war?"

With some sudden request, the halfling looked at Tarrant, then moved his gaze from Tarrant's face to the Turnney in the cup, and after thinking for a long time, the halfling said regretfully, "No, my lord, I have not heard any news of the war. ”

After receiving this answer, Tarrant was not interested in anything else, he drank the rest of the wine, got up from his chair, and patted the lower half of the man on the shoulder, "You go on, I'll go first", he really needs to rest now.

On the way home, Tarrant deliberately took a long detour, although he knew that meeting Catrina was likely to be unhappy again, but he still wanted to see her, he hadn't seen her for a while, the resentment of the last time had all turned into missing, he missed Katrina's smile, her figure, and even her arrogance when she quarreled, Tarrant missed all of her, especially at this moment, the closer he got to Caterina's residence, the more Tarrant felt that his heart was beating faster, and a pleasant and tense love was spreading and stirring.

At this moment, in the White Mist District, most of the mansions have no lights, what Tarrant didn't expect was that it also included Caterina's mansion, she might still be studying magic in the research institute, and Tarrant had to return in a huff.

The next day, when the sun's rays were not strong enough to cast shadows on the ground, Tarrant had already gotten up, he cleaned the armor thoroughly, the dust and the blood stains of the manticore-tailed tiger all left on the armor and affected the appearance of the armor, and when the armor was cleaned and looked new, Tarrant carefully dressed neatly, looked at himself in the mirror, looked at the sheltering light on his chest, and his state returned.

Coming to the Shelter Light Headquarters, the guards at the door had already changed shifts, Tarrant asked, "Is Ryan here?" It was still too early at this time, Tarrant just habitually asked, but was told that Ryan was already in the office, Tarrant found the spirit pattern bag, still on his waist, he strode towards Ryan's office, Tarrant noticed that in the hall of Shelter Light, there were a lot of mages gathered, much more than usual.

Captain Ryan was also an adventurer when he was young, and after he experienced a lot of events, he was convinced that there must be an organization to protect the interests of the group, it could not belong to any interest group, and the Light of Asylum was his ideal choice, so he joined the Light of Asylum without hesitation, and his unremitting efforts, coupled with Ryan's original leader charm, made him the supreme leader of the Light of Asylum in the capital of the Serenso, over the years, Ryan has done his best for the people of Syante, his body is not as good as before, and his hair has appeared a large patch of white。

When Tarrant stepped into the office door, the head of the regiment was already sitting behind his desk, with a tired face, and when he saw Tarrant coming back, he got up and squeezed out a little smile, "Tarrant, are you back, do you see Garfield and them?"

"No, Garfield, they're already ......" Tarrant knew that Garfield was Ryan's friend, and he didn't know how to express their situation tactfully, "I went somewhere else, and I'm sorry I didn't meet them, I only saw Adrian." I've made a big discovery on this trip", Tarrant pulled out the piece of evidence from the spirit bag.

Ryan took the half of the letter and looked at it carefully, his expression became surprisingly stern, and after putting down the letter, he looked at Tarrant sternly, "Is the source reliable?"

"It was found in the secret chamber of the Psicouckus' lair as the sheriff of Watt and Adrian testified. ”

"These stupid guys can get tangled up with the Psionic Monsters, and we're going to take action on them right away. Ryan got up and walked back and forth around his desk to help him think, "I'll assign people to monitor the Falcon's movements around the city, and I can't let their plot continue." I also have to do my best to contact the leaders of the other Imperial Shelter Light to impose a complete blockade of the falcon, this matter is urgent", at this point, Ryan stopped, showed a hesitant expression, and said to himself: "No, there are more urgent matters. ”

Tarrant stood up suddenly, "There are more urgent matters!?" In his opinion, the falcon matter is related to the future of the continent, and it is a thorny problem that needs to be solved urgently.

Ryan didn't seem to hear Tarrant's words, and after pondering for a while, he looked at Tarrant and said in a resolute and unquestioning tone: "There are more important things we need to do, right now, otherwise the history of Redstone will be rewritten soon!"