Chapter 11: Revelation
The shaking of the ground lasted for about a few minutes, and it was not until it was over that Tarrant carefully let go of the tree, the earthquake did not have much impact on the surrounding forest, and basically remained the same, it seems that the epicenter is not here, those annoying little creatures have already run away in panic when they shake, and even the prey is lost in place.
The familiarity that had just sprung up, Tarrant struggled to recall, the shaking of the ground, the woods, all of which seemed to have been experienced at some point, but he couldn't think of when or what happened, a sense of danger sprouted in his heart, and it seemed empty and empty, Tarrant walked to the middle of the road, looked forward and backward, nothing, nothing happened, only he stood alone in the middle of the road.
It was just an ordinary earthquake, Tarrant was slightly disappointed, he was more hopeful that something would happen so that he could retrieve this seemingly non-existent memory, subconsciously, he felt that this memory contained something that he had to know, some important clues, and now, without an introduction, he couldn't do it. Tarrant forcibly looked at the environment around him and around him a few more times, and made sure that there was really no difference from before the earthquake, and he sighed softly.
It's time to get back on the road, I don't know how far we are from Nex, Tarrant packed his bags, and in order to prevent anything from falling during the fight, he checked the Spirit Pattern Bag to make sure that everything that should be there is still there. Tarrant looked at the sun, it looked like about two o'clock in the afternoon, according to Adrian's estimation, it would only take two hours to walk, he had already ridden a long way, and the rest of the distance should be enough for half an hour.
As he passed by the corpse on the ground, Tarrant suddenly remembered that he had forgotten the most important thing - his sword was still in the belly of the manticore, and in addition, the tail of the manticore-tailed tiger might be sold for a good price, and the venom in it was a good potion, and it could also be made into a highly poisonous drug, because of the rarity and ferocity of the manticore-tailed tiger, there were fewer and fewer manticore-tailed tigers in the market. Tarrant walked over to the corpse and turned it over, only the hilt of the whole sword was exposed, he drew his sword, cut off the tail of the manticore, and carefully put the poison sac with the tail thorn into the spirit bag, now his sword was stained with blood, Tarrant pulled two arbor leaves, wiped the blade of the sword, and inserted the sword back into the sword holster on his back.
Once he had finished packing, Tarrant continued westward. After the earthquake just now, the forest at the moment is even more lonely, there is no popularity, even the little creatures have not appeared again, Tarrant walks alone, the monotonous and boring journey makes him look forward to recovering the mount that was scared away by the manticore-tailed tiger on the side of the road, this almost fantastical wish has not been fulfilled after all, there is no trace of any living creatures along the way, except for trees and trees, if it is not for the road in front of me that winds and stretches, it is simply doubtful that this road will have an end, or a huge natural labyrinth.
The next step of the plan, Tarrant is a person who has a plan and is determined to carry out the plan, so as to ensure the efficiency of the operation. He planned to get the evidence to Captain Ryan when he teleported to Sant, and then he should quickly monitor the Falcon's movements, and he could start with the location of the Falcon's junction in Sant, find the head of Selenso, the stupid guy who was going to meet with the Sucker as planned, kill him if necessary, and find out the other strongholds of the Sucker on the redstone, which would inevitably lead to a few fierce battles. Tarrant wished his teammates had finished their mission, and he couldn't handle the trouble alone.
The thought process made time pass lightly, the dense woods had become sparse at some point, and it had come to the end of the forest, Tarrant looked west, and in the distance he could see the city walls and some buildings below, and there was something shining beside him, and he quickened his pace. On the boundary not far from the building, a street sign was erected with the words "Nai'an" written on it, and finally arrived safely.
Tarrant walked towards the city gate at a speed close to running, he saw clearly what was shining just now, it was five guards in armor, they saw Tarrant, the erected spear immediately fell to Tarrant, this was not an expression of goodwill, so that Tarrant stopped, and the only soldier with a sword shouted to Tarrant: "Stranger, identify yourself!"
"I am a paladin of the Light of Protection. ”
"Stay put!" the captain motioned for Tarrant to keep his distance, and he whispered a few words to one of the soldiers beside him, who immediately turned and ran into the city.
This wasn't supposed to be the treatment that the people who sheltered the Light should be, and Tarrant was surprised, and I was afraid that something else would happen. Sure enough, in a short time, a group of soldiers ran out of the city, quickly lined up on both sides of the city gate, surrounded Tarrant in a semicircle, all the spears pointed at him, and at the same time Tarrant noticed that two men in robes appeared on the city gate, staring at him vigilantly. The alert level is very high, and the reaction speed and intensity of the troops are the same as those of the country, even if it is adjacent to Comohe, there is no need to be so nervous about a stranger.
A man in dark yellow leather armor walked out of the city gates, about fifty years old, the skin on his face was dark and rough, in stark contrast to the white hair on his head, but his figure was still burly, his steps were powerful, and he carried a katana at his waist, and the first impression of such a man must have been that of an experienced ranger, whose life was probably full of stories, a commander who was accustomed to hard fighting and had never experienced fine clothes and food, and his face was as strict as a stone carving.
The Commander walked up to Tarrant and asked in a calm and focused voice, "Adventurer of the Shelter Light?"
Tarrant nodded slightly, he was flattered by such a lineup, he didn't understand the other party's intentions at all.
"Is there anything that proves your identity?"
It stands to reason that he should understand when he sees the sign on the chest of his armor, Tarrant looked at the sign on his chest, and he finally understood that the previous fight with the manticore, blood stained his armor, covering the sign of the sheltering light on his chest, and he did look like an uninvited guest at this time. Tarrant laughed apologetically, he wiped some of the blood to reveal the lightning-like light, and said, "I'm sorry, there was an accident on the way here. ”
The commander glanced at the sign and said in a slightly softened tone, "It was a bad accident, you were injured?"
"No, I'm fine, it's a manticore, but I won't have that trouble in the future. ”
"Manticore?" The commander looked at Tarrant suspiciously, and after receiving an affirmative answer, he turned and nodded to the soldiers, who withdrew into the city one after another, "Follow me", and the commander strode towards the city. The soldiers on either side looked at Tarrant and whispered, vaguely hearing the word "Manticore", and Tarrant guessed that the manticore-tailed tiger might have caused a lot of trouble.
The commander led the way in front and entered the city gate, where two phalanx of soldiers were practicing, and on the right side of the phalanx, there was an archery team, an instructor was teaching archery, and a row of arrow targets were neatly hung on the city wall. It's like a training ground, Tarrant pondered, Nai'an Town put such a strict commander in the right place, if there was an emergency, the troops here could be www.biquge.info useful.
After the two passed through the phalanx, they came to an ordinary hut, and the commander opened the door and motioned to Tarrant, "Please, this is my office." "Stepping into the hut, the furnishings inside are relatively simple, with a simple pragmatism in the style of the battlefield, a map of the area near the town of Nai'an hangs on the right wall of the desk, indicating the nearby traffic and landforms, and on the left shelf, there are some books such as machinery, weapon manufacturing drawings and creature encyclopedias. After Tarrant was seated at his desk, the commander introduced, "I'm the mayor and sheriff of Nai'an, you can call me Warren, what do you call me?"
"Tarrant. ”
"What's the matter with that manticore?"
"Oh, on the way here, in the woods, I came across a manticore, and I don't think it will cause any trouble to the town in the future. ”
"You did it alone?" Warren's gaze focused on Tarrant's face, a gaze seeking confirmation.
Tarrant spread his hands slightly, "Of course, I came alone", and he immediately remembered the little allies, adding, "A few little guys have also helped me." ”
"Can you give me an approximate location?"
"It's about half an hour's walk from here to Watt Town", Tarrant saw that the manticored tiger had indeed caused Warren a little trouble, so that Warren didn't fully believe his words, he took the tail from the spirit pattern bag, "I took it considering the economic value of this tail", he carefully placed the tail on his desk.
The blood stains on the tail have dried, but experienced people can still see that the blood stains are stored for no more than 1 hour, Warren picked up the tail and said: "There are small paw prints, the goblin has scratched its tail, and there are blood stains on the stinger, I hope it is not you who was stabbed." He grabbed a towel and tossed it to Tarrant, pointing to the blood stains on Tarrant's armor.
The blood stains on the armor were faintly visible, and Tarrant wiped it vigorously, "I'm fine." What did this animal do?"
"It attacked our patrol and posed a great threat to the farmers passing by, and our troops went to the woods every day for the past few days to hunt it down, but the forest was so big that only its footprints were found. You've done a good thing for Nai'an. ”
"Gladly. ”
"No, we have specific ways to thank you", Warren opened the drawer in the first row, took out a piece of paper, and handed it to Tarrant.
A bounty for hunting the manticore-tailed tiger between Watt and Nai'an for a reward of 50 gold, an unexpected bonus.
"So, you've done this mission, do you want gold coins or gold tickets?" Warren asked.
If it is put in the spirit pattern bag, Tarrant still prefers gold coins, he is used to stuffing everything into the spirit pattern bag, which is crowded, and if he accidentally destroys the gold coupon, it is a big loss.
Warren was slightly surprised, the average adventurer would not carry heavy gold coins with him, he took out 50 gold coins from the corner safety compartment, tied them with a strong pocket, and threw them to Tarrant, seeing Tarrant put the gold coins into the spirit pattern bag, and said in an elder tone: "Young man, you shouldn't stuff everything into it, although it is easy to use, you should also tidy it up." ”
"Haha, get used to it, this spirit pattern bag has a large capacity and can withstand tossing. ”
"Okay. The tail is still yours," Warren picked up the tail and handed it to Tarrant, "We don't need it here." Would you mind talking about your journey in Watttown?"
"Watt Town, you should already know, not long ago a mercenary team destroyed the lair of the Spirit Sucking Monster, and I came here for this matter. ”
"Spirit-sucking monsters," Warren's already stern eyes flashed with a hint of coldness, "Yes, a secret base built in the forest. After that, we invited a high-level mage to come and teach the spiritual realm, and I also stepped up patrols, there were so many woods near Nai'an that we couldn't search, and we didn't have the manpower, so we had to strengthen our defense. Did you discover anything new from this trip?"
The discovery of this trip was very serious, and Tarrant thought for a moment, and decided to keep the matter secret for the time being, so as not to have unnecessary accidents, and he said casually: "It will not be of much avail." It was a well-built nest where they could thrive and survive if they were not discovered. ”
"Perfect, how can a delicate and frail spirit sucking monster have the conditions to build such a nest on the ground, and it is impossible to rely on clumsy earth spirits alone, don't you think it's suspicious?"
Warren's words hit the nail on the head, and Tarrant was eager to hear what he had to say, the commander was experienced in adventure and his keen antennae might be able to provide new clues, and he asked, "What do you mean?"
"The first point, how do they get out of the ground, even if there are soil spirits, it is difficult to ensure that they are not discovered, how can they drill out of the ground and ensure that the location is safe from detection, the human realm has occupied almost the entire redstone, maybe the location where they drilled out is in our barracks, but they don't. The second point is the problem of building an intact nest, in the underground, they have better quality slaves, gray dwarves and dark elves, coming to the surface, taking these slaves are easier to expose, they are bound to need new slaves, if they capture a large number of people or other humanoids, they will be discovered, where are they a large number of unnoticed slaves?" Warren looked at Tarrant, this young man was very dangerous to find clues to the psychic monster alone, and his courage was admirable, but if he didn't notice either of these things, no matter how hard he tried.
The two were silent for a while, and Warren continued, "My conclusion is simple, the psionic monsters have allies on the ground, and these allies live right next to us. Probably ......", Warren leaned forward, leaned towards Tarrant, and whispered, "These allies are humans. ”
When Warren said the last sentence, Tarrant's heart shook, Warren's opinion was bold and reasonable, and now it has been ironcladly proven, Tarrant hopes that Warren can enlighten more, "So what do you think about this group of allies?"
"No, no clue at all, I've given up on adventure for a few years now, I'm getting older, and my mind is nowhere near as alert as it was when I was younger. You see, I took the initiative to ask to come to Nai'an to garrison, just in the hope of having a stable life, and at the same time being able to continue to play a little of my role", Warren stopped, his eyes were full of memories and sighs of the past for a while, the vicissitudes of life and weakness of the old man appeared on his face, he paused, and continued, "Young man, let's give you some construction, you can start with the big organization of Red Stone, the light of protection can get the support of all the countries on the mainland, you collect the missing information of all countries, and at the high incidence of disappearances, there may be clues." Plus, that falcon, with its tentacles reaching out to all the dirty corners, would be of great help if you had friends over there, who were in possession of a lot of the secrets of the Empire's top brass. The Society of Poets, the poor bastards who dress up and laugh all day, often travel the continent, and if all the information they know is put together, ten of Iberon's royal libraries will not fit, and this morning I met an old friend of the Society, who told me a lot of important information. Finally, don't forget the Redstone Balance Emissary, an absolute balance of power organization that preaches redstone, consisting mainly of Druids, Troubadours, and Rangers, who know all the woodlands and mountains in various places, and where the nests of the Psicouckers are built, they may have already met each other. ”
The original narrow direction of pursuit, after Warren's pointing, almost spread out in a circle, and breakthroughs can be found everywhere, Tarrant has to admit that Warren's thinking has helped him a lot, this ranger senior is experienced in tracking clues, and he has let go of Warren's wariness, and decided to reveal his tracking direction to him, in order to get his guidance, said: " With this in mind, my next move will be on the Falcon, and I can't find information about other psisucke nests for the time being, so I can only track down this organization first, and there is some evidence that this organization is directly related to the events of the sucking monsters. ”
"Really?" Warren's brow almost condensed, "It's a tough bone, you'd better have acquaintances at the top." ”
The Falcon Organization, Tarrant has no contact with them, and he doesn't even know where they connect, and in addition, he has to deal with the Falcon's high-level officials, he shook his head slightly, "No, except for the occasional few hostilities, there is no friendship." ”
"Then you really have to find a few helpers, you can't compete with them alone", Warren stopped, got up and walked to the window, looked at the phalanx training at the city gate, and said slowly: "If I were 10 years younger, I would definitely be obligated to help you, but unfortunately I will only be a drag on you in the current situation." ”
From Warren's words, it can be heard that he used to be an enthusiastic and confident ranger, and something must have hit him hard, so that he was willing to retire to this town, give up his free personality to become a commander, and he unintentionally mentioned Warren's sad past, although Warren is no longer ambitious, his ability to track his mind is still outstanding, Tarrant comforted: "You have helped me a lot, you have inspired me a lot in the matter of spirit sucking monsters, and your experience is an eternal treasure." ”
"Hehe", Warren laughed with relief, he turned around, and the light shone in behind him, making his face a shadow, "Experience requires battle and adventure, sooner or later you can be like me, you also have the courage that I can't match, and come alone to track down the Spirit Sucker." ”
Tarrant smiled bitterly, he didn't expect to be alone, he followed Garfield's route, the plan was to meet their team, fortunately he didn't meet the spirit suckers, which was a great luck.
"I think of a guy who might be able to help you," Warren sat back, "he called...... Yastin, no, yes...... Yastin, yes, it's Yastin, I haven't seen him in years, I've almost forgotten that name. He had gone down to a tomb with me, and I didn't know he was a Falcon at the time, but I later learned that it was the Falcon that time that upgraded him, and he completed it, from a connector to a joint point leader. He's good, at least compared to the other falcon bugs, he's an honest man, trustworthy, and after a few years, he's probably risen to a higher level, and you can ask him for help, but remember, you can't count on him entirely, you know, it's a falcon after all. ”
"Where can I find him?" said Tarrant saw a viable entry point.
"Does Faith know that?" Seeing Tarrant's affirmative answer, Warren continued: "There is a tavern at the westernmost end of that street, 'Worf', which is a place where falcons take business, you just look for 'Worf', that's the code name of the person in charge of their tavern, if he is gone, you can find their head and ask him to contact Astin." ”
"Thank you, you've helped me a lot again," Tarrant remembered the name of the tavern, and he carried the Tiring Bag, "and thank you for the bounty." ”
The two continued to talk for a long time, until Tarrant realized that it was indeed too late, that he had a lot of windfall here, and that it was time for him to return to the capital as soon as possible. After getting up to say goodbye, Warren followed him out of the door, the soldiers of the phalanx were still training, this training intensity seemed to be making final preparations for a certain outbreak of war, Warren must have a full reason for doing this, so that Tarrant couldn't help but ask: "Are these soldiers preparing for war?"
"Yes", Warren glanced at the soldier and slowly spat out a few words: war with the dark elves.