Muya city-state, garrison hall.

"Sit casually, Mr. Barrett, sit casually. Garrison Officer Julian said to Barrett as he sorted through the mess of paper on the table, "Hey, the leather armor is nice, and it looks like new, made of 'meticulous needlework'?"

"Oh no, it's sky-high prices there. Barrett replied, "It's the 'second skin,' and Ms. Erica's craftsmanship is quite good. ”

"That's true. Julian glanced at the paper in his hand casually, then tore it up and threw it into the paper basket at his feet, "And Erica has recently become a Grandmaster Tailor, so naturally there is nothing to say about her craft." But most adventurers still like to go to the 'Meticulous Needlework', and needless to say, you know why, they all go for the half-elf twins in the shop. To be honest, Sister Janice's craftsmanship is actually very good, not much worse than Erica. What's more, they are all young and beautiful, so it's normal for the price of crafting equipment to be higher. ”

Barry nodded in understanding. He sat down in the same chair he had sat on the first time he had arrived, and watched the garrison behind the table sort through the messy papers, little by little.

"You're here sooner than I thought. When I used to be an adventurer, I was still dreaming in bed, or haystacks, or gutters," said Julian, the always bearded garrison officer, looking up and smiling at Barrett.

"Gutter?" Barrett flicked the fine dust off his leather armor, "I'd rather sleep in the wilderness than that." ”

"Oh, and in fact I'm only forced to sleep there when I'm drunk unconscious, forced! You know, some taverns like to throw guests into the outside gutter, and it's not friendly at all. By the way, what would you like to drink?water, tea, or lemonade?" asked Julian, "I like to have a glass of lemon juice mixed with mint in the morning, it will keep me awake in all this mess of paperwork." ”

"No, nothing, thank you. Barrett turned his head to look at the raven standing on his shoulder, "The big metal bird spit out a note to me, saying that you seem to have a task for me. ”

"Yes, mission, yes!" Julian nodded in acknowledgement, "This constructival creature will not only help you find the mission target, but also make it easy for us to contact you." You know what I'm talking about. ”

"I understand. "Barrett had anticipated this when he first got the metal raven. Although the 'corn' belongs to itself, it belongs more to the Magical Association.

After the garrison had almost set up the table, he sat down with a long sigh of relief, "Phew, I sometimes really doubt that the decision I made was the right one. If I were ten years younger, I would surely be like you, wandering around with only a sword. It's a pity that we are not mages, there will always be a day when we will grow old, and someone will always have to do such tedious and boring things. ”

With that, Julian took out a few pieces of parchment from a drawer and handed them to Barrett.

"Let's see if there's any quest you're interested in. Because you came first, you can choose first, and if you feel that the difficulty of the task is a bit high, and it is a little difficult to do it yourself, you can complete it with the adventurers who come later. Julian said, "I think the other guys should be there soon." ”

There are five pieces of parchment, which seem to belong to five different tasks.

As Barrett looked down and studied it carefully, the garrison officer continued, "If I'm not mistaken, there are two missions related to otherworldly creatures. They are all otherworldly creatures who are good at camouflage, and they shouldn't be too strong in terms of strength, but it may take a lot of time to track down the tracks. Those high-strength and ferocious alien invaders will usually be dealt with directly by the guild, and it will not be our turn. ”

"There are also two missions to investigate the incident of collusion between the nobility and the devil. One is from the Holy Kingdom of Aratho, and one is from a certain city-state, I forgot the name of that city-state, anyway, it was written on parchment. Julian took out a dagger and trimmed his nails.

"This kind of task happens often, often! because there are always aristocrats who think they are superior to others, and when they are full of food and have nothing to do, they want to do something out of the ordinary. The garrison officer said disdainfully while digging into the black mud in his fingernails, "If there is a more obvious blasphemy in a certain place, but you can't find the source for a while, believe me, it must be those nobles who did it!"

"Why?" Barrett asked, just seeing one such task at this point.

"Quite simply, a farmer who believes in the devil can't do that. All he could do was sell himself and the souls he joined, and at most take one of his dogs and a few chickens, if the devils took them. Julian smiled, "Generally, only those nobles who are willing to degenerate have the strength to make that kind of blasphemy stronger. ”

There are also certain magical apprentices, Barrett mentally adds, as well as ......

"If the location of the incident is a small territory with only one nobleman, there is no need to bother to investigate, just arrest that nobleman and interrogate the soul......"

"Don't you need proof?" Barrett looked up in surprise.

"Evidence, yes, evidence, of course needed. The garrison tapped his finger twice on the table, "But sometimes when the whole thing is too obvious, it can be added after the interrogation." However, that is usually the case of a mage's action, and we ordinary people don't know that kind of soul interrogation technique. And the normal interrogation method is difficult to be effective, after all, those guys are in collusion with the devil. ”

Barrett raised an eyebrow, said nothing, and lowered his head to continue studying.

"However, there are many events that take place in very large and prosperous cities, where there are many ancient families that stretch for countless centuries, and you can't arrest all of them and interrogate them one by one. The garrison officer spread out his hand, his expression a little helpless.

Then he lowered his voice again, "I'm sure a mage I know would do this, because he really enjoys this kind of soul torture. But this effect is too bad for the association to allow it. Then Julian's voice returned to normal, "So, someone needs to do a detailed investigation of the whole incident, find some reliable and conclusive evidence, and then take action to put an end to it." ”

After a brief description of this type of investigation, the garrison officer moved on to the last one, "Also, there seems to be a mission to some newly discovered large half-plane. I don't remember much about the specifics of the work, so see for yourself, and most of the situations I know are on those sheepskins anyway. If you have any questions, you can also ask me. ”

......