The northern border of the Kingdom of Seuss, the town of Cat's Tail.

Duncan the Ranger and a few followers walked down the long bluestone paved street, which ended in a cramped inn with a whitewashed limestone wall nailed with a wooden sign carved with ears of wheat.

Walking to the door of the inn, Duncan untied the adamantite gold sword hanging from his waist and handed it to one of his followers, pushing open the heavy wooden door alone with his free hands. His followers scattered and walked into the nearby taverns

The Wheat Ears Hotel only entertains knight rangers, and they are quite particular, only allowing a ranger to bring a personal companion into the hotel, and the rest of the followers can only rest and have fun in the surrounding taverns. But it's also much better than the Freedfolk mercenaries, who can't even get in and out of the long street freely.

The ranger approached the bar, and without opening his own mouth, the bartender quickly took out his personal oak wine glass, and while carefully wiping it with a white towel, he asked courteously:

"Lord Duncan, or Sunoni red fruit wine with roasted lamb shank, and buttery white bread?"

He was about 13 years old, still a teenager, with gray and blue eyes, short blond hair, a delicate and handsome appearance, white and neat teeth when he smiled, a respectful but not humble posture, and a good family upbringing.

"I'm not hungry right now, give me a glass of red wine. The ranger said to the young bartender with a cold expression.

Duncan has never been very close to people in the Ranger circle of Cattail Town, and it is rumored that he has experienced brutal bloody battles, his heart has become cold and hard as limestone, and he may have been betrayed by his companions, so he easily distrusts others and works well with other Rangers.

You can't expect other Rangers to sacrifice themselves for you, and in the face of the danger of total annihilation, sending a signal to evacuate is considered a fulfillment of the obligation to cooperate. Duncan's indifferent face all day long only shows that he is still a novice.

The Ranger in the Wheat Ears Tavern soon had someone greet him.

"Hey Duncan, over here. ”

With a glass full of Maowei Town's unique Sunoni red fruit wine, Duncan walked to the only table where he sat down, pulled out a chair and sat down, took a sip of the slightly sour and sweet wine, looked around the deserted hall, and said expressionlessly: "There are a few people today. ”

More than 30 rangers in Cattail Town are used to exchanging information at the Wheat Ears Hotel, usually at noon, except for those rangers who go on missions, there are always more than a dozen people gathered in the hotel, but today, plus Duncan, there are only four knight rangers in the entire hotel.

A bronze-skinned, muscular ranger pouted into the corner of the hall and said in a low voice, "None of them have come over in the past two days. ”

In the corner of the hall, a beautiful young female musician was playing the harp, sorrow enveloping her brows, and her slender and smooth fingers caressed the strings, flowing a sad melody like a cry.

Duncan only glanced at it, then withdrew his gaze. The previous ranger smiled playfully, with a hint of disdain and embarrassment in his tone, and said:

"In ten days, the Paladins of the Inquisition will escort a group of exiled nobles from Cattail to the Eastern Alliance. Jessica and her family were among them, and several other waitresses at the Wheat Ears had the same fate...... The Farkis guys, who usually had a mouth full of honey, were now deliberately avoiding them. ”

The maids at the Wheat Ears Hotel were relatives of the exiled nobles. For those noble ladies who have reached the age of eighteen and have not been able to awaken the blood of knights, their relatives will ask them to find a job at the Wheat Ears Hotel, suggesting that they have more contact with the knight ranger, and it is best to conceive the knight ranger's heir, bringing new hope to the family. It's just that these young ladies still have a beautiful vision of love, and they long for the ranger lover to never abandon them. But this often leads them to a harsh reality.

To keep a guilty noblewoman, one needs to pay a penance of at least 8,000 gold soles to the Inquisition, and most rangers have a gang of followers to support, who lack money but not women. What's more, the ultimate goal of the ranger is to get a letter of recommendation from the church and become a vassal of a certain lord. In order to integrate into the family, they must marry a noble woman appointed by the lord, and if they have a guilty noblewoman with them, not only will his wife not be happy, but the lord will also carefully weigh the origin of the guilty noblewoman and her rival family.

There is also a type of ranger, who is from a prominent family, has a noble bloodline, and has extraordinary strength, and goes out to experience purely because of the yearning for an adventurous life. They don't bother with wealth and status, but these people are often chased by female knights, and it's not the turn of the guilty noblewoman to worry about.

The relationship between the guilty noblewoman and the ranger is originally a matter of your affection, there is no such thing as abandonment, the female musician Jessica is deeply in love and can't extricate herself, and the rangers are difficult to help her, let alone condemn Fakis's bad behavior.

Everyone is trying to drill into the upper class, and no one is easier than the other.

A bearded ranger sighed and said, "Duke Medin of Rainbow City is recruiting a large number of outcasts from the Eastern Alliance to serve as tenants in the Twilight Forest. Why should the Inquisition exile the guilty nobles of the Dusk Forest to the Eastern Alliance and let them stay here?"

"Karl, are you joking?" the bronzed-skinned ranger sneered, and asked rhetorically, "Do you think they are willing to accept the protection of their lords, abandon the glory of nobility, and henceforth become lowly tenants?" Moreover, according to the Bright New Testament, the Duke of Madin must pay a large sum of atonement to the Inquisition for each of them, and consider how their rival families would react...... The guilty are not willing to give up their status as nobles, and the lords will not be able to spend a lot of money to keep them, so they might as well go to the Eastern Alliance, at least they can keep their status as nobles, and they will no longer have to face the gnolls of the Dusk Forest. ”

"Oh, yes. Carl, is it true that the Eastern Alliance is as you say, there are no monsters?"

“...... There are no monsters, only daunting despair. Ranger Karl was silent for a moment, picked up his cup, took a sip of red fruit wine, and said in a dull voice: "The boundless demon grass has divided every settlement in the Eastern Alliance into an island, monsters can't get in, you can't get out, life will always be the same, wait for the armed caravan to come, beg them to take you away, but this is in vain, unless the priest allows, they will never take you away, this will cost a lot of money to the church and the lord." ”

"This is the aristocracy of the Eastern Alliance, and the same is true for ordinary people, the difference is only in price. Karl exhaled a breath of wine and continued, "It costs almost 20 gold soles to bring someone out of the Eastern League. The Duke of Medin recruited more than 20,000 people from the Eastern Alliance, and Rainbow City spent at least 500,000 gold soles. ”

The ranger with a bronze complexion bowed his head and said, "Ordinary nobles really don't have the ability to cross the Demon Grass Sea......"

"Formal knights can't wear it either. Karl shook his head and said, "The devil grass is poisonous, the bugs in it are poisonous, the rats are poisonous, the frogs are poisonous, and most puddles are also poisonous...... Unable to find food and drinking water, the knight could not go far...... What, Natal, you want to go on an adventure in the Eastern League?"

Ranger Natal laughed dryly, took a sip of Dom, scratched his head and asked, "I heard that there are not many monsters in the Eastern Alliance, as long as someone opens up land there, Borui and Seuss will canonize him as the lord of the kingdom." ”

"I advise you to dispel this thought. Karl shook his head with a wry smile and explained, "The valuable lands of the Eastern Alliance have owners, and they are either transportation hubs for caravans or close to the Needham Marsh. The land that can be lived in, but has no value, is all goblins, and even if you kill all the goblins, the caravan will not patronize the territory you have explored. In other words, it is very difficult for you to get out alive when you break away from the shelter of the church and enter the sea of demonic grass. ”

Duncan interjected and asked, "Natal, why do you suddenly want to go to the Eastern Alliance as a pioneer lord?

The bronzed-complexion ranger laughed and said, "I'm old and have no future, so I always have to think about my followers." ”

There was silence for a moment, and the rangers drank in silence. They were all beginner knights, and they were past their prime, and those potential knight rangers had received invitations from the northern lords of Seuss, and they still had to rely on experience and cunning to support themselves in the Dusk Forest.

At this moment, the sound of the female musician Jessica playing the piano seemed to have a desolation in her sadness.

Natal drank the last drop of the glass and clenched the glass in his calloused right hand, saying, "Since the Templars were transferred from the Dusk Forest defenses, the Duke of Medin has increased the bounties for the mercenary group and the rangers, and has aggressively recruited knight rangers and mercenary groups. Now, we're paying twice as much for a mission as we used to, but that won't be good for long. I heard that the eldest son of Duke Peter of the Kingdom of Borui will marry Princess Celine, and Borui's army will be stationed in the Dusk Forest defense line within two years. At that point, we people will be useless. The lords of Seuss do not solicit us now, and they will not recruit us in the future, they look down on us, and the lords of Dordor and Neville and Gombis and Sassan also look down on us ......"

He paused, glanced at the middle-aged ranger who had not spoken, and continued: "Simon and I, as well as the other three rangers, have already discussed that we will save a sum of money first, and then take our followers to the Eastern Alliance to try our luck...... At worst, he can be a nobleman waiting for death in a small town in the Eastern Alliance, with a knighthood on his head, which can be regarded as fulfilling his original dream. ”

"Hehe, then you will definitely be canonized as princes, dukes, and marquis by several emperors, and then be busy giving birth to children all day long. Ranger Carl smiled, shook his head and said, "I managed to sneak out of the Eastern Conference when I was young, and I will never go back." In the future, I'll either die at the hands of monsters, or I'll find a country lord and make him an instructor or something. ”

He turned his head and asked, "Duncan, you are still young, a few days ago, the garrison of Cattail Town came to talk to you, saying that he wanted to recruit you into the Medin family, why didn't you move?"

Duncan said coldly, "I refused. ”

"Hey, why did you give up such a good opportunity? The Medin family is a thousand-year-old family, and this generation of Duke Medin is a highness. Natal's eyes widened, curious and incredulous.

Can I be the same as you ownerless wild dogs? Any one of my Arcane warriors is stronger than you...... My master is His Royal Highness Randall of the Kingdom of Cambys, can the Duke of Medin compare with my master?

Todd, who is known as Duncan, sneered in his heart, the expression on his face maintained his usual stereotyped vigilance, and said lightly: "My ranger ranking is too low, and I am afraid of falling victim to the Medin family, so I should be freer as a ranger and can choose tasks with different risks independently." ”

Natal gave a thumbs up and praised, "Wise decision." How about you? Do you want to join us in opening up the settlements of the Eastern Alliance?"

"Excuse me. Todd said without hesitation.

What are you kidding? I also sneaked away from the Eastern Conference.

Ranger Carl chuckled, held his oak wine glass, and said, "Actually, the Medin family doesn't look down on us, but we still have two chances. ”

"In the northwest of the town of Hongguo, there is a well-known ranger - Godfrey. If I'm not mistaken, he should be the son of a big family, and if we can follow him, there will definitely be a good way out in the future. ”

Natal nodded, "Well, I've heard of his reputation for taking on the most dangerous reconnaissance missions, often going deep into the Twilight Forest, and every time he can get out of the way." But his followers were not so lucky...... Being able to follow him is certainly a way out, but our strength ...... Carl, what about another chance?"

"As far as I know, in two months, His Excellency Raymond Peter of the Borui Peter family will visit the Kingdom of Seuss to meet with Princess Celine, and then he may represent the Borui Kingdom to the defense line of the Dusk Forest to conduct a field survey in preparation for the Borui army to enter the Dusk Forest. Cattail is the place he must visit, and if we can present him with a detailed map of the surrounding forests, he may be able to take a fancy to him and allow us to serve the Borui army. ”

The Ranger's map is significantly different from the map of the lord and the church, and is not comprehensive enough, but it is more detailed. King Borui's eldest son personally surveyed the defense line of the Dusk Forest, just to see something different. The Borui run to the strange twilight forest to fight the gnolls, and they must not be at the mercy of the Seuss Lord and the Church, but must have their own eyes and ears. Ranger Carl's so-called presentation of the map is actually a self-recommendation to Lord Raymond. Although they are lowly in strength, they have a wealth of experience, and they are the guides and eyes and ears that the Borui people need.

Natal and the others were greatly moved, and gathered together and discussed in a low voice how to please the eldest son of the Grand Duke Peter.

Todd also pretended to be enthusiastic, and kept thinking about how to take this opportunity to plant a secret by Raymond's side.

At this moment, the heavy wooden door of the Wheat Ears Hotel was pushed open, and several people walked in one after another, led by the resident priest of Cattail Town, Pastor Roach.

"Natal, why are you four?" said Father Roach, a tall, burly, meaty-faced priest, interrupting the harp's melody in a thick voice.

The rangers did not dare to slack off and got up one after another. Natal smiled and said, "I don't know what's going on today, it's just the four of us." Lord Rocky, do you have a task for us?"

Roach, who was born as a combat priest, stepped aside, and a priest behind him introduced triumphantly: "This is Pastor Dimick from the Holy See...... My brother. ”

Dimick looks like he is in his forties, dressed in a fine linen priest's robe, with four silver stripes embroidered on his shoulders, marking the status of a fourth-level priest, which can already be a bishop, plus he comes from the Holy See. The rangers stood in awe and stepped forward to salute.

Karl preemptively said, "Dear Pastor Dimick, what can I do?"

Dimick said with a kind smile: "A team of scholars from the Silver and White Tower are going to the Dusk Forest to collect some specimens of animals and plants, so as to increase the scholars' knowledge. They need 5 experienced rangers to act as guides. Would you be interested in taking on this commission?"

Natal seized the opportunity and said respectfully, "It is an honor to be able to serve Lord Dimick. ”

"Don't get me wrong. Pastor Dimick waved his hand and explained, "I'm about to take up my post in the Borui Kingdom, but I'm just passing through the Seuss Kingdom to visit my brother and send the White Tower scholars to Cattail Town. For specific tasks, you should ask the leader of the scholar. ”

The young man at the back stepped forward, gave a salute, and introduced himself: "Hello, I am the leader of this scholar's practice, a disciple of Master Edwin, Paul Randall of the Randall family. ”

The Randall Family?The Randall Family's White Tower Student?!

The rangers rushed up and greeted the handsome, elegantly behaved young seekers. At this moment, the famous Ranger Godfrey and His Excellency Raymond Peter were forgotten by them.

Todd, who goes by the pseudonym Duncan, is caught in the middle, changing his usual indifference and solemnity, showing rare enthusiasm, and covertly making small gestures to contact the mercury spies. After the two met their eyes, they had already determined each other's identities.

In the evening, on the third floor of the Wheat Ears Hotel, Todd watched Paul Randall send the last Ranger out of the room, and confirmed that the Ranger had gone down to the first floor before knocking on the door and saying respectfully: "Your Excellency Paul, this is some information that I have personally gathered, please take a look." ”

"Your Excellency Duncan, you have a lot of handwritten information, please allow me to read it before listening to your opinion. ”

Paul took a stack of sheepskin scrolls from Todd's hand, closed the door, beckoned Todd into his study, and as he flipped the scrolls, he said in a lip whisper:

"Lord Barol is my spy mentor, Lord Nelson is my adoptive father, and His Highness Randall is my master. ”

Todd's pupils contracted and dilated, and he said silently: "The master has asked me to return to him in four months, regardless of whether or not I complete the task of placing the case. Are you here to replace me?"

Paul squirmed his lips and replied, "No, I'm here to help you...... I'd rather be a scholar than an undercover agent. The master promised me that at the end of this mission, I would have nothing to do with mercury. As for your future in mercury, I will not be able to say anything about it...... Lord Todd, the master has specially explained to me that you have ignited the fire of your heart, and your safety is higher than this mission itself. ”

Todd relieved himself and said, "Don't worry, my master will also give me an account to ensure the secrecy and safety of the helper." ”

Paul smiled slightly, flipped through the sheepskin scroll, and said, "The mission has a new content, trying to insert eyeliner into the Eastern Alliance and cultivate power...... It seems that this is not a difficult thing to do, and there are a few rangers who actually want to go to the Eastern Alliance to develop settlements. ”

"I sent men to lure them. Todd nodded, frowned, and asked, "But I'm at a loss for Raymond Peter's actions." ”

"My lord, that's because you don't know enough. Paul continues: "Godfrey, the famous ranger who was active in the Twilight Forest, was in fact the blood of the Auguste family, the eldest grandson of the Ludwig court. ”

Todd pondered for a moment and asked, "And then." ”

"Raymond Peter assassinated his fiancée, Shirley, without the punishment he deserved. He had been unable to resolve the resentment in his heart, so he left the Ludwig family and became a ranger under the pseudonym Godfrey. He may have wanted to cure his heart by giving up his family identity...... Peter's little cub killed his beloved woman, as the direct heir of the Ludwig family, but he could not get justice for his fiancée, and the family status brought him an indelible shame, how could he stick to his knighthood? Look at him, he will not return to the Ludwig family without re-erecting a path. ”

Todd's eyes gradually lit up, and he said, "You want to induce Godfrey to assassinate Raymond, and then design to find someone to rescue Raymond in exchange for his trust...... What about the dark candidates?"

The corners of Paul's mouth curled and he said, "It's also an old acquaintance of yours...... Former sheriff of Ascending Rock and exiled knight of the Dwemick family, Vamon. ”

"Vammun, he's a good candidate. Todd smiled silently, then frowned and asked, "What if Godfrey really killed Raymond?"

With an elegant smile and a cold gaze, Paul said, "Then kill him...... Peter's little cub once sent someone to assassinate Randall's master. ”

Todd lowered his head, a cruel crack tugging at the corner of his mouth, revealing Bai Sensen's teeth.

"Understood...... I'll give it my all. ”