"Hey, have you heard about that incident in Lemongrass?"

On a sunny morning, in the courtyard of the North Gate Library, several citizens in the same uniform were gathering to discuss the latest news. The www.biquge.info of the pen "Fun" Pavilion sat or stood, each found a place where they thought they were comfortable to rest, and two of them were holding freshly baked scones and constantly feeding them into their mouths.

These people of different ages were actually night guards at the Great Library, taking advantage of the opportunity to rest for a while after the night shift. Beside them, several teenagers and girls who were about to rush to school were hurrying across the stone-paved road.

Part of the library has been opened up for use as a school, and the voices of the students in the annex can be heard talking on the promenade that crosses the courtyard. And the place where these guards are resting now happens to be in the shadow of the library, connecting the road from the main building to the annex.

"Oh, I see, you're talking about that—it was written in the newspaper this morning, the monsters that attacked the village in the night!" one of them, a young man who was not tall and looked serious, picked up, "It's terrible to think about, there can be a beast plague so close to the city." ”

After all, these guards are people who work in the library, and their understanding of some common sense is still different from that of most ordinary citizens. The young man who spoke looked a little uneasy, because he had learned a little about the "beast plague" while browsing the library collection in his spare time.

In his opinion, if the "beast disaster" that happened in Lemonglas this time had not been discovered early, the village would have been razed by monsters. Even if a hundred-person team is stationed, it is difficult to fight in all directions when the monsters besiege the village, and the slightest carelessness may even be counter-armed.

Looking at the photographs published in the newspapers after the incident, there was only minor damage to the interior of the village, and only the outer wall was extensively damaged. However, the text in the newspaper focused on the soldiers' steadfast defense and the safety of the people, but did not dwell much on the damage caused.

Most of his companions laughed at his reaction, those monsters may be difficult to deal with, but they were eventually repelled by the regular army. It turns out that while the monsters wandering in the wild are quite dangerous, they are by no means immortal and can be killed by trained people.

What's more, the Gate of the End of the North is no longer a small town that used to shrink within the defense line of the fortress at the end of the Northland, but a new city surrounded by towering walls. Not to mention that it is impossible for monsters to cross the protective walls on the periphery of the city, and even if they do enter, the regular army stationed in the city can easily sweep them away.

"Hey, I'll just say you guys only look at the surface. ”

But one person was not: "Do you think the big newspapers are credible? The reporters are either boasting about the people who have contributed to the 'Lemongrass Incident' or the villagers are grateful to the savior, without even mentioning the slightest specifics." ”

It was a burly, bearded middle-aged man, who seemed to be the oldest member of the guards. For some reason, he was a little unhappy with the recent mainstream media reports, and at the same time took out a crumpled piece of printed paper from the satchel at his waist.

It seemed to be just a tabloid newspaper with rumors in the market, but he triumphantly unfolded the newspaper and motioned for everyone to look at it. On the front page, the words "Lemongrass's Beast Plague Is It a Natural Disaster or a Wizard's Conspiracy" were written in a pompous manner.

Looking at what was written in the tabloid, it was much more detailed than most of the mainstream newspapers, including a description of the "Lemongrass Incident", a survey of the area, and a floor plan of the entire village after several successive pages of graphic content.

It is strange that the writer of this article seems to be a witness to this event, and he can tell you exactly what happened at what time and minutes. What's even more interesting is that he also mentions some information that is not registered in other newspapers.

For example, the Crow Society's mages took part in Lemongrass's defenses, providing a new kind of magic to the village defenses weakened by the Crescent Moon. Another example is when the soldiers meet the attacking monsters in the village, but an unknown mage throws fireballs to destroy the defenses. For example, a scribe patrolling a village was confronted by a sorcerer who had infiltrated the village, and was survived after a desperate struggle.

These unbelievable stories fill three pages, and the fact that the photographs leave a crater and a mess of defense certainly lend credibility to the contents. Even if some people say that it is spreading rumors, it cannot be denied that the tabloids have put a lot of effort into this aspect.

The writer of the tabloid headline argued that while most newspapers were promoting the efforts of the protectors and the gratitude of the villagers of Lemonglas and ignoring the reports of the destruction of the monsters, they did not intend to cover up the murder of the village, but rather to divert attention.

He claimed that the beast plague that appeared in Lemongrass this time was not due to the anomaly that gave birth to ferocious monsters, but that some group of mages had set their sights on the village. Behind the scenes, they led the monsters to attack Lemonglas, hoping to make a profit by plunging the village into danger.

The newspaper that the bearded man took out made the guards who had been ridiculing the young people change their attitudes, and their opinions suddenly became scattered. Some people think that the content of this tabloid is sensationalism, others say that its entry point is a good idea, and the random conversation spreads all at once.

"That's why I say you're all talking about useless things - didn't the newspapers say that there were two scribes in our library who went through this incident. Finally, one of the guards couldn't sit still, "One is surnamed Sierra Leone and the other is surnamed Suval, if you really want to know the truth, you can ask them!"

He was not referring to the bearded tabloids, but to the easily available newspapers, which published some of the people who had made great contributions to the "Lemonglass Affair," including the names of Frick and Suval.

Thanks to this, Sierra Leone became quite famous not long after he came to work at the North Gate Library. In addition to him, Suval seems to be among them. Whether the two of them want it or not, they have already won the honor of "heroes who protect the people".

This result was apparently expected by Sir Uls Leonster, and perhaps part of the present state of affairs was also deliberately caused by him. It is undeniable that all his actions are in the operation of some kind of plan, and he does not hesitate to use all means to make it come into effect.

"I am here to congratulate you, Frick Sierra Leone, for the Governor's decision to award you a Protector Medal for your performance in Lemongrass. However, those who are discussing this matter may not know that the person they are mentioning is having a headache for this honor, "You were not badly injured in that battle, and a medal may not be able to be reciprocated, but it is also a proof of the honor you said you received." ”

Today is five days after returning from Lemongrass, and Flick, who has suffered a lot of injuries and consumed a lot of physical strength and magic power, has been sleeping in bed for most of these days. And after finally recovering and starting to work again, he found that he had become a celebrity in the eyes of others.

It was uncomfortable, or at least he thought it was too much uncomfortable emotion in the eyes of other people looking at him. Suval had no acquaintances, and he felt that the others were ironic about their semi-ridiculous "hero" titles.

Isn't he too neurotic? He sometimes can't help but ask himself, his already suspicious personality has deteriorated in the past few days. Although he was reluctant to think in this direction, he inexplicably felt that this "change" had something to do with the magic of using the moonstone fragments.

The excess mana that spilled from the moonstone shards affected the flesh of living beings, but it was never heard of as eroding the spirits of those who came into contact with them. While sober, Frick flipped through the library's collection of Moonstone Fragments, but found no similar records in the past.

But he didn't give up and started looking at other books that might be related to it, even the chronicles. Until early this morning, when a colleague he had never met told him that Director Black was looking for him, he was still soaking in the pile of volumes that had been turned out of the shelves.

When he entered the director's office, Director Black was still browsing the large stack of papers at hand, and as soon as Flick entered, he took a look at them and set them aside, instead taking out a beautifully decorated box from under his desk.

He took the box and opened it, only to see a silver rectangular piece of metal lying on a red velvet cushion, decorated with a staggered lattice that resembled a "city wall". A sword-like emblem symbolizing the empire is decorated in the center of the "city wall", with sharp sunset patterns on the edges.

As Curator Blake said, it was a Protector's Medal for those who had made an outstanding contribution to the protection of the citizens of the Empire, and the decoration of the medal was probably the lowest rank of the Order of the Fifth Rank - which only proved that the owner had indeed made a contribution commensurate with his degree.

Holding this medal made of alloy, Frick's complicated mood rose a little doubt, and he silently asked himself in his heart: Are you really qualified for your actions?