The people who suddenly appeared and fled were dressed in exquisite clothes, and although the style was completely different from the world of Rigal, it didn't take a Luna Nation costume expert to see that the embroidery and the combination of colors were well-made.

This is obviously not the level that a local resident should be, and the appearance of this person running away after seeing the sage and the Luoan girl who are obviously foreigners is very suspicious.

The overall environment of the high-ranking and hostile to foreigners, if she brought some guards, things would only become more difficult. Even if chasing them would make them look more like badasses, there weren't many options left in front of the group at the moment.

"Stride, stomp—" Henry and Mira walked directly, and although the little unicorn was nearby, it was carrying a lot of supplies on its back, and without a proper saddle, it could not carry the Roan girl.

However, even if they were only walking, the two of them were well-trained and physically able, and they were able to close the distance very quickly.

"......", which had not been obvious until the distance, now looked closer to the young woman with a distinctive dark blue hair, glanced back, and then visibly panicked, for she immediately fell in front of Henry and Mira on the unsuitable hem of her oversized garment.

"Wow-" Mira closed her eyes in disbelief as she fell on the frozen ground, and the sage looked around for a moment to see no one else, then let go of his grip on the hilt of Kramer's sword and didn't pull it out.

Mira glanced at her teacher, then retrieved the knife in her hand as well.

"Ahh

"Ahh

"She said she was armed and told us not to come close. Henry shrugged, then took a step closer.

"Ahh

The two narrowed the distance with an angled attitude. The sage tried to open his mouth to defend himself, but the moment he opened his mouth, the other man sank down, then stepped his leg back and raised the short knife in his hand - this is the typical sprinting stance, the typical layman's sprinting stance.

The movement is so obvious that anyone can see it at a glance, so it's very easy to dodge. "Ha, ha, aa.......a

"Is the target me? The girl sighed again, apparently standing next to the sage she did look like a better target.

But even so—

"Huh-" "Ahhh

"Wow!!" The white-haired girl should have done to break the balance of the other party and reach out to grab and disarm at the same time, but before she could do it, the person once again stepped on the hem of the overly long robe and fell to the ground screaming, and the short knife in her hand slid far away on the ground with a "bang-" sound, so that the Luo An girl could not even use her feet to pull away.

"......." Mira looked at Henry speechlessly, and the sage shrugged his shoulders as usual.

"Uh, aether. The woman holding her forehead got up, and then let out a "wow" when she saw the short knife in her arms slide so far, and then turned her head to look at Henry and Mira with a very stiff movement—

The Roan Maiden and the Sage, much taller than her, cast a deep shadow on the face of the Gentile in the less intense light.

"Tower, ......tower, Oh Na Gai Ther Masu (Please don't eat me, please). The trembling woman suddenly knelt down and kowtowed to the two of them—this was the scene that Lulu, Kaleva, Age, and the others had seen after they came over, who were a step late.

“...... Well, who's going to explain to me what's going on?" said the young porter, who was dumbfounded.

“...... All in all. Priest Alfonso, who had been watching for a while, sighed, stepped forward, and said in the language of the Moon Country, "Hello, this one. ”

"Miss Doctor. ”

"Ah?——h

————

————

It took more than an hour to explain, and thanks to the efforts of Lulu, a native of the local area and the Afonso priest who was familiar with the culture of the Land of the Moon, the woman who called herself "Aya" finally believed that they were not some evil ghosts and foreigners who drank blood and hair.

Geographical and cultural barriers are the best breeding ground for rumors, and the language barrier, the difference in physiognomy and the generally taller size of the Rigalese have led to the myth that Henry and the foreigners are almost described as ogres named "Yaksha" in the legend of the Land of the Moon.

Obviously, our Sage Man's tall appearance and slightly unsmiling personality will only confirm this rumor even more when he encounters the common people of any Moon Country.

Although when you get acquainted with him, you will know that Henry is not a cold-blooded and ruthless person. But his laziness to always show his emotions is always very calm, and when they first met, Mira thought that he was a bloodless and tearless person.

After settling down the flustered Lady of the Moon Country, in order to show his sincerity, Priest Alfonso took the initiative to introduce the origin of his group. However, he did not give it all out without reservation, he weakened the part where he decided to land and take the land route from Yiji because of the news of the conflict, and strengthened the part where Lulu fell into the hands of pirates because Yiren was hunted down by the Wazuto, and fled from Kirishima to find her own people. This made the Yi girl next to her a little confused - she didn't know that this person cared so much about herself, but Henry and Mira, who barely understood the content, understood Alfonso's calculations very well.

It's a psychological game, they each have something they want to know, but they don't know what each other has.

This woman, pronounced "Aya", whose native language is "Aya", is 20 years old, and her position is "Dr. Xingyong". The position of "doctor" is unique to the Land of the Moon. The nature of the scholars in the Padrosi Empire is similar, but the status and voice in high society are even higher. If you really want to find a suitable word in the Rigar language to compare it with, you will probably be able to match the esteemed status and profound knowledge.

There is only one "sage".

The clothes and accessories she wears, even the well-made little dagger testify to the fact that she is not too low-born. And the posture of sitting on the straw mat of the shrine after calming down also reveals the calmness of seeing the world. This is also in line with the characteristics of the person in charge of the position of Doctor of the Moon Country - it is not that there are no noble children from a poor family, but it is obviously impossible for someone who can take on such an important task at such a young age without the support of unique family resources.

However, this kind of identity and family background, which may usually attract much attention in the mainstream society of the Moon Country, has become a somewhat subtle existence in the specific environment at the moment.

She's at a disadvantage. Mira elbowed the top sage, then gestured with her eyes.

Of course, Henry had already noticed.

Aya was trembling.

Beneath the broad, ornate Doctor's robes, her shoulders trembled slightly. The fingers placed on the straw mat in the shrine are also a little whitish because of the unconscious exertion. This calm and composed-looking appearance is all pretended. Even if they weren't cannibals, they were strangers, and she was just a weak woman surrounded by a crowd of foreigners, and it would be a lie not to be upset.

But even this can't show weakness, so she still maintains the appearance of decency and calmness. It's just stubbornness. She didn't know how to change the situation, she didn't know how she would be treated, she was worried about being hurt by these aliens with very different languages and cultures, she was nervous because of the unknown situation and the sheer inferiority in force and numbers, but she knew that she could not show weakness or she would be taken advantage of.

Henry and Mira were obviously not the only ones who noticed this, and Priest Alfonso was aware of it, so he concealed a temptation in his words explaining his message—highlighting the story of Lulu's minority who were persecuted by the forces of the Moonland and then returned to find it. The priest skimmed over his own position and recounted Lulu's story in the form of a third person, seemingly just a bland account of their experience, but was able to observe Aya's attitude to understand her position.

After all, she was from a high-level social background in the Moon Country, and although theoretically speaking, the scholarly profession had little to do with politics, but Luo Lan and the others had proven that this was not an absolute truth.

If the female doctor had shown something like "deserved", then most likely the conversation would have ended there. Because her position is xenophobic, there is no real possibility of cooperation with her as a foreigner.

Thankfully, that didn't happen. Aya shook her head when she heard this: "It's a pity that these things happened, I always thought that the people above were a little stiff and inflexible. She said this, and the few people present who understood what Alfonso was doing were somewhat relieved.

There was no overly sharp xenophobia, or the city government was very aware of its own environment and saw through Alfonso's words - but based on the previous youthful performance, this is obviously negative, so it seems that her position is really biased towards neutrality.

In any case, at least from this point of view, it was good luck that they met a relatively meticulous and delicate female doctor, not a young and somewhat stunned male high-ranking member of the Moon Country.

And with the results of the tentative results in terms of positions and attitudes, truly meaningful exchanges and communication can finally be carried out.

As the communication progressed, Aya's tremors gradually decreased and finally disappeared completely, and she also let go of her hand on the ground and no longer sat so upright.

This subtle body language revealed the fact that she had finally let go of her worries, and when the two sides had finally reached a consensus without conflicting positions through various exchanges of information, the real question was finally raised through Alfonso's mouth.

"Why did Miss Doctor come to this area without any attendant?" the priest asked, causing Aya to pause for a moment.

She looked a little hesitant, and the sage who noticed this spoke up at the right time: "We came up to the shrine because we encountered something in the village. Human-like and inhuman, with some weird bugs. Bugs covered in gold. As Henry said this, Mira and Alfonso, who were next to him, noticed that Aya's body shook as he said the keyword.

"We thought there would be information here, but there were only a few of them. The sage paused: "Maybe I don't know a better message." ”

"Ahh The Doctor nodded, and said in a complicated tone with an embarrassed but somewhat approving face, "Did you see that too, those things?" ”

"Well, they don't look like they've succeeded in destroying the evidence. Henry said.

"I got it out. Aya said, and Mira frowned: "But I didn't see the fire fold being stepped on, and there was no moisture around." ”

"Because I drank all the water I was carrying, I used the bowl I carried with me to buckle it, and it naturally went out without enough oxygen. The doctor said this, and the girl looked blankly at the sage next to her.

"Fire burns not only with fuel, but also with oxygen. To put it simply, it's like a creature needs to breathe, and if you choke your neck, you suffocate it, imagine it. The sage explained to Mira in Avenella, and he suddenly looked at Henry, "You are different from the Lamours?"

"Ah, is it Laman? Mira blinked, and this time she reacted, "Yes, we, the Lamanites, neither." Do you understand Avenella?"

"I don't understand, but the pronunciation is very different, not like the dialect of Lamo, like a completely different language. I've heard that there are many, many countries on the other side of the sea, unlike the Moon Country, which is the only one, so I guessed. Aya sighed, "If there were many different countries in the Crescent Continent, maybe it would be better than now." ”

She sighed, but Galeva, who had been unable to understand on the side, had already intervened in the topic a little anxiously: "Can you tell me quickly, what are those monsters, this young lady seems to know something, tell me quickly." He urged so urgently in Lamani, and Aya, who had heard Galeva's speech, turned her head and glanced at him, and then replied in Lamanite with a slight accent: "This gentleman does not seem to speak the language of my country, so it is okay to speak in Lamo." ”

"Huh?" Galeva froze, and Mira gave him a disdainful look.

"But ......" Aya turned her head to look at Lulu with some hesitation, she obviously minded the Yi girl's problem with understanding.

"Anyway, even if you speak in Japanese, I won't understand it at all. Lulu shook her head and walked to the side to begin to gather her weapons, while the rest of the group sat in the center of the shrine and listened to the Luna Land Doctor talk about it.

She first rejected the idea of what everyone thought was a parasite, and instead uttered a word that confused many people.

"Mineral mushrooms?" Mira looked confused, "a type of mushroom?" she said in accordance with her Lamanic counterpart.

"The concept is not quite the same. Aya frowned a little embarrassed: "But there doesn't seem to be an accurate adjective in Lamo. ”

"Two, if you're a swordsman, maybe you know about the smelting of iron?" she said to Henry and Mira, "Whatever the final outcome of the weapon, it must start with the smelting of ore." ”

"Yes, we were once given the task of escorting us to the mines. The girl nodded: "But what do those have to do with mushrooms?"

"Ore. Indeed, it has been recorded that the minerals of Nanban are far better than those of our country," Aya sighed, "Yes, the existence of metal ores is not only high-quality minerals that are molded. In fact, this is only available in certain blessed regions. In our country, for example, although there are many mountains, there is only one area that produces high-quality ores. ”

"In most places, the only thing that can be collected is limonite, which resembles soft mud. ”

"This kind of iron ore is formed near the water, through iron bacteria in the mineral bacteria. She said this, and the girl nodded suddenly, recalling her past mission, "Ah! ”

"That's already done, and complex stuff takes time to explain. So just jump. ”

"Anyway, a few years ago, this interesting fungus was found in a gold mine in the south. They are similar in nature to iron bacteria, except that the result of condensation is more precious gold. "Wow, that's not a zanbu!" Caleva cried out, and Mira kicked him in frustration. Aya glanced at the young man with a face covered in his calves, and continued, "Not surprisingly, people began to try to take advantage of this kind of thing. ”

"Because in our country, the gold mines are controlled by the high-level, and ordinary people can't touch them at all...... It is not surprising that people would expect to get rich overnight - in short, at first only in the common people in small villages, and gradually spread and were later approached by certain lords. Eventually, it spread upwards to the academy where I worked. ”

"The academy, which is said to have gathered the world's elite, has launched a study of this unique existence, and named it gold-eating fungus. ”

"But it took a long time, but I still couldn't understand what kind of existence it was. In the end, it was by chance that he discovered the fact that it would devour spiritual power. Aya said, and as soon as Mira opened her mouth, the sage said, "It's magic." Miss Luo An nodded, and Dr. Xingyong of the Moon Country seemed to look at the tacit understanding of the two with some envy.

"Devouring Spirit...... Magic. ”

"Just use the vocabulary you're used to. Henry reminded, and Aya nodded in gratitude: "After devouring spiritual power, they will grow and the speed of condensing gold will also increase. This practice even attracted the attention of the noble royal family, and for a time it became a kind of plan to carry out large-scale cultivation operations. Aya paused: "And then it failed." ”

"A week after the official start of cultivation in the mines, overnight, all the gold-eating fungi that had been cultivated died. Because they are tiny creatures that are difficult to see with the naked eye, we understand them through activity testing. ”

"Although gold is genuine, it will never be increased again. Even if you put a gem with spiritual power in it, it will not be absorbed. ”

"They're completely dead. ”

"The mainstream view is that mana feeding enlarges gold-eating bacteria, which is the act of 'pulling out seedlings to grow' in our Moon Country. In other words, what seems to be a short-term result actually shortens the life of the bacterium. ”

In other words, it was possible that the bacterium could survive for hundreds of years, and then accumulate so much gold in the process. And we accelerated this process with spiritual power, shortened it to just one week, and obtained all the amounts in advance. Aya continued, "The failure of this plan is that there is no balance between input and harvest. ”

"The price of jade containing spiritual power is extremely high, even if it is the blood of a spirit grass or a spirit beast, it is all more expensive than gold. If you feed the spiritual power, it will increase, and it is true that in the long run, after increasing to a certain size, you can just wait for the natural accumulation of gold, and it will become a good investment-" "Stop-stop-stop-" Galeva reached out and covered his head rather impolitely and said, "My head hurts a little. ”

"Nerd. Mira despised him again, and Aya noticed the fact that she was immersed in the explanation, and hung her head a little embarrassed: "I'm sorry......"

"Don't apologize, it's this guy who is stupid. Mira despised Galeva again.

In short, this one faced failure, and was abandoned in the cold. Aya continued, and Henry spoke again, "But it's not the end for you, is it?" ”

Dr. ....... looked at the sage, looking at the calm gray-blue eyes without any color, so she nodded, "Yes, I have a theory of my own. ”

"In living beings, there is spiritual power. This is true of both humans and other creatures. ”

"So, what is a spirit animal?" she said as she looked at the little unicorn outside, and the little one looked in as if he had a spirit in his heart.

"It retains the appearance of a creature, and it can even trace back to the source to find a certain type of creature. It still retains the ability to reproduce with the same species, but it has the ability that ordinary creatures of the same kind do not have. ”

"What kind of beings are they?"

"I think the key is the 'quantity' of spiritual power. ”

"It's a qualitative opportunity for change, and when it accumulates enough, it causes the organism to change. Ordinary rabbits have the ability to control the wind, wolves have suddenly become able to use fireballs, and human magicians have also changed from ordinary people to unique individuals with the ability to call the wind and rain. ”

"I want to unravel the nature of the existence of spiritual power, why it can cause creatures to mutate. And these bacteria, I think, are the entry points for my research. After Aya finished speaking, she suddenly licked her lips and looked left and right, and the dazed Kaleva suddenly became clever at this time, and handed her a soft skin bladder.

"Grassi (thank you). Aya thanked her, then looked at it for a moment before she figured out how to pull out the cork from the water bladder.

"That is, you think they're not dead, they're evolving. Aiji, who had been silent next to him, finally opened his mouth at this time: "But other people, don't support you." ”

"......." Aya shook her head helplessly: "In order to support my remarks, I have read a lot of classics. In the mountainous areas of our country's history, there have been cases of 'soul-sucking monsters', and the characteristics of those who encounter them are listless, pale, and have a low body temperature that are very similar to those of those with low spiritual power. These places are often associated with the origin of gold mines and gemstones. ”

"So I think it's because the gold-eating fungus came into contact with gems that contain spiritual power while surviving in the natural environment of the mountains, and thus evolved into some kind of free-moving individual. And because he knew that spiritual power could make him further mutate, he began to actively attack creatures and humans. After Aya finished speaking, she sighed helplessly again: "This statement was reprimanded by my mentor as a great rebellion, everything in this world is traceable, and it is the descendant of the great Great Moon God, it has been in this form since its birth, and it will always be like this from now on." How could there be a creature that had transformed itself against the will of the gods? Even if there were, it could never be a thing of this world. When it is an evil monster that keeps a distance and allows the samurai to kill, the idea of contact research must not be cut off at all, so ......."

The silence of the "......" made the atmosphere a little stiff and awkward, and everyone didn't know how to answer. Mira recited in her heart, "Every family has a scripture that is difficult to read", but she did not say it.

"It's ironic. Aya let out a long sigh again, and she said with a very tired look: "In the entire country's 4,000-year history, no one in the Upper Academy, where elites gather, wants to listen to me. I can only explain my ideas to you strangers who have met in the water. ”

After speaking, the young female doctor looked at the colors of everyone again, looked at the silence of several people around her, and sighed again with a little disappointment: "I don't believe it-" "Bold speculation, but not groundless. The sage spoke, and she looked up in surprise.

"No one has yet been able to fully answer the phenomena that magic can cause. But if we do statistics on what we know, we will basically come to one conclusion: the lifespan of the creatures that evolve into Warcraft will be much longer than the original creatures of the same kind. Henry said: "There are also instances of human high magicians living for more than a hundred years, and the fact that the elven race lives longer than humans can also be considered to be related to their generally stronger magical abilities than humans. ”

"So if you think about it according to this statistic, it is obviously illogical to absorb magic and cause a shorter lifespan. ”

"Coupled with the uniqueness of this ability, the variables are also -" "......." Aya's eyes suddenly widened, and tears fell little by little.

"The teacher is such a terrible adult. Mira rolled her eyes at Henry.

"No, no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm just the first time. The doctor kept rubbing his eyes, "For the first time, someone listened carefully and agreed with my theory, I, I-" She hung her head, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." ”

Aya interrupted the esoteric discussion when she burst into tears, and the stupid guy like Galeva let out a long sigh as if she had finally finished class, and Mira and Lulu next to her came to comfort her for a while, and the doctor, who finally regained his spirits, told the rest of the story.

Anyway, with no one to support her theory, the doctor went it alone to investigate. Despite her lack of experience in traveling, with the noble outfit of Dr. Star and the dark blue hair color of the nobles of the Moon Country, she was helped by many civilians along the way.

After following all kinds of clues, she finally arrived at this small village, located in the far north corner of the Moon Country's sphere of influence, an excellent place to hide secrets that almost no one would pay attention to unless it were for special circumstances.

This is where it all comes from, and the people here have been exploiting the gold-eating bacteria many years before the Moon Nation higher-ups noticed them. Aya discovered this through the clue of "oddly shaped gold", but after arriving here, she encountered the same situation as Henry and the others.

In a hurry, she fled to the side of the shrine, and survived for a while with the help of stored supplies in the hut where the staff of the shrine in the back mountain rested.

But today, when I ran out of food and water, and was about to go back here to try my luck and find something, I saw a small unicorn standing outside.

Because only the samurai class can ride horses in the country of the moon, she thought it was a passing nobleman, but when she wanted to come up to communicate, she found that it was "a tall and terrifying man like a demon, and a woman with snow-white hair and crystal skin like a snow girl" - the imagination increased by exhaustion, loneliness, and fear made the doctor's whole person panic immediately, and this is the previous scene.

"What is the Snow Maiden. "A kind of youkai. "What is a youkai. "Monsters. "The teacher is such a terrible adult. Mira gave Henry a blank look after listening to the explanation, and Aya, who had said everything, drank the last drop of water in the Kaleva bladder and exhaled a long breath: "All in all. ”

"I don't really know the current situation. I'm the one who took the gold-eating part of the notebook, and if you want to see it for yourself, put it on the other side of the hut. But roughly speaking, what I can confirm is. The villagers don't really understand what they are. ”

"They're just using it as money to plan a rebellion, but they don't even know what they're using. In the last part of the notepad they wrote that the gold had suddenly come alive and was going to eat people, so they threw all the gold in the underground passage where the ordnance was kept, and locked it up, so that no one could go down. ”

"I think there should be someone who can't control their greed and ......." Aya stopped talking, because of what happened to the group and the few blood stains on Henry and Mira's bodies, she had already guessed something: "Maybe these gold-eating bacteria have a new change." ”

"But thankfully—" The sudden snort of the little unicorn outside ——! "Hiss" interrupted Aya's narration, and Mira and Henry looked at each other, their expressions becoming serious.

They cautiously walked out, weapons in hand, and a few people behind them followed, feeling uneasy.

"The only god is above!" Edge's ass fell to the ground.

Dense humanoids swaddled and scrambled around the end of the staircase not far ahead. In broad daylight, it was clear that they were exposed to tattered clothes, their distorted limbs, and their dark purple skin, like dead bodies whose blood had stopped flowing.

"Don't, don't worry. Aya's legs were visibly weak, and she barely managed to stand by holding on to Lulu and Mira, but continued, "For unknown reasons, they don't seem to be able to get past the rope." ”

"Enchantment. Priest Alfonso nodded, and the girl of Luoan, who did not understand the word, turned her inquisitive gaze to the sage again, dazedly.

"It's a defensive barrier made of some kind of magic. Henry said this, and then a few people next to him suddenly noticed that his eyes lit up with a blue light.

"Well, it seems to have something to do with those two fox statues. The sage said, and Aya, who saw his eyes glowing, suddenly changed her tone, "Are you a man with vision!" she said, and Henry shook his head, neither denying nor affirming, but only changing the subject:

"Anyway, surrounded by these guys, it looks like we're going to have to stay here for the short term. The sage said, and Mira glanced at the little unicorn's supplies—they did have some preparations, but maybe not enough.

"Anyway. The girl exhaled, then turned around.

"Let's eat first. ”