Standing at the corner of the central square, the Tavern of the South Wind has survived 47 years of ups and downs in the city, and is a fairly historic building.

Tonight, the four-story stone building was covered with an icy sheen by the rain, and in just a few days, the building was painted with a heavy sense of vicissitudes. The main body of the black stone structure casts heavy shadows in the dim light, and exudes a great sense of existence under the halo of iron hanging lamps.

The wooden door, about one and a half years high, was hidden, and on the heavy tavern door, there were many scratches left by the fangs and claws of many beasts, and some charred black that seemed to have been burned by the fire. Approaching the door, a slight noise of people could be heard from behind the door, but the smell of wine and food of yesteryear was gone, replaced by the smell of iron and blood.

The shield-shaped iron fancy sign hanging on the upper left side of the gate has been opened a few times, and the scribbled words "South Wind Tavern" are also vague. Beneath the shield-like signboard, the small iron plate with the horizontal pattern of the twin swords disappeared, and Curt distinctly remembered that the words "Catrice Mercenary Administration" were written on the iron plate in conspicuous fluorite paint, but now it was as if it had been violently knocked off.

"Strange...... What are these traces?"

Standing in front of the door with bated breath, Curt gently brushed the scars on the door with his hand: "I originally thought that this was a scene constructed by the Eye of True Vision with the use of 'dreams', but it seems that whether it is reality or dreams, these things are stored on the door." ”

The unpleasant images overlap in front of your eyes, which shows that they are not false illusions. The scars that stayed in front of me were so vivid both in "dreams" and in reality that just looking at those scars could make you feel the trouble that the mercenary management office had encountered in recent days.

And it's just a tavern door made of simple hardwood. The wrought iron sign that hangs aside, is indeed made of fine steel. Monsters that can easily shred through steel with their minions, and the mere fact that they are stored in the city of Catrice is enough to cause panic among the citizens.

However, they didn't seem to pose much of a danger to the mercenary administration, and perhaps the trained mercenaries had hunted down the monsters before Curt could return to the tavern. It's not the powerful enemies that give them a headache, but a large number of small ones that are difficult to break through from the front.

"You actually asked me...... Do you think I know everything?" said Lizzie, grinning slightly. A hint of sarcasm came from her smile, "The True Eye has almost completely controlled the city, and it shouldn't be too difficult for them to get anything in." ”

She ran her fingers over the iron signboard, which seemed to have a lot of congealed blood and still emitted a strange fishy smell. Suddenly, a suspicious dark red stained Liki's fingertips. The sticky and cold texture is immediately reminiscent of something unlucky.

Slowly, Lizzie put the dark red blood foam to the tip of her nose and sniffed it, but in a moment, she threw the remaining things into the wind and rain with a look of disgust. The pungent stench even Curt could feel, let alone Lizzie, who had stuck it directly to the tip of her nose.

I saw her condense into a ball of water with three strokes and five divisions by two. Let your hands scrub inside. At the same time, she summoned the strange flames that had been used to dispel the darkness a moment ago, causing them to lick up the blood that had congealed on the sign...... In the blink of an eye, the entire wrought iron sign was encased in flames.

"Whatever you say, I'm going to go out and have a look. Just as Curt was about to push open the door and enter, the hidden door suddenly opened, revealing the outline of a mercenary, "What is dangerous or not." Is it possible to sit here all the time?"

The man who emerged from behind the door was an older mercenary in his fifties, wearing an old gray protective coat and carrying a large mechanic's gun. In this outfit like an Imperial veteran. Inlaid with a golden sword star coat of arms.

It is almost two levels higher than the "Iron Level" to which Curt belongs, representing the elite "Gold" mercenaries. The metal used to construct the badge was not gold, but a rarer synthetic metal - they were often used as precision parts inside the machine's guns.

Seeing Curt's middle-aged mercenary, he frowned, and then his expression returned to the way he had been. Curt noticed that he still had the smell of blood from certain creatures, and the thick stench clearly did not look like that of a human, but the heavy smell was uncomfortable just to touch.

Perhaps the wounds on his body were left behind in the fierce battle of this dream. But the smell of blood on his body obviously came from some kind of dangerous monster. There is no doubt that they had fought a hard battle before this - but where did their enemies come from?

Curt Leinst...... He is an iron-level mercenary subordinate to the management office. ”

Just as Curt was about to speak. The mercenary, who was a lot taller than him, suddenly spoke. Curt hadn't met the mercenary before, but he casually gave his name. It can be seen that the information he has recorded has long been completely grasped by him.

"Where have you been these days? Don't you know that there is a shortage of manpower right now. The veteran mercenary said in a standard imperial accent, his tone a little low, "I know you've been commissioned by that François guy now, but that's not a reason why you've been missing for days. Although the old guy said it beautifully, he was afraid that eleven out of ten sentences were problematic. ”

The words that came out of his mouth seemed to be trying to make Curt watch out for Cruise François, but he always felt that there was a bit of hostility in the way he looked at him. As far back as Curt remembers it, the position of a gold-tier mercenary seems to have some command over the iron-tier mercenaries, but they can't command mercenaries who already have a mission - in general, he can't command Curt's actions.

"Cruise François is my client. ”

After a moment of silence, Curt glared back at the other party's gaze: "According to the basis of the mercenary code, mercenaries must take the completion of the client's requirements as their first priority. More than that, what I'm investigating right now is related to the safety of the Catrice and should have a higher priority than a normal mission. ”

The mercenary code is not a strict rule, but a professional norm and basic moral procedure, and when something is strict and threatens the safety of the city, the mercenary can also use this as a reason to interrupt the mission. Of course, on this basis, it is still possible to enforce this license in reverse.

After all, Curt couldn't sue him, he and the other mercenaries were all controlled by the Eye of True Sight, and what they thought was a "real" Qiē was actually just a dream. Let's not talk about whether the other party believes it or not, how to come up with evidence to prove it first is a matter of effort.

"Oh, that is, what you think you're investigating right now is heavier than all the others?" his already deep voice became more muffled, and Curt could even feel the unhappiness hidden in it, "It's funny, do you think you've really touched something?"

A cold murderous aura came from the other party's eyes, but Curt turned a blind eye to it and did not react to that trace of murderous aura. He stared blankly at the mercenary standing in front of him, as if waiting for him to finish speaking, without a trace of emotion.

The two men confronted each other in silence, almost completely blocking the door to the tavern. The mercenary, who was about to enter old age, looked at Curt and Lizzie standing behind him condescendingly, and released the pressure wordlessly. The look in his eyes that looked like a prisoner made Curt feel uncomfortable, and the hostility hidden behind the stiff mask made his skin tense as if it were exposed to cold water.

"Hmph, I see......"

After a while, he nodded heavily and said, "Okay, I see...... It looks like you've been greeted by a lot of enemies when you came. Anyway, Leinster, take your sister in and get some rest - and then go see Cadfield. ”

The eldest sister was overworked and unconscious, and this matter was already known when she encountered the mercenaries who intercepted her before. Strange to say, the mercenaries who were accused of zhì all looked extremely excited, and if it wasn't for Liqi who caused some problems with the opponent's spells, Curt might not have been able to knock them down. However, the eldest sister is probably the only one among so many people|" tired", which made Curt somewhat suspicious.

"Don't think about things far away all day long, protect what is in front of you first! If you can't even protect your own things, do you think you can protect the others?"

The mercenary standing in front of Curt whispered to him, looking somewhat unhappy with Curt's behavior, especially with his disheveled appearance now.

Then he waved his hand seemingly casually towards the door, and walked out into the street on his own. A moment later, more than a dozen mercenaries walked out from behind the door neatly, following closely behind the mercenary, all of them more or less wounded, but their energy was not affected.

Or rather, their spirits are too high...... Of course, it's only the spiritual aspect. Some of them suffered some minor injuries in the "dream world", but the actual body did not have any visible injuries. However, they don't seem to be aware of this fact, and their physical activities in reality are also affected by the "dream", and they seem to be a little inconvenient to move, and they seem to be enduring pain.

"We all thought we had the best judgment on what was in front of us...... However, on hindsight, it is possible that we have not achieved anything. Looking at the team of mercenaries slowly walking away, Curt said to himself, "The worst thing is not to do nothing, but to make the result even more miserable." ”

Sighing softly, he led Lizzie into the main entrance of the Southwind Tavern. (To be continued)