After all, the creatures of the underground are much more formidable than the races of the ground. The mage thought silently, and then became more focused on remembering the magic in the spell. In the last two battles, the archmage who was not prepared for the battle suffered a loss, and he no longer dared to take it lightly, if there was a blank paper and quill around him, the archmage was even willing to copy a few magic scrolls that he was usually unwilling to do, these scrolls can greatly save the mage's magic power, spell casting time and memory space in the brain.

The group of people who had come from the dungeons of Thor's volcano sat in a circle that the mage had drawn with Trist's staff, and the powerful stealth spell obscured their figures, and the mage was convinced that the magic circle with four layers of nesting would be enough to keep their tracks from leaking out.

The sun finally slowly showed its radiant face from the eastern hillside, and the demons were able to take a good look at their surroundings. The ruins, which seemed so deep at night, were now covered with golden light in the sunlight, and the wind, which had weakened much more than night, was powerlessly stirring the yellow sand on the ground, trying to cover the passage with these tiny particles of the ornate ceramic tiles. The leaves on the surrounding trees have long since fallen away, and only the yellowish trunks remain, which match the hue of the trees next to them.

If the demon is not mistaken, this was originally the residence of a group of wealthy farmers, as evidenced by the delicate tiles that were baked and the various utensils scattered on the ground that could still be seen in their original delicate appearance. What was the reason for them to leave the area in such a hurry that they were unusually in a hurry, or did they simply leave the world?

The demon watched silently into one of the ruins. The plate on the table that was almost rotten. All kinds of questions came to mind. Until a screeching sound drew his attention back to his goal.

The floor, the doorway to the basement, was pushed open from the inside, and the orcs who had easily destroyed all six of the mage's skeleton soldiers last night jumped out of the basement. The mage had another chance to take a closer look at the orc's appearance. Half-orcs have bare feet, which is the habit of the half-orc race. Along the muscles of the muscular legs, an animal skin coat was pitifully taut against the orc. The orc's unusually thick shoulders carried a massive stone axe, which had no ornamentation or metal edges, but by its own weight, it was already a formidable weapon to fear his opponents in battle. Long brown hair spread all over the orc's body, and two dark eyes shone through the hair.

The orcs didn't know that someone was spying on his every move. Then the orc's companions, the two dark elves, leapt from the basement to the ground. The dark elf thief named Ness wears a small, delicate black leather armor, a common light armor that is often the go-to armor for thieves or archers. A long dagger with an outer sheath painted the same color as leather armor was hanging from the Dark Elf's waist, reflecting the Dark Elf's snow-white skin, which was actually quite eye-catching. But the elven bow she had seen last time in the hotel, and she didn't know where it had been thrown away. However, thieves usually don't carry such a long weapon with them, except when they need to disguise themselves as ordinary forest elves.

The other dark elf, who was able to perform magic, wore a black cloak with a blood-red lining. If what the mage learned in the Archmage's Tower is correct, it must be a vampire's cloak. The dark elves behind Ness looked unusually similar to Ness, and if the two of them had switched their weapons and equipment, she would have been asked to perform those esoteric elven magic, or the dark elves who were now following Ness out of the basement to use their stealth skills.

The two dark elves jumped out of the basement and spoke a few words to the orcs. Due to the magic array used by the mage to hide everyone's figures, there is still a considerable distance in this basement. So no one could hear what they were saying, but it proved that the mage's magic was quite effective, and at least the three enemies in front of them didn't seem to notice that Archmage Aqiman, who had escaped from his injuries last night, was now watching them from a short distance away.

Although he didn't hear the conversation between the dark elves and the orcs clearly. But the next half-orc action illustrates the dark elf's plan. I saw that the orc suddenly let out an angry roar, and the heavy sound even stimulated everyone in the magic array laid by the master.

Suddenly, a group of Iron Hoofs ran up to the Orcs and the Dark Elves from a distance. One by one, the beasts covered in extra-thick scale armor and often used as mounts for people gathered around the dark elves and orcs.

The Dark Elves and Orcs each jumped onto the back of the Iron Hoof with ease, and then hurried out of the sight of the people in the mage's magic circle, but they seemed to be heading in the same direction as the demon, mage, and dark knight had come.

The demon, determined to avoid a confrontation with the thieves' guild as much as possible, made a gesture lightly, and the mage walked back in the direction of the basement entrance to the house. Or maybe last night's aura was depleted, and neither the mage, the demon, nor the dark knight were hindered in any way before entering that basement.

There were a few small traps in the basement doorway, and on the stairs leading down, but they couldn't stop the demon who had taken the lead in breaking into the basement, which was now unguarded, so they immediately saw the money bag on the table, and in addition to the mage, even the one that the demon had lost in the library of Thor.

In the empty basement, the yellowish light lit up the two money bags full of gold coins on the long table. The mottled wooden walls, devoid of any ornaments, looked even older than they really were, and there were no other amenities or necessities in the basement except for a few woolen blankets spread out in the corners. It was only a temporary residence for the members of the Thieves' Guild, and Archmage Aqiman, who was carefully probing every corner of the room with his probing magic, had come to this conclusion.

"Your 'gentle approach' doesn't look too bad. After entering, he closed the door with his hand, and then the Dark Knight Salas, who sat comfortably in a chair at the long table, spoke his thoughts. The chairs in this basement are not as fragile as the handiwork of the goblins who are now staying in the dungeon. Bearing the full set of heavy armor on the Dark Knight. But there was no sign of falling apart. Look at the blank space on his breastplate that once had a rose mark carved into it. The Dark Knight couldn't help but think about it. No Holy Knight escapes battle, either alive or awake from the mists of death, but the life and death seen in his more than 200-year mercenary career has made the Dark Knight lose interest in useless combat, perhaps this is the positive effect of the necromancer who summoned him from his grave to regain his own mind after his death.

Hearing the Dark Knight's words, the mage couldn't help but let out a "snort" in his nose, just because the battle he was looking forward to with the dark elves was by no means meaningless to himself. He had hoped that with his magic, the one who had cheated first would win a small amount of money from him. Then the dark elves who snatched all the remaining gold coins paid the due price, but it seems that this wish cannot be realized for the time being.

"Isn't that good? You don't have to get blood on it, you don't have to waste your precious magic to solve the problem. The demons who insisted on the "gentle method" were very much in favor of the Dark Knight. A pointless battle will only make things more chaotic and difficult to manage, and the legend has it that humans were provoked to attack the elves, and the resulting melee of the gods is a prime example.

"If that dark elf was lying at my feet right now, it would be what I would have liked to see. The mage, who had finished his exploration of the room, sat down at the table. "So shouldn't we grab our money bags right now and go back to our dungeon to take stock?"

"Just count them here. Even if we're missing too much gold, we don't need to waste time going back here to find the dark elves to pay it back. "Having made up his mind, if the gold in the purse was really missing a large proportion, the demon who sat here and waited for the dark elf to come back took up the third chair at the long table, and then pulled open the thin hemp rope that tied the opening of one of the purses.

A dazzling pile of gold coins poured out of the purse and scattered on the long table with a clattering sound. The archmage, whose face was full of golden luster from the gold coin, couldn't help but turn his head away from the dazzling light.

The dark eyes of the demon Amtils were unaffected. I saw him easily dancing with his unusually flexible ten fingers. In the blink of an eye, the gold coins on the table were piled into fifteen piles of equal height, and the number of ten gold coins in each pile showed that what he had just opened casually was the money bag he had lost in the library. I counted the gold coins that could at least pay the rent that the red dragon demanded this time. The demon seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and then reached out and swept the gold coins on the table back into the money bag that had been emptied and shriveled aside.

With a "ding", a gold coin fell to the floor, and then rolled to the feet of the Dark Knight, who bent down in response. Although it is extremely inconvenient to make such an action with heavy armor, since there are no muscles on the body, the Dark Knight's body can still be barely completed with only bones. The Dark Knight sat up straight and raised his right hand, heavily protected by armor, golden light flickering between his fingers, the rose motif behind the coin reflected in his eyes.

The gold coins struck by the Principality of Sumerand have always been popular with merchants everywhere because of the high purity of the gold, and the rose pattern surrounded by four-leaf clovers is not only a characteristic of the gold coins of the Principality of Sumerland, but also the mark of the Holy Knights of the Vestal Continent, who have been famous for their crusade against evil creatures everywhere for hundreds of years. One such gold coin can be exchanged for a hundred silver coins, and each silver coin can be exchanged for a hundred copper coins. At the list price of the last lodge in Thor, a fairly rich but by no means extravagant lunch costs four copper coins, and a copper coin is required to exchange the sour cider for the in-house cherry wine.

In a border town such as Thor, where the income of an ordinary citizen is only about two or three gold coins a year, what is spread out on the table can be regarded as a large amount of wealth.

The Dark Knight calculated the price of having to exchange his armor for money one day, and threw the gold coins he had picked up from the ground into the demon's purse.

After re-tying the pouch, the demon poured out the gold coins from another purse. I started counting the number of coins in the same way as before. However, this bag of gold coins was obviously lighter than the previous one. The result of the count was the same: there were only eighty-five coins left in the bag.

The demon looked up. The vicious gaze rested on the mage's face as he began to try to hide in the shadows where the light could not reach. "Bastard mage, why is this bag of gold so much less?"

Archmage Archmage Akiman knew exactly where the missing gold coins were going, and at the final homecoming inn, the dark elf Ness put every gold coin she had won from him in her pocket. However, the mage did not dare to tell the truth about the gambling that he had embezzled the rent of the dungeon, and the enraged demon would not hesitate to put the scythe on the mage's neck, and then tell the mage in the roughest voice to make three times the compensation in a short period of time, which was the lesson learned after the mage lost all the money that the demon had prepared to buy the dungeon's murals the last time.

Last time, I was lucky enough to settle the compensation problem at the table in a short period of time, but this time I may not have had that luck. Countless excuses flashed through the mage's mind to explain where the gold coin went. Then pick out one of the plausible hypotheses: "Or did they take some of the gold with them when they left here today?"

The mage's explanation was hardly convincing, and the demon, who had already understood the mage's nature, immediately guessed that the mage was not telling the truth, and his eyes widened and he was ready to start a more severe "interrogation".

"Someone is coming. The Dark Knight Salas suddenly stood up softly, drew his sword beside him, and turned to face the basement doorway. Before entering the basement, Salas instructed his mount, the skeleton Mataxis, to hide in the nearby ground, keeping an eye out for any moving objects in the wilderness, and if anyone approached the basement, he would stomp on the dirt near his body, a sound that was almost completely inaudible on the ground. But it was quite clear to the Dark Knight and the others in the basement who were also underground.

At the same time, archmage Archmage Akiman, who heard the warning of the skeleton horse, didn't bother to deal with the demon staring at him, but waved his hand to turn back. Then he began to silently recite a complex incantation, laying an invisible wall of power in the basement doorway, and the demon began to cast a summoning spell while picking up the scythe leaning against the edge of the long table, and in case the other side was outnumbered, several Marfa demons from the Abyss Demon Realm would appear in the basement.

Outside the door, the voice of the dark elf thief Ness.

"That idiot mage's dwelling isn't bad, but the gate looks eerie and annoying. That little green guy...... Fugg and so on, someone ......"

Ness's reminder slowed down, and the basement door was pulled open from the outside, and Fugg, a tall, quick-moving orc, appeared outside the door, the blood on the stone axe he had stuck in his waist was not yet completely dry, and Nice, the dark elf behind Fugg, was still trying to stop the orc from opening the door to the basement that looked like someone had broken into.

Seeing that the mage who had already inflicted his own humiliation twice began to prepare to unleash those offensive spells that he had been preparing for a long time.

"Not awake yet?"

"Not yet. ”

"Another bucket of ice water. This time, if she doesn't wake up, she will just bury it. ”

A bucket of ice water that appeared out of thin air poured down on the Dark Elf and the thief Ness. The ice slag in the water streaked across Ness's face, and the Dark Elf screamed unconsciously and opened her eyes.

In the basement, which is not too large, the long table that used to occupy most of the space is gone. Awakened from a coma stimulated by the icy water, the Dark Elf lies in the middle of the basement, trying to figure out who is the culprit who is now soaking wet. As far as the eye can see, everything is covered by a soft milky white light, but this light does not bring even a trace of warmth. In the corner of the basement, the orc Fugg, with a large mass of rags in his mouth, was trying to break free from the strips of cloth that bound his hands and feet, but it seemed that the strips of cloth had been magically enhanced, and the struggle of the orcs, known for their brute strength, had no effect at all.

"The Dark Elves are really a rare race, and the Dark Elves who belong to the Thieves' Guild are even rarer. ”

A black-robed mage walked up to Niss, the top of the staff in the mage's hand looked like a complete human skeleton, and at this moment the milky white light that had shone through the entire basement was pouring out from the skeleton. Archmage Aqiman looked at his captives condescendingly, which filled his heart with the thrill of revenge.

"So, what is the purpose of these Xihan visitors visiting our dungeon?" The dungeon lord and demon Amtils sat on a platform made of the remains of cracked tables and chairs, their giant red wings fanning the basement air one by one.

The archmage bowed his head, "I think this dark elf Miss Ness will be able to give us an answer that is enough to satisfy us." Do you say yes? ”

"Humph!" knocks people unconscious and then tied them up, a way of chatting that is certainly not acceptable to the haughty dark elves. Ness snorted slightly, closed her eyes, and began to think back to the battle.

―――――――――――――――――――――――― (To be continued......)