"Look here, look here, are there cute monsters here?"
"Are you sure she understands the meaning of blaming milfoil? Also, I'm not blaming her at all."
"I've never seen a shirtless man wearing a pointed hat all day long walking down the street, carrying two flags behind him..."
"Is that a flag? That's a spear! Do you understand a spear? Forget it, I didn't realize it was a spear at first..."
In the early morning of the next day, everyone from the Fool's Adventure Group gathered in the foyer of the Adventurers Association. They did not first analyze the current tense situation, nor did they plot to do anything big. They were just surrounding the little girl, trying their best to coax people, hoping to get some useful information from it.
But until now, little Nina still hasn't spoken.
As early as when she woke up, Duan Qing explained her father's affairs to her. Of course, it was not the news of his death, but the words he had already given in his last words. The quiet little girl did not express any response to the result that "her father traveled far away for no apparent reason". She just sat there holding the doll, looking straight in front of her without saying a word, as if she had been out of body.
Everyone used coaxing on her one after another, but in the end they all failed.
Even Mengzhu, who is also a girl, has very little understanding of things like "how to coax children" and "what little girls can play" due to their different experiences in childhood, let alone Xiang Duan Qing and Xiao Hongchen. Such a big man. The Smiling Butcher, a real uncle, showed an unusual side in this aspect: he moved a small stool and sat behind little Nina, sighed and stretched out an arm, gently stroking her. Hair, trying to comfort her soul in this way. However, after more than ten minutes of silence, the mature smiling uncle could only sigh and shake his head, expressing his helplessness to the others.
"Let's... let's just ignore her for now." Facing the empty-minded little girl, Hongchen, who usually had a carefree smile, also suppressed his arrogance and hid in the distance, watching the motionless girl. The petite figure put forward his proposal to other players: "Although I don't know what happened specifically, but in my opinion, there is really nothing you can do with such a weird kid..."
"Her father has not been at home for many days." Duan Qing also looked over there, and then said thoughtfully: "Besides, we didn't tell her... so it shouldn't be because of her father."
"The problem should be yesterday afternoon, or earlier..." He turned his head and looked at several other people: "What happened at her home."
"It's definitely not a good thing to scare a child like this." Uncle Smile also lost his old smile and said coldly: "According to what you explained before, no one went to her home, and there was nothing Something valuable..."
"Does anyone really want to..." Mengzhu looked at the huddled girl's back and said angrily: "It's so... too much, how could anyone do such a thing? ..."
"Hey, hey, don't make any judgments yet." Duan Qing made a low-pitched gesture. He looked back over there, and then motioned for everyone to go out together and find a place where little Nina would not be disturbed.
"It's probably impossible to go to her home to investigate now." Outside the Adventurers Association, several people sat directly on the stones on the steps: "So please recall carefully. When we were at her home last night, we met. Those things that arrived.”
He raised his eyebrows: "Is there anything...questionable?"
"You said that..." The little girl first put her finger on her chin: "I was sent to find her by you, so I ran to many places, but my attention was all on Nina. Already..."
"What was she like when you first found her?"
"I found the cabin at that time, and then... when I pushed the door in, I heard movement in the direction where she was hiding." Mengzhu recalled: "Actually, the place where she was hiding was not very good, as long as You can see her if you pay a little attention.”
"Well... that is to say, she didn't find a place to hide properly." Duan Qing concluded: "In other words, she didn't have a place to hide."
"When I took her out to play before, she didn't act like she was very familiar with other parts of the family. In other words, maybe she... didn't know much about the specific structure of other parts of her home. .....?"
Several people looked at me and I looked at you, but none of them expressed any opinions on Duan Qing's conclusion.
"Are there any other details?" So Duan Qing urged Mengzhu again, and the latter sat aside and began to think hard.
"The scene we saw at that time, there were traces of destruction in every corner of the house, but it should not be violent destruction, but... the result of searching and turning over." The smiling butcher also began to think about that house The scene at that time also began to be summarized after a while.
"In other words, the so-called 'theft' information we first learned should be true." Duan Qing said: "Although I don't know how Richard learned about this matter, he actually went there earlier than the city guard. ..."
"Later he mentioned the Mages' Council. I think... someone from the Mages' Council should have informed him."
"Okay, there are a lot of questions here. For example, who informed him, how did he know it, and why didn't the Mages Council itself send someone to solve this case..."
"It's a pity that I don't know where that sloppy uncle has gone, otherwise I would have found out just by asking him..."
"That sloppy uncle." Xiao Hongchen, who had been listening to the audience, suddenly interrupted: "I think I saw him. Uh, don't look at me like that..."
Under the shared gazes of several people, Xiao Hongchen raised his hands and said quickly: "When I came here early in the morning, I seemed to see that man going to the Axel Tavern..."
"Strange, what did he do in that place?"
"Yes, does this uncle still like to drink?"
"Maybe he is looking for two people just like us at the beginning..."
"Why are you looking for him? He's not a player, and he can't form a team and establish an adventure group or something..."
"Okay, okay." Duan Qing stood up and patted the dirt on his body: "Why are you talking about these useless things? Why don't we go to him directly..."
"Okay." "Agreed."
Several people stood up one after another, then stopped.
"What should I do with Nina? We can't let her stay here alone, right?"
"Well...who wants to stay..."
"To be fair, yesterday it was the two of us, today it's your turn..."
"Hey, that's not what it means. Which of you is more suitable than me to be with Uncle Richard..."
"Hey, I heard someone calling my name." At the other end of the street, the voice of the person that several people were looking for suddenly sounded: "You must be looking for me... right?"
Under the early morning sunshine, Uncle Richard touched the stubble on his chin and looked at the people arguing on the street with a smile.
****************
After a hasty breakfast, Duan Qing and Mengzhu came to the tall building opposite the Adventurers Association - according to Richard's previous explanation, yesterday's news was indeed passed on to him by people in the Mages Council, but it was nothing else. , he said he didn’t know anymore—at least that’s what he said.
If they want to know the answer, they can only come and ask it themselves.
In the early morning of the free world, the air is fresher than usual. Since it is still early and the Mages Council has just opened, it has not yet returned to the usual lively scene. Duan Qing looked at the pointed top of the tall building and heard Mengzhu's lively voice in his ears.
"You mentioned him last night, but I didn't expect it to be Master Norman."
"I have long seen that that old man is not someone who is just waiting to die." Duan Qing touched his nose: "In other words, every NPC in the free world is not easy to deal with... ."
Due to the small number of people, the interior of the hall on the first floor of the Mage Council was more clearly visible, but behind the counter at the door, the girl with eyes who originally entertained the guests was no longer there, replaced by another woman. Compared with the previous person, this woman is much older. She wears a hat made of cloth of unknown material and a purple robe that is so wide that her figure cannot be seen at all. She holds it up with one hand. He sat there holding his chin, looking like he hadn't woken up yet.
Seeing Duan Qing and the others walking in, the woman opened her sleepy eyes and took a look, then lowered her head again as if she had never seen them before.
The two walked to the place where they had identified before, and unexpectedly found the old man's figure in that corner - according to Duan Qing's speculation, how could such a seemingly indifferent person come to work so early? .
However, judging from the current situation, it is not that the old man did not come to work, but that he did not leave at all.
It took a lot of effort for the two of them to wake up the old man who was sleeping soundly from the cold floor. The latter rubbed his still sleepy eyes and stretched himself. He was not as harsh as ordinary people at all. Feeling uncomfortable after sleeping there for a night, he squinted his eyes and looked at the two people in front of him who called him.
"Are you so stupid for coming to the appraisal so early... huh?"
The old man rubbed his eyes again to make sure he was not mistaken: "It's you..."
"What, you... haven't given up yet?" The old man yawned and stretched, then twisted his skinny body from side to side like a morning exercise.
"Of course not." Ignoring the little girl next to him who was twisting his arm, Duan Qing said with a cheerful smile, "But that's not why we came today."
"We heard from Richard that you informed him about the burglary of little Nina's house..."
The old man stopped moving his waist.
"You..." He stared, almost blowing his beard: "Richard told you?"
"Yes." Surprised by the other party's attitude, Duan Qing's tone became a little cautious: "We went together. It's a commission from the Adventurers Association..."
"This is ridiculous!" Norman shouted: "Why would Richard tell you? Although you are adventurers, unless you are a registered adventure group of the Adventurers Association, otherwise..."
"We are." Duan Qing interrupted the other party's question: "We are members of the Fool's Adventure Group."
"What? Why haven't I heard of this name..."
"It was just established a few days ago." Duan Qing touched his nose with some embarrassment: "You...no, you may not have heard of it..."
"Nonsense! It was just established a few days ago? How is it possible..." The old man immediately blew his beard and stared, but after just a moment, his angry expression relaxed: "Oh..."
He showed an expression of sudden realization: "So that's it..."
Duan Qing and Mengzhu looked at each other and saw inexplicable feelings in each other's eyes.
"In that case." The old man looked at the two people again, then waved his hand, motioning for them to come in through the small door next to them: "Forget it, you guys come in... and tell me what happened yesterday."
Hey hey, we are here to ask you something... Without saying this complaint, Duan Qing and the two entered the counter honestly, and then just like the first time they came, Sitting on the small bench honestly.
"Yes...that's it." After a while, old man Norman roughly knew what Duan Qing and the others had experienced last night. He sighed, scratched his back, and then looked up at the ceiling: "Sure enough... it turned out like this."
"Excuse me..." Duan Qing asked tentatively: "What's behind this matter..."
"From my personal point of view, you... the less you know, the better." Unexpectedly, the old man thought for a while, then looked at Duan Qing and said something unexpected: "You His strength is really not suitable for getting involved in such a thing."
"You will die miserably." The old man said, shaking his head.
"Is it so... scary? We just want to help a bunch of little Nina..." Mengzhu whispered on the side, and then Duan Qing raised his hand to stop him, who looked at the old man , and then continued with his own question: "Is it so complicated?"
"Xifeng County's jurisdiction over this place is not strict, as you all know." Perhaps realizing the stubbornness of the two adventurers, the old man coughed his throat after a long time, and then explained carefully: "It's a border town. , it’s appropriate to have lax management, so we didn’t pay much attention to things like bandits.”
"But we later discovered that some people wanted to take advantage of this situation and secretly develop their own power."
Norman's expression became serious: "We can probably see some clues through some less obvious traces. Here are some..."
He pointed in the direction above his head: "The people above seem to be people over there."
"What the hell..." The little girl murmured in a low voice with still confused eyes. Duan Qing next to her asked what she meant: "Who... are they?"
"I wonder if you have heard of the name 'Restorer'." Norman said slowly.
"We have heard of it." The two people looked at each other, and then replied: "I have never told you before that we met two members of the Council of Mages in the Emerald Forest before..."
"Those sisters, I know, I know." Ignoring the other party's surprised look, Norman put his hands down and made a calm gesture: "Since she has mentioned it, then I won't Hiding it no longer..."
"They are a group of... lunatics who want to recreate the glory of the Magic Empire." The old man Norman gave a complete overview of the other party's characteristics in one sentence.
Duan Qing and Mengzhu nodded together.
"We, the Council of Mages, have been competing with them for a long time." Norman continued: "Whether it is in shopping malls, battlefields, political arenas, or in the excavation of ruins in every corner of the continent. They... always want to be that one. The black hands behind the scenes grab things that are beneficial to them, so as to... realize their ideals."
"And now, there are already such signs in Fenghua Town."
The two looked at each other again, and this time they saw deep worry.
The situation this time... seems a bit big.
“I don’t know whether it’s because the recent bandits have been too rampant, giving this place an unstable factor, or because they are no longer satisfied with the peaceful status quo of Fenghua Town, or because of the incident in the Emerald Forest... "The old man who said this raised his head and glanced at the two people opposite, and then continued: "Anyway, recently, they have begun to show more tricks. My own understanding is... they are starting to make some moves."
"And what happened yesterday was probably the result of someone... acting too hastily."
"Have you been watching them?"
"Not entirely, after all, we have too few manpower here." Norman spread his hands: "So... there are some things that are entrusted to other people."
"Like us." Duan Qing pointed at himself, and then saw the old man laughing happily.
"No, no, no, it has nothing to do with you now." Norman suppressed his smile, then pointed at them and said: "You already know how complicated the situation is. To be honest, people like you..."
"I know, I know." Duan Qing pushed his hands: "But... now that we know these things, how can we... just stand by and watch?"
"Hey, as far as I know, this is not what adventurers do."
"This is indeed not the behavior of an adventurer, but it is in line with my style." Duan Qing said: "As for the other members, I can ask for their opinions, for example..."
"Of course I have to take care of it!" Duan Qing glanced at the little girl, who immediately straightened her chest and said.
"Look..." Duan Qing looked at the opposite side with innocent eyes. The old man with a gray beard began to blow his beard and glared again.
"Your strength is too weak. If we let people like you go, even ten of them won't be enough to fight!"
"But we are more or less a part of the fighting force, and we don't necessarily have to fight with others..."
"Hey! What else can you do? It's not that easy to be a scout!"
"We can... think of a way. Don't underestimate the adventurers' IQ. For example... I know why they are so anxious..."
"Oh?" The other party's mood eased a little: "Tell me, why can't they wait?"
"Because of the war." Duan Qing put away his slow look and raised his eyebrows: "I wonder if you have noticed..."
"Refugees are already starting to appear here."
