The next morning, the sleepy Cody and Xenia were led by soldiers to the city lord's mansion. Cody leaned on the chair and half-opened his eyes against sleepiness. In the past, no matter how tired I was when practicing martial arts, I would fall asleep immediately after falling on the bed. Who would have thought that after riding a horse all the way, I was obviously very tired, but I just didn't feel sleepy at all.
Not long after the two arrived, the city lord rushed over and apologized to Xenia: "I'm really sorry, Captain Xenia. I didn't expect you to have arrived in the middle of the night. I didn't want to trouble you at first, but we arrived. The staff in Lacheng really have no choice."
Xenia stood up and said: "It's no trouble. This is originally our responsibility. But I don't know anything about the current situation. Please ask the city lord to explain the details in detail."
The two were polite to each other and sat down. Kenduff, the bearded city lord, was in a similar state to Cody's current condition, with two dark circles under his eyes that were particularly conspicuous. He really had no choice but to take a rest. What happened recently made it difficult for him to rest.
Lord Kenduff thought for a moment and said with a wry smile: "Speaking of it, this has happened for more than a month, but we didn't think much about it at the time. It was just an ordinary incident. But who knows, as time goes by, now It is estimated that it will be difficult for us to solve this matter alone. In order to avoid greater impact, we can only ask you for help."
More than a month ago, a theft suddenly occurred in Dara. After all, it is a city that focuses on economy. Theft is normal, and what was lost was only some livestock, which was not a big case. The city lord just casually arranged for the guards in the city to deal with it, and didn't take it too seriously. However, in the past few days, the thefts continued, and more and more livestock were lost, but the guards did not find any clues, and some horses began to go missing from the noble family. Many nobles put pressure on the city lord, and only then did they realize that things were not simple.
If they were just ordinary thieves, they would restrain themselves after committing a crime once or twice, so they would not dare to commit crimes against the wind. But if it is not what ordinary people say, the stolen items are all livestock, and at first they were only in the homes of common people. Later, the livestock raised by the common people were very few, and they could not obtain them, so they turned to the nobles. This left Kenduff puzzled as to who could do this seemingly meaningless thing.
Under the pressure of the nobles, and Kenduff also wanted to know which boring thief it was, he began to increase manpower to investigate. As a result, no stolen livestock could be found in the entire city of Dara, and the livestock seemed to disappear out of thin air. When everyone was as clueless as a blindfolded fly, they finally made a discovery. When the soldiers were changing shifts in the morning, they found a lot of blood on the city wall, flowing outside the city.
After making the discovery, the city lord was about to continue tracing in the direction of the blood stain, when someone else came looking for him. He was the manager of a large trading house in the city. He said that his business was attacked not very far outside the city last night. Because it was night, he could not see the murderer clearly. He only knew that he was an extremely strong man. But the strange thing is that the man didn't rob any property. He only killed a few guards of the trading company and hired mercenaries during the battle. He didn't chase and kill everyone when they knew they were not their opponents and fled for their lives, but dragged away a horse carrying goods. horses. At daybreak, when the merchants gathered more people and returned to the scene of the incident, all the property was motionless, including more than a dozen horses.
With the new information, the city lord and the commander of the guards immediately came up with a plan to have the guards pretend to be butchers and escort a lot of livestock to be used as bait outside the city in the middle of the night. In the middle of the night, the murderer appeared again. He made no other unnecessary moves. He aimed directly at the livestock and turned a blind eye to the attacks of the guards.
As soon as the thief moved, in addition to the dozen or so people who had been serving as bait, the guards who had been hiding in the surrounding areas swarmed up, surrounded him, and covered him with several large nets.
Faced with the sudden siege, the man panicked and began to prepare to break out, regardless of the livestock he was still carrying. No matter how the guards criticized him, they only roared in anger. After a few minutes of stalemate, the man's speed suddenly exploded, and he was a little faster than before. After injuring more than a dozen people, he actually rushed out amid the heavy siege of the guards. His speed was so fast that the guards could not catch up.
Hearing this, Xenia frowned and said, "Did he leave so easily in the ambush planned by you?"
Kenduff smiled bitterly and shook his head, saying: "It can't be said that it was useless. At least he was injured during this arrest, but it was just an insignificant skin injury and had no impact on him at all. Because on the next day , we discovered that he had committed another crime."
"He is indeed a master, but it can be seen that he is not hostile to anyone, but I don't know what his purpose is in stealing these livestock. Selling, except for a few horses, is not worth it. Eat, how could he eat so many. "
Suddenly, Kenduff felt a fit, and then said in horror: "Captain Xenia, I may have thought of something, although it is unlikely, but other than this, I really can't find any other reason to explain this matter."
Xiniya became interested and said: "I wonder what the city lord thought of?"
"He is not a human being." Kenduff swallowed and recalled the scene he saw during the arrest that night when he also participated in it. At that time, he just thought he had seen it wrong. "You said you wanted to eat, so I thought of arresting him." On the night of the capture, I saw a long object suddenly swinging out from the thief's waist in the distance, but it quickly disappeared. I now suspect that it was his tail, and that he was not a human at all, but an orc."
Xenia suddenly stood up, stared at Kenduff and asked: "Are you sure?" If it is really an orc, then it can indeed be explained clearly. However, the orcs have always lived on the edge of the three empires, how could they come to the Kaya Empire. Although this place is located in a relatively remote area of the Kaya Empire, it is still far away from the orcs' living circle.
Kenduff nodded and said: "If you hadn't mentioned the word "eat", I would have definitely thought that I was just dazzled, but now through a lot of information, I think it is very likely that this thief is an orc. Although I don't know how he escaped He came here and didn’t know why he didn’t leave for so long and stayed nearby. But besides the orcs, who else would need so much livestock meat? Also, his body is extremely strong and he is nearly three meters tall. , it may even be that he deliberately concealed his size. Judging from the number of livestock he stole, I suspect that he is not the only orc. If it was just him, he would not be able to consume so much, and he would not be able to survive after being discovered. If you continue to venture out in search of food, it is very likely that there are other orcs around who are inconvenient to hunt." After all, Kenduff had the ability to become the city lord, and began to analyze based on various information.
Xenia frowned and didn't know what she was thinking about. After a long time, she said: "What you said is very possible. Indeed, this is the only way to explain it. Let's take action tonight to see if we have guessed it right. If so. You said that there are other orcs that cannot be hunted, so he will definitely appear again today."
Kenduff heard that Xenia was going to take action tonight, and he immediately became anxious: "Captain Xenia, it's not that I doubt your strength, but if it is really an orc, I think we'd better transfer some more people from the legion. , to avoid unnecessary casualties.”
Xenia smiled and said indifferently: "Don't worry, City Lord, I have my own opinion. Today's action is to confirm whether it is an orc first, it is not to do anything. And according to what you said, even if it is an orc, So far, he has not really intentionally hurt any human beings. Even under your ambush, he only hurt people. You just need to tell me the approximate location where he last appeared, and we will go there ourselves."
Kenduff looked a little unhappy and said: "Captain Xenia, even if our Dala City guard army is not as good as your third legion, we are not people who are greedy for life and afraid of death. Since we have to act at night, how can we let it go?" If you go alone, is it possible that you really don't like us?"
Xenia didn't expect Kenduff to say this, and explained: "The city lord thinks too much. I don't look down on you. But you have already ambushed him once before. You must know that some orcs have particularly sensitive senses. I'm afraid He sensed your aura and didn't dare to come out. Another one, as I just said, our main purpose tonight is to find out whether he is an orc, not to arrest him. If there are too many people, it will be easy to alert the snake. "
Kenduff lowered his head and said to Xenia after thinking: "I'm sorry, I'm overthinking it. But you have to promise that, as you said, you are just exploring his identity and will never do anything else, otherwise even if If I offend you, I will definitely report it to your legion commander."
Xenia smiled and said: "Don't worry, City Lord. I'm not the kind of person who doesn't know what's good and evil. With so many brothers out, I'm not willing to let them have accidents because of me. But when it comes to reporting, City Lord, I'd rather What you are not afraid of is reporting.”
Only then did Kenduff remember the deeds of the man in front of him. Reporting seemed to be of no use to him.
"Let's go, Cody." Xenia said goodbye to the city lord, grabbed a piece of fruit on the table and threw it at Cody.
Cody, who seemed to be thinking with his head lowered and half-opened eyes, was actually in a dream state. I woke up after being hit, and turned my head left and right in confusion, not knowing what was happening. Seeing Xiniya's already leaving figure, he quickly chased after her, "What's going on? This is the end of the conversation. What did you say?"
Kenduff was helpless and didn't know how Xiniya could lead such an obscure subordinate to do things.
With a look of reluctance, Cody sat on the annoying horse and looked at Xenia with resentment. I don’t know why I’m so crazy. I know that tonight’s target is the terrifying orc I saw in the book, but Uncle Xenia still insists on bringing me here by force, and the team that originally had dozens of people is still being tightened. There are only ten people including myself. Are you afraid that nothing will happen to you?
The wind was blowing and it felt colder than yesterday, especially the staying power. Cody tightened his collar, holding a long sword in his left hand and said: "Uncle Xenia, why don't we go back today? You see, after walking around for so long, there is still nothing, so maybe you don't dare to come. "
Xiniya didn't look back and said with a smile: "Are you scared? If you are, you can go back by yourself and we will continue to check."
Cody's voice suddenly became a few degrees louder, "How could I be scared? I just feel a little cold." It's a joke. Go back first. What if you encounter an orc? Not to mention orcs, even other bandits can be dealt with by yourself. No.
Xenia laughed a few times and wanted to tease Cody, but suddenly her expression straightened and she said in a low voice: "Here he comes."
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of running in the distance. Cody looked at the sound and saw a huge figure running towards him and the others. The figure looked like the size of a buffalo. Cody's frightened left hand held the sword across his chest, and his right hand had already drawn the magic wand that had been prepared from the side of the saddle.
"Cody, don't use magic. Don't scare him. Let him come over. Otherwise, if he runs away this time, he will probably not show up again." Seeing Cody's actions, Xenia quickly reminded in a low voice. road. Magicians are not only noble among humans, but also are respected by foreigners.
In the blink of an eye, the figure had already arrived in front of several people from a hundred meters away. Sure enough, just as Kenduff said, he did not mean to hurt anyone, and he aimed his hand at the frightened horses under the crotches of several people. Cody's horse was frightened, causing Cody to fall off the horse and gasp in pain. Under the moonlight, that figure has been surrounded by Xenia and several others. Their combat power is not comparable to that of the defenders of Dara City. The thieves who are helpless by the defenders have no way to escape when they are surrounded. He could only roar and glare at them.
Taking this opportunity, Cody also saw clearly under the moonlight. Although it is in human form, there is a huge beast head on its neck, and its body is covered with black spots. With the roar coming from its throat, it is something other than an orc.
