These days, Joe's life can be said to be quite boring.
After a thrilling night, they and Yura left their original manor and came all the way to this small town called Alstor, which means Silver Mountain, and lurked in a dilapidated three-story building.
The enemy did not continue to harass them. Perhaps the enemy did not know this stronghold, or perhaps the enemy had other things to do and did not have time to pester them all day long. After settling down, they tried to contact the support department of the Theocracy.
After making contact, I learned that most of the same group of friendly troops who entered the empire suffered attacks of varying degrees within two days after arriving at the predetermined stronghold - and in terms of losses, they were among the lightest group.
This level of casualties was somewhat beyond the church's expectations. In the follow-up instructions conveyed, they were asked to proceed with caution until the second batch of reinforcements arrived. They also learned that the church's main force fighting on the Eastern Front also encountered a little trouble.
——The empire did not engage in a head-on battle with them, but the Fritzians produced several huge monsters that were not afraid of swords, guns, and spells, which gave the First and Fourth Legions that were fighting north a headache.
Joe felt there was nothing wrong with this. War was a game between two parties, and everything could not go smoothly. What made him a little dissatisfied was the task he was currently assigned.
In order to avoid attracting the attention of the enemy as much as possible, they slowed down the pace of gathering intelligence. These days, Saran and Milia disguised themselves as a businessman couple and stayed in the town under the pretext of planning to purchase ore, meeting with the mayor and various mines in turn.
During the meeting, Mahan and several other strong warriors dressed up as northern residents who chose to go south to avoid the war, and naturally became temporary miners.
As for him, together with Yura and the little girl named Elena, he was responsible for taking care of the captured living dead... Bah, he meant the Black Crow Knight who was possessed by some unknown evil.
In order to avoid permanent damage, the knight's joints removed by Elena had already been reattached, and only ropes were used to restrict the opponent's movements. He soon discovered that this was unnecessary - on the first day here,
The other party would still struggle symbolically for a few times; from the next day on, he suddenly collapsed, almost unresponsive to external stimulation. If the other party hadn't still had a heartbeat and breathing, and his vagina didn't stink, Qiao would have
I really want to dig a hole anywhere and bury people.
——But in this way, the task of "guarding" this prisoner becomes even more boring.
The little girl named **Lena didn't seem to think so. She stayed next to the prisoner every day, carefully observing his physical condition, and constantly writing and drawing in a bound book. He leaned over and took a look.
At first glance, it seemed that there were all kinds of strange plant names on it, and he didn't recognize more than half of them.
"What are you doing?" Qiao walked away a few steps with his hands behind his back and asked casually.
"Preparing a prescription." The girl replied happily, "Perhaps the medicine can treat his current condition, but unfortunately...most of the needed medicines are not on hand right now."
For some reason, Qiao suddenly became interested in this little girl. He chuckled and patted his chest with confidence, "Okay, tell me what medicinal ingredients you need, and I'll buy them for you!"
"But didn't Captain Saran ask you to stay here?" Elena raised her eyebrows, "Say it's you..."
"Bah, bah, bah!" He quickly interrupted the girl, "Don't listen to his nonsense. I'm not impatient at all, and I can't cause any trouble! In short, just leave this matter to me!"
He refused to admit that he was too busy and wanted to find an excuse to go out for a walk. Fortunately, the girl thanked him seriously, which made him feel a little better.
"Ha - I don't know when those two people will come back." He sat down on the chair, turned his neck, and stretched hard.
Yura, who was not far away, was holding a book and said nothing. After a long time, she had not turned a few pages of the open book. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that her mood was a little low - compared to the collapse of the Knights.
, it seemed even more difficult for her to accept that her former companion had become like this.
Qiao didn't know how to comfort people, so she wanted to say something several times, but when she saw the sadness on her face, she swallowed her words back.
Suddenly there was a gentle knock on the door outside - first four times, then two times, and finally three times.
He looked around, but Yura had no intention of getting up. Elena was concentrating on writing and drawing in her notebook, and she didn't seem to notice anyone coming.
So he sighed and said listlessly, "Who is it? There is no one here."
"It's okay, I'm not here to find anyone." A calm female voice sounded outside the door, "I want to know why the stars only shine at night?"
Qiao swallowed his saliva and cheered up a little. What the other party said was one of the church's code words. Could it be that the Theocracy's reinforcements had arrived?
"The stars are always shining, but the sun is brighter during the day." He replied, "Let me ask you, where does the sun go at night?"
"I went to the other side of the world to bring light to the people who also need it." The other party quickly replied.
"Ha, you're here!" He quickly stood up, opened the door and stuck his head out - and then was stunned for a moment, because the four people standing outside the door did not look like "reinforcements" in any way.
"Why are there just you... and two little girls? Anyway, my name is Qiao, come in if you have anything to say!"
"Thank you. I am Yuffie, and she is Lin." The girl walked into the room and introduced herself briefly, "Has Esca informed you before?"
Joe scratched his scalp and reluctantly remembered that this was indeed the case. After they arrived here, a little girl from the Elna people came to deliver a message, claiming that two wizards might visit soon. He originally thought that they must be two
A proud and elderly Elna man, he never thought that the other person looked several years younger than him.
Just as he was in a daze, the girl who called herself Yuffie walked towards the house and cast her gaze at a corner of the house. "This...is the Black Crow Knight you captured. Can I check his condition?"
He quickly turned around and saw the other person squatting opposite Elena, observing the motionless knight seriously.
"Huh?" Elena seemed to have come back to her senses, "Of course...wait, who are you? How did you find this place?"
Qiao rubbed his nose and leaned over curiously. From the girl's answer, he roughly understood what the other party had done during this period, and also understood why they wanted to find him.
For Yuffie and Lin, the trip to the imperial capital was quite fruitful.
The officials imprisoned in that prison possess a large amount of secret information. If they stand in front of the stage, it will be enough to prove that Rogman III blindly launched a war. However, the time has not yet come, and their first task is still to avoid the empire.
arrests to ensure the safety of those people.
Fortunately, Rogman III's move to promote Ada dissatisfied most wizards who pursue the truth - for wizards, knowledge and power come from seeking, rather than simply entrusting their body and mind to a superior being.
What's more, one person who paid too much attention to the mortal world even reminded them of the end of the last era - that was not a pleasant history.
The only ones willing to assist in the search are some unsatisfied junior and mid-level wizards. Searching for dozens of people in a vast country is more difficult than hiding the same number of people - the perception spell can only cover a few hundred meters.
Fangyuan is not much better than visual inspection; prophecy type
The spells basically come from the magical network, and even if the wizards barely simulate it, they are not enough to break the counter-spells set by Yuffie and Lin; and the intelligence that Grace and Eskar observed from thousands of meters in the air,
It makes any level or blanket walkthrough meaningless.
Therefore, the disguised escapees safely left the core of the empire and temporarily hid in the nearby countryside. Then, they brought two imperial officials who were interested in providing intelligence to visit this secret stronghold belonging to the Black Crow.
"So." Joe looked at the two men behind Yuffie suspiciously - they were wearing simple linen blouses and had slightly haggard faces. They looked just like the down-and-out townspeople, "Are you officials of the empire?"
"That's right, a Christian." The black-haired man nodded, his aura disappearing in a flash, "Flan, the former financial director of the Imperial City. I can answer your questions, but I will not accept rude remarks.
treat."
Well, it looks a bit like this. Joe shrugged and made a gesture to invite him in.
"Let me make a pot of tea and we can have a good chat."