scepter

When they went downstairs, the swordsmen had already finished their breakfast and were waiting there. When he heard that the companions Chris was going to bring were the "useless" mages from last night, Feizel was a little surprised: "You Sure?"

It's not easy for him to say clearly that your companions can't even beat the two middle-level mages last night, but the expression on his face has already said so.

It was the priest who explained: "They are our friends, and they also have their own spells that they are good at. Last night was just a small accident."

The elf curled up in the priest's arms and spit bubbles. Dantonio took a moonshine grass from somewhere to tease him, making the elf baby sneeze again and again.

As a result, Dantonio was slapped on the back of the head by Lily: "Don't make trouble!"

D'Antonio was very wronged: "You yourself often tease him!"

Lily: "Yannick is talking about business!"

Dantonio: "..."

Looking at the other side, the mage Asur who rushed up to provoke them last night was just throwing his staff on the table casually, eating breakfast slowly.

The female mage next to him reprimanded him: "Asur, you are becoming less and less like a mage!"

"Calm down, Aphra, you put on heavy makeup today, and your mouth looks like a bloody mouth."

"Asur!"

Turning his eyes away from the mob, Feizel's mouth twitched, expressing deep doubts about the priest's words.

However, he didn't say anything else, and instead introduced his companion to Yannick and the others.

Among these swordsmen, there are three senior swordsmen including Feizel, and the rest are intermediate swordsmen.

Unlike mages or priests, swordsmen have requirements for magical talents. Swordsmen are a relatively secular profession. Anyone can become a swordsman if they want to.

Of course, due to the influence of learning talent and various acquired factors, swordsmen also have high or low abilities. Those whose swordsmanship is as high as the sword master level are said to be able to fight ten against one in the army, but that's all.

Juggernaut has already represented the highest realm among swordsmen, but if a Juggernaut competes with a high-level mage, the former may not necessarily win, so it is not surprising that Feizel would treat them so politely to Chris.

but……

Behind a powerful mage, there are so many oil bottles, is it really okay?

It was too late to regret now, and poor Feizel had no choice but to deeply suppress the uneasiness in his heart.

After everyone had breakfast, they set off from Tomei Town. Along the way, Feizel told them the purpose of going to the Dark Forest.

"Actually, we still have a companion. She is the daughter of Earl Marlin of the Garter Empire, named Sophia. She was with us on an adventure in the dark forest before, but she disappeared. We couldn't find her, so we had to come out to ask for help."

Isn't the Garter Empire Chris's country?

Yannick didn't answer, and looked directly at Chris.

But the latter asked something that made him almost stumble: "When will the eight hundred gold coins be given?"

Feizel laughed: "Sophia has brought a lot of money with her, or after bringing her back to the Garter Empire, her father will definitely be willing to pay the money!"

Yannick: ...

It's still a blank check, what if Sophia dies?

Seeing that everyone looked unhappy, Feizel quickly added: "But I still have two hundred gold coins here, why don't you use it as a deposit first?"

The priest smiled slightly: "Master Chris once helped a wealthy businessman find his daughter. The other party was very generous. Even before the daughter was found, he gave Master Chris [-] gold coins as a service fee. Money is not a problem, the problem is sincerity , although your sincerity is not as great as that rich businessman, but it is still better than empty-handed, so Mage Chris reluctantly accepted it."

Lily and the others stared dumbfounded at the priest who lied without changing his face, and said it as if it was true. What is a talent, this is a talent. No wonder he can be a priest!

Feizel looked at the gentle and benevolent face of the priest, and then at the unresponsive black-clothed mage. After he had finished speaking, he coughed lightly, took out his gold coin bag, and handed it to the black-clothed mage: "Please For the sake of our sincerity, help us find Sophia, the remaining [-] gold coins, after returning to the imperial capital, Earl Marin will definitely pay, please rest assured!"

The mage in black took the bag of gold coins without blinking, and handed it over to the priest without blinking. His behavior fully expressed a kind of silent trust.

The priest opened the bag of gold coins and divided them into two parts on the spot. One was [-] gold coins, and the other was given to Lily and the others. The deeper their affection for the priest, the more guilty they were for their initial attempt to tie the priest to the Magic Guild for trial.

Feizel admired him and thought that the priest was really good at being a man. No wonder the group of people could get along very well with the mage's hatred for the priest.

Chris looked at him: Take my money to buy people's hearts?

Yannick replied with an innocent face: You handed it to me.

The two exchanged eyebrows and communicated silently for a while, until Feizel intervened: "We should start our journey earlier, maybe we can find the camp where we slept in the dark forest last time before dark. It's safer there."

"Of course." The priest smiled, "You are the employer, you are the master, we are responsible for following."

The dark forest, as the name suggests, is a place that makes people change their faces. There are fierce beasts, monsters, and even various unknown dangers. Even the bravest mercenary groups dare not go deep into it easily.

But the danger is also accompanied by the huge temptation of wealth. Not only are there magic crystals on monsters, there are magic mines deep in the forest, and there are even many rare animals and plants in the rumors, all of which lure wave after wave of expedition teams to come forward. To explore, but very few can come back.

Even in a place like Tome Town where dragons and snakes are mixed and fierce gods gather, there are very few people who dare to go deep into the dark forest. If ordinary business travelers want to go to the Garter Empire via Tome Town, they will usually hire a mercenary team. Take a detour from the road at the edge of the forest. Although the distance is much longer, it is not life-threatening.

Like Fizer and the others, there was originally an expedition team of more than 20 people who were eager to go deep into the forest to explore, but in the end only seven or eight people came back. This is not bad. Some teams never return, even one No one could come back.

But it doesn't matter if the others didn't come back, there was one person Feizel and the others had to look for, and that was Sophia.

As the daughter of Earl Marin of the Garter Empire, Sophia is the sponsor, investor and... in short, if there is no Sophia, even if Earl Marin doesn't chop them up, Feizel and the others lack funds The team has to be disbanded, so even if there are seven or eight people left in Feizel, they have to find Sofia back—even if they find a corpse, at least they have an explanation for Earl Marin.

There is a winding and deep mountain road from the town of Tomei, covered with thorns and shrubs on the left and right, and there are small high and low stones under the feet, which is very uncomfortable to step on.

After walking this narrow path, a dense forest gradually came into view.

In fact, the dark forest is not "dark" at all. The tall trees are next to each other, and the sunlight shines a little golden light through the gaps in the leaves. You can even hear the sound of gurgling water in the distance. A squirrel ran to the branch He looked at them curiously, but when the crowd approached, he rushed into the bushes again with a whoosh.

What is completely inconsistent with the appearance of the dark forest is the danger hidden under the silence. For Lily and Aphra, who have never been in this forest, even if they have heard the reputation of the dark forest, they will be impressed by the appearance in front of them. Confused, I couldn't help but relax.

Feizel could tell what they were thinking just by looking at their expressions, he shook his head inwardly, then turned to look at the priest and the black-clothed mage.

The face of the mage in black was covered with a thin layer of shadow, maintaining his usual mystery, while the elf baby was lying in the priest's arms, babbling, as if talking about something, the priest turned his head and listened very carefully look.

"What is it talking about?" Fizer couldn't help asking.

"It's him." Yannick corrected him with a smile, and then said, "I don't know too well, but it feels like he wants to express something."

Feizel became nervous: "I heard that elves are very sensitive to nature. Does he want to say where there is danger?"

Yannick looked at the elf baby: "Probably not, he looks very happy."

As soon as he finished speaking, the elf baby spit a bubble at Feizel, looking very cute.

Feizel didn't have the heart to tease him. Including him, seven or eight swordsmen looked serious and worried, because the last experience in this forest was too unforgettable for them. The warning ground was swallowed up by the ground beneath my feet...

Yannick saw that he was very nervous, so he had to find a way to divert his attention, lest these swordsmen have a nervous breakdown before paying their rewards.

"You came from the Garter Empire, are there traces of the Black Death there now?"

When the Black Death was mentioned, Feizel's attention was indeed diverted immediately, but his expression was not so relaxed: "Yes, when we left the imperial capital, I heard that a resident of a border town had already been infected with this disease. Terrible disease, many mages of the empire have been summoned to help, and when we pass through the dark forest and enter the border of the empire, we may also face very strict inspections." Feizel sighed after finishing speaking, "Originally after Sophia disappeared , We planned to turn back to the imperial capital to ask for help, who knew that most of the mages were summoned by the magic guild along the way, so we had to come to Tomei Town again, luckily we ran into you."

Yanick was a little strange: "Isn't the Black Death only curable by the Holy See? Why didn't the Garter Empire go to the Holy See, but to find a mage?"

Feizel said: "It turned out to be true, but now other countries have also broken out of the Black Death one after another, and priests are needed everywhere. Besides, priests have very weak defense capabilities in addition to curing diseases. In some countries, there have been In the case of the Black Death patients attacking people, several priests died because of it.”

Yannick and others were taken aback: "Can the Black Death evolve?"

Feizel didn't know what evolution meant, but he could barely understand it based on the context: "Yes, this is what we heard in Tome Town yesterday. At first, it was just that the whole body of the infected person gradually turned black and rotted, and finally died of illness. But then I don’t know why, those who had already died came back to life. The people of the Holy See were not prepared enough, so many priests died. Francis II was worried that a similar situation would happen in the Garter Empire, so he asked I went to the Magic Guild to help."

Even from his few words, Yannick and the others could hear the seriousness of the situation. Yannick himself had no news because he stayed in Jed Town for more than a month, and Lily and the others did so because of the journey , Most of them choose small towns or even go out in the wilderness, and rarely set foot in big cities.

Yannick raised his eyebrows: "The Garter Empire is cooperating with the Magic Guild. Doesn't the Holy See have any objections?"

Feizel smiled, and there was a hint of arrogance in his tone: "Why not, but with the strength of the Garter Empire, what can the Holy See do? The Pope can order the priests to withdraw from other countries. Could it be that he is willing to fight against the Garter Empire and force him to Are the Empire and the Magic Guild getting closer?"

Yannick didn't expect that this man looked rough, but he had a lot of eyes inside. He couldn't help but look at him with admiration. Just as he was about to ask, he heard Lily screaming beside him.