Time passed, and in mid-November, the Silent Forest experienced a heavy snowfall due to the cold weather.
The construction of roads in the kingdom gradually came to a halt, but the crops that should be harvested had already been harvested. Overall, there were both good news and bad news this year. The plummeting population was a worry, and many villages didn't even have many men to farm. But the good news was that after the autumn statistics, the originally barren Eiferta region's food production increased explosively, successfully feeding the damaged southeast region. Coupled with the lower transportation costs due to the smooth roads and the cabinet's food price limit policy, this winter wasn't too bad for the people who were still alive.
Many Dragons in Hollier celebrated a festival in the Hercino Magic Tower, and the scene was very grand. Wood Elf Natha was curious about this, but she could only daydream about the images in "Cullen's Era". Of course, she didn't have time to look at it now. Tightening her thermal jacket, Natha continued to search for targets in the cold wind.
Right now, Natha wasn't in a good mood. During this period of time, the intelligence agency had received news that there wasn't just one "ruin" in the Silent Forest.
The "Ruins of Wagra" was a trap specially disguised by the intelligence agency. All the books and information inside were fake. To achieve the desired effect, every time a mercenary group went in to explore, someone would go in and rearrange it. At the same time, the mercenary group would be followed, and the books and relics that were sold as treasures would also be tracked …
But the news of "another ruin" messed up all the previous plans. After all, the ruins of the Wagra Royal City covered a large area. According to historical records, the towns and villages around the city should have long disappeared in the river of time. But after investigating, Natha believed that someone had indeed found a new ruin that the intelligence agency didn't know about!
But there was still a lack of relevant evidence. Either they found the ruins, or they found physical evidence of the ruins' existence. Otherwise, Natha wouldn't have reported it to the cabinet based on some rumors because it could also be a smokescreen set up by the enemy to mislead the public.
Faced with this situation, she could only request the intelligence agency to send more people to search for clues. In order to ensure secrecy, the search couldn't be conducted with great fanfare. Therefore, only three people from the intelligence agency were sent out. As the wood elf most familiar with the Silent Forest, Natha was duty-bound to lead the charge.
Natha's teammates were Nora and another Teflin, Kaisen. Natha's teammates were right beside her. With their agility, the three of them were far more efficient than the other teams. They were not searching blindly, but they were tracking the mercenary groups in the forest. The news and rumors were released by the mercenary groups, so the clues were naturally found among them.
Mercenary teams that dared to enter the forest in this season were not easy to deal with. Natha's subordinates followed the mercenary teams to monitor them, while she herself was tailing a mercenary team of about ten people.
"We're two to three days behind."
Natha identified the footprints on the ground. Beside her, Nora was carefully learning this tracking technique. However, the group did not go far before she suddenly sniffed and said, "The smell isn't right."
Teflin's sense of smell was more sensitive than the wood elves and humans. They were very sensitive to the smell of blood in the air. Natha's expression tightened. The three of them immediately followed the trail. As expected, not long after, they found a ground full of human corpses.
"Confirm that the surroundings are safe."
Kaisen climbed up a tree and observed the surroundings, reporting the situation. Natha and Nora frowned as they looked in front of them. It was obvious that this was a camp that had been set up. If one wanted to maintain their strength during winter, it was necessary to set up tents. Otherwise, a night of cold wind would definitely blow people silly. There were five simple tents in the camp, but three of them had collapsed. It seemed that some kind of external force had crushed them.
Corpses were scattered all over the place. Some of these human mercenaries had weapons in their hands, but they did not escape the fate of death. However, the more Natha looked, the more she frowned. Their deaths were very strange.
"Attack by magical beasts?"
Nora looked at the stiff corpses on the ground. She took a closer look and said, "That's not right. There are no footprints of magical beasts or wild beasts. Their clothes are burnt in many places. Could it be that they were attacked by magicians?"
Natha reached out and picked up a long sword from the side of a corpse. There were magic patterns carved on the sword hilt. It was obviously a valuable magical weapon. However, the blade was also bent and melted under some kind of external force. To be able to do this, it was probably at least an intermediate magician.
"Why would a magician attack a mercenary group here?"
The strangest thing was that nothing was missing from the mercenary camp. Natha looked around and found that the weapons, equipment, and even the silver coins in their pockets were still intact. This proved that the attackers were not after money. It should be known that mercenary groups that fought in the wild were usually for money or lives.
She continued to look around, hoping to find some clues. Then her eyes suddenly stopped. Because in one of the tent's pockets, Natha saw several relief stone slabs.
The style of the relief was very familiar. Because Natha had seen similar patterns in Elson and Hercino Magic Tower. This meant that the things in front of her were the work of the High Elves!
After days of searching, she finally had a clue. Natha reached out and took out the stone slabs. From the marks on the edges, she guessed that they had been cut with an axe. She had personally participated in the "forgery" of the ruins of Wagra, so she knew very well that this was not something from the ruins. In other words, the news that there were other ruins in the Silent Forest was now conclusive!
But a bigger question followed … How did these people who had successfully found the ruins die? Who did they offend?
After a round of inspection, Natha gathered all the things related to the High Elves' ruins and prepared to take them with her. Nuo La had already checked the surroundings and said, "There are a total of nine people here, but there are ten water bottles."
"Someone escaped?"
"Should be, but this person must know how to counter tracking and didn't leave any footprints."
Nora pointed at the snowy ground at the side. There was a small, inconspicuous horizontal mark on the ground. This was a footprint that had been swept by a tree branch. It could still be distinguished at a close distance, but after walking for more than thirty meters, there were no more obvious marks to confirm. The possibility of tracking it was zero.
"What do we do now? Search for the ruins? "
Nora analysed the current situation. "This group of people were ambushed after exploring the ruins. The traces we saw were from three days ago. Could it be that they haven't moved away from this place for the past few days? Does that mean the ruins are nearby? "
This was indeed a correct judgment, but Natha shook her head. "Don't ignore the danger behind this. This group of people died strangely. Who knows what will happen if we search for the ruins rashly?"
She carried the relief stone slabs on her back and grabbed her bow. "Return immediately."
Natha was the leader, so Nora and Kaisen naturally would not refuse such an order. Besides, what she said was not without reason. Nora's originally relaxed mood began to tense up. The three quickly left the camp and headed towards Elsa's village. But they had not gone far when a buzzing sound suddenly came from behind.
"Dodge!"
As soon as Nata's voice fell, a ray of light suddenly lit up behind the three of them. A deafening explosion sounded and the three of them were blasted away by the impact!
But after landing, Natha and the two Teflings were unharmed because their leather armor was equipped with a passive shield crystal. But the attack still blew up two trees beside them, sending up a large amount of soil and snow.
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