Start a core cabin

The rain poured down.

Gray lurks in the bushes, holding his breath carefully, holding a longbow in his hand, and using the cover of the forest to hide himself.

However, a hand suddenly appeared from behind and pressed on his shoulder, almost making the ranger scream. He turned his head and saw an old bearded face looking at him with a mean smile.

"Hey, Ben! Don't be so fucking scary all the time, please! I almost screamed!"

"That only shows that you haven't done enough work, son."

Ben curled his lips, and walked to Gray's side quietly with the dexterity unique to rogues. The old man seemed to be showing off his skills, but Gray was speechless about this. Both the ranger and the rogue used covert He is good at it, but in fact... his own kung fu is really not good enough.

"How is it going?"

"No one came out."

Gray lowered his voice and spoke.

"What about the rest?"

"Stand by at the back. I checked around just now, and no one saw us. It seems that we can really catch a big fish this time."

Ben covered his mouth to prevent the white air from overflowing, and answered almost in a muttering manner. His voice was mixed with the cold rain in early autumn, making it hard to hear clearly.

This Judgment Blade team set off a week ago. The Judgment Blade team is similar to an adventure team. They are basically a team of five. Their main task is to investigate the commissions and requests received by the Tribunal from all over the world. , and complete it.

Say a village suffers from goblins, or a hag in the swamp steals a child, and similar situations are within the purview of the Inquisition.

Although there is no problem within the territory of the Tribunal, it is another matter outside the territory. After all, most of the villages in this world are remote bases. For example, some villages are crudely built and not within the scope of any territory, and because these places are generally remote, the lord's guards will not travel long distances to help. Therefore, once such a remote village encounters any problems, it can only rely on itself.

But now with the Tribunal, things are different.

The Tribunal is an organization that exists to protect human beings, so as long as it threatens human beings, it will be under the jurisdiction of the Tribunal. Thus the Judgment Blade team was born. They acted flexibly like adventurers and were mainly responsible for investigation work. Just like this team, the Tribunal received a request for help from a village in the nearby Lost Mountains, saying that goblins had attacked the village recently, and hoped that the Tribunal could send someone to support it.

Therefore, the team set off from the city and went to the village to investigate the situation.

It's a pity that they were one step too late. When they arrived, the village had been destroyed. Some of the villagers were killed and others were missing.

Fortunately, goblins are not a race intelligent enough to erase their own footprints, and Gray, as a ranger, managed to capture their footprints, find the goblin camp, and launch a successful raid.

The goblin camp was defeated, but the battle didn't end there. According to the goblins, those villagers had been sent as captives to a being called "Supreme God", and their souls would be merged with the Supreme God. , becoming a more powerful existence.

At the very beginning, Gray didn't pay much attention to this so-called supreme true god. Goblins are a weak, evil, and very rogue race. As long as they see a powerful existence, they will regard each other as a god. Maybe today their so-called god is a giant dragon, but tomorrow it will become a mage... But no matter what, they want to save those villagers, so they Just went all the way and came here.

Although they were mentally prepared, the scene in front of them still surprised them.

I saw a dilapidated fortress standing in the middle of the mountain. It seemed to be a dwarf fortress, but it was abandoned at this moment. Even so, the fortress is largely preserved. However, the problem is not here, the problem lies in the existence of this fortress --- hundreds of goblins, mountain giants, and even half-orcs gathered here. They formed an army, it is not known who led these guys.

But it is certain that the existence that can bring these savage monsters together and make them obedient is definitely not a small role.

So this team encountered a problem. They began to think about what to do next. Should they sneak in and find out the other party's situation before reporting back, or report back immediately and wait for the rear to come to support?

"I have to apologize to you first."

Ben suppressed his smile and stared at Gray.

"What's wrong?"

"I have sent a report to the Inquisition."

"you………………!"

Hearing Ben's answer, Gray was taken aback. He subconsciously stretched out his hand to grab him, but fortunately, the remaining rationality let him know the consequences of what happened here, but even so, the anger in his heart was still there. Burning.

"Why don't you discuss it with me?"

Gray is the captain of this team, and Ben is the vice-captain. Although Ben is about ten years older than Gray in terms of age, Gray is young and strong, and has rich experience as a ranger. Being captain always felt a bit out of place, so in the end the squad was captained by Gray with Ben as vice-captain.

"Don't be too quick to get angry, young man."

Ben looked very calm, even if his clothes were grabbed, he stared at Gray and shook his head.

"You also know why I did this."

“……………………”

Gray let go of his hand, then turned his head angrily, looked at the fortress below, and remained silent.

Ben straightened his clothes.

"Believe me, kid, I've seen a lot of young people like you, and I've heard a lot of heroic epics, thinking that I can single-handedly turn the tide and save the world like the four friends of Mithril or the heroes of Neverwinter. But figure it out, we don't have that Without this kind of ability, we have no way to deal with so many goblins and mountain giants. I know that you are eager to perform meritorious deeds, and it is a good thing to be self-motivated, but it is another matter to be reckless."

"........."

"Are you married?"

Hearing this question, Gray nodded depressedly.

"My daughter is one year old."

"Then you should also understand that for your wife and children, you have to work hard to live. The court gave you such a good condition, but it's not for you to die."

Hearing Ben's words, Gray was speechless for a moment.

Gray is a ranger. Originally he and his wife lived a peaceful life in a small village, but then the village was attacked by robbers. Although Gray protected his wife, the whole village was destroyed. For Gray, that was the most painful day. They were homeless and could only live and sleep, and their wife was pregnant. In this case, Gray is powerless.

In the end they chose to go to the Inquisition.

In Arkham City, Gray decided to give up his identity as a free ranger and join Judgment Blade as a soldier.

The treatment of the Tribunal was beyond Gray's imagination. After he became a Judgment Blade, he got his own house, which was completely unimaginable for Gray. Generally speaking, soldiers will basically live in Datongpu, a large room, and then squeeze into a dozen bunk beds, where a group of sweaty men rest. Only people with a little spare money can rent a house, and it is even more difficult to buy a house.

In fact, when he first came to Arkham City, Gray thought about using his savings to rent a house here, and then find a way to live. But to his surprise, after he finished the formalities, the staff who handled the formalities gave him a brand new choice.

"You can rent in an apartment building if you want."

According to the employee, the so-called apartment building is a high-rise building, as long as Gray is willing to sign an agreement, they can live in it. Of course, the monthly rent will be automatically deducted from their salary. But compared to the rent outside, it is quite cheap.

Gray didn't have much choice but to nod in agreement.

I have to admit that at the beginning, Gray was very uncomfortable with this weird architectural style. In the world of Faerun, every household builds a house, basically enclosing a piece of land by themselves, and building whatever they want. Especially in those remote villages, if you have the ability, you can circle the whole mountain and no one will care.

But it was different in Arkham City. Gray rented a standard room with two bedrooms and one living room. Although it was unfurnished, it was fully equipped with kitchen, bathroom and other equipment. Quite convenient, you can even enjoy the outside scenery through the colorful floor-to-ceiling windows in front of you when you get up every day.

However, as a ranger, Gray still prefers a house with its own small courtyard. Although the apartment is well-equipped and comfortable to live in, it always feels a little bit like living in a luxurious birdcage. uncomfortable.

Of course, Gray knew that he was too greedy. To be able to treat a new soldier so well was enough to prove that the Tribunal treated them well, so he wanted to make contributions as soon as possible so that he could repay the Tribunal...

"Don't overthink it, kid."

Ben slapped Gray on the back of the head, interrupting his thoughts.

"Remember, we are soldiers now, soldiers. You are no longer that free ranger. Do you remember the mission we received before we set off?"

"...Investigate the specific situation of the village attacked by the goblins, respond as appropriate, and report the situation."

"Yes, we have investigated to this point, and we have done everything we need to do, so we have to report to the trial court and wait for the next step. This is the soldier's duty."

Ben reached out and pointed to the ruins of the fortress below.

"Do you know? Gray, I have explored similar ruined fortresses a few times. I often see some corpses inside, and then I would wonder who they are, where they came from, and why they came here...but I can't find them. no answer because they're dead and there's no record of that."

Ben spread his hands.

"You see, we don't want to end up like that for ourselves, we go in, maybe we'll find something, maybe we won't. Maybe we'll be killed and leave our bodies behind, and then someone else will stand over our corpses and wonder us Why do we come here, but we are already dead, and the dead cannot speak."

“……………………”

Gray didn't speak.

"Remember, Gray, it's good to make achievements, but first you have to figure out your responsibilities. We are the Judgment Blades. We were told the day we joined. We are the mortal army of the Inquisition. We are for the Inquisition. Fighting, fighting to protect human beings, or do you think this body is not cool enough, and you plan to become that kind of iron shell?"

Speaking of this, Ben patted Gray on the shoulder. Almost no one in Arkham City knows about the situation of the Night Guard. They were the most loyal fighters of the Inquisition during their lifetime. After death, their souls possessed the steel armor and turned into Undead warriors continue to serve the Inquisition.

Of course, in other places, even if it is said that, it will not be recognized by most people, not to mention how evil the armor of the night guard looks, if it is said that it is a necromancer who uses magic to extract the soul of a living person Putting it in steel armor and sealing it as a servant is more acceptable.

The reason why everyone accepted the night guards was that even in the daytime, these steel guards would tirelessly patrol the streets, completely ignoring the sunlight. Moreover, people often saw scenes of them talking with priests or paladins of the church, and it was because of this that everyone accepted the statement of the trial court.

After all, there are so many churches of gods here, including Lathander, the Lord of Dawn who hates undead creatures the most. If it is just a certain church, it may be deceived or bought by the Inquisition, but it is impossible for all of them All gods are blind.

"That's good too."

Hearing Ben's joke, Gray reached out and touched the Inquisition emblem worn on his collar.

"If I die, my soul can go to the Tribunal, and then come back to watch my daughter grow up, get married, and have children. I think it would be great."

"That's why you don't want to leave your daughter even after you die. Your daughter is really miserable..."

"———————————!!!"

However, before Ben could finish his words, suddenly, a black shadow passed by in the sky, and the howling wind blew. In an instant, an unspeakable sense of fear and trembling erupted deep in the hearts of the two of them, making them feel I seemed to have lost all strength in my body, and could only sit on the ground like a puddle of mud, eyes widened in horror, looking at the shadow that flew across the sky and landed in the fortress.

It was a giant dragon.

"My God, my God, what the hell did we see?"

Ben stared wide-eyed, opened his mouth tremblingly, and almost shouted. Fortunately, the goblins and giants in the fortress were not much better at the moment. people.

"Quick, get out of here!"

Ben bit his tongue hard, and the severe pain came, diluting the fear, and he grabbed Gray, trying to take him away.

Gray, however, shook his head.

"No, I can't go."

"Are you crazy? That's a giant dragon!"

"I know it's a dragon."

Gray turned around now, too, and stared at Ben.

"But this is an opportunity. What exactly is this place? Why did a giant dragon appear? What exactly do they want to do? I don't believe that these people have gone to great lengths to capture the villagers just to feed the dragon."

Having said this, Gray stood up again.

"I'm going to investigate the situation, maybe I can get some valuable information."

"you……………"

Ben held out his hand, pointing at Gray.

"You don't want to die? That's a giant dragon!"

But Gray said nothing more, just stared at Ben, who shook his head.

"I'm not going to die, and there are other people who want me to take care of them, so if you want to die, you can go... Anyway, the pension of the trial court is enough to support orphans and widows."

After saying this, Ben snorted coldly, turned around and disappeared into the bushes. And Gray withdrew his gaze, looked at the fortress in front of him again, and then took a deep breath.

Then, he bent down and touched in the direction of the fort.