In the north of the Kingdom of Fiore, the weather is colder than in Magnolia.

The snow in the wild has not melted yet, and there are some footprints left by small animals such as rabbits and mice.

Occasionally, you can see some relatively tall dead grass piercing the snow surface, and the small circle of snow around it will always melt slightly faster.

There are no sanitation workers to spread snow melting agent on the roads here, and no one is cleaning them specially. The snow on the roads has been compacted by people, livestock, and wheels, making it hard.

People with a childish heart can definitely skate on it, but they have to be careful not to trip over the raised places on the snow.

On such a road, two big green crabs walked one behind the other. The crab claws crushed the hard snow, leaving small pits. It seemed that the anti-slip properties were quite good.

The crab in the front is carrying two people on its back, and the one in the back is pulling a flatbed truck.

It was Erza's special vehicle for carrying luggage, and it had been tied upside down to the top of the carriage on the way here.

Since there might be danger if they went further, Erza and Rhodes asked the two coachmen to go back in advance.

The rest of the journey will naturally be hard for you guys.

It's almost noon, and the sun is quite strong. I always feel a little uncomfortable after walking outside for a long time.

Erza casually took out two pairs of sunglasses, which she wore with different swimsuits and beach clothes. She could just borrow one from Rhodes.

It would be nice to have it handy at times like this. Rhodes didn't care about being picky about the style, but secretly made a note to prepare a pair of sunglasses in the future to guard against snow blindness.

In order to avoid being too conspicuous, Rhodes did not let the two river crabs take them all the way to the town, but walked the last short distance.

——Although the way Erza calmly tows a luggage cart is already very conspicuous.

"Hello, which hotel in town is better?" Rhodes stopped a random passerby and asked for directions.

Passers-by inevitably looked at them a few times and replied, "We only have one hotel in Morninggloy. You can see it if you keep walking along this road."

"Thanks."

Next, the two of them split up. Erza went to the hotel to book a room and store her luggage, while Rhodes went to the tavern in the town first.

The environment in the tavern is a little messier than that in the guild, and the tables look greasy, but it's not as noisy as in the guild.

Rhodes took stock of the environment and sat down at the front desk: "A glass of beer."

The bartender poured the wine quickly: "500J."

So dark! As a semi-professional, Rhodes is very familiar with the price of wine. 500J can be used to drink three drinks in the guild.

This is just comparing the prices. If you calculate the profit, it feels even more sinister.

Rhodes took out the banknotes and put them on the counter. He picked up the beer and tasted it. He didn't think it tasted any better than the ones in the guild.

"Are you from out of town?" The bartender seemed like a talkative person and took the initiative to chat with Rhodes.

"How can you tell?"

"What does it feel like?" The bartender smiled, "Actually, there aren't many people in this town. If they were from here, I should have some impressions."

"Then you have good eyesight. I'm from the south. Are there any places with good scenery nearby?"

"There is snow everywhere in this season. If you ask me, it's the same everywhere." The bartender looked nonchalant like a Xi'an person introducing the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.

"If I have to say it, you can go further north in summer. The beaches there are pretty good, and there are places where mountains and seas are connected, which is quite interesting."

A customer in the tavern shouted: "Hey, Bob, don't hurt anyone. Is the north a place we can go to now?"

The bartender, known as Bob, replied: "I'm not asking him to go now!"

Rhodes asked: "What does it mean that you can't go to the north?"

"Because there have been many incidents of missing children in the towns of Manjusaka and Popi in the north, and in some cases people have been killed because they were blocked."

"Dead?" Rhodes became nervous. This matter was not mentioned in the intelligence.

"I heard that it happened yesterday. It must be the father of the child who died." The bartender shook his head, looking a little regretful.

Rhodes frowned and continued to ask: "What do the security forces and the army say?"

"What else can you say? Those who do such things must be human traffickers. After arresting the people, they hide in the mountains, or simply go out to sea.

Once the people are sold to the Severn Kingdom or the Bosco Kingdom, what can the security team do to them?"

The bartender was quite resentful about this incident: "It's all those people who caused it. Now we don't dare to let our children go out alone on the street."

"It's very hateful." Rhodes nodded. It seemed that ordinary people didn't know the inside story and just thought he was a cruel human trafficker.

Rhodes sat in the tavern for a while and listened to some more bits and pieces of information before leaving.

Some guests watched him leave and asked, "Hey, Bob, you've told him so much, aren't you worried that he is a human trafficker?"

"Do you think he looks like him?"

"Human traffickers don't write that bad word on their faces."

"Who knows, maybe it's the magician who came to investigate. The bad guy was arrested as soon as he came."

"Hahaha, such a powerful magician, who would come to a dirty country tavern like yours!"

…

Rhodes went to meet Erza, and she also got similar news from the hotel owner.

"We can't delay any longer, those guys can do anything." Erza didn't want anyone to suffer anymore.

Rhodes nodded: "Well, let's set off now to investigate Manjusaka and Popi Town."

"Let's work separately. It's more efficient this way, but..." Erza hesitated a little. Before setting off, the president said that he hoped she would take more care of Rhodes.

Rhodes thought for a moment, and if we delay any longer, other people might be killed, and nodded: "Okay, I will be careful.

In this way, I will ask Worm to follow you. If I find the enemy, I will summon Worm away. If you find the enemy, let him go back by himself."

"Okay, be more careful." Erza acted resolutely, took Worm and left immediately.

Rhodes quickly warned: "Don't be impulsive. If you find an enemy, try to follow plan A. If it doesn't go well, change to plan B."

He didn't know if it was an illusion, but he always felt that after coming here, Erza was not as calm as she was on the road.

Putting aside his doubts for the time being, Rhodes found a clothing store, bought a few cheap clothes, scarves, hats, etc., dressed up a little, and then set off for Poppy Town.

When you go out alone, you should protect yourself and try to make yourself look inconspicuous.

After setting off, you should also have river crabs patrolling and alerting you in front and back, and you should be even more cautious when you arrive at Poppy Town.

Poppy Town is the town where people died yesterday. Erza thought that such a big thing happened there, so the Black Magic Order should not go there again.

So the more dangerous place today should be the town of Manjusaka, so she chose that place.

However, Rhodes was still a little worried about the situation here in Moningaroy Town, so he left a small and inexpensive razorbill nearby, and then left with peace of mind.
Chapter completed!