In the morning, the airship landed at Mercer District.
Kunlan yawned and walked down, followed closely by Buen. Jegas was already standing on the ground, handing over questions to the local staff.
Sylutia slept for a while on the airship last night, leaning against the seat, and now he will also step off the airship.
"We have been contacted by a Steam Locomotive, which will leave shortly." After asking about the situation, Kunlan came back and told Sylutia.
"Looking at the instructions on Suspension Needle Compass, the specific location where she disappeared should be a forest to the north of Mercer District. It is located in the mountains and sparsely populated. I don't know how she got here."
"What hobbies does Camilla have on weekdays?" Kunlan asked.
"Her hobbies----" Sylutia recalled, there seemed to be no special memory point.
"I usually like to eat ice cream and pick out dresses that I like, but I don't have any other obvious hobbies." The girl shook her head.
"But judging from her recent notes, she seems to be researching some kind of potion. Maybe there is something she wants here."
"I don't understand this. After all, I'm not studying Alchemy." Kunlan shrugged, and then a burst of car roar gradually came.
"Let's go, it's time to set off." After saying that, she took the girl and Buen, and followed Jegas in front.
The four people then got on Steam Locomotive and drove all the way out of the city.
After leaving the urban area with many houses and buildings, large grasslands began to appear on both sides of the road. Occasionally, one or two farms could be seen, with people taking care of the crops grown in the fields.
"The land here is not fertile, but the scenery is very good. Many rich people will buy manors here for vacation." Kunlan gave a brief introduction to the girl next to him.
"Quince grown locally is more famous, but after leaving this area, Quince grown in other places is not as delicious."
Kunlan talked about the local characteristics on the road, and Steam Locomotive drove all the way into the wilderness. The road conditions here are usually only used for carriages, but Steam Locomotive's driving will be bumpy.
Fortunately, the destination was not too far away. At around 2 p. m., Steam Locomotive stopped in front of an old-fashioned manor.
Taking out the certificate of "Inquisition Hall" and the badge of "Origin Hourglass", the steward of the manor kindly agreed to the request, allowing Steam Locomotive to park in the stable in the manor, and also prepared a good lunch for the four of them.
In the afternoon, the four people followed the instructions of "Suspension Needle Compass" and left the manor and entered the mountain forest behind.
"The housekeeper said that generally no outsiders come here, and I have never seen a young strange girl similar to Camilla's description." Kunlan said on the way.
"However, a few outsiders did come here recently. I heard that they were chasing a certain escaped Magic Creature and entered the forest."
"Is it related to Miss Camilla?" Buen asked curiously.
"I don't know. You can only find out if you go in and take a look." The group of people walked along the path in the mountains, and gradually heard the sounds of insects and birds all around.
In midsummer, the mountains are slightly shady and cool, and the wind carries a fragrance of vegetation. Occasionally, you can see the blooming flowers of some plants mixed in with the thick green grass leaves.
After walking about three kilometers, we reached the destination shown on Suspension Needle Compass". Kunlan took out a small bottle and unscrewed it. A chubby little flying insect emerged from it. It was shiny and brown in color, like a fried cicada pupa.
I handed the piece of clothing left by Camilla to this little flying insect. After sniffing it, it staggered up and started to wander in the air.
"This is Scent-Tracking Bug", if Camilla has been here, it can smell the faint fragrance remaining in the air." Kunlan explained simply.
[Scent-Tracking Bug] (Level 2·Insect Moth), a specially bred flying insect that can pursue targets based on scent.
After listening, Sylutia nodded slightly and his eyes stayed on the small flying insect.
Sylutia has also heard about this type of bug, and it is said that cultivating it is not easy. It is often necessary to cultivate nearly a hundred bugs of the same type as First Order, in order to select the one that meets the requirements and has a strong sense of smell, and then continues to feed it until it is promoted to the second level before it can be truly useful. Often the price of such a bug is close to that of a fourth-level creation.
Although the smell in the mountains is not as mixed as in the city, it is still extremely difficult to accurately find the tiny smell that matches the target from the smells left by hundreds of thousands of plants and animals. Even Transcendent who specializes in practicing "Scent-Smelling Technique" will probably have to reach the fourth level before he can accurately find the trace of the target he is looking for among such a variety of complex smells.
About five minutes later, the flying insect finally found its target and no longer continued to circle in circles, but flew in one direction.
"Follow up."
Jegas led the three of them on a quick walk through the dense forest. Wherever he passed, the branches and leaves of the shrubs blocking the road broke and fell. He didn't know how he got there.
After walking for half an hour, the four of them came to a valley with dense vegetation. There was no human habitation at all. Only by pushing aside the layers of grass could they see the hidden stream below.
"There are footprints here." The group finally discovered the traces left by Camilla.
They continued to search around this footprint and found other traces.
"It seems that she has been repairing herself here, probably cleaning her clothes and arms." Kunlan took a pen and notebook to record the information obtained.
"There was a trace amount of blood left by the tree. She must have been injured." Buen said that he could sense the remaining blood.
"On the cliff in the distance, there are traces of dust wiped off, which should be someone walking by." Jegas pointed out the traces he saw.
"It seems that Camilla must have encountered an enemy. It has been flying in the air, landed here, and repaired for a while."
"Why didn't she escape to the Academy? Logically speaking, she also had the protection Magic Orb given by the Academy, but it was not activated for some reason." Kunlan thought.
However, they couldn't think of any answers at this moment, so the four of them continued to move forward, following the traces.
After climbing over the cliff and continuing to walk in, they found many obvious signs of fighting, and there were three claw marks and ravines left on a stone in the distance.
"These claw marks, it seems that the opposite side is not a serious Mage." Kunlan walked over to check, while Jegas stood in another place, carefully observing the footprints left on the ground.
"You can even leave such smooth claw marks on the stone. It can be seen that the opponent is at least level three, probably Orc or----"
"It's Blood Clan." Jegas said coldly.
"Are you sure, Master Jegas." Kunlan put away his pen and came over.
"Yes, I am very familiar with these guys and have dealt with them a lot in recent years." Jegas frowned slightlyO
In the past ten years, low-level Blood Clan and Mage Alliance have appeared one after another. They are not very strong. They often hide in the city and secretly find targets to attack. Some are just to suck blood, and some are to develop offline and seduce the local people in power to fall.
Since the rise of the Mage Alliance, other organizations of the Fourth Continent have also felt the faint threat, especially in recent years, they have begun to infiltrate each other. They sent people to the Mage Alliance, and Mage Alliance will also Send people to these organizations, but Blood Clan in the northern part of the Ice Sea is isolated from the world, and has an innate contempt for ethnic groups with impure blood, so Mage Alliance knows very little about it and can only passively endure the other party's infiltration and snooping.
"And this is not an ordinary Blood Clan, it is probably an orthodox Blood Clan of level four or above." He squatted down and looked at the footprints left on the ground.
"Ordinary Blood Clan would not wear such fancy shoes to avoid the limelight. Even the soles of the shoes would be printed with complicated patterns." He pointed to the marks left on the ground.
"However, the fourth-level Blood Clan chased Camilla, and the claw marks left behind were so smooth and shallow, indicating that the other party wanted to capture Camilla alive, rather than kill her directly." Jegas continued to analyze.
"From this point of view, Camilla may be the person they want to catch and transform into the Blood Clan, or Camilla has secrets they want to know, so they show mercy during the fight." Kunlan speculated.
"Tsk, these Blood Clan, if they don't want to spend time and effort cultivating and selecting talents, they just come to us Mage Alliance to rob them."
"I don't know how Camilla is doing now." Sylutia couldn't help but worry after hearing that it was Blood Clan of level four or above.
"Continue to search along these traces. I guess there should be a space-time gap around here, otherwise Camilla would not be able to fall into World of Shadows."
The continent floats on the Cloud Sea, and the reflection below will show the appearance of the continent above. The two will have a subtle connection. This connection sometimes brings about subtle space folds and gaps. It is also because of the existence of such gaps that occasionally World of Shadows monsters will run to the Surface Continent, which requires local organizations to deal with and eliminate them.
Before, Sylutia accidentally fell into World of Shadows like this. I don't know what happened to Camilla this time inside.