Vol 2 Chapter 1065: Homecoming (two in one)

"I see... Thanks for your hard work." Heliga picked up the communicator in his hand and said to the person on the other side, "After that, you can leave and stand by yourself. I will pay the payment as previously scheduled. ."
"Okay." The voice on the other side looked exhausted, "Because the mission location is also considered to be in the brothers' own territory, it doesn't cost much. But, is it really okay? There is just one I don’t know how long ago. It's just a deserted village."
"Well. It's there..." Heilijia paused, "Anyway, this matter has nothing to do with you. Do your own job."
After hanging up, Heliga remembered an unexpected contact he had received earlier.

Just as Heliga was planning to complete the entire plan for Olibat, he received a contact from the Seven Luminaries—it turned out to be his own ARCUS. As we all know, this is a test product provided by Ryanforte only in a small area, and its function is still limited at present, and the people who can contact him are those who have not contacted Heilijia for a long time. Ruby Stone" Ain Sernat.
"What's the matter?" Heliga didn't bother to wonder why Al Ain could use ARCUS to contact him--how could the secrets hidden by the Seven Luminaries Church be less than the association?
"Why, you are not surprised at all. I thought the product I shipped from Lehmann could do a little bit." Ain was also very surprised-Heliga's attitude made her a little disappointed.
"If you drove your boat and came here to find me in person, I would be more surprised." Heliga mocked, "You really can sit down. The empire and the autonomous prefectures are in such a mess. What kind of strange power Throw it out to make trouble, you guys are very happy sitting there and watching."
"You can't say that...Kevin and Vaggie are also working hard for the time being, right? Thomas, I can't do anything about it." Ain shrugged indifferently-Heliga could still hear it occasionally. The news that Vage and Kevin were fighting at Crossbell, but for Thomas, it’s completely unclear, "However, this time I’m here to tell you something else. By the way, I heard you told Northumb Leah is very interested over there?"
"Yeah...what's the matter? It's now a secret that you all know?" Heliga frowned--he didn't seem to have specifically publicized this matter?
"It was Martha who told me. Although she is a hunter in name now, in fact she has been in contact with me. However, don't blame her for this matter...because it involves herself after all. Hometown. She has always been very hostile to the attitude of the Empire on Northumbria affairs, so it is normal to be confused about this. More importantly, whether you have forgotten a bit, I understand you I want to keep confidential, but it seems that for us, the confidentiality work has been overdone, right?
"
"I don't remember that I said I had to report everything to the church... Previously, it was considered to give him face from Kevin, but on the empire side, your manpower couldn't cover it..." Heliga curled his lips.
"Yeah...so I'm not here to investigate the problems of your use of power. The archbishop has said that there is no impact on the world, and I naturally don't want to provoke you. However, we can't take it as a disagreement. You know... You should know that too? The area where the "Salt Pile" occurred has always been the area under the jurisdiction of the Qi Yao Church. "
"But you just asked the "Roaring Lion" to go over there to dig out the core of the "Salt Pile" wreck, and then take it back to make a crossbow, right? "Heliga said lazily, "Isn't there no danger there?" You just seal it up and manage it in name. Rather, you have nothing to do with the salt sea over there, so it is actually a desert there. The locals will not look at this sad place specially, and the outsiders will not provoke you--"
"I know what you want to say... but in fact..." Ain hesitated, "The core of "Salt Pile" was indeed taken away by the Church of Qiyao... Except for the production of Kevin's special weapons. In addition, it is not without other results. "
"such as?"
"For example, it is actually a kind of "external reason." "
"It's not hard to guess... Anyway, as long as it is not recorded in your classics, you can say that." Heliga said, "What else?"
"Also... Forget it, I don't need to tell you this for now. The key problem is that after the "Roaring Lion" got there, it seemed that the outer wreckage of the "Salt Pile" had been opened once. Although there are no more traces after inspection, and the most dangerous salted core is still there, but..."
"Wait... This doesn't seem right. If I remember correctly, didn't that "salting" swallow the entire land and the people on it in an instant? "Heliga suddenly realized something, "In this case, that person has reached the core area of ​​the "Pile of Salt" from outside earlier than you? "
"Yes. Moreover, they did not take away the most dangerous part of it, which seems to mean that they did not have enough means to stabilize that kind of existence. Of course, there may be no need-but in short, the "Roaring Lion" is not The first person to get there. "
"and then?"
"At present, the church does exactly what you said, it can't do anything with the salted land." Ain sighed, "But for such a big thing, the church has always been there to stay behind. According to the members of the Knight Order who performed this task and officials from the Ceremony Province, the "Salt Pile" has been entered and investigated by non-church personnel ever since. "
"Really... Someone has been paying attention to the movement of "Salt Piles"? Even after the core of it has been put into the custody of the church? "This question aroused Heliga's interest, "In this case...hasn't it been discovered?" "
It is impossible for the "Guardian Knight" to be assigned to such a task. Therefore, the personnel in charge are generally trainee knights and monk soldiers from the canonized province, while officials from the ceremonial province are responsible for the overall planning of the unified dispatch and... negotiate with the autonomous prefecture government. Ain sighed, "The person doing this seems to be not weak, so he has never been caught. But there is ample evidence that someone has been doing this. "
"So, why would you do this?" Heliga asked softly.
"I don't know." Ain shook her head. "Martha used to perform this mission there, and she has a deep understanding of it. After learning about your interest in Northumbria, she once doubted It was you who secretly let people investigate, so you told me the news."
"...However, that person is not me. If I want to do this, I can negotiate directly with you later." Heliga frowned.
"Yes. But, I think this is an opportunity." Ain nodded. "Although the ceremony province has always thought that the "Northern Hunter" was doing a ghost... However, due to well-known reasons, the autonomous prefecture government was unable to deal with it. What kind of governance does the "North Hunting Soldiers" carry out. No matter how hard the ceremonial provinces work, the actions of the autonomous prefectures are delayed or pretended to be dead. "
"This is also no way...Until now, Northumbrian people are still in the dilemma caused by famine and insufficient heating from time to time. The small villages far away from the city will not be able to go out to become hunters. Young men and women will starve to death because they don’t get any source of funds.
Heliga said softly,
The attitude of the imperial government towards the Northumbria Autonomous State Government... and the diplomatic strategy based on this, even with the mainland. Most of the countries above can’t do anything about it.

"Hmm... Therefore, her distrust of the empire is understandable." Ain said, "This is the first reason I contacted you. Martha still thinks about the old relationship with you, but I want to In her heart, the most important thing is always her hometown. I think you should find an opportunity to seek her thorough trust-she is actually quite influential among the hunters in the Northland."
"...I see." Heliga nodded slightly, "what else?"
"The high-level officials of the Canonization Province and the officials of the Ceremony Province all suspect that the people who secretly spied on the wreckage of the "Salt Pile" had something to do with the Empire. "Ain said bluntly," But this kind of situation happened from time to time twenty years ago, so I concluded that it could not be you. In addition, due to the chaos in Northumbria, it was largely because they did not get the support of the imperial government. Therefore, using the reverse logic to say..."
"The empire caused chaos in Northumbria, thereby creating unfavorable conditions for the management of the salinized areas, thereby benefiting their own actions...?" Heliga understood this idea. According to this theoretical analysis, those who secretly conduct long-term continuous investigations of the Salt Piles behind the Qi Yao Church are likely to have any relationship within the empire, and the two parties are using this as a prerequisite to conduct any transactions. In connection with the recent major moves of the empire, Heliga understood what Ain meant.
"So, if you can...Can you please investigate the empire's interior in this situation to a certain extent? Northumbria, at the junction of Ereponia, once served as Martha The village of my hometown. I will send you the coordinate address there, and you can use it to gain her trust...On this basis, maybe the nearby villagers can provide you with something?"

The information given by Ain is very detailed-a point at the junction of Notia and Lamar states as a reference point, clearly pointing out the location of the abandoned village that used to be the hometown of Martha. Heliga secretly contacted the detachment leader of the "North Hunter" he had hired, and asked him to give some help, without telling Martha. The captain seemed to have mistakenly thought that Heliga wanted to give Martha a "surprise", so he readily agreed, let his soldiers search, and finally found the place.
And now, the matter that Olibate entrusted him is almost resolved, it is time for him to deal with his own affairs. This will be the only chance before being entangled by Kane. Therefore, when Heliga suddenly returned to the town and called Martha with a blank face, the latter had no idea why.
"Where are you going?" Masha asked hesitantly, looking at the "portal" opening in front of her.
"Go to a good place." Heliga dragged her in the door involuntarily-amidst Martha's exclamation, the two successfully landed in the canyon on the northern border of the empire.
"Lengly..." Martha was naturally unprepared for this-the southern part of the empire had a mild climate, so Martha was only wearing ordinary winter clothes. However, she didn't feel the bitter cold soon-because Heliga didn't know when he took out a small ball, and the warm light gathered beside them.
"This is the border of the northern border of the empire, between the states of Nautia and Lamar. Originally, there should be a border monument built along this mountain range." Heliga said, pointing to the heavy snow in front of him. "But now..."
"...Wait, this is..." Martha realized that despite the wind and snow, she was familiar with the scenery here-so she immediately asked: "This is the border between Northumbria and the Empire. South?"
"Yes." Heliga nodded, "From here to the southwest of five hundred and seventy Celsius moments, that is the small town where Vulcan left before, only you and me were left."
"..."
"If you have something to say later. I only asked people to set up a road sign yesterday. If I don't go there, I am worried that when it snows for a while, I will bury the road sign that they have finally erected." Heliga pointed. Said to a mark in the northern canyon.
"..." Looking at the direction that the mark pointed to, Martha looked still on the surface, but her heart was turbulent - an undercurrent surging in her heart crushed her. For some reason, Martha suddenly had an urge to cry.
The boys and girls, under the warmth of magic energy, walked silently on the melting ice and snow in the cold wind that gradually became bleak. Heliga would occasionally stop to confirm the "sign" that was about to be blown off by the strong wind-and then greeted Martha to continue walking.
The further forward, a strange feeling arose in Martha's heart. In the end, this feeling was completely released when she saw the scene before her eyes.
What appeared in front of her was a village—or, it could be seen that it used to be a village, but now it is nothing more than a pile of house debris.
At the same time, this is still the hometown of Martha that hasn't been here for a long time.