I have a Human Emperor's Banner; I'll start by educating the goblins.

Chapter 25 Cooperation Agreement

From her conversation with the scout, Luo Qi realized that the scout had other things to do besides the adventurer's commission.

Recalling what the girl said on the way from the pioneering village to the river valley town, it's not hard to guess that she planned to go home to see her parents.

Most people in this world have their own ties, and even Luo Qi, a visitor from another land, now has her own bonds.

Adventurers are not machines for making requests.

Luo Qi wasn't in such a hurry as to let his teammates pass by his home without going in.

then.

The two went together to Miss Scout's house.

In the scout's introduction, the adventurers who form a team will tell each other about their families.

The stated reason is that adventurers are a profession with a high mortality rate. If you tell your teammates about your family, there is a certain probability that your estate will be passed on to your family through your teammates if you die unexpectedly.

When adventurer parties encounter life-or-death crises where some members must be sacrificed to ensure the survival of the majority, the surviving adventurers must swear an oath to the gods to treat their teammates and family members well in exchange for their sincere assistance.

All of this is based on the premise that each teammate knows the information about the other's family.

The adventurers tacitly refrained from bringing it up openly, but most understood another reason: those adventurers who shared their family information with their teammates were less likely to stab each other in the back.

Family is a weakness.

If an adventurer betrays a teammate for personal gain or other reasons, but accidentally lets the teammate escape, the consequences are predictable when the teammate learns about their family's information.

Therefore, some adventurers, for the sake of safety, will only cooperate with teammates they know well.

Miss Scout knew that her teammate's connection was with the pioneer village, so she didn't mind telling her teammate about it.

Of course, she never hid it from the beginning.

To Luo Qi's surprise, Dorothy's mother seemed even smaller, and her face and skin showed no signs of aging. She exuded an air of naivety and looked like a child who had not yet grown up.

The only problem was that the female rabbit-person was pale and breathing rapidly, and seemed to have some kind of physical problem.

If Dorothy hadn't introduced her, Loki would have almost mistaken this sickly female rabbit for her sister.

"Doross, is this your new teammate?"

The sickly female rabbit said softly, "Lady Closia came to see me at noon. She told me that Grace's decision last night was just an impulsive one, and that you can return to the Rose Squad at any time if you wish."

Dorothy paused for a moment.

"Lady Closia..."

Luo Qi was also somewhat surprised. Krosia was Grace's mother, the third-tier mage.

Upon learning this information, Luo Qi was as if provoked, and immediately focused his mind into the Emperor's Banner, constantly alerting his surroundings.

If you do the math, the earliest the rest of the Rose Squad will return to River Valley is this morning. In addition, it will take some time for the lady to learn from her daughter that Doross has been expelled from the team. Therefore, the woman visited Doross's mother as soon as she received the information.

This level of importance, this level of action...

Luo Qi had no doubt that the woman was observing the two of them in some way.

Perhaps... that mage is gathering her powerful magic to kill the two adventurers who might know her secret.

"However, I have already declined..."

Dorothy's mother coughed for a while, then continued, "The first time I saw that little girl, I knew that the two of you wouldn't get along at all."

"Now that your direct supervisor has expelled you from the squad, there's no point in that woman trying to win you back."

"Mother……"

Dorothy couldn't help but call out.

Upon hearing this word, Luo Qi couldn't help but smile.

After embarking on the path of an extraordinary knight in this world and awakening his spirit, he can perceive the most precise meaning of what the other party is saying through mental fluctuations, regardless of what language they are speaking. Theoretically, he no longer needs to learn any foreign languages.

However, there was still some difference between languages ​​he knew and languages ​​he didn't know.

The word "mother" is one of the few words from another world that Luo Qi knows.

"I don't want to interfere with your decision. Although my memory is very blurry, I can always see the shadows of your father and mother in you. Just do what you think is right. You may suffer some losses, but you won't regret it," Doross's mother said again.

That night.

Luo Qi and Miss Rabbit only had dinner before leaving in a hurry.

From this rabbit-woman mother, Loki tasted authentic alfalfa cakes, with a strong grassy aroma that didn't suit human tastes, but was perfectly edible.

On the country road leading to Greenwood, the scout girl couldn't help but ask the question that had been bothering her:

"Mr. Luo Qi, is it really alright to travel at night? Especially on such terrible roads!"

"Normally, there would definitely be a problem, but now we're in a bit of a dangerous situation." Luo Qi didn't hide his worries.

A third-tier expert was secretly observing.

No place in River Valley is considered safe, and River Valley is too small. The other party, as a local strongman, has a certain geographical advantage.

In this situation, leaving is the best option.

Only when they reach areas with more complex terrain can Luo Qi rely on a large number of his subjects to quickly grasp the terrain and environment of the area, and use the advantage of the terrain to fight his way out of powerful enemies.

This is by no means an unfounded worry.

Midnight.

Loki and Dorothy arrived at the location of the mission objective.

The goblin lair here is now littered with corpses.

All the goblins were reduced to charred remains, including two enormous elite goblins.

A red figure stood silently at the entrance to the goblin's lair. The moment the two arrived, the figure turned around and said, "A very cautious little fellow. I originally planned to meet you in town, but you avoided me. In the end, I had no choice but to take a gamble here. If you had postponed this mission for a while, perhaps you really would have avoided me."

"Lady Clocia!"

Dorothy exclaimed in surprise.

"Little Doross." The red-robed mage turned around and shook her head, saying, "I'm sorry, Grace was a bit willful; the teammates you found this time are quite good."

Luo Qi stared at the female mage in front of her.

She was extremely beautiful, with a stunning figure; her toes were almost invisible when she looked down, and she looked like a ripe peach.

I have to say, this mining card... looks pretty appealing.

It's no wonder that Grace's father was willing to take on this kind of modeling...

"Little one, you seem to be thinking about something very rude?"

The female mage slowly walked to the two of them, her crimson dress swaying with each step.

"Is it rude of me? I was merely pondering why Lady Closia volunteered to help us with the task."

"It's just a personal hobby," the female mage smiled slightly. "Don't you find the screams of goblins writhing in flames quite melodious?"

She added, "Yes, many humans are like that too."

Luo Qi stared at the beautiful woman without changing his expression. Perhaps it was the goblin's advice from the Emperor's Banner, but he was unexpectedly a little impulsive.

"I've already answered your question. Now, little one, are you interested in answering mine?"

The beautiful female mage wore a curious expression: "I could sense that if you didn't want to see me, you could have easily avoided me... You've been running all this way, so why... did you stop running?"

"Because Lady Closia was injured."

Luo Qi said.

After becoming a superhuman, he gained a clearer understanding of the wonders of the Emperor's Banner's vision. Through the Emperor's Banner's vision, one could also observe the internal core of a human being, such as the soul, flesh, and superhuman energy.

This third-tier mage appeared imposing and easily destroyed the goblin lair, but in reality, he was extremely weak.

Although Luo Qi was wary of this woman, he also felt quite confident of winning.

However, victory is one thing, but losses are another.

Luo Qi had to admit that she was being a little greedy at that moment.

If they can defeat this weakened female mage, the Emperor's Banner can then educate another third-tier mage, greatly increasing the amount of extraordinary information he can access; as for failure, the likely consequence would be the death of most of the Emperor's Banner's subjects.

When the Human Emperor Banner burns its own essence, it can carry Luo Qi to travel between different worlds.

At this moment, the banner contained a large number of subjects. Burning the essence of those subjects would allow him to move a certain distance within this world. Of course, the consumption of this burning was extremely terrifying, almost wiping out all his accumulation during this period.

Loki would not do this unless it was an emergency.

But now, it's worth taking a gamble.

"What a clever little guy."

The beautiful female mage praised her in a formulaic way.

She then asked, "Do you know where my current injury came from?"

Before Luo Qi could answer, she continued, "It was that bastard who injured it. What a pity. That goblin has grown to a very powerful level. I'm afraid it won't be long before it reaches a level comparable to a fourth-tier Breaking Army Knight."

"If I hadn't always carried a teleportation scroll with me, I probably would have been captured by that bastard and taken back to breed goblins."

"Um?"

Luo Qi was somewhat puzzled.

Is this woman so calm when talking about that goblin hero?

Can someone so readily reopen their wounds after suffering trauma? However, considering that this woman was even willing to make a treacherous deal with goblins to become stronger, her words and actions don't seem so strange now.

But this doesn't explain why there's a conflict between the two.

Of course, another possibility is that the female mage was not injured by the goblin hero at all, and she was just using it as an excuse to achieve her own goals.

"What does Lady Closia mean by telling us this?" Loki asked, frowning.

"You seem to share the same interests as me, such as killing goblins..."

The beautiful female mage said, "Moreover, just as I admire little Dorothy's talent, I have great confidence in your talent as well."

"So, are you interested in cooperating with me? Well, the cooperation involves eliminating the tribe established by that goblin hero who is entrenched in the Great Green Forest of the North Wind. This tribe directly and indirectly controls about 300,000 goblins. It's a bit difficult, but the rewards will be considerable."

"Eliminate that goblin tribe?" Luo Qi raised an eyebrow.

The content clearly suggests that this collaboration might involve a conspiracy, such as luring the two of them into a trap set by the goblin hero.

But at that moment, he inexplicably felt that this female mage really intended to destroy that hero goblin.

After all, a third-tier mage wouldn't need to go through all that trouble to kill two first-tier superhumans. She just needed to recover from her injuries and, in her prime, could easily unleash a powerful spell.

"That's right."

"You may have some information, but what you know about that goblin hero, as well as the information described in some rumors, is far from detailed. If you want to know more, you can come and find me."

The female mage pulled a scroll from her chest. "This scroll allows for a one-time remote communication with me. It also contains my addresses in Riverdale and Greenwood. Once you've made up your minds, feel free to contact me."

"Of course, if you two feel there's a problem with this scroll, you can write down the address and destroy it. However, that would make it a bit more difficult to contact me."

Before the words were even finished, the red figure gradually transformed into a ball of flame.

Luo Qi raised an eyebrow.

This speed... if a real fight broke out, it would probably catch him off guard.

"This woman clashed with the goblin tribe... to eliminate her own threat before those deadly intelligence leaks?"

In the human empire, corruption and treason are two crimes.

If this woman destroys the evidence of her betrayal of her race before being branded as a traitor, the charge will be significantly less serious.

"But this raises two questions. Does this woman know that I already know about her secret with the goblin hero from the Black Ape Mountain goblins? Also, the human empire wouldn't easily investigate a third-tier mage based on rumors told by someone of low strength. Even if she knows I know about her conspiracy, why would she be in such a hurry to eliminate that goblin hero?"

If the profits are high enough, even deadly businesses will still attract people.

Luo Qi didn't quite understand.

Is this woman really willing to cut off her source of profit like this?

"unless……"

Just as Luo Qi was still pondering, she suddenly heard the scout's voice.

"call……"

Only after the beautiful female mage had completely disappeared did the scout girl involuntarily let out a long sigh of relief.

"I never expected that Lady Closia would want to cooperate with us. It was so nerve-wracking to communicate with such a powerful senior... As expected of Mr. Loki, he can still remain so calm."

"Are you calm?" Luo Qi smiled slightly. "Didn't Miss Doross herself say that this lady is very kind and approachable? Why be nervous when communicating with such a kind and approachable person?"