There have been a succession of "great events" in the City of Prudence in recent times, which

have simply dazzled all the inhabitants. Even the thousand-year-old dark elves are exclaiming.

Especially when Brisha appeared in the spider Temple with his own sacrifices, all eyes turned

to this powerful mother. Each house will have to show humility to them -- this is the new First

House, and this is the new leader of the city of Prudence.

Brisha looked at the dark elves prostrate at her feet, and rejoicedthat what she had fought for

had been achieved. In the temple of spiders, all but the matriarchs of the other families were

forced to bow before her -- whether or not that worship came from their hearts.

The shining stone on the Black Crystal Tower changed color again and caught Brisha's eye.

There, too, was a character who made her restless. The human sorcerer is a scourge, who,

ever since he arrived at the city of Prudence, has turned the otherwise peaceful world into a

stew. Even the mighty house of Batana was slowly corrupted and destroyed by him, and

several of his own children died under the man's spell, and to keep him would have brought

more calamities to Kappa.

"At the end of the ceremony, you will be the first obstacle I remove!" Brisha tossed his cloak

and walked proudly into the temple.

And under the tower of the Crystal, Vincent was not idle. After making sure that no one was

watching, he took all his friends to the Black Crystal Tower.

Phelps Littlefinger burst into tears in Vincent's arms and apologized to him. "It was my running

around that got you into the Dark..."

"Well, Phelps, it doesn't matter. Even if you weren't here, I'd come to Dark Elf City. Don't cry.

' Vincent said to the Halfling, "This is not the time to relax. We are still in the middle of

Prudence City."

"All right, all right, I get it." Phelps wiped his eyes and jumped out of Vincent's arms. He went

to his desk and took out a map in his knapsack. 'Now tell us the way out of here, the line.'

'That's right. Tears are just a cover for cowards. It's all right now.' Shelley hadn't taken her

hand off the hilt of the sword since she saw the crowd before her. "I thought you were just

going to cry. But now you're a pretty good halfling."

Littlefinger looked at Shelley and then at Vincent. He thought for a second and said nothing

more. Pointing to the brand new map, he said, "I stole this from the underground union and

secretly copied it. Then I combined the routes of the subterranean Halfling caravans and

checked them against the Dark Elf map. There should be no problem with this map. Now we

have several options in front of us." He was not accustomed to so many words at once. He

coughed hard and continued, "There are two ways to the surface. One is through the city of

Bribando and then to the dwarven quarters of the Ridge Mountains. Ahem! From there we

go up to the bottom. It's a longer way, and very dangerous, cough! Akh akh! The road passes

through the gathering places of underground beasts."

Then Littlefinger coughed violently. Vincent quickly brought him a glass of water and patted

him on the back. "Don't be too forced. Have a rest first. Let me take a look at this map."

The Halfling said hoarsely, "Thanks... But still, it's me..."

Vincent waved his hand to stop him. He walked quickly to the map, studied it carefully for a

moment, and quickly found Littlefinger's route. Although there was a red line between the

city of Prudence and the Ridge Mountains, Vincent, recalling the data he had seen in the

Blackcrystal Tower, found it impossible to follow.

"It's..." Vincent had barely finished a word when Littlefinger winked at him. Vincent frowned

and returned his eyes to the map. The new ink clearly shows the face of the underground

world. "Brand new ink? Vincent suddenly understood Littlefinger's plan. He knew that the

Halfling had been ready to leave the city long ago, even before Vincent arrived at Prudence,

and that he would have had the map by then. Littlefinger would have left the Underdark long

ago if it had not been for Vincent's protection and his vigilance against the underground

Unionists. Then he wouldn't need an updated map at all -- definitely not this new. The only

explanation is that the map was redrawn for some purpose, or even altered to blot out some

important parts.

"Is there a mole among us? Vincent thought about it, and it seemed strange. Phelps, Mark

and Hardy he knew enough to rule them out; Shelley, whose family has all disappeared,

cannot exist in the Dark Elf world as a hybrid and is unlikely to sell herself; Angel Sokka, who

probably doesn't even know what it means to sell herself, doesn't appear on Vincent's list of

suspects. So who could it be?

Vincent thought for a moment and returned his eyes to the map. After a while, he rolled up

the map and said to the others, "The other way is even less safe. I have decided to take the

first route that Littlefinger gave me."

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Phelps was visibly relieved, and he drank hard to regain his ability to speak as soon as possible.

'Master, I beg to differ,' he said. Pastor Joe said, "I've heard that dark elves sometimes go to

the ground to slaughter elves. Such missions don't usually get very far from here. Why not go

that way? That way, you'll get the best reception in Elf country when you get out."

'Do you mean we're not as well served as the elves? Joe?" Gunla the Dwarf had just snorted:

"I can't even eat a piece of meat with the elves, let alone a big bowl of liquor. There's nothing

there but the nasty grass and twigs!"

Vincent motioned for silence. 'This is not the time for discussion. Time itself is against us.

Discussion can only waste our opportunity. That road leads to the Dark Elf Slaughter Squad,

so I'm not going there." Then he tapped his staff on the ground. "I am not asking for advice,

I am making a decision. If there is anything else we need to prepare for, the shining stone will

soon indicate night, and then we will set out."

Vincent walked up to the second floor of the Crystal Tower with Shelley close behind him.

"I don't believe them," he said. When she and Vincent were alone, Shelley said, "You're the

only person I can trust. Vincent, what are you going to do?"

'Nothing at all.' Vincent smiled at Shelley. "Even if I am alone, I can leave the Underdark." He

looked at the celestial lineage before him and whispered, "Shelley, why don't you leave now

that the Tracing Array is gone? No one can spy on you anymore."

'What, you don't want to take me to the surface? Shelley said, "Come on, I could tell by your

face that you were joking. Don't try me, I'll follow you."

'I haven't got anywhere to go anyway...' Shelley continued. "The fact that you're not going to

the Elves means you're not going to leave me behind. Because I'm the only one who'll get in

trouble there, aren't I?"

"That, I don't want to say more about." Vincent continued his climb up the tower. 'Do you

need a new weapon, or the thin sword I repaired for you?'

'This sword will be enough.' Shelley did not follow the Master. She looked quietly after Vincent.

She stood silently for a moment, then returned to the first floor.

Here, everyone was preparing for the evening in their own way. Hardy and Mep arm-wrestle,

but the angel Sokka scratches Hardy's armpit, giving the Orcs an easy victory; Gunlagon was

alone in the corner polishing his axe, grumbling; Littlefinger Phelps and his halfling companion

Willem were not together. Instead, they were at opposite ends of the room, jealously guarding

their bags and watching each other's movements.

While the dwarf sat nearby, he needed to double-check if anything was missing. His heart

was full of excitement to be leaving this place at last. This trip with Vincent and Hardy had

taught him a great deal, especially since he had collected so many beautiful things that it was

definitely worth it.

"Perhaps I should go home and show my uncle the good things, too." Mark thought, "Yes, I

should talk to Vincent about it some time."

Vincent was alone at the top of the Crystal Tower. He was the only one who could get up

there. He held up a map of the Dark Elves kept in the tower and compared it with the Halfling

map. The Halfling must have mapped out a suitable path, but the key now was when to decide

whether the party itself was in danger, and where to take the right path.

The giant metal ball floats quietly around Vincent. Nothing had happened to the ball since

the murder of the Drow mage. Vincent has been studying the use of the metal ball ever since

he found the Trace Array from below. But even among the Dark Elves, there is no record of

it.

The mage sighed, closed the map, and took one last look at the room. There were many

magical items collected by the dark Elves, but they were a burden and a nuisance to those

who were leaving the earth. Vincent stroked the surface of the iron ball with both hands, and

finally gave up trying to knock it open. It is absolutely impossible to understand the true

structure of this object without looking inside it.

He took his staff of power and walked down the tower. The shining stone on the Blackcrystal

tower reminded him that it was time to go.

All the men were ready. Even little Sokka understood the importance of his journey and was

ready to go.

"Come on, let's get out of here now." Vincent walked over to Phelps and gave him the map

back. "Littlefinger, lead the way."

The party left the Blackcrystal with no attachment to the place in their hearts. The city of

Prudence had never been their paradise.

While the Tower watched their departure, the rest of the city's dark elves were watching the

celebration of Brisha's accession as First Mistress. Beneath the shining stone, however, the

metal ball slowly began to melt, the hard shell gradually returning to liquid form, and silver

words kept emerging from the surface of the ball. Unfortunately, Vincent never had a chance

to see this.