Equipment Printing School Mage

After being trapped by the planet's gravity for several seconds, the giant eagle finally reacted and began to flap its wings violently, shouting, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! I am the Druid of the River Forest!"

At this time, the Tyr Church-brand polygraph below deck gave its first response.

Sig said: [This Druid is telling the truth.]

****************

The druid fell onto the white canvas in an extremely awkward manner, stumbling back into human form in mid-air.

Even so, when he stood up from the deck, cold sweat could not stop coming out of his forehead.

His first reaction upon appearing was to glance panickedly at Metatron's bow. Then, subconsciously, he took a few steps toward Emiya and shook her hand enthusiastically. "Is this Mr. Emiya from Lunya? My name is Moti, and I'm a druid of the River Forest! Archdruid of the Woods has sent me here to stay in touch with you."

【The truth.】

Emiya raised her eyebrows and calmly pulled her hands away from the druid's sweaty hands. "This is the first time I've heard that maintaining contact relies on remote surveillance."

The druid named Moti wiped the sweat off his face with his leaf sleeve. "The main reason is that there are too many ships traveling on the Chongsa River recently, so I can't confirm your identities right away..."

【The truth.】

"Okay." Emilia shook her head and decided to start guiding the topic in the direction she wanted.

"So, what do you want to know? What's the progress of our investigation into the burrowing worms in Trill?"

Moti was stunned for a moment and kept shaking his head: "No, no, no, everyone is already on board, which means that this matter has been resolved. We are not worried..."

【lie.】

"I don't think there's anything to worry about. Rather, I've always wondered what the druids' attitude is towards this matter. Diggerworms don't seem to be traditionally protected by druids." Emiya sighed. "They can't be reselling their shells, can they?"

"No, no, no!" Moti glanced at Metatron in fear, and the sweat he had just wiped off suddenly appeared again. "Please don't talk nonsense, we in Riverside Forest have never done such a thing!"

【The truth.】

Among so many struggles, only this sentence is truly valuable.

Emiya narrowed her eyes. "Are you so sure? You seem to know a lot about digging worms."

"......!" Moti's trembling voice suddenly stopped, then his eyes turned, he took a few deep breaths, and then said in a decisive tone.

"I don't understand!"

Then there was a slight commotion below deck.

【lie.】

well.

Emiya adjusted her breathing.

It seems that this gentleman is indeed a messenger sent by Woods...

But it is indeed closely related to this matter.

——Maybe he is even the devil's informant.

Forty-five heroes gather

After confirming the identity of this druid, there was no need to continue to press him.

If the druid is prepared, this handle will be useless.

Now is the time to sing in unison.

Pretend that what happened before was really a misunderstanding, and everyone will laugh it off and forget their grudges.

What each other is thinking is known only to heaven and earth.

"Were all the burrowers there slaughtered by the lich?!"

This news seemed to be good news for the druids as well. Moti widened his eyes in disbelief, and his panicked expression disappeared almost instantly, his mouth almost as big as the teeth of a diggerworm.

He immediately felt that this attitude seemed a bit excessive and forced himself to suppress his smile.

Emiya was silent for a moment, then said calmly, "Are you unhappy? If it's just about protecting the burrowing worm population, the destruction of one nest doesn't seem like a big deal. This is the result everyone should want to see."

“…Oh! Yes! Yes!”

The corners of the druid's mouth, which had been pulled down by him, suddenly rose again, making his expression become extremely stiff.

The town of Trier was much closer to Berdusk. Before Emya and the druid could talk for long, the newly built fortress for the Hell Knights came into view.

After initially confirming that Emya and her group hadn't discovered anything, Moti immediately lost interest in continuing the conversation. Trying to change the subject, he looked around and asked, "Excuse me, Archdruid Fenwy of the Sharptooth Forest...?"

Instead of answering directly, Emilia asked, "How deep of a friendship do you think we can build with Miss Fenway in just a few hours? We have no right to ask where she is."

"Sorry." Although he said this, the druid's breathing became much calmer because of this answer. "Then I will go back and report first."

"So anxious?" As she spoke, Emilia crushed the deck hard intentionally or unintentionally.

Then, with the sound of quickened footsteps, Polias Keeper of the Tyr Church also walked onto the deck.

Seeing the Bishop of the Tyr Church appear, Moti's breathing, which had just calmed down, became noticeably rapid again. He coughed lightly and immediately said, "It's urgent... The Archdruid is probably patrolling around Berdusk right now. If I linger here too long, even I won't be able to find him soon."

"Really? Then you should have contacted us earlier." After giving him a neutral retort, Emilia looked deeply at Moti, memorizing every detail of his appearance and figure in her mind, and said, "Goodbye."

"goodbye!"

Moti, practically dreading his fate, transformed back into his eagle form and soared into the air, sprinting towards Berdusk and the riverside forest. Only then did Bolias approach Aimya and say, "This man's behavior perfectly embodies all the characteristics of a guilty first-time offender."

"If I had to make an assumption, I'd guess he was the one who contacted us. He was trying to get a handle on our situation right away. But it was clear this was almost his first time doing something like this, so he was a bit immature."

"So what's your opinion?"

Bolias said with familiarity, "If we want to catch him in the act, we must not alert him. We must make him think he is safe."

"What do you think, wait?" Emilia asked.

The bishop of the Church of Tyr nodded. "If this druid is connected to the burrowing worms, he'll naturally be exposed when we clear the worm sea."

Thinking of this, Emiya's eyes rolled.

Just now, when the druid transformed and escaped, he seemed to see something strange.

When a druid transforms into an animal, their clothing changes as well. This druid was wearing a leaf robe, a common sight in the forest. At first glance, his attire seemed unremarkable. But as he fled toward the bow, preparing to transform, a metallic yellow gleam seemed to flash around his waist.

"......?" Emilia frowned.

gold?

Druids are supposed to avoid this precious metal.

It seems that we must pay more attention to this Moti.

Thinking of this, he raised his head.

This druid was in a rather miserable state when he descended from the sky... or rather, fell down.

There were many scratches on the mast of this ship.

Soon, Emilia found what he wanted - a piece of linked leaves hanging from the mast.

Emiya took a deep breath.

From someone's clothing.

This is a very important medium in divination spells.

Maybe it will come in handy in the future.

******************************

As they got closer to the Tyr camp, Emiya realized that the situation was beyond her expectations.

When they left the Tyre camp, it was still sparsely populated. There wasn't a single living soul in sight. But now, the makeshift harbor was crammed to the brim. Several more hastily constructed berths had been added to the shore—but even these makeshift harbors were overflowing with ships.

There are still several ships anchored on the wide Chongsa River. Judging from their draft, they are fully loaded with cargo - even the decks are full of people. The port is piled with cargo, and a constant stream of people are unloading the cargo from the ships.

The crowd of heads filled the entire field of vision.

Sig curled his hands into a circle, pretended to observe for a moment, and sighed: "We have to queue up for this too?"

Polias replied, "There's a rule for situations like this—set aside a port for passengers, disembark first, then queue up and allow the cargo to be unloaded slowly."

The reason why the Tyr Church ran back to Trier Town instead of going directly to Berdusk was to coordinate the transportation of Trier Town's stored grain.

The problem is that there are too many people in this camp now.

Emiya made a rough estimate and could tell that there were probably hundreds of people coming in and out of the camp.

only……

Emiya pointed to the packed port and said, "But now we have to queue even to get off the boat?"

Bolias sighed. "I'm afraid so. But for us, this is an opportunity to show off our talents."

The priests can walk on water, and Emilia's Phantom Horse can even cross mountains and seas as if it were flat ground.

They had been staying on the ship with the Tyr Church for this entire time, their main purpose being to wait for the druids to take the bait. Now that Moti had left, there was no need for them to linger any longer.

"Then, Mr. Polias, we'll go ahead."

"No problem. If you intend to continue working on the Diggerworm Tide, please be sure to stay safe."

When talking to the Church of Tyr, it is really difficult to distinguish between greetings and sincerity - or perhaps for the people of the Church of Tyr, there is no difference in itself.

***************************

"What are we going to do next?" Sig asked as he mounted the Phantom Horse and galloped through the air. "Wait for the druids to show a weakness?"

Before Emiya could answer, Yin spoke first: "-Of course, we must first find the cause of the burrowing worm outbreak here! That blood-draining ball made of hell steel is obviously not something that can be easily moved. It is a treasure that is quite precious even among demons. I guess we can only find one or two here at most. If I compare a few balls with each other, I can understand what this ball is used for!"

Furthermore, this blood-draining sphere might be the cause of this wave of insect swarms. Furthermore, since the druids seemed unprepared for the burrowing swarm, perhaps more clues remained in Berdusk, a place closer to the riverside forest.

At the same time, if this wave of insects was planned by someone - then at the source of all this, they might be able to see the devil waiting for them.

Emilia didn't think this was a bad thing - the devil in the open was always the weakest.

At this moment, Elastrid's voice entered his mind: [Ermya, how is the burrowing worm swarm in Berdusk? Do you need our help?]

Emiya thought for a moment and replied, "It's necessary. But Eltoril's situation is a little... strange. I think Banri needs attention as well."

This should be considered a polite refusal, but it is also the truth.

However, at this moment, Elaster sighed softly: "Emmya, there is a small forest on the north side of the Tyr camp. Some time ago, the Tyr Church planned to cut it down to ensure the camp's visibility. However, the sudden outbreak of the Diggerworms forced this plan to be suspended."

...?

Emiya was stunned for a moment.

Indeed, Emiya and his group were heading towards the woods.

The question is, how did Elastrid know this?

There was a small slope in the woods. Almost at the same moment, Emilia saw from afar a sturdy warrior in full armor walking up the slope.

This guy also wears the holy symbol of Mystra on his chest.

After a while, the elven female priest with the holy emblem of the Church of Tymora hanging on her chest also caught up and waved to Emilia from a distance.

???

******************

"Why are we here? Because Elturgard has mobilized for this matter! Even the Church of Oghma has moved here for this matter!"

In the makeshift camp, Mars waved his arms in annoyance. "After all, most Orthodox religions exist in settlements. With the exception of the churches of natural gods, without believers there's no point or need for them to exist! Now that the adventurers have all come to Berdusk, who would care about the Ceremony of Truth?"

"As a paladin, it would be too conspicuous for me to stay in Eltoril under such circumstances."

Elastrid said softly, "Meanwhile, the various small churches eagerly await every opportunity to rise to prominence. When faced with a major event like the burrowing worm outbreak that shakes the entire nation, the priests will only rub their hands, hoping to leave their mark on this event. Why would they stay in the capital and remain secluded?

"It would be futile for us to stay in Eltoril. The city is now empty. Every church has almost been evacuated, leaving only a handful of people in the church. Only the Church of Torm still has a considerable number of people left."

Having said this, Mars pointed behind him and said, "By the way, our reader Christine is also very interested in this matter. She has also come here, in the woods behind us.

"In fact, we're already behind on this matter. Not long ago, that guy Norwich completed the preliminary reconnaissance, determined the current edge of the burrowing worms' activity range, and reported it to the readers."

This incident was beyond Emilia's expectations.

His eyes widened. "There are only two or three people in the Norwich team right now. Where does he get his information? In just a few days, he's already identified such a large area. How did he do that?"

Mars was silent for a moment, then replied, "I don't know either."

Emiya took a breath and shook her head. "...Anyway, this isn't a bad thing for us. We have to rush into the core of the nest, and having a map is better than being in the dark."