"They are definitely not here to welcome us." Petrit said firmly, "Even the Great Elder would not be treated this way. But I roughly know why they are here. If you calculate the time..."

Geralt lowered his head and whispered to Gabor: "If we go back to Cintra, maybe we can see something like this."

"I'm looking forward to it..." Gabo lowered his head and said weakly, "But Petrit has already guessed why these brothers and sisters gathered here."

"Today is the day for the children who are traveling to return home. Their children or brothers and sisters should be back today. They hope that those children can feel the taste of home as soon as possible. After all..."

Gabo, who had traveled abroad and returned home, sighed, his voice even more tired: "The outside world is not really a 'home'."

When the dwarves reach adulthood at the age of fifty-five, they will have the opportunity to leave Mahakam for the first time since their birth, but if they do not return home within the specified time, they will be ordered not to return to Mahakam again in their lifetime.

Normally, at this time of year in previous years, dwarves who couldn't stand human society would have cried and thrown themselves to their parents, but this year...

"Something's wrong." Petrit frowned as he counted the eagerly waiting dwarves. "This should be the number of children of the Ferenz clan who reached adulthood last year. Yet, everyone is still waiting outside... None of those children have returned?"

Lann also frowned. This dwarven town was small, and the buildings were low, so he could see almost everything. But he did not see those people whose bodies stood out from the crowd.

In order to speed up the cleaning of Mahakam monsters, Lann divided his troops into three groups. The ones in charge of the Ferenz clan were Kolgrim and Milva, who also brought a Cintra cavalry. But at this moment, the "elder man" could not be found among the dwarves in the "witch's lair".

The approach of Lan and his party quickly attracted the attention of the Ferenczi clan. The eyes of the parents who were waiting for their children to return lit up for a moment, then dimmed, and suddenly became eager to try.

More dwarves shouted and ran towards the houses in the center of the town.

"Chief, there are more humans coming, and in their group there are Petrit, Gabor, Sieglin and Fuchs!"

A bald dwarf wearing a cotton jacket quickly ran out of the stone house. From his gray beard, one could tell his age. It was obvious that he was also a dwarf over a hundred years old.

But his spirit was still as strong as a furnace, and he shouted from a distance:

"Gabo! Petrit! I almost thought the snow in Mahakam had melted, but I can actually see you two appear in the same team at the same time!"

Gabo lowered his head again in a depressed mood, but Petrit quickly stepped forward and greeted the head of Ferenczi's clan politely. Then he began to introduce the identities of Lann and his group, as well as the purpose of his group.

Chief Ferenczi's expression soon became interesting. He looked at Lann as if he were a rare animal, and quickly stepped forward, holding out his right hand high.

"Ha, Lord Lannister of Cintra, I have heard of you. But I never thought that there was anyone besides me who could gain the friendship of both Sieglin and Fuchs at the same time, and even gather them into the same team. You must tell me what happened later!"

"I am Wawrzynek Ferencz, the chief of this place!"

This time, not only Gabo, but even Petrit lowered his head slightly.

Lann bowed slightly with a socially polite smile and shook hands with Vavrzynek Ferencz, introducing himself: "I am Lann of Cintra, Lann Lannister Rhaanron. I believe that Chief Vavrzynek already knows the purpose of our visit."

"Please forgive my impatience." Lann apologized slightly, "But if everything is correct, I should have sent a team here in advance to help clean up the monsters. But now I don't see them."

"I know. You are talking about the team led by the snake-eyed witcher and the girl with a longbow." When he said this, Wafzynek glanced at Geralt behind Lann. The white wolf also had similar amber vertical pupils.

"They are not here now. They are out helping. Speaking of which, this still has something to do with them."

Wafzynek said, pointing to the dwarves at the edge of the town. When Lann and his party first arrived, the parents had been gathering around them, eager to try. Seeing the chief's signal, they discussed with each other and sent a representative forward.

This is a female dwarf, a mother. She is wearing a thick cotton skirt and thick cotton pants. She looks like a cotton ball. Not only that, she also has a long beard - this is a characteristic of dwarves, both men and women have beards.

Geralt is knowledgeable and experienced, Lan has strong expression management skills, and the others have experienced a lot during this period of time, so no one showed any abnormality about the female dwarf's appearance.

However, although the appearance of a female dwarf is very different from that of a human, the mother's heart will not change.

"You are Mr. Lannister... No, Lord Lannister." The dwarves' titles were not so hierarchical, but this female dwarf forced her titles and language organization to conform to the etiquette of human society. "Mr. Colgrim and Ms. Milva often mentioned you to us."

"We have a request..."

While listening to the words of the dwarf mother, Lann understood the cause and effect.

…

According to the situation in previous years, the dwarves who were traveling outside should have returned home one after another a week ago, but this year there is still no sign of anyone.

Thinking of the recent monster riot in Mahakam, all the parents were terrified, worried that their children returning home would be attacked on the way. They asked the clan leader Vavrzynek for help, but the Ferenc clan itself was so weak that they had to ask for help from Tanshan. If they transferred more people, they might lose several mines.

Just at this time, Kolgrim and Milva led the team here.

The people of Cintra understood the purpose of their trip, and they were happy to cooperate with this action which would allow them to both wipe out the monsters and capture the dwarves of Ferenczi. So they set off after a brief rest.

This happened about five days ago.

…

"But they haven't come back yet..." When she said this, the dwarf mother wiped her eyes, "I don't know what happened..."

Lan's face turned serious.

Patriarch Wawrzynek also showed a guilty look at this time: "I'm sorry, Duke Lannister, no one could have imagined that things would develop to this extent. The Ferencz clan really can't spare any manpower."

Geralt rode his horse forward to Lann and whispered, "Lann. Will it be possible..."

White Wolf's expression was indescribably serious at this moment.

Lann took a deep breath and shook his head: "No, we have Kolgrim in the team. He is a demon hunter who can go north alone to collect the school's equipment blueprints. Even if he encounters an opponent that is difficult to defeat, he can still run away."

Doing things within one's capabilities and seeking benefits while avoiding harm are compulsory courses for every demon hunter. Not to mention a fight to the death, even the possibility of getting hurt will be avoided by the demon hunter. Geralt once said to Lann without any psychological pressure, "When faced with a dozen water ghosts, I turned around and ran."

Lann believed in Kolgrim.

and--

Lann slightly stirred up the chaotic energy in his body and activated the preparation of the [Teleport] skill. Suddenly, symbols that only he could see appeared in his sight.

Both Kolgrim and Milvak had been marked with [Teleport] by Lann, and now these marks representing their existence were still moving frequently, which did not seem like an accident - at least a big accident.

However, they were indeed a bit far away from Lan at the moment.

Lann also looked at Milva's follower panel. The health value was still on the healthy line, which was the normal loss in combat. Running around in the wild for five days and still being able to maintain such a high health value could even be said to be everything going well.

That is why Lann can be said to be the only person present who still looks relaxed.

Facing Geralt's puzzlement, Lann thought for a moment and explained, "Haven't you all been teleported by me before? I can roughly sense your location through that. And Milva is a member of my 'lion group'. I can sense her physical condition. She doesn't look like she's in danger."

Geralt showed a surprised expression, feeling a little shocked by the ancient blood.

Since the situation was not critical, Lann did not directly activate the [Teleport] skill; but the team had been out for so long and had not returned, he was a little worried, so he immediately decided not to enter the "Witch's Lair", but to change the route on the spot to meet up with his team, and he could also clear out the monsters along the way.

If Kolgrim and his companions had not encountered the dwarves who were supposed to return home, they could have gone to look for dwarves along the way and improved the favor of the Ferenczi clan.

Faced with Lann's decision, the dwarf parents who had been eagerly waiting burst into tears of excitement.

"Thank you, Mr. Lannister... no, Lord Lannister!"

The system prompt sounded at this moment:

[Discovery Mission - A Place Where You Can't Return:

According to the dwarven tradition of "traveling", all wanderers should return home early, but this year, the parents who were eagerly waiting did not see any figure. The team you originally sent to clear the monsters stepped forward to accept the commission, but it seems that they encountered troubles and could not solve them in time. Perhaps you can help the dwarves overcome the difficulties and find the children who returned to Mahakam. 】

The side quests that hadn't appeared for a long time were also updated at this time. When I was in the Fuchs clan before, the system didn't move, probably because the actions at that time were counted in the [General Cleaning] task and failed to provide unexpected gains.

…

Just as Lan was arranging his team, Helela suddenly came up to Lan.

After going through so much with the Cintra team, Layla's bravery has unknowingly surpassed Geralt's in her heart. Now it can be clearly felt that Layla's eyes are sparkling with admiration when she looks at Layla.

But this captain of Adian was very taciturn, and she was the only outsider in the team, so she had no communication with Lan En. But now she suddenly had an idea, so she took the opportunity to step forward and whispered to Chonghui:

"Lord Lannister, when we were stationed at the foot of Mount Mahakam with Queen Mevy, we heard that there were Scoia'tael in the vicinity. Is it possible..."

Kolgrim was an expert at dealing with wild monsters, and could escape unscathed even if he couldn't defeat them. But if he was ambushed by a non-human race, that was another matter, as intelligent life always knew how to deal with its own kind better than monsters.

Lann sensed the positions of the marked Kolgrim and Milva again and pondered for a moment.

"We can't rule out this possibility. If we really encounter the Scoia'tael, we will need Captain Leila's professional advice."

"You can just call me Leila!" The female captain of the Aedirn Special Forces readily agreed.

After a brief exchange, Lann did not stay any longer. After the team rested and received a lot of supplies from the eager dwarf parents, they immediately left.

With Milva in the target team, Lann was like a positioning system. With a rough target in mind, and two dwarves, Gabo and Petrit, who were extremely familiar with the surrounding environment, they quickly found traces of human habitation at the speed of everyone.

…

"Bonfire." Geralt's amber vertical pupils lit up slightly, searching for any traces that could be left here.

"It's Kolgrim, for sure. There are also Milva and the soldiers." Geralt nodded. "Besides, there are a lot of strange pheromones. They should be dwarves. There are about fifty of them. They should have found the children who returned home."

Lan looked in the direction he came from. "But this place is very close to the Witch's Lair. Even if we are riding horses and the dwarves can only walk, it will not take more than a day's journey."

Lann sensed Milva's direction and said, "But they didn't go back to their homeland which was so close. Instead, they went far away. Why?"

Lann had many guesses, but Milva was already very close to them. They would know when they met, so instead of wasting time here, they should hurry on.

The team continued to move in the direction that Lann sensed. The rare sound of horse hooves echoed in the valley, causing waves of echoes.

Suddenly, Geralt, who was at the end of the team, had his pupils shrink. He pulled the reins hard, and his left hand reflexively cast an Axe Sign to the left, shouting:

"Enemy attack!"

A giant bug broke out from under the snow and mud. It turned out to be a [Qiqimo Engineer].

These mutant bugs are like worker ants in the group, responsible for hunting. They are also cunning, knowing that when facing a large group, they should attack the end of the group. Unfortunately, they chose the experienced Geralt, and he was immediately tricked.

The Qiqimo engineer who was originally in a pounce posture was hit by a hypnotic seal. His whole body stiffened like a piece of wood in mid-air, drew a straight arc, and then crashed to the ground.

Immediately afterwards, a cone-shaped flame enveloped the Qiqimo engineer, instantly igniting its chitinous shell. The pain woke it up from its hypnosis, but unfortunately it did not have the strength to launch another attack afterwards.

Geralt turned his left hand and more [Kikimore Engineers] emerged from the ground. The bugs did not act alone, but unfortunately there were not many of them, only about six or seven at a rough count, and they were definitely no match for this cavalry team with two demon hunters and rich experience in fighting demons.

Lann didn't even have to make a move. Geralt's seal and the cavalry's bows and arrows killed all the insects.

Since they were in a hurry and had no time to perform an on-site autopsy, Lann waved his hand and put all the corpses of these strange insects into the [Item Bar]. Everyone else was already used to it, but the few new members of the team were still a little surprised.

Petrit suddenly felt emotional, but it was not because of the ability that Lann suddenly displayed.

"If it were normal, there would definitely not be so many monsters around the Ferenz Clan - in fact, every year during the 'spring cleanup', the Ferenz Clan is responsible for supporting other clans. It is rare for them to not only be unable to solve their own problems, but also need to seek help from Tanshan like this year."

"Let me guess—because of the dragon?"

Petrit nodded.

This topic immediately attracted the attention of Saskia in the team: "So is there something wrong with the dragon this year?"

Petrit nodded, then shook his head. He said, "The residence of the Ferenz clan is very close to the red dragon. The red dragon's lair is just up the hill to the north of the [Witch's Lair]. Ferenz has been responsible for offering sacrifices to the dragon, keeping the red dragon and the dwarves in peace. He also hired the red dragon to eliminate monsters more often, as a 'exercise'."