William tilted his head and thought for a while, then said: "Maybe... was attacked? First use a catapult to throw oil, and then use a flaming catapult to hit the surface of the castle?"

Ai Luo finally shook his head: "The geographical location of Swan Castle inherently determines that it can only be used to supervise the mines, and there is no possibility of war. Moreover, this is the border of the empire, and beyond it is the Everlasting Mountains, which are barren of grass.

, who will come here to attack?... Could this be arson from inside?"

Coco on the side was stunned for a moment: "Arson? Did someone burn this castle? Who?"

Arrow shook his head: "I don't know, but the fire must have been very big at that time. And the arsonist must have carefully planned it, and he must have covered the entire castle in flames before giving up."

Brad: "President, even if it is true, it was hundreds of years ago, right?"

Ai Luo: "Yeah... that's right. After all, it was an arson case hundreds of years ago. It's not even an old case. Gee, keep talking."

Cream nodded, then pointed to several points in the castle and said: "Generally speaking, there are three ways to enter the castle, here, here and here. But for some reason, the two entrances and exits here are blocked by huge rocks.

, and it was sealed for a long time. I guess it was during the same period as the arson case? I still think this should be a war. Someone deliberately sealed the entrance and exit of the castle with stones and then set fire to it, just to prevent the people inside from escaping.

."

Aero didn't reply, he just continued to listen while thinking.

"Then it's about those two soldiers."

Speaking of this, Cream's tone became a little more solemn. Just from this tone, Arrow could tell that it didn't seem to be good news——

"I found a few footprints on the mud in front of the only entrance. The weather during the past two days was very dry, there was no wind, and there was no rain, so the footprints were well preserved. But these footprints seemed a bit deep.

, it seems that they stepped on it at night when there was more dew. Therefore, I guess they entered the castle at night."

"Then...I didn't see any footprints coming out of it. Of course, I also hope that the two soldiers walked out during the day and left on the grassy ground, so they didn't leave any footprints. Hmm...

…That’s all I can hope for.”

It looks really bad and bad...

From an emotional point of view, Ai Luo really hopes that these two warriors can leave safely. At least he does not have to be the last person to see them. And from a rational point of view, if they can leave safely, it means that this commission is just

It was just a misunderstanding. I just sent Cream out for a day and ran a few more steps. Everything was fine.

However, judging from the current situation, this situation is really not very good.

"In addition, I also discovered something about the monsters living inside."

Following Ji Lian's last words, Ai Luo finally raised his head and exhaled helplessly.

With that said, Cream took out a drawing and opened it again. His drawing skills were even worse than Arrow's, but at least he expressed it clearly.

It was an insect-like monster in the form of a spider but with a green body. Airl had seen this kind of thing in a museum book before. Because of its terrifying appearance and ferocious personality, Airl remembered it deeply.

"I tried to go into the castle to investigate, but after walking less than ten meters, the sunlight outside could not reach the inside at all. It was like darkness inside and I couldn't see my fingers. But I soon realized that

Something ran towards me, and I quickly turned around and ran, rushing out of the castle as soon as possible. When I turned around to look, I found this green-skinned spider that was almost bigger than me facing me.

I bared my teeth and claws. At that time, I was ready to use the Shadow Ring to escape, but I didn't expect that this spider retreated after touching the sunlight. It seemed that it really didn't like the light."

"That's the poisonous spider."

After Jilian finished all his investigative information, Ai Luo finally came to his own conclusion.

He looked at the drawings, then looked at the topographic map of the castle, sighed with regret, and said -

"I have seen this kind of monster in the museum's illustrated book, but the records about it are not very detailed. I can only say that it is a monster with a huge body shape, and the venom secreted in the body can kill it in a very short time.

A cow has completely corroded into a monster of thick water."

Ai Luo pinched his chin, thought for a while and then continued: "There are not many records about other aspects. The illustrated book doesn't even say that this kind of spider likes dark and narrow passages, let alone being afraid of the sun. But it's not necessarily true, maybe.

Is this another kind of spider monster? Well, now we can only infer from this state."

William exhaled, straightened up, and looked at Ai Luo seriously: "President, do we really want to explore this ancient castle? Do you think we have the ability to deal with this spider? No,

Judging from my experience, since there are spiders at the gate, there may be more spiders inside the castle. Do you think our guild is strong enough to challenge this five-gold-coin job?"

Ji Lian is not being alarmist.

Arrow glanced at Coco, Brad, and Buffy next to him, and finally looked at Cream.

In general, the strength of our guild is quite weak. If those spiders are really the poisonous spiders recorded in the literature, is our guild going in to get money? Or to die? It's uncertain.

He frowned and thought, trying to search deep in his memory to see if there was any place in the illustrated book that detailed the weaknesses of this spider...

Unfortunately, there really isn't.

At this time, he felt a little helpless. He originally thought that the school library had a complete set of books, but now it seemed that there was more than just a tiny bit missing.

"Then let me summarize it first."

It's not good to remain in a stalemate like this without speaking. Ai Luo coughed slightly and said -

"In order to explore this castle, we have now encountered the rotten poisonous spiders entrenched in it. Insect-like monsters usually live in groups, so it is conceivable that there must be a large number of rotten poisonous spiders in this castle. Therefore, in front of us,

The following four problems arise.”

"First, the venom of the rotten poisonous spider. If you are bitten by this kind of spider, if you don't inject a special antidote immediately, you will probably have to wait for death. And the special antidote... It's a pity that we don't have it now.

The poisonous spider venom sample cannot be produced. And our magicians have not yet been able to learn this knowledge."

As Aero said, he glanced at Napa who was lying over there. The cat was still lying so comfortably on the cushion, with its belly exposed and purring.

"Second, there is the issue of lighting. Through Jilian's early exploration, we at least know that these spiders hate light. But this does not mean that they are afraid of the sun. It should be said that they prefer to stay in dark places.

More correct. If we really want to explore this castle, we must prepare sufficient light sources. However, if we prepare sufficient light sources and these spiders temporarily retreat and cannot see us, then we will not be able to destroy them. Therefore, we may have to

Fight them in a dark environment."

"Third, the spider web. The silk of the poisonous spider is very sticky. We still don't know the internal structure of the castle. If we rush in rashly, we are likely to fall into a spider silk trap. Then we will

Unable to move, this situation is like waiting to die."

"Then, there is the last item. I am afraid that our strength level is not enough to wipe out the rotten poisonous spiders all the way. With one or two, we may still be able to find a way. But if we are facing an entire castle of rotten poisonous spiders,

, then if we really break in directly, then we will wait to die."

Ai Luo's analysis was clear and logical, but the more he listened, the more gloomy the expressions on the faces of his guild members became.

Isn't it? It's natural for anyone to have a timid look on their face when facing an opponent they can't challenge. The reason why all the previous tasks were able to be completed is because the goddess of luck really favored the song of the mermaid, not

The strength of these guys only reaches this level.

"Then... what should we do? Shouldn't we do this task?"

Coco looked a little helpless, and her eyes were filled with the color of giving up.

Ai Luo nodded, completely agreeing with Coco's judgment: "Of course, if we are really required to enter the castle and kill all the way up, clearing all the poisonous spiders and spider web traps, this requirement is really too high.

Don't forget, we are adventurers, not dead soldiers. The situation where a small team enters from the bottom and defeats enemies many times their own without any loss, and is able to successfully complete the mission in the end is just that.

According to the legend, the reality is that all of us adventurers must take a clear look at our own status and not rush forward, do you understand?"

Coco nodded and sighed.

Brad also shrugged his shoulders now and came forward to clear away the drawings on the table.

But the moment he stretched out his hand, Ji Lian suddenly took a picture of the drawings, turned his head, and looked at his president with a sneer on his face——

"President Arrow, although I have not known you for a long time. But... I am very sure that you are a person who only knows how to squeeze your employees, and then your mind is full of money, and you will do all kinds of evil things for the sake of money.

The crooked and profiteer president. Want you to give up these five gold coins? Haha, this is not like your style."

Arrow, smiled.

He laughed because there was finally someone in his guild who had some brains, so that he would at least not be so tired. But in other words, such guild members who are too brainy and always have their own little thoughts need to be strictly managed by themselves.

ah.

"Haha, you are right. In a head-to-head confrontation, we are certainly no match for these poisonous spiders. The four points I just mentioned are all difficulties we may encounter after entering the castle. So..."

"Isn't it okay if we don't enter the castle?"

Ai Luo's suggestion made all the members stunned, including Cream.

Brad rubbed the back of his head: "If you don't enter the castle? How are we going to solve the monster problem in the castle if we don't enter the castle?"

There was a ding sound, and a gold coin flicked into the air with Airo's finger.

He stretched out his hand, held the gold coin shining in mid-air firmly in his palm, and showed it to all his guild members——

"Use money."

"The risk-taking ability of an adventurer is generally determined by the strength of the guild's logistics support capabilities. As long as you can spend enough money, there is no task in this world that cannot be completed. Haha, of course, you must also pay attention to the cost.

"

This was even more confusing for everyone. Buffy flew over and stared at the shining gold coin for a long time, and said with confusion: "Gold coin? What? Smash it?"

Ai Luo put away the gold coins and said to everyone: "Let's take a rest today. Starting tomorrow, we will go out to find some townspeople and hire them to go to Shining Forest with us to cut wood. Cut more, and spring will come after winter.

This will allow more buds to grow. After that..."

"Let's go burn Swan Castle again."

——October 9, 1301, food expenses: -1 silver, 2 copper, 6 iron, sundries commission: 1 silver, 5 copper, money laundering: 2 gold, training room decoration: -3 gold, Swan Castle commission: 5 gold, balance
Chapter completed!