Chapter 618: Folklore Investigation of Fort Midhill
The gunfire came from directly above the hotel, and judging from the clarity of the sound, its source was not the nearest second floor, but more likely from the farthest fourth floor.
"Oh, damn it!"
The captain cursed quietly, packed up his playing cards and apologized to Shade, and then walked to the counter on the first floor with Lieutenant Hoyle. Apparently he wanted to go upstairs to check the situation with the hotel manager. The local police were there
Before arriving, they, wearing the uniforms of Delrayon officers, needed to maintain the scene and check whether there were injured people who could be rescued.
The guests on the first floor paid their bills silently and left from the door, for fear of being involved in trouble. But Shade neither followed the two officers upstairs, nor left with most of the people.
He stood up and ordered two glasses of low-alcohol cider from the waiter who replaced the bearded store manager. Then he held the wine glass and sat opposite the bard in the corner, pushing one of the glasses to him.
Although the kingdom prohibits the brewing of private wine, small-scale fruit wine making like this in large hotels is allowed. These two cups of cider were brewed from the apples harvested in the first season of the Sikal Mountain this summer. Although they are not as good as those in large hotels
Winery wine, but at least it’s cheap.
There was a shooting upstairs, and the bard could not continue to perform. But leaving now meant that he would not be able to obtain other income today, so the poet huddled in the corner and waited. Seeing Shade sitting across from him, he even gave him a hand
After giving him a glass of wine, the poet also recognized Shade as the man who just threw out two one-shilling silver coins:
"Thanks."
He said cautiously, not knowing what the young man in front of him wanted to do.
"You know many ancient legends about Midhill Fort and the Sikal Mountains?"
Shade asked.
"Yes."
The poet nodded cautiously.
"Since you can't perform now, why not tell me these stories. I can pay for your drinks this afternoon."
Although Shade didn't mention thanking the other person in cash, it was nice to be able to buy a drink for free on this afternoon when business was obviously not going to be done.
"No problem, you want to know more"
Bang!
Suddenly there was another gunshot upstairs. Although it was two floors away, Shade could hear that it was different from the gunshot just now.
The poet was startled, but Shade didn't care very much. Even if the ring warlock wanted to kill someone with a gun, he would use a silence spell or something to silence the sound of the gun, so what happened upstairs must have nothing to do with the ring warlock.
"I want to know how many local beliefs there are here, that is, the esoteric religion that is only spread in Midhill Fort."
Shade had learned similar information from the information provided by the spiritual cult, but he still wanted to ask again from the perspective of an ordinary person.
"I definitely don't know as many local esoteric cults as the Zhengshen Church, but there are quite a few that are spread in private."
When the poet saw that Shade was not afraid of gunfire, he became bolder:
"There are no local legends about evil gods."
At the mention of "Evil God", he shrank subconsciously and looked towards the stairs leading to the second floor. A few of the guests who had not left were sitting in their original positions, while the rest gathered at the stairs to watch the fun.
"But there are some special beliefs. The legendary old gods [Twin Gods] are said to have stayed here, so local residents generally believe that the twins have special spirituality."
"This is also said in other places."
Shade nodded, but the sect of the [Twin Gods] was destroyed long ago. The [Spiritual Cult] took root here and clearly recorded the disappearance of the old sect, so there is no need to worry.
He and the poet talked a few words about the special nature of "twins", which extended to some local customs. During this period, two police officers patrolling nearby hurried over, one ran up the stairs under the guidance of the good guy, and the other
One blew the police whistle to find help.
Two streets away is the train station of Fort Midhill. There are not only many police officers nearby, but also an infantry company. Of course, the current situation does not require the help of the garrison.
"In addition to the old gods, there are also some special local beliefs."
The poet took a sip of cider and pointed in the direction of Mount Sikal:
"In addition, the local people have a very traditional worship of mountains."
"It is understandable that it is natural to rely on the mountains and eat the mountains, and then to worship the Sikal Mountains that nurtured the city."
Xia De nodded, and the poet took a while to understand Xia De's rigid translation of "the mountain depends on the mountain" before he finally understood:
"Yes, before Fort Midhill became the front line between the two countries, it was a very small town. At that time, there was no steam industry today. People made a living by hunting for local lords and tending orchards, thus forming a
This kind of localized belief began to exist. But with the advent of the steam age, this original belief itself gradually disappeared, and now it can only be seen in the books of some folklorists."
The extinct primitive nature worship mentioned by the bard is not mentioned in the materials of the spiritual sect. Perhaps the sect believes that this kind of history has little significance.
"It's fun to worship mountains. Did you know that Mount Sikal is an extinct volcano?"
Shade asked suddenly. The poet took a sip of cider and nodded:
"Of course, since we are talking about extinct volcanoes, we must also mention another traditional natural belief. In fact, there is a local tradition of worshiping fire."
"Fire worship?"
A police sergeant with a star on his shoulder, two senior police officers and a group of ordinary police officers, hurriedly ran in from the hotel door, with two doctors carrying medicine boxes in the middle. Two police officers were left behind.
The guard at the building and others rushed up the stairs. But after the second gunshot, no more gunshots were heard for a long time, thinking that the matter was over.
"Is this tradition of fire worship a natural worship, or is it a legend that a great man with the power of fire once appeared here?"
Shade asked curiously, waving to the waiter, asking the bard who had already drank all the cider to order some more drinks. While the poet was talking to the waiter, Shade also took a sip of the glass of cider in front of him.
The taste of alcohol in it was lighter than any wine he had ever drunk, and it was basically the same as fruit juice.
And when he saw the fruit wine, he somehow remembered yesterday's dinner again.
"Midhill Fort's fire worship tradition is also quite ancient. Although in the contemporary era dominated by the Five Gods Church, large-scale sacrificial activities are no longer seen, but it can be known from those traditional stories that the local people of Midhill Fort
A special festival, the Fire Worship Festival in autumn originated from this."
Shade has also heard of local special festivals, but the mainstream modern theory is that they are praying for dry autumn to prevent forest fires. After all, autumn is the most important season for logging, hunting, and fruit and vegetable picking.
He pondered and asked the poet these things, just to see if he could get divinity in Fort Midhill like he did in Coldwater Port. But obviously, the situation of faith in this inland city was worse than he thought.
It's much more complicated.
"Moreover, there is a saying that this natural worship of fire that has been passed down since ancient times has been absorbed by the Church of Nature."
The poet lowered his voice, knowing that it was best not to be heard by a third person:
"However, if you want to know more about these things, you can ask Mr. Thales, the owner of this hotel. Although he is a believer in the God of Nature [Lord of All Things], he worships flames very much."
"clear."
Shade nodded.
At this time, footsteps were heard again at the top of the stairs. It was the innkeeper who came to the first floor to get the account book, followed by a policeman with a gun.
"It looks like someone is really dead."
The poet who had known the bearded boss for many years shook his head:
"If someone dies in the hotel, it will seriously affect the business."
The waiter brought a new glass of wine to the poet. He was probably looking forward to performing normally in the evening, so he just ordered a glass of ale with low alcohol content.
Shade paid for the second drink:
"Gemini worship, mountain worship, fire worship, this place is really interesting and may provide more inspiration for my new book."
He said this deliberately.
"Are you a writer?"
The poet asked curiously, and Shade nodded:
"Unknown writer, do you know the "Hamilton Detective Stories" serialized in "Steambird Daily"? I want to imitate this kind of detective novel and write a new book, and I am currently collecting materials."
"Of course I know. This can almost be called the most popular story in Delrayon this autumn. "Steambird Daily" is only published around Tobesk and in the central and western parts of the kingdom, but because of this serialized story, even if
In the Fort Midhill area, you can now find places selling expired copies of the Steambird Daily."
When it comes to detective stories, The Bard has a lot to talk about:
"I also ordered a copy of the Steambird Daily from the local post office. Unfortunately, it is copyrighted, otherwise I really wanted to adapt the story of Detective Hamilton into poetry. What a coincidence, the ultimate winner of the Big City player, the
The knight of Rejed also has the surname Hamilton."
He failed to successfully connect the two.
Footsteps were heard again at the top of the stairs. A senior police officer came down from the stairs and called the names of the two male waiters on the first floor. The latter followed the police upstairs in a panic.
"The taller one was responsible for checking the corridor windows on the fourth floor last night, and complained to Thales about the air leakage from the windows. The other one was responsible for helping the guests on the upper floors carry their luggage."
The poet told Shade that he was very familiar with the situation here.
"Is this the beginning of the interrogation process? I don't know if anyone has died because of this."
Shade said softly, and then asked:
"Besides twin worship and fire worship, are there any other localized beliefs?"
There seems to be no evil belief in the local area, or poets dare not talk about it, so Shade can only explore these more folkloric things.