Part Two: The Human World Chapter Fifty-Three: It Looks Like an Old Man Comes
Not long after the mysterious pagan murder of the imperial envoy more than half a year ago, a logging team at Airy's lumberyard suddenly discovered a strange forest while looking for good wood.
This is an ancient forest, and the trees inside are all ancient trees that easily require dozens of people to hug them. The most experienced lumberjack in the felling team immediately went to chop a few axes and checked, and found that the material of these ancient trees was
It was surprisingly good. In his decades of experience in dismembering countless trees, he had never seen such good wood. It is said that he once praised the wood, it was as delicate and spiritual as human flesh and blood.
Timber can definitely be sold at a high price. Such a forest that can't be seen to the end is definitely as valuable as a huge gold mine.
But this forest is really weird. There are almost no birds, animals, insects, or ants in it. It seems unusually quiet. A vague and terrifying atmosphere makes everyone a little scared. They only dare to wander around the edge, not daring to
They explored the silent depths. But inspired by the excitement of discovering such a treasure, they left a few people to camp at the edge of the forest while others went back to report.
The owners of the lumber yard immediately became excited after seeing the pieces of wood they brought back, and set out to see for themselves. They did not see any workers left behind on the edge of the forest, and they could not even find the tree with traces of their felling.
They arrived. No matter how they shouted in the dark woods, no one responded. It wasn't until someone smelled the smell of blood emanating from their feet and took out a candle to look carefully that the traces of these colleagues were discovered. They had been crushed and flattened by something.
The shattered and deformed corpse was pressed as tightly as squeezing bean dregs by some huge pressure, so people who stepped on it would have the solid touch of the ground without noticing it.
This terrifying scene immediately caused panic. However, after a while of panic, it seemed that they could not find out what was going on. No one was willing to explore the depths of the forest.
Someone rode a horse and ran around the woods and found that the woods were very huge. So some people began to think it was incredible: such a huge forest seemed to have never been discovered before. How is this possible? And the bodies of those workers
It was even more eerie, and everyone felt the aura exuding in the silent forest. But no matter what, there was no doubt that the countless trees in front of them could be exchanged for gold coins. Putting aside their fear for the time being, the lumberyard owners began to
They were very excited about this huge timber origin. The illusory and hazy sense of mysterious danger immediately seemed so insignificant compared with the benefits that were within reach. Besides, they didn't need to do it themselves, so under the lumber yard owner's
Under the command, a large number of workers came to the edge of this new virgin land and started work.
In the first few days, many ancient trees on the outskirts were cut down. Such high-quality timber was immediately popular on the trading floor and sold for unexpectedly high prices. The powerful motivation of the high price made the farm owners order workers to go directly to the woods.
They set up camp and tools and prepared to cut down trees day and night. But one day, people outside the forest heard a series of strange noises and shouts coming from inside. Then when the people outside gathered enough courage and numbers to go in,
It was discovered that all the people inside were turned into flat corpses like rats that had been run over countless times by wheels on the street, just like the workers who had stayed behind a few days ago.
After the news spread, it attracted local elders. They said that this forest that had not been discovered before did indeed exist. According to ancient legends, there is a forest god in this forest. Those who offend the divine power will die in this way. Weird rumors
Coming from the mouth of the old man, it was even more intimidating. With the hundreds of lives lost, no matter how much the lumberyard owner urged and ordered, no workers would dare to enter the woods this time.
But even if the power of God can scare the common people, it cannot scare away the rich people who are eager for gold coins. The allure of gold coins is rarely matched by illusory legends. The wood farm owners firmly believe that there is something strange lurking in the forest.
Beasts, so they gathered a team of many magicians and entered the depths of the forest, preparing to break these vulgar superstitions with a practical spirit of exploration. However, this extraordinary courage did not have the expected effect. One person who entered the depths of the forest
He didn't even come back, he was quietly swallowed up by this mysterious forest.
Such a weird place attracted the attention of some people who did not believe in the church and were looking for new beliefs. The awe-inspiring nature of this forest just at a glance suited the taste of these mystics. They established
They formed a pagan cult called the God of Nature, imitating the Druids in ancient legends, wanting to worship nature and become one with nature and transcend the mundane world. Relying on the mysterious and strange charm of this forest, this cult gradually
The number of the group increased rapidly. Even small pagan groups came here to change their teachings and join the majesty of this truly shocking forest.
This kind of behavior is naturally not allowed by the church. Moreover, most of the lumber yards in Airy are owned by the Erni family. Naturally, the pressure on the local officials is not small. As a result, the conflict between the God of Nature and the official army has continued.
continues.
The turning point came more than a month ago. The local army and the church gathered nearly a thousand troops to disperse the pagans and then stationed themselves on the grass outside the forest, preparing to completely clear out the forest where the paganism originated and remove all the pagans from it.
The beasts were driven to an end. But the next day, the believers of the God of Nature who returned for reconnaissance found that only the mutilated corpses of those troops were left on the ground, and dozens of huge stone statues that they had never seen before were standing on the grass outside the forest.
Above. There are these stone statues every tens of meters, and they all form a semicircular fan shape in a half-kneeling posture towards the forest.
This strange event was regarded as a natural miracle by the gods of nature. Those huge stone statues were undoubtedly created by their gods with divine power to protect the forest. They used this as an explanation that the gods they believed in did exist and were better than the church.
There is a reason why God is more powerful. Living facts are always more convincing than any profound and wise theological theories and philosophical principles. Since then, the number and power of the God of Nature has begun to increase dramatically, and now it has almost reached 40,000 to 50,000.
Well deserved to be the worst pagan scourge of the empire..
"Four to fifty thousand?" Asa was immediately dumbfounded after hearing the magistrate's words. Rodhart was also quite surprised. Although they found that the situation in the city was not quite right when they came, they did not expect that
It will be like this. You must know that even the population of the entire Airy region is only 70,000 or 80,000. It can almost be said that the entire Airy region has become the territory of the God of Nature.
The local magistrate screamed with a bitter face: "There is no way. When I sent the urgent report to the royal capital, there were not so many. In the past month, the number of pagans has increased faster than cockroaches. Not only the local villagers, but also the number of pagans seems to have increased."
Many people came from other places to participate.”
The local magistrate who succeeded Daute after he was killed was a thin man, which was a rare exception among officials. His thin face had been wrinkled into a bitter line. "My lords, I really
I have tried my best. You have also seen that this is a cathedral that cost a huge amount of money to build, but those unruly people just do not believe in our God. When I first started, I could also strictly arrest those people who tended to adhere to paganism.
But later, the number of pagans was dozens of times greater than the city's military strength. Instead, they threatened me and asked me to release those people. In the end, I had to use all my troops on city defense. Fortunately, the pagans only
Indulging in their own tricks, they never thought of attacking the city. But they first destroyed the lumber yard, then occupied many villages, and when they threatened to release me, they also destroyed the city hall. Now almost the entire production of Airy
and work have come to a standstill." Probably thinking that his official career would probably end here because of these bad luck, his face turned green and he looked more and more bitter. "Two adults, please think of a way, I really
I have tried my best.”
The situation was far more serious than imagined, and the two men walked out of the cathedral with gloomy faces. The troops were stationed outside the city. For the convenience of movement, and because some things could not be known, they did not bring any followers.
This church was built by the previous unlucky local magistrate Fat Pig Dot who was turned into a mummy by Vidnina. It was built by imposing taxes. The last time Asa came here, it was only half-finished. The rest of the construction is now
It was completed by the men of this bitter melon. This is a gorgeous and magnificent church that is not much worse than the cathedral of the Magic Academy. It still lacks no majesty and solemnity, but it is obvious that it has no practical effect. Under the current situation
It has been reduced to the office of the local magistrate who lost his city hall.
Asa shook his head and sighed and said: "Instead of spending so much money to repair such a useless thing, it is better to save the money and give everyone a few silver coins to cheer up. I believe that the believers of the God of Nature will never
How many will there be?"
Rodhart asked: "Bishop Ronis said that you should know the situation in that forest very well. Why on earth are so many pagans gathered?"
"I don't know what's going on." Asa shook his head. Judging from what the magistrate said, the workers who died in the Whispering Forest seemed to be the hands of the Deadwood Guards. But that was all he could see.
As for how the shocking power of the Sunwell Barrier, which originally made people so awe-inspiring that they dared not face it or even remember it, weakened and disappeared, and what happened to those inexplicable stone statues. He couldn't understand these things. After thinking about it,
, Asa decided: "It's better to find those who have seen it with their own eyes and ask."
The lumberyard outside the city had been torn into pieces by the pagans of the God of Nature. The two came to the lumberyard's office in the city. Several lumberyard owners heard that the imperial minister had arrived and hurriedly greeted him. Rodhart asked for wood.
The owners called the workers who had witnessed these things for questioning.
Naturally, the owner of the timber yard immediately complied and said that their big boss behind the scenes had just arrived from the royal capital and wanted to invite him to come out and meet with the two imperial envoys.
"Aren't these guys bosses?" Asa asked Rodhart quietly.
Rodhart replied: "These are just the little bosses below. Almost all of Airy's lumber industry is under the name of the Erney family."
Surrounded by the lumberyard owner, the man behind the scenes came out. Asa and Rodhart were suddenly startled and looked at each other.
The big boss behind the scenes does not have the unique wealth and kindness of a businessman. Leng Jun's face seems to have a trace of murderous intent because of his seriousness, and his tall and straight figure exudes his accustomed condescending sense of oppression. Even the lumber yard next to him
The captains also felt uncomfortable. He looked at the two imperial envoys coldly, without showing any respect or surprise.
"Captain Clovis, I didn't expect to see you here." Rodhart smiled and nodded to him. "I wonder what brings you here."
Clovis sat down on the chair opposite and replied coldly: "This is my family's property. I will take care of it without the need for two gods to worry about it. You can do whatever you want."
"Yes." Rodhart still smiled kindly and naturally made a calm gesture to Asa.
No matter how big the property is, there is absolutely no need for the captain of the Holy Knights or the Duke's deputy to take care of it. There is no doubt that Clovis has another purpose here. Although it is not clear what the purpose is, it is definitely not the case.
Just come and help them both.
The lumber yard owners had brought all the workers who had experienced those strange things and were still in the city. There were only a dozen of them in total. They lined up in a row and listened to a lumber yard owner say: "You guys
Listen up, these two imperial envoys want to know what happened to you in that damn forest those days, and you have to tell me all the details."
Among the responses of "yes" and "got it", there was a very prominent voice "eh". The voice was so loud that the speaker was undoubtedly surprised.
Everyone looked at the man who screamed. He was a lean little man. There was no trace of fat on his body but he seemed to be able to squeeze out iron juice. His skin was dark, and his hair was tied together strangely with a cloth.
He had a small goatee. He didn't care about the looks from everyone, but stared straight at the two imperial envoys, as if he was seeing the weirdest animals in the world.
At first glance, Asa felt that this man looked familiar. After thinking about it for a moment, he remembered that he was Hunter Levin, the leader of Rodhart's remaining villagers. But he didn't expect that he had actually returned to Airy and was still there.
Worked as a laborer in the Erney family's lumberyard..
The expression on Rodhart's face must have been surprised, but when Asa turned back to look at him, he had already stood up, walked over, held the hand of this long-lost fellow countryman, and said: "This worker brother
It looks so familiar... Oh, by the way, we are fellow villagers."
"How could you..." Hunter Levin was still staring, unable to recover. He was even more unexpected than Rodhart that he would meet them here, and the two of them actually became imperial envoys.
"We have many things to ask you, please tell us." Rodhart held Hunter Levin's hand tightly, and the smile on his face did not change at all.
"Ah. Ah. Oh. Okay, okay." The hunter seemed to finally understand Rodhart's hint.
Clovis still had a cold face without any expression, but a light seemed to flash in his eyes. Asa saw it.
After listening to the workers' stories, Rodhart signaled Asa to prepare to leave. As if he suddenly remembered something, he said to the hunter: "This fellow, please go back with us. I still have many things to think about."
I’ll ask you alone.”
"No." Clovis, who had been silent like a statue, suddenly spoke. His voice was even colder than his expression. "He belongs to our lumber yard during the validity period of the servant agreement.
.”
"I just want to..." Rodhart still smiled and his voice was very kind.
"You can't do anything you want, and I won't do it if I say no." Clovis's attitude was still as cold as a stone.
Asa suddenly said in a deep voice: "We are now the imperial ministers, and we can make decisions on all affairs in Airi."
"I am the squad leader of the Holy Knights. In case of emergency, I have absolute control over the local army." Clovis stood up, his voice and expression becoming sharp.
Asa snorted coldly: "What kind of emergency is this..." Rodhart stretched out his hand to stop Asa, and just smiled slightly at Clovis and said: "In this case, there is nothing we can do. We can only wait for another day.
"
After walking out of the lumber yard, Asa immediately asked Rodhart: "Why didn't you take the person away by force? That guy definitely has no good intentions."
"Of course he has no good intentions. He should be sent by the Duke to monitor or deal with us." Rodhart's expression immediately darkened as soon as he walked out of the lumberyard. "And he also discovered the hunter's letter and the relationship between the two of us.
There must be some secret relationship between them. I was so careless that I made such an obvious hint."
"Then why did you stop me from taking people away by force?" Asa asked again.
"It's not to stop you from taking someone away, but to stop you from revealing that we insist on taking him away. Levin will never come back alone. Even if we take him away by force, Clovis knows
There must be something very important among them, and we will definitely find other people related to him." Rodhart walked quickly out of the city. "We will immediately lead troops to take everyone away. Now we can only
I hope my senior brother can’t ask any questions during this period.”
As soon as Rodhart and Asa left, Clovis immediately took the hunter Levin to a separate room.
"Now I want to ask some questions about your fellow countryman and his friends. What did he mean by hinting at you just now? And why do they want to take you away so much?" Clovis ordered the man in front of him forcefully.