September 2, Holier City, Cambay District.

For a typical medieval city, the aristocratic quarters where the lords lived were often the quietest, the trading quarters where the bazaars were located were the liveliest, and apart from the residential quarters where most of the commoners and merchants lived, the Cambay district, which ran along the inner side of the northern city wall and had no sunlight all day, was the so-called darkest "ghetto".

The buildings in Cambay are so rudimentary that if the Duke's palace exudes a deep heritage and restrained luxury, all that can be smelled here is faded, withered and rancid.

Roddy always thinks of the phrase that used to be everywhere in his mind - "Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes." ”

Even in the slums, they also have their own rules and "rivers and lakes", there are always three or four groups of gangs similar to gangsters, most of them are unreasonable and unreasonable, and the rest are almost all unemployed young people who are lazy and do not learn and have no skills. And the place where they often gather is the pub in the Cambay district, because this is the distribution center for all kinds of news from the "thieves' union".

Of course, the "Thieves' Guild" may sound like a pretty awesome organization, but to put it bluntly, it is just a loose organization of thieves who meet to share information, it has no substance, it has nowhere to be found, but it is ...... Omnipresence.

Sitting at the front desk of the "Pig's Head Bar", holding a glass of cheap ale mixed with water, Roddy felt that the name of the bar that he had never been in his memory was familiar, and after thinking about it for a long time, he found that it was the same name as a bar in the literary masterpiece "Harry Potter". When he thought that the wizarding world that once belonged to people's imagination was now almost a reality in front of his eyes, he was a little inexplicably emotional, shook his head and took two sips of ale, but he bared his teeth and grimaced.

It's fucking unpleasant.

I had thought about finding wood elves to cooperate in brewing, but after meeting Nata, I put this idea aside for the time being. The concept of "high-end luxury" was too far away for commoners, and it was not easy to persuade a group of nobles to buy elven wine with their current status. It's not that you can't make money, but the time is really not ripe, so just give up thinking about it.

Holding the wine glass, he was thinking about the Duke of Angmar, but his daze caused a few jokes from the boss in front of the bar.

"Hey... Raphael, aren't you going to sing a few songs today? I've only listened to your stories these days, but I prefer a more cheerful atmosphere in the bar!"

Hooke, who had a bearded face, was the owner of the hotel, and it was 10 a.m., and the bar was mostly empty, so he was not idle. The bars of the ghetto are naturally inferior to those of the big taverns on the bright streets, with dark lighting, dirty floors, cheap liquor, but all mixed with water, and a large dried pig's head always hanging from the door, with a hideous expression that seems to symbolize the gloom and cruelty of the area.

"Singing? That's not what I'm good at, and if I were to sing those tunes, I guess you wouldn't have any good business here. ”

Roddy, who is known as "Raphael", responded to the head snake with a smile, and his words were full of politeness, "If I have time in the evening, I will continue to tell stories, don't worry, although the hall is always a little dark, the service here is really warm, I will consider staying for a few more days." ”

"God forbid, if you could stay longer, it would be great. Hook took a cup of ale with the same water and poured it down as if he were drinking water, and when he saw that Roddy was about to pay the bill, he waved his hand and said, "Take it back, take it back, I'll take it." ”

For this kind of kindness, Luo Di did not refuse, and returned to his room on the second floor with a few polite words.

This is Roddy's fourth day in Hollier, and these days, he has been staying at this hotel as a "bard", ostensibly a wandering guy who lives by his stories, but his actual purpose is to inadvertently find out some information about the various members of the Rousifron family.

As a veteran gamer, Roddy knows that the kind of thing in the novel that buys news directly by throwing gold coins is not reliable in "Ripping Soil", and his previous solo career made him understand... Only when the trust of the other party is gained and it is clear that there is no entanglement of interests between the two parties, the kind of news that is casually said is the most authentic and reliable.

Most of the local tyrants who throw gold and ask for news will only end up wronged, and Roddy is not so stupid, rashly arousing the vigilance of others, the end must be very miserable - and when he walked to the desk and sat down, he found that he had actually been "checked".

Reaching for the stack of parchment filled with regular script characters, Roddy could recognize the signs of the things being turned over.

In this mixed place, the other party turned the parchment without taking anything else from the house, naturally for the purpose of surveillance and probing, but Roddy had expected this, because he was confident that he had not revealed the slightest flaw.

"If you can understand Chinese, then you are awesome..."

Roddy muttered, thought for a moment, and then pulled out one and looked at it carefully.

On this piece of paper was all the information he had asked from Hook about the old Duke of Angmar in recent years, and the hotelkeeper's chaotic narrative had been re-presented on the paper by Roddy in a neat timeline - after a few days of information, Roddy had been able to confirm that Duke Angmar Roussifron's serious illness was caused by the "Soul Extraction Potion".

Five years ago, the Duke's temperament had changed drastically, and he suddenly scolded him in the hunting grounds, four years ago, his body began to weaken and he could only stay in the Duke's Palace, and the priest of the "Rosicrucise" went to undergo holy treatment but did not make him any better; three years ago, he began to shut down, and even the decree was not repeated...

The most critical and most important evidence for Roddy to believe that the old duke was sick was that Hook had learned from a certain source that "the old duke once had blue blood in the corners of his eyes".

Such details are not even made up by ordinary people - although there are a lot of unreliable gossip news, Luo Di remembers very well that the "Soul Extraction Elixir" will indeed cause such an effect after taking it!

It wasn't a coincidence, it was an ironclad fact, all the details were as close as Roddy remembered, and by now, he was sure that his judgment would not be wrong.

In Roddy's original plan, it was imperative to come directly to find an opportunity to kill Francis, otherwise the other party would find out about his head sooner or later, and at that time, it was likely that he would be deprived of his basic profession if he fell into passivity. So the assassination of Francis was supposed to be a priority.

But after some investigation, Roddy found that this thing was actually cowering in a heavily guarded manor outside the city, and there was no plan or intention to go out at all, so Roddy had no idea where to start, so after thinking about it for a long time, he directly chose the second way to kill this guy-

Go directly to the rescue of the old Duke Angmar and use his hand to solve Sally's current crisis.

This is a "stupid solution", but it also has some additional benefits, because if you can successfully rescue the old duke and let the other party know his name, then having a duke behind him must be more reliable than having Sally's little girl as a backing - after all, Roddy understands that in the entire territory of Ivotah, only the real power like Duke Angmar is the "boss".

If you can really save him, not to mention the prestige and experience you get, the most important thing is that you can find a suitable position for Sodrore and others to plan for the next step, which is the most important thing.

"Francis, Francis... Let's eat a few good meals. ”

Saying this, he reached out and took out another piece of parchment, which was written in Chinese characters on the time and route map of the patrol soldiers of the Duke's Palace, and reached out and touched his coat pocket, a few bottles of potion wrapped in cloth were sturdy but the antidote to the "soul extraction potion" made by Roddy.

At the beginning, about the "Soul Extraction Potion", the player explained in the post that there are two ways to make "antidotes": one requires a bunch of complex proportions of herbs to be blended and boiled together, and when taking it, a bottle is stuffy and the medicine is immediately cured, but apparently Roddy doesn't know how to configure it at all, so he can only use the second simple method...

Soak the "profane ginseng" in boiling water and boil it, and use the boiled water as a medicine - this is indeed effective, but the disadvantage is that it needs to be taken in large doses many times to be effective. At least three times.

And today, Roddy was ready to go to the old duke at night to "dome" - but nothing happened, in the few days he came to Holier City, in addition to inquiring about the news, Roddy remembered that he had not gone to meet Sally, and after thinking about it, he decided to go to the other party to find out about the current situation.

Roddy didn't know what Sally had been doing in the convent for the past few months, and in his mind, it was actually good that this girl had been able to survive until now.

Dressed as a civilian, Roddy left the tavern and disappeared around the corner.

"Hey, Hook, who's that kid?"

In front of the bar, someone pointed to Roddy's back and asked.

"Hey—you haven't been here in a while, he's the hottest bard in the bar these days, and I'm honestly excited about those stories, and I can't wait to go to the front line and chop a few orcs myself!"

"Forget it, Hook, your belly is probably bigger than a wolf!"

The interruption next to him immediately filled the bar with laughter, but the middle-aged man sitting in front of Hook did not laugh, he just kept a routine face and asked in a low voice, "I don't listen to nonsense, Hook." Is this guy's identity clean?"

"Clean, not a spy sent by the lord, I had his room searched, and most of the letters on it were poems and phrases, and some... I guess it's a new sheet music, but I can't read it anyway. ”

Hook answered in a low voice, although the person in front of him did not look good, but he also had an identity within the "Thieves' Guild", but he understood that the other party was a guy who worked for Count Francis, and he must not be neglected.

Hearing his words, the middle-aged man nodded, raised his hand and pressed a silver coin on the bar, and gently pushed it in front of Hook: "If there is any other rumors, remember to inform me." ”

"Okay, okay..."

Hook hurriedly replied, and after watching the other party's departing back disappear, he muttered in a low voice while wiping the bar counter, "Cut... Looking for a scout with a bow, I really don't know what I'm afraid of, even the bard has found out... Could it be that the kid could still assassinate Francis?"