Hao Ren didn't expect that he would see here again that the name of the "Blood King" was not in the manuscript left by the wizard, but in the diary left by an ordinary human. As the data terminal finished deciphering the remaining handwriting on the parchment, something began to become clear.

The "Hemerwin" mentioned in the diary is the same as the name plate on the outside of the mansion, and it is now certain that this person is the owner of the town of "Domir" and several surrounding areas, a minor nobleman in the middle of nowhere, and the person who left the parchment did not leave his own name, only that he was Hemerwin's butler. The diary is supposed to have taken place in the last period of time before the town underwent a strange change, and the writer's emotional uneasiness can be felt between the lines: a series of grotesque events loom over the town, and Domir is filled with shadows and turmoil.

It seems to have started with a contagion, which Lily heard from spirits and wrote on parchment. The children of the town were infected with a strange disease that caused them to lose their physical strength, and ordinary medicine was ineffective—something that had a terrifying flavor of the darkness of the time, and people would naturally associate it with witchcraft and curses. The lord of the case, Heimerwin, did not do anything about the spread of rumors, and his "personality changed, and he listened to a so-called scholar of unknown origin", and instead of trying to cure the disease, the lord launched an operation to judge the witches, which was carried out under the impetus of the foreign "scholar".

There are not many records about witches, and Hao Ren can't deduce that it was an ordinary woman who was framed or a witch who really knew magic, but the fact that the witch's corpse was burned produced a huge amount of soot is quite concerning. This seems to confirm the black ash that can be seen everywhere in the town. If it was a real witch, then the ashes in the town were probably the result of some kind of curse.

Hao Ren and Vivien's main attention was still on the "scholar". There is no doubt that he is the wizard who left behind the "Ritual of the Blood King".

Hao Ren asked Vivian while flipping through the text parsed by the data terminal, "Was this kind of thing common back then?" ”

"You mean wizards and curses?" Vivien raised an eyebrow. "Pretty much. Witchcraft, magic, cursed cities and villages, exorcists and demons, and ordinary people trembling and overwhelmed in the cracks...... It was a chaotic time, and the demon hunters and aliens had not completely faded out of the world of ordinary people, and there were really no more people who died. However, the town's situation is relatively rare: it has been dragged into another plane, and the wizards who wield this magic are very strong, and they must have resorted to some outside force - such as the Hellgate. Anyway, an ordinary wizard doesn't have this kind of ability. ”

The movement in Hao Ren's hand stopped suddenly: "You said that the power of the Purgatory Gate trapped this town in this time and space?" ”

"The beginning of the distortion of time and space should be the gates of purgatory. But now the gates are definitely closed," Vivien waved her hand, "Purgatory is unstable and can't remain open for centuries. ”

Hao Ren sighed and continued to check the documents. The old housekeeper left a record with the following information:

“…… I found that the scholar was always holding a black book, and he had a strange expression on his face when he read it, which should not be shown by any blessed person when reading a useful book...... When I asked him about the book, he was treated coldly, saying it was a hand-copied Bible. But for some religious reasons, he couldn't let anyone touch it. This is enough to warn me: what kind of Bible would refuse to be touched by a person of conscience? Unless that's the Devil's book......

“…… I finally found an opportunity and glanced at the black strange book he was holding in his hand, and the gloomy man quickly noticed what I was doing. His eyes were terrifying for a moment, and although it was only for a short moment, he finally took off the high-sounding shell of 'scholar' at that time. I don't think I'll ever forget how vicious a person's eyes can be...... That's the devil's eyes that sell his soul in exchange. As cold and unforgiving as glass, his real eyeballs must have hung on the devil's mantelpiece long ago! But the strangest thing is the book itself...... There is no text. As far as I could see, there was only a blank space on the page. Now I can only believe that it was God who sheltered a godly servant with His miracles. The page must have been full of blasphemous symbols, but thankfully I couldn't see it. ”

The data terminal flashed twice, indicating that there was only so much text that could be parsed.

"Is the black weird book we found here?" Hao Ren muttered to Vivien suspiciously, "We didn't notice that the words in the magic book had disappeared." ”

Vivien shook her head: "It should be another, wizards can't just have one spell book." Anyway, now that the identity of the wizard has been confirmed, I suspect that the plague and witch events in this town before the mutation were all planned by this wizard. He seems to have planned to involve everyone in the town in some kind of ritual...... But based on the information at hand, I can't tell what kind of ceremony it is. ”

The two rummaged around the room again, but found nothing more valuable. In the end, Hao Ren only put away the parchment, and returned to the long hall on the first floor with Vivien.

Soon the others also completed their own explorations and returned to the long hall, and after everyone gathered, Hao Ren told everyone about his and Vivien's discoveries, and asked the others if there were any achievements.

"I'm not good at dealing with such complicated things as a witch or a wizard or a curse," Lily muttered, gesturing to her eyes, "I saw a lot of ghosts walking around here, and they seemed to be the servants who worked here in the first place, and the Lord Hermerwin you mentioned should be among them, but the shadows are too chaotic to tell who is who." I didn't find anything related to the wizard, and I didn't see his shadow: his spirit was not imprisoned. ”

"My brother and I found a basement," Nangong May raised his tail, "the basement is full of rotten potatoes and wine barrels, and there is more ash, and nothing else." ”

Duncan and Kassandra shook their heads, indicating that there was nothing in the towers on either side of their responsibility.

"That wizard must have lived here, but where are his spellbooks and spellcasting materials hidden," Hethanna pinched her chin, "this kind of thing is more important than a wizard's life, he can't not take it with him......"

Heatherana stopped abruptly in the middle of her words, and everyone raised their heads in the direction of the stairs on the second floor, and in the silence, Nangong Sanba was the first to break the silence: "Did you hear the movement just now?" ”

Lily's ears twitched, "Hear me, it seems to be footsteps?" ”

Duncan and Kassandra immediately stood up, each drawing a delicate aristocratic bayonet and a large-caliber pistol (in the style of the Hethiana family's armed style) from their waists, and they cautiously walked towards the stairs with both guns and swords, but they had barely taken a few steps when a large black mass suddenly "walked" down the stairs!

It was a grotesque mass of ash, black as a filthy lump of mud, but with a roughly human appearance. The mass of black ash appeared at the staircase and swayed, then clumsily descended step by step, dropping a large amount of ash and dust with each step. As it got closer, the gray mass underwent an incredible change: its appearance fell off to reveal the clothes and skin underneath, and the upper part of the gray mass slowly emerged as the outline of human facial features, and by the time "it" walked into the long hall, it was almost a complete and clear human form.

Hao Ren and the others each held their weapons and watched this strange "thing" curiously and vigilantly all the way, until "it" finally turned into a middle-aged man with a tired face.

The middle-aged man who came out of the ashes looked to be in his forties, and his hairstyle and clothes were the clothes of a wealthy man in the Middle Ages. He seemed to be in a trance when he first shed his ashes, but soon he came to his senses and stared at the group of strangers in front of him.

After being stunned for a few seconds, the man suddenly let out an exclamation, then turned around and ran towards the second floor!

Hao Ren immediately reacted: "Catch him!" ”

A white light rushed up, and Lily carried the bricks that had been turned out of nowhere, and the bricks went up and knocked the man down. Hao Ren was still startled when he saw this scene, he said in his heart that this person came out of the ashes, what if the body is really made of ashes, and Lily's bricks will not be scattered?

Thankfully, the man was just slapped out by Lily, but he turned over and stood up again like no one.

Lily decisively went up to subdue the other party before he ran away again, and then dragged her loot back to Hao Ren as if she was invited: "Caught it!" ”

The mysterious man who was tied with a rope by Lily looked at Hao Ren with a frightened expression: "You...... What are you going to do?! Are you human or ghost!? ”

Hao Ren thought that the other party was the wizard he was looking for, but when he heard this tone, he felt wrong. He asked the other party's identity: "Who are you?" ”

The man craned his neck in fear: "I...... I'm my lord here, Hemerwin? Ahtisaari ......" (To be continued......