"Sir Griffith, I'll be at Hydra at once. On the Pebble, Captain Locke had a relieved expression on his face.

"Alright, let's get ready to go ashore. Griffith secretly laughed, "Captain Locke, when we unload the cargo, please come to me in Hydra Village, I have something to discuss with you." ”

Ahead, the waters of the Chishui River have stained the sea with a faint shade of red. The village of Hydra is located on a hill north of the Chishui River, with a masonry wall about two meters high.

Below the hills, next to the Chishui River, is a vast expanse of farmland, and now it is spring ploughing season, and some ragged farmers can be seen working in the distance. On the south bank of the Chishui River, there is an oak forest with no edge in sight, and there are many traces of felling near the riverbank.

"I'll go over and inform the village chief first, and arrange the berth. With that, Thorn turned into a raven and flew towards the village of Hydra.

There was a small pier in the village of Hydra that was used for fishing boats, and not long after Sean flew away, when the Cobblestone docked, there were already several people waiting on the dirt road by the pier.

Griffith was the first to jump off the boat, and he was greeted by a man in his forties, with a face full of ravines.

"Sir Griffith, the villain is the chief of Hydra Village, and my name is William. ”

"William is a level 3 warrior who has lived here all his life, and he is most familiar with the situation in Hydra Village. Thorn added.

"I see. Griffith understood.

The mystery of Thorne's words, which only those familiar with the Carolingian Barony, could understand, implying that the village chief in front of him was not a close confidant of Baron Stone.

Stone was made a baron twenty-one years earlier, and before that, the fief belonged to the Almafi family.

The last Earl of Almuffie took the lead in fleeing in a crucial battle, and the Marquis of Griffin stripped him of his title in a fit of rage. At that time, the mercenary group formed by Stone was employed by the Griffin family, and made a lot of contributions, so he was canonized as a baron.

Although the Marquis of Griffin gave the Almafi family territory to Stone, there were many people loyal to the old lord, and it took a lot of effort for Stone to purge the remnants of the Almaffy family.

To be appointed as the village chief, William Sr. was certainly not an Almafi party, but his years in such a small village also proved that he was not valued by Stone.

"Lord Thorn, Sir Griffith, I have ordered the food and lodging to be arranged, please come with me. "William is quite capable, but in such a broken village, there will definitely not be too good hospitality.

It was just after noon, and Thorn waved his hand and said, "I'm going back to Carolienburg today, Griffith, are you all right?"

"Don't worry, Uncle Thorn, I can handle it. ”

Thorn escorted Griffith here, he had already entered the Carolingian Baron's rule, and the rest of the road was not too dangerous, so there was no need for him to accompany Griffith to walk back slowly.

At the speed of a raven's flight, Thorn would be able to get back to Carolingburg today. The capture of Kyle Osborne was a big deal, and Thorn was in a hurry to go back to discuss the aftermath with Baron Stone.

As for Griffith, he was in no hurry to hit the road. It's only mid-March, and there are still a dozen days left before Andrew's succession, and the journey from Hydra to Carolingburg is only two or three days. Griffith had some ideas about Hydra Village, and he decided to take a closer look at it for a few days.

"Chief William, how much more grain can you hold in your barn here?" asked Griffith, a little abruptly.

"Mostly empty. William was a little confused, but patiently explained: "The barn in Hydra Village was built more than thirty years ago, when the population of the village was more than 700, and now there are not even 500, so the barn has never been filled in the last ten years. Although last autumn's harvest was not bad, after a winter, it also consumed a lot. ”

"That's good. Griffith beckoned Vicente over, "Chief William, the ship is full of grain, I will store it in Hydra Village for the time being, this Vicente is my servant, you two are responsible for transporting the grain back to the village barn." ”

That night, William vacated the village chief's mansion - in fact, it was only a two-story stone house with a yard, but it was already the best house in the whole village of Hydra.

Anna put the badly wounded orc's iron hand on the table, her expression was a little complicated, after all, Griffith's behavior of kicking everyone out of the house was really suspicious.

Griffith understood that Anna was suspicious of some kind of evil ritual.

Griffith didn't explain, and he couldn't either. "Anna, you guys are out there, and remember not to let anyone disturb me. Even if your father comes, be sure to ask him to wait outside. ”

"Yes, Master Griffith. ”

When Anna left and closed the door, Griffith pulled a dagger from his waist.

The orc's injuries had been kept under control by Griffith, who could neither let him die nor regain his mobility, and for the sake of the ritual, Griffith had fed him anesthetic an hour earlier.

Iron Hand remained awake, his eyes wide open, and his eyes were full of horror, like an animal waiting to be slaughtered.

Griffith made a cut on each of his hands and feet, and soon the orc's blood flowed all over the table and fell to the floor in a tick.

With the continuous blood loss, the consciousness of the orc gradually began to blur, and Griffith quickly dipped his finger in the blood on the table, and drew a dark sun emblem on the forehead and heart of the iron hand.

Purple fire erupted from Griffith's hands, enveloping the orc's body, burning continuously.

I don't know how long it took, but the body of the half-orc was completely unrecognizable, and what was wrapped in purple fire was a mass of humanoid gelatinous objects.

The Shadow Golem, a combat tool secretly researched by Shiloh, the Lord of the Dark Sun, for the purpose of invading the Shadow Plane.

The Goddess of Darkness and Shadow, or "Night Lady", is one of the most powerful gods of the Dax Crystal Wall lineage, and Shiloh's nemesis, as the two sides compete for the priesthood of deception and lie. And the shadow plane is the base camp of the Night Lady's followers.

Unfortunately, Shiloh's plan didn't come to fruition, as he soon had an even crazier idea, which was to create a book of Shiloh that would distort the minds of all mortals and gods.

Except for a few shadow golems that Shiloh had secretly tried to make, the other gods had no idea of the existence of this shadow creature. As a result, Griffith can use the Shadow Golem with peace of mind without worrying about revealing his relationship with Shiloh.

The purple flame slowly extinguished, and the shadow puppet in front of Griffith suddenly moved, like a trembling shadow, swallowing all the blood that flowed all over the table.

The Shadow Golem can grow stronger by devouring flesh, and at the beginning of its birth, the first thing to devour is the flesh and blood that it once was. The soul belonging to the iron hand of the half-orc has long been burned by the purple fire into the purest soul essentia, this newly born shadow puppet, has no wisdom at all, only the instinct to devour flesh and proliferate, and is a plaything completely controlled by Griffith.

When all the blood was cleaned up, the Shadow Golem swooped into Griffith's shadow. The Shadow Golem hides in the gap between the main material realm and the shadow plane, and will not appear at all without Griffith's summons.

For a mage, there is no better personal guard.