The streets of Eton City gradually returned to calm, and the inspection team that had been searching for a long time but could not find the murderer gradually showed fatigue, and many lazy inspectors could often be seen in the major taverns in the city, and they would sit for most of the afternoon. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Eton City is a major military town in the province of Elaston, but its security environment has changed dramatically in the last 50 years. Old Bartomir fought with the Quentins in the north for eight years, fought the rebels in Westin Province for another three years, and then took the stockades of more than 30 thieves in the south of the province.

The long peace also had a negative effect, as all the garrisons in the province of Ila were placed under the jurisdiction of Bartomir, and the lords of the other provinces kept only a small number of personal guards. Although Bartomir was born as a general, he still had a headache in the face of such a large army in peacetime, and there were inevitably some unpleasant factors in this huge army.

At first, Bartomir took an iron fist against the bullies and corrupt elements in the army, and even withdrew some of the corrupt troops. But he soon discovered that the army already had a bargaining chip against him: mutiny. Three months after the withdrawal of the second group, the generals of some of the western garrisons of the province defected to Westin Province to join the half-beaten rebels. Bartomir, who was so old, spent more than half a year on another expedition, and almost lost his life to food poisoning on the way.

I don't know if it's because of the age that has smoothed out the sharpness, the old lord has always maintained a tacit understanding with the army for the time after that. The provincial army gradually divided into two parts, one was the elite troops loyal to Bartomir, many of them were comrades-in-arms who followed him to kill half of the province and complete the feat of "Quentin Slayer", and the other part was scattered garrisons scattered throughout the province, nominally loyal to Bartomir but with a large amount of autonomy.

Bartomir's relationship with these petty warlords was delicate: the elite forces of the Central Army could easily defeat any of the smaller warlords, and even the coalition of these minor warlords in one fell swoop, but the Central Army was simply not manpower enough to garrison the vast province of Ila and had to rely on the help of these petty warlords.

The old lord sitting on the throne of the lord of Eton City is naturally aware of his situation, and his time is short, once he dies suddenly, and the central army has no suitable successor, the province of Ila will definitely fall into war.

Bartomir, who had no heirs under his knees, spent all these years searching for a successor from among the emerging generals of the Central Army. Sadly, not long ago, one of the most promising candidates for succession, Amig, the captain of the East Gate Guard, died in a place of reproach. Now the old viscount is about to start looking again, but before he can find out the sinister villain who ruined his plans.

......

Toward evening, Norson led Colin back to the Toxicologists' Society's branch in Eton City, which was located in the College District on the west side of Eton City, avoiding a densely populated area. It is a three-storey Second Empire-style single-family building. The whole building is divided into two parts, the middle of the first half is a main building, where the main entrance of the building is opened, the interior is a banquet hall and some administrative offices, the main building is flanked by two corridors, leading to two wings on both sides, the east side is the scholar's dormitory, guest rooms, and the west side is the large library. Behind the watchtower is the back half of the building, a huge domed building - the largest toxicology laboratory in the Eastern Empire, and there are some underground laboratories under it that conduct extremely dangerous experiments.

The two passed through the checkpoint set up by the imperial military and entered the guild building, which was decorated in the same style inside and out, with simple lines and large pieces of marble making the whole building solemn, capable and luxurious. The room is well lit and the rooms and hallways are bright even in the evening.

Northon led Colin into the lecture hall in the center of the large laboratory, where some assistants and handymen were preparing for the evening academic evening, and the venue was not specially arranged, except for some experimental equipment placed on the main podium, which should be used by the presenters for a while.

"I also have a little selfish intention in hosting you here this time, you see that our branch is going to host a national academic exchange conference tonight. Norson smiled slightly when he said this, "It's just so good that you can show you the new poison discovered today and the method of cracking it, so that all colleagues can devote themselves to the composition analysis of this poison as soon as possible." ”

"It is my pleasure, Mr. Northam. Colin smiled back, nodding slightly.

"Wald! Come here!" Northon waved to an assistant who was setting up the venue not far away. The apprentice walked briskly.

"Teacher, what do you command?" replied the assistant.

Northon stepped aside from Colin, "This is Master Colin, a traveling scholar, and the guest of honor at tonight's academic exchange meeting. Now you will take Mr. Colin on a tour of the Society, and remember to go to the banquet hall before dinner. ”

With that, Northon turned to Colin again, "Master Colin, I'm going to arrange a guest room for you now, and by the way, I'll report to the general manager about the new poison." Excuse me. ”

"Thank you, you go slowly. Colin was polite.

......

From the moment he came over, Wald had been looking at this young man his own age. His teacher seemed to have a lot of respect for him, could this be the kind of young genius that the teacher had said before? like Mieda, or even like Hecras? But this was only a momentary impulsive conjecture in Wald's heart, he did not believe in such miracles, and in fact Colin was nowhere near as good as the early traveling scholars of his glorious deeds.

Wald greeted Colin with a gentle smile after Northon left, and in his eyes the peer didn't give him much of a sense of distance. Colin also responded to Wald in a very easy-going manner, and introduced himself briefly. Wald, who learned of Colin's identity as a scholar of his travels, was also very curious, and while leading Colin through the corridors, he kept asking him about what he had seen and heard in various places. Colin also shared what he saw and heard with great interest, and the two discussed from the far north of Grayhill Terra to the dark sea at the southern end, and talked about large and small mountains, towns and villages, and exotic beasts and strange strains along the way. Most of what Wald had seen before in books had been seen by Colin with his own eyes. The two of them discussed with red cheeks and dry mouths, but they both felt that they had gained a lot. Together, they even discovered several fallacies in the knowledge recorded in the book.

"Mr. Colin, I don't know if you are interested in the Society's library, it has been discussed so much, why don't you leave some notes here as well. As if something had occurred to him, Wald extended an invitation to Colin.

"Of course, something will be left here, and how can the glorious tradition of traveling scholars be forgotten. But it's too late to write now, so I'd better leave my speech for tonight. After a pause, Colin added, "But I'd love to visit the Society's collections, and I think I'm sure I'll find some valuable knowledge." ”

"Then I'll lead you there. Wald said as he began to lead Colin in the direction of the library.

......

"Yes, the effects of the poison have been eliminated and are not transmissible. However, the identity of the poisoner is uncertain. ”

In the president's office, Northon is reporting to the general liaison officer on the other side of the microphone.

"We will be informing the national chapters and other national associations of this new agent as soon as possible, and thank you for your contribution, President Northam. ”

"It's my job, so let's ask the club to arrange for the study of the ingredients and sources of this poison as soon as possible. ”

"We'll start this right away, and by the way, Director Sercip just asked me to tell you that you must invite Mr. Traveler who helped solve this poisoning incident to the Imperial General Council, and his participation may be required for poison analysis research. ”

"Okay, I'll get that. ”

"So that's the end of the newsletter, and I wish you all the best in your endeavours. By the way, I wish tonight's exchange meeting a success. ”

"Thank you, thank you. Well, goodbye. ”

Northon ended the correspondence.

"Another promising star. ”

......

At this time, Colin was intently studying a manuscript of Miyada in the library, which recorded Miyada's toxicological opinions on poisoning and even poisoning the great god.

This set of theories was already very well established in Miyada's time, but later the large-scale hunting of the great gods gradually ceased, and this theory gradually disappeared, and only some scattered research manuscripts were scattered around the world. This copy in the Great Library of the Toxicologists Association's Etonon Chapter is probably one of the manuscripts later in Miyada's research. The content of the manuscript already has a relatively complete theoretical system.

Miyada argues that the body of the great god, or the superior being, has the duality of matter and consciousness, so the body that is the target of the poison is not an objective and relatively stable existence in the great god. The body of the great god may die and be resurrected tens of thousands of times a second, and the shape and structure may not be fixed. Poisons that are purely aimed at the flesh and are designed to kill active tissues cannot really kill the gods, or even injure them.

However, this "duality of reality and reality" is also the Achilles heel of the great gods, and compared with human beings with clear distinction between spirit and flesh, the boundary between the body of the superior and the spiritual world is ambiguous. Miyada has taken advantage of this to develop a series of hallucinogenic poisons, some of which give humans cruel memories but can turn into knives and real damage to the gods.

Later scholars have also tried to introduce this toxicological mechanism into the study of human poisons, the most famous is the scheme proposed by the 4th-century toxicologist Oodorov in his book "The Method of Interference with the Soul and Flesh": the use of red lizard blood and psychedelic flower pulp purification to enhance the body's response to mental stress, and then use powerful hallucinogens to "scare the victim to death".

However, modern scholars generally believe that the "addiction" scholars represented by Odorov did not simulate the real state of "soul and flesh", but the academic community has not been able to prove that the toxicology of the poison in Miyada's time is different from that of the "addiction". The main reason is that the most important toxicological analysis part of Miyada's manuscripts has not been discovered to this day, and some people even say that Miyada destroyed these manuscripts after the "Great Outflow" incident.

"Mr. Colin. Wald's call woke Colin, "Mr. Colin, the dinner is about to begin, please come with me." ”

"Okay, let's go. Colin got up, and the two of them walked towards the main building.