Chapter 60 / On the Country
ps: 6,500 words for recommendation!.
Su Zuo thought as he ate, he was full after eating half of a small meatloaf, and put the remaining half into a rattan box with a lid, Su Zuo stepped the magic book on his body, picked up the crutches placed at his feet and stood up.
These two wooden crutches with a similar structure to Su Zuo's previous life were made by Su Zuo himself with spells, and he originally wanted to show off to Sister Elsa, who took care of him in Tecknetine, but was completely discouraged by a natural nun's unintentional words.
"Hmm, did you make this wooden crutch yourself? This 'Y' double crutch is quite interesting, but it seems to be a lot more troublesome to make than the commonly used 'F' crutch, right?"
Su Zuo almost forgot that he was in this different world now, and the productivity was still largely stuck in the European Middle Ages in the previous life ~ Renaissance, if the poor man broke his leg, he could live one more day by finding a branch to support him, and those who could afford to heal the amputated limbs would not be able to look down on crutches at all, in short, it was a chicken rib, yes, chicken ribs, because it was very important, so it had to be said twice.
Thinking that he was almost going to run to someone to ask for credit with a chicken invention, Su Zuo instantly felt that he was simply vulgar and stupid.
"Hmph...... But isn't that unsaid? Suzo looked up and looked at the vicissitudes of life in the distance - in a sense, Suzo was really good at entertaining himself, and quickly recovered from the blow.
Compared to the recovery of his hands, the recovery of Su Zuo's legs is a little worse, but two days ago, Knetting performed a magic spell and took a look, indicating that it was only a matter of time before he fully recovered. In Su Zuo's own understanding, the X-ray fluoroscopy used in the hospital in his previous life is actually an application of high-frequency electromagnetic waves, so since an optical priest like Elsa or Knetin can use the optical magic technique of controlling electromagnetic energy, then in a sense, it is not incomprehensible to master such an ability to see through the human body.
However, Su Zuo couldn't help but feel a chill at the thought of the Prayer Sisters nuns whose eyes were hidden under their headscarves, who were actually like superwomen who were "beeping" and scanning light waves in their eyes.
Of course, this must be Su Zuo's cranky thinking, otherwise he would have to go to the church all day to receive the X-ray blessing eyes of the priests and nuns, and those devout believers would have already suffered from cancer because of excessive radiation exposure, how could they chase after Su Zuo's ass and cut him into a human stick (a wounded person with only a torso and no limbs).
......
......
......
"Masochistic me...... I know it's a wound, but I have to open it and take a look......"
In a sense, this kind of boring life really infinitely magnifies Su Zuo's ability to think wildly.
In order to get out of this strange circle of meaningless thinking, Su Zuo carried the rattan box in his hand and moved to the foot of the church steps little by little on crutches, but he did not walk around without purpose. In fact, sitting on a high place, he can overlook the square in front of the church. And among the countless slowly turbulent, brown and brown heads, the girl in the sheriff's uniform, with her long golden red hair tied into a ponytail hanging down to the back of her head, burning like a flame, is really very conspicuous and clear at a glance.
In the final battle with the Corpse Breaker, Vijie's performance was not eye-catching, but in fact, she was injured at the time, and it was precisely because of this consideration that Cromwell and Suzo coincidentally let Vijieer act as a mobile force to help the slightly weaker Gart and Lamberts to fight "frog jump", and did not let her fight against the Corpse Crusher head-on. However, even so, in such a heavy snowstorm, the mana consumed to maintain a long flight was quite a burden for Vigil, so as Vijie's mana was exhausted, the round-up had to be stopped.
As for the reason why Su Zuo was thrown to the Corpse Breaker by one person, the specific reason is also because there are two anonymous letters, although both letters mention that after the Corpse Shatterer is driven to a certain extent, someone else will stop him, and the round-up team only needs to pay attention to searching for signs of battle-
But there were two letters, each of which only mentioned that there would be one interception.
Although Suzo knew through Vigille that Cromwell had also sent a letter, he didn't think much of it at the time. As a result, when the vigilante team found Cromwell, who had been slashed in his left leg, thought the plan had failed, and then closed the team......
Wrap up......
I'm going!
Thinking of this, Su Zuo couldn't help but look at the sky speechlessly, and his face was full of guilt - God knows, Cromwell is wanted, and he is just a child, both of them have unspeakable reasons, and as a result, they almost did useless work because of this mistake, which is not a mistake.
Limping through the dense flow of people in the market, perhaps seeing Su Zuo's distinctive church dress (Elsa specially ordered for him after staying for 1 week) and the eye-catching emblem of the Prayer Order on his chest, the crowd voluntarily split into two in front of Su Zuo.
Perhaps he had never seen such a small formal monk, but in the eyes of people looking at Su Zuo, they naturally showed surprise and scrutiny, and occasionally there would be a few fiery glances, which were the attention of devout believers to Su Zuo.
In such a gaze, he slowly walked forward calmly, Su Zuo estimated the patrol route of Vigil in his heart, although he could see clearly from a high place, but there was still some distance from the church to Vigger's position, and after walking into the crowd, Suzo lost Vijie's whereabouts.
"Hmm...... What to do......"
Su Zuo thought about it for a moment: "Otherwise, shout 'Wallet lost!', so that Vijieer will definitely take the initiative to come to the door-"
"--and kicked me to death!"
If you do this, you're going to die!
Just when Su Zuo was hesitating for this good idea (bad idea) and was unwillingly gnawing on the small handkerchief in his heart, across the crowd, a ghost crying wolf howl suddenly came from the market not far from Su Zuo.
"Catch the thief!"
Oh rub! Which righteous man gave me a pillow! I'm feeling sleepy here!
"Catch that thief! He stole my apple! Stop him!"
On crutches, Su Zuo slowly moved to the place where the sound came from, he was a little surprised, across the crowd, the sound of chasing and scolding for a long time, Su Zuo thought that the recent atmosphere in the new area had improved. As a result, a thief has not been caught for so long, and there are so many people in the square.
Then, through the cracks, Suzo saw the "so-called thief" on the run.
It was a ragged kid who looked older than Suzo, but no taller than Suzo.
The black rags stained with mud on his body could barely cover his body, his face was covered with mud, and his hair was like straw in the black mud.
In Su Zuo's opinion, he (she?) was not running fast, his steps were staggering, and he was holding two "bright" big apples in his arms, although in his previous life, this kind of green and not rubbish, no ruddy sour apples at all, Su Zuo didn't eat it at all, but in this world, especially in this Wenning District, these two apples are still worth a lot of money - worth ten copper coins.
And the owner seems to be a vendor of a fruit stall, thin and not a rich businessman, but because he has to guard the stall, he doesn't dare to leave the fruit stall too far, so he can only look at the back of the thief and curse loudly.
Seeing that the pitiful thief was about to flee, a uniformed sheriff suddenly stood out from the crowd, and took his hand by the hand and pressed him to the ground.
Yes...... Sure enough, that guy would have made......
Su Zuo couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the sheriff's golden back. Like a child who looks so miserable, ordinary people will definitely feel too pitiful with compassion, or because it is not their business, the thief is smelly and dirty, and he will let it go with one eye closed.
But with her surname, she would not compromise on the situation - the girl was more resolute than most, but sometimes she was too disciplined to be approachable.
"That guy...... You don't know the current law of South Ridge, stealing is to have your fingers chopped off......"
Su Zuo couldn't help but speed up the swing of his crutches, because of the perennial war, the laws of Nanling are more harsh than the laws in other parts of the empire, stealing and cutting off hands, robbing and cutting feet, fraud and tongue cutting, killing people to their lives, it has reached the point of being harsh and ruthless, but even so, for various reasons, crimes are still repeatedly prohibited - just like the child in front of Su Zuo, not stealing = starving to death, stealing = chopping off hands and bleeding to death, in short, it is a death, it is better to fight for character and gamble on the chance that a crime will not be caught.
In the crowd around Vijieer, there are many people who can see this problem clearly, and Suzo doesn't think that Vijieer can't see it, but compared to Suzo, Vijieer has an extra layer of responsibility, and for a veteran like Cromwell, this sense of responsibility has long been cut away from the form, and the essence is kept in mind - and because of this, he will find Galt and let the Golden Lock of the Raven take the wolf snow away from the sight of the police station.
However, after all, Wei Jie'er is still young, and her mental age is younger than Su Zuo, so she has not fully seen this yet, judging from the way she now weighs her shoulders trembling on the thief, it is estimated that she must be very conflicted at the moment. So in order to avoid regretting this girl in the future, Su Zuo decided to show up and give her a look.
Well...... After all, Cromwell's old fellow managed to get the sheriff to mingle with the residents of Wenning District, because a mere brainless Vigille strode back, which is not something everyone wants to see......
Thinking like this, Suzo opened his mouth and shouted, "Wait a minute, Lord Sheriff! I bought that child's apple!"
Hearing the familiar voice, Vijie'er, who had just cuffed the thief, turned her head, and when she saw that it was Su Zuo, her brows couldn't help but twist: "Evanian, why don't you stay in the church to recuperate, what are you doing here!"
"Ahem!" Su Zuo coughed violently twice, leaned on his crutches, and with some difficulty leaned over to pick up the apple that had rolled to his feet, because of such a toss, the apple that was originally still bright was stained with a layer of ash, and the skin was still worn out in the capture.
"Lord Sheriff, did you misunderstand something?" Su Zuo pinched the apple, walked slowly to Vijie's side with his crutches, and pretended not to know her at all, and defended to Vijie'er.
Wei Jie'er looked at Su Zuo's appearance with a suspicious expression, she pulled up the thief under her, pushed it to the sheriff's subordinates, and turned her head to stare at Su Zuo: "What the hell are you trying to do?"
"No, no, how can you say it's a ghost idea?" Su Zuo spoke calmly in the eyes of passers-by, "I just want to say that you seem to have made a mistake about it, Lord Sheriff, that kid is not some thug who committed the crime of theft, you see-"
With that, Suzo reached out and grabbed the fruit stall vendor who was panting past him.
It seems that someone has finally been found to help watch the stall, and the owner of the theft has finally chased after him.
"Mr. stall owner, tell me, have you already sold me those two apples?
Su Zuo smiled through words, helping the vendor prepare a whole set of words. As he spoke, he shook the apple in front of the fruit stall vendor, and then, in a grand manner, under the nose of Vigil, stuffed a black silver coin worth 40 copper coins into the stall owner's hand.
After being dragged by Su Zuo, the vendor who was still looking at him in surprise took the black silver coin in Su Zuo's hand, and instantly reacted: "Oh! Yes! Yes, Lord Sheriff, the apple has indeed been sold to this monk gentleman!"
There is no stupid person who can live in Wenning District, and the moment he saw the emblem on Su Zuo's chest, the peddler had already realized what he had to say, not to mention that there was an extra black silver coin in his hand.
"Well, then, it's none of your business. In order to prevent unintended complications, after confirming the ownership of the apples, Su Zuo drove away the vendors who made a lot of money for nothing and were so happy that they were happy.
"Now, these two apples are mine. Su Zuo smiled and looked at Wei Jie'er, whose face was gradually gloomy, and openly and transparently declared his sovereignty over the apples, "Next, I will give these two apples to this young ...... for the righteousness of the gods."
Su Zuo pretended to be a magic stick, and before he could finish his deliberate words, he was interrupted by Wei Jie'er-
"You can't do that! This kid stole something first, and then you gave him the lost item, and that doesn't erase the fact that he has stolen!"
Saying these words, Vigil's body shook slightly. With a dark face, she seemed to say these words as if it was a painful thing for her.
However, Su Zuo waved his hand confidently: "No, no, no, Miss Sheriff, as you said, I asked the child to go to the stall owner to get the apple in the hand of the child you caught, and the stall owner shouted 'catch the thief' is actually someone else, this child was just frightened by that shout, the real thief has run away, everyone, right?"
While speaking, Su Zuo had not forgotten to mobilize the crowd and live up to his expectations, and a shout suddenly sounded in the crowd in response to him:
"Yes, the little friar is right!
"I saw the thief! He ran north!"
"Miss Sheriff, you admit it! You have caught the wrong person!"
"Yes!
Looking at Suzo, who was full of smugness in the midst of the "cries of the masses", Virgil turned a little pale with anger, but she suddenly remembered that such anger did not mean anything at all, so she finally compromised, turned around angrily, and opened the shackles on the thief boy's hands.
The moment the shackles were unshackled, the crowd of onlookers let out a loud cheer as if they had done something remarkable. Sure enough, no matter where you are, such a thing as challenging authority is extremely refreshing.
Falling from the world to hell, and crawling back from hell, after walking for so many times, the young man looked a little dazed, he walked to Su Zuo in a daze, and looked at Su Zuo blankly, helpless.
Su Zuo looked at the other apple that the boy was clutching tightly in his hand - he didn't let go even if he fell to the ground - and stuffed the apple in his hand with him: "Let's go, next time you do this, no one will save you." ”
The boy subconsciously wanted to turn around, but Suzo shouted to him again: "Wait, take this." ”
Taking the half of the meatloaf from the rattan box he was carrying, Suzo stuffed it into his hand: "The gods will watch over you, my child. ”
Suzo drew a diamond on his chest and recited the most popular greetings to the nuns in the order.
Looking at Su Zuo like this, the young man suddenly raised his arm, wiped his tears fiercely, and then bowed vigorously to Su Zuo, turned around and ran away.
The crowd of onlookers burst into thunderous applause, and Su Zuo couldn't help but nod to the surroundings a little smugly: "Thank you for your help, the gods are also watching you!"
A good greeting changed the taste in Su Zuo's mouth.
Seeing that the matter was over, the crowd of onlookers began to disperse, and Suzo lowered his head, intending to bear the wrath of Vigil.
“...... What the hell are you thinking?" Vigille was silent for a long time, and finally spoke, "Can you help him once, and can you help him for the rest of your life?"
Su Zuo raised his head and looked at Wei Jie'er with a sincere look: "I can't help." ”
"Then you're still there!—"
Vicier's angry cry was interrupted by Su Zuo in the middle of her speech: "It is not necessary to use punishment to make people repent, and this is the role of the church and faith of the gods. I can't help him for a lifetime, but I can help him for a while, everyone has a time when the street is in trouble, at the moment when a soul slides into the abyss, if someone pulls him, then it is likely to save a soul for the gods who is about to fall. ”
"......" Vijie'er looked at Su Zuo's unpretentious eyes and bit her lip, she was almost shaken, "But if you can save him this time, then can you save everyone? Law is the foundation of order, and disrupting this order will only allow more people to see the opportunity to take advantage of-"
Su Zuo leaned on crutches, slowly turned around, and looked at the endless flow of people, among the people here, I don't know how many "sinners" were left to beg for a living because they couldn't pass the passage of the magic audit, but even so, in Wenning District, they can still change the past and start a new life like normal people. And if they were to be reconciled according to the crimes they had committed in the past, at least half of the people on the street would have disappeared, and of the remaining half, a quarter would have no hands, a quarter could not walk, a quarter could not speak, and finally a quarter were good and normal people.
So, are the people of Wenning District born criminals with the blood of sinners in their hands?
No kidding!
Holding on to his crutches, Su Zuo slowly walked to the fruit stall on the side of the street, took out five copper coins from his bosom and threw them to the stall owner, Su Zuo picked up a green apple that he had never looked at before and stuffed it into his mouth - he didn't like to eat apples much in his previous life, and this was the first time he had eaten this thing since he was reborn.
The fruit in the mouth is sour and astringent, but it is such a thing, and in the eyes of the poor, it is also a rare and precious food.
Chewing the flesh of the fruit in his mouth, Su Zuo questioned Vijieer with unusually clear words: "Vijieer, I can't save everyone, but as you can see, that kid will have his right hand cut off just because he stole two sour apples that are not worth mentioning in the eyes of the nobles, do you think such a rule...... Is it just?!"
"But this is the law! This is the rule! Now that Nanling has been in war all year round, the manpower of the security offices in various places is not sufficient, so it can only be made up by increasing the punishment......" In the face of Su Zuo's questioning, Wei Jie'er couldn't help but argue, but the more she spoke, the weaker her tone became, and in the end she was almost like a mosquito.
"What does the nobles have to do with the commoners when they fight, and the territories and spoils of war they gain will not be converted into benefits for the commoners, they are exploited in wartime and forgotten after war, no matter where or what era, isn't it like this?!"
Su Zuo whispered in a voice that only Vigille could hear, and said something that could be called a great rebellion.
"Evan Ian, you ......" Vijie's golden eyes were full of incredulity, she didn't expect Suzo to say such a thing at all.
"In my opinion, a good person can save one person, but a good ruler can save countless people. ”
Su Zuo didn't care what Wei Jie'er's expression was, but just said to himself.
"That's right, in the face of the miserable situation of the people all over the land, there are so few things that one person can do, and I can't save everyone, so where I can't see, there will definitely be people who die because of stealing, robbing, and killing. But this is not to say that such draconian laws and rules are right. ”
"A good ruler should make his realm safe and secure, that everyone should have a place to live, that everyone should have something to eat, and that everyone could support himself through labor, so that they could live without stealing, robbing, cheating, or murdering. And Vigil, you say, does such a world need such a cruel criminal law to ensure social stability?!"
Su Zuo bit the sour apple in his hand one bite at a time, the sourness was really refreshing, so sour that people's tongues were paralyzed, and their heads were swollen, but after biting four or five bites, Su Zuo felt that the more he ate, the more delicious he felt, and after the unbearable sourness gradually subsided, what remained on the tip of his tongue was unforgettable, almost engraved on the tip of his heart.
Su Zuo turned his head to look at Vijieer, the expression on his face was flat and his eyes were as deep as a well, Vijieer couldn't help but feel that he was becoming more and more mysterious: "This land needs to change, Vijieer." The country needs to change too, Vigille. ”
Su Zuo put the fruit in his mouth and bit it down hard, but his eyes saw through the cliff, through most of the Nanling Basin, and saw the man who was extremely far away from him, but extremely close to him in his heart.
That man has a variety of titles.
Duke of Silver Rose, Grand Duke of Feldnan, head of the noble family of sixty flower crowns, head of the Silver Rose family, head of the four dukes of the empire, Taishou of Nanling, ruler and scholar of Nanling in the actual sense......
This man is the first wall that cannot be crossed in front of Su Zuo's goal.
Even if it is a terrifying existence that can make people lose their fighting spirit just by looking at it from a distance, but looking at this unrecognizable man, Su Zuo's heart is full of war intent.
"Look at it...... Su Zuo bit the last piece of flesh of the fruit in his hand, and the juice splashed, Su Zuo's eyes were firm, "I will definitely defeat you! Pull you down from the position of ruler and beat you hard!";