570

East Bailang, Gulain.

"There's important news."

Thorst strode into the Red Gloves' common room and whispered to the crowd, "We've found a member of the Church of the Grim Reaper who has a connection to Ince Zangwill. Although he is not the main point of contact, we still get some information from him. ”

The Red Gloves perked up, and Leonard and Daly's expressions suddenly became serious.

"His words are true," he said, and Ince Zangwill's last letter was in early March.

"He also stated in the letter that he was in an abnormal state and began to show signs of madness, and hoped to get help from the Church of the Grim Reaper as soon as possible," Sost said. But according to the member, after that exchange, Ince Zangwill never replied. ”

As a result, the liaison speculated that he might have gotten out of control. After several attempts to make unsuccessful attempts, the Church of the Reaper gave up on him. ”

Leonard frowned and expressed his doubts: "Out of control? Why did Ince Zangwill get out of control? Even if he did have similar symptoms, he could use the seal to adjust his state. ”

"You've asked a crucial question, which can only be obtained from Ince Zangwill's main contacts."

Sotht nodded and said, "The good news is that from him, we have found clues to the main contact. Everyone, get ready, and as soon as we take out the seals, we'll head there. ”

……

"Your Highness, Archon."

A familiar call with awe took Azik Eggers out of his thoughts, and he turned his head slightly, looked at his subordinates who were kneeling in front of him, and said helplessly: "I said, you don't have to kneel. ”

The courtiers who looked like people from the Southern Continent stubbornly knelt down: "No, Your Highness, this is the respect given to you, the iron law of the Bailang Empire. ”

Azik Eggers resisted the urge to press his temples with his hands, because he wore traditional Byron gold ornaments and headbands on his head, and when his head moved too widely, he would make a noise that would not only hook his hair, but also give him a sense of impetuousness and noise.

Before he was captured, he had always felt that he could not accept these beautiful but cumbersome decorations, could not tolerate others kneeling at his feet, and could not accept the combination of clothing other than a three-piece suit and a top hat and tie. But when he actually put on the gold ornaments and put on the loose robes, he felt a long-lost familiarity, as if he was born to be here, to sit here.

He had to say, "You can stand up now." ”

The courtier, who looked older than him, slowly stood up: "Yes, honorable consul. ”

"Well, what do you have to report today?"

The old minister handed over a document and said respectfully:

"Our army has achieved a phased victory in the central and western regions, and the church has applied to mobilize some members to manage the members who have just taken over."

Azik flipped back the paperwork, and when he saw that the last page had already listed the details of the application, he nodded, leaving an imprint on it that could not be forged:

"Just do as it says."

"Yes." The minister took the paperwork handed back by Azik with both hands, and hesitated to say the bad news, "Your Highness the Archon, the church is a little understaffed, do we have to recruit and train new members in the places that have been occupied?" ”

The Church of the Reaper was originally just a secret organization about the same size as a church, and although the overall strength is about the same now, the number of talents and resource reserves cannot be compared at all.

"Hmm." Azik nodded.

He knew that he was just an empty shell dealing with simple government affairs, that the affairs of the Church of the Reaper were managed by the great priesthood of the fanatics, and that his father, the great "Emperor of Hades" Salinger, had paid a little more attention to the affairs of the empire this time - Azik casually guessed that this might be a kind of local custom.

After resurrection, he directly became an enemy of the Northern Continent, so the Grim Reaper tried to understand the new laws and policies needed by the current Southern Continent and the Bailang Empire through the memories of "Thea Eggers" and the demands of ordinary people, and used "kindness to mankind" as a bargaining chip to win the help of the true creator.

Although the Northern Continent claims that the Southern Continent is a land where everyone is equal except slaves under the constraints of their laws, everyone knows that this is nothing more than a joke.

Now that the plain cities of the central region have also been occupied, the general direction of Intis is still on the sidelines, the Sunia fleet of the Vorsack Empire has taken advantage of the weakness to hold back the aid from the Rorsted Islands, and the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom has covertly conveyed some meaning of exchange. The attitude of the nations in the colonial war made Azik feel incredulous, and he felt that everything was taken for granted, as it should be.

According to the export adjustment of the Byron Empire, he learned that many textile factories in the northern continent had failed to harvest cotton, a large number of workers were laid off, the factories went bankrupt, and the lives of the middle and lower classes quickly collapsed, but for the middle class and above, only the price of textiles was a little more expensive.

This situation has been hidden since the people of the northern continent burned the fields of the southern continent, forced them to exchange their crops for cotton and other items of higher economic value, and gradually made the southern continent a major supplier of raw materials.

Now, it's just that the Northern Continent has tasted the bitter fruits of this act.

The old minister left. Leaving some other simple government affairs, basically just need Azik to say "good" or "bad", the difference between stamped or not.

His days were quite leisurely, but he couldn't leave.

Because his father was very curious about his resurrection hand, which had some soft human qualities, he thought that Azik, who had been wandering in the Northern Continent for more than 1,300 years, could also be used as a research object for "how to treat humans".

Ninety percent of his strength had recovered, but he was still a little weak, the "Archon of Death" Azik Eggers stood up, put aside the pitifully unfinished simple work, stood up, and walked around the palace.

He saw the servants in the garden planting fresh flowers together, and in the distant palace he saw spirit creatures holding palettes and painters depicting gold dust on the walls and ceilings with gold leaf.

The painting is an unfamiliar memory of him, from himself 1,400 years ago, as far away as a legend and a dream.

He stared there, watching the painter finish painting a fresco with a feathered serpent with wings covering the sky, before turning his head and returning to his seat.

571

Ms. D hired a horse-drawn carriage.

The carriage contained some of their luggage, mostly ladies', and the coachman was Klein's new secret couple.

Crane's eyes were focused on his surroundings, and he said casually, "I thought Byron's carriage would be a huge coffin. ”

"That's what I thought when I first came." Ms. D smiled, "The climate of the Southern Continent is too humid and warm, which is suitable for plant growth, in fact, at the beginning, they really didn't realize the importance of the 'wheel' as a prop. Because the roads that have been cleared this year may be overgrown with plants next year, most of the relocations will be solved by human power—or living corpses and spirit creatures. ”

Ms. D said goodbye to the person who brought the carriage and said eloquently: "In fact, there are very few human coffins in West Bailang, which has been thoroughly influenced by the culture of the Northern Continent, and it is a port city, and many of the residents can speak and write the basic lingua franca of the Northern Continent. If you go to East Bailang, it is estimated that the only way to travel will be to lie in a coffin. ”

Her life experience completely surpassed that of ordinary nobles, and she was like a person who had lived in the Southern Continent for many years...... Is it because you can rely on that "Mystic" seal to carry out activities conveniently?

Klein nodded, looked at the departing coachman, and said, "You have more experience than I thought. ”

Ms. D was not surprised, smiled generously, and skipped the topic: "You are also kinder than I thought." ”

She looked at the man in the driver's seat of the carriage—a thug who was robbing and bullying women along the street.

Ms. D was born in Intis, and because of the existence of the Esoteric Order, she understood the "soothsayers" a little more than the average extraordinary. Mr. X, who is most likely a "master of secret puppets", should be more careful about his secret puppets, rather than grabbing just one and using it.

Klein didn't say much, but he felt that his new image had become much more complex and three-dimensional again:

"I'll be absent for a while, maybe I'll be back in a while."

"Okay." Ms. D didn't ask Klein for purpose.

Klein walked into a deserted alley, laid out a simple spiritual wall, and then, with the "wriggling hunger" in his left hand, opened a wide mouth, opening a "traveler's door" in front of him.

Based on the address given by the previous divination, he walked through the door.

Passing through the door, Klein appeared on another secluded street, but the temple was much larger than Caesars Harbor, where he was, and many voices could be heard nearby. He took a few steps and saw what Ms. D called a "human coffin".

The results of the divination showed that the city was called Gulain.

As he walked along a secluded road, he suddenly heard the frightened cries of women.

The sound lasted only a short time before it came to an abrupt halt.

Although he couldn't understand what the other person was shouting, Crane could feel the fear, fear, panic, and he made a mistake and entered a narrower, less pedestrian path.

Within ten seconds, he saw a local man in his thirties with brown skin and soft facial features pressed against a little girl who was at most thirteen or fourteen years old in a hidden corner, violently assaulting her.

Crane glanced at it, slowed down, and stopped in the shadows nearby.

At this time, the little girl's face was distorted by extreme panic, but no matter how she struggled, it was difficult to get rid of it, and even in exchange for a beating.

Tears and snot flowed down her eyes, and her mouth was stuffed with rags of clothing, and she could only make a whining sound.

It was then that she was stunned to find that the villain's attempt to undress himself had slowed down.

The brown-skinned local man struggled for a while, but finally quieted down, smiled, and said frankly, "When you meet someone like me in the future, remember to run to the nearest church, or to a crowded place." ”

The little girl was stunned, suddenly let out a scream, turned and ran away.

Klein touched his nose, looked at the two crooked melons and cracked dates in his hand, sighed, and fed the previous one to the "wriggling hunger" - compared to the previous one, the current one has the advantage of being "proficient in Dutan".

He had to pin his hopes on the answer given by Yuanbao: "The location of the new secret puppet is near here. ”

Through the divination rod method, he walked forward like this for a while, divining once, and after following the revelation he had obtained, he reached a steep staircase.

The staircase connected several levels of the road to Gullay, and one had to look up to see the top, and at this moment, it was empty.

No one...... Crane didn't doubt the source castle and his divination abilities, but he still didn't have much confidence and began to wait. After a while, he heard some faint movement outside, so he switched places with his secret mate and hid in the shadows.

Not long after, Crane suddenly heard a sound of unhurried footsteps above him.

His secret puppet was delivered to the door.

……

About an hour later, in the alleys of Caesars Harbor, the "Traveler's Gate" opened again.

With a new secret puppet, Crane of the "Monster" path Sequence 5 "winner" Enzo appears in the alley.

It was early afternoon, the sun was shining, and Crane stepped out of the alley and began to search for Ms. D's location.

The carriage they hired was parked next to a restaurant on the side of the road, the brown horses were grazing with their heads down, and Ms. D, wearing sunglasses, was sitting under the eaves, reading a newspaper, with a cup of warm tea and a snack in front of her.

Probably aware of his gaze, Ms. D raised her head when Klein walked over, she looked at the new secret couple next to Klein with some surprise, and then smiled very calmly: "It seems that we have a new Mrs. Che to choose." ”

It's easy to talk to someone who knows "soothsayers", and you don't have to explain it alone, but you don't have the opportunity to play it...... Crane nodded, sat down at the table, and asked for a lunch, and asked for one for Enzo.

Ms. D finished reading the newspaper and said:

"Something interesting happened. Last night, a bishop from Lenburg claimed that he had been attacked by the Intis, but traces of his activity appeared dozens of miles away, and a colonial city of Rune said that he had been attacked by Lenburg, and that the bishop was the mastermind. ”

She leisurely took a sip of the flower tea that was a specialty of the Southern Continent:

"It looks like the Northern Continent is about to change."

Klein asked, "Is it because the churches of the three gods are hostile to each other?" But this trap is all too obvious. ”

"If Lemburg starts to favor the Church of the Grim Reaper, then the other two gods will immediately start targeting the Church of Knowledge. All you need is an excuse, you don't need to know whether the excuse is true or false, at least the Fusak Empire has made it clear that it wants a piece of the pie. Ms. D smiled, "Just like me, if I want to search the body of a civilian, I don't need to explain anything, I can even say that the other person stole my things." ”

Ms. D sighed, closed the newspaper, and began to quietly enjoy the snacks she had brought.

"War is a crucial moment that changes the pattern of the world, but my country is still intoxicated."

Klein suddenly thought of Issinger Stanton, the Lenburgh detective who wandered the church and the extraordinary gray area.

It's not just him, if the church in Beckland had stepped up, how many wild extraordinaries would have been searched?

Lunch was served, whether it was color, aroma or taste, it was very different from the Northern Continent that Crane was used to, and it was seasoned with a lot of spices, and Klein took a few bites to get used to it.

Two servings of chow mein are 4p in total, and the price is frighteningly low.

At this time, a thin young man suddenly appeared next to Klein as if he had come out of the ground, and the young man did not dare to look at Ms. D, who was obviously a superior person in the Northern Continent, but looked at Klein, who had a trace of Southern Continent blood in appearance, with a pleading look, holding a fairly neat stack of newspapers in his dirty hands, and asked in the unfamiliar Northern Continent lingua franca:

"Sir, do you need a newspaper?"

Crane was so uncomfortable with that look in his eyes that he couldn't help but think of the little kid who was munching on moldy bread on the side of the street. He thought for a second and nodded, "Give me one." ”

But the boy said, "Newspapers, two copies, one penny." ”

Two copies? That's okay too...... For the sake of the other party's pitiful look, Klein paid the money briskly, and the boy ran away quickly. When Klein finished his lunch and opened the newspaper, he found that the date and news were from last week.

Crane frowned, but he didn't have to take the newspaper for a penny to get the boy back.

"Now you'll have to take care of your wallet, Mr. X."

Ms. D jokingly said: "Those children know who to take money from without being beaten, they know how to use tears to make others feel compassion, and if you don't need those two newspapers, you can just throw them in front of a house, they will need it." ”

Klein was silent for a moment.

"It reminds me of the East End." "This is true of Beckland, or any city, or even their slums," he said in a deep voice. ”

"The same is true of beautiful Trier."

Ms. D ate the last bite of the snack and suddenly thought of something: "Mr. X, you are from Rune, may I ask what happened to your 'Beckland Great Smog' incident?" Haven't your councils and churches initiated any more impeachments against the royal family? ”

The sensational fact that the "Great Bakerland Smog" had a bad international impact, and the sensational fact that the fog could be thick enough to kill 10,000 people was hung in the newspapers of countries other than Rune for a long time, and was widely ridiculed and ridiculed internationally.

"Impeachment of the royal family?"

Klein asked suspiciously, and then said in the same tone:

"The Great Smog Incident has ended in Rune, the third prince committed suicide in fear of crime, and the subsequent introduction of the Atmospheric Protection and Governance Act, and the promotion of anthracite...... The current Beckland environment has been significantly improved. ”

Ms. D was also visibly stunned for a moment, and then nodded as if to convince herself:

"It's over, if it happens in Intis, someone in the House of Lords will definitely be impeached and leave, it is worthy of Beckland, who has had a major outbreak of plague in history, have the government and the people been accustomed to such a simple and rough population cleanup......"

This time it was Klein's turn to be stunned: "Population cleanup? ”

Ms. D was dumbfounded, and then realized that the two might not understand the same thing in the same way, so she immediately added, "Yes, population clearance." In the Fusak Empire's findings, the 'Great Smog' was defined as a vicious population clean-up. Official researchers believe that it is pure nonsense that the fog alone can kill tens of thousands of people in such a short period of time, and that there must be an extraordinary ability to join in - the newspaper says that it is poison gas, poison gas dropped by the authorities, but the investigation of the extraordinary world shows that it is a witch, most likely a high sequence. ”

"The official claim of the Fersak Empire was a vicious massacre of the useless population of the slums at the national level, and in the end it was just a random push of a prince with no inheritance to block the gun."

"......" Klein's eyes widened as the other party spoke.

It's not that the messages of the Ivsak Empire are sensational, but that every one of them is true and credible - yes, the source of the Great Smog is a witch, and Prince Edsaac Augustus is just a shield.

His death is a mystery as evidenced by his own butler, Walter, and Trisquirk, who appears in the sewers. It is very likely that the royal family did hook up with the witch sect, but it was definitely not Prince Edsak - it was another faction that masterminded the Great Haze and then put all the blame on the third prince, and from this point of view, the Augustan royal family is undoubtedly an accomplice!

Judging from the aftermath of the Great Smog, the royal family quickly introduced new laws, the economy was not affected, and the population of the eastern district was greatly reduced to the point that many jobs were vacated, and everything was indeed a "population clean-up" as announced by the Vorsac Empire.

“…… Where did the Vorsack Empire get this news from? He asked in a hoarse voice.

"Some of the victims from Beckland, some of them fled to other countries, some went to the Rorsted Islands with a small amount of compensation, and in short, they were not willing to live in this horrible place."

There was a hint of confusion in Ms. D's eyes: "I used to be in charge of placing them, but I was still taken away by the spies of the Fusak Empire, and of course there are extraordinary ones...... Compared to foreign spies, the Storm Church would choose to give priority to me, an extraordinary person in the solar path. ”

Ms. D has been to the sea? Spent some time in the Rorsted Islands?

Crane suddenly had a flash of inspiration, and remembered the source of the familiarity when they first met-

A few months ago, when he was still preparing to be promoted to Sequence 5, on a way to volunteer at a charity hospital, he met a female extraordinary person with obvious Intis style and a medium-level spirituality!

"But...... Why did the Augustan royal family do this? ”

Klein still can't understand that the royal family personally went down to do such a thing, did he just think that there were too many people in the East End?

"Maybe there are occult reasons, but newspapers for the general public can't write too much, and my family seems to be aware of it, but I'm not qualified to know the truth." Ms. D shook her head, not mentioning the details of her family.

"Newspapers?" Klein was taken aback, "These are written in the newspaper??" ”

The truth that he has been striving for exists in the newspapers of other countries so grandly?

"Yes, newspapers."

Ms. D nodded naturally, and then suddenly understood: "Ah, you're from Rune—"

"——The newspapers of the Vorsac Empire have been circulating in Intis and other countries for more than a month, and although the official edition has been published, many influential newspapers are enthusiastically communicating about Rune's disregard for human rights this time of population purge."

"Especially on the side of Lemburg and Fenerport, it is said that the Church of Mother Earth God is very angry at this desecration of life."

“…… Is there no news in your Rune? ”

TBC

——————

Historically, the "high economic value" crop that was really compelled to grow was hemp compared to cotton, which is a necessity of life.

There is no further description of these items in the Mysterious World, appearing as a type of narcotic, or hallucinogenic drug.