There's no doubt that in a world like Innistrad, which is full of gothic horror, the best place to get the news is the tavern.

So after entering the town, Zuo Si took Nissa straight to the only building that was still brightly lit.

As soon as I reached the door, I could hear all kinds of complaints, curses, and rude laughter coming from inside.

As a young elf, Nissa was clearly uncomfortable with the atmosphere, and the pungent smell of alcohol, tobacco, and sweat made her frown before she even entered.

Zuo Si undoubtedly noticed this, and immediately spoke: "If you don't want to go in, then wait for me at the door for a while." Don't worry, there is generally no important information in a remote town like this, and I should be able to get out in about ten minutes at most. ”

"Okay, then I'll wait for you outside. The terrible smell here makes me want to vomit. ”

Nissa pinched her nose and ducked into a dark corner next to her.

After all, she had lived in the wilderness and forests since she was a child, and she breathed Zendikar's natural energy and oxygen-rich air, and Innistrad's black negative energy environment had made her feel very uncomfortable, not to mention a smoky place like a tavern.

Zuo Si blessed himself with an air filtration method, and after that, he pushed the door open and walked in.

As expected, it was a small tavern for the locals, with only six or seven tables and a long bar, and about a dozen people drinking and chatting.

Two-thirds of them are men and a third are women.

A bearded man who looked to be in his mid-thirties was standing at the bar, occasionally refilling drinks for customers who came by with empty glasses.

Of course, Tim is basically the cheapest, cheapest rye beer.

After all, in Innistrad, where nights are always longer than day, and are full of twisted mana, crops grow at a slower rate than in normal worlds, and yields are relatively low, so although the level of agricultural technology gives people the feeling of the seventeenth or even eighteenth centuries of the earth, the people's lives are generally not rich.

Most of the reason why they like to have a drink or two in the evening is so that they can get a good night's sleep and avoid some terrible nightmares.

After all, under the multiple threats of vampires, werewolves and undead, people here live in a state of extreme mental stress every day, and alcohol is not only a hobby for them, but also a necessity of life.

However, the moment Zuo Si walked in, everyone in the tavern stopped talking and looked at this young man who looked very strange.

You must know that in this small town where the flow of people is not very large, outsiders are very eye-catching.

With the exception of merchants, cathars (holy warriors who believe in the Church of Archangel Avacyn and protect humanity from monsters), vampires, and werewolf hunters, few will risk their lives to leave the safety of a big city and wander the monster-infested wilderness.

"Welcome to Sweetwater, what would you like to drink?"

The boss standing at the bar was the first to break the silence and ask a rather friendly question.

"Treat everyone to a glass of your best wine here, I'm in for a treat."

Zuo Si casually left a gold bar on the table, and straightforwardly used the big coin scattering skill.

Moment!

The guests, who were a little wary and hostile to it one second, let out a deafening cheer the next.

"Hahahaha! Respectful stranger! ”

"I wish you good health! Never meet those damn werewolves! ”

"Beggs, take out that barrel of black plum wine you treasured, I've been wanting to taste the taste of a fine wine for five silver coins."

"That's right! The rye beer was so bitter that I couldn't taste anything of it. ”

Looking at this group of blind people, the tavern owner known as Borgus couldn't help but smile and shook his head, picked up the gold bar, put it in his mouth and bit it, and after confirming that it was not a fake gold bar made of gold dust smeared with heavy metals such as lead, he immediately turned around and took out an oak barrel half a man high from the cellar.

Then, under everyone's expectation, he cracked a hole in the top of the barrel with an axe, scooped out the black and purple liquid inside with a large wooden spoon, and filled Zuo Si with a cup first, and then poured two or three spoonfuls one after another for the regular customers who were eager to try it.

Soon, the entire tavern fell silent, and everyone was savoring the expensive alcoholic beverage they might not be able to afford for the rest of their lives.

It took about half a minute, when the wine in the glass was a third of the way down, and they were back to the lively atmosphere they had chatted with before.

Of course, what is inevitable is the praise for the taste and taste of this blackberry wine, as well as speculation about Zuosi's identity.

A man who was seven or eight points drunk even sat directly next to the latter, grinned and showed a mouthful of big yellow teeth and asked with a smile: "Little brother, I think you should be a vampire and a werewolf hunter, right?" ”

"Oh? How do you know? Zuo Si asked quietly and rhetorically.

"Do you need to ask? Look at the weapons you carry, and this generous style of hospitality, there can be no one other than hunters who can earn good pay. The drunkard triumphantly uttered his reasoning.

Zuo Si lowered his head and glanced at his outfit and the few weapons fixed on his belt, which did give people the illusion that he looked very much like the vampires and werewolf hunters in this world, so he simply nodded and admitted: "Okay, I am indeed a hunter who lives by accepting commissions to hunt vampires and werewolves." Do you have any commissions in your town or in other surrounding villages? ”

The drunk man burped, touched the thick hair on his chest and shook his head with a wry smile: "No." Werewolves have been so frequent lately that most towns and villages can't afford to hire good hunters. And there seems to be something wrong with the cathars, it is said that their prayers cannot be answered by the archangel Avacyn, resulting in the frequency of taking the initiative to clean up the monsters has also slowed down a lot. ”

"Yes! Recently, the world has been getting harder and harder. The boss Borgus couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

The cathars' prayers were not answered by Archangel Avacyn?

With this information, Zuo Si immediately realized the timeline that Innistrad was currently in.

Right now, Archangel Avacyn should have been sealed into the prison cellar along with the demon Thorn Ze.

In addition to the two of them, the lithomancer Nahiri was also sealed in it by Sorin Markov a long time ago.

If there is no external intervention, it should be another traveling mage who is proficient in necromancy - Liliana Weiss, in order to kill the demon Thorn Ze who has signed a contract with him to regain the ownership of the soul and take the initiative to destroy the prison cellar, and finally release the three of them together, and kill the demon lord Thorn Ze who has been making waves on Innistrad for thousands of years in a nearly crushing attitude.

Thinking of this, Zuo Si quickly locked down the location of the prison cellar, which was located in the largest church in the Holy City of Serpan, and said bluntly, "There haven't been any major changes on the side of the Holy City of Thurban, right?" ”

"How could there be any major changes in the holy city of Serpan. It was the base camp of the Cathars, with countless elite knights and clerics who could use divine powers. If the city of Thurpan were powerless against the growing darkness as we are, then humanity would indeed perish. ”

The drunkard was clearly confident in the city of Thurpan.

After all, in the hundreds of years since Archangel Avacyn was created, the city of Thrapan has always played the role of the umbrella of human civilization.

No matter what the vampire and werewolf clan leaders used, they were never able to pluck any advantage from the cathars they led.

Therefore, in the eyes of most ordinary people on Innistrad, Thraben is no longer as simple as a large city, but closer to a kind of hope and faith.

As long as the city of Thraben stands, it proves that humanity can still survive and thrive in this dangerous world.

"yes, that's really reassuring."

When he said this, a trace of pity flashed in Zuo Si's eyes that was not easy to detect.

Because as far as he knew, the holy city of Thraben would fall at least twice in the near future.

One of them was two siblings Kisha and Kiraf, who were born into a noble family in Thraben but fell in love with necromancy.

These two insane lunatics tried to take advantage of the weakness of Thurpan to seize the vast mass of tombs there, and transform the corpses into undead creatures, or dismantle and reorganize them into corpse-embedded creatures.

The second time was because the eldest of the three Eldrazi Titans, Yin Moku, was summoned to this world, causing the entire environment of Innistrad to be distorted by the energy of the Dark Void, and the difficulty of survival escalated directly from bad to dead.

In short, after getting the information he wanted, Zuo Si chatted with these drunks for a while before getting up and saying goodbye.

Of course, I didn't touch a sip of that so-called expensive black plum wine from beginning to end.

As soon as he left, the drunk, who had seized the vantage point, snatched the glass in his hand and began to squint his eyes to enjoy what might have been the best drink he had ever drunk in his life.

Seeing Zuo Si coming out of the tavern, Nisha, who was hiding in the shadows, immediately stepped forward and asked, "How is it, have you found any useful information?" ”

"Well, our next stop is the Holy City of Thurban. If nothing else, Sorin Markov should be there to show up. ”

After that, Zuo Si directly summoned two griffons that were good at long-distance flight.

From the conversation he had just had, he already had a rough idea of the location of Thraben, so he just had to fly west along the road, and it wouldn't be long before he reached his destination.

Compared to Zendikar and Phelon, the Innistrad plane is relatively small, and the range of human activities threatened by a large number of external factors is not large, and it is basically within the radiation range of the holy city of Thraben.

If you go any further, you will lose the protection of the cathars and end up being swallowed by the distorted dark forces.

Soon, Zoth and Nissa rode into the air on their griffins and left the town full of depression and tension.

As they left the human sphere and entered the wilderness, swamps, and forests, the two saw a large number of rotting corpses wandering aimlessly, as well as ghosts, banshees, and giant monsters distorted and strengthened by the dark forces.

In particular, small plantations on the fringes often have ten-metre-high masonry walls, around which there are always hordes of werewolves roaming.

If some unlucky guy doesn't get on their feet and falls from a great height, the werewolves will rush up and tear it to pieces, then devour it alive.

The extremely cruel and bloody scene made Nissa can't help but show unbearable expressions several times.

In contrast, Zuo Si was much more determined, and he had no intention of interfering at all.

Because he knew that all of this was due to the influence of Innistrad's unique environment and black negative energy, and it was a force that came from the roots.

Unless you have the power to reshape the whole world, whatever you do is futile.

Even an Ancient Brigade mage like Sorin Markov was able to create Archangel Avacyn to barely maintain a fragile ecology.

Thankfully, the miserable situation began to improve as we got closer to the holy city of Seraben.

Some towns even saw soldiers patrolling on horseback and with swords in hand.

Whenever they spot undead creatures or werewolves approaching villages and towns, they will immediately summon their companions to strangle them.

As a result of this tight defense, many towns seemed to be thriving with trade, rather than deserted as the previous town.

When they saw the majestic walls of the holy city of Thraban appear on the horizon, the two quickly lowered their height to the ground, and their mounts changed from griffins to ordinary horses.

After all, flying creatures are very rare on Innistrad, and Zuo Si didn't want to attract the attention of those guards and cathars.

Moreover, the guards of Thurpan City are also extremely strict in their inspections, and even use some kind of spell to confirm whether the person entering the city is an evil creature such as a vampire or a werewolf.

However, this is not too much of a problem for Zuosi and Nissa.

After paying a tax to enter the city, the two of them passed through the heavily guarded gates and entered the bustling streets of the city.

Unlike other towns, where the inhabitants are mostly nervous and wary of strangers, the inhabitants of Thraben seem to be friendly, welcoming, and unconcerned about their safety.

For in the hundreds of years since the appearance of the archangel Avacyn, there has been almost no threat from any evil forces, and not even the corpses buried in the surrounding cemeteries have been able to crawl out.

The long history of peace and security has led many to forget that they are living in the perilous city of Innistrad and enjoying it with peace of mind, not caring whether their fellow citizens outside the Holy City are in dire straits.

"How do you feel about the city?" Zuo Si asked the elven brigade mage beside him with a smile.

Nissa shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Positive, optimistic, upbeat, and overall feeling pretty good." You know, it's rare to see big hangouts in Zendikar, so I'm still very curious about places like cities. ”

"In that case, then you should take a good stroll here and enjoy the different atmosphere. Here's a bag of coins that allows you to buy a wide variety of goods and services. Zuo Si directly handed over a bag full of gold coins.

These coins were exchanged for gold bars and nuggets by the gold shop he had just passed, and they were a huge amount of money for most ordinary people.

Staring at the money bag in front of her, Nissa was stunned for a moment, and then asked in a tone of uncertainty that "doesn't really matter if I wander around aimlessly like this?" ”

"It doesn't matter. When we arrived at the city of Thépan, we were halfway through our trip, and all that remained was to wait patiently. Zuo Si replied with a smile.

Looking at the heavy gold coins and the abundance of shops and goods sold in the streets, Nissa, who had little experience living in the big city, soon resisted the temptation to take her purse and began to buy everything she was interested in.

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Zuo Si, on the other hand, watched the Elven Brigade mage enter the first shop, then turned around and went straight to the largest church in Thurban.