After a lunch of onion roast and cream stew as the main course in the communal cafeteria, a fairly solid portion and only a drink of spirits, Douglas and Fanna walked to the mine's location evasively.

After taking advantage of the meal time to briefly observe the people around them, they found that most of them were native to Fusak, including businessmen, business company employees, simple travelers, and so on. They had been stopped at the city of Yetonav on a steam train to refuel, but were centrally managed by the Cathedral of the Sword and Blade, citing the "epidemic", complaining about the chaos in their settlements, but their general mood was relatively stable.

Walking all the way to the relatively open place around, the two of them simply communicated.

"The steam train leading here hasn't stopped," Douglas found a little inclanded, "Is the Fursack government acquiescing in the 'resurrectionist' occupation of this place?" It stands to reason that we should cut off water and food, and be prepared to attack tough problems. ”

"It's not that easy, they don't necessarily want to meddle in the internal affairs of the church."

"In any case, it is also an energy city, and it should be very important for industry."

"There's no shortage of coal in Fursack. Guess what these apostate lunatics need most? It's the believer, it's the human heart! Because only coal can be sold here, if their opponents are smart enough to spend some money and unite with the nobles who have a stake in the factories of St. Milon to refuse the coal produced by Yetonaev, in a few months, the bankrupt mine owners and unemployed workers here will not care which god you serve. ”

Vanna casually gave an example, reaching out and curling a few strands of hair hanging from her ear, and thoughtfully asked another question: "But it's unusual for them to search for wild extraordinary, and we can only see what news there is from Boss Donne...... Well? There are people in front. ”

There are also several buildings near the entrance to the mine, including office buildings, main shafts, auxiliary shafts, coal preparation buildings, compressor rooms with ventilation equipment, and a long winch road extending from the ground to transport mine materials and underground gangue, next to the high gangue hillside. It's also unusually quiet at the moment, with locks on the doors of the buildings, and no one entering or leaving.

In the small square in front of the main well, there was an old man with a white beard sitting there with his eyes closed. With a shiny sword on his lap, a dimple metal cuirass, and an old-fashioned double-barreled shotgun and a bag of gunpowder at his feet, he looked like a knight from a story.

Hearing the footsteps of Douglas and Vana approaching, the old man opened his eyes, looked at them with slightly cloudy blue eyes, and then frowned, which made the already weather-beaten and wrinkled face even older.

"Outlander?" After looking at the two of them, the old man straightened his face and waved his arms at them rudely, "It's nothing to look at, go back, don't mess around here." ”

"This coal mine is not yours, what's wrong with shopping."

Unlike Douglas, who retains the habit of respecting the old and loving the young, Vanna has no good impression of the person who calls and drinks to her when she meets, and approaches without caring while raising the bar, and does not forget to laugh at the other party's outdated dress: "Now is the age of gunpowder and steam, and this dress can only scare and scare children." ”

It seemed that he had been poked in some sore spot, and the old man spat very dissatisfiedly: "What do you female doll know!" When I beheaded the Intis on the battlefield, you were still nursing in your mother's arms! ”

Although it has been a hundred years since Intis's heyday and has nothing to do with Vanna, her pride in the country where she was born still makes her immediately ridicule:

"Why don't you say that I'm still playing in the mud at my doorstep when the Intis beat you knights with machine guns and steam rifles? Why don't you say that I was celebrating with champagne at home when you were defeated on the Rune front? ”

Douglas, who was nominally from Rune, couldn't stand it and intervened between the two of them to try to reconcile the atmosphere, but the old man, who had been critted twice in succession, couldn't bear to "soar", and raised the long sword with an angry face and slashed at the heads of the two of them, with a great posture of cutting off the hatred in my heart.

It wasn't until the old man stood up that the two of them realized that although he was over half a hundred years old and had a rickety figure, the old man's height was also in his early nines. When he raised his sword in his hand, the old man's expression and momentum were as cold as a blade.

It's just that after all, age is here, and the speed of this sword is not fast. And visually, this time it will not hurt Fanna, at most it will flash with a cold light in front of her, which shows that the old man has not really lost his mind.

Of course, Fanna will definitely continue to laugh at the other party's old eyes and dizziness, and the distance is unpredictable, and what will happen next is unpredictable.

In the flash of his thoughts, Douglas, who had planned to dodge, simply pulled out Anderson's sharp-edged hunting knife from the inside of his clothes with his backhand, and slid forward sideways, accurately squeezing towards the blade of the long sword, ready to stop the conflict.

Seeing his crisp movements, the old man's eyes narrowed slightly, his wrist turned, and the long sword stopped its downward momentum at an urgent moment, and then drew a curve upward, striking at Douglas's shoulder and neck. The latter immediately lunged forward and avoided the blade with the greatest amplitude, and broke out in a cold sweat.

No matter from which point of view, the old man is just the kind of ordinary people with outstanding martial arts, but Douglas only knows that if this sword is slashed, he will really die.

He raised 100% attention, no longer fought hard to compare skills, pragmatically relied on his youth and strength to react quickly, and after a few rounds with the old man, he narrowed the distance to restrain the opponent's hand holding the sword, and persuaded politely in the threat: "Old man, don't worry about us young people who don't know anything, we haven't even been on the battlefield, where is your professional!" If I hadn't dodged so quickly and my head was gone, you wouldn't have wielded a knife or a gun at your age, how dangerous it was. ”

"......" The old man lowered his eyes and looked at the hunting knife in his throat, glaring at him angrily, "Then put away your broken knife quickly!" ”

Both sides stepped back and died down, and Vanna clapped vigorously beside her, creating a subtle atmosphere of harmony and conflict.

Douglas pinned the hunting knife between his belts for easy access, and just wanted to ask the old man about the situation, he heard the old man who sat back in his place muffled and said, "Don't say that I, Ilya, didn't warn you, it's dangerous here, go back quickly." Remember, stay in your room in the evening, and don't go out if you hear any movement. ”

In the evening...... Isn't that still early! Douglas squatted down to eye level with the old man and asked sincerely, "Then ...... you sit here alone?" ”

Ilya snorted, a chill in her eyes: "Leave me alone, I have my own business to do." ”

"What's the danger? Isn't there a church in charge here? ”

"Church...... Oh, a bunch of foolish rubbish, saying that God has been betrayed, that the hypocritical night has usurped the authority of the Lord, that these are baseless nonsense! I don't know what I'm doing all day, and none of it works. Rubbish! ”

Old man Ilya seemed to be very dismissive when it came to the "resurrectionists" in the city, but he did not explain what "danger" meant in the slightest.

Vana didn't bother to listen to the old man's thoughts, gave Douglas a look and went to check the nearby buildings. Douglas simply sat down on the floor and tried to detour through other topics: "Okay, can I take a look at your sword?" I have never seen such a sharp weapon before, and in our place, this sword will become a collection of noble lords hanging on the wall. ”

At the mention of the sword, Old Man Ilya's expression softened a little. His rough palm brushed the blade of the sword, and as he raised the sword to show Douglas to the sun, he said with nostalgia and pride: "By the way, you young lads have never touched real guys...... Look, how beautiful she is! Brass gauntlets sparkling...... It's really a dead thing for others to see, and she has been wronged. I was so depressed and depressed that I didn't even think of betraying her when I couldn't afford my next meal and couldn't even afford a carriage ticket home. Hey, a knight has to have a good sword. ”

As he spoke, his voice gradually lowered, as if he was sighing: "Actually, the female doll is right, with guns and cannons, my sword is useless. When I was younger, I was a servant of a baron, and later I became the captain of the cavalry by virtue of my military exploits, and I was glad to be given a glass of wine wherever I went...... Hehe, now the knight's road can't be eaten as a meal! I understand that I, Ilya, am not old enough to distinguish between right and wrong......"

It turned out that the knightly class survived until twenty or thirty years ago before it was completely abandoned by the times...... Yes, just as the musket was not taken seriously in the first place in history, if it were not for Russell's improvement of the ancient flintlock pistol, which opened the steam age, and indirectly gave birth to the steam machine gun using phlogiston, maybe the old people are still eating and drinking spicy ......

Douglas, who knows a lot about Russell's life and creation, but lacks reverence for history, felt for the first time that he saw the shape of time, and saw how the changes of the times fell on the old man's back like the mountain behind him, making people slowly bow their heads helplessly.

Before he could come up with any comforting words, the old man shook his head and calmly changed the subject: "Compared to today's young people, you are still ...... But you are not familiar with your own sword, and you are not a hunter; It's not bloody, it's not a kill, it's not a soldier. What do you do? ”

Sorry, I'm a bad person! Douglas coughed lightly and waved the Cantonese voice in his head: "Officer." I was trained for the job. ”

"Oh......" Ilya seemed to think for a moment, and finally smiled with satisfaction, "What a job, what a job...... Remember, young man, that you learn these things to protect others in the end, and don't use them to the detriment. Ahem, my son has been spoiled by me......"

After chatting back and forth between the two, Fanna, who didn't know where to come back, kicked Douglas lightly with a stack of materials in her hand and let him see: "In the past six months, there have been frequent collapse accidents in the coal mines here. The most recent accident was just over 20 days ago, which caused a very large number of casualties and caused the local mine to stop. The mine owners united to entrust the matter to the Church of the God of War, but so far to no avail. By the way, the local miners all went home, while the out-of-town miners who stayed in the dormitories mostly disappeared. ”

Ilya was a little surprised: "You...... How do you open the lock? ”

Vanna smiled and gestured with her hands outward, which made Old Man Ilya a little skeptical.

Douglas quickly flipped through the stack of materials mixed with newspaper clippings and work logs, and exhaled softly: "Old man, has there been a plague in the city recently?" ”

"Plague? Who knows, I don't live where I live anyway, I haven't heard anyone say it. ”

"And are there any other strange things that have happened lately?"

The old man tapped the blade of the long sword with his fingers, and his expression was a little more puzzled and vigilant: "You guys...... What the hell are you doing here? ”

Douglas thought for a moment and honestly replied, "It's hard to say. ”

"......" Ilya was silent for a long time, and finally sighed, "Some of the mine workers went crazy after returning home from work. They said that there were evil spirits in the mines, and there were evil spirits that killed people. A guy I know was so frightened that he closed the curtains and hid in the house day and night, telling his family not to go out. ”

In the warm afternoon sun, the old knight, who was still quite strong, suddenly shivered.

"At first, everyone thought it was a rumor, until someone woke up and found a beach of shredded corpses in front of their house......

"The church inspected the mines, made Mass, and ordered everyone not to go out after dusk, but despite this, the dead were constantly being found.

"Alas, now people are in a state of panic, some say they are anti-social murderers, some say they are beasts in the mountains, and some people believe in evil spirits...... The miners are the most vulnerable, they don't have a home here, they can't stay idle at night after the stoppage, and they always go out to have fun.

"But there have been so many murders, and they have run as much as they can. You strangers have come at a bad time, listen to my Ilya's advice, and leave quickly. ”

Douglas and Vanna couldn't help but glance at each other.

The latter half-turned his body to untie the pendulum on his wrist, while Douglas stared at the old man deeply, and said with a somewhat complicated expression:

"Old man, you stay here...... It's not like you want to fix it yourself. ”

Ilya's expression twitched, as if she wanted to hook the corners of her mouth to deny, but she showed an expression that was more ugly than crying.

"My son...... Although he is an unsuccessful guy and a disobedient bastard, he still has a wife and children waiting at home! There was no body of him, no one saw his body...... I don't admit it, I don't admit it! I'm a useless old thing, but my sword is still sharp! I'm going to see for myself what that is! I'm going to see it with my own eyes!! ”

His hands, which he could hold steadily, trembled, and cloudy tears flowed down the folds of his skin.

At the same time, Vana behind her snorted and turned around.

"An extraordinary event at the demigod level." The magician covered his blood-oozing eyes, faded his playful stance, and calmly commanded, "Go to Anderson, immediately." ”

-

Fort Madden Worley, inside the Lord's House.

Tony. Don strode through the corridors adorned with large paintings and Byron handmade tapestries, leaving behind his sweaty butler, and kicked open the door of his study unceremoniously.

Seeing this, the butler was so frightened that his soul flew out of his mouth, and he hurriedly stumbled and begged for mercy: "Master, please forgive...... He, this ......"

Before he had finished speaking, his master got up from behind his desk and waved his hand casually, and the butler immediately stepped forward and closed the door and left. Tony. Don snorted:

"It's magnificent! The Rune people always say that you Fusaks are barbarians who don't know how to enjoy, and I see that there are all kinds of goods downstairs, and those stupid geese with canes are really long beards and short knowledge. ”

"If you don't look like you've not even digested the 'provocateur' the next time you visit, I'll look forward to your coming, Don."

The owner of the mansion went around the desk and greeted Donn in a noble manner. His red hair and beard that covered from behind his ears to his chin were inherently curly and fluffy, combined with his muscles and tall physique, which seemed to break through his formal suit, and his whole person was like a red-haired lion with sharp claws and could burst out at any moment, giving people a sense of extreme danger.

Caesar. Einhorn, master of Fort Madden Worly, an Imperial duke, and one of the de facto leaders of the Predator Cross in Sequence III.

And Tony, who has the same sequence as him. Tang En, due to the lack of a prominent background as a support, can only be regarded as an ordinary high-level of the "Iron Cross Society", and he is inevitably constrained by the other party in his actions.

The two, or Donne, unilaterally looked at Caesar unpleasantly for a long time, but now, Done's mentality has changed slightly.

After secretly following Medici with some of his henchmen, he suddenly discovers that it is not impossible for him to become an angel before Caesar.

However, Donn still inherited his usual style of ridicule and kept the usual way of getting along, until the two sat down face-to-face on the sofa of the reception, and Caesar handed him a finger-thick Byron cigar as the protagonist

For a while, the smoke mixed with the smell of cedar and spices in the study diffused, and Tang En first enjoyed the high-end goods for a while, and then said slowly: "I heard that those madmen who want to resurrect the god of war have taken a city right under your nose. ”

Caesar. Einhorn's expression was not recognizable, and he rubbed the ring on his left hand with the blood-stained spear family crest, and took a deep breath of his cigar before exhaling his words along with the rich smoke: "This is what a certain big man meant." ”

"Big shots? Hey, I didn't expect to see you wag your tail and act like a dog one day. ”

"Don't belittle yourself so much, Don. To be honest, I've always treated you like a real brother. ”

"That's not it, we're all guys who crawled out of the mud, and it's an honor to be the pawns of big shots." Don bit his cigar and snorted, "So what? What did you get for a good price this time selling your ass? ”

Extinguish a cigar that has just been burned halfway and is as expensive as the ashes of gold, Caesar. Einhorn leaned back, his hands folded on his abdomen, his rusty dark red eyes reflecting Donn's miniature.

"The days of our great emperor are numbered."

His voice was rumbling and deep, stating calmly.

"The princes and princesses who have the opportunity to sit on the throne are all enlisting the support of the Church of the God of War, no matter which church it is. I got the hint that someone made a deal with the city of Yetonaev and the resurrectionists, a win-win deal.

"We're going to be witnesses to this deal, Don."

Good guys, do something big, right?

Tony. Don also kept his face unchanged and said lightly, "Sounds good, but I guess it's not you who does the dirty work." ”

The red-haired lion's face showed a slight smile.

"Don't be impatient, my friend. At the latest, the day after tomorrow, the city of Yetonaev will have a new owner, a new look. At that point, we will know who we should serve. ”