Like many modern Padrossi towns built over the course of the last two hundred years, Scotti reserved a larger square and reduced the number of icons in the center of the square to one-third of what it used to be.

On the East Coast, where monuments and heritage are everywhere, this is the best way to identify a contemporary Raman town. The neat house plans and the smaller religious facilities are a microcosm of the gradual evolution of this thousand-year-old Eastern empire.

The status of theocracy is no longer as high as it used to be, and although it does still have power, people today are no longer as dependent on God as they used to be due to the improvement of living standards and various technological advances.

And the conservatives who will inevitably jump out in opposition to any change in society – this time, unsurprisingly, are naturally religious people – preach the saying that "the gods are gone, and the hearts of the people are not ancient" is not without some truth.

When life is so bad that no amount of effort can change the darkness and suffering, theocracy and religion will grow because the powerless need to find a spiritual sustenance. And when the society settles down and gradually develops to a certain extent, the old religious rules and regulations are often restricting this restriction and that, and people will begin to resist it.

If people involved in religion are unwilling to carry out reforms to adapt to today's society for their own interests and a host of other considerations, they will gradually decline in status, as we have seen.

To put it nicely, this is the human heart's innate yearning for freedom. And to put it mildly, it's like crossing a river and demolishing a bridge, betraying immediately when you don't need it anymore, and it's no different from the ruthless behavior of an unfamiliar wolf.

But that's the nature of human nature.

The snowflakes were falling slowly, and the cold wind blowing from the other side of the street whirled, causing the peasants and herdsmen huddled in this huge square to tighten their clothes, rub their hands and shiver incessantly.

They were filthy and short, in stark contrast to Henry, who was tall in a black plush cloak, and that was the biggest reason why our sage came over, and the poor people subconsciously thought that he should at least be a knight.

"Knight, help us. "Help us too!" "No, help us first, I still have children"

The sound of the sound echoed one after another, and the weather that fell below zero and snow was even more terrible than hell for them as the southern residents. The fact that the mayor of Scotti did nothing about this, and did not provide them with shelter or food, further made their situation even more difficult.

The poor of nearly a hundred people longed for someone to do something for them to change their situation, so when the sage came over, they immediately boiled.

And after Henry explained that he was just a mercenary, the attitude of these people immediately changed 180 degrees.

Just as this icon, which has lost its former glory, is not able to benefit these poor people, they will naturally not be enthusiastic about you.

Utilitarian and snobbish, if Mila had been with our Mr. Sage at this time, she would have wrinkled her beautiful little eyebrows, but Mira was not there, and they split into two ways, Mira went to the mercenary union in the town, Margaret stayed in the mayor's mansion, and the sage came to the periphery alone.

The purpose is to inquire about the news.

Carrying supplies from the rest of the group, the five of them had come to Scotti to warn the townspeople. However, fate has gone wrong, and the earth dragon is guided by an unnamed hero to fall under the cliff valley, and even if it is still "alive", it will take a long detour to escape from there. At the same time, a passing knight and his fiancée who encountered the dragon warned the mayor of the town early.

So all Henry could do was pass on the general estimate of the dragon's whereabouts to the mayor, and hope that he would send an army to meet them, and destroy them one by one before other threats might arrive, and deal with the dragons that were close at hand.

After this was rejected, only Margaret remained in the mayor's mansion to try to convince him. On the one hand, the white-haired girl wanted to raise the news with the union branch with a rich intelligence network to see what they could do, and on the sage side, it was to inquire about the whereabouts of Konstantin and his group.

It had been two days since they arrived in the small town of Scotti, and although the five of them had arrived quickly, if Konstantin and his party had gone well, they should have already reached the surrounding area by this time.

After all, you only need to follow the road slowly, and there is basically no possibility of getting lost.

Most of the poor people in the town square came from villages or scattered settlements near Scotti, and most of them were penniless, facing various problems in their lives because of the cooling temperature, so they wanted to come to the town to trade for food and warmth, but they could not get anything of value.

And more and more people in similar situations gathered like this, and when the number exceeded a certain number, someone suddenly began to preach the hope that the nobles would be responsible for solving the problem for them.

The East Coast is culturally quite different from the West Coast in this respect, and the more civilized you are, the more vulnerable you are. In a small kingdom like the chaotic Arvenella, ordinary poor people would never dare to make such demands like the noble lords, because if the nobles did not like it, they would not care if they were killed on the street.

On the East Coast, the nobleman in question was condemned by the upper class and various scholars and philosophers, and if exposed to the top, the greater lord might punish him.

The so-called perfect laws that the Padrosi people are extremely complacent about are nothing more than that in the end.

After those who want to exploit it find a loophole, it becomes a weapon for various classes to clamp each other down.

But in the end, the people of the East Coast, who had the law and the weapon of condemnation against the aristocracy, were much happier than their colleagues on the West Coast. And there is nothing wrong with the poor people seeking their own rights and interests, but the more than 100 of them stay in the square like this, and the mayor of the town has left them alone because of a series of things to deal with, which also causes a lot of trouble to the other townspeople.

They know better than anyone else that they are not welcome here, but their families are starving and cold, and they don't know what else they can do, so they have to be cheeky and stay here.

And when our Sage came to talk to them, a small part of the group was roasting a frozen dragon lizard.

The sudden cooling brought disaster to these cold-blooded creatures, and the lack of resistance to such severe cold in the tropics made the East Coast wolf lizard, which could have galloped through the forest for more than two meters long, become a meal for the poor.

However, despite the large number of beasts that froze to death, the real reason why the dragon lizard was left behind was the unpalatable taste.

The meat of the dragon lizard has a very good texture, and when it is peeled, it can smell a fishy smell, and even after cooking, it still tastes sour.

The only way to deal with this was to simmer it in a large pot for a long time and add a lot of spices to make it completely soft and lose its original flavor, but then again, if they could afford to use spices, they wouldn't have to eat dragon lizard meat.

"I'd like to inquire about something. The smell of the carryon's meat was burnt, and Henry spoke—he knew it wasn't an accident, that if the dragonlizard's meat wasn't thoroughly cooked, it would contain trace amounts of toxins that would cause diarrhea, and the poor people had apparently figured it out in their miserable lives.

"......" no one paid attention to him, and after hearing that he was not a noble lord who could help them make decisions, the group turned a blind eye to the sage.

"......" He took out a small leather money bag, and then shook it in his hand: "Qiang Lang ——!" came out of the metallic sound, which was not a very loud sound that should have disappeared into the whistling wind, but it was captured by all the poor people.

"A silver coin for anyone who can give me meaningful news. Henry loosened the leather cord from the pouch and took out a silver coin with a daisy on it, and the exquisite pattern and light proved to be genuine.

"Master Mercenary!" "Your Excellency Mercenary!" "Mr. Mercenary!" The paupers boiled: "I have news, I have news!" Like the fish caught by the fisherman from the sea and began to struggle with joy the moment they came into contact with the air, they all rushed towards the coin that radiated its enchanting brilliance.

The sage's eyes were half-narrowed, and though he had seen it many times, it was always difficult for these ordinary paupers to feel sympathy for them.

On the one hand, they are indeed doing a bad time, but on the other hand, most of these people have never considered relying on their own abilities to change the status quo, and they always think about petty theft, and they can't afford to make a profit.

Although what they really want to say, it is just as Filippo said in the quarrel and fight with Moro before, they have to work hard, and there is no way and method.

Rao is a self-proclaimed rich, strong and civilized Padrossi, and the poor are still poor all their lives, not only materially poor, but also spiritually barren and pitiful.

"Well, you come first. Henry casually ordered a person who called the most cheerful and asked him to recount.

"Yes, you're looking for someone, right? "This is a young man in his early twenties, one meter seven is considered tall among the Lamanites, and he obviously has the intelligence of this age, perhaps he directly guessed the purpose of the sage's inquiry by contacting Henry's mercenary identity.

"Yes, a group of merchants, have you seen it?" said Henry, unhurriedly.

"Yes, the merchant and the carriage!" and the young man immediately replied in the affirmative, but the sage did not show any fluctuation from this, he only turned his head to the other party, indicating that he was listening.

"Well, yes, it's from the north, from Parnira, right, through the Bhao Forest, the merchants, and a team of mercenaries, ah, by the way, mercenaries, in addition to mercenaries there are knights, a team of knights. The young man continued, "I see them rushing towards the small town of Scotti, mercenary lord, they should be around here, you should be able to see your companion for the next two days, no, today." ”

As he said this, the smile on his face seemed to be genuinely happy for the sage, but his eyes were fixed on the silver coin in Henry's hand.

"Well, when did you see them? But the sage didn't end there, and he faintly threw the question again.

"Uh-" The young man was stunned, and then his clever eyes turned and he immediately continued in a fast voice: "Time, it was yesterday, yesterday I was outside and didn't enter the town, I was camping in the forest early yesterday morning and was frozen awake, I wanted to find some firewood, and I saw them on the other side of the forest, camped on the edge of the forest on the other side, there were a few black cedars next to it, I remember very clearly-"

He spoke so quickly, describing in great detail, and his eyes were fixed on Henry, trying to widen his eyes to increase his persuasiveness.

"Hmm. The sage replied faintly, and the young man immediately had a bright smile on his face, and his eyes were fixed on the silver coin once more, as if it were already his possession.

"Then you, repeat what you just said upside down. Henry saw it all in his eyes, and then spoke again, and said so.

"Uh-" The young pauper choked.

For a long time, I couldn't say a word.

"Tsk, I'm afraid it's made up!" "You cunning liar, you want to cheat people for money." Don't listen to him, mercenary, I know the news, I know the news!"

The voices were noisy, and the sage glanced left and right, and finally his eyes fell on a young girl who was in the middle of the mix—dressed in many ways different from the others, although she also wore cheap leather shoes, her calves and forearms were wrapped in thick strips of cloth, her clothes were more form-fitting to her body, and most importantly, she had a knife and a leather bag hanging from her waist.

"First of all, I don't hear from them. Seeing Henry walking in this direction, the girl, who was apparently a hunter, spoke.

"Well, I know, when you got to town. The sage asked.

"Yesterday. She replied succinctly.

"Have you noticed some strange sights in the forest lately, such as some strange creatures that don't look like wild beasts roaming through the woods, and a large decrease in prey? Henry spoke flatly, and the words were like a thunderclap that made the Hunter Maiden's eyes widen: "How do you know!"

"Those things......" she hugged her arm as if she felt a chill behind her, "I saw it yesterday, I had never seen it in the forest during the previous hunt, and yesterday it was like it suddenly appeared out of nowhere......

"Well, thank you. "Ding-" The cacophony suddenly stopped, and Henry tossed the silver coin to her.

"But I—" The girl froze in place, and the sage had turned and walked away, noticing the hungry eyes of the other paupers, and flashed the scimitar at her waist.

"Looks like it's not going to be a long time here. The Hunter Maiden said this, turning around, grabbing her luggage, heading further south.

On the other side, Henry, who was slowly walking towards the mayor's mansion, said softly in a calm tone:

"That's it. ”

"The instinct of a toddler. ”