Luo Xian looked around the entire small village of Heatherton, a small village of about a dozen families. The houses are all made of rows of logs, and the house says, "Found it, it's empty underneath, and there's a secret room underneath." With that, he lifted the bearskin covering the ground.

After careful scrutiny, he removed a few movable planks and revealed a simple iron ring.

"This is it. Luo first pulled open the iron ring, and sure enough, a square entrance was revealed on the ground, and a wooden ladder hung down against the entrance.

"Let's go and see what this Handrick has in store for us. Geralt climbed the ladder first, followed by Rous.

The ladder is about five meters long, and digging such a deep cellar is not an easy task.

Geralt sprinkled his hand, and fires lit up in several parts of the cellar, and the candles that had been extinguished long ago were rekindled.

Luo Xian saw the situation in the cellar by candlelight.

On three rows of stout wooden shelves, seven or eight huge wooden barrels were placed upside down, and then rows of wooden shelves were placed grain and bread, books, and even dozens of bottles of fruit wine.

"It's a normal storeroom, I can't see that this Hendrick is quite rich, but now in the time of war, he has so much to eat, no wonder he can marry a widow in a few days. Luo Xian teased the former royal agent.

Geralt did not answer, but looked around, and finally reached out and broke a candlestick fixed to the wall, and suddenly there was a sound of a bang in the corner, and a wardrobe moved out of its place.

"Wow, white wolf, how did you tell that the candlestick was a mechanism?"

"It's very simple, there are slight friction marks on the surface of the copper seat and the wood, which can be found if you look closely. ”

"Received! Another cheat to be celebrated!"

Geralt glanced at the obviously lively Luo Xian and walked towards the wardrobe.

"What's there? Is it Ciri's whereabouts?"

"A ledger. With the money to be paid for the grain, the income from a shipment of coal, and the wine, it seems that Handrick was playing the role of a merchant in the locality. He did not intend to hide it from his wife and neighbors, who seemed to know about the existence of this cellar as well. ”

"Yes, only a merchant can inconspicuously travel from village to village and gather the information he wants. ”

"Well, it's just that he's dealing with the ledgers while hiding the news between the records that come and go, which is really a clever thing to do..."

"What was written?" Luo Xian lost interest after a slight glance at the account books, he had a natural resistance to this kind of brain-burning puzzle solving.

"Be careful, someone is watching my whereabouts, I don't know who it is, I don't know what they're trying for, I have to be more careful..."

"My dog ran away all of a sudden, and I complained to Haynes because he sold it to me. The water in the barrel was also somewhat frozen, and for several nights there was a strange light in the distant sky, which the neighbors said was a bad omen. In that direction, I think it's a swamp. ”

"The target suddenly appeared in the swamp and clashed with the local witch... There seem to be traces of a fight, the news is very thin, it is impossible to find out more specific circumstances, and the reason for the fight is not clear. Just to find out, if you want to know about the witch, you need to talk to the villagers of Midkaopus Village. ”

"There was also definite news that the target had appeared in Skellig, and that someone in Novigre had seen the target. I noticed that the subject's appearance had not changed, with white blonde hair, scars on his face, and a reluctance to interact with strangers. ”

"The guy who called himself the Baron invited the target to his castle, or rather, the castle that he illegally occupied, his title was not approved by the Emperor for unknown reasons, I need to find time to transport a shipment to the Crow's Nest and talk to the Baron's men about it, they must know something. ”

......

Hearing this, Luo Xian couldn't help but say, "It seems that the guys you call Wild Hunt seem to have discovered that the merchant played by Handrick is looking for your adopted daughter, so they will find him for torture..."

Geralt closed the ledger in his hand and nodded, "Handrick has recorded a lot, but the only clear news is the baron and some witch hiding in the swamp. It is unknown that Ciri and the witch are involved, but Handrick is sure that the Baron has seen Ciri, and even invites her to Crow's Nest Castle. ”

"Baron, I'm afraid that's what Handrick is talking about, the bloody baron. It seems that we have to deal with this self-proclaimed lord. ”

It took Roxian and Geralt half a day to ride from Heatherton to the Crow's Nest, and it was already early afternoon.

The so-called crow's nest is an isolated island surrounded by a group of water, it seems that the area is not small, at least thousands of acres, the bottom of the towering island is a rock more than 20 meters above the water surface, so that the building built on it can easily overlook the entire crow's nest surrounding land, and the only passage connected with the island is a bridge built with wooden planks and stakes interfering.

The bridge was built at the crow's nest closest to the surrounding territory, about thirty meters long, and could accommodate two horses at the same time. Except here, the rest of the water area is relatively wide, ranging from fifty to one hundred meters, and the shore is >

Traces of light H makeup gray and gray >

The bridge ludgs down diagonally from the island, and the end of the territory was not manned, but a signpost was erected to indicate the location of several nearby points. At the other end of the crow's nest is a wide arrow tower, which is high enough to cover the N-U arrow to the other side of the bridge with a strong n-u arrow.

Beneath the arrow tower is an inverted U-shaped gate with holes, and the entire crow's nest is surrounded by thick spired wooden stakes seven or eight meters high, which looks like a fortified fortress, and looks like a bird's nest on the outside, which may be the origin of its name. It seems to be only the most wàiwéi defense, and Luo Xian rode on his horse, put his hand on his brow, and looked out into the depths of the crow's nest, where there were several unattainable spires, which also seemed to be the location of the arrow tower.

"Why didn't you see the castle? Legend has it that the nobles all lived in the high castles?" Luo Xian asked with a smile.

"This is a typical aristocratic territory. Lords, farmland, fortresses, warehouses, stables, workshops... These things are hidden deep behind high walls. Because there is a river passing through it, and there is no shortage of water, even if it is surrounded for a year or two, it is still self-sufficient inside. Geralt explained.

"Then why did the previous lord run away instead of sticking to the territory?"

"No matter how strong a castle is, if there are no subordinates who can work for you, it is a fragile straw. I don't think the previous lord was popular, and the army of Nilfgaard had amassed 80,000 soldiers in the southern camp, and there were more siege engines and catapults than stars in the sky. ”

"This is not the main force of the Nilfgaard Empire, his main force has nearly 300,000 soldiers still left in the country to suppress the rebellion of the slaves, and when the rebellion is cleared and the whole army goes north, at that time, any unilateral resistance of the territory is futile. The lord probably also thought of this, so it was better to simply roll up all the family property and go to other empires to start building a family again. ”

Luo Xian nodded, and couldn't help but think of an old saying: If you lose your land, you will lose your land, and if you lose your land, you will gain both people and land. It doesn't matter if you can't beat it, as long as you run away, you still have a chance, and when your wings are full, you can kill it back. The hard work under the disparity in strength can only be worthless.

"Hearing you say this, the last baron seems to be a smart man, and I don't know what kind of person the current baron is. ”

Geralt sighed, "For the sake of Ciri, no matter how difficult it is, we have to ask clearly, I hope he won't give us a problem, let's go~"

I want to talk about "Really Picking Stars and Taking the Moon" with more like-minded people, pay attention to "excellent reading literature" on WeChat, talk about life, and find confidants~