Chapter III: Burning at the Stake
There are very few means of entertainment in this world, or very few means of entertainment for the common people, and after nightfall, they all obediently sleep at home.
There is also a curfew in the city of Loya, and no one is allowed to go out after dark, except for special personnel such as church monks and defense forces.
Of course, there are a few exceptions, such as special festivals, or when the stake is burned, when the night is only open to the general public, and most people smell the aroma of barbecue in various senses and party in the neighborhood.
When Adam had returned from fetching water, he heard Maggie calling him.
"I'm not going to buy pickle cakes today, help me make more meatloaf, and I should be able to make a lot of money tonight." The Boku family was not wealthy, and their main source of income was usually pickled cakes and some wood made by Aris, and occasionally the two had to do some part-time work to support the family.
In this era when civilians have exhausted their lives and some free time at night is a carnival, no one cares who the man who is about to be burned at the stake is.
And for Maggie, who is more diligent, it will be easier to finally lift the curfew tonight, and it will be easier to sell snacks such as meatloaf to everyone, and other things, I don't care.
Adam was interested in the people on the stake, as they were what the church called "beasts."
He believed that he was not the only xenos who wanted to go to the kingdom of Loken from the side wall of Loya, so there should be a lot of xenos hidden in Loa City, and if he could contact them, he might be able to have more choices, although he had not yet thought about how to contact Adam.
It is also unknown if they will go to see the burning at the stake.
Putting the meatloaf in the woven basket, it was already dark outside, and Aris and Maggie were ready, each carrying a basket, for Lena to follow along to the other side of the road.
There are already many people on the street, gathering together in twos and threes, talking and laughing about various gossip and anecdotes in the neighborhood, and the atmosphere is very harmonious.
Adam walked along with the basket and found that there were some soldiers in the crowd to maintain order, and some people's eyes were searching for something in the crowd.
Seeing this, Adam felt that his chances of being able to meet other xenos this time were probably low.
After all, not every xenomorph can be like Adam, usually the same as ordinary people.
Under the Church's inspection methods, most xenos have a hard time concealing their anomalies.
For example, the nemesis of the werewolf is silver, and Adam's self-healing ability in the transformation state is very perverted, and the blood is splashed out after being cut, and the wound has begun to heal.
However, if the wound is inflicted by a silver weapon, not only will the self-healing ability be minimized, but it will also poison him.
If it is a werewolf, even if it touches silver in a human state, it will be burned out of the wound, so many sheriffs will bring some silver items on their bodies, which makes many werewolves have nowhere to hide.
"I don't think there will be any xenomorphs. Adam wasn't disappointed, he had little contact with the other xenomorphs, and all the information came from books.
In the case of insufficient strength, it is not necessarily a good thing to venture into other xenomorphs.
Soon the sky darkened, and people gathered towards the street.
Under the crossing of a large number of torches, Adam's face exchanged light and dark, and perhaps one day he would be burned at the stake, and be watched like this.
There were mixed smells, but when the man wrapped in the sack was brought up, Adam smelled of herbs.
"Witch doctor?" Adam frowned, witch doctor is a gray profession, most of the incumbents are human, and they can use all kinds of strange materials to refine all kinds of magical potions.
Because of the good effect of the potion produced, the monks of the church turned a blind eye to the existence of the witch doctor.
Generally speaking, only the most heinous beings will be burned at the stake, and the witch doctor will not be burned at the stake unless the witch doctor is disqualified from being a human being.
Watching the soldiers tie the man suspected of being a witch doctor to a wooden frame, an old man with a white beard in a monk's uniform stood in front of the pile and began to read out the guilt of those who had been burned at the stake.
"The sinner Boutis, refining potions by evil means, the crime is so heinous that the church in Nancheng District will be burned at the stake!"
"Burn him, burn him!" the crowd of onlookers shouted after the verdict was announced.
The men who were tied to the stake were still struggling, but there were already monks who had come to the platform with torches in their hands.
Adam mingled in the crowd, watching the flames on the torches, suppressing the strangeness in his heart, and shouting along with the others.
When everyone's eyes were drawn to the torches thrown out, Adam saw a man squeezing out of the crowd.
The man's eyes glowed green, and in the process of pounced, black and gray hair grew, and his muzzle became longer, turning into a giant wolf in human form, tearing out his shirt.
The huge palm waved away the person in front of him, and the werewolf howled and rushed to the high platform.
Vaguely, Adam felt himself receive some kind of shock, causing his veins to move slightly, as if he could transform at any moment and howl at any moment.
"As the bloodline matures, has your control over your transformation ability weakened?"
The werewolf's outburst frightened the surrounding onlookers, and Adam was trying to scream with the people around him, when he heard the white-bearded monk who had read the verdict before.
"Calm down!"
The sound is as if you heard the sound of water droplets dripping in the silent night, and the sound became all you had, and you couldn't help but follow the sound, and the crowd that was panicked because of the werewolf jumping out instantly became quiet.
And the seemingly unstoppable werewolf who pounced on the high platform, before he could touch the man who was tied to the stake, a young monk rushed out from the side, the honor guard sword in his hand unsheathed with a golden brilliance, and suddenly Adam even heard the soft sound of the rules.
The angle of the sword was very tricky, and he drove straight into the werewolf throat and pierced it.
A large amount of green smoke came out of the werewolf's throat, and his huge palm swung twice, and as the young monk drew his honor guard sword, he had already fallen to the high platform.
"Brother Fra. ”
The young monk was the same monk who had been very optimistic about Adam and had lent him the Word of God.
Adam really didn't expect Brother Fra to have such strength, his eyes flickered twice, and he moved away from the young monk to meet the wide eyes of the werewolf corpse, which seemed to have a residual despair.
A large amount of black smoke flew out of the corpse's throat wound, and the werewolf's corpse quickly shrank, turning back into a human wearing pants and shirtless.
Seeing the appearance of the man, Adam lowered his head, as if he did not dare to look directly at the corpse, but he was hiding the corners of his mouth that could not help but curl.
He had indeed hurt before, but the desperation of the other party made him grasp more hope.
As Adam knew before, most xenos are unable to hide their anomalies, but in the face of the church's search, xenos are not extinct, and naturally there are ways to escape the search.
"The so-called potion refined by that witch doctor should be a potion to suppress anomalies. Adam knew the werewolf, and he even bought him a few pickles, but Adam didn't realize that he was a werewolf at all.
Adam had gathered information on most of the people he could reach, and the werewolf had been living in Nancheng for many years, and because of this, he didn't choose to run away after the witch doctor who sold the potion to cover up the anomaly was caught.
He has adapted to life in Nancheng District, and he can't accept the escape in the future, which is why he is so desperate to storm the execution ground.
There may be other ways to cover up the werewolf anomaly, but that is meaningless for the werewolf whose life status quo has been broken, and this time the impact is just begging for death.
Adam was happy because it was an opportunity for him, he didn't know much about digging for the power of bloodlines, but he was very familiar with how to cover them.
"Xenos who have lost their way of concealing their anomalies and are unwilling to flee must need a new umbrella. ”
"And I can be this umbrella!"
The stake has been held for a long time, and the witch doctor who covered his mouth did not disturb the bonfire, and the aftermath of the werewolf attack was also clear by the monk's magic.
Adam, who was selling meatloaf, gradually moved away from the stake behind him.