Dust of History Chapter 53: It seems like an old friend is here

Shortly after the incident of the murder of the imperial envoy by the mysterious heretics more than half a year ago, a logging team in Airi's lumber yard suddenly discovered a strange forest while looking for good wood.

This is an ancient forest, and the trees inside are all ancient trees that require dozens of people to hug them. An old lumberjack with the most experience in the felling team immediately went to chop a few axes to check, and found that the material of these ancient trees was surprisingly good, and he had never seen such a good quality in his decades of experience in dismembering countless trees. The wood, it is said that he once praised that where is the wood, it is as delicate and aura as human flesh and blood. This kind of wood can definitely be sold at a high price, and the value of such a forest that can't be seen at a glance is definitely no less than a huge gold mine.

But this forest is really weird. There are almost no birds, beasts, insects and ants in it, and it looks unusually quiet. A vaguely terrifying atmosphere makes everyone a little scared, and they only dare to wander around the edge. , not daring to explore the silent depths. But excited by the discovery of such a treasure, some of them camped at the edge of the forest, while others returned to report.

The owner of the lumber yard got excited immediately after seeing the lumber fragments he brought back, and set off to have a look for himself. On the edge of the forest they did not see the workers who stayed behind, not even the tree that left the trace of their felling. In the dark woods, no matter how much they shouted, no one responded. It was not until someone smelled the **** smell from their feet and took out a candle to take a closer look, that the traces of these colleagues were not discovered. They have been flattened and torn to pieces by something, and the deformed corpses are pressed tightly by some huge pressure like bean dregs being squeezed, so people will feel the solid ground when they step on it, but they don't notice it.

The horrific scene immediately caused panic. But after panicking for a while, it seemed that they couldn't find out what was going on, and no one wanted to explore the depths of the forest.

Someone rode a horse and ran around the forest and found that the forest was very huge. So some people began to feel unbelievable: no one seemed to have discovered such a huge forest before, how could this be possible, and the corpses of those workers were even more strange, and everyone could feel the breath emanating from the silent forest. But no matter what, there is no doubt about the countless trees that can be exchanged for gold coins. Temporarily putting aside their fears, lumberyard owners began to get excited about this huge lumber producing area. The illusory sense of mysterious danger immediately appears so insignificant in comparison with the benefits that are within reach. What's more, they don't need to do it themselves, so under the command of the timber yard owner, a large number of workers came to the edge of this new virgin land to start work.

In the first few days, many peripheral old trees were cut down, and such high-quality wood immediately became popular in the trading market, and it was sold at an unexpectedly high price. The high price is so powerful that owners order workers to set up camps and tools directly in the woods and prepare to cut down trees day and night. But one day, people outside the forest heard a burst of strange noises and shouts from inside, and when the people outside gathered enough courage and numbers to go in, they found that all the people inside were found to be the same as the previous few. Those left-behind workers turned into flat corpses like rats that had been run over countless times by wheels on the street.

After the news came out, local old people were attracted. They said that this previously undiscovered forest does exist. According to ancient legends, there is a forest **** in this forest, and those who offend God's power can only die in this way. The weird rumors coming from the mouth of the old man are even more intimidating. With the hundreds of lives, this time no worker dared to enter the woods no matter how urged and ordered by the timber yard owner.

However, even if Shenwei can deter civilians, it is difficult to deter rich people who are eager for gold coins. Few illusory legends can compete with the allure of gold coins. The loggers insisted that there were some strange beasts lurking in the forest, so they assembled a team of many magicians and went into the depths of the forest to destroy these vulgar superstitions with a practical spirit of exploration. However, this extraordinary courage did not achieve the desired effect. None of the people who entered the depths of the forest came back, and were quietly swallowed up by this mysterious forest.

Such a strange place has attracted the attention of some people who do not believe in the church but are looking for new beliefs, and this forest can feel awe-inspiring just by looking at it, which suits the taste of these mystics . They established a pagan religious group called "God of Nature", imitating the Druids in ancient legends, and wanted to worship nature and integrate it with nature to transcend the mundane world. Relying on the mysterious and strange charm of this forest, the number of people in this sect has skyrocketed over time. Even small groups of pagans have come here to reverse their teachings and throw themselves into the majesty of this truly breathtaking forest.

This kind of behavior is naturally not allowed by the church, not to mention that most of Airy's lumber yards are owned by the Erni family, so the local officials are naturally under a lot of pressure. So the conflict between the "God of Nature" and the official army continued.

The turning point was more than a month ago. The local army and the church assembled nearly a thousand troops to disperse the heretics and then stationed on the grass outside the forest, preparing to completely clear the forest where the paganism originated. Drive all the beasts out of it. But the next day, the disciples of the "God of Nature" who came back to reconnaissance found that there were only mutilated corpses left in the army, and dozens of huge stone statues that had never been seen before stood on the grass outside the forest. . There is one of these stone statues every tens of meters, and they all form a semicircular fan in a half-kneeling posture, facing the forest.

This strange incident was regarded as a natural miracle by the "God of Nature". Those huge stone statues were undoubtedly created by their gods to guard the forest with divine power, and they used it as an illustration of the gods they believed in. Reasons do exist and are more powerful than the God of the Church. Living facts are always more convincing than any profound and wise theological theories and philosophical principles. Since then, the number and power of the "God of Nature" has increased dramatically, and now it has almost reached 40,000 to 50,000. It deservedly became the worst pagan scourge of the empire.

"40,000 to 50,000?" Asa was immediately dumbfounded after hearing the magistrate's words, and Rodhart was also quite surprised. Although they found that the situation in the city was not quite right when they came, they didn't expect it to be like this. You must know that even the population of the entire Airi region is only 70,000 to 80,000. It can almost be said that the entire Airi area has become the territory of the "God of Nature".

The magistrate wailed bitterly: "I can't help it. When I sent the urgent report to the capital, there were not so many. In the past month, the number of heretics has increased faster than cockroaches. It's not just the local villagers. It seems that there are quite a few people from other places to participate.”

The magistrate who succeeded Daut after he was killed was a thin man, a rare exception among officials, and his thin face had been turned into a bitter melon by wrinkled worry lines. "My lords, I have really tried my best. As you can see, this is a cathedral built at a huge cost, but those unscrupulous people just don't believe in our God. When I first started, I could still strictly catch those There are people who tend to cling to heretics, but later the number of heretics has been dozens of times more than the strength of the city. Instead, they threatened me and asked me to release those people. In the end, I had to use all my troops to In terms of city defense, fortunately, those heretics were only obsessed with their own ghosts, and never thought of attacking the city. But they first destroyed the lumber yard, and then occupied many villages. When they threatened me to release people, they also destroyed the city hall Now almost the entire production and work of Ai Li have come to a standstill." Probably thinking that his official career will probably end because of these bad luck, his bitter face turned green, and he looked more and more bitter. "My lords, please think of a way. I really did my best."

The situation was far more serious than imagined, and the two walked out of the cathedral with gloomy faces. The troops were stationed outside the city. For the convenience of movement, and because some things should not be known, they did not bring any entourage.

This church was built by the unlucky magistrate who was turned into a mummified corpse by Vidnina before, Mr. Fat Pig Road, who forced taxes to build it. When Asa came last time, he had just completed half of the repairs. The following projects It was completed under the hands of this bitter gourd. This is a gorgeous and magnificent church that is not much different from the cathedral of the Magic Academy. It still has no lack of majesty and solemnity, but it is obvious that no practical effect can be achieved. Under the current situation, it has become a place where the city hall has been lost. The office of the magistrate of Bitter Gourd.

Asa shook his head and sighed, "Instead of spending so much money repairing such a useless thing, it's better to save the money and give everyone a few silver coins to refresh themselves. I believe in the God of Nature There will never be so many believers."

Rod Hart asked: "Bishop Ronnies said that you should know the situation in that forest very well. Why did so many heretics gather?"

"I don't know what's going on." Asa shook his head. Judging from the words of the magistrate, the workers who died in the Whispering Forest seemed to be the hands of the deadwood guards. But that's all he can see. As for how the shocking power of the Sunwell enchantment, which could have made people feel so awed that they dare not look at it or even recall it, weakened and disappeared, and what happened to those inexplicable stone statues. He didn't understand these things either. After thinking about it, Asa decided: "Let's ask those who have seen it with their own eyes."

The lumber yard outside the city had been torn to pieces by the pagans of the 'God of Nature', and the two came to the lumber yard's office in the city. When several lumber yard owners heard that the imperial envoy had arrived, they hurriedly greeted them. Rodhart asked the lumber yard owners to call the workers who had witnessed these incidents for questioning.

Of course, the owner of the lumber yard immediately complied, and said that their boss behind the scenes just happened to come from the capital, and they wanted to invite him to come out to meet the two imperial envoys.

"Aren't these guys the boss?" Asa asked Rodhart quietly.

Rod Hart replied: "These are just the little bosses below. Almost all of Airy's timber industry is under the name of the Ernie family."

Surrounded by the owners of the timber yard, the behind-the-scenes figure came out. Asa and Rodhart were startled and looked at each other.

The behind-the-scenes big boss does not have the slightest wealth and kindness unique to businessmen. Leng Jun's serious face seemed to carry a hint of murderous intent, and his tall and straight figure exuded the condescending sense of oppression he was used to, making even the lumber yard owners next to him feel uncomfortable. He looked at the two imperial envoys coldly, without showing any respect or surprise.

"Captain Clovis, I didn't expect to meet you here." Rod Hart smiled and nodded to him. "I don't know what you are doing here."

Clovis sat down on the opposite chair, and replied coldly: "This is my family's property, so I don't need you two to worry about it if I take care of it. Just do whatever you want."

"Yes." Rod Hart still smiled kindly. Naturally, he made a gesture to Asa to stay still.

No matter how big the property is, it absolutely does not need the captain of the Holy Knight Order, the Duke's deputy to look after it. Needless to say, Clovis was here for something else. As for the purpose, although it is not clear, but it is definitely not to help the two of them.

The timber yard owners have brought all the workers who have experienced those weird things and are still in the city, and there are only a dozen of them in total. They lined up in a row, listening to a lumber yard owner say: "Listen well, these two imperial envoys want to know what happened to you in that **** forest those days, and you have to give all the details Say it out.”

Among the answers of "Yes" and "Got it", there is a very prominent voice "Huh". It was loud, and no doubt surprised those who spoke.

Everyone looked at the screaming person. This is a lean little man, without a trace of fat on his body, but he seems to be able to squeeze out iron juice. His skin is pitch black, his hair is tied together strangely with a cloth towel, and he has a small goatee. He didn't care about the eyes cast by everyone, but stared straight at the two imperial envoys, as if he saw the weirdest animal in the world.

At first glance, Asa felt that this person was very familiar. After thinking about it, he remembered that he was the leader of the remaining folks in Rodhart, Hunter Levin. It's just that he didn't expect that he returned to Airy and was still working as a worker in the lumber yard of the Ernie family.

The expression on Rod Hart's face must have been surprised, but when Asa looked back at him, he had already stood up, walked over to hold the hand of this long-lost fellow countryman, and said: "This The big brother worker looks so familiar... Oh, yes, we are fellow villagers."

"How could you..." Hunter Levin was still staring at him. He was even more unexpected than Rodhart to meet them here, and the two actually became imperial envoys.

"We have a lot of things we want to ask you, please tell us." Rodhart tightly held Hunter Levin's hand, and the smile on his face did not change at all.

"Ah. Ah. Oh. Good, good." The hunter seemed to finally understand Rodhart's hint.

Clauvis still had a cold face without any expression, but a light seemed to flash in his eyes. Asa saw it.

After listening to the workers' narration, Rod Hart signaled Asa to leave. As if he suddenly remembered something, he said to Hunter Laiwen: "This fellow, please go back with us. I still have a lot of things I want to ask you alone."

"No." Clovis, who had been there like a statue without saying a word, spoke suddenly. His voice was even colder than his expression. "During the validity period of the mercenary agreement, he belongs to our lumber yard."

"I just want to..." Rodhart was still smiling, and his voice was very kind.

"You can't think of anything, and I can't do it if I say no." Clovis's attitude was still as cold as a stone.

Asa suddenly said in a deep voice: "We are the imperial envoys now, and we can make decisions on all matters concerning Airi."

"I am the squad leader of the Holy Knights. In an emergency, I have absolute control over the local army." Clovis stood up, his voice and expression becoming sharp.

Asa snorted coldly: "What kind of emergency is this..." Rodhart reached out his hand to stop Asa, smiled slightly at Clovis, and said, "If this is the case, there is nothing we can do. Only Another day."

Walking out of the lumber yard~IndoMTL.com~ Asa immediately asked Rodhart: "Why didn't you take him away by force? That guy definitely has no good intentions."

"Of course he has no good intentions. He should be sent by the Duke to monitor or deal with us." Rodhart's expression sank as soon as he walked out of the lumber yard. "And he also discovered that there must be some secret relationship between the hunter's text and the two of us. I was too careless to make such an obvious hint."

"Then why do you stop me from forcibly taking people away?" Asa asked again.

"It's not to stop you from taking someone away, but to stop you from revealing that we insist on taking him away. Levin will never come back alone, even if we take him away by force, Crowe Weiss knows that there must be something very important in it, and he will definitely find other people related to him." Rodhart walked out of the city quickly. "We immediately go to lead the soldiers to take everyone away. Now we can only hope that my brother will not ask any questions during this time."

As soon as Rodhart and Asa left, Clovis immediately brought Hunter Levin into a separate room.

"Now I want to ask some questions about your fellow countryman and his friends. What did he mean by hinting at you just now? And why do they want to take you away so much?" Clovis forcefully Command the lowly pariah in front of you. "Quickly answer."