Stray Chapter 168: There seems to be something wrong…

As the lord's palace of Xueman City, Longxiao Palace is the only building in Genting District. From a distance, the palace seems to be located on the top of the cloud, like a dragon entrenched on the top of the mountain.

It is magnificent and imposing, and the building fully displays the Nord style, which does not feel contrary to the rest of the building.

The origin of this palace is also well known, because legend has it that the legendary Nord hero One-Eyed Olaf used his roar and skill to fight the dragon Numines on Mount Ansor In a desperate battle, he finally cut off its dragon head.

Then built a towering dragon palace on top of the corpse of the dragon, which is the residence of the current lord, and buried the corpse of the dragon forever under the palace of the dragon... It is said that the throne of the lord in the palace Above, the dragon head skull of Numines can still be seen.

Of course, the biggest secret of Longxiao Palace is not the skull of the giant dragon Numines, but the ebony blade of the whispering lady Mephala, which is also hidden here.

However, this kind of demonic artifact with obvious clues must have been taken away, and Xia Ran is somewhat repulsive of this kind of thing, because maybe the equipment data of the game is different from reality, but about the background setting The plot is very similar.

He seems to remember that the strengthening method of this magic weapon is to increase its power by killing people, and it is not just killing casually, it must be killing the closest person... This is definitely not about hiring someone as a His own followers, even if the two sides are close, and then turn their faces and kill the followers directly, it is considered to meet the standard.

There is no such tricky method in reality, and the magic artifact will not be deceived by such a trick.

So no matter how powerful that thing is, Xia Ran has never thought about getting its power, and he doesn't know what the lost person who took the ebony blade thinks, and whether there is a solution Method.

If you can return to the white space with the magic artifact, then there must be a way to overcome the conditions of unlocking and strengthening. The karma crystal is a genuine wish machine, which can go beyond the steps and processes, and get the results directly without reason. .

But the problem is that at the moment of getting the Ebony Blade, it must have attracted the attention of the Demon God.

For the existence of that level, even the return time of the card will be in great danger...

The process of awarding merit and deeds is not tedious. Lord Balgruuf acts decisively and resolutely. I don't know if it is his original character or a change after the big change in Snowman City.

Although as a lord, he is currently responsible for very heavy tasks. After all, so many people in the entire Snowman City rely on him for food. If it weren't for the dragon slaying itself, it was very important, whether it was symbolic or practical, so if he had to win over these powerful aliens, he wouldn't have taken time to hold a reception banquet.

However, it may be because of the great war that caused the wealth of Xueman City to be greatly consumed, so it was not possible to make everyone a baron, and to give them guards or something like in the game.

Apart from the generous gold rewards that everyone has, and the ownership of a land property in Snowman City, the difference is that each lost person has a limited choice of one item in the arsenal. Equipment—

Limited selection, which means that Lord Balgruuf has taken out a few pieces of equipment from his treasure house according to the characteristics of each hero, and everyone can choose one of them.

It seems to be very prepared. For example, the equipment selected for Xia Ran is all legal profession, and there are no melee weapons such as long-handled hammer and great sword for him to choose.

But on the other hand, it also proves that Xueman City is indeed a little stretched. After all, when the Dragonborn first slaughtered the dragon, Lord Balgruuf directly let him enter his treasure house and choose a piece of equipment at will. , showing very arrogance, there is a feeling that I can give you anything you want.

But everyone is not dissatisfied. First, the current situation in Xueman City is obvious to all. Second, the common currency of this world is gold coins. With a large amount of money, they can also do many things.

Buy equipment, skills, props, potions, hire followers, find skill trainers... and so on, all of these things can be done, and in a sense, it is equivalent to a large amount of reward points.

And the handling of the giant dragon was also handed over to them by Lord Balgruuf—although under the mighty extraction of the laws of space, the corpse of the legendary creature was already an empty shell— So logically speaking, this reward is not too bad.

It's just that Xia Ran found out that it might be her performance that caused the lord to misunderstand, so that the pieces of equipment that the other party chose for him... are all equipment that strengthens the magic of augmentation and destruction.

Unfortunately, in this case, he has no way to directly ask for a replacement. After all, Xueman City's family is not rich, and if everyone can't come down by then, it will be really embarrassing.

He could only choose a ruby ​​necklace from among them. It was a bronze-level equipment with a relatively simple effect, which could strengthen the damage of Destruction spells, reduce the corresponding mana consumption and increase the speed of mana recovery.

It's useful anyway, after all, now fireball has become his strongest attack method...

“Why is it a direct award of real estate, shouldn’t it be open to the eligibility to buy real estate?”

"Probably because a lot of real estate properties have been vacated in the city. It is said that because of the previous civil strife, both the Greymane family and the War Mad family were uprooted. I don't know how much real estate was vacated... It's a waste to keep it, Give it directly to us and have a chance to tie us to the carriage in Snowrun City."

"Then why not give a knighthood?"

"Are you stupid? A lord is a baron at most, and the highest reward is given out at once. What else does he use to make us contribute? As a ruler, Feng Wufeng must be avoided..."

After the banquet, everyone who knew each other left one after another, and some people were chatting in a low voice, as if they didn't quite understand certain things, but the companions around him saw it clearly and explained the whole thing clearly and concisely.

Lord Balgruuf is kind-hearted and caring for the people. He is one of the few good people in Skyrim, but it doesn't mean that he won't use some small means to achieve his goals. Can't be a lord.

This kind of thing is quite normal, and this kind of trick is not a conspiracy, so it won't make people feel annoying.

He is just a lord who wants to protect his city from war by staying neutral, but the return of the dragon and the escalation of the civil war in Skyrim make his rule worse, and he naturally needs to work hard to win over as many people as possible. talent.

Probably because of the game impression, Xia Ran's impression of this lord has always been very good.

But at this time, he felt that this was the best opportunity, so he chose to stay... The one-meter-four Luoli knew what he wanted to do, so he left Longxiao Palace just after looking at him. , said nothing.

"Respected mage, do you have anything else to say? I'd be happy to help you if you can." Lord Balgruuf sat on the throne, holding out his hand, frowning, wanting to The palace chief who said something, asked with a smile.

It can be seen that he seems to be in a good mood. Probably the significance of the dragon slaughter this time is really important. It brings hope to Xueman City, which is in a bad situation. This is the most precious thing.

Xia Ran thought about it for a while, and then stopped going around in circles. She simply stated her thoughts and made a request, saying that she had some questions about magic, and hoped to get the court mage Farenja Secret Fire 's advice.

"Do you want to communicate with Farengar...?" Lord Balgruuf frowned slightly, repeated a certain unfamiliar word, and shook his head uncontrollably, "If this is the case If so...it may not be easy to handle."

Xia Ran was stunned for a moment. He felt that this should be the best opportunity. Taking advantage of the fact that he had made a contribution and the other party was in a good mood, he made such a request. It was not too much. There should be no What's the problem?

"This is because the court mage has recently... been unwell and not very convenient."

Lord Balgruuf explained, there seems to be some reason why it is not too convenient to explain, "And he has been very busy recently and is in charge of an important matter... By the way, why not, Proventus, you are I'll go ask Farenja and see what he has to say."

The palace steward nodded lightly, glanced at someone with a deep meaning, then turned around and walked towards the inner hall.

Xia Ran keenly felt that there was some secret in it, but there was no clue, and he couldn't have any guesses.

It took a long time to wait, but fortunately, the palace steward finally came back, and it seemed that he brought back the exact news... He walked to the throne of Lord Balgruuf, leaned down and said a few words in a low voice .

Because the distance is relatively far apart, and because of the use of some special skills, even Xia Ran can't hear it clearly, and it is impossible for him to go directly to the lord's throne as if he were playing a game. Open eavesdropping.

So he waited patiently for the result, no one could see his expression clearly with the mask on his face anyway.

After a few seconds, the palace steward stepped aside, and Lord Balgruuf nodded slightly, as if he had made a decision. He sat on the throne and looked at the powerful mage below, coughing , said:

"Mage, I have a proposal that may benefit both of us..."

……

……

Ten minutes later.

Xia Ran walked out of the Longxiao Palace and walked down the long winding stairs. From this height, she could overlook the panoramic view of the entire Xueman City, which was very spectacular and charming.

But he was not in the mood to watch the scenery at this time. He went all the way from the cloud area to the wind area, and then found that the one-meter-four Luoli was kicking in front of him and waiting for something. After seeing him coming, he raised his head and asked. "Did you succeed?"

“…”

“…”

"I'll stroke it first..." Xia Ran sighed and put away the dragon sacrificial mask, "I always feel like I have achieved my goal, but the direction is not right."

"What's wrong?"

"Let's put it this way, one day I wanted to order a takeout, and I downloaded the software for a food delivery platform, then spent hours signing up, and...I became a rider."

Xia Ran looked at the sky in the distance, "Do you think there is a problem with this result?"

"Of course there is a problem, you are planning to order takeout, what are you running to deliver?" One meter four Luoli looked at him very strangely, "So, you haven't seen that court mage?"

"...I am now a court mage."

Xia Ran's expression is quite subtle, and after thinking about it, she added a sentence——

"Tentatively, because Farenja seems to be holding back some big moves and is in charge of some very important secret tasks, and it probably won't appear for a long time...but he allows me to use his workshop And the library, in order to be justifiable, so Lord Balgruuf asked me to temporarily take the post of court mage."

“…”

“…”

"I have some doubts that you have the wonderful ability to turn everything in the wrong direction." Luoli, one meter four, seemed to give up something, waved his hand and turned away, "Then what are you going to do? "

"Although I think this is weird, it's an opportunity anyway... I'm going to try it first, and logically, doesn't this mean that I've triggered the secret mission chain?"

Xia Ran laughed dryly, trying to comfort herself.

"This is a real world, and I want to remind you that the Ebony Blade was in the Longxiao Palace before, which means that the Whispering Lady has a higher chance of watching there..."

One meter four luoli glanced at him.

"I don't think there should be a problem. The Ebony Blade has been taken away. He must be catching that crazy guy all over the world now, and he can't care about me..." Xia Ran said confidently. , "No matter what, I won't be so unlucky, will I?"

"But you're a crow's mouth!"

luoli undecidedly launched a fatal blow: "Why don't you give up, I don't think you have the chance to go to the College of Winterhold to concentrate on your studies..."