Stray Chapter 169: Do not open the door

The properties given by Lord Balgruuf are very good, and they are basically located in the windy area. This area is mainly residential, including the temple. Even the former comrades in arms are located here. There are often strong mountain winds from all directions. blow.

But even so, the scenery here is excellent, and people can freely choose a place to overlook and appreciate the nature and vastness of the entire Xueman Collar.

It is said that the rumored dragonborn also has real estate in this area, but since this is a real-world city, it is much wider than the lost person's impression, so there is probably no chance of Becoming a neighbor happens.

Xia Ran visited Xueman City with great interest, because he took off his mask, so people couldn't recognize him as the "powerful mage" before, which saved him a lot of trouble.

The residents of Xueman City are very hospitable and very friendly. Even the vendors selling vegetables in the market are enthusiastic and want to take the initiative to reduce the price. Many people seem to be full of passion and hope for tomorrow, going up to the guards and down to the street vendors, and even the children walking around the streets are talking about today's dragon slaughter incident.

It seems that what happened this time is really a booster, giving them the most precious hope and sweeping away all the haze since the war.

Xia Ran has a bad comment on this. He doesn't know the situation very well. Apart from the plot impression about the work itself, there is only some information from hearsay... But even so, he knows the current Xue Man The city is not so good.

The idea of ​​maintaining neutrality is good, but in practice, it is not so easy to achieve, and it may be more stressful to be caught in the middle, like walking on thin ice.

Unless the war can be ended in a short period of time, the empire is restored to unity, and the whole returns to its previous state, otherwise, it is estimated that Snowman City will be difficult to maintain.

Even if Stormcloak wins, because once it develops to that point, Stormcloak will definitely put the entire Skyrim Province under their control, and will no longer allow Snowrun to exist independently...

It is impossible for the war to end in a short period of time, and there is no guarantee that the empire will win and everything will be back on the right track.

Perhaps these civilians, the soldiers of Xueman City who obeyed orders, did not have such a long-term vision, but Xia Ran did not believe that Lord Balgruuf would not have thought about this matter, and after substituting himself into it, he I don't think there is any way to break it.

Unless Balgruuf is strong enough to be like the legendary Nord hero who slaughtered the dragon and built the Dragon Palace... No personal force can change anything, only power can't do anything, this kind of It's just a joke.

The person who says this is just too weak to imagine what a truly powerful person can do.

Or maybe he is not only too weak, but also has no self-awareness at all. Instead, he feels that he is already very powerful. He can't imagine that there are people in the world who can be stronger than him, so since he can't do things with his own strength, It is definitely a problem that cannot be solved by individual power.

No matter how you look at it, Xia Ran doesn't think that Balgruuf can make a breakthrough at a critical moment, his strength has improved by leaps and bounds, he has achieved great achievements, and then he is invincible in the world... This is unrealistic no matter how you look at it.

However, it's not the lord's style to sit still without doing anything. So he was very curious, where did Lord Balgruuf put his chips, and what kind of big gamble could make him put all the chips on it?

Intentionally or unintentionally, he put some words on the guards, and by the way, he went to the Mare Banner Inn to listen to the news of the lost people. He confirmed one thing-

That is the court mage Farenja Secret Fire. It is true that he did not show up for a long time. Probably a few days after the Snowman City War, he gradually had a feeling of disappearing, until Now.

Some say he was badly wounded during the war and has not recovered until now...

Some people say that he was cursed because of the magic artifact in Longxiao Palace, unable to resist the power of the devil, and getting weaker day by day...

Some people say that he betrayed the lord and was secretly executed when he settled accounts in Qiuhou. A person who has no idea where he died will naturally not show up...

Anyway, there are different opinions, everyone has their own opinions, but there is no verifiable evidence. Even the owner of the inn said while chatting that Lord Balgruuf had expressed his desire to recruit court mages again more than a month ago.

However, I haven't found a suitable candidate-

Because the Nords are all savages, their brains are full of muscles, and Winterhold is the main gathering place for Skyrim mages. The number of mages in other places is not only rare, but there are often special reasons and plans. Such things will stay in a certain place for a long time.

Compared to the aborigines, there are not necessarily many legal practitioners among the lost. The low-level ones do not enter the eyes of Lord Balgruuf, and the high-level ones are not satisfied with serving in the court. Mage or something, but has a more ambitious pursuit.

So until now, Xia Ran triggered the condition and temporarily took over the position of the court mage.

After all, he knows his actual level, and he doesn't have such grand and unrealistic pursuits, but in the eyes of others, his spells are already very advanced, especially the flame magic that specializes in destruction, which is quite amazing. to the point of.

Perhaps other aspects of the magic attainment will be slightly worse, but as a court mage, at least there are some...

It can be said that the two parties hit it off and are happy.

However, Xia Ran felt that she might have really triggered some hidden sideline and secret mission. If it was not good, perhaps the disappearing Farengar was the source of Lord Balgruuf's confidence, and the latter was under the former's body. up the bet.

Perhaps the wise court mage found something and felt that there was hope to change the dilemma in Snowman City, so he devoted himself to it and began to study, but because the stakes were so important, the news had to be blocked.

And Lord Balgruuf also felt that he could take a gamble, so he chose to support this matter?

Of course, there is still no evidence to prove this is the case. Xia Ran is just a subjective guess based on his own doubts and some untrue information collected.

Perhaps there will be more clues to support his speculation in the future, or to deny his assumption.

After buying some food in the hotel, Xia Ran went directly back to her property.

This is a two-story building, probably because it has been cleaned, so it looks very empty. There are no books on several shelves, and there is no special decoration around. There is a room upstairs. , there is an alchemy platform inside.

The alchemy table is a special auxiliary device, just like the enchanting table, in the game only if you find this kind of equipment, you can perform alchemy or enchanting... But in this real world, there is no such thing. limit.

They are just better able to handle and preserve materials, improve the quality of the finished product and the success rate of manufacturing, and to a lesser extent.

If the user is highly skilled, then they can easily succeed with or without this kind of thing; and if there is a problem with the original design, don't expect these things to be of much use.

Xia Ran feels that the role of this alchemy platform is to help him familiarize himself with the methods and steps to use. After all, as a court mage, he always needs to master alchemy and enchanting.

In the workshop of Farengar in Longxiao Palace, there is an alchemy table and an enchanting table each. It looks like he wants to be a high-level person, and there is no shortage of materials... He may not need to be proficient in this area, but The basic formula must be mastered.

If he can't even make a basic bottle of healing potion, or if he doesn't know the basic operation of recharging an enchanted weapon, then he, a court mage who is full of money, will have to be exposed on the same day, and then pack up and leave. ...

After checking it carefully, Xia Ran was still behind the stairs, in addition to a utility room, there was a trapdoor set on the floor, leading to the basement below.

He went down and took a look, but he didn't think about the whimsical idea of ​​"what treasure just happened to be below, it was ignored when it was cleaned up before, and now it just happened to be dug up by himself".

Although it is dark below, it is relatively dry, and there is nothing left. There is an old wooden door that closes very firmly, and he thought it was a real adventure——

After all, strictly speaking, this property used to belong to one of the two traditional forces in Xueman City. Those two families are hiding some secrets, so it seems like a reasonable setting, right?

After tossing for a long time, he couldn't open it, so he used his mental power to detect...

And then I found that the back of the door is completely solid, and there is no space. It seems that the original owner was planning to expand the space, but he only had time to build a door, and the follow-up plan did not have time to unfold at all, making him happy in vain. a game.

Think about it too, how could I have such good luck!

He sighed, stood in the dark basement and looked around, feeling that overall, this building is barely okay, at least as a temporary shelter, there is no problem...

……

……

Same time.

Outside the house, the two guards knocked on the door for a long time, but there was no response. They could only look at each other with a wry smile: "Do you want to go back and report to the lord? It seems that Master Mage is not in his room?"

"Let's go back first, it's not too important..." Another guard sighed, "Speaking of which, everyone said that the Master Mage entered the house before, why is he not there?"

"After all, it's a magician, who knows what will happen... by the way, could it be in the basement, didn't hear our voice, should we wait?"

"Don't be stupid, there is no basement in this area..." The guard stared at his companion with a foolish look, "The underground space has been occupied by the Hall of the Dead in the temple, where else can we go? Dig?"

The two walked away while talking like this.