Chapter 162: From the Lord’s entrustment (I’m starting to gain weight and spend the winter)


    Not long after, a single news ignited the entire Sky Province.


    The rumored that the North Tower Fortress, which was used to imprison rebels and prisoners, was burned overnight and the flames soared into the sky. When the soldiers arrived, they saw only the wreckage of the castle that had been completely engulfed by the flames, and the bodies of the Somo soldiers who were pierced by spears and erected on the snow on the outside of the castle.


    As for those prisoners, they were completely missing.


    This naturally caused a strong shock to the empire. Soon, the soldiers were sent out to search, and some prisoners who were originally locked in the North Tower Fort were re-arrested and tortured and interrogated. However, their confessions surprised everyone - according to these prisoners, they had no idea what was going on. They just slept for a night, and when they woke up, they found that they were no longer in the cold underground prison of the North Tower Fort, but on the grassland shining with sunlight.


    It is precisely because of this that these prisoners insisted that Talos appeared and saved them, which made the soldiers of the empire wonder, and some didn''t know what to do. After all, this continent does have the protection of gods. Although Talos seems a bit nonsense, it seems... it is not incomprehensible.


    After all, the facts were there. At that time, there were no traces of prisoners escaping around the Beita Fortress. They seemed to have evaporated out of thin air. After that, these prisoners appeared in the center of Skyrim Province. Unless these prisoners all had wings and could fly, only miracles could explain it.


    Not only that, after that, the Somer elves were attacked in the fortresses and fortresses in various parts of the Skyrim Province. No one knew who attacked these places, but each Somer fortress was completely destroyed, and the bodies of the Somer elves soldiers were also penetrated by long spears and inserted into the ground, just like the same.


    This immediately made the people of Skyrim Province very excited. In fact, even within the empire, they had a certain contradictory attitude towards this matter. On the one hand, they naturally don’t like Somo’s **** bean sprouts, but on the other hand, they are also worried that this will arouse Somo’s dissatisfaction.


    In fact, Ambassador Somo had summoned the king and demanded a thorough investigation of the matter. Otherwise, Somo''s elves would dispatch the army to completely destroy the empire!


    "Are we really going to keep waiting? Mr. Knight?"


    Sitting in the tavern, Gureya was fiddling with the wine glass in front of her uneasy, while Duanmu Huai nodded.


    "That''s right, destroying all the strongholds of Sommer and killing Sommer elves is all about inciting Sommer to start a war. Once their army gathers, I can completely destroy it. A few Sommer fortresses are not our target at all. This is just a bait arranged for them to eliminate Sommer."


    "But over the empire...we really don''t go and tell them?"


    "This is a matter between the Inquisition and the Alien, and it has nothing to do with the Empire."


    Duanmu Huai shook his head.


    "I won''t let the empire mistakenly think that I am on its side. The Inquisition protects humans, not a certain regime. Basically, we will not actively intervene in local regime disputes. If the empire can take the opportunity to stabilize its position, it would be better, but if the empire is incapable of being overthrown, we don''t care... Do you understand?"


    “……Yes, I understand.”


    Gureya is not stupid. As a princess, she certainly understands Duanmu Huai’s meaning. If Duanmuhuai contacted the Empire, no matter what, he would have formed the impression of his cooperation with the Empire. The empire is likely to act as a blessing by relying on its support from the court. At that time, the court will take the blame for the empire''s atrocities.


    That''s why Duanmuhuai completely divided it, so it''s said that you do yours and I hit mine. As Duanmuhuai said, the Inquisition guards humans, not empires, and the continued existence of the imperial regime seems to be indifferent. If there were regimes that were better for humanity than the Empire, then the Inquisition would not object to their overthrow of the Empire.


    Of course, the premise is not to collude with the Chaos Demon.


    “Ding thud ——!”


    At this moment, the crisp sound of the piano sounded, Duanmuhuai turned his head and saw a minstrel standing by the bonfire, playing and singing.


    "The next song is dedicated to the fearless warriors!"


    As he spoke, the bard started singing.


    “The sky is a tide of freedom in the snow-white wilderness.


    People gulped with ale, praising blood and glory.


    However, jackals came to seek interest and tried to destroy the lively banquet.


    The guests screamed in surprise and ran away in scattered areas.


    The jackal was complacent and proud.


    The great **** saw these wolves.


    His soldiers descended from the sky in a dark steel chariot.


    They waved their weapons, peeled and boned the jackals and corpses from other places.


    The skinny jackals ran away with their tails, not even daring to look back.


    Because they know that behind them is the butcher knife waved by the gods! ”


    Soon, the song ended, and at the same time, the guests in the tavern also raised their glasses and cheered.


    Duanmu Huai sat on the chair and nodded with satisfaction.


    "Well, this is a good singing."


    In fact, this minstrel poem spread after Somo''s fortress was destroyed. The jackals in the song imply that Somo, a group of uninvited and annoying high elves. It is rumored that after Ambassador Somo learned of this poem, he was so angry that he smashed his cup directly.


    If it were usual, those Somo''s elves would have arrested the humans who dared to sing this song with various reasons. But now that Somo Fortress has been destroyed, this group of arrogant and arrogant high elves dared to curl up in the embassy tremblingly, and even dared not leave, for fear that the next one would be pierced by a spear and inserted into the snow would be himself.


    This naturally made the people of Skyrim Province applaud and exclaimed a fierce sigh of anger.


    Just as the cheers of the drinkers were cheering, Duanmuhuai saw the tavern owner walking over with a serious look on his face. He came to Duanmuhuai and whispered.


    "Sorry for disturbing me, this warrior, the lord has something to come to you..."


    "oh?"


    Hearing the message from the tavern owner, Duanmu Huai was stunned. Although there are adventurers on this continent, there are no organizations such as the Adventurer Association. Generally speaking, if adventurers want to find a commission or work, they will go to the owner of the tavern, and these owners will generally obtain some wanted or rewards from the lord''s subordinates.


    The Fercules where Duanmu Huai is currently located is one of the nine territories in Skyrim Province. It is located in the deep mountains and forests. Although the transportation is inconvenient, it is very suitable for rest. So Duanmu Huai has been staying in Fercules during the period of waiting for Somo to start the war. Of course, occasionally he would accept some commissions to kill some robbers outside, or destroy some wild beasts that locals could not deal with. It can be regarded as more or less gaining fame here.


    But... what''s wrong with the lord coming to find him?


    Could it be that he was planning to investigate the murderers who killed the Somo Elf? Hahahahaha... No, right? "I get it, I will go over and take a look."


    Thinking of this, Duanmuhuai also stood up and took Gureya out of the tavern and walked towards the lord''s hall.


    After staying in Tianji Province for so long, Duanmuhuai has already had a preliminary understanding of this land. To put it simply, it is to describe it in one sentence - the land is vast and sparsely populated.


    Take Skyrim Province as an example. Skyrim Province is divided into nine territories and is ruled by nine lords, and these nine lords are responsible for the Supreme King of Skyrim - this title sounds grand, but to put it bluntly, it is a high-ranking official. And the nine lords are equal to the mayors of nine cities.


    Basically, in the area under which a lord is responsible, there are only two or three villages besides a central city. Each village has less than one or two hundred people, and the city has a slightly larger population, but at most it is about a thousand people.


    It can be imagined that with such a small population, there are naturally not many soldiers. The lord''s direct soldiers are only a few hundred, and the security guards in each village only have dozens of people to die.


    In contrast, the holy city area where Rolena is located has a population of as many as 50,000 in the central city alone, and the villages and towns radiating to all directions also have a population of three to four thousand.


    The combined population of the two central cities in Manalia is at least 100,000, not to mention that the population of the surrounding villages and towns is at least about one or two thousand.


    Although it is incomparable to modern metropolis with hundreds of millions of people, it can be seen that at least in terms of current civilization level, Manalia and the Holy City have crushed the sky provinces and even the empires in terms of population and quality.


    Simply put, the empire is currently large in territory, but in fact, due to years of war, there are not many soldiers.


    The same is true for Foxris. The total population of Foxris City is less than 3,000, and it is not even as large as a school in Duanmuhuai era.


    Soon, the two arrived at the lord''s hall and met Sid Gael, the lord of Forkris.


    Compared with the lords in other places, West Gal is relatively young and looks about 20 or 30 years old. Originally, Furcher''s lord was done by his uncle, but because his uncle was old, West Gal became the new lord.


    Well, it doesn''t matter.


    "Are you the rumored steel warrior?"


    When he saw Duanmuhuai, the young lord was also surprised. He widened his eyes in surprise, looked Duanmuhuai up and down, and then nodded again.


    "I have heard a lot of rumors about you. I originally thought the rumors would be exaggerated, but now it doesn''t seem that exaggerated."


    Facing the lord''s words, Duanmu Huai had no words - this is the benefit of being fierce, and everyone else believed that he had killed a dragon.


    Although he did kill.


    "Then, let''s talk about the serious business."


    Speaking of this, Sidgail restrained his expression and stared at Duanmuhuai seriously, explaining his entrustment.


    Simply put, this is about the commission of a small town he ruled - Locks Town.


    According to West Gheer, a strange situation has occurred in the town of Locks since a few months ago. First, the corpses in the cemetery were unknown. Their graves were dug up and all the bodies inside disappeared. But when angry town residents tried to find the priest who was guarding the cemetery to ask for an explanation, they found that the priest was also missing.


    After that, in order to find out the situation, the residents of the town spontaneously formed a patrol team to patrol late at night, but... someone disappeared with it.


    So now, the entire town is almost in a state of panic. Every night, people were closed and dared not go out, and they also sent people to ask West Gal for assistance several times in a row.


    "Although I have sent the soldiers to check several times and doubted whether it was the necromancer who was the one who was the one who was doing it, I have no gains. Not only that... even my uncle was killed!"


    Speaking of this, Sidgail clenched his fist angrily and smashed the armrest of the lower chair. During the last patrol and search, Sidgail''s uncle personally led the team as a military guard to investigate. However, the day after he arrived in the village, the guards found him dead silently on the bed.


    "This is simply a provocation to Lord Sifrek! We will definitely not tolerate this behavior!"


    In this case, Sidgail certainly would not choose to retreat. He happened to hear about Duanmuhuai''s deeds, the "steel warrior", so he came to him.


    "My request is very simple. We will thoroughly investigate this matter and see who is doing it! The murderer who killed his uncle is going to be arrested and brought to justice! As long as you can complete this task, I will give you a piece of land in the territory of Sifrek! And appoint you as the baron!"


    Look, it’s better to have a large land and sparse population, and land is given away at will.


    It''s not worth it anyway, right?


    "I understand, I will go and see the situation."


    Although I don’t care much about the reward, Duanmu Huai is quite interested in this commission. After all, compared to dealing with robbers or wild beasts, isn’t such a story very interesting?


    "Mr. Knight, are we really going?"


    Walking out of the lord''s hall, Gureya''s face was a little pale. I have to say that the story Sidgael told just now really scared her.


    "Of course, don''t you find it interesting? And you''re idle too. Isn''t it just right to have such an interesting commission to pass the time? At least it''s better than dealing with bandits."


    “………It’s true.”


    Duanmuhuai did not tell Gureya that in addition to the interesting story itself, another reason was that it triggered the system''s task prompt.


    [Inspire the hidden mission "Dark Haze"]


    [Task Objective: Investigate the Secrets Hidden in the Town of Rocks]


    [While you embark on a journey, you will not expect that what you are facing this time is not an ordinary adventure]


    No, haven’t you said all this?


    Looking at the system prompts in front of me, Duanmu Huai also complained silently.


    But anyway, it is obvious that what happened in the town of Rocks is obviously not that simple.


    (This chapter ends)