before he was crowned king

The two walked deeper into the ruins.

The pale yellow light outside the flames burned a hole in the night.Baron Tolland's castle was bigger than expected, and the building hadn't completely collapsed. Sean raised his head to find the highest point, and he preliminarily judged that the height of the castle was less than thirty feet.The edges of the split and crooked buildings look high and low from a distance, like a stone forest full of unknowns on one side.

"If it wasn't an earthquake, then what caused such terrifying power? Could it be magic?" Alex looked at the rubble field in front of him, which was dilapidated.

"It's not magic, it's gun|powder." Although the smell of gunpowder smoke in the air is already very thin, Sean can still find a lot of evidence that there have been explosions here.

"Fire|powder? Are you talking about the stuff filled in firearms? Can it produce such a great power?" Alex couldn't believe that the gray-black powder could cause such a tragedy.

"Yes, as long as the quantity is enough, and then after some processing." Compared with things like firearms and gunpowder, Saint Via obviously admires magic more.Under the influence of such remarks, the people also believe that magic is the highest power in this world.

But in fact, the most famous garrison of St. Via is the firearms battalion under Princess Tisifeng, not the group of noble magicians who are pampered by the national tax.

Ordinary people don't have the opportunity to appreciate the horror of gun|powder, but Sean was able to understand that when Rose Manor opened up the mine, dozens of barrels of powder exploded and the sky collapsed, leaving him with an indelible shock at that time.

"How is your health?" Sean asked back, although it was a low-level fire magic, but Erics had maintained it for a long time, "If you don't have enough magic power, take a rest."

"It's okay, I'm fine." Faced with the unbearable consumption of ordinary people, Alex's face was quite relaxed.Facts have proved that the ability of genius cannot be inferred by ordinary people's standards.

Although Eriks didn't feel tired, Sean still wanted to get two torches out, but he couldn't find any oil that could support the combustion along the way, so he had to give up this idea for the time being.

Sean continued to explore along the black scorching traces, and he led Erics towards the center of the explosion.

Halfway through, Sean stopped suddenly, and Erics followed blindly, almost hitting the young man in front.

"What's wrong?" Alex poked his head out from behind.

Sean moved the firelight aside, as if he didn't want Erics to see what was lying on the ground in front of him.

Even so, Alex still saw the burning black and red wrinkled flesh.

They found a body that had been changed beyond recognition.

The lights went out.

Dead silence.

Then came some intermittent retching sounds.

Sean turned his head back, and the black-haired young man bent down, touching his neck with one hand, and his body convulsed slightly.

"Sorry, I'll be fine soon." Feeling someone walking towards him, Alex's voice suppressed the trembling after retching, "I'll take it easy."

"Is this the first time you've seen it?" Sean asked.

Alex drooped his head. He had seen blood and corpses, but this was the first time he had died so tragically.The stench of decay gradually made him a little unacceptable.

"It's like this the first time I see it, don't think too much, people are dying every day in this world, this is a very normal thing."

The man's emotionless voice rang in Alex's ear, and a hand was patting his back rhythmically, as if guiding his tense nerves to relax slowly.

Not to mention how gentle it was, but unconsciously, Alex's emotions really calmed down.

"I didn't expect my nerves to be so delicate. I thought I was definitely not a delicate type." Erics propped his hands on his knees, his voice was faint.

His reaction was actually normal, but compared with the person beside him, he seemed a little weak.

"It has nothing to do with nerves. All creatures are instinctively afraid of death. This is their nature."

"But you are much better than me." The young man's handsome face was slightly bitter, "Isn't it the first time you have seen me?"

The atmosphere was a little stagnant.

"Sorry, Sean, did I say something wrong?" Alex said with a guilty tone, worried that he would bring up some bad memories for the other party.

"No, it's nothing. It's really not the first time I've seen it. Maybe it's because I saw too many people who died tragically during the insect plague." Sean didn't mention the purgatory he experienced in the small town of Sage, where What he saw was war in miniature.

Anyone who has experienced war will probably be as numb as he is now when seeing a corpse.

"I didn't know you had such an experience. I'm really sorry." Erics looked a little uncomfortable. For a noble young master like him, the famine and pests were too far away.The gray wall outside the capital seemed to keep out the misery and despair they didn't know.

"Don't worry about this." Sean's voice paused, "I'll check the corpse later, after you hand me your hand, you can close your eyes."

"It's nothing, I'm used to it," Alex waved his hand pretending to be calm, "I'm not a delicate girl."

In the darkness, Sean blinked slightly. He obviously didn't believe what Erics said just now.

Jumping flames burst out from Alex's palm again.

Sean walked into the charred body and squatted down beside it.

Erics also squatted down behind Sean, and his eyes subconsciously fell on the corpse under the firelight. When he faintly glimpsed the pair of incomplete protruding eyes, in order not to interrupt the magic, he He decisively chose to close his eyes.

Sean wrapped a cloth strip around his fingertips, and then searched for clues on the corpse from the head.

First of all, he found an obvious cut on the man's neck, not a mark of a heavy object falling and cutting, but a scar caused by a clearly controlled sharp weapon.

At this point, Sean can be sure that this person did not die from the explosion, but was hacked to death with a knife or sword beforehand.

The killer knows the deadly place very well.Because Shane didn't find any more similar traces on this corpse.

Who will kill before the explosion comes?

What is the identity of this murdered person?

Sean's gaze continued to search the corpse meticulously, but the corpse was so damaged that the clothes, pants and shoes were almost glued together with the other's flesh, making it unrecognizable.

Sean was groping again on the sides of the chest and abdomen of the corpse, where there were pockets on the clothes.

After a while, Sean rummaged through a hard round cake the size of a fingernail.

This should be a special piece of metal.After the high temperature of the explosion, this round pie-shaped metal is no longer in its original regular shape, but its surface is still golden.

Sean frowned slightly. He thought it was a queen's coin, but after he held it in his hand and felt the weight of it.Based on the blurred lines on it, he guessed that it was probably a badge made of gold.

Gold is very stable as a metal.Gold is easily refined by high-temperature flames, but it is different from other metals.Gold does not change in weight, nor does it change color when it cools down early.

There is such a badge, which means that this person cannot be an ordinary attendant, and should have a certain status in this castle.

As for why he died unexpectedly——

Sean stood up, patted the young man who was still squatting on the ground, and signaled him to open his eyes and move on.He carefully observed the surroundings, and within a short distance, he found a sunken black hole not far away.

"This, what is this?" Erics was a little shocked looking at the infinitely extending stairs into the darkness.

"This should be the basement of Baron Tolland's castle." Sean looked down at the darkness below and frowned slightly.

"Are we going down?" Alex asked.

Shane didn't answer right away.Of course he knew that this basement must hide extraordinary secrets, but according to previous surveys, the structure of the castle was already very unstable.He is also not sure how long this pile of buildings with only frames can last stably.If they happen to encounter a cave-in when they go down, it will become a very dangerous thing.

Sean thought about it, and explained to Erics that he would take the risk of going down, and he had no right to make choices for the other party when it came to personal safety.

"Are you going to go down?" Alex was keenly aware of something.

"Yes." Sean said.

"Why? The vice president and the others shouldn't be trapped in this kind of place, right?" Alex was a little puzzled. He didn't know the real purpose of Sean's trip, so he didn't quite understand the other party's risky behavior.

"There is something strange about the matter in Nexco Village, and we may be able to find the truth if we go down." Sean gave a somewhat general reason.

Erics froze for a moment, then sighed, "Then I'll go down too."

"Don't force yourself."

"But without me, you won't see anything when you go down." Alex's tone rose slightly.

"I have a tinder bag," Sheen said.

"How long will it last?" Alex touched his nose, "Let's go, we are partners now."

Sean looked at the overly cheerful black-haired young man in front of him, and was silent for a while, "Okay, let's go down together. You should know the third-level light magic."

"Did you mean [Guardian]?"

"Yes, if you really encounter a collapse, remember, don't use extremely destructive magic. And don't rush up the stairs immediately. This staircase is suspended, and it is easy to collapse when it collides with the main body of the building. If you encounter In the wrong situation, use your light magic to protect yourself, and after the shock stops, you are trying to find a way to get out."

"Oh." Erics nodded. He was just about to ask the young man what he should do, but the young man had already led him down the steps by the wrist.