The Book of Hibernation

Dorin woke up in a private house.He stood up suddenly, saw the door and rushed out, bumping into the knight who was about to walk in.

This knight also knew Dorin. He was the roundest one in the execution team, and he was a little younger than Ryan based on his birth date.Seeing that Dorin woke up, the knight quickly made a comforting gesture: "Miss Baitian is here. As long as you are fine. Are you uncomfortable? Why don't you lie down for a while?"

"Where is Ryan? Where is Niya?" Dorin wanted to go around, but the door was too narrow and the knight was too fat, blocking the door tightly.

The fat knight said honestly: "I don't know who Niya is. Ryan and everyone are in the square in front of the village hall."

"What are they doing?"

"Execution. We are the execution squad."

Dorin became even more anxious, and wanted to push him away and run out, but he couldn't.The fat knight said: "Hey, Dorin, calm down, listen to me, Ryan didn't let you go out. He knows you are soft-hearted and can't see those things, so let me guard you here, and advise you not to go there .”

"De Carlo, listen to me too," Dorin stared at him and said, "Get out of the way today, let me go out, I will still deliver the letter for you after I leave the gem forest. If you don't get out of the way, our friendship is over , after I leave, I will never go to Ponteshire in my life, and I won’t deliver letters for you, so your wife will never know your thoughts, and she will marry your brother next month."

"No...she's not my wife yet..." The fat knight scratched his head, still blushing a little.

Duo Lin was about to die of anxiety: "That's not the point! The point is that she will never be your wife in the future, but only your sister-in-law!"

The fat knight struggled for a moment.This speculative process is not difficult, and Duolin was not a prisoner in the first place, and letting Duolin out does not violate any creed.So the fat knight chose to back away from the door.

Dorin immediately dodged and ran out.The fat knight ran after him, asking him if he could help deliver the love letter.Dorin agreed to him perfunctorily, and he finally shut up and slowed down with peace of mind, and the clanking of the armor finally stopped.

Dorling had been to Hamer Village, and soon found the village office.It was too late when he arrived.Blood stained the snow-covered square red.

The young people of the village guard cooperated with the execution team and stopped the surrounding villagers with long sticks.The execution had already been completed, a few villagers pushed them away and rushed towards the corpse, the guards did not stop them, and the temple knights did not stop them too much.

A man and a woman rushed over and knelt on the ground.The corpse in front of them not only had no head, but also no legs.His legs didn't just disappear today. Not far from the body was the wooden wheelchair he had used for many years.

The crippled dead man could be Lesha, the mage who was said to be able to make veils.Before Duoling heard that Lesha was "inconvenient", it was probably this person.

The man and woman weeping for him might have been his children, or his son and his wife, or his daughter and his son-in-law... Dorin didn't know them either.What is certain is that they must not be apprentices, otherwise they would not be alive now.

Next to Lesha is the body of a slightly fat woman. She seems to have no relatives. So far, no one has rushed forward to cry for her.

Her left hand stretched out to the side, as if she wanted to touch the person on the left before she died.

Because the dead had all been beheaded, Dorin could only be identified by their clothes.The deceased to the left of the fat woman was also a woman, a young girl with her hands handcuffed behind her back and a brown cotton apron over a black dress.

This is the eldest daughter of the middle-aged mage's family.Dorling can't remember her name, only that she is 15 years old.

Then, the woman who reached out to her should be her aunt, the necromancer who is said to be able to perform invisibility.

The male corpse on the other side of the eldest daughter was naturally the middle-aged mage I had seen before.His body looked the worst, with bloody wounds besides the fatal decapitation, his hands and feet shackled, and his wrists disfigured.It should be because he refused to punish him and fought back desperately.

In addition to these people, there were two corpses that Duoling didn't recognize, probably other necromancers hidden in the village.Both were adults, with a man and a woman crying beside each other.

There is a row of notice stands in the square, and under the stands, two knights are rescuing a woman who has passed out.She is the wife of the middle-aged mage.One knight held her and held her against his lap, while the other rubbed sanity ointment on her forehead and under her nose.

She is not a necromancer, she doesn't understand magic at all, and she can't detect any problems on her body, so she is not within the scope of execution.There were no obvious injuries on her body, and she must have passed out for other reasons.

Dorin walked towards her slowly, but no one stopped her.When he got closer, Duolin saw Xiao Niya's body.

She was at her mother's feet, probably just being picked up, and now her mother passed out and dropped her to the ground again.

She was so small that she looked like a rag from a distance, with the cloth rope that Dorin used to hold her wrapped around the thick cotton coat.

The heads of all the dead were gathered together and nailed into crates lined with hay.

The execution team will first transport the heads away and burn them separately, then dig a pit in an open field, prepare more firewood and oil, and burn the corpses one by one.The reason why it is divided into two steps is that it is time-consuming to burn so many corpses, and the heads are small in size, so they can be collected and burned in the same batch.

There is a reason for this.Necromancers always have spells that trick death.It is necessary to decapitate first, destroy the integrity of the limbs, seize the time to burn the head first, destroy the brain and eyes, and then gradually dispose of the remaining corpses to avoid future troubles.

The execution team of the Temple of the Day is not only responsible for the execution, but also for the aftermath.In the next few days, they will complete all follow-up measures and clean up the blood-stained square.

While the execution team was dealing with the aftermath, the village head stepped out and began to appease the living villagers.He has been speaking to the villagers, not daring to look back at the square.

He told everyone that if one had to choose between the execution squad and the dead hunter, of course the execution squad would be better.At least they don't kill innocent people indiscriminately.

The dead hunters are Otarot believers, and they are the craziest group of believers. Their styles are not the same.They will gather their hands, kill all the Necromancer and his relatives and neighbors, and then burn down the entire village.

It's useless to reason with the dead hunters, and it's useless to negotiate peace. They can be understood as a group of wolves who can't understand human words.

If you really can't fight the risk, you can only avoid the risk.

Therefore, the necromancers were eliminated, and only those who were not necromancers could be safe.The rest of the village is safe.

In the front row of the crowd, a little boy asked softly, "Can't the Temple Knights help us kill the hunter?"

The village chief ignored his question on purpose.

Dorin did know the answer to that question.He had doubts before, so he asked Ryan.

The answer is simple, because the Day Knight can't do that.Except in cases of forced self-defense, it is against the teachings to actively attack a sworn believer of the Three Good Gods.Although the dead hunters are not priests, all of them have sworn oaths in the Temple of Otarot.

At that time, Duolin still didn't understand, so he asked: If this is the case, there is a dead hunter who has mistaken the target and wants to kill innocent people. As the day knights, you have sworn to punish evil deeds. Can't you save people? ?

Ryan's answer is: it can save lives.For example, you can escape with the innocent person, but you cannot pursue the hunter further.If the dead hunter attacked me, of course I could fight back to protect myself.If the hunter has killed an innocent person, we can call the local guards to capture him and conduct a secular trial, or we can contact the Temple of Otarot, and they will also send brothers of the Temple Knights to participate in this matter.

Dorin curled his lips again and again.He sighed, what a mess, it's too troublesome, it's just to distinguish right from wrong, how can it be so complicated?

To this day, Dorin still remembers Ryan's reaction.

Ryan's smile was a bit bitter.He seems to be answering, and also seems to be talking to himself: No, right and wrong are complicated, but order is simple.

Dorin realized that Ryan must have remembered what happened in Harbor City.So Dolin quickly changed the subject and didn't discuss these any more.

Now, Duolin stood on the square, looking at the figures who were cleaning up the execution ground and dealing with the blood.

The fat knight just now was among them.He is deftly moving the body.

When talking about his fiancée, he was clumsy and cute, but now he was dragging a headless girl's body, the girl was probably three or four years younger than the one he loved, and he didn't seem to have any mood swings.

Duo Lin's figure was a little shaken, and he stepped back unknowingly.

A pair of hands fell on his shoulders, giving him something to lean on.

Dorin turned his head sideways, first saw the gloves with iron finger guards, looked up along the armor, saw the steel silver knight breastplate, and the holy emblem pattern on the breastplate: the lines formed the vertical spear and the horizontal balance, Both are backed by a golden sun disc.

Looking up again, he saw that familiar face.

There were a few spots of blood on Ryan's left cheek, which he probably hadn't had time to wipe off.He looked at Dolin with concern, his tender leaf-colored eyes were full of worry.

Dorin stared at Ryan for a while, then slowly lowered his head.

After arriving in the gem forest, Ryan cut his shoulder-length hair short.

Maybe it's because the short hair is more warped and messy.In the sun, Ryan's blond hair refracted fine shards of light, like sharp shards, and Dorin's eyes would sting if he stared at it for a long time.

======================

From Harbor City to the border of Sea of ​​Trees.Dong Ji walked this way back to his hometown for at least two months.

On the one hand, it was because the journey was really long, and on the other hand, it was because the road was not smooth.

At first, Winter Thistle chose to go northwest, leaving the country through San Delian.He is more familiar with the surrounding area of ​​San Dilian, he had lived in this city for a while.

In fact, walking like this is a bit of a detour, but Dong Ji dared not take too remote a path alone, so he tried to choose a busy route with caravans and travelers.

It was okay in Shandonia, except for the occasional bad weather, he didn't encounter any other troubles.As a result, on the third day after leaving the country, he left the post station early in the morning and encountered robbers at noon.

There were about a dozen robbers, all on horseback, blocking the road in front of him.Dong Ji thought about it, and guessed that he was targeted at the inn.He had seen one or two of the gang in the hall.

Winter Thistle's attire is very ordinary, not like a rich man at all.However, one of the robbers was very knowledgeable. He saw Dongji's magic material bag on his waist in the station, and recognized him as a mage.

There are many valuable things in the portable materials of mages. The most expensive ones are gems, and the cheaper ones also include herbs and minerals. Some can be rolled into tobacco to bring happiness to people, and some can be used as bombs. If you are lucky, The mage may still have ready-made magic potions or tools, even if the robbers can't use them themselves, they can take them out and sell them.

More importantly, Winter Thistle is just a half-elf traveling alone.Half-elves are not protected by the sea of ​​elves, have no family background, are helpless, and are usually relatively thin and small, basically unable to beat humans.It is easiest to rob such a person.

At a critical juncture, dew really came in handy.Winter Thistle climbed onto the horse in desperation, and Dew immediately turned around and ran into the woods without any instructions.

Before this time, Winter Thistle had never ridden Dew on the way, and only used it to help carry the burden.

In Dong Ji's impression, there should be a process for a horse to run from walk to run, but Dew accelerated like a gust of wind in an instant, and those robbers who were good at riding horses were stunned for a moment before catching up.

Maybe people will show their potential when they are forced to. This time, Dongji is firmly on the horse's back, not wobbling like last time.

However, the best he can do is not to fall off, but he doesn't know how to command the horses, where to run, how far to run, relying entirely on the dew to judge.

Dew is a horse after all, how can humans be cunning.While chasing, the robbers arranged for people to find shortcuts to intercept them, and soon they surrounded them from all directions.

When Winter Thistle was afraid, the robbers in the distance seemed to slow down.Dew kept rushing forward, Dongji didn't dare to look back, there was a commotion behind him, but he couldn't make out what the robbers were saying.

After a while, Dew's pace also slowed down.Winter Thistle looked up and looked around, as if no one was chasing them anymore.

Dew turned around and began to lead him back slowly.Dongji always felt that this was not right. If they went back to the main road at this time, wouldn't they meet the same group again?But he didn't know how to steer the horse, and he didn't know how to stop it.

After walking for a short distance, Winter Thistle heard someone humming in the distance.The voice is female, and the tune of the song is very familiar.

Winter Thistle remembered that it was a folk song from Harbor City, about fishermen and sirens, and it was sung by the maid of the Ardine house once.

Now the humming man was not as good as the maid, and could only hum a small part of it over and over again, and couldn't remember the words very well.

As it got closer to the singing, Winter Thistle heard the sound of horses' hooves walking slowly. Around the area with dense bushes ahead, he saw a dark red figure riding on a black steed.

The female half-elf with red hair and red clothes, wearing leather armor and trousers is none other than Delis of the Carlos family.

Deris waved her hand at Winter Thistle, who kept looking around nervously.

Many strange riders appeared in the woods. Some were holding bows and arrows, some were carrying machetes, and some were holding the reins of two or three horses at the same time.Probably because they did not show hostility, so Dew was not afraid of them, it still wandered in the garden, did not run away at all.

Going further, Winter Thistle saw the corpse among the grass and dead leaves.The gang of robbers fell off their horses and fell to the ground just now, without breathing.

Doris rode her horse to Dewshui's side, and exchanged greetings with Winter Thistle.She said that they met by chance, and that she was going to take the northwest trade route to do business, and happened to leave the country through San Delian.

She led her men all the way to send Winter Thistle back to the main road, and Winter Thistle did not refuse.The two continued to ride side by side in this way, followed by Delise's silent subordinates.

Dong Ji asked her casually: "Those people just now...are all dead?"

De Lisi said: "Don't sympathize with them. It's not a pity for these people to die. Haven't you heard of them? They are famous, and they often rob on this road. If you fall into their hands, you will not only be robbed It's so easy to take property... You know, the outlaws among humans especially like to toss half-bloods with elf blood, even if you are a man, you will not be spared. If you let each of them do it several times, you may not survive , if you are lucky enough to survive, they will sell you to a place where you can make money."

Winter Thistle frowned: "I didn't feel sorry for them. That's why I asked if they were all dead...I mean, what if someone escaped alive?"

De Lisi observed Winter Thistle's side face, secretly laughing.She could see that Winter Thistle didn't mean it originally, but after listening to her explanation, she wanted to be cold on purpose.

De Lisi said: "It doesn't matter if someone escapes. They saw me, and they must know who the 'Witch De Lisi' is. Even if some of them are alive, they don't dare to use their knives on this road again, otherwise they will die." Against the Carlos family."

Winter Thistle nodded, and couldn't help sighing.

De Lisi asked him what was wrong, and he smiled weakly: "Half-elves who grew up in human society, do they usually have a tough personality?"

"Unfortunately, no," Delise said with a smile, "I will only suffer more bullying and encounter more unpleasant things. In fact, I have no real skills until now, all because of relying on the Carlos family."

"you are too humble."

"Your mouth is quite sweet." Deliss moved the horse closer to Dew, and she leaned towards Winter Thistle, "Speaking of which, what are your plans for the future?"

Ah, here we go.Dongji silently sighed inwardly.He vaguely guessed what she was going to say, and he was right.

De Lisi said: "The Carlos family also needs refiners. However, our business scope is not as large as that of the Chamber of Commerce. We mainly need short-term enchanting tools for our own use. Our general practice is to give mages a set of research rooms, with two Apprentices, but no workshops for the outside world. How about it, would you like to drop by and have a look with me? Even if you don’t agree, you can just stay for two days as a guest.”

Winter Thistle rejects her.She made indirect remarks and said a lot of good things, but unfortunately, none of them could impress Winter Ji.

If Winter Thistle can cooperate with the Carlos family, then he can also stay in Harbor City.Now that he has chosen to leave, he will no longer consider joining such employers.

De Lisi knows how to measure, and will not be too stalking to make the relationship stiff.She saw that Winter Thistle would not agree, so she stopped talking about it, and chatted casually with him in a friend's tone.

She suggested that anyway, she could walk with him for a while, and leave at the post station in the next big city.Winter Thistle agreed.

Probably because of the half-day escort, Dong Ji never encountered any danger of being robbed along the way.

After all, "Deliss the Witch" is a well-known businessman, and her appearance is easy to identify. She has walked with Winter Thistle for so long, and passed by a city full of people. Those in the dark will definitely see her. .As soon as word spread, no one would think of her friend anymore.

This made Winter Ji secretly feel a little emotional.It is said that the anaconda has a greater reputation than De Lisi. He has lived in Harbor City for so long, but outsiders don't know his relationship with the anaconda.

Everyone knew that the Chamber of Commerce got an excellent refiner, but almost no one knew who the refiner was.At this time, the refiner should still be imprisoned in the academy, still receiving observation and lessons from the Austrian Law Federation.

fair enough.Or rather, luckily so.

Even if he no longer encounters robbers, Dongji's journey is not smooth, and he has encountered various other accidents one after another.For example, the road was blocked by heavy snow, the bridge was in disrepair, the sole of Winter Thistle's boot was broken once, and the saddle of dew was broken once.

After a long time, Winter Thistle finally arrived at a small town very close to the Sea of ​​Trees.He went to the magic item shop where he used to work. He wanted to see his acquaintances and take care of the business, but it happened that the old shop owner had just passed away.

He stayed to help a little, and spent a few more days here.

The Sea of ​​Silent Trees has a long border, and Winter Thistle's hometown is only a small part of it.

When he arrived in his hometown, the beginning of spring was approaching.Nearby villages are busy preparing for celebrations and fairs.Perhaps because of the timidity of being close to the hometown, Dongji suddenly didn't want to go back to the old house right away, and always wanted to delay it for a few days.

He decided to simply stay in the village for a few days.With the beginning of spring as the boundary, wait until the celebrations and markets are over before going home.The tavern in the village can provide accommodation, and the hostess of the tavern still remembered him and gave him a very cheap price.

On the first day of spring, Dongji went out for a stroll and stopped for a long time in front of a puppet show caravan.

Lane loved these things when he was a child, but because he lived too far away, little Lane couldn't play at the festival for too long, so he couldn't enjoy it all the time.

Winter Thistle thought it would be great if Ryan could come back with him.Now they can play in the village for a day and a night, and they can watch the ending of the puppet show that they missed when they were young.

Looking at the puppet show carriage, Winter Thistle suddenly didn't want to participate in this celebration.

It's still early, and the celebration hasn't officially started yet.Before the village became lively, Dong Ji just wanted to leave quickly and hide back in the old house.