The Book of Hibernation

Another morning a few days later.The city gate of Fesisit slowly opened, and the carriage from Harbor City drove into the street.

The slanting morning light sprinkled on the spiers, dividing the road into scattered black and white shapes.Some people in the carriage came here for the first time, and they were amazed at the appearance of this city-state.

Fassisite has a different style from Harbor City.The terrain of Harbor City is undulating, and there are ramps everywhere, but the courtyards of rich people are often flat and wide, with garden courtyards, and several single-family houses are scattered inside; Feixisite is located in the plain below the mountain, with a small area and gentle terrain. Officials and wealthy merchants all lived in towering stone castles, preferring buildings with sharp shapes.Looking at Fexisite from the mountain, its style is not like a secular city, but more like a five-tower peninsula that gathers a large number of mages.

Finally, the convoy stopped in front of a tower-like stone castle.This is the private residence of Gerola in charge.

Guards and servants lined up on both sides, and Glora stepped out of the gate to greet the visitors in person.Aldin rode to the main entrance, got off his horse, and nodded to her.

"It's such a long journey, I thought you would take a carriage." Glora took the reins of the horse and handed it over to the servant.In Fesisit, doing so signifies the host's great respect for the guest.

Aldin stretched his arms a little, and yawned: "To tell you the truth, I took a carriage for most of the journey, and I changed to a horse when I arrived near Fesisit. Doesn't it look more majestic?"

Glora sighed: "You and Gorman are really different in charge."

"What do you mean?"

"It's nothing, it's just that I suddenly feel very emotional. Gorman is a very serious and tough person. He insists on riding a horse all the way when he goes out, and he never jokes with us."

Aldin is of course also familiar with Gorman.He sighed and said, "Gorola is in charge, you shouldn't compare me with Gorman, you should compare yourself with him. You are Gorman's successor and the representative of the chamber of commerce in Fesisit."

"Of course." Glora made a "please" gesture and walked towards the gate of the stone castle with Aldin. Discuss with Gorman in charge, now that I am in charge, of course I also have to discuss with the chief."

Aldine knew what she was referring to.That's why he's here.

First, a few months ago, there were sporadic people missing in the villages outside the city. At that time, the incident did not attract much attention.

Later, a caravan from the Carlos family was attacked in a nearby forest.The goods were less, but not all were taken away. There were two survivors among the personnel, and the others were neither alive nor dead.Among the missing are Deris and her bodyguards.Not long ago, the Carlos family had sent people to Fesisit.

Although their caravans did business with the North Shore, they were still powerless against the kidnapping.They don't know all necromancers, let alone be friends with all necromancers.Necromancers on the North Shore have loose alliances, while Necromancers on the South Shore usually operate in families or small communities, with no affiliation between individuals.These people looked like spellcasters, but in fact, their behavior pattern was similar to bandits who fell into bandits.

Not long after this incident, several spell-casting material collectors disappeared on a nearby mountain, leaving tools and large luggage in place.These people were employed by the Ten Sail Street Chamber of Commerce, so the matter caught the attention of the head of Glora.

Gerola, in charge, sent a letter to Aldin to initially report the relevant situation.During their correspondence, several traveling merchants disappeared.

Even just a few days ago, a Knight of the Temple of Day disappeared in the forest.Attacking a temple knight is different from attacking a businessman. The risk is very high, and the cost if it fails is very high. This is hardly the normal behavior of a necromancer.

In order to thoroughly investigate the matter, people from all walks of life came to Fessisit to meet and discuss the next step.

Aldin sat down in the hall, and the servants brought him tea and light meals, while Glora was making arrangements for all the guests.

They are going to live in Glora's house temporarily.In the eyes of the people in Harbor City, a decent person should arrange the most luxurious inn for the guests, but for the Fesisiters, it is only respect for the guests to live in their own home.As guests, Aldin and his men had no choice but to go to the countryside to do as the Romans did.

Not long after sitting there, a guard came in to look for Glora, saying that a temple knight wanted to visit her.

Glora didn't know any Temple Knights.The guard described the appearance of the visitor. It sounded like the captain of the execution squad.In order to investigate a series of disappearances, he was recently called back to the priest in the city.

"What can he do with me?" Glora folded his arms and shook his head, "Let him wait in the guard lounge. Just say that I just woke up and haven't finished my grooming yet. I'll call him in when I have time. "

Just as the guard was about to go out, Aldin called him: "Wait."

Then he looked at Glora: "Maybe he didn't want to find you, but me. If it's convenient, let him come in."

"You know someone from the execution squad?"

"Just now, I heard your subordinate describe his appearance, and I feel that he is a familiar person."

So Glora asked the guards to lead the way for the guests.

She was very good at observing words and expressions, and saw that it might be Aldin's acquaintance, so she explained something to the servant and left, leaving the hall to Aldin and the knight.

Aldin looked at the gate, and sure enough, he saw a familiar figure passing through the front yard.

Ryan has been away from Harbor City for a long time.What happened at the pier happened in the early autumn of last year, and now it is another winter, so it has been more than a year.

Except that his hair was cut short, Ryan's appearance basically remained the same. He was still as handsome and tall as when we first met.His demeanor is slightly different from before, the childishness on his face has disappeared, and now his eyes have the color of a deep lake.

"Long time no see," Aldin raised his hand across the long table, "Please sit down."

Ryan gave him a knightly salute, with a restrained and elegant posture, and no emotional changes on his face, as if he was seeing the acting chief of the chamber of commerce for the first time.

This surprised Aldin a bit, he thought that Ryan would question him about some old things as soon as he came in.

Ryan did not sit down, but looked around, and then looked back outside the door.

"Your brother is not here," Ardine told him.

Ryan said: "I didn't look for him. It was right that he wasn't here. The situation in this area is complicated and it is very dangerous for him."

Aldin smiled, not piercing Ryan's obvious disappointment just now.He asked: "You came to see Glora and me early in the morning, it seems that you have something urgent to communicate?"

"Of course," Ryan paused, "There are also people from the chamber of commerce among the missing, you should already know that. Next, the city-state council and the pastor will discuss with us about saving lives. You represent the chamber of commerce, and I represent the execution squad. We're going to work together for now."

"Well. Of course." Aldin could see that Ryan had nothing urgent to say.He is not a messenger, so there is no need to come to Aldin to say this in the morning.

He must have heard that Aldin arrived in the city-state today, and he thought he could see Winter Thistle when he ran over.

After Ryan finished speaking, he stood there a little uncomfortable.

Aldin invited him to sit down just now, but he didn't want to sit down, nor did he really want to chat with Aldin.

Obviously wanting to see Dongji, but he was embarrassed to ask where Dongji was; he had an expression on his face that wanted to leave, but he was unwilling to ask about Dongji...Although he has a much more stable temperament, he is only 20 years old after all... Aldin Looking at Ryan, he sighed.

Aldin decided to let him have a good time: "You may not know that Winter Thistle left Harbor City last winter, and he should have gone back to his hometown. After such a long time, you should have gone back to find him, right? No? Then you usually write a letter?"

Winter Thistle had, of course, written to Lane.The letter can't be delivered here, but can only be sent to the Temple of St. Dilian, where Ryan swore.Even if Ryan is willing to accept it, he can't receive it now.

"I see. It's good to leave Harbor City," Ryan said.

After finishing speaking, he nodded to Aldin as a farewell, turned and walked out.

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At noon, the city-state council first entertained guests from all walks of life for a meal, and then began a formal meeting.

Grora is a member of parliament and sits on a parliamentary seat.Aldin was sitting at the guest table, coincidentally, Ryan was beside him.

Ryan kept his eyes fixed, pretending not to be familiar with him at all.

The speaker said something that everyone already knew, and then asked the commander of the city-state guard to speak.

The commander didn't have any extra nonsense, and went straight to the point - the missing people should still be alive, because the group of necromancers wanted to negotiate terms with them.

This is something new.According to people's impression of necromancers in the past, they are all solitary monsters, who have never had a business mind, and never negotiated terms with their opponents.

The leader of the guards took out a scroll of parchment and showed it to everyone.The letter was delivered yesterday evening by a child from a mountain family near the messenger.

For the sake of safety, the city-state temporarily detained the child, asked him what he had seen and heard, and arranged for a priest to examine him.The results of the examination showed that he was just an ordinary child who didn't know spells, even illiterate, and had never been exposed to any magic items.

According to the child, he was going to Fesisit as a routine to deliver meat to the guests. On the way, he met a man in a cloak who left the letter and money by the path and told him to deliver the letter to Fesisit without special attention. Whoever you are looking for, just give it to the gate post of the city gate.

The man had been talking in the dense forest, and he didn't come close, and the child didn't see his face.

When the letter was delivered to the gate, the soldiers were taken aback and quickly notified the commander.This letter came from the necromancers in the wilderness. The letter mentioned the people who had disappeared in recent days, and even listed an accurate list.

The necromancer said in the letter that these people are still alive, but not necessarily in the future.If you want to redeem the hostages, you must meet the three conditions they put forward.

First, the execution team immediately stopped all activities in the gem forest.

Second, exchange hostages for something.As for what it is, they will send envoys to communicate further.

Third, the envoys mentioned in the previous article will arrive at Hamer Village in three days and use Hamer Village as the venue for negotiations.The city-state must ensure the safety of the envoy, allow him to come and go freely, and must not follow or track with spells, otherwise the hostages will be executed.

The necromancers didn't just raise conditions, they also offered to make concessions that they could make: as long as they successfully achieve their goals in the future, they will not only release the hostages, but also contact all their companions in the gem forest to evacuate together and retreat to the north bank.They will concentrate on other research, and will no longer enter the Fesisit city-state and its territories, and will no longer use the resources of the Gem Forest.

On the contrary, at that time, Feixit will no longer have the right to expel or hold them accountable, and the Temple of the Day will also promise not to interfere with the affairs on the north bank.

A list is attached at the end of the letter.The necromancer counted the hostages in their hands and wrote down the names of each hostage.

The hostages included several villagers, caravan members of the Carlos family, a knight in the execution team, several traveling merchants, and material merchants from the chamber of commerce.These are all known missing persons.After checking, in addition to these people, there were two more people on the list.

One of the names, with many syllables, was Casadoril Eastcorta;

Hearing these two names, Ryan was shocked, and the armor rubbed against the wooden chairs to creak.

Aldin frowned and looked at him: "What's wrong?"

"That 'Casadoril'... this is my friend, it's Dorin, this is Dorin's full name..." Ryan was probably too shocked, and forgot that he wanted to ignore Aldin as much as possible, " The elves of the Isle of Yor have complicated names, so he simplified himself to 'Dorin'. I thought he wouldn't be coming back, why did he..."

Aldin had heard the name "Dorin" from Kanai before, and he remembered that this was the Elf of Yole Island in the dock incident.He had never interrogated this person himself, and he only had a little memory of the name.

"Are you sure it's the same person?" Aldin asked.

Lane said, "Of course. I know his elven surname is Eastkorta. That surname only existed on the Isle of Yor."

As soon as he finished speaking, the commander of the guard who read the letter saw his agitation and asked him if he knew these two people.

Ryan stood up and said loudly: "Yes, I know these two people."

There was a commotion in the parliamentary seat.Aldin also looked at Ryan suspiciously.

He only asked about that very long name just now, and before he had time to ask about the other one, now Ryan took the initiative to say that... he actually knew these two people?

Ryan first stated Dorin's identity.Some people here have seen Dorin, and when Ryan described it, they thought of that very enthusiastic little elf.

As for the person named "Rosen"... Ryan said that although he did know a person named "Fami Rosen", he couldn't guarantee that it was the same person on the list.Neither the surname nor the first name is special. It is very common in northern Shandonia, and there is a chance of having the same name.

The Fami Rosen he knew was the owner of a magic consumables shop, a human male who lived in San Dilian.Lane's older brother worked in that store, and Lane has dealt with this person many times.

The pastor asked Ryan a lot about Rosen, such as whether this person often came to the Gem Forest, whether he might also be a necromancer, etc... Ryan answered each of them seriously.

In his opinion, Rosen is not suspicious, he should not be a necromancer.But he couldn't figure out why this man would leave San Dilian and come to such a dangerous place as the Jewel Forest.

Listening to Ryan's narration, Aldin fell into deep thought, his expression becoming more dignified.

A guess gradually took shape in his mind, but he didn't want to tell Ryan yet.He'd rather the guess was wrong.