The Book of Hibernation

The furnishings in this empty house are quite simple, it can be said that the walls are bare, there is basically no furniture, only a stove and a few rugs for sleeping.

Even before sunset, Alden and Winter Thistle sat down on the carpet.

Aldin finally told Winter Thistle frankly: It was precisely because of the guidance, or should I say inducement, of the chamber of commerce that Fesisit would request the execution team from the Temple of Daylight.

Before this year, the power of the Ten Sail Street Chamber of Commerce was mainly in the southeast, and the northern trade route was basically controlled by the Carlos family.The Carlos family's footprints are all over the rivers in the north. Under their mediation, the necromancer has always maintained a relatively balanced relationship with Fesisit.

It is no accident that the necromancers gathered by the river.The north of the Khiva River does not belong to any country or city-state, and even the power of the Temple of the Three Good Gods is difficult to touch. The aborigines there have special beliefs, and they are not too opposed to necromancy. Some tribes are willing to help fugitives from the south .So once a spellcaster is expelled or hunted down, their best choice is to flee to the Khiva River.

There are many countries and city-states along the Khiva River, among which Fesisit is the most suitable place for necromancers.There are no temples in the city-state, and the inspection of entering and leaving the city is relatively loose, and there are several trade routes opened by the Great Guild. The gem forest adjacent to the city-state has a complicated terrain and is easy to hide. Materials for making spells, water and food in the forest are also relatively abundant.

Whether it is starting from here to the north, or staying near the city-state and waiting for an opportunity, it is a relatively safe choice.

"But this situation will always be broken, and it cannot be maintained forever." Winter Ji sighed.

"Yes," Aldean said, "then things have changed. It's been there for a long time, but it's only recently become more obvious."

First of all, the deal between the Carlos family and the necromancer became more and more blatant, causing various disturbances not only in Harbor City, but also in many other places.

Then, among the necromancers, a monster like Wuyun that could transfer souls appeared.It wanted to get Harman's spell book, and heard that the book might fall into the hands of the Chamber of Commerce, so it used its own ability to sneak into the Chamber of Commerce, pretending to be the chief Bellos, and almost led the Chamber of Commerce into the abyss.

The last change is also a recent change - the Chamber of Commerce no longer needs the Carlos family.

Dongji held her chin: "I thought you two had a deep friendship."

Aldin said with a smile: "After all, it is a friendship based on interests."

Winter Thistle asked: "Why are they no longer needed? Is it because the ban on slave trade in various countries has recently become stricter, so it's inconvenient to get too close to them?"

"Not exactly. Part of the reason is related to slave trade, but the reason we finally made up our minds is actually you."

"It's me?" Winter Thistle thought for a while, "Oh, it's Haman's spell book."

"Correct."

This starts with the deal between the Carlos family and the necromancer.The Carlos family has been buying rough products of spellcasting materials from the north. The goods given by the necromancers are high-quality and cheap, but the things they want are not expensive. For example, all kinds of basic living materials are not worth much; The Carlos family also has channels to provide slaves and corpses for experiments.

Necromancers mainly sell spell crystals and roughly processed minerals.In fact, these things are not very special, and can be made in workshops everywhere, but the formal extraction process is slower and the production cycle is longer, and it is far less efficient than the output of necromancers.

The basic materials used by ordinary elemental mages are plants and minerals, but the necromancers use blood corpses.The two methods are quite different, but the spell crystals produced have similar functions.

This type of crystallization is a preliminary crude product, which can be used in many fields later, such as making catalysts for enchanting crafts, making various magic potions, incorporating refined materials for casting spells, using them in military facilities, serving as efficient fuel, and so on.

The Chamber of Commerce also needs such cheap crystals.Of course they not only cooperate with the Carlos family, but the advantages of the Carlos family cannot be replaced by other partners.

It was like this.But starting last year, things started to change.

Last year, the Chamber really got "Haman's Spellbook."

Harman deserves to be a legendary refiner.When he was alive, he created a lot of new skills, and almost became the wealthiest spellcaster in recent decades. After so many years of death, he actually changed the mainstream method of enchanting objects again, subverting the crude crystallization market.

Today, the Chamber of Commerce has mastered the more mature technique of crystallization by spells.The new method takes less time, is safer to operate, and the quality of the finished product is more stable.

The only thing that needs more investment is to train the refiners one by one, let them learn how to cast winter thistle, learn to change the basic runes in the analysis array, and so on.Generally speaking, the cost has been reduced a lot during the whole process.

In this way, the Chamber of Commerce not only no longer needs the Carlos family, but the Carlos family has also changed from a friend to a threat.

The business partners of the Carlos family include not only chambers of commerce, but also many small guilds, as well as small island countries outside the Ten Nations Confederacy.If you want to marginalize the Carlos family, it is useless to reduce contacts, and you must cut off their cheap crystallization channels.That is to cut off their communication with the northern necromancers.

In order to achieve this goal, the support of Fesisit is indispensable.The Fesisites live affluent lives, neither like nor are good at dealing with crises, and their city-state guards have a total of less than a thousand people, which also includes civilians and militiamen, and they have no experience in dealing with spellcasters.

In the past, it would have been difficult to convince them; but now, it is not difficult to facilitate this matter.

When Dark Cloud pretended to be Bellos, he was too aggressive and killed Gorman in charge.Gorman was very prestigious in Fesisit, and his death shocked the city-state council.

At the same time, the necromancers were also uneasy. They heard about the "monster that can transfer souls" and "Haman's spell book", and they were all ready to move, but they lacked the ability to make long-term plans. All kinds of dangerous things happened nearby, causing the Fesisites to panic more and more.

Due to various changes, the relationship between Feixisite and the chamber of commerce has become closer.They continued to deepen communication and discussed a series of seemingly passive, but in fact tough coping strategies.

First of all, Fichsite reduced the blocking of the dead hunters, changed the strategy of interrogation, and deliberately allowed the hunters to roam around in the gem forest.

At the same time, they sent a written letter, asking for help from the Temple of the Day.The execution team of the Temple of the Day only targets necromancers and will not harm local businessmen, which is exactly what everyone wants.

In this way, if the necromancers lurk in the city-states and villages, they will face the temple knights; if they hide in the forest, they will be hunted and killed by the hunters of the dead.

For the necromancers, it was getting harder and harder to gain a foothold on the South Bank, and they had to start fleeing.

The best route to escape to the North Shore is through the Gem Forest.Other countries and regions are not suitable: the city of the North Star is completely a church city, and it is the seat of the supreme temple of Otarot; the whole country of Erde believes in Otarot, and the investigation of necromancers and undead creatures is extremely strict; Nia is also adjacent to the Khiva River, but Shandonia is too far away. If you want to go there, you have to pass through the Gem Forest, which is no different from going directly from here...

In addition to these, of course there are still some bits and pieces left to go.Although there is no threat of temples in these places, the terrain is too steep, and the two sides of the river are basically cliffs and snow-capped mountains, which are really difficult to cross.

The gem forest has always been the safest way out for necromancers, and they can advance or retreat.Now, the safe channel has become a checkpoint, and the possibility of integrating into other city-states to the south has been cut off, and the only option is to cross the north and go up.

With the help of the chamber of commerce, the city-state has also mastered the approximate number of these necromancers, can speculate on their escape speed, and determine when they will all leave.When all the necromancers fled to the north bank, the city-state closed the border of the south bank.

This time, Fesisit was determined to drive away the necromancer, so there would be no room for it like before.They will combine various forces and use the arcane defense system from Sandonia.The arcane defense system was jointly developed by the refiners in the chamber of commerce and the mages of the Arcane Union, and many of the techniques were also derived from Winter Thistle's research notes.

After the entire Khiva River bank is closed, the trade route to the Frost Plains will be cut off.The slave trading business of the Carlos family can only end, and the source of cheap crystals has since disappeared.

In the future, all crude crystals used in workshops will be legal products, and the source of skills will be Haman's spellbook.

"In the beginning, things went well," Aldin said, "and then we suddenly heard that the necromancers started taking hostages."

In terms of ability, of course they can do it. The problem is that this approach is not like the behavior of necromancers at all.No matter how much they tossed about on both sides of the river before, they had never done anything similar.

When he heard that Doris was kidnapped, Aldin understood—their actions were still not fast enough, which gave the Carlos family a loophole.

Expulsion of necromancers is a legitimate act, and Fesisit's actions are beyond reproach, so the Carlos family can't stop them.Therefore, they can only use some unconventional methods.Even if the situation cannot be completely reversed, the plan of the chamber of commerce must not be successfully achieved.

Hostage-taking involves too many people.The city-state did not dare to use too strong a method, fearing that the foreign merchants in the captives would cause accidents and cause diplomatic friction; while the temple and the city-state had different opinions, they would never agree to release the dark cloud, and they were even reluctant to let the refiner try to separate the dark cloud from the Kanai: The Chamber of Commerce needs to coordinate the opinions of multiple parties, and also pay attention to the overt and secret reactions of the Carlos family.As for Aldin himself, he is definitely unwilling to hand over Kanai to the necromancer.

If this matter is not handled properly, it will trigger a series of follow-up problems, and may even attract the attention of the city of North Star. The Temple of Otarot will find a suitable reason to intervene.

If it really develops to this point, it will be very difficult for Feixiite to return to the former peace.

There is also the worst situation, the most disgusting situation-if Kanai really wakes up among the necromancers and returns to the world as a dark cloud, there will be more such undead creatures in the next few years ... At that time, I am afraid that the reputation of the Shifan Street Chamber of Commerce will plummet, and it will have bad relations with many parties, fall into the vortex of various lawsuits, be subject to stricter investigations than last time, and all the businesses in its hands will be implicated.

After hearing these things, Winter Thistle looked at Aldin, frowning, with a stiff expression of dumbfounding.

Aldin asked. "What do you want to say?"

Dong Ji sighed: "I'm very moved, so it's for this? This is really..."

"You want to say that the chamber of commerce is dirtier than the necromancer?"

"You said it yourself, I haven't thought about it that way," Winter Thistle said, "and this statement is very loose. Although necromancers are dangerous, they can't be said to be dirty."

That's what "Only the Chamber of Commerce is dirty" means.Aldin smiled and did not argue.There is nothing to deny this.

Winter Thistle went on to say, "However, if what you do is successful, it will indeed have a lot of benefits in the long run."

"You really think so?"

Winter Thistle said: "In the near future, ending the slave trade is a good thing. In the long run, if the techniques in my notes can be popularized, many basic ideas about spell-casting materials will be slowly changed. In the long run, the arcane magic The federation may change the list of prohibited items to allow more types of crude products to be circulated normally. This is conducive to arcane research, and ordinary people can more easily purchase arcane-related items and spell-casting services. Mages will also have more opportunities to make money."

He stopped to think for a while, and added: "For you, of course, it is also more in the interests of the chamber of commerce."

Aldin looked at him: "I'm glad you think so. But from your expression, you don't seem to be happy about it."

Winter Thistle said: "It's not about being happy. I just think it's too weird, it's really weird..."

"What's weird?"

"Look, if we ask the priest, or Ryan, any dead hunter, why do they want to attack the necromancer? They may say, because the necromancer kills life, or because they can't cheat Death, you can't desecrate the soul or something. They really think so. But what about you... Even the history books would be embarrassed to write the truth if you were honest about your motives. I can't help but imagine if this time we put The necromancer is gone, and in a few years or decades, how will people evaluate today's events?"

Aldin probably understood what Winter Thistle meant.He immediately felt that this was a bit funny.

He said: "People in the future may say that this is a difficult battle of faith. The small city-state is in crisis, and all parties give full support. In the end, people expelled the necromancers and guarded the beautiful gem forest..."

Winter Thistle shook her head and chuckled.

For a while, neither of them continued to speak.Sometimes it does, nobody does it on purpose, the silence just falls suddenly.

After a while, Winter Thistle stood up on her knees, went to the window, stretched her arms, and looked at the sky through the cracks in the wood.

Aldin saw that he was going to leave, and stood up too.

"By the way," Winter Thistle turned back, "About Doris..."

"Don't worry, she won't do anything to you," Aldine said. "I know her better."

Winter Thistle isn't worried about that.Compared with the city-state side, the Carlos family is more willing to let him complete the spell.If he succeeds in handing over the dark cloud to the necromancer, it will be a failure of the chamber of commerce and the city-state, and the Carlos family will be very happy.

Of course Delis would not do anything bad to him.But the problem is...

Winter Thistle asked: "Aldin, what do you think the Carlos family wants to do in the end?"

Aldin smiled lightly: "Actually, there is nothing they can do. They have already lost. They engage in this kind of small trick of kidnapping hostages, just want to stir up as much noise as possible in the end, and gain more room for bargaining for themselves."

Winter Thistle said: "For them, the best outcome of this matter is that the necromancer retreats, the dark clouds are set free, the temple is enraged, and Fesisit's side is in a mess... right?"

"Indeed."

"Then what if it's the next best thing? For example... the dark cloud was not taken away, and the necromancer suffered a crushing defeat. What will the Carlos family do then?"

Aldin was taken aback by this question.It's not that he didn't think about it, but he didn't expect that Dong Ji was also aware of this matter.

Aldin sighed, and told Winter Thistle his thoughts truthfully: "At that time, Doris will most likely die."

If something happened to Doris, the Carlos family would take this as a breakthrough, and justifiably intervene in the aftermath of related matters.Doris has a special status, and her blood relationship with the elders of the Carlos family is a half-open secret.Usually no one mentions this matter, once she is in danger, the Carlos family will make a big fuss about it.They will certainly not be satisfied with pursuing responsibility, and will try their best to prove that there are other reasons for her death.At that time, not only will there be lawsuits on the surface, but there will also be various complicated hidden entanglements.

They don't use her to win, they use her to muddy the water when they lose.

Winter Thistle asked, "Does Doris know how dangerous it is to get involved in this kind of thing?"

Aldin said: "She must understand. But there is no way, like her..."

Speaking of this, Aldin paused.He had meant to say "a illegitimate child like her, and a half-breed"—this could be used to describe Winter Thistle, not bad at all.

Based on his understanding of Winter Ji, Dong Ji would not be angry at such a sentence.But he still didn't want to say it.

So he tried to change his expression: "A person like her is not important to the Carlos family. She is just a subordinate, not a family member. The family can protect her, but of course it can also destroy her."

Dong Ji smiled: "That's right. Who isn't."

This sentence seemed to be just a casual response, but Aldin tasted something else.He wanted to call Winter Thistle, but Winter Thistle had already gone to unlock the door.

It was nearly time for Winter Thistle to leave Hamer.The two walked side by side on the path in the village. Aldin had a chance to say something at this time, but in the end he still didn't speak.

He could think of ten thousand words to appease Winter Thistle, but he knew it was unnecessary, Winter Thistle didn't need this at all.

Aldin suddenly had a strange feeling that the person walking beside him was a strange mage he just met, not the half-elf who used to lie beside him.

That half-elf often lowered his head, his eyes full of fear, he would anxiously ask "Master Aldin, what should I do...", and then Aldin would hug him gently, and use both hands to Take his hand and tell him not to be afraid, not to worry, just leave it to me.

The person walking beside Aldin now is also a half-elf with withered hair and a very clever spellcaster, who often lowers his head in worry.

He is also a winter thistle, but different.

Aldin couldn't help but imagine: If I knew this person from the beginning, what would our relationship be like?Will he still leave Harbor City?If he wants to leave too, where will he be now...