Chapter 660: Locke Town
Under the guidance of the priest, everyone came to a remote corner of the cemetery behind the Temple of Tyr. It was shaded by green trees and looked quite peaceful. In a corner of the cemetery, Duanmu Huai saw a small tombstone and a small grave.
There were words engraved on it.
[Poor Lisa, she didn't even have time to open her eyes to see the world, may she rest in peace]
"Did you give it a name?"
"Of course."
The priest nodded.
"The soul of the dead without a name cannot go to where it should go... Of course, it is difficult to say whether it has a soul."
"Okay."
Duanmu Huai didn't say much, then he walked forward and raised his right hand. Under the control of the gravity glove, the soil was quickly turned over, and then a small coffin emerged from it. Duanmu Huai put it next to it, and then moved his fingers slightly to open the lid of the coffin.
A disgusting smell emerged from it. Looking carefully, you can see a baby's body that has begun to rot inside.
"Woo......"
Seeing the corpse and smelling the stench of decay, An and Gu Leiya couldn't help but take a few steps back, and although Mary frowned, she didn't avoid it.
"Aren't you afraid, Miss Mary?"
Seeing Mary still buried in her notebook, An asked carefully, and Mary hesitated.
"Actually... we have seen a lot of similar things in our world with Mr. Duanmu..."
The disgusting degree of the Outer Gods and the Old Ones is far greater than the rotting baby in front of her, and Mary feels numb.
"Your world is not easy either..."
Hearing Mary's answer, An looked at her with sympathy and was speechless.
Duanmu Huai didn't care about the chattering of the little girl next to him. He stared at the baby's body in front of him carefully and looked at it.
Although some parts have begun to rot, it can be seen that the baby has traces of beasts. For example, its fingers are not as plump as those of ordinary babies. Instead, they are dry and thin. This is not because of malnutrition, but more like the shape of eagle claws. Through investigation, it was found that it had sharp and sharp teeth in its mouth. The toes also showed a fork similar to hooves.
Well... According to the standards of the Inquisition, it is definitely an alien.
In fact, generally speaking, the Inquisitor also relies on teeth to judge whether it is an alien. Of course, if you say that you have lost a tooth, it certainly does not count, but if you are born with sharp teeth, then you have been completely expelled from the human race by the Inquisition, and you belong to the type that can be burned to death on the spot.
Because this is obviously the result of the erosion of the subspace.
Similar to the beastman.
Duanmu Huai thought of the beastmen in the Novice Village world. Those beastmen were the result of the mutation of babies due to the wind of magic. They are bipedal creatures with beast characteristics, and they worship chaos and evil gods by nature. In the Novice Village, the Beastmen belong to the Chaos Camp and will be killed on sight.
So from this sign, the giants, orcs, goblins and the like in this world are all excluded from the human category. Just the teeth and the huge skulls of the mutations show that they are no longer human.
Well, the physical mutations are understandable, but the problem is that there is no soul...
Duanmu Huai looked at the magic consultant next to him.
"What do you think about this?"
"Hey...?"
Facing Duanmu Huai's question, An and Gu Leiya both showed an embarrassed expression, and then they discussed in a low voice for a moment, and then seemed to have made a decision.
"Generally speaking, whether babies have souls is actually a very difficult topic to study."
"Why, do you mean that babies don't have souls before they are born?"
"Uh... That's not the case, but according to the records of the academy, there are indeed discussions on this aspect. Some people think that it is the newborn soul that enters the mother's body, so pregnancy occurs. Others believe that babies don't actually have souls before they are born, just like the fingers or hair on a person's body. It is not until the first cry after birth that the soul completely enters the body."
"Do you think it's possible?"
"I'm not an expert in soul studies..."
An spread his hands.
"I have to go to the local area to study the specific situation. At least for now, we can't draw a conclusion."
"So what does Tyr think?"
Danmu Huai didn't get an answer from An, so he looked at the priest.
"You should have asked Tyr."
"The God of Justice did not respond to our call."
"That means Tyr himself doesn't know..."
"Uh..."
Hearing Duanmu Huai's mumbling, the priest looked a little embarrassed, but Duanmu Huai didn't care.
By the way, Duanmu Huai does not intend to rely on faith to expand the Tribunal and recruit believers. The reason is very simple—once the power of faith is collected, it is equivalent to having a designated object to worship.
For example, the god of justice Tyr, everyone knows that he is the god of justice Tyr, and also knows that he has lost his right hand. He is a very clear image of a god. Therefore, when believers pray, the power of faith will flow to the god of justice Tyr and become his power. Of course, whether it is a good god or an evil god, it works this way.
To put it bluntly, for example, the gods in Faerûn are actually equivalent to the bosses of companies. The stronger powers are multinational companies, and the weaker powers are local chain stores. The so-called divine war is actually similar to a business war. Try to defeat the opponent's company as much as possible, annex it, and expand yourself.
Like the God of Murder, Cyric, the Prince of Lies, also compiled a Cyric Book for himself. The content is nothing more than that Cyric is the only great true god, and the others are false gods. This is essentially the same as in a business war where you give the opponent He said that other companies' products are knock-offs, but only his own products are officially authorized and authentic.
Duanmuhuai's Tribunal is not like this. The Tribunal is more like a robber. When your company opens, I will rush in, wipe out all the wealth you have worked so hard to save, and finally burn it down. Your company... Duanmu Huai did this to Rose.
The reason why Duanmu Huai did this was because...he had no intention of relying on the divine power of faith.
The reason is simple, faith requires a name.
For example, if someone believes in Duanmuhuai, they must pray, "Duanmuhuai, the god of destruction, grant me strength! I am Ximan——!"
Oh, that's wrong, Duanmuhuai is not Duanmuhuai's name in this world - to be precise, it's ID.
That's right, Duanmu Huai's ID is [Smash your head with a small hammer].
So if there is a believer of the God of Destruction who wants to call Duanmuhuai, he should shout, "God of Destruction, hit your skull with a small hammer and give me power! I am Ximan————!"
………………………
Well, so Duanmu Huai thinks there is nothing wrong with being a robber.
Proving once again the importance of having a decent name.
By the way, in fact, the Tribunal is more like a gangster than a gangster. They smash, loot, and burn while lending usury to the other party. If the other party uses the services of the Tribunal, it means that the soul is bound by the Tribunal and will automatically die after death. The soul returned to the Inquisition.
Well, it's a proper overlord's clause, but it's up to you to say it first, and it's up to you whether you listen or not.
However, Duanmu Huai does not intend to compete with other gods for believers in this world.
The efficiency of engaging in business wars is too low, it is better to just rob companies to make money faster. As the saying goes, a horse will not grow fat without a night of grass, and a person will not be rich without a windfall.
There are so many local gods in this world, aren’t they all waiting to be snatched away by me?
Okay, no more gossip.
"Thank you."
Duanmuhuai put the baby's body back into the coffin, and then nodded to the priest.
"We will continue to investigate this matter... By the way, regarding this body, I personally suggest that it be burned as soon as possible. It has been eroded by chaos. Just putting it here may cause harm to the surrounding environment. Bad effect."
"this……………"
After hearing Duanmuhuai's suggestion, the priest hesitated, but she was silent for a moment and nodded.
"Okay, I will make the proposal. I guess Tyr is not willing to let this child exist in such a blasphemous posture. Disappearing in the holy fire may be a better ending."
After confirming that this was indeed subspace erosion, Duanmu Huai took the others out of Waterdeep City without saying a word and went to Locke Town. For the Tribunal, there is nothing more important than investigating subspace erosion and the invasion of evil gods. It's important, especially now that there are already such traces.
It is not difficult to get to Locke Town itself. Locke Town is located to the east of Waterdeep City. Take a boat from Daggerford and follow the Drimbil River upstream. After passing Waterdeep City, you will come to the Gray Peak Mountains, and behind the Gray Peak Mountains It's the Lost Land, and at the foot of the mountain is Locke Town.
This was once a small town that made a living from mining. It may have been glorious during its most prosperous period, but like all resource points that rely on mountains and rivers, when the ore here was emptied, Locke Town began to gradually decline. .
But even so, when Duanmu Huai and others arrived in front of Locke Town, the thick and hard-looking steel gate could still prove the glory of Locke Town in the past.
But only the afterglow was left.
And the group of people was stopped as a matter of course.
"You, who are you?"
The guard standing at the sentry looked pale, holding a crossbow and aiming at Duanmu Huai and others, while shouting loudly.
"I am Duan Muhuai, the Grand Inquisitor of the Inquisition."
Duanmuhuai showed his rose knot to the guard. Although he knew that the other party could not understand it, the process still had to go through.
"I came here to investigate the dead baby incident that occurred here."
"We haven't heard of any Inquisition."
However, at this moment, a man with a big beard walked up to the sentry post. He stared at Duanmuhuai and said coldly.
"Rock Town does not need help. This town is currently closed and no one is allowed to enter or exit. Please leave!"
"I think you're mistaken."
Hearing the man's answer, Duanmu Huai snorted coldly.
"We are not here to help you. It is the duty of the Inquisition to investigate any incident related to the Chaos Evil God. This is not help or assistance, but a job. Anyone who tries to prevent the Inquisitor from investigating, They will all be regarded as heretics————”
Having said this, Duanmuhuai suddenly clenched his war hammer and swung it forward.
"Kill without mercy!"
"Alas-----!"
Hearing Duanmu Huai's murderous words, the soldiers holding crossbows on the sentry post were so scared that their legs softened and they collapsed on the ground. The man stared at Duanmu Huai for a moment and then spoke.
"From your tone, do you know what happened in the town?"
"We need to investigate before we can be sure."
"…………………………"
Hearing Duanmu Huai's answer, the man was silent for a moment, then raised his hand.
"Open the door and let them in."
"But, but the mayor..."
"This is an order!"
Soon, the steel gate that was originally closed slowly opened, Duanmu Huai and others walked into the town, and then the gate closed again behind them, as if there was some terrible devil chasing them from behind.
At the same time, inside the city wall, a group of fully armed soldiers were holding weapons, looking at Duanmu Huai and others anxiously and cautiously. Judging from their equipment, these soldiers were just local militiamen and did not have much combat experience. In fact, they were already trembling just standing here and facing Duanmu Huai. Mary really suspected that as long as Duanmu Huai roared, these soldiers would immediately scatter like birds.
Then, the soldiers separated, and then the mustache man who spoke before came in.
"I am Glensa Brown, the mayor of Locke Town."
The man who claimed to be the mayor stared at Duanmu Huai and spoke carefully, but his expression was extremely haggard and looked very worried.
"Although it is not the right time, you are welcome to Locke Town."