Chapter 787 People?
Hao Ren didn't expect that he would see the name "King of Blood" here again not in the manuscript left by the wizard, but in the diary left by an ordinary human being. As the data terminal analyzed all the remaining writings on the parchment, some things began to become clear.
The "Hammerwin" mentioned in the diary is consistent with the nameplate outside the mansion. Now it can be determined that this person is the owner of the small town "Domir" and several surrounding areas. He is a small nobleman from a remote place in the countryside. The person who left these parchments did not leave his name, and it can only be determined that he is Heimewen's steward. What is mentioned in the diary should be what happened in the last period before the changes occurred in the town. From the lines of the words, one can feel the uneasiness of the writer: a series of bizarre events enveloped the town, and the shadows and turmoil filled it. Domir.
It seems that the beginning of the matter was an infectious disease, and the news Lily heard from the spirit body and the words on the parchment recorded this event. The children in the town were infected with a strange disease that gradually made them lose their physical strength, and ordinary medicines were ineffective. In that dark era, this kind of thing had a hint of horror, and people would naturally regard it as Think of witchcraft and curses. The lord Hemerwin here did not do anything to deal with the spread of rumors. His "character changed and he listened to a so-called scholar of unknown origin." Not only did this lord fail to find a way to cure the disease, but instead The action of trying witches was launched, and this action was carried out under the promotion of the foreign "scholar".
There are not many records about witches. Hao Ren could not infer whether she was an ordinary woman who was framed or a witch who really understood magic. Only the huge amount of soot produced when the witch's body was burned made people a little concerned. This seemed to confirm Black and gray can be seen everywhere in the town. If that was a real witch, then the ash in the town was presumably the result of some kind of curse.
Hao Ren and Vivian's main attention was still on the "scholar". There was no doubt that he was the wizard who left behind the "Blood King Ritual".
Hao Ren asked Vivian while flipping through the text parsed by the data terminal: "Was this kind of thing common back then?"
"You mean wizards and curses?" Vivian raised her eyebrows, "Absolutely. Witchcraft, magic, cursed cities and villages, the overt and covert battles between exorcists and demons, and the trepidation and ignorance in the cracks. Ordinary people who were at a loss... It was a chaotic era. Demon hunters and aliens had not completely faded out of the world of ordinary people. There were really no more people who died. However, the situation in this town was relatively rare: it was completely destroyed. The wizard who was dragged into another time and space and used this kind of magic was very powerful, and he must have used some external force - such as the Gate of Purgatory. Anyway, an ordinary wizard doesn't have this ability."
Hao Ren's movements suddenly stopped: "You said it was the power of the Gate of Purgatory that trapped this town in this time and space?"
"The beginning of the distortion of time and space should be the door to purgatory, but now the door must be closed," Vivian waved her hand, "Purgatory is very unstable and cannot remain open for centuries."
Hao Ren said oh and continued to check the documents. The records left by the old butler also include the following information:
"...I noticed that the scholar always held a black book, and when he read those books, he would show a strange expression on his face. No blessed person should show that look when reading a beneficial book. …I asked him about the book and was met with a cold reception. He said it was a hand-copied Bible but that for some religious reasons he could not let anyone touch it. That was enough to arouse my Warning: What kind of Bible would refuse a person with conscience to touch? Unless it is the book of the devil...
"...I finally found the opportunity and glanced at the strange black book in his hand. The sinister man quickly noticed my move. His eyes were very scary for a moment. Although it was only for a short moment, At that time, he finally took off the high-sounding shell of a 'scholar'. I think I will never forget how sinister a person's eyes can be... Those are the eyes that you can get by selling your soul to the devil, like As cold and heartless as glass, his real eyeballs must have been hanging on the devil's mantel! But the strangest thing is the book itself... There is no text, and as far as I can see, there is only a blank page. . Now I can only believe that God used his miracles to protect a pious servant. The pages must be filled with blasphemous symbols, but fortunately I cannot see them."
The data terminal flashed twice, indicating that there was only so much text that could be parsed.
"Is the strange black book mentioned above the magic book we found?" Hao Ren muttered to Vivian in confusion, "We didn't notice that the words in the magic book disappeared."
Vivian shook her head: "It should be another one. A wizard can't have only one spell book. Anyway, the identity of the wizard is now confirmed. I suspect that the plague and witch incidents in this town before the mutation were all planned by this wizard. . He seems to have planned to involve everyone in the town in some kind of ritual... But based on the information at hand, I can't tell what kind of ritual it is."
The two rummaged around the room again, but did not find anything of value. In the end, Hao Ren just put away the parchments and returned to the long hall on the first floor with Vivian.
Soon others completed their explorations and returned to the long hall. After everyone gathered, Hao Ren told everyone what he and Vivian had discovered, and asked others if they had any results.
"It's a witch, a wizard, and a curse. I'm not good at dealing with such complicated things," Lily muttered, pointing to her eyes, "I just saw a lot of ghosts walking around here. Go, it seems that they are all the servants who worked here. The Lord Hemerwen you mentioned should be among them, but the shadows are too chaotic and I can’t tell who is who. In addition, I didn’t find anything related to wizards. , and I didn’t see his shadow: his spirit body should not be imprisoned.”
"My brother and I found a basement," Nangong Wuyue raised his tail. "The basement is full of rotten potatoes, wine barrels, and more ash. Nothing else."
Duncan and Cassandra also shook their heads respectively, indicating that there was nothing in the towers on both sides of their charge.
"The wizard must have lived here, but where are his magic books and spell-casting materials hidden?" Hesiana pinched her chin. "This kind of thing is more important than the wizard's life. It is impossible for him not to carry it with him..."
Hesiana stopped suddenly in the middle of her words, and everyone raised their heads in unison to look in the direction of the stairs on the second floor. In the silence, Nangong Sanba was the first to speak and break the silence: "Did you hear the noise just now? "
Lily's ears twitched: "Did you hear it? It seemed like footsteps?"
Duncan and Cassandra immediately stood up, and each pulled out an exquisite noble bayonet and a large-caliber pistol (the armed style of the Hesiana family) from their waists. The two of them walked towards the stairs carefully with both guns and swords, but They had just walked a few steps when a large black thing suddenly "walked" down the stairs!
It was a large pile of weird ashes, as black as a dirty mud ball, but it had a roughly human appearance. This human body made of black ash appeared on the stairs and swayed, and then walked down awkwardly step by step, falling a lot of ash and dust with every step. As it got closer and closer, incredible changes took place on the ash mass: its appearance fell off, revealing the clothes and skin underneath, and the upper part of the ash mass slowly revealed the outline of human facial features. When "it" walked away By the time we arrived in the long hall, it was almost a complete and clear human form.
Hao Ren and the others raised their weapons and watched this strange "thing" curiously and warily as it walked along, until "it" finally turned into a middle-aged man with a tired face.
The middle-aged man who stepped out of the ashes looked to be about forty years old. His hair style and clothes were all those of a wealthy man in the Middle Ages. He seemed to be in a trance when he first shed all the ashes, but he soon woke up suddenly and stared at the group of strangers in front of him with his mouth open.
After being stunned for a few seconds, the man suddenly let out a scream, then turned around and ran towards the second floor!
Hao Ren immediately reacted: "Catch him!"
A flash of white light rushed forward. Lily carried a brick that she dug out from nowhere, and knocked the man down with one brick. Hao Ren was shocked when he saw this scene. He thought to himself that this person came out of the ashes. What if his body was really made of ashes? Wouldn't Lily be scattered by the brick?
Fortunately, the man was just shot away by Lily, but he turned over and stood up again as if nothing had happened.
Lily decisively went up to subdue him before he could escape again, and then dragged her trophies back to Hao Ren as if claiming credit: "Caught it!"
The mysterious man who was tied up by Lily looked at Hao Ren in horror: "You...what are you going to do?! Are you humans or ghosts!?"
Hao Ren thought that the other party was the wizard he was looking for, but when he heard this tone, he felt something was wrong. He asked the other party's identity: "Who are you?"
The man shrank his neck in fear: "I...I am the lord here, Haimowin Ahtisaari..."