Act 119 Ring of Trade Winds (1)

Nodas had a dream. In the dream, he was surrounded by tides of undead creatures. In the boundless and empty wilderness, the bones were gray-yellow after calcification, and a ball of red flames danced in the empty eye sockets. Skeletons rushed toward him in waves from the darkness.

He dreamed that his comrades fell one after another, and the position was filled with arrows. He looked around and saw corpses everywhere. Eruin's broken battle flag hung down exhausted, motionless.

Until the last moment, heaven and earth seemed to be falling toward him——

Then he woke up from this dream, screamed and sat up from the bed covered with soft reeds. There was still a chill in the black forest in the early morning, but when Nodas touched his back, his vest was soaked and pale. His forehead was also covered with fine beads of sweat.

He sat on the bed panting for a while before coming back to his senses. He raised his head and saw that a ray of morning light had flowed into the small room from the window sill - the window was actually a window dug out of the tree trunk. round hole.

The furnishings in the room are very simple, mostly made of wood. The entire room is even a hollow dug in a tree trunk, with some vines hanging down from above, forming a natural and simple space.

Nodas held his forehead, and then he remembered in shock that he was no longer on that battlefield. Several months had passed since he was rescued by those strange people and sent here, but he still often had nightmares like this.

He took a breath and stood up, a little shaky, and then he suddenly heard a noise coming from outside the window, which made him feel a little strange.

This village has always been very peaceful.

What happened?

Or is the resurrection festival beginning?

Nodas came to the window and looked out with doubtful eyes——

…

The settlement established by the druids outside the Ring of Trade Winds is a town called the Green Tower. It is said to be a town, but it is indeed home to thousands of people, as well as a large number of centaurs, tree elves and some tanis. Asian people.

The Druids have lived a mixed life with other races in the Black Forest for a long time. They have established many such villages in the forest-planting an ancient tree that grows extremely fast and living among the trunks of these magical ancient trees. middle.

The village is built on these towering trees about twenty or thirty meters above the ground. The entire town is connected by suspension bridges - those suspension bridges are formed by entangled magical vines with wooden boards in the middle.

Stronger than the strongest stone bridge.

Countless suspension bridges shuttle between ancient trees, forming a unique landscape of the city in mid-air. Druids work at sunrise and rest at sunset, but centaurs have the opposite schedule. They like brightly lit markets. Lights were also installed on the suspension bridge - a kind of lily of the valley with huge buds that look like lanterns and can glow at night.

But more of them are the thick vines that spin upwards, leading to the upper levels of the town, where the druids gather, and the giant eagle's eyrie.

Druids have been partners with giant eagles and have formed an alliance with each other for hundreds of years.

When Brando followed the Great Druid Gray Crow and his party slowly up the green vines, he saw these raptors with astonishing wingspans flying up and down between the huge tree trunks.

The huge tree crowns act like their clouds, allowing them to fly between these green clouds.

Of course Brando also saw the patrols of Centaur guards, who passed by wearing shining armor and carrying a serious sentry helmet - Centaur and Druid have a long history of coexisting together. A fighting nation, their individual strength is even stronger than that of cavemen.

However, in the black forest, they still have to rely on the druids to survive.

In addition to them, there are also a large number of tree elves, tanians and furbolgs in this town. Pegasus and unicorns also inhabit this town. Anyone who believes in the forest goddess Niya is the guest of the druids.

However, the Druids are not responsible for the daily operations of this town. In fact, the defense of the Green Tower is in the hands of a centaur leader named Zenia, and the daily operations are managed by a group of tree elves, Tanians and The administrative council composed of furbolgs jointly governs.

Druids live in the upper Druid area, and they have their own independent organization called the Deadwood Council to handle all internal affairs of the Druids.

Of course, their main task is to monitor the Ring of Trade Winds and the changes in the Black Forest.

The upper level of the Druid area is much simpler than the town area. The great druids used thick vines to wrap around a square between six ancient trees distributed in a ring. In the center of the square is the icon of the goddess Niya. , the hollow branches of six ancient trees in six directions constitute six halls, and the hall due west is the seat of the Dead Wood Parliament.

Squatting at the door of this hall are two ancient tree men, two or three stories high. They are taking a nap while supporting their upper bodies with their palms. These tree men seem to be guards guarding the hall, but they are not. Didn't do his part.

But when Brando and his party approached them, the tree man on the left half opened one eye, glanced at the Gray Crow Archdruid, and then closed it slowly.

Another tree man was snoring, and the sound was as long as a tune from the ancient woodland.

"Please follow me." The Gray Crow Archdruid gestured to the two tree men, then turned back to the others and said.

Brando nodded and followed him into the hall - his young people had already been left in the town area, and naturally there were hospitable tree elves to receive them. Kuran and Ropar were with them in case These guys with excess energy get into trouble.

The only people following the young lord at this moment were Akane and Antitina. They had never seen such a place before, and their eyes were full of curiosity. Even if the noble lady wanted to be more reserved, she couldn't help but look around. .

This hall is no different from the usual architectural style of the druids. It is simple and natural. There are no unnecessary decorations except some statues of ancestor druids and animal spirits. However, the surrounding areas of the hall have been hollowed out, leaving only Some pillars were lowered to make the hall look like it was exposed to the wind.

Of course, the vitality of the magical ancient trees is very tenacious. Even so, it will not affect their growth. From here up, this ancient tree has lush branches and leaves.

Brando saw a circle of people standing in the hall.

The Druid elder Andrew whom he met for the first time was among them, and there were several other elders, a total of seventeen people. However, Brando felt from them that there were only two people who had the same aura as the Gray Crow Archdruid.

In other words, the three great druids of the Green Tower are gathered here.

"You really think highly of me." Brando couldn't help but think, and then he suddenly saw a small figure rushing out of the room on one side, with long green hair, and threw himself into his arms.

"Brother Brando!" Funya buried her head in Brando's arms and shouted happily.

As the person chosen by the Forest Goddess, she had long known that Brando had left the Fir Territory and headed here, but she had been looking forward to this day for more than a month.

Brando was stunned for a moment before he recognized this little girl. Funia has grown taller in the past six months, and her face has become much rosier. It seems that the druids have taken good care of this little girl.

But he didn't know that there was a misunderstanding. Druids don't know how to take care of people. In the past few months, Fenya's daily life has been taken care of by the Tree Elf Council, because she was entrusted by the Archdruid. The hospitable elves do not dare to neglect.

Brando touched Funya's head, raised his head and said to the Druid elders: "I like people who keep their word. You didn't lie to me - I'm very satisfied."

Funya seemed to understand that Brando was about to get down to business. She responded to Brando's hand and tilted her head, then stood aside obediently.

Antitina knelt down and held the little girl's hand, smiling at her.

Funya responded with a sweet smile.

"Lord," the eldest Druid standing among the seventeen Druid elders spoke. He was leaning on a cane and wearing a long leaf cloak. His eyebrows, beard and hair were all gray, and his face was white. Wrinkles and ravines are intertwined, but only one pair of eyes is sharp and lively.

But just as he spoke, Brando interrupted him politely: "Great Elder," he said: "I am a noble of Eruin, but my status is meaningless outside the human world, so you don't have to be like this. Call me."

"You are the elder here and I am the young man. Just call me Brando."

The great elder was slightly startled, then his expression softened a little and he nodded. But he looked at Andrew aside and asked the latter to stand up and say to Brando: "Lord, let me speak for you -"

Brando knew that this was a return of respect from the other party, so he nodded and did not object.

"What the Great Elder wants to ask is, Lord Lord, you said that you understand the ancient magic of druids, and you even know the secrets in the Black Forest. He wants to know how credible this statement is?"

Brando thought to himself that these druids really didn't know how to deal with people, so why would a guest come from afar to discuss business directly without letting others take a break? The impression given is too inhumane.

But he likes this style, otherwise if he were really allowed to stay here for three days and then discuss business slowly after the dinner, he would probably not be able to enter the Ring of Trade Winds within half a month.

He doesn't have that much time to waste.

He thought for a moment and replied: "I just know some ancient magic, but it doesn't mean that I understand it, let alone be good at it. As for the black forest on the border of Tonigel, I do know some inside information."

"For example, the ruins in the forest are Valhalla. Is this true?" a tall druid asked.

"No," Brando glanced at this guy and confirmed that he was the Druid of the Ring of Beast Spirits: "I just said that Valhalla is within the Ring of Trade Winds. As for whether it is the ruins - just It can be said that the locations of the two are very similar."

The great elder nodded. Brando did not speak loudly and did not jump to conclusions easily, which made him feel somewhat credible. But he didn't answer, and the other druids just looked at each other.

…