Chapter 601 452 Customs and Culture

"I know you're in a hurry, but don't be in a hurry. Start from the beginning, slowly." Dacus made a gesture to stop Elano, and then said patiently to Gavino.

Gavino's sign language slowed down, no longer like before, as if he was making some kind of dazzling seal, and the flower hand was shaking as if it was about to take off. He was afraid that Dacus couldn't understand, and even gestured eagerly.

Dacus was speechless, he felt that this was really a mess. Obviously, I can speak, alas, I won't speak, I have to gesture. Fortunately, along the way, he learned some intentionally or unintentionally. Anyway, he doesn't need to gesture, he just needs to see, he is not unable to speak, and these Asuryan believers are not deaf. He can feel that Elano is very anxious. Normally, Elano will not look for him when he has nothing to do. Since he looks for him, he must have something to do.

"You mean, you had a strange dream last night?" As Gavino's gestures slowed down, Dacus understood a little, and he asked tentatively.

Gavino nodded, looking very anxious.

"Continue."

"Phoenix? Or a four-winged phoenix?" Dacus said, and followed the gesture, crossing his hands, intertwining his thumbs, stretching out his index and middle fingers, and retracting his ring and pinky fingers.

"This four-winged phoenix asked you to find it? Perform some kind of ritual?" Dacus confirmed again. After seeing Gavino nod, he smiled, and then he comforted the somewhat agitated Gavino, "I know, don't worry, I will keep this in mind."

Seeing Dacus's promise, Gavino stopped gesturing, bowed deeply to him, made a gesture of thanks, and left. Elano standing there shrugged helplessly, nodded to Dacus, and left.

Dacus frowned as he watched Gavino's back go away. Heglia talked about thirteen moves last night, but he was still confused in the end. He still didn't understand where those strange spirits came from. Moreover, Heglia behaved strangely, with an attitude of "I'm the boss, so what?" As the conversation deepened and the wine went down his throat, he learned a lot of other information from Heglia, such as the legendary war dancer "Wild Dance" Wetir was Heglia's father, but Wetir did not come to the north, but went to the south.

Wetir was like the Minister of Rites. Every spring when Orion was reincarnated, he was not only responsible for the entire ceremony process, but also had to take the lead in dancing to welcome Orion's arrival. He was particularly busy at this time.

In addition, Heglia said something else last night that caught his attention. Heglia told him that he met a wood spirit talking to a group of beastmen not long ago when chasing a group of beastmen.

Heglia asked the right person for this matter. Dacus was familiar with this matter. He told Heglia about his encounter in Lauren Loren, where those Nurglings disguised as wood spirits walked in the forest. Lauren Loren has demons, and Athel Loren probably has demons too. There is no reason why they don't have demons. Moreover, they are hidden deeper than Lauren Loren and are hard to find. At least the spirits, Asrai and the Beast Council have not found any solid evidence. Fortunately, Heglia was more stable than he thought. After drinking, he did not stand up impatiently on the spot and return to the Deceiver's Forest to look for them.

In fact, the second half of the dinner was not pleasant. The Asrai who were at home were worried, which made the atmosphere of the banquet seem particularly depressing. However, Dacus did not take it seriously. After all, it was just a formality.

The most outrageous thing was that Dacus had a dream similar to Gavino when he was sleeping. However, he did not dream of a four-winged phoenix, but a big toad like a hill. It was a big toad, not a Slann demon priest, but strangely, in the process of staring at each other, he felt a strange sense of intimacy from the big toad. He seemed to have some kind of connection with the big toad. The big toad was not just a simple big toad. The big toad seemed to be foreshadowing something like the white deer. As for what it foreshadowed...

"I can see that your quiver is empty and you have no feathers to make arrows. Therefore, I only need two cheerful songs to give you these arrows."

"But cousin, I can see that you are in high spirits and your steps are brisk. My first song will make you dance with the wood spirits, and the second song can only be heard by trees."

"?" Dakuus stood there in a daze, listening to the inexplicable conversation between the two Asrai in the distance. As the conversation ended, the two cousins ​​seemed to have reached a deal. The cousin gave the arrows to the cousin, and then the cousin began to improvise without anyone around.

Dakwus remembered that Liv seemed to have told him these things. Unlike Duruchi, Asur, and Ainir, the Asrai did not use any traditional form of currency. Currency was seen as a mistaken invention of Ulthuan by the Asrai, who preferred to exchange goods or services in exchange for what they needed.

War dancers traveled between kin and tribes, performing spectacular, wild dances in exchange for hospitality. The priests of the Vaal made exquisite metal crafts in exchange for food and water, as they had no time to collect food themselves.

As the team was preparing to set off, the Asrai kept trading, and Dakwus gradually discovered that the Asrai's exchange system was different from traditional commerce, because transactions were not based on the objective value of items, but instead required evaluating the needs of both parties and determining the value in reverse.

Very abstract, just like an Asrai on the verge of starvation can get food cheaply, while an Asrai with a full supply of food expects to pay a higher price for food.

A more abstract explanation is that a poor Asrai has only ten yuan, while a rich Asrai has one hundred yuan, but there is no difference between ten and one hundred yuan in Asrai society, both are calculated by percentage. If you exchange a steamed bun, the poor Asrai needs to pay 10%, which is one yuan, and the rich Asrai also needs to pay 10%, which is ten yuan.

In a normal society, the rich Asrai would definitely not agree to this transaction, but this is Aeseloron, everything seems so natural.

The Asrai culture's rejection of materialism makes theft almost non-existent in traditional Asrai society. Theft and hiding are considered one of the most serious crimes because it will disrupt the balance of the overall exchange.

In Dacus's view, this economic system can effectively prevent individuals from hoarding resources and ensure that everyone's basic needs are met, but that's all.

"It's hard for me to imagine what I'm seeing. What are you going to do next? I personally don't think Lauren's trick will work here." Maranul, who was ready to go, came to Dakwus's side and muttered to Asrai who was trading in the distance.

Dakwus shrugged. He thought there was nothing wrong with what his cousin said. The two looked the same and there was no difference. But there are still many differences. For example, Asrai usually wears practical linen clothes spun from wild plants, with leather armor. Unless in the coldest winter and the more special Ativis collar, Asrai usually does not wear warm clothes made of animal skins and furs. The complex weaving of Asrai's clothing makes it soft like velvet, while being strong, durable and protective.

The fabric is often dyed with pigments from plant sources, such as roots, berries, bark, leaves, wood, fungi and lichens. This allows Asrai to wear clothes that match the season and blend into the forest environment. Even decorative clothing is limited to subtle embroidery, and the ornate dress of Ulthuan is considered gaudy and excessive by the Asrai.

Full sets of metal armor are rare unless they have been passed down through a family. Most Asrai possess only one piece of metal armor, such as a helmet, arm guard, or breastplate, and metal armor is generally not conducive to swift and stealthy movement.

Asrai prefer elegant weapons such as swords and bows to the heavy axes and warhammers used by Men and Dwarves. Arrows are often designed in the shape of leaves, curved, slender, and extremely sharp. Even the most common swords are made with great care, emphasizing strength, sharpness, and flexibility rather than weight, and are often engraved with spiral patterns or runes.

Each Asrai family maintains a home garden, which is either integrated into their residence or planted on earthen terraces. Although small, these gardens are harvested several times a year with magic and song, and the fruits and vegetables from the gardens are often shared freely with the larger neighboring band or clan.

There is a stereotype that Asrai do not eat meat, but they do. The forest provides all the plants and roots they need, but Asrai cannot achieve a balanced diet on green plants alone, especially in winter.

Hunting has always been an important custom in Asrai culture, however, the difference is that Asrai will only hunt the animals they need according to the agreement and use all parts of the animals as much as possible. Bones are also used to make items such as needles, pins, combs and flutes. Although they hunt, they do not raise livestock. They believe that animal husbandry is abominable and barbaric, and raising livestock is also prohibited by the agreement.

From a distance, the Asrai and the Ainel Woodland Kinsmen dress in the same way, but there is an essential difference between the two if you look closely. The Lauren Loren model does not apply to Athel Loren. The social operation model of Asrai is completely different from that of Ainel. To put it bluntly, Lauren Loren's group of city-state relatives who hold the social discourse power are the old and young of Ulthuan, descendants of colonists, while the Asrai, who are also descendants of colonists, are more primitive and return to nature.

"Let's wait and see. Let's try to solve the problem of the Ulthuan Mission first. This is our main purpose here. As for these so-called Asrai..." Daxu sighed. As he said, the Ulthuan Mission has always been his main task, and the Asrai are just incidental, belonging to the branch task. He is not in a hurry to deal with the Asrai. After all, if he really wants to fall out, he can't transfer the Lizardmen now, and he hasn't seen some forces yet, which is a state of half-hiding.

As for trade, it is completely out of Daxu's consideration. Not to mention the social operation mode of the Asrai, even if he wants to trade, he can't trade. There are rivers. The Grismeri River and the Brian River meander through Athel Loren, then flow through Bretonnia, and finally merge into the Vast Ocean.

The Grismeri River is about 965 kilometers long, and its water source comes from the west side of the Gray Mountains. Because the river passes through the northern edge of Athel Loren, many Bretonnians believe that this river has some kind of mysterious magic. The river flows through a large lowland basin between the Grey Mountains and the Oka Mountains, heading north to the Gisoluk Gorge, where it joins the Ois River and continues west to the sea. In the upper Ois, the Grismeri River is navigable for large barges to Palaon, but sea vessels are only able to navigate the lower reaches and the wider, deeper Ois tributaries.

In fact, Dacus had been to the Grismeri River as early as the Haxie Trial Voyage. At that time, the Winter stopped at the mouth of the Grismeri River at the junction of Bordello and Musillon, just to eat a bite of Bretonnia's specialty trout and swamp snails.

Trade seems unrealistic. Changing ships is easy to say. The places where barges can only pass can be modified to allow sea vessels to pass. The beasts and greenskins in Mount Oka are not a big problem? The most disgusting are political and economic problems. The Grismeri River flows through the Kingdoms of Paraon, Quinaris, Bastogne, Montfort, Gisoleo, Bordello and Musillon. The tax issue alone is enough to make a fuss.

This kind of thing must be solved in the secular world. What will Lilith do if she comes forward? What will those masters who believe in ladies think at that time? But this is all future things, hundreds of years later, and it is not certain what the situation will be at that time. Maybe the Kingdom of Bretonnia will be disintegrated due to various problems. After all, the elves have a claim to Bretonnia, and Bretonnia has a lot of fertile land. The small peasant economy directly beats the handicraft economy next to the Grey Mountains.

The length of the Brian River is about the same as that of the Grismeri River. It runs through the southern part of Athel Loren and Bretonnia. The river is quite wide. Ships entering the river from the estuary of the Kingdom of Brione can go directly to the capital of the Kingdom of Quinaris. The section up to Athel Loren is relatively shallow and requires flat-bottomed barges.

The entire river is fed by countless large tributaries and is densely covered with swamps. It nourishes the Kingdoms of Brione, Quinaris and Carcassonne, and its tributaries can cross the Black Mountains to reach Tirell. Faced with the blockade of the Magritte city-state, Bretonnia and Tirell can communicate through the tributaries of this river. Its concept is somewhat similar to that of the Rhine River and can bypass Gibraltar.

In addition to the Grismeri River and the Brian River, there is actually another one. There is an underground river called the River of Echoes under the Black Mountains, along with the Empire's Wesenland and the southern city-state of Tyrell.

This river is considered by humans to be the greatest wonder of the Black Mountains. It is the source of the Thor River and the Tilea Cristallo River. It is 480 kilometers long, and there is an underground town in the middle, connecting the trade routes between Tyrell and the Empire, just like Glenburg in Reikland.

As for the specifics, Dakwus didn't know. He was going to go there to see and investigate when he left Athel Loren. If nothing unexpected happened, he would go to Miragliano to see what the Cathedral of Marsian, also known as Mantan, looked like, and then board the ship there to return to the New World. In addition, there was a bill that had not been settled, but he hadn't thought about it yet.

Maranul left. The team was preparing to set off. When Dakwus was playing badly, he was still busy with the affairs before departure. When he walked away, Liv came to Dakwus.

"You are not doing your job as a tour guide, ma'am." Dacus asked casually while looking into the distance.

"Sorry, I didn't expect it either. I was shocked. You know, I don't have much contact with the Beast Council, and the white deer has never appeared in front of me in various forms." Facing Dacus's vague questioning, Liv's expression remained calm.

"Okay, let's talk about something else. How much do you know about the four-winged phoenix?"

"I know a little bit..."

Mentioning the four-winged phoenix, we have to mention Windrich, which is one of the twelve lords of the wood elves. It has the title of "Pinewood Cliff" and is ruled by the forest lord Fendor and Lady Evelyn. Due to the long-term harassment by the greenskins of the Gray Mountains, this place has been built into a heavily guarded area. From the outside, its steep slopes are as difficult to defend as other parts of Athel Loren. Only when the invaders enter under the canopy will they find that the Pinewood Cliff is actually a vast fortress. Here, the elves have shaped the crown oak into castles and fortresses, and woven rock thorns into endless tangled walls.

These facilities have repelled many invasions of orcs Waaagh! and dwarves. The Fendor lords and their relatives who rule this area are extremely eager for war. They enjoy slaughtering the greenskins and dwarf invaders who often break into this territory.

In addition, although the Twilight sisters are Ariel's maids, they are not active in Tassain, the King's Forest, but in Pine Cliff. The dragon's nest of Sesin-Hal and the eagle's nest of Gwendalor are both there. Although these two sisters are little fans of Dakwus, they are ruthless when killing invaders.

There is a reclusive Asrai noble named Xianos in Windrich. He is a weird person who is close to madness, and he has four wings behind him that can flutter. Under various influences, he secretly opposes the rule of Orion and Ariel, the rulers of Athel Loren.

Xianos and his relatives have long isolated themselves from Athel Loren and think they are superior. They call themselves "Alvar", which means children of the sky. Along with worshipping Anes-Lema, they also worship the Great Eagle and Amphion, abandoning the worship of the traditional elven pantheon. He even proclaimed himself king in defiance of Orion, and the Twilight Sisters were active in Windrij to monitor him.

Xianos even persuaded his followers to enter a giant bird-shaped cage, where they would be burned alive to atone for their sins. He believed that Asrai was guilty, and that doing so would strengthen Amphion, allowing Amphion to be bound to him, which is how the four-winged wings behind him appeared, until he had the power to expel Asrai from Athel Loren and restore the forest to its original glory.

"Isn't this a cult? Orion and Ariel don't care?" Dacus asked curiously. Seeing Liv shook her head helplessly, he continued, "After talking for so long, you still told me the details of Amphion."

"He is a member of the Beast Council. I don't know anything else. But... according to Xianos, he is trapped and can only return to the forest by accepting sacrifices in his name."

The key information is here. Unlike the white deer, Dacus pieced together the clues of the phoenix. The phoenix in this world has a great connection with Asuryan. What kind of a fool is Xianos?

The rituals in this world are particular, and the steps and methods cannot be wrong. Xianos obviously used the wrong method, such as true rebirth from the ashes, or he did not get the approval of Amphion or Asuryan at all, otherwise he would not have four wings on his back.

As the team went deeper, Amphion may have sensed the existence of him and Gavino, so he appeared in Gavino's dream to give revelation. After all, Gavino is a real Asuryan anointed.

Just as Daxus was about to say something else, Tyrandor Duskstar appeared on his elven warhorse.

The name Duskstar comes from the fact that Tyrandor used the cover of night to raid the greenskins who infiltrated Athel Loren from high altitude. If he spotted any greenskins from high altitude, he would swoop down on the back of the giant eagle Gwendor Blackwing and attack without mercy.

In the normal future timeline, Tyrandor would lead the Asrai army to help the Empire, searching for traces of the vampire army in the dark pine forests of Sylvania. However, the army was ambushed, and the vampire army was exposed at the cost of the Asrai army's sacrifice.

The Asrai army fought a rearguard battle, and many Asrai escaped under mutual cover. Tyrandor in the sky resisted the vampire army until he was surrounded by carrion birds and seriously injured. When the Asrai escaped, no trace of him was seen, and he was thought to have died. But in fact, he didn't. At the critical moment, Gwendor rescued him and brought him back to Athel Loren to receive Ariel's magical treatment.

In the year 2506 of the Empire, an incident occurred. The butcher king of Karak Kadrin, Agrim Ironfist, led an army to fight the greenskin army on the edge of Athel Loren. After seeing the righteous act of the dwarves, Tyrandor led an army of Asrai to assist the dwarves. The greenskin army quickly retreated under the double attack. At the moment of victory, the dwarves wielded axes to attack the Asrai, trying to repay the thousand-year-old hatred.

Tyrandor vowed to avenge his lost people and retreated. The following year, under his leadership, the Asrai army besieged the outer fortifications and defenses of Karak Kadrin. Just like the revenge war a thousand years ago, the elves bit the turtle and had no way to bite. The siege lasted for a year. However, during this period, the Asrai surrounded the points and fought for reinforcements, and repeatedly repelled the dwarf army that tried to rescue, which made the dwarves write a heavy stroke. When he thought the damage from a year ago had been compensated, he ordered Asrai's army to retreat.

In addition, the spear in Tyrandor's hand was very strange. It was made by Des, and the spear was called "Spear of Des". The spear would actively intercept the attack, allowing the holder to block without being in a defensive posture or even aware of the attack. There was a mysterious spiral pattern engraved on the spear shaft, and eyes were engraved on the hard copper spearhead, giving the spear an independent will.

After some discussion, the team set off in a mighty manner. In addition to Dacus's team, Tyrandor brought his relatives, and there were also war dancers following Heglia.

Dacus had a strange feeling that Tyrandor was not going to visit the ceremony, but seemed more like going to fight?

Soon, the team heading south came to the Grismeri River, where Dacus met a strange existence who had been waiting for him. (End of this chapter)