Around eight o'clock in the evening, it should have been the busiest time of the day at the "Happy Hour" hotel.
All kinds of adventurers, mercenaries, sailors who have just come ashore, hooligans, and coolies who have worked a day at the docks would gather here without any prior arrangement, eating cheap set meals, drinking diluted beer, chatting about some interesting things that have happened recently, and enjoying the dancers hired by the boss to perform their moves.
It can be said that this is the only relaxation and entertainment for them.
But unfortunately, even this little bit of happiness is gone today.
The entire hotel was silent. All the guests were silently eating the food on their plates and taking a sip of their drinks from time to time.
Even the most addicted drunkard could not drink without restraint.
As for the dancer who was only wearing gauze, she didn't dare to stand on the table and twist her slender waist as usual to show her charm to those hungry men.
The reason was simple! Standing at the entrance of the inn were two holy warriors wearing the emblem of Ilmater, the god of suffering.
Although they are the symbol of kindness and order and will help anyone in need free of charge, they are actually not welcome at all in a place like Calim Port.
Because to most ordinary people, they are too holy and dazzling, and they always inadvertently make themselves feel inexplicably guilty.
In particular, nobles and wealthy merchants who like to own slaves have always regarded the paladins, temples of good gods, and the Harper Alliance who are trying to abolish the slavery system in Calimshan as their mortal enemies.
Apart from the poor living at the bottom of society, perhaps only the slaves who suffer from oppression and bullying would regard him as a savior.
However, the two holy warriors seemed to have long been accustomed to such situations. They stood there motionless like guards without saying a word.
Sudden!
A slightly shorter figure appeared at the end of the road.
As the distance got closer, everyone including those in the hotel could clearly see that it was a boy about ten years old.
Through the dim lights of the shops on both sides of the road, one could vaguely see that he had black hair and a delicate face full of oriental charm. The black pupils in his eyes were like the starry sky at night, full of exotic charm.
Obviously, this boy was none other than Zuo Si who had returned from Elsa.
As a very alert person, he noticed the abnormality at the entrance of the hotel almost immediately.
But before Zuo Si could figure out the situation, the young female among the two holy warriors could no longer hold back. She blocked his way and stated her identity directly.
"Hello. I am a paladin from the Temple of Ilmater, the God of Suffering. My name is Eloline."
"My name is Agor, and I'm also a paladin who worships the God of Suffering. A few days ago, we accepted a commission from the guards to investigate an arson case near the market area. I hope to get some useful clues from you."
The older paladin was clearly more experienced, and his attitude, tone, and reasoning were impeccable.
"A paladin of the god of suffering?"
Zuo Si's expression quickly became strange.
He never expected that the other party would be able to find him so quickly.
"That's right! According to the intelligence we received, you were attacked on the night of the incident, and some evil and terrifying necromancy magic was used, right?"
The young paladin who called himself Ai Luolin might have thought that Zuo Si was young, so he acted aggressively, trying to scare him in this way.
But unfortunately, although Zuo Si's body was indeed less than ten years old, he had the calm and composed soul of an adult.
Not to mention such a small scene, even if he was standing in front of a giant dragon, he would remain calm and collected.
What's more, the paladins are righteous people who insist on reason, law, and evidence! In many cases, their deterrent power is not as good as that of the hooligans who bully men and women and do all kinds of evil.
So facing the questioning of the young female paladin, Zuo Si just smiled and shook his head, pretending to be innocent and responded: "I'm very sorry, Miss Paladin, I don't know what you are talking about. I'm just a child. Who would be so cruel as to attack a child who poses no threat?"
moment!
Eloline's face changed.
She couldn't believe that this little guy dared to lie to her face. She immediately questioned, "But how come the information we got is exactly the opposite of what you said?"
Zuo Si shrugged his shoulders and made up an excuse to easily refute it.
Anyway, he has made up his mind and will never admit it.
No matter who provided the information to these two holy knights, they certainly wouldn't dare to stand up and confront them.
Otherwise, once his identity is exposed, the leader of the Thieves Guild, Apke, will soon let him know the serious consequences of disobeying the gag order.
Just when Ai Luolin wanted to say something, Agor suddenly stopped her and said in a completely different manner: "Child, you don't need to be so wary of us.
Because we already know that the house that was burned down was actually a pirate's secret base.
No matter what you do to them, it will not violate local laws and you will not need to bear any responsibility.
We just want to know what happened that night.
Have you held a large-scale awakening of the dead? Or summoning demons from the lower planes?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Paladin, I really don't know anything."
Zuo Si spread his hands, saying “I can’t help”.
Induce a confession?
Fishing enforcement?
This method might be useful against those guys who have never seen the world, but it is useless against him.
He guaranteed that if the paladin knew that he had transformed all the living people in the building into "shadow creatures".
Then the other party will definitely ask for these "shadows" to be handed over and purified.
In Faerun, no one would joke about their faith unless they were crazy and unbelievers.
Especially a "stubborn" Paladin, if he encounters evil undead and shadow creatures, he will destroy them at all costs.
"Well, I hope you know what you're doing."
Seeing that Zuo Si was unwilling to change his mind, Agor had no better solution and could only pull the unwilling Ai Luolin away.
As for directly releasing a detect evil and then swinging the sword to kill all the evil people with red glow like in many stories, that is simply not something a paladin can do.
First of all, people in the evil camp are not necessarily all bad guys.
A large proportion of them are "sophisticated egoists".
In addition, let’s not talk about how many of the upper ruling class would be in the evil camp in a city that allows slavery to exist.
If this is really done, the paladin will definitely be corrupted.
Because their lawful attributes determine that they must abide by the law and be reasonable.
In other words, before confirming that the other party has committed clear evil acts, you cannot take action first, even if you realize that there are evil people around you.
And even if it is confirmed that the other party has clearly committed evil deeds, as long as this person wants to defend himself, the paladin must listen to the end and refute him with his eloquent speech before he can start arresting and trying him according to local laws.
As Faren once said, justice is always restrained (because it must abide by laws and rules), and evil is always killing each other (because of conflicts of interest and struggles for power).
It is precisely because paladins are so strict with themselves that they are loved and hated.
What I love is that when you are threatened and your life is in danger, the paladin will always be the first to stand up and fight against evil, and will never back down even if he is torn to pieces.
What’s annoying is that they simply don’t know how to adapt. They are like the smelly and hard stones in a toilet, often making their friends and teammates around them feel embarrassed and awkward.
(End of this chapter)
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