Age of Empires From Scratch - Chapter 69



[Chapter 69: Enemies Hiding in the Shadows]

David confirmed one thing again, that he was not good at playing any conspiracy at all, and in this world, he was at an absolute disadvantage in intelligence, so he did not have the foundation to play any conspiracy.

“Let’s be simple and rough!”

Standing in place waiting for the flames to go out, David made sure that the enemy was dead and then got closer to observe. Because he was burned to death, the things he carried were basically all destroyed by the holy fire, and no useful clues were left, but after careful observation, David still found something. “What

is this?”

He fiddled with the axe in his hand twice, and finally dug out the metal piece hidden in the forearm muscle. David felt some energy fluctuations from this thing, but he didn’t know what kind of energy it was, and he could only judge that it was not holy light.

So far, David has only come into contact with the energy of holy light, and he has never really seen the legendary arcane, elements, and natural forces.

Holding the metal piece in his hand, David waited quietly for a moment, and the holy light on the land under his feet gradually dissipated. During this time, he did not use the holy light to discover the existence of other enemies.

He turned back to the village and told Laura, Peggy and others about what happened just now. Soon everyone gathered at the shooting range.

“Are you sure it’s not an assassin sent by the Forrest family?” Steve squatted and observed. The body had been burned to charcoal. There was really no clue. Everything he carried was also burned: “Do you have other enemies?”

“I don’t think so, but who can tell for sure about such things?” David suspected that his Winter Village had been targeted by some noble families.

This is not surprising. If there is a Forrest family, there can be a second one. There are more than one or two top noble families in Iron Tree Castle, and there are even more weaker or relatively ordinary noble families. No one can guarantee that these people have not targeted Winter Village.

“If you are killed, who will Winter Village belong to?” When it is difficult to judge who the enemy is, directly looking for someone who can benefit from it will more or less make some breakthroughs. Everyone present understands this principle, so Sharon’s question is very logical.

“Generally speaking, it will be returned to the Kingdom of Tiran, but most of the time it will be dealt with nearby.” David was also thinking about this problem, and explained the situation to everyone: “That is, let Marquis Dudley Morgan of Iron Tree Castle take care of it himself.”

As for how the Marquis will arrange it, it is uncertain.

Maybe he will treat Winter Village as his own territory and entrust it to someone he trusts to govern; he may also award Winter Village to one of his subordinates and make it the territory of a certain noble; there is a small probability that it may be reported to the capital, and the king will decide how to deal with this new area.

“That is to say, once you die, Winter Village may be taken over by anyone?”

“Yes.”

“Will there be more assassins next?”

Sharon felt that David’s current situation was like an animal that had strayed into the hunting grounds of the nobles, and all the nobles present wanted to take this prey for themselves.

“Not really. The northern plains are such a vast land. It would be better for those nobles to send some of their trusted followers to build a village than to assassinate me directly. Because even if they kill me, the person who ordered them cannot ensure that Winter Village will fall into his hands.” I knew from Gregory before that many nobles would come to the northern plains to build villages and towns next spring. Why would they assassinate him in this case? There are so many unowned lands to occupy, there is no need to rob his small village.

“Do you know about the so-called temple?” Steve’s brain has been working at high speed. He did not miss any details of David’s story. He analyzed and judged based on the existing intelligence. When David felt that most of the noble families were not the masterminds, he felt that the so-called temple was a key piece of information.

“I only know that the Temple is a place and a sect. It is very influential in the human kingdom and is located in the Holy Kingdom of Gaunt.” David carefully recalled all the information about the Temple: “But I don’t know the specific beliefs and doctrines. The Temple has no influence in the Kingdom of Tiran. There are no missionaries or believers of the Temple in Iron Tree Castle.”

This is just a little information, which was mentioned by Addis when he told him about his “experiences”. For the civilians of Iron Tree Castle, the Temple is a very unfamiliar existence. Many people don’t even know that there is such a religion.

“Why do I always feel that this so-called Temple is more suspicious?” Mark Watney didn’t say much. He felt that he couldn’t help much in this regard. He stood here just to express spiritual support.

After listening for a long time, he couldn’t help but express his opinion, and won Laura’s approval.

“I feel the same way.”

In fact, David also felt that the so-called temple was the key to the assassination. After all, the assassin’s few words were all related to the “temple” and “faith” – when the assassin misunderstood that he was a temple priest, he tended to stop; he questioned whether David had abandoned his faith and turned to the “old gods”; and when he judged that David was not a temple priest, he decisively took action.

“Do you know what the so-called old gods are?”

“I don’t know at all.” David didn’t know what the old gods were either. He sounded like a group of beings that had been eliminated by history. “Maybe Addis knows about this.”

Addis was the person in Winter Village who knew the most about the world, but the old hunter was not in the village at the moment. He had gone to Iron Tree Castle to collect intelligence and had not returned yet.

“It seems that I can only ask Addis after he comes back, hoping to get more information.” David also considered taking the initiative to investigate some clues, but now there was no direction to attack. Where should he go to find clues? Should he go directly to the Holy Kingdom of Gaunt and go to the base camp of the Temple to ask, “Are you going to kill me?”

Just thinking about it doesn’t seem reliable – if they go with a bomber group and a tank armored group army, it would be more reliable.

After a discussion, everyone disposed of the body according to convention – Will Turner, the little blacksmith, threw it into the Caribbean Sea.

The only thing left was the piece of metal that David dug out from the arm of the corpse. He would not keep it for too long. When Fording came back, he would ask Fording to take it to the world of Azeroth and ask a mage about the nature of the energy on it and what role it played.

This thing was the only reliable clue. If they were lucky, they could use it to determine whether it was the nobles of Iron Tree Castle or the temple that attacked David this time.

“Do you think there is a possibility?” After returning to the village, everyone did not disperse directly, still thinking about who was the mastermind behind it.

The few people who stayed in the village now liked the village very much, and had a good relationship with David. They even had personal interests. No one wanted David and the village to have an accident.

Especially Mark, who was counting on the survival of Winter Village and waiting for rescue, seemed to take this matter more seriously than Laura.

“What possibility?”

“The mastermind behind the scenes is both the nobles of Iron Tree Castle and the temple.” Mark thought about it and thought that this possibility was not impossible, and it was not low to some extent.

Laura also immediately understood what Mark meant. After all, such things are not uncommon in history. Laura, who is proficient in the history of multiple civilizations, also figured out the key: “David just said that the Temple is very influential in the human kingdom, but the Kingdom of Tiran is an exception.”

“Yes!”

“Then is there a possibility that the Temple wants to enter the Kingdom of Tiran?” Laura also mentioned the assassin’s question: “He asked you ‘How many years have you been lurking in the Kingdom of Tiran?’ This question is not only a trap, but also reveals some information, that is, the Temple wants to enter the Kingdom of Tiran and has taken action.”

“Then what’s wrong with my answer?” If that sentence is not a pure trap question, David thinks that there is nothing wrong with his answer?

“Is there a possibility?” Laura immediately let David understand what was wrong with his answer: “The high-level priests of the Temple do not need to ‘lurk’? There is still some difference between missionaries and pure spies.”

“…” David suddenly felt very tired. These people’s brains are too complicated. He suddenly had the idea of guarding his Winter Village honestly and not going anywhere.

Steve, perhaps to ease David’s embarrassment, made a summary: “So, some nobles of Iron Tree Castle had contact with the Temple, and the assassination of David was actually a collaboration between the two sides?”

In this way, the assassin’s reaction when he found David casting holy light and misunderstood him as a priest of the Temple seemed to make sense, because before the assassin set out, he simply thought he was here to assassinate a civilian village chief, and did not expect the other party to be one of his own.

“So, what does the old god mean by that?”

“Treating David as a traitor to the Temple?”

After Mark, Laura, and Steve analyzed it, the whole thing seemed to become clear.

But neither Mark nor Steve could guarantee that their analysis was correct, and there were even some contradictions and unreasonable places in it.

“If we want to know if it was the people from Irontree Castle who did it, there is a way to test it out.” While listening to Steve and the others’ analysis, David broadened his mind and thought of a way that might give him the answer. He did not keep anyone in suspense and directly stated his method: “As long as everything goes well with Van Cleef and a large number of craftsmen move to Winter Village, the upgrade of Winter Village to Winter Town will be officially put on the agenda.”

Seeing that everyone was staring at him, David said the key point: “As long as I take all kinds of documents to Irontree Castle and apply to upgrade Winter Village to Winter Town, so that I can be promoted to the lord of Winter Town, then I can get the answer from Irontree Castle’s reaction.”

(End of this chapter)


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