Chapter 131 Situation
"My hands are open to welcome my friends," Geralt bowed again and gently left, "Alan and I will stand guard for the first half of the night."
Klauen stared at the demon hunter's back as he disappeared, then turned and said, "The situation in Rhine City sounds a bit complicated."
In his imagination, this should be a world dominated by the church. After all, it has the support of gods. However, from what Geralt said, he felt that the church was not the absolute ruler.
Nick didn't say anything, but glanced around and said, "Del, the three of you go back and rest, and prepare for the night watch."
"Okay, Father," Del immediately stood up and left with Torres and Nelson.
After all the freeloaders had left, Nick slowly spoke:
"It has been too long since the gods left the mortal world, and the life span of mortals is short. Dynasties change, time passes, and it is very normal for short-lived people to be unable to remember the power and glory of the gods. Similarly, they will not remember the fear of the world falling into darkness and crawling in the shadow of the evil god."
"In the past hundred years or so, the world has undergone great changes. The changes are far greater than those in the past few thousand years. After the Red Moon phenomenon occurred, the various churches decided to popularize some basic education so that more mortals can become excellent craftsmen and forge armor and build sanctuary fortresses for the church."
"This reform will first be implemented in large cities in each kingdom. If the experimental results are satisfactory, it will be promoted to all regions. Things went smoothly at the beginning. In less than ten years, the church has obtained a large number of excellent craftsmen."
"The church found that the effect was very good, so it gradually promoted this reform to the lower-level cities, and the original successful experience was constantly replicated. Later, many mortals appeared who were weak in force but smart in mind."
Nick spoke for half an hour, and Crown listened to a "History of Human Awakening".
Learning makes people progress, this sentence is also true in this world.
In order to meet the church's increasingly high demands, mortals created various machines to replace the original cumbersome labor.
After the magic steam engine was invented, it gave wings to changes in the world.
Steam civilization is like a mad bull that has broken free from the reins held by the church and is running wildly in the wilderness of freedom.
The mortal group possesses enormous power in another dimension. How could they be willing to be just tools in the hands of the church? They want more equality and respect.
They united with the warlocks, who were born with bloodlines, and gradually gained the power to fight against the church.
The priest briefly mentioned the struggle, but Crown understood the blood and gore involved and that there is no power struggle without bloodshed.
Nick took a sip of water, cleared his throat, and continued, "The current situation is that the church and the mortal organizations headed by the Warlock Guild are both cooperating and competing. His Excellency Flanders is an archbishop who advocates cooperation. He believes that uniting all forces to fight against the increasingly approaching threat of the evil god is what the church should do. Therefore, the situation in our diocese is much more relaxed than in other dioceses."
Clown asked seriously, "What is the situation in the entire kingdom?"
"His Majesty the Pope has a tough attitude towards other forces, but His Majesty the King's attitude is somewhat ambiguous."
"I see. The kingdom as a whole takes a tough stance towards other forces," Klauen nodded.
The Farouk Kingdom believed that the king's power was granted by God, and the power of God was greater than the king's power. The king's attitude was ambiguous. Did he see the hope that the king's power would be superior to the power of God?
So, it seems that there must be undercurrents within the kingdom.
"What is the situation in other kingdoms, and what is the attitude of the various churches?"
"The neighboring kingdom of Rebia is the grazing ground of the god of knowledge. The church there is happy to see this change. I don't know the situation in other kingdoms, but I guess it's similar to Farouk."
The two chatted about the current situation until midnight, when they switched shifts with the witcher master and apprentice.
. . . .
The gray sky covering the earth gradually became as thin as a veil, and a red sun rose slowly, piercing the darkness of the world. When the sun spread its golden light, the gray fog that filled the sky and the earth quickly dissipated.
Facing the rising sun, Crown began his lessons without fail. A beautiful day began with the visualization of the Golden Light Mantra.
Nick rolled up the written pages, put them into a small bamboo tube and sealed it with wax.
He tied the bamboo tube to the feet of the gray pigeon and then released it. The pigeon circled and flew away with a "cooing" sound. In the sunlight, the pigeon's feathers were coated with a layer of gold.
The migrating team cooked and packed up as normal, then set out on their journey again.
Nick stood at the front of the team on horseback and shouted loudly: "Dear residents of Zak Town, our journey is about to reach its end. We have contacted the reinforcements from Kukes Town, and we will reach our destination in two days at most."
"Okay, I'm exhausted these days."
"This day has finally come to an end."
A few smiles appeared on the tired faces of the residents. After these days of continuous marching on the rugged mountain roads, everyone was exhausted.
Although they only traveled half a day each day, the food they brought was no longer enough to sustain their consumption. In the past two days, they could only eat wild vegetables to fill their stomachs.
The main group set off, and Crown followed at the end of the group. The black kitten lay in his arms, enjoying the caress, while crows flew around nearby.
He had already thought of names for his two pets. The crow was called Fokine and the kitten was called Buster. Both names had some origins, as a commemoration of the world they once lived in.
Sitting leisurely on horseback, Crown thought about his action plan to reach Rhine City.
First, he needed to pass the church's soul purity test, but he was not worried about this at all. The long-term visualization of the Golden Light Mantra had imbued his spirit with the spiritual aura of the sun, and it was not "evil" at all.
As his proficiency in the Golden Light Mantra increased, the slightest spiritual pollution that was added to the spirit in his body every day would be killed as soon as it appeared.
He even felt that the pollution produced by evil spirits every day was tending to decrease, and the base of the hourglass was shining with golden light.
After passing the church's test, he will be able to obtain the second stage training method of Fire Breath.
After acquiring the breathing technique, he will steadily improve himself according to the plan of the past few days.
As for the situation in Rhine City, he doesn't need to worry about it. He just needs to stand firmly on the side of the church.
After Crown had finalized the plan, he stuffed it back into the beast bag despite Buster's protests.
He took out the bowstring and installed it on the yew longbow. After adjusting the bowstring, he turned around and said, "Del, you guys keep an eye on it first. I'll let Geralt come back here to take over my job."
There was no way to visualize the Golden Light Mantra during the march, nor was there any way to practice breathing techniques and other skills, so he decided to continue practicing archery.
Now my archery skills have advanced to the limit. I don’t know what the specific conditions are for advancing to the ultimate level, but if I persist in practicing and accumulating more, there will be a day when I will advance.
He felt that if he wanted to go further after reaching the limit of his skills, he would need enlightenment. But without sufficient accumulation, he would never wait for the moment of enlightenment.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
"Yes, sir," Del agreed happily, swallowed his saliva and said, "I wish you a good hunt."
"How come you've become a foodie too?" Crowne cursed with a smile, blew a whistle, and then urged the horse forward.
"Quack, quack," the crow Fujin quickly flew over his master's head and kept flying.
. . . .
Thanks to his super vision and Fukin's reconnaissance, Crown's attack range was much wider, and among the prey he caught in the morning were two turtledoves and a musk deer that could be eaten.
They were about to meet up with the reinforcements, and this time the few extraordinary people did not eat alone. They shared the musk deer bones and meat with others, and all the residents drank the wild vegetable soup with a little meat flavor.
In the afternoon, when Crown went out hunting again, he had two more followers, and Alan and Del followed him.
Del watched as Crown shot an arrow at a large tree in the distance, and a dark shadow fell from the tree.
He raised the bow in his hand and said dejectedly: "Hey, I haven't seen the prey yet."
Alan happily drove his horse forward to pick up the prey.
"My Lord, you cannot leave unkilled a single beast that is not deformed, whether it be a bird or a beast."
"Why, you still want to have a pet?"
"No," Delhan smiled and scratched his head, "Janice wants a pet. Yesterday she even told me that she heard your pet crow shouting 'delicious'. I think the child is too bored and may have hallucinations."
"These beasts have all mutated to some extent. They were very ferocious and violent when they were first caught. I fed them with magic water for many days before they slowly got better," Klauen said slowly. "I sold this magic water to Geralt for 10 gold shields each."
"Ah?" Del shook his head hurriedly. "Forget it, I'll talk to Janice."
His pocket was very empty now, with only some silver coins and talisman water that cost 10 gold shields each, and he had no idea how much he would need, so he couldn't afford it.
"We can raise one when we get to Rhine City. There should be pet cats and dogs that have not been contaminated or mutated." Klauen continued, "When I get there, I should be able to make some extra money as a blacksmith. You can be my assistant, and maybe you can earn enough money to buy the magic water."
The two have been together for a long time. Del is a hard worker, so Crown feels at ease hiring him to help.
"Okay, thank you for your care, sir," Del nodded quickly in agreement.
The three continued forward and came to the edge of a wooded area on a small hill.
There were many bushes in the forest and many dry vines hanging on the trees, which made it unsuitable for riding. Crown took Alan into the woods while Del stayed outside to look after the horses.
"Quack, quack"
The Fukuin was hovering in the distance, chirping every now and then.
"Is there prey over there? Hurry up, hurry up," Alan urged in a low voice.
He also now knew that once the crows started calling, it meant there was prey.
Clown arranged his bow and arrows, and pulled the little demon hunter who was about to run away, saying, "Don't be anxious, and walk lightly. It will be difficult to catch up if you disturb the prey."
He fully understood what Fujin meant. He called out twice quickly, indicating that there were two prey. The circling trajectory was very large, indicating that the prey was quite large.
If the prey species mutates only slightly, their dinner will be very rich.
(End of this chapter)