Blood tax

Chapter 118
Griffith once suspected that the girl in front of him ran away from home because of her rebellious personality or because she wanted to prove herself. Only then did the two meet. Like many stories, it originated from the pursuit of freedom. It is a beautiful story. coincidence.

However, after repeated thinking afterwards, a series of events and excessive coincidences gave him some new guesses.A more reasonable guess is that I have a certain characteristic or meet a certain condition, which attracted Galadia and her related clues.

"There's something I don't understand," Griffith lowered his voice, "Even if you don't go to hunt down goblins, I will meet you in Homemonwarts and show up here today, right?"

"Then we won't be so close. Do you dare to talk to me after entering the school? Without me, you will die in the Whispering Forest, and you will have nothing to do here today, and I won't get supplies and reinforcements. And, I suspect, If you didn't know me well, maybe you wouldn't have been sent here either."

Miss Elf looked at Griffith seriously, sending shivers down his spine.

So, so, what, it is really possible that the consul of Canaan wanted to kill me, and then caused the current situation by accident...

"Although Iluvash's prophecy is obscure and vague, it has been revered by the world for thousands of years!" Galadia suddenly pinched the back of Griffith's hand, "Hey~ Why are we talking? Pay attention, The surrounding environment began to change."

The world shrouded in rust, scorched black and dust began to peel off the ashes and dilapidation on the surface at a speed visible to the naked eye.The dilapidated villages, dilapidated streets, and fields reappeared in color little by little, and re-entered the peaceful state under the sky full of ashes.

"13 minutes, from the beginning to the end of the last transformation," Galadia walked out of the hiding place carefully, "The monster suddenly appeared beside us at the beginning of the transformation, probably because he was related to this vision Symbiosis. Now that the vision is over, he may not appear."

"Well, how are you sure it's 13 minutes? Didn't you bring nothing with you?"

"I'm counting my heartbeats while I'm talking to you!" The elf girl shook her fingers, "It's amazing! The protagonist of the story won't be afraid to go out with one hand."

The village under the setting sun is still empty.

The two came to the square of the village office, where they found a very neat bulletin board.Here, where there should be no sound, there seems to be faint and subtle voices, which are vague and unrecognizable.

Griffith held his breath almost subconsciously, wanting to listen carefully to what the vague words were saying.

"Don't listen, don't meditate, don't observe with mental power," the elf girl gave him a hard pat on the shoulder, "I will do this, if something happens, at least one person will not be affected. A message appeared on the bulletin board Notice, let's go take a look."

In small towns and villages in the countryside, news brought by messengers and traders would be handed over to the village chief, who would then announce it on a bulletin board in front of the village hall.

In this uninhabited small village, a half-new papyrus is nailed to the bulletin board.The edges of the paper are unworn and the handwriting is legible.

"Notice.

"After lengthy negotiations, the fate of our Xixi Village has finally turned around today.

"The proposal to build the dam has passed the preliminary review. In order to maintain prosperity and prosperity forever, the official plan is to move the village to a fertile plain.

"The village meeting will be held tomorrow. All respected villagers are invited to vote for the future of the village. This vote is related to the relocation plan and compensation policy, and is a major event related to the future of everyone.

"Hail to the gracious and generous His Majesty the King and the wise [unintelligible here] Your Excellency!
"Commin Vlad, the village chief.

“[Date is illegible and illegible]”

In the process of reading the notice, Griffith seemed to hear bursts of jubilant shouts, as if the villagers who used to live here also gathered in front of the notice, rejoicing for the news.

Galadia rubbed her forehead, her already fair face became even paler.She clutched Griffith's arm tightly, looking around uneasily.

"what happened?"

"No, nothing." Galadia almost leaned on her companion, "Did you hear anything?"

"It seems to be the cheers of the villagers," Griffith nodded. "It sounds like everyone is very happy about the move."

Galadia's condition is not very good, she seems to have listened once, and then heard a bad sound.With unlucky luck, the listener may be traumatized by mysterious emotions, wills, and forces in the process.

As the administrative center of this small village, the village office is nothing more than a few bungalows made of wood and stone bricks.The roof and walls are still intact, and the wooden floors are level and clean.In the main hall connected by the entrance, there are several tables, chairs and bookshelves, and there are also thin books and tea sets filled with water placed on them.

"The sealed item we entered appeared in the downstream of a dam. What we see now is the village of Xijiao before it was submerged. It has been more than five years since the Tuyang Dam was built. Everything we see is A phantom that existed in the past?" Griffith flipped through the account books on the table, "I can't see the specific date, but from the content, the operation of the village is still normal, and there are records of crop harvesting and trading here, without the date."

"Did the people in the village be swept away by the flood? No, that's impossible," Galadia said to herself while checking the bookshelf. "I haven't heard of such a tragedy happening in your kingdom in the past ten years."

There are countless possible causes of the Sealed Artifact, and there are targeted methods for specific Sealed Artifacts to inactivate them.According to the general knowledge of occultism, for a sealed item projecting a domain, the cause is often a long-term collective subconsciousness of the residents or the lost psionic energy of local creatures, and unlocking the unspoken secrets within it is the most effective way.

Griffith checked the rooms one by one.Behind the main hall is the kitchen and lounge, and there are no figures or traces of battle.Galadia followed closely beside her companion, carefully watching out for any hidden traps or magic circles.

The last room is like a warehouse, occupying a large area from the exterior structure of the house.Griffith reached out and pushed the door, and there seemed to be something against the door.

"Be careful." Griffith took out the ax from his waist and slashed at the door.There was a huge gap in the wooden door.

Several red objects passed through the broken crack and fell to the ground with a plop.

Galadia hurriedly turned her head away and covered her mouth in disgust.

These are the bodies of five strong males.Their skin and hair were ripped off, and the flesh on their chests and lower bellies was twisted into a ball.The blood has dried, and the exposed teeth, eyes and nasal cavity are twisted and hideous.

Griffith bent down, enduring intense discomfort to check.The victim's clothing was nowhere to be seen, most of the skin was brutally stripped off, and some skin fragments left after being pulled remained on the fingers, toes and other parts.One of them was wearing a ring inlaid with magic crystals, and the other two had silver necklaces with identity cards around their necks.Their names are engraved on the ring and identity plate.

"Mage Demer Harker."

"Knight Pinkerton Lee, Apprentice Knight Thorder Han."

Griffith took back the victim's belongings, recalled the information before departure, turned around and patted Galadia who couldn't bear to watch the scene: "They are not the investigators sent before me, they may have been sent earlier The team. It includes mages, knights, apprentice knights, and two assistants without IDs. I found the IDs of the three from them."

"Is there anything else in the warehouse?" Galadia frowned, still unable to look directly at the skinned corpse on the ground.

Griffith pushed open the broken wooden door and looked into the warehouse.

Here is a room for storage.There were empty brackets for bows and arrows or shovels and hoes on the wooden racks, and the things on the racks had disappeared.

Griffith turned and took off the mage's ring and handed it to Galadia.She poured a little spiritual power into it, and said while sensing: "The records and information in the ring have been erased. I suspect that he is a mage in a nearby town, otherwise he would not bring people..."

The elf's whispering stopped suddenly, and she looked out of the glass window in panic.

Outside the dimly lit room, a figure was lying on the window.His face was pressed against the glass, his face was like a little black man who had been charred, and he looked at the two people in the room, slowly grinning the corners of his mouth, revealing his pale teeth.

Galadia's eyes widened and she took two steps back and bumped into Griffith's shoulder.The latter rushed out like a cheetah, and jumped towards the low window sill.

"Boom!" The glass windows and wooden window edges were shattered, which was especially ear-piercing in the silent dusk.

Griffith jumped out of the window and reached out to grab the black figure.

The black figure who was still by the window just now has disappeared, as if what he saw just now was just a phantom, and disappeared with the shattering of the glass.

"Slow down, wait for me!" Galadia also jumped out and grabbed the arm of the companion who was about to pursue, "Don't disperse."

The shattered glass clanged and fell to the ground, and the surrounding environment returned to silence.

"The inside of the sealed object has different rules and clues from the outside world. We found those corpses that may activate a clue leading to the answer." Galadia moved to the side of her companion again, "Next, the nearby It is possible to find the memory left by the sealed item."

As soon as the words fell, a shadowy black figure suddenly appeared beside the two of them.They were all blackened as if they had been scorched, shrunk into a small ball.Dots of red light appeared and disappeared on them, like sparks that had not been extinguished.

These human figures walked past the two of them, leaving trails of sparks and ashes blown by the wind all the way, and gathered in front of the gate of the village office.

"Come on." Galadia grabbed Griffith's hand and ran over with the weird figure.

This is like the first time we held hands!Well, there was no grip at the prom.Griffith's brain was suddenly illuminated by lightning, and his whole body became excited.The elf girl's hands are so slender and smooth that it is unimaginable that she can draw a strong bow.

It should be released through magic power to assist the output.It feels so good.Messy thoughts flooded Griffith's head.

The wonderful touch on the skin made him extremely happy.However, good times are always so short, and Galadia quickly let go of her hand, which made him feel disappointed.

Behind them, the glass window that was just smashed has been restored to its original state at some point, as if nothing happened.

There is another page of notices on the notice board standing at the gate of the village office.

"Search notices.

"The village chief, Comin Vlad, is missing.

"Master Ennazer Viktim is searching with the village head's family. We are all very concerned about the safety of the old village head. If you have seen the village head in the past day, please inform the village office immediately.

"The disappearance of the village chief will not affect the voting at the village assembly. All villagers are requested to gather at the Dilong Altar at 6 o'clock tomorrow night.

"Village Office (Print).

“[Date is illegible and illegible]”

(End of this chapter)