Blood tax

Chapter 155 The Elf's Blessing and Pendant
Luckily she was just mistaken.Griffith touched the tip of his nose, thanking Galadia from the bottom of his heart that it was just a misunderstanding.

If she finds out that I have made a soul contract with Sonia... Ugh, I don't dare to think about it.When I go back, I will burn the documents of the new girl I met, it's a minor impoliteness!
Within a minute, hurried footsteps came from behind the bookshelf, and Galadia turned around again.

She didn't know where to put the book she was holding just now, and returned to Griffith with a calm face as if nothing had happened.

"It's useless to look at local chronicles and local conditions and customs. The secret and key information on the mysterious side will not be written on it. These books are not so much books, but more like a collection of short folk tales."

"Oh, really?" Griffith flipped the pages of the book with some embarrassment, wondering if he should read a passage from it.

The elf shook his head lightly and gestured with his fingers: "You need to know about the mysterious organization in Raven, the division of forces between the Church of the Gods and the military, and the black magic and monsters you may encounter. Let me recommend a book to you."

As she spoke, she pulled Griffith's sleeve around to another library and reached out to the upper shelf.

Following the direction in which she reached out her hand, Griffith saw a "Compilation of Black Magic Cases in the Eastern Province" placed on the top shelf of the bookshelf, and he hurriedly reached out his hand to take it down.

"Crack~" The back of the elf's hand just hit Griffith's palm.The cold and slender touch made Griffith throb, and he almost grabbed it.

"It's the one next to it," the girl turned her head to look at the knight, and slowly withdrew her right hand, ""Sir Valentine's Adventure Notes in the Eastern Continent"."

"Sorry," Griffith blushed, and hurriedly took down the adventure notebook, "I thought..."

"That compilation of cases is also full of urban legends." Galadia took the notes calmly and shook them at Griffith, "Sir Valentine is not only an adventurer, but also a rigorous scholar. He recorded the secret black magic and sacrificial rites spread in the eastern provinces in detail and accurately, and described the code of conduct and history of the Church of the Holy Light, which occupies a dominant position in the faith, in a neutral manner, so that you can learn something to prepare for it .”

"That's great," Griffith took the jazz adventure note from the girl, "I didn't expect you to be so researched."

"You can borrow it and watch it on the road," Galadia circled her hair with her fingers, "How long have you been away?"

"One week's mission, counting the journey, is about ten days."

"Stop making breakthroughs in the central government," the girl said softly, "Even if they send you to the front, find a way to avoid it, learn from those bureaucrats, and don't be the first to do everything."

"I remember."

"Really remember?"

"of course."

"Okay," Galadia sighed, hesitated for a while, and then asked very seriously, "Griffith, what will you do if Erza is in danger and surrounded by enemies?"

"..."

what can I do?How do I feel this question is a trap.

Griffith stared at Galadia.Miss Elf turned her head to look at the full bookshelf, and played with her hair without looking at him.

Well, isn't it just waiting for me to jump in?This is what the rebels in Verona used.I just came back from Verona, it's useless to use the same trick twice!

"Galadia," he called softly.

The elf's ears stood up. Although she tried hard to be aloof, the long pointed ears betrayed her deeply.

"In Verona, I rested on my corpse in muddy water, ate half-raw potatoes and carrots, with broken arrowheads stuck in gaps in my armor, and fought and marched more than 18 hours a day."

As he spoke, he put his hand into his pocket.After listening to the first half of the sentence, Galadia revealed a gentle look of concern, and followed his movements subconsciously.

"It was a hellish place.

"But even there, there is some goodness.

"I brought you a present."

Griffith took out a small crystal bottle, the charming rose-colored liquid rippled in the clear crystal, reflecting a clear and charming light under the soft sunlight.

Just looking at it, people can't help but associate this rose-colored little thing with warm and cozy afternoons, comfort and tranquility, and fond memories.

"This is rose essential oil. It is said that it is often used in prayer and bathing. It has a good moisturizing and relaxing effect. It is the best specialty of Verona!"

Galadia was stunned: "For me?"

"Of course."

"Didn't you go there to fight?"

"I don't have five or six hours of rest every day." Griffith grabbed the girl's wrist and stuffed the sparkling crystal vial into it. "Do you have many of these things? I don't understand , will not choose styles."

"How could it be! Nothing!" Galadia hastily denied, holding the vial of rose essential oil tightly to her chest, as if it surpassed all the treasures in the world, "Who taught you?"

"What?" Griffith didn't realize what she was asking for a while.

"That's right, who told you to bring this kind of gift to girls, you are a soldier, how do you understand this?" The elf said coyly with a blushing face.

Griffith shook his head:
"When I was marching on the battlefield, I saw a bright red between the gray sky and the pale earth. I thought it was a battlefield that had just broken out, but when I got closer, I found that it was from the flames of war. A field of roses that was preserved by luck. The soft fragrance enveloped me, leaving no trace of fatigue and depression, leaving only joy and fulfilling memories.

"At that time, I had an idea. Although the war is miserable, if I can share the beauty I experienced at that moment with you, even if it is an expedition to the end of the world, I am willing..."

A slender hand covered Griffith's mouth, blocking all his thoughts in his heart.

Galadia supported Griffith's shoulders and took half a step forward, tiptoed, and kissed him on the cheek.

Griffith almost melted on the spot.

The gentle kiss went away quietly, and Miss Elf took two steps back shyly, and said in a low voice: "Don't get me wrong. This is a kind of blessing from our tribe, it can drive away the troubles of bad luck and bring good luck. Really."

As soon as she finished speaking, she wanted to run away.

Griffith grabbed her, grabbed her by both arms and brought her back.

"No, no!" Galadia struggled, "I'm not yet an adult!"

Griffith's fiery hands would melt her.

"No, I'm calling someone, really." Miss Elf's voice of resistance became softer and softer, so soft that almost no one could hear it.She closed her eyes as if giving up resistance.

"Give me a present."

"Huh?" The girl opened her eyes at once.

"I can take it with me, I can take it with me when I leave," Griffith said seriously, "I want to take it to Raven."

Galadia reacted immediately, and nodded with the most serious expression: "Then, give me the insight crystal I gave you, when will you leave?"

"tomorrow morning."

"I'll see you off tomorrow morning!"

……

After watching Galadia leave, Griffith calmed down and continued to prepare for his mission.He first called Minos, the bone ring, and had it answer.

"What's the matter?" Bone Ring asked, "Minos noticed that you have become stronger, do you need to prepare potions and rituals for you to advance to Sequence Seven?"

"You know these too?"

"Minos observes the entity, taps the potential, studies the lineage, adjusts the sequence, decomposes the body, absorbs the essence, and reassembles to perfection."

"..." Griffith felt more and more that the ring was a creation of the evil god.However, there are still places where it is useful.

"However, Minos needs the essence of the moon spirit, fresh pitu head mushrooms, and the juice of mandrakes. Minos has proposed, but has not yet obtained."

"These are not easy to get," Griffith thought for a moment, "I will provide them to you as soon as possible."

"With these supplies, Minos will be able to prepare potions and ritual information for you."

"Do you have any good methods for extracting memory fragments from Extraordinary characteristics?" Griffith then asked.

The extraordinary characteristics of the demon hunter, one-eyed monster, spellcaster, and earth dragon he retained are all precious Sequence 7 extraordinary characteristics, and may all contain valuable information.

Minos paused for a while, as if thinking about something, before replying later:

"Minos has detected that you hold four Sequence 7 Extraordinary characteristic crystals of 'Demon Hunter', 'Gluttony', 'Wizard', and 'Psychic'.

"There are various ways to extract memory fragments, but heterogeneous pathways and residual memories may place a heavy burden on your spirit, characteristic crystallization may hide dangerous information, and retained memories may have been crushed, distorted or tampered with.

"Withdrawals can drive you crazy.

"For your rational consideration, Minos recommends that you carefully try to contact the memory fragments left in Beyonder characteristics after becoming Sequence Seven.

"If there are extraordinary characteristics of the caster's path, and the side effects of the absorption process are small, Minos can provide the necessary potion formula to assist analysis and absorb memory."

This ring looks quite reliable sometimes, so it shouldn't be fooling me.Griffith thought for a while, and continued to ask: "Also, do you know about Laboratory No. 13 in Homeworthy?"

"There are no relevant records in the school," Bone Ring replied, "but there are some warehouses in the small town of Baltimore, you can search there."

……

Griffith, who didn't get much more from the ring, returned to his seat with Galadia's recommended book, and began preparations based on the quest situation he had already obtained from Earl Lamor.

His target, Revan, is a port city located in a province on the east coast of the Broken Sea, an important node of the Eastern Seaway.

The city has a long history, and there is an old city on the plain ten miles away from the port.According to the records in "Sir Valentine's Adventure Notes on the Eastern Continent", the place is dilapidated and old, and the wealthy people have all moved to the upper city on the north bank of the Raven River.

Holy light is the main belief in the local area.The Church of the Holy Light even installed a bishop there.

According to the information provided by the meeting, the last bishop was named Clariant. He was a local. He had served as a monk, priest, and bishop of Raven. He was dismissed half a year ago and transferred to the Odessa region in the north.If Griffith's memory about Christa is correct, Bishop Clariant must know Christa, and there are even clues and files about Christa hidden in the Revan Church.

The authority given to Griffith by this mission is unprecedented.As an officer and quasi-knight, he has full authority to access the secret documents of the local investigation bureau, city hall, and church.Of course, local officials will definitely hide something more, but Griffith still has the possibility of discovering important clues.

Revan has garrison mages and garrison knights. The current two are both graduates of Homonwatts. They are Sequence 7 "Wizard" Mage Rihanna and Sequence 7 "Spellbreaker" Saphirion Knight.Griffith dug up their information in the alumni directory. The two of them are classmates. They are 30 years old and both are single.

Intuitively, Griffith could guess that the relationship between the two of them must be very close.

After Bishop Clariant was transferred away, Mage Rihanna and Knight Saphirion were in charge of local mysterious events, commanding a team of 8 Extraordinary people.

According to reports, a week earlier, on March 3, early residents of Raven City found the devoured body of a homeless man on the street.

On the same day, the local police reported that grave robbers had appeared in the Ruiwen Cemetery, and they were digging the tombs one by one.The local police immediately launched an investigation, but the Extraordinary took no action.

On March 3 and 22, the number of tomb robbery cases increased exponentially.Revan officials began to suspect that this was the criminal deeds of the Black Magic cultists who were fleeing near the Broken Sea.A trainee monk who went to investigate the crime site submitted a report on the 23th. He claimed that some of the damaged tombs showed signs of collapse from the inside out, which may be a kind of black magic pollution that has not been seen in the local area.

In his report, the trainee monk named Lansada Xiuston reported in detail the horrible scene of a civilian cemetery.He was clearly well-educated, and his reports were rigorous and detailed.According to his report, after the initial looting incident, the number of tombs collapsing from the inside out is increasing by three times every day.

After the Church of the Holy Light complied with the report according to the system, it reported to Bayeran on the same day, and officially notified the garrison mage and garrison knight to investigate the black magic incident. On the 25th, Bayeran officials, Earl Lamor and his friends were informed of the situation. They already knew most of the details of the Neopolis incident, and immediately began to mobilize Extraordinary and Extraordinary.From this day on, Raven's events are officially linked to hidden evil.

Raven is a large city directly under the administration of Bayeran, where there is a strong regular army squadron and a complete city defense army.After receiving the order from the superior, another local empty city defense brigade and a garrison brigade are urgently assembled and armed.

On the night of March 3, some residents of Uptown Raven were attacked by man-eating monsters.Local Extraordinary teams wiped out the monsters, and City Hall announced that everything was under control.

On March 3, the resident mages began to report suspicious black magic incidents one after another.Although there are no large numbers of monsters in the local area, there are many reports of suspicious people or creatures haunting the dark forest edges and sewers.

Earl Lamor and the others suspected that the sudden crisis in Revan was not entirely caused by foreign cultists. Some local upper-class figures and Extraordinary people were probably involved, but the extent of the involvement was unknown.

The task given to Griffith is to supervise and report the investigation and purification work of the Extraordinary Commando, be responsible for the coordination between the local officials and the Extraordinary, and investigate the true purpose of the cultists when possible.

Griffith could even theoretically stay out of combat.This mission assembled an extraordinary commando team and at least four Extraordinary squads, plus the local regular army, city defense army, and artillery. Revan's defense strength was enough to challenge demigods.

He opened the list of combat personnel in the last intelligence, and the name of Amber Roselit was on it.He snapped the report shut and looked around nervously.

Well, Galadia didn't see it!

……

Second Age August 1444, 3.

Griffith is fully clothed and ready to leave Homeworthy for Baltimore Harbor to wait for boarding.This kind of thing happened only once not long ago, and I didn't expect to go out so soon again.

Sonia prepared two certificates for him, namely the appointment letter of the reserve assault squadron leader and a provisional letter of appointment.

According to the letter of appointment, Griffith is already a full-fledged military officer. His monthly salary has been raised from 100 silver lang to 150 silver lang. Counting the 50 silver lang allowance and the 100 silver lang annuity, he now has a monthly income of 250 silver lang. !
The second document is a temporary authorization.Due to his low rank, Sonia reminded Earl Lamour to apply for a commission from the authorities, appointing him as the special investigator sent by Bayeran to Revan.With this proof, he can justifiably reject the combat orders of some high-ranking officers and extraordinary people.Not even Lordes could find fault.

Sonia is really careful... Griffith put away the documents carefully, saluted and said goodbye to Sonia.

"I'll take you to the port!" Sonia suddenly brought up an astonishing idea, "I always feel that if there is something to worry about, it's better to go to the port with you."

No no no no no no!Griffith could already see Galadia watching him from afar.

"It's okay, I'm ready, Sonia, you should stay here, you still have class today."

"I insist!"

No, please, don't do this.

Griffith looked left and right, leaned close to the girl's ear and whispered, "Baltimore has a lot of foreign forces recently. I don't worry if you don't have other guards."

"Okay, okay." The heat and whispers in her ears made Sonia's face flush, and she hurriedly took two steps back, avoiding Griffith's breath, and let him leave alone.

Due to the rush of the schedule, Griffith did not have time to configure and carry new types of potions, so he could only add some secondary deceleration potions and healing potions.

He stood on the harbor, looking around.Soon, he saw a moving figure in a cloak and walked over immediately.

Galadia stood in the shadow of the corner, not letting the passers-by on the pier see her.She saw Griffith approaching, and took out a silver pendant from her pocket with excitement:

"This is the pendant I made, on the basis of the original insight crystal, I prayed for blessings to the goddess of silver moon and starlight, and he answered me! Just hold the pendant, chant his real name and pray to him, when needed You can try some simple divination, find your way or predict bad luck.”

"Really!?" Griffith was overjoyed.Divination was difficult to learn, and he couldn't get into it at all.

"Why are you so excited, it's just a little divination, look at your potential," the elf criticized him, "I left a blessing on the pendant, you can hold this pendant when you are confused or depressed. My The magic will stabilize your spirit and sanity. But you need to be near me periodically to recharge."

"So helpful! How close do I have to be?"

"..."

Both of them blushed when they asked this question.

"It's better to recharge me regularly."

"Yes, I understand."

Griffith held the pendant in his hand and studied it carefully.It's a small silver pendant with a vision crystal set in a silver oval case.The shell material is not silver, and a soft and delicate magical breath is flowing.

This is a pendant made of precious mithril!He flicked a small switch and found that there was a layer of crystal beyond the vision crystal, sealing a strand of black hair.

Galadia blushed and took the pendant back: "I'll put it on for you."

"I'm wearing armor with a medal around the collar," Griffith said.

"I know."

The elf raised his slender arms, and without waiting for Griffith to turn around, he wrapped his hands around the back of his neck, groped to open the clasp of the pendant, and wanted to put it on for him.

This feeling is like a girl is actively embracing herself...

"It's not easy to wear, so I turn around."

"It's okay, I'm clever!"

Griffith didn't dare to move, he held his breath and looked at the elf.

As it turns out, wearing a necklace from the front is a bad idea.Galadia fiddled with it for a long time but failed to put it on, bit her lip in embarrassment, stood on tiptoe, and leaned her chin on his shoulder to see what was wrong with the pendant she made.

Unique to Galadia, it seems that the fresh breath of autumn forest and maple leaves has penetrated in, and there is also a faint fragrance of roses.The combination of two wonderful smells, Griffith did not hesitate for a second, and raised his hand to press the elf's slender waist.

The lock of the pendant made a small sound, and it was finally locked.

Galadia just leaned on his shoulder, trembling slightly.

Every second is worth more than a kingdom.

"When can I get the blessing again? It's the one that drives away the troubles of bad luck and brings good luck." Griffith seized the time and asked beside his long pointed ears.

With great difficulty, Galadia struggled to speak from a low hum.

"see your performance."

(End of this chapter)