Blood tax

Chapter 67 The Clippers to Neopolis Part [-]
That ominous and vague sense of danger was fleeting.When Griffith first arrived in Bayeran, he faintly felt a dignified darkness entrenched in the depths of the street, as mysterious and gloomy as a giant beast.Now it feels even weirder and more distorted.

However, his attention was quickly drawn to the magnificent buildings near the sea.

When he first came to Bayeran, Griffith was already impressed by the epic wall, but he was even more amazed by the new wonders that appeared near the port.

After years of intermittent construction, the Bayeran Astrology Tower was finally completed at an astonishing speed in half a year after the war, standing on the waves and cliffs.It stands on the top of the mountain, overlooking the raging ocean, and looking up at the boundless starry sky, making the hearts of people watching it surging.

The observation of the stars has always been the focus of the mystical world, and at the same time, there are many small astrological towers in important cities.These buildings of various sizes monitor the trajectories of the stars and provide services ranging from divination aids, psionic detection, and mutant tide alerts to weather forecasts and clock calibration.

The Great Astrology Tower sends powerful psionic signals to every corner of the civilized world, once near noon and once at midnight.Mage towers and astrology towers around the world use this signal to calibrate their clocks.

This signal has an additional layer of meaning.

All human activities are carried out under the guidance of Bayeran's Great Astrology Tower.Bayeran will go from an ancient union to a truly single nation.After the mighty Orcs of the East were defeated, the king and the wise senate must find some particularly persuasive arguments to persuade the princes everywhere.

Griffith watched the spectacle, weighing the strength of himself as an argument.

"Hey, Sir Knight, did you know?" The coachman also saw the magnificent spectacle, and turned to talk to Griffith, "I heard that after this big astrological tower, many functions of the mage towers in various places can finally operate safely. It's like teleportation or something, you can move people thousands of miles away in one fell swoop."

"Really!?" Griffith really didn't know.

"Everyone is talking about it, but there seems to be some restrictions," said the coachman with some envy. "It is said that only Master Mage and Master Knights like you can use it. Ordinary people have to rely on my old skills."

This Griffith understands that many magical items require the psionic drive of Beyonders.No matter how ingenious and simple the design is, it may end up serving less than one percent of the total population of Bayeran.

……

A few hours later, Griffith lay on the soft bed of the spring equinox, playing with the Corrupted Feather Fence from the Whispering Forest Blood Baron, thinking about how to complete the purification.Soft sunshine and warm sea breeze, the cosy coziness makes you sleepy.

The seven-masted sailing ship Equinox has a displacement of more than 8000 tons and travels smoothly and quickly through the waves.Her sails and rudder are assisted by magic devices driven by dust crystals, and the structure is different from that of ordinary ships, and its efficiency and convenience are far superior.Although expensive to build and maintain, it also saves sailors, and the larger cabin and cargo area have been favored in recent years for their comfort and convenience.

This distinctive sailboat, although still made of wood and powered by sail, was built with the latest technology, with pipes and frames of iron or copper covering the hull.Equinox was able to be stronger and cleaner than traditional sailboats, and first and first class cabins could even have their own lavatories.

Iron production in Bayerand has grown rapidly in recent years.It is said that there are many abyss-like deep mines that are being produced day and night, and the billowing smoke covers the sky and the sun, and even the price of fine steel has dropped sharply.The newspaper said that the wise Senate is preparing to eliminate the old-fashioned leather armor of each legion, and popularize the new combination of half-body plate armor and chain armor.

But that's a big deal. Griffith feels that the combination of leather and mail is also very flexible and has its own advantages.

Thinking about it, he gradually fell asleep.

After an unknown amount of time, I couldn't tell if it was a dream or reality, and something like a cold, smooth, curved tentacle touched his body lightly.

At that moment, Griffith was awakened by fear and nausea, and the corner of his eye seemed to swipe a snake-like thing that disappeared into the corner of the cabin.

"SHIT!"

Griffith jumped up from the bed and drew his sword and dagger to defend himself.

snake?Snakes in first class? !Snakes in first class on this luxury passenger ship heading south? ! !

Griffith jumped onto the sofa, then onto the desk, rang the service bell like lightning, and then stood there on the desk, nervously looking up and down.

In the swamps and wastelands of the East, the elusive limp, slippery creatures of the viper gave Griffith countless worse memories than the monstrous beasts, fierce orcs, and wicked magic.Moreover, he seems to have been afraid of this thing since he was a child, and he doesn't know when the shadow was left.

"Sir, what can we do for you?" The waiter knocked on the cabin door and seriously asked the apprentice knight's requirements outside the door.

After getting a clear answer, the waiter quickly walked away.After a while, two tall waiters walked in with a long pole and a snake-catching net. They glanced at the Beyonder who was still standing on the desk and said, "Sir, is there a snake in your room?"

exactly!Otherwise, what do you think I'm doing on the table!Griffith hurriedly pointed to the bottom of the bed, "It's a big one, got in."

"Leave it to us!" The waiter closed the door, put on protective gloves, and the two checked each other's equipment, followed by one person to cover, and one person to move the big bed.

"Do you often make snakes on your ship?" Griffith couldn't help asking when he saw their skillful and calm movements.

"How could it be?" The waiter replied very seriously, "The Spring Equinox is the most luxurious sailboat in this area, and things like snakes that detract from the decency and quality of the ship are absolutely not tolerated."

Then why do you prepare tools for catching snakes?Griffith asked in his heart.

"Be careful, it might be in that corner," a waiter said. "Sedative first to make it quiet."

"Understood, my gloves are lined with iron mesh, it's fine." The other waiter was unafraid, but his every move was coarse and fine, and he didn't miss any dead ends.

Didn't you just say that you never made a snake?Why are you so skilled!Griffith was even more alarmed when he saw the professional appearance of the two.How many times have you caught snakes?

"I see, a sea snake!"

"Don't let it hide in the pipe!"

Sure enough, the waiters caught a curling, tumbling, grinning snake in the corner and packed it into a sturdy sack.Griffith was frightened by the complicated and bright patterns.

"Please rest assured, respected first-class passenger Mr. Brandon." The waiter took the snake away calmly, and then invited more service personnel to come in, "We will conduct a comprehensive inspection of your cabin, and the cabin foreman will take a while. Coming later."

Looking at the sea snake still rolling and curling in the sack, Griffith was flustered.Although he is already an experienced warrior and has even killed a lot of mutant creatures, his fear of snakes has not changed since childhood.Besides, he couldn't figure out how this thing got into his cabin.

"Mr. apprentice knight," the cabin foreman respectfully brought a bottle of red wine, without considering whether the guests would drink it, "please accept our sincere apology."

"Do you know where this snake came from?" Griffith asked cheerfully, taking the red wine and putting it aside.

"The only entrance is the plumbing for the lavatory," the foreman showed Griffiths there, "but, Mr. Brandon, your room is on the upper deck of the main deck, almost close to the top of the ship. It is the habit of sea snakes. For example, we have absolutely no idea how it climbed so high."

"Is it possible to climb in from the pipeline here?" Griffith followed the foreman's instructions to see the possible entrance and exit, and found that there were indeed some traces there, "However, this place..."

The pipe here is not much thicker than the snake that was caught, and it is better to say that the snake was stabbed with a stick instead of crawling out...

"Artificial?" Griffith's expression became very serious. "I don't think a snake can go through this kind of pipe by itself."

"We will investigate the whole ship, Mr. Brandon, and we will report the progress to you during dinner." The foreman took the waiters who had cleaned the cabin out of the room and gently closed the door.

……

Fallen mages have sensed my presence?Did he somehow send this snake in to kill me?So soon, is there a ghost in the Earl's House?

Could it be done by someone else?Did I offend anyone?Well, maybe inadvertently offended a lot, after all I just killed a witcher.

Griffith sat on his desk, thinking without tiptoe.

If the actor's target wasn't me, it was probably targeting the passenger in the cabin next to me, and it was finally sent to me due to some errors.But why use this approach?It's unbelievable that the snake was still alive when it was crammed into a narrow, dusty pipe and emerged.

The more he thought about it, the more uneasy Griffith became, and he simply stood up and checked his equipment.

Now he can condense runes with two attributes, frost and blood, and reserve 6 runes at the same time.

After each use of the rune, Griffith needs to use his mental power to condense new runes before he can use it.Since there is not enough mental power, Griffith will condense runes whenever he is free to ensure that he has 6 runes that he can call at any time to support him.

The spells he can currently use include Ice Armor, Second-Order Frozen Nova/Ice Construct, Blood Golem and Blood Bat Storm, where Blood Golem and Blood Bat Storm consume two blood runes each time they are cast.

(End of this chapter)