book of old days

Chapter 154
The carriage stopped under the slope outside the valley, and Jonathan jumped out of the carriage, trying to move his legs and feet.

"You have to walk from here, and you can't get on a carriage. In fact, it's difficult to pass even on horseback. If you don't ride well, it's easy to break your legs and feet."

Sean nodded and told the driver to wait for them to come back. He followed Jonathan up the slope and walked towards the valley behind the pass.

This is a very rugged mountain road. It can be seen that this road was not so difficult to walk. However, a section of the cliff on the side collapsed and piled up this piece of soil slope, which also made the originally flat mountain road become Like a dog gnawed.

"It wasn't like this before, Earl Hobbs—to be exact, Earl Hobbs IV is a complete lunatic. He thought the castle was not safe enough, so he sent someone to blow up the cliff with explosives. It can better defend against the invasion of foreign enemies, God knows where he came up with this absurd idea, Sword Castle has not faced war for hundreds of years."

The two finally climbed up the slope and walked towards the valley along the winding path. The more they walked, the more excited Sean was about the environment of the castle. It's hard to break into here, even if you get lost, you will probably turn around automatically when you face such a difficult mountain road.

This point is extremely important to him. Those who work in his line of work are most afraid of being discovered by others.

After descending the dirt slope, the road was finally easier to walk, but it was not much better. This narrow valley is indeed as Jonathan said, the land is barren, there is hardly a piece of flat land, and there are uneven and messy places everywhere. Stone piles and bushes.

The malnourished plants look wrinkled, only a kind of thorny plants with tenacious vitality are scattered all over the surroundings, which is really barren.

Continuing to walk in, the mountains on one side are getting higher and higher, forming a huge mountain that blocks part of the sunlight, but the mountains on the other side are gradually lowering, and finally become a slope near the lake. The castle was built on the slope In fact, the materials used are stones mined nearby, which are not regular but extremely strong.

Tall towers loomed in the shadows of the cliffs, and the walls of the castle looked very old, but they were still rock solid, casting a dark and gloomy color.

The gate of the castle was wide open, and when the two walked in, they saw a hunchbacked old man tending a rather dismal lettuce field.

"This person arranged to look at the house here. If no one takes care of this kind of old castle, it will gradually fall into disrepair. It usually takes several people to take care of it, but this place is too remote. Only this person I would like to come here. Fortunately, there is nothing worth stealing here. Even if there are thieves, they will not patronize such a remote castle, so - if you need to hire servants and housekeepers, I can introduce you to a suitable housekeeper company."

"No, I'm used to living alone."

Sean said, looking at the tall building in front of him.

This place is indeed very unpleasant, but it does meet his requirements, sufficiently hidden and strong enough.

"Take me in and have a look."

Jonathan let the hunchbacked old man continue his work, and led Sean into the gate of the castle. The castle has a very spacious banquet hall, which is filled with dilapidated tables, chairs and furniture, which seem to be from 200 years ago. The styles are old, most of them are covered with dust and look rustic.

Jonathan couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, "As you can see, the furniture in this castle is very historical and quite classical, but you can also customize it yourself. I know a very good carpentry firm, and I can introduce it to you if necessary. you."

Xiao En nodded noncommittally, looked at the doors and stairs around the hall, and suddenly noticed a downward staircase on the side.

"Where does that lead? Does this castle have a basement?"

"Well, it's actually a dungeon. You know that in the past, these nobles had the power to enforce the law. Earl Hobbs is not a benevolent nobleman. He would arrest farmers who couldn't pay their taxes and torture them.

Occasionally, it is also used to detain tourists who break in by accident. He will let the family members of the tourists exchange for ransom—as I said before, Earl Hobbs is a lunatic, and he still insists on using the ransom method. Things like this don't happen anymore, the dungeon was abandoned for many years, nothing to see. "

Rather than being a lunatic, it would be more appropriate to say that he is a feudal old man, Xiao En thought to himself, some people are always unable to let go of the glory of the past, and are nostalgic for the power and status they once had in the past. He has seen a lot of things like showing his own uniqueness.

"I'd like to choose to see it," Sean said.

Then he walked directly down the stairs, and Jonathan had to follow.

The stairs spiraled downwards, and it took two rounds to see the ground. At this time, the surroundings were already pitch black, but Xiao En was not affected by the darkness, and his eyes directly saw through the darkness in front of him.

The gloomy dungeon is very strong, all of which are built of large rocks, the surrounding walls are solid and flat, and there are sockets for placing torches on the walls.

The size of the dungeon is large, and it also functions as an interrogation room. Stone walls and iron bars circle the cells one by one. You can even see rusty metal instruments of torture on the walls. It is not difficult to see from its terrifying appearance that the original usefulness.

Sean even saw an Iron Maiden in the corner. He never expected to see the real thing. The rusty outer shell was cast into a woman's face. The outer shell was sealed, revealing a A pile of black holes, this case is much bloodier than it looks in the picture.

This dungeon is also much larger than the basement of the old house in Oak Valley, and it would be very suitable if it is modified for the summoning ceremony.

The surrounding cells can be used just right, and if it is a particularly dangerous summoning ceremony, you can even perform the summoning directly in the cell.

Jonathan stood behind him, looking at him suspiciously. From his position, he could only see the darkness, "Do you want me to get an oil lamp?" He asked uneasily, the coldness and staleness in the air made him restless However, the motionless Sean also made him feel uneasy.

"No need, there's nothing to see anyway." Xiao En said lightly, then turned and walked back.

Jonathan walked ahead as if he had been pardoned, and the two quickly returned to the hall.

Going up the stairs, Sean then checked the living facilities of the castle. Although the main purpose of buying this castle is to perform the summoning ceremony, it is always necessary for life.

What made him quite satisfied was that although the main body of the castle was gloomy and ancient, there were several rooms with very 'modern' living facilities, such as boiler rooms, bathrooms, banquet halls, and study rooms.

After wandering around, Sean boarded the castle tower again.

This is the commanding height of the castle, surrounded by a circle of battlements, facing the direction of the valley on one side, and facing the lake behind on the other.

Xiao En stood on the city wall, observed the surrounding environment, and made an assessment in his heart. This place is indeed very hidden. There is a hill in front, a large lake behind, and a forest on the opposite side of the lake. There is a small forest near the castle. There is a wooden trestle with a small boat docked, and there is no other means of transportation.

What made Xiao En most happy was that although the geography was very remote, it was actually not too far from Sword Castle, only less than an hour's ride away.

He was about to agree almost immediately, but at this moment, a reflection on the lake caught his attention.

He was taken aback, it seemed to be a person, he rubbed his eyes, and finally saw clearly, the pale and swollen face of Alhaz in the dream was floating there, turning white His eyes met his, with a weird smile on his face.

He was almost frozen there, staring fixedly at the corpse, that's right, it was Alhaz, it was definitely not a hallucination, he almost couldn't help jumping down to see what happened.

"The scenery is not bad." Jonathan's voice suddenly sounded behind him, which brought him back to his senses from the nightmare-like staring at each other. He turned around and saw that Jonathan was wiping his sweat with a handkerchief panting.

When Sean turned his head to look at the lake again, the pale and swollen dead face had disappeared, only his own face was looking at him indistinctly with the fluctuation of the water surface.

(End of this chapter)