book of old days

Chapter 30 The Lord
The old hunter laughed angrily at the businessman's words.

"What do you city people know? That spirit beast is the messenger of the gods. How can it be hunted and killed by mortals?"

The businessman disagreed, "The so-called gods do not exist at all, and the scholars of the society have already proved this. This is indeed printed in newspapers and periodicals, written clearly in black and white, and Your illusory god is completely different, I guess you can't even read the words, no wonder you promote this kind of nonsense as truth.

Just tell us what you said, if the inspectors of the academy hear it, hehe..."

The old hunter opened his mouth with mixed emotions of disgust, disdain, and tension, but stopped speaking.

The businessman's companion hurried out to smooth things over.

"I think there is a reason for these things to spread, maybe someone saw a strange animal, or had hallucinations in extremely cold conditions, but it is not necessarily deliberate nonsense. "

The businessman seemed to have good intentions to open up for the old man, but the firm tone in his words made the old hunter's face even more gloomy.

After hearing this, Sean felt rather complicated. If it were him in the past, he would probably have similar thoughts.

However, after witnessing supernatural existences such as ghosts in the mirror and fairies in the lake with his own eyes, he became more interested in these ancient legends. Maybe there really are ancient gods in this world, and all kinds of magic in Nord myths and legends Creatures are not necessarily unreal.

However, although Nord has been annexed by Brighton, theoretically everyone is from the same country, but geographical and cultural barriers still exist. and rational.

The feelings of the Nords towards the Bretons are also very complicated, but because of the strength of Brighton, they have to accept its rule. In addition, the economy is gradually infiltrated by Brighton businessmen, and the relationship between the two parties is also quite delicate.

He said in his heart that he had to pay attention in the future. Since he wanted to hang out in Nord for a while, he had to have a good relationship with the locals.

The carriage walked on the road for three days. During these three days, he gradually got to know the old hunter and knew that his name was Milok. He liked to hear the old hunter tell the ancient legends of the Nords. The legend has been expunged from official records, but word of mouth cannot be stopped, though how much the legend has been distorted and altered in the process is unknown.

The old hunter was quite satisfied with Sean, a loyal listener, especially Sean, who was generous and shared a lot of mead and smoked venison with him along the way. After a few days, the two became friends.

The road also passed through several Nord villages, and finally arrived in Nordfossen at noon on the fourth day.

Nordforsen showed a city on the map, but when he saw it with his own eyes, he found that it was a bigger town at best. It was located on the edge of the cold wind forest. The wooden wall surrounded the town's periphery, and wooden houses stood tall Among them, these wooden houses are all Nord style, simple, rough, but very strong.

Except for a road that runs through the town, the whole town is almost surrounded by forests.

Sean looked at the desolate scene in front of him, and it was hard to imagine what it would be like to continue north.

Originally, he was thinking of continuing to go north and reach the deserted small village, but now he felt that his journey might come to an end at this point.

Sean decided to live in the town for a day or two first, and inquire about the surrounding situation before talking.

He rented a room at the only hotel in town, settled his luggage, and went to the local tavern.

In such a cold place, there was only one hotel, but there were three taverns, so he chose the one with the most people and went in.

The slightly dim igloo was crowded with hunters, fur traders, and lumberjacks. Although it was broad daylight, the fire in the fireplace was already burning, and the flames were crackling. The tavern brings light.

The drinkers were either crowded at the tables in groups of three or four, or sat in a row in front of the bar, exchanging business information, or discussing what troubles the beasts in the mountains caused.

The locals drink a strong wine called 'Bale', which means oak tree in Nord, probably because the wine is stored in huge oak barrels.

For five copper coins, you can buy a large glass full. Sean bought himself a glass of wine. The glass was also made of oak. The handle of the glass was smooth and shiny. It looked like it had been used for many years. There is also a simple bear face relief on the front, which looks very artistic.

He scanned the surroundings, and easily found the gray-bearded old hunter Milok in the crowd, who was fighting wine with several people.

He raised his glass to the old hunter, who grinned back at him.

Sean took a sip of the wine in the glass, watched the bartender wipe the glass with a piece of linen, and when the bartender passed by him, he pushed a silver taco in front of the bartender, "Excuse me, do you know where there is a house for sale?"

"You want to buy a house?" The bartender looked at him with strange eyes, and didn't go to take the silver coin. "We don't just sell houses to outsiders?"

But Milok came over at the right time, and was about to refill his glass. After hearing that, he patted the bartender on the shoulder, "Don't worry about Buck, John is a real person, hiccup, he's a fur trader, and he's in big business."

The bartender spread his hands helplessly, "You can find Ragnar, he is the 'lord' of Nordforsen. If you want to buy a house, you must get his consent. His family lives in the largest wooden house in the middle of the town. inside."

The so-called "lord" is actually an inaccurate official translation. The Nords do not have a system of noble titles. The real meaning of "lord" probably means a leader or a chief. Every Nord There will always be a person with such a title in the gathering place.

In fact, today's "lord" is no longer what it used to be. In ancient times hundreds of years ago, the Nord lord would gather the warriors of the tribe to plunder collectively, distribute the spoils, and deal with disputes in the territory. The lord is both a territory managers and military leaders.

However, since the Nord Kingdom became the Nordland, the so-called "lord" has become an honorary title left over from the old times. In fact, Nordforsen has an official mayor.

Sean nodded his thanks, clinked glasses with Milok again, and walked out of the tavern.

Sure enough, he found a big house in the center of the town, with independent walls, but although it was large in size, it looked a bit dilapidated. He found Ragnar next to a blacksmith's stove.

Ragnar is a very strong man with deep blue eyes and a wild beard. His face is tattooed with blue battle patterns. This kind of tattoo unique to ancient Nord warriors is now very rare.

When Sean saw him, the latter was forging an ax with his upper body bare, and his solid muscles had a wild beauty that Sean envied.

Sean explained his purpose.

Ragnar didn't seem to be surprised, he continued to jingle the hammer, and after a while, he put the hot ax into the bucket to quench it.

"You want to buy a house?" he asked casually, white steam covering his face, making him look unreal.

"Yes."

"why?"

"I like the scenery here."

Ragnar laughed. He took the ax out of the bucket, looked at the blade, and then raised his hand suddenly. The ax hovered and landed on a round wooden target not far away. The ax blade was embedded in the The center of the target.

This hand is very beautiful, if it is aimed at a person, maybe it can cut off half of the head.

Ragnar grinned in satisfaction, "What's your name, someone who likes to watch the scenery?"

"John, John Smith."

"Then Mr. John, I have all kinds of empty houses here. If you want to buy them, I can give you a very good discount. Come on, I'll show you."

Ragnar carried the ax and led Sean towards the town.

As Sean followed, he expressed his request: "Is there any one that is a little more remote? I like to be quiet."

Ragnar paused, and glanced at him with a half-smile, "Of course, it's always quiet here in winter."

He took Sean to the edge of the town. The buildings here were sparse, and many of them seemed uninhabited. The doors and windows were nailed with thick planks.

Ragnar went to the door of a house and hacked the wooden board nailed to the door with an axe——Sean understood why he had come with an axe.

Seeing that Ragnar was about to split the second board, he hurriedly called to stop him.

"My financial situation is not bad, so it is better to have a bigger house."

Ragnar nodded, and nailed the board back with his backhand.

The two came to a wooden house near the wall. This wooden house was much larger, two stories high, and had a balcony. It looked very grand.

"This is the mayor's house. Since he went hunting in the northern forest and had an accident, this place has been vacant. Do you like hunting, Mr. John?" Ragnar said, using an ax to pry open the door.

Sean shrugged his shoulders, "It's okay, but I've heard an old saying before, 'The best hunters always appear as prey', so for things like hunting, if it's not necessary, I don't plan to try."

Ragnar paused for a moment, nodded slightly, and seemed to think that this sentence made sense.

The door was finally pried open.

"This house is not bad. It's only over 30 years old. It has a good view and the hall is very spacious. Although that Walson is not very good, he has good taste."

As Ragnar said, he picked up the wine bottle on the table and smelled it, and didn't dislike it. He took a big gulp and handed it to Sean.

Sean frowned secretly, but still took a sip.

The taste is not bad, it is honey wine, a bit sour.

He stood on the balcony and looked out of the city. On the edge of the wooden wall, he could vaguely see a winding path leading to a valley covered with dense forests. In the depths of the forest, he could vaguely see the dark The roof of the house peeped out from among the trees.

"Where is that place?"

"Oh, you said Oak Valley, it used to be the place where ancient priests sacrificed to the gods."

Sean immediately became interested when he heard this, "Are there any people here who believe in the gods?"

"Of course not, no one believed it for a long time."

Ragnar shook his head and said, with self-mockery in his eyes, "Since an ax can't beat a musket, the so-called gods are useless."

"Hehe, but it was quite interesting to hear the old people tell the story when I was young. A few years ago, a big businessman bought the valley, bulldozed the ruins of the old temple, and built a manor on it, but later If the owner of the manor has an accident while hunting, the manor will be empty."

Xiao En thought to himself, why do you always have accidents in hunting?

"It seems that your hunting is a high-risk activity." He said pointedly.

Ragnar shrugged like him, "The forest is always dangerous. We also have an old saying, 'The forest will only treat those who respect it'."

"I happen to be very interested in the ancient myths of Nord, can I go and have a look?"

(End of this chapter)