our family is gone

Chapter 261

According to Catherine's story, it was a bit miserable. At that time, their family kindly rescued the old man, but after the old man woke up, he sacrificed her whole family and left her alone.

Lance probably also guessed that it was the wizard who discovered her extraordinary talent and kept her, otherwise the wizard would never have kept her.

Then Catherine was taken by the wizard and forced to become his apprentice, or servant, to move the blood bag.

At that time, the wizard seemed to be hunted by some enemy, so he left the Levant with the merchant ship and took refuge in Totnes.

At the same time, he also used the name of an antique dealer to cover up his identity, and he, an old man who didn't know how long he had lived, really knew this business, settled down and soon set up a shop in Shujie.

During this period of time, the wizard taught her a lot in order to make herself more relaxed, and at the same time let her participate in some rituals.

The chaotic outer city provided materials for his ceremony. No one cared about the outer city where people disappeared every moment, and the wizard slowly recovered from an old state to a middle-aged appearance.

All this was going on steadily until a commission came.

"There was a theft case in the wealthy district of Midtown, and a sheriff wanted him to find the thief..."

Hearing this, Lance suddenly realized, could it have something to do with him?
It shouldn't be such a coincidence...

"The ceremony went smoothly at the beginning, but I don't know what happened. The high-ranking person who had been enshrined for many years died in the middle, and the wizard was seriously injured by backlash.

And in the same situation as ours, it should be that a transcendent who investigated this matter directly lost control and became a fallen person, which caused chaos in the mysterious world of Totnes.

The wizard was wanted by the authorities, so he had to take me to escape from Totnes, and he recovered a little strength through sacrifices all the way north. Finally, he re-contracted with a new superior in a village, and his strength was restored. "

Hearing this, Lance felt that something was being strung together.

No wonder he felt peeped inexplicably on the boat. He thought he was being targeted by collectors, and then inexplicably returned a large number of spiritual and extraordinary items.

It turned out that the sorcerer wanted to find out his traces but was countered by the panel, and the strange demon contracted by him became a scapegoat instead.

"Continue, what is the monster of the new contract?" Lance suppressed the strangeness, and under the calm expression was a turbulent thought.

"I don't know either. He didn't teach me a lot of things, but there are some things that are weird."

Speaking of this, Catherine is also a little tangled. In fact, the wizard did not teach her everything. She also learned more secretly, but she still noticed a few problems.

"In the past, it took him ten years to recover from a serious injury before he recovered from old age to middle age, but this time his body recovered just after completing the contract ceremony.

Moreover, his hands could heal quickly during the battle, which was something that had never happened before, and these should be related to the superior of his new contract. "

According to Catherine, the power of flesh and blood should be obtained from the contract, and the ceremony was held in Hamlet.

Lance guessed that the high-ranking person this guy communicated with was probably an old thing like the ancestor, and that's why he had the power of flesh and blood.

Could it be that the ancestor wanted to use the wizard's hand to bring some trouble to Hamlet?
"Why did you go north? Did he say anything?"

"No, he never explained his thoughts to me."

Lance pondered for a moment. He didn't believe in any coincidences. The presence of wizards here was definitely guided by the ancestors.

That trap was either triggered by Geralt or the others, or by Disma.

No matter who is single-handedly, he will definitely not be able to defeat the wizard, and once the sacrifice continues, the wizard's strength will greatly increase, and I am afraid that he will not be easily beheaded by him like just now.

It's just that Tamara's appearance here disrupted the layout, directly attracted Geralt and the nun, and entangled the wizard with the help of the holy relic, allowing Disma to escape and report to herself, which eliminated the hidden danger in advance.

The chaos generated by the intersection of several parties made the incident develop towards an uncontrollable place.

But with the death of the wizard, I am afraid that no one will know the truth except the ancestor.

But they were all dead, so Lance didn't bother to worry about it.

The fucking old thing is restless, right? The Northern Expedition is about to speed up.

But now there is one more thing... Lance turned his attention back to Catherine.

"What are the functions of these extraordinary items?"

"This pendant is a prop used by wizards to perform secret techniques, and it is also the core component of the sacrificial ceremony; the bone furnace can generate special steam with different effects by adding [essence]; I don't know about the statue, I only know that it seems to be a product of some kind of evil god belief .”

Catherine offered the triangular pendant pinched on her hand. Although she was eager, she was still very sensible sometimes.

"Do you know all about these?" Lance took the pendant and played with it in his hand, with a playful look on his face.

"In order to run an antique shop, although the wizard didn't teach me secret techniques, he did teach me appraisal, whether it's antiques or extraordinary items and spiritual materials."

Catherine knew that the more capable she was, the better she would be treated, but the words that came out of Lance's mouth made her stunned.

"What you said was taught by wizards. Have you ever thought about what you like to do?"

What do you like to do?
She really didn't think about this question, and fell into silence directly.

"Well, you can rest for a few days, you can go shopping in the town, get used to the new life, I am not the same as a wizard, this will be your home, as long as you obey the rules, no one will force you to do what you don't like things."

Catherine just nodded silently, no one knew what she was thinking, but at this moment she found the sunlight shining on her body, reached out to touch it, felt the warm touch, and couldn't help murmuring.

"Its daybreak."

"Yes, it's dawn." Lance looked along, and a ray of morning light shone through the window.

Lance didn't have so many feelings, he only had curse words in his mind.

Fucking Patriarch, he made himself stay up all night, a hair loss is a bullet, when the time comes, he must shoot Patriarch viciously, and open his eyes with a cannon!
Lance kept a note in his heart that he had never been a good-tempered person.

"I'll tell Susan about your affairs. If you have anything to ask her, I won't disturb your rest."

After Lance finished speaking, he got up and left the room. Catherine quickly checked the room and was relieved to make sure that there were no rituals or curses left.

At this time, where did she still have the calmness she showed in front of Lance just now, instead she was restless and apprehensive, and it took a while for her to calm down.

What are you going to do now?run away?
Thinking of this, I went to the door and carefully opened the door. There was no lock, and there were no guards outside, so I could go out directly, and freedom seemed to be just one step away.

It was hard to get rid of the wizard. She didn't believe that a person who could kill the wizard and save herself would have a backup. If she failed, would she...

The more gloomy the person is, the more suspicious they are, and it is also easy to get caught up in it and become entangled.

After thinking back and forth, Catherine still hasn't made a decision after thinking about it for a while, so she can only see what's going on temporarily before making a plan.

After coming out, Lance didn't intend to go back to catch up on sleep, but went back to his room and continued the unfinished work again.

What he had in his hand was the ledger he found from the Ascension Sect camp, which recorded the operation of the camp, and Lance found some interesting things in it.

That is the flow of people between different camps, as well as the flow of materials.

Where do these refugees come from?Where do you go after training?
So after investigating these clues, Lance probably knew that there were at least three similar camps around.

The two or three eliminated every day cannot withstand the consumption of hundreds of people, not to mention that they still have to hold a ceremony.

And their food source is also very suspicious, which actually mentions pigs.

I didn't pay much attention to it at first, but now that I think about it, there are indeed some bones in that pile of bones that don't look like human beings.

You must know that even in Hamlet's life, pork is more precious, and the biggest source of protein is fish.

Where did those Ascension Sects get so much pork?
Looking at the summarized information, Lance fell into deep thought.

…………

"Ho!"

The nun lying on the simple bed woke up suddenly, and what woke her up was the sunlight coming in from the window.

Her memory was still in the moment before she fell down. She felt a little bit more secure after picking up the scripture and the hammer placed on the bedside. She murmured a word of prayer before observing the surrounding situation.

No captivity, no deeper injuries, it's like an ordinary room somewhere.

Standing up to face the sun, feeling the sacred power in his body, he raised his hand and cast a magical spell on himself, his bewildered head was still a little awake.

You can see through the window that the townspeople who come and go can see smiles on their faces and greet each other. It seems that it should be a quiet and peaceful town.

Did the person who appeared last night save himself?
At this time, the door was knocked, and a familiar voice came.

"are you awake?"

The nun realized that it was the witcher named Geralt.

When she opened the door and saw Geralt in full gear, the special physique of the witcher still played a role. After a night of rest, his condition was much better.

"What happened last night? Was the monster killed?" The nun seemed a little disturbed, not knowing what would happen if the monster escaped.

"That person was the lord here last night. He killed the monster and rescued us and sent him here, but he needs us to abide by the rules here and not use violence to hurt anyone."

Geralt has been among the supernatural beings for so many years, so he knows some of the taboos between them. He didn't mention the matter of Lance raising his hand to make the monster's corpse disappear.

Although the nuns in front of them were not those crazy guys, they were still members of the church.

"May the Holy Flame protect him." The nun was relieved after hearing this, and prayed to the kind man.

It's just that at this time, some movements came from the stomach naturally. Last night's battle must have consumed a lot. As long as you are a person, you have to eat, whether you believe in God or not.

Geralt had already eaten, and he stayed in the room purely to wait for someone to wake up and remind him to fulfill the promise, no matter what he said, he was a companion who fought together.

"Downstairs is the tavern, the food is average but you can eat enough..." Geralt just said and looked at the nun in a strange way, "You should be rich, right?"

The nun looked a little embarrassed when she heard this, "I will go to the church in the town to replenish."

"Okay, I won't bother." Geralt did his duty, and the relationship between the two didn't get any better.

After leaving the hotel, Geralt observed the town. Although the outside was very eerie and eerie, there was no gloomy atmosphere in the town. On the contrary, the sun was positive, and the prosperity here could be seen from the construction projects everywhere in the town.

Was all this brought by the lord?
But this is not good news for him, because he is a demon hunter, and only the existence of monsters can give him room to play.

Originally, he chased after the high reward, but now that the wizard is dead, it is impossible for him to receive the reward.

But the materials consumed in the battle along the way, the maintenance of weapons and armor, not to mention those precious medicines, are all money. He urgently needs to take on some tasks to fill his vacant wallet.

But in this environment, it didn't seem like he was threatened by any monster, that is, there was no reward task, that is, no money, no wonder he was helpless.

The appearance of a person dressed like Geralt still attracted some people's attention, after all, there had been no mercenaries in the town for a long time.

In the past, there were no ordinary people who wanted to have too much to do with those chaotic and crazy mercenaries, because most of the mercenaries were of the highest rank.

But now it's just curiosity, not fear.

This is a kind of self-confidence!
After inquiring with a few people, Geralt walked directly towards the lord's mansion. After visiting, he was about to leave. There was no room for him to live here.

Geralt has been in and out of many castles of nobles, as well as many palaces of kings, but such an ordinary place does not stand up to the mighty strength of the lord, so he couldn't help being curious about this place and the lord for a while.
"Are you leaving?" Lance looked at the witcher in front of him, "Is your injury still not healed? Or is there something about Hamlet that makes you uncomfortable?"

Geralt can only tell the situation helplessly, he needs a bounty, but obviously there is nothing here that can fulfill his mission, so he can't go to ashes, right?
Lance didn't understand until he heard this, with a faint smile on his face.

As a ruler, he has never had a good impression of mercenaries.

What are mercenaries?

To put it bluntly, they are street thugs who are aggressive and aggressive. These people are motivated by profit, and often engage in illegal activities with a little bit of strength.

Of course, they can't be beaten to death with a single stick. There may be some positive characters among these people, but at least it is not good for Hamlet's security.

First of all, it must be clarified that the reason for the existence of mercenaries is the lack of positions of the rulers, which led to the emergence of mercenaries to fill this part of the vacancy.

It is so big that the empire needs the church to control the countryside, and its own functions only extend to the cities.

The municipal government in a small city can only control the surface, and the street area still needs the help of gangsters to manage it.

The truth is the same.

The elimination is also very simple. As long as the rulers can fulfill their basic responsibilities and establish a stable environment above the rules, the so-called churches, gangsters, and mercenaries will naturally disappear without survival.

Just like a clean place, no cockroaches can survive because there are no food scraps to feed on.

If it doesn't disappear, it's no ordinary cockroach, it must be punched hard!
Hamlet's current situation has proved that there is no problem with this point. Without mercenaries, the church gangsters will turn around like towns.

But Lance did not mean to completely eliminate this industry, but to eliminate those garbage and leave those who are truly capable.

It still makes sense to exist, after all, there are always some things that are not suitable for oneself.

"I have a bounty here, but I don't know if you're interested." Lance looked at Geralt with a meaningful smile on his face.

"what?"

"A cult organization called Ascension Sect is active around Hamlet. Not long ago, I led troops to wipe out one of their camps, but found that there were still three camps in the wilderness.

Your tracking ability is good. If you can explore the exact location of these camps, you don’t need to do anything. You just need to lead the way. If you find a camp, I will give you ten gold coins. "

Lance didn't know how many camps there were, nor did he know where the camps were exactly.

What's more, he can't waste time on this, Hamlet needs someone to manage, he can't run out every day.

Then someone needs to help him find and determine the location of those camps, and then he will lead troops to destroy them.

And Geralt is a very suitable person, good tracking ability, extraordinary strength, specialized in targeting monsters, and able to move in the wilderness.

"If you take it, I will give you the information and situation, how about it?"

Geralt was also a little moved when he heard this. In the past, most of the tasks were killing monsters and selling materials. As for offering rewards, it can only be regarded as an addition, especially in some small villages and towns, the rewards that can be given out are even less. For him It's more like finding clues to monsters.

But fighting monsters requires a lot of effort, and sometimes you may lose all your money after a trip, just like this time.

But this time, as long as you find it, you can get ten gold coins. If you are lucky, you don't even need to fight head-on, then there will be no damage or maintenance.

But as a demon hunter who has been roaming the mainland for many years, Geralt knows very well that cults are not easy to provoke...

Moreover, the uncertainty of this task is too great. If you can't find it, will you have nothing?

"Of course, if you are worried, you can join the exploration team I formed, but the reward is only two gold coins, but I will provide logistical supplies."

"No, I've accepted this task, give me the information." Geralt didn't hesitate too much, because he really had no money.

As a powerful extraordinary person, he is trapped by money. This is related to the habits of demon hunters. The targets of their training are all monsters. Incompleteness of the soul.

But it seems that there are not many normal people who came to Hamlet...

Just when Geralt and Lance reached a cooperation, the nun also left the hotel, planning to go to the church in the town for help.

Because of some things, she became a battle nun and embarked on the path of spreading the holy flame. Along the way, she also accepted some tasks like those mercenaries, or worshiped by believers, and treated the wounded to obtain financial support by various means.

But there is not much money that can be left, because it is not a very simple matter to spread the brilliance of the Holy Flame, at least the money needed is definitely indispensable.

And the pursuit along the way has no chance to stop at all, and the little money that was originally spent is almost exhausted.

Now I can only seek help from the church. This small town is so big, there should be a church, so I don’t know which school of belief it is?

The location of the church is uniform almost everywhere, even in the center, which also shows the strong influence of the church.

Originally, the nuns had a good impression of such a small town along the way, but I don't know why those people looked at me strangely.

Until she saw the workers who were working hard on the cemetery, and the grave that was dug out.

"You are blasphemy!" The nun roared angrily, and then rushed forward.

The sudden appearance of a person and the roar really made those workers stunned a little bit.

And the nun also rushed forward, the simple nun's clothes and the scripture in her hand reminded those people of something, and they couldn't help but feel a little terrified.

church!

Be the people of the church!
They are back!
The accumulated power of thousands of years of oppression instantly frightened some workers to drop their tools and look terrified.

"We just moved the grave to another cemetery in town."

"Yeah, we're just shifting."

"We're not destroying."

One worker made an excuse, and the others followed suit.

After realizing it, the workers said what they said, but the nun didn't buy it.

"Who told you to destroy the church's cemetery?"

"This is not a church cemetery."

"The church is here and you still want to lie to me!" The nun was furious. The buildings of the churches are all similar. The church is next to the cemetery, so why not?

Speaking of which, the nuns are also dissatisfied with the priests of the church here, and they will allow these people to destroy the cemetery, and they must be punished!
It's just that the worker's words made her unable to react directly.

"That's not a church..."

"What? You say this is not a church?"

"There is no church in our town. If you don't believe me, you can go and see for yourself."

The nun couldn't help showing a strange expression when she heard this, and couldn't help but focus on the building in front of her.

That's right, I can't even recognize the church's style, but if this is really a church, how could those people destroy the tomb at will?
Doubts filled the nun's mind. At this time, she didn't care about pestering the workers, and walked quickly towards the building in front.

She begins to feel that this small town is not as simple as it seems.

After the nun left, one of these people said something in a low voice.

"Keep working unless you want to take your family into the wilderness."

Hearing this, the workers also reacted, ignoring the nun to pick up the tool again.

　Monthly tickets total two hundred, plus two thousand words.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)