our family is gone

Chapter 282 The Ancient Sewer

Geralt's hearing was correct, there were really six people hiding in the tent, and they weren't even tied up.

In the chaos just now, even if they could leave the tent by just taking a few steps, these people's mentality had already collapsed, and they didn't even dare to escape, so they could only tremble here.

Facing Lance's inquiry at this moment, it is naturally impossible for them to tell the situation without too much concealment.

But to Lance's surprise, they were not refugees. On the contrary, they were once key figures in a small town, or people in Owendor City, and they were considered powerful people among ordinary people.

It's just that because they blocked the development of the Ascension Sect, they were quickly controlled, and then thrown here as slaves, and they had to do all the dirty work in the camp.

The oppressor becomes a slave here, what is the ancestor doing?
It didn't take long for Lance to realize that the old ancestor was definitely not doing this for any good deeds. He did it purely to psychologically win down the newly joined ordinary people.

The oppressors who were once high above can only become slaves, and those who were once oppressed can trample them under their feet as long as they join.

This is something they dare not even think about. To some extent, it can be regarded as a rise in status. No wonder they are so fanatical about taking down the believers.

Old Ancestor really has a way of playing with people's hearts...

As slaves, they have seen those cultists cannibalizing people in the camp, and they have also heard the violent screams. A series of tortures have tamed them long ago.

That's why they didn't dare to take the opportunity to escape when they heard the movement outside, and they didn't even dare to take a sneak peek.

At the same time, he also explained that they would react in this way when they saw Lance just now.

But Lance didn't care about their nonsense.

"I'm not interested in your origins, I want to know what happened above this camp."

"I don't know, I really don't know, save us and leave."

These people are still in a state of panic, and they want to leave this ghost place more than answering Lance's question.

"Don't you tell me how I saved you from leaving?" Lance looked very calm, "I don't know when those cultists will come back."

This sentence made them subdue directly. Lance knew everything when he asked, for fear that those people who answered late would be imprisoned again when they came back.

"When was this camp established? Why was it established? Personnel changes, material changes..."

I don't know exactly when it was established, but as far as they came and became slaves, the exact time is not clear, but the longest time among them is no less than one year, and he is the only one left from the same batch.

They were in contact with places like the kitchen on weekdays, but they knew that the number of believers in the previous camp was not stable. Usually, these people were constantly consumed, but they would also be replenished, basically maintaining at 50 or [-] people.

Until some time ago, the frequency of personnel replenishment increased significantly more than those who left. At the most, there were even close to 200 people, but today, most of them were directly withdrawn, leaving some behind.

"What do the believers who have added look like? Do you think of ordinary people or refugees?"

"How could those adults be refugees, they are all strong."

Lance's eyes changed slightly when he heard these people call the cultist "Master", but he didn't say it, but continued to ask.

It was quickly determined from their descriptions that these were not newcomers, but guys who had undergone certain training.

"Did this camp have the habit of patrolling and guarding before?"

"Yes, there have always been people on patrol and sentry. Someone once tried to escape, but was caught..." The man didn't say the whole thing, but he didn't need to think about it, but he knew that there was a high probability that he would be eaten by them.

As soon as Lance said this, he couldn't help but glanced at Geralt, which meant that the patrol here was not a follow-up situation caused by his own destruction of the camp, but had always been there.

It's not about defending yourself, so what is it about?
This is not a place to train new believers. On the contrary, trained people are transferred from other places, and there are often losses, which means that these cultists are fighting against some enemies.

And choosing such a weird place, and at the same time arranging manpower to guard against something, it means that there is definitely something wrong here.

"Where did the disappearing believers go?"

"Don't know, but they always leave behind camp and sometimes come back with prey."

"Prey!" Lance immediately realized the word, "What prey?"

Several slaves did not answer immediately, but exchanged eye contact with each other, and the last one said: "I don't know, anyway, it's just a big piece of meat that I can't tell what it is."

"Huh~" Lance let out a long breath, but a confident smile appeared on his face. He finally knew what the real danger in Amanda's prophecy was.

The situation returned to the familiar plot again, and finally it was not something beyond his comprehension. Recently, these things made him a little nervous.

Lance understood, but Geralt and the others haven't reacted from those strange conversations, so how did it end?What's the matter?
But Lance had no intention of explaining, and waved his hand towards Boudica, "Go, keep going, I seem to have discovered the purpose of the Ascension Sect to do this."

After finishing speaking, he turned his eyes to the place behind the camp, which was shrouded in darkness.

The slaves also felt that something was wrong at this time, and they all cried out.

"No, you have to protect us."

"That's right, we can't get out of here at all."

"Hurry up, or those people will come back later."

"What are you afraid of? There are no cultists here. You can go out and return to the city along this direction."

Lance scolded unhappily, but instead of satisfying those people, he kept urging them.

"You all saved us, how could you leave us here!"

"Yes, there will be monsters here, and they will kill me."

"..."

When Lance heard that these guys wanted to kidnap him morally, he wanted to laugh for a while.

He is respectful to the cultists and dare not resist at all, but he has many demands in the face of Lance and others who saved him.

Isn't such an attitude ridiculous?

Seeing them like this, Lance waved his hands, his eyes looked a little gloomy.

"Boudica, then send them away."

Hearing this, Boudica picked up his halberd without any warning and slashed at those people, beheading them.

And this is not over yet, the halberd has been pulled out and slashed at the other one, which immediately made the remaining five people exclaim, but how could they escape Boudica's attack, the remaining four people directly collapsed two, two The man turned and fled.

Wangcai, who was beside Lance, rushed out and threw himself at one person, while the other had not had time to rejoice that he had not chosen himself, but there was a sudden tearing sound in the air, and before he could turn around, he shot a halberd directly from behind. The heart was inserted, and the whole person fell to the ground.

Boudica's action of throwing the halberd hadn't been put away yet. Presumably she was the one who threw the halberd just now, that is to say, the remaining two were also dealt with.

Should good people be pointed at guns?
Fortunately, he is not a good person.

Lance helped them collect the corpse casually, but the other two didn't think so.

Geralt didn't even react to this sudden scene, he instinctively pulled out his long sword and took a few steps back to distance himself.

And Junia was about to speak, but she was killed before she could say anything, and she was a little at a loss for a while.

"These people are not the new batch of refugees." Lance didn't care about their accusations, but asked back, "They help cultists kill and dismember people and then eat people. Do you think these people can return to normal? live?"

This sentence immediately stunned Junia, and Geralt's hand holding the sword hesitated a little.

"No, although they were bullied by cultists, these things have been deeply engraved in their brains.

Once they return to the human gathering place, they will look down on normal people, they will continue to pursue flesh and blood to ascend, and they will become cultists lurking around us. "

"That is to say, the moment they eat human flesh, there is no turning back."

First of all, it must be clear that he attacked the camp to save people, and the purpose of saving people was to find clues.

When the clues are obtained, these people will be useless. His values ​​have always been simple. No matter what the reason, when they choose to succumb to the Ascension Sect and aim the butcher knife at humans, it is impossible to let these guys who serve the cultists leave alive here.

Geralt and Junia fell silent again. What they experienced today made their brains a little stuck.

"That's right, these people can't be put back." Junia admitted Lance's way of handling it. No matter what time it is, cannibalism is unacceptable to most people. As a priest of the church, he hates this kind of guy even more. .

"The lord has been fighting these cults for so long, he must know better than us, should we search this camp now?" Geralt said something to smooth things over and divert the topic.

He definitely didn't want to conflict with Lance, after all, the money hadn't arrived yet.

"There's no need to search. The really important things may have been taken away long ago. What's left behind can't be good things. They'll be set on fire later. I'll go and see the place they mentioned. You two are coming with me." Or stay here and wait? It’s okay to go back first.”

Since Patriarch prepared a trap to wait for him, it means that it is of no great value.

But Lance's decision made Geralt wary.

After wandering around for many years, his first reaction was that the lord would not want to find a chance to kill himself and then renege on his debt, right?
No way, although cultists are hateful, Lance's behavior is even more strange, as if he has concealed a lot of things, which makes him fall into a very passive state, unable to figure out what this person is thinking.

Rather than follow them to go deeper, it is better to check the camp to see if there is any loot, and go back early if you can't wait.

You can't renege on Hamlet's face, can you?
"I……"

But just when he wanted to make a statement, Junia spoke up first.

"I'll go with you to see what these cultists are doing."

This made Geralt a little confused. Logically, shouldn't you be with me?
If the two of you stay here, at least you can take care of me, so follow up...

The awareness of wandering the rivers and lakes was too poor, and Geralt also fell into a dilemma for a while.

Compared with Lance, he must have more faith in Junia, who has fought side by side along the way.

But that's why he couldn't just watch Junia fall into danger.

Are you getting out or are you?
"Let's go together, it's not a good choice to be separated in this kind of place." Geralt still chose to follow and take care of one or two.

Lance didn't know what he was thinking, but he also noticed something strange, but he didn't care, he just raised the torch and lit the tents as he walked.

The flames spread quickly, greedily absorbing everything around them, and when they walked out, all they could see when they looked back was the soaring fire that engulfed the entire camp.

Finally, Lance found a remnant building with ancient traces behind the camp.

A tall and arched circular entrance made of masonry, most of which is buried in the soil, only a small part leaks out of the ground.

Above it is a fence made of thick black iron. The cast iron bars on it are as thick as a forearm, directly penetrating into the surrounding walls, sealing off the opening.

It seemed to be shrouded in the deepest darkness, and the torch was passed in along the gap, but the light of the fire could not dispel the darkness, and no one knew how deep it was.

"What kind of place is this?" Junia was ready to fight, but found that it was just such a place.

"There is a strong stench, like rotting corpses, feces..."

Geralt fluttered his nose, as if he wanted to analyze the wind blowing from the passage, while Lance revealed the answer directly.

"It used to be part of the city's sewer system, but when that huge city was destroyed, the traces left by humans also disappeared, and now it's not known what is occupying it."

Lance looked at the long-dried traces under his feet. Perhaps the sewage of tens of thousands of people once flowed here, but now only weeds are left.

"City?" Geralt looked towards the north, as if he had already realized it, "Could it be the Hamlet that was destroyed long ago?"

In the northeast of the empire, there are only a few places that can be called cities, but it is obvious that this place has completely separated from those prosperous areas, and adding the word "destroyed", naturally there is only one place.

In fact, just like Tamara and Amanda, it's not that they don't know the Hamlet that once appeared in the northern part of the empire, but they really don't think of it together.

Because the location is not right, today's Hamlet has moved southward for a long time on the original site, plus buildings and the like.

In addition, Hamlet's interpretation means "home". This name is too common, because ordinary people only know those few words, so it is used very frequently.

"You guessed it right, I am the last lord of Hamlet, the Earl of Lance." Lance looked very deep for a while, raised his hand and pressed it on the cold wall of the passage, and slowly explained...

(End of this chapter)