The clothes worn by the people who suddenly appeared and escaped are very exquisite. Although the styles are completely different from those in the Rigal world, you don't need to be an expert on the costumes of the Moon Country to see the excellent workmanship from the embroidery and the combination of various colors. .
This is obviously not the standard that local residents should have, and the way this person ran away after seeing the sage and the Luoan girl, who were obviously foreigners, also made people feel very suspicious.
The overall environment is hostile to foreigners and people in high positions. If she brought some guards, things would probably become more difficult to handle. Even if chasing them would make them look more like the bad guys, there weren't many choices before the group at the moment.
"Tap tap tap -" Henry and Mira walked directly. Although the little unicorn was right next to it, it was still carrying a lot of supplies and could not carry the Luoan girl without a suitable saddle.
However, even if they were just walking, the two people, who were well-trained and physically capable, managed to close the distance very quickly.
"..." It was not obvious because of the distance before, but now I looked closer and saw that the young woman with unique dark blue hair turned back and glanced, and then she became obviously panicked, because she immediately said In front of Henry and Mira, he stepped on the hem of his too-large clothes that was not suitable for movement and fell.
"Wow -" The sight of her falling solidly on the frozen soil made Mira close her eyes unbearably, and the sage looked around and saw no one else before loosening his grip on Clay. Merle's hand on the hilt of the sword did not pull it out.
Mira glanced at her teacher, and then took back the knife in her hand.
"Ah hiss--" The woman in a large robe got up from the ground, touched her soiled hat and put it back on, then turned around and pulled out a handful that looked like "click-" It's very delicate, but its size can only be used as a protective knife for cutting fish.
"Ah, Atasibuqi oh moda???Puqinchanchan?Nkudasaiyi!!" It seemed like a warning, but because the rhetoric was completely different from the way Lulu used it, Mira He turned his head to look at the sage with a confused expression.
"She said she was armed and told us to stay away." Henry shrugged and took a step closer.
"Ah -" the woman yelled and started to retreat in panic, while Mira glanced at the knife in her hand that didn't even have a guard - from an adventurer's point of view, it looked more like a delicate knife Crafts rather than practical equipment: "Weapons?" She sighed helplessly.
The two of them closed the distance with each other at an angle. The sage tried to defend himself, but the moment he opened his mouth, the other party sank down, then stepped back with his legs, and raised the short knife in his hand - this is a typical sprint posture, a typical amateur sprint. attitude.
The movement is so obvious that anyone can see it at a glance, so it is very easy to avoid. "Ha, haaah...!" She made a panicked and cringing voice. It was more like a brave person who wanted to escape but knew that she couldn't escape, rather than a war cry, but she rushed forward. Come forward.
"Am I the target?" The Luoan girl sighed again. Obviously, standing next to the sage, she did seem to be a better target.
But even so——
"Wha—" "Ah!" The Moon Country woman's charge was too obvious. This unsuccessful attack was dodged by the Luoan girl without any surprise.
"Wow!!" What the white-haired girl should do next was to destroy the opponent's balance and reach out to grab and disarm him, but before she could do it, the person once again stepped on the hem of the too-long robe, yelled and fell to the ground. He fell to the ground, and the short knife in his hand slid far away on the ground with a "clang--" sound, so that the Luoan girl didn't even have to use her feet to push it away.
"..." Mira looked at Henry speechlessly, and the sage shrugged as usual.
"Ugh, ether." The woman holding her forehead got up, and then she yelled "Wow" when she saw the short knife in her arms sliding so far, and then turned her head to look at Henry with a very stiff movement. and Mira——
The Luoan girl and the sage, who were much taller than her, cast deep shadows on their foreign-profiled faces under the not-so-strong light.
"T-Tapé?Nnai?Nkudah, oh... oh, gaeyahimasu (please don't eat me, please)." The trembling woman suddenly fell to the ground. He knelt down and kowtowed to the two of them - this was what Lulu, Galeva, Aggie and others saw after they arrived a step too late.
"...Well, who can explain to me what's going on?" The dull young porter said.
"...In short." Priest Alfonso, who had been watching for a while, sighed, stepped forward, and said in the language of the Moon Country: "Hello, this is."
"Ms. Doctor."
"Ah? - Ah!" The woman, who was in a mess and had several bumps on her head, finally reacted, but she said "Wow" loudly.
————
————
The explanation took more than an hour. With the efforts of Lulu, a local native, and Priest Alfonso, who was familiar with the culture of the Moon Country, the woman who called herself "Aya" finally believed that they were nothing. An evil foreigner who drinks blood from his hair.
The geographical and cultural barriers are the best breeding ground for rumors. The language barrier, the difference in appearance, and the generally taller body shape of the Rigar people. When the Moon Kingdom prohibits them from going to other areas, this mystery This feeling led to folklore almost describing foreigners like Henry as the ogre named "Yaksha" in the legend of the Moon Country.
And obviously, our Mr. Sage's tall appearance and slightly unsmiling character will only make this rumor more solid when he meets any common people of the Moon Country.
Although once you get to know him, you will know that Henry is not a cold-blooded person. But he was too lazy to always show his emotions and was always very calm. When they first met, Mira thought that he was a bloodless and tearless person.
After calming down the panicked female doctor from the Moon Country, in order to express his sincerity, Priest Alfonso took the initiative to introduce the origins of his group. But he didn't tell it all without reservation. He weakened the part that decided to land from the Yi land and take the overland route because of the news of the conflict, but strengthened the fact that Lulu fell into the hands of pirates because the Yi people were hunted by Kazuto, and also emphasized that Lulu fell into the hands of pirates because the Yi people were hunted by Kazuto Escape from Kirishima and then find parts of your own clan. This made the Yi girl next to her a little confused - she didn't even know that this man cared about her so much, but Henry and Mira, who barely understood the content, understood Alfonso's plan very well.
This is a psychological game. They both want to know something, but neither of them knows what the other has.
This woman, whose pronunciation is "Aya" and written in the local language as "绫", is 20 years old. Her position is "Dr. Xingyong". The position of "Doctor" is unique to the Kingdom of the Moon. Similar in nature to the scholars of the Padrosi Empire, their status and voice in the upper class are even higher. If we really want to find a suitable word in the Rigal language for comparison, then I am afraid that it can really match the respected status and profound knowledge.
There is only one title of "sage".
The clothes and accessories she wears and even the well-made short knife prove the fact that she is not from a low background. And the posture of sitting calmly and calmly on the shrine mat after calming down also showed the calmness of having seen the big world. This is also in line with the characteristics of the holder of the PhD position in the Moon Country - it is not that there is no noble son from a poor family, but it is obviously impossible for someone so young to be able to take on such an important task without the support of unique family resources.
However, this kind of identity and family background, which may usually attract much attention in the mainstream society of the Moon Country, has become a somewhat subtle existence in the current specific environment.
She is at a disadvantage. Mira nudged the sage with her elbow, and then signaled with her eyes.
Of course, Henry had already noticed it.
Aya is trembling.
Under the large and gorgeous doctor's robe, her shoulders were shaking slightly. The fingers placed on the straw mat inside the shrine were also a little white from the unconscious exertion. This calm and composed look is all fake. Even if they were not cannibals, they were visitors from a foreign land, and she was just a weak woman surrounded by foreigners. If she said she didn't feel uneasy, it would be a lie.
But even so, she couldn't show weakness, so she still maintained her appearance of decency and calmness. This is just showing off. She didn't know how to change the current situation, she didn't know how she would be treated, and she was worried about being hurt by these foreigners whose language and culture were very different, because of the unknown situation and the absolute disadvantage in terms of force and numbers. I was very nervous, but I knew I couldn't show weakness, otherwise I would be taken advantage of.
Henry and Mira were obviously not the only ones who noticed this. Priest Alfonso also noticed it, so he hid temptations in his words when explaining his side's information - focusing on the mention of the ethnic minority to which Lulu belonged. The story of the country's army persecuting and then returning to search for her. The priest brushed aside his own position and narrated Lulu's experience in the form of a third person. It seemed that he was just describing their experience in a plain way, but he was able to observe Ling's attitude and understand her position.
After all, she comes from a high-level society in the Moon Country. Although theoretically speaking, the profession of scholar has less to do with politics, but Luo Lan and others have proven that this is not an absolute truth.
If the female doctor expresses the meaning of "deserve it", then most of the conversation will end there. Because her stance is xenophobic, there is no real possibility for the group, as foreigners, to cooperate with her.
Fortunately this did not happen. After hearing this, Ling shook her head: "It is regrettable that these things happened. I always thought that the people above were a bit rigid and lacked flexibility." She said this, and there were more and more people present who understood what Alfonso was doing. He breathed a sigh of relief.
There is no overly sharp xenophobic sentiment, or the city government is very aware of the environment she is in and sees through Alfonso's words - but based on the previous youthful performance, this is obviously negative, so it seems that her position is It's really leaning towards neutral.
No matter what, at least from this point of view, they met a relatively thoughtful and delicate female doctor instead of a young, energetic and somewhat confused male Moon Country senior official. They were lucky.
And as the results of the testing of positions and attitudes are obtained, truly meaningful exchanges and communications can finally begin.
As the exchange progressed, Ling's trembling frequency gradually became lower and finally disappeared completely. She also loosened her hands on the ground and no longer sat upright.
This subtle body language revealed the fact that she had finally put down her worries, and when the two parties finally reached a consensus without conflicting positions through various information exchanges, the real issue was finally raised through Alfonso's mouth. out.
"Why did Ms. Doctor come to this area without any followers?" The question asked by the priest made Aya pause for a while.
She seemed hesitant, and the sage who noticed this spoke from above at the right time: "We came here to the shrine because we encountered some things in the village. Things that seemed human and inhuman, and some weird bugs. Covered with Golden bug." Henry said this, and Mira and Alfonso next to him noticed that Ling's body shook when he said this keyword.
"We thought there would be information here, but there is only some information here." The sage paused: "Maybe we don't know better information."
"Ah." The doctor nodded, and said in a complicated tone with a confused expression but some approval: "Did you also see those things?"
"Well, it looks like they didn't succeed in destroying the evidence." Henry said.
"I put it out." Ling said, and Mira frowned: "But Huozhezi didn't see that it was stepped on, and there was no moisture around it."
"Because I drank all the water I brought with me, I used the bowl I brought with me to hold it. Without enough oxygen, it naturally went out." The doctor said this, and the Luoan girl looked at him with a confused face. Sage next to him.
"The burning of fire requires not only fuel, but also oxygen. To put it simply, it is just like a living thing that needs to breathe. If you pinch the neck, you will be suffocated and extinguished. Imagine it like this." The sage explained to Mira in Avenela language. , and as soon as he opened his mouth, Ling suddenly looked at Henry: "Are you different from the Lamo people?"
"Ramo? Ah, is it Laman?" Mira blinked her eyes, and this time she realized: "Yes, neither we nor the Lamanites are. Do you understand Avenela?"
"I don't understand, but the pronunciation is very different. It's not like the dialect of Lamo, it's like a completely different language. I heard that there are many countries on the other side of the sea, unlike the Moon Country, where there is only one, so I guessed "." Ling sighed: "If there were many different countries in Crescent Continent, maybe it would be better than now."
She sighed, but Galeva, who had never understood, had already intervened in the topic a little anxiously: "Can you tell me a little faster, what are those monsters? This lady seems to know something, please tell me quickly. Ah." He urged in Lamani, and Ling, who heard Galeva's words, turned her head and glanced at him, and then replied in Lamani with a slight accent: "This gentleman does not seem to be If you speak the language of my country, then it’s okay to explain it in Lamo language.”
"Huh?" Galeva was stunned, and Mira rolled her eyes at him with contempt.
"But..." Ling turned her head to look at Lulu with some hesitation. She was obviously concerned about the Yi girl's problem in understanding.
"Anyway, even if you speak in Japanese, I can't understand you at all." Lulu simply shook her head and walked to the side to start arranging weapons, while the rest of the people sat around the center of the shrine, listening to this The doctor from the Moon Country talked about related things.
She first denied the concept of parasites that everyone thought of, but instead said a word that confused many people.
"Mineral fungus?" Mira looked confused: "Is it a type of mushroom?" She said this according to the corresponding vocabulary in Laman language.
"The concepts are not the same." Ling frowned in embarrassment: "But there seems to be no accurate descriptive vocabulary in Lamo language."
"If you two are swordsmen, maybe you know how to smelt iron?" She said to Henry and Mira: "No matter what the final result of the weapon is, it must start with the step of smelting ore."
"Yes, we have accepted the task of escorting people to mine." The Luoan girl nodded: "But what does that have to do with mushrooms?"
"Ore? I have indeed heard records saying that the minerals of the Southern Barbarians are far superior to our country -" Ling sighed: "That's right! The existence of metal ores is not limited to formed high-quality minerals. In fact, these are just some unique minerals. It only exists in different regions. Taking our country as an example, although there are many mountains, there is only one region that produces high-quality ore, Fuso."
"In most places, the only limonite that can be collected is ooze-like limonite."
"This kind of iron ore is formed near the water by the iron bacteria among the mineral bacteria." She said this, and the Luoan girl recalled the past mission and suddenly nodded: "Ah! Our previous mission was Looking for iron ore in dry riverbeds."
"That's been done, and complicated things take time to explain. So just a jump."
"In short, this interesting fungus was discovered in a gold mine in the south several years ago. They have similar properties to iron bacteria, except that the result of condensation is more precious gold." "Wow, that's not it. Bravo!" Galeva shouted loudly, and Mira kicked him dissatisfied. And Ling glanced at the young man with a livid face covering his calf, and then said: "As expected, people began to try to take advantage of this kind of thing."
"Because in our country, gold mines are controlled by high-level officials and are not accessible to ordinary people... It is no wonder that people hope to get rich overnight - in short - they were just ordinary people in small villages at first. , it gradually spread and was contacted by some lords. Eventually it spread upwards layer by layer and reached the academy where I work."
"The academy, which claims to have gathered the world's elite, started researching this unique existence and named it gold-eating bacteria."
"But it took a long time, but I still couldn't figure out what kind of existence it is. In the end, by chance, I discovered the fact that it can swallow spiritual power." Ling said, As soon as Mira opened her mouth, the sage said: "It's magic power." The girl Luo An nodded, and Dr. Xingyong of the Moon Country seemed to look at the two people who had a tacit understanding with envy.
"The Devouring Spirit...Magic."
"Just use the vocabulary you are used to." Henry reminded, and Ling nodded in gratitude: "After swallowing spiritual power, they will grow and the speed of condensing gold will also increase. This approach even attracted noble The royal family's attention once turned into some kind of plan to carry out large-scale breeding operations." Ling paused: "Then it failed."
"One week after the cultivation in the mine was officially started, all the cultivated gold-eating bacteria died overnight. Because they are tiny organisms that are difficult to see with the naked eye, we found out through activity testing."
"Although the gold is real, it will never increase. Even if you put gems containing spiritual power in it, it will not be absorbed."
"They are completely dead."
"The mainstream view is that magic power increases the growth of gold-eating bacteria, which is what we in the Moon Country call 'reinforcing the growth'. In other words, it seems to have achieved results in the short term, but it actually shortens the life of the bacteria."
"In other words, originally this kind of bacteria could survive for hundreds of years, and then accumulate so much gold in the process. But we accelerated this process with spiritual power and shortened it to just a week, ahead of schedule All the amount was obtained." Aya continued: "The failure of this plan is that the investment and harvest cannot be balanced."
"The price of jade containing spiritual power is extremely high, even if it is spiritual grass or the blood of a spiritual beast, it is even more valuable than gold. If you feed the spiritual power, it will increase. In the long run, the increase will reach a certain level. After that, you just need to wait for the gold to accumulate naturally, and it will become a good investment——" "Stop - stop, stop, stop -" Galeva stretched out his hand to cover his head and said rudely: "My head It hurts a little."
"Idiot." Mira despised him again, and Ling noticed the fact that she was immersed in the explanation, and lowered her head in embarrassment: "Sorry..."
"Don't apologize, this guy is too stupid." Mira despised Galeva again.
"In short, this person faced failure and was left in the cold and abandoned." Ling continued, and Henry spoke again at this time: "But it's not the end for you, right."
"..." The doctor looked at the sage, looking into those calm gray-blue eyes without any color, so she nodded: "Yes, I have a theory of my own. "
"There is spiritual power in living things. This includes humans and other living things."
"So, what is a spiritual beast?" When she said this, she looked at the little unicorn outside, and the little guy also looked in as if he had a tacit understanding.
"It retains the appearance of the creature, and can even trace its origins to find a creature of the same type. It still retains the ability to reproduce with the same species, but it has abilities that ordinary creatures of the same kind do not possess."
"What kind of existence are they?"
"I think the key lies in the 'quantity' of spiritual power."
"This is an opportunity for qualitative change. When it accumulates to a sufficient level, it will cause changes in living organisms. The original ordinary rabbit has the ability to control wind, and the wolf can suddenly use fireballs, as well as human magic. The envoys have also transformed from ordinary people into unique individuals with the ability to control wind and rain."
"I want to understand the essence of spiritual power and why it can cause biological mutations. And these bacteria, I think, are the entry point for my research." After Ling finished speaking a long paragraph, she suddenly licked her lips and licked her lips. Looking at it, the dull Galeva suddenly became smart for some reason and handed her a soft skin water bag.
"Graci (thank you)." Ling thanked her, and then looked at it carefully before she figured out how to remove the cork of the water bag.
"That means you think they didn't die, but evolved." Aiji, who had been silent next to him, finally spoke: "But others don't support you, right?"
"..." Ling shook her head helplessly: "In order to support my remarks, I read many classics. In the history of our country, there were cases of 'soul-sucking monsters appearing' in the mountainous areas. Those who encountered them The characteristics of listlessness, pale face, and low body temperature are very similar to those of people with low spiritual power. And these places are often related to the places where gold mines and gems are produced."
"So I think it was the gold-eating bacteria that came into contact with gems containing spiritual power when they were living in the natural environment in the mountains, which led to their evolution and turned into some kind of individuals that can move freely. And because knowing spiritual power can make oneself further Changes occurred, and therefore began to actively attack creatures and humans." After finishing speaking, Ling sighed helplessly again: "This statement was denounced by my mentor as treason. Everything in this world is traceable, and it is the great moon god. The descendants of the descendants have been in this form from the beginning of their birth, and they will always be like this from now on. How can there be a creature that changes itself against the will of the gods? Even if there is, it is definitely not possible in this world. Things. Keep a distance and let samurai kill evil monsters, and you must not have the slightest idea of contacting and studying them, so..."
"..." The silence made the atmosphere a bit stiff and awkward, and no one knew how to answer the question. Mira thought in her heart, "Every family has its own sutras that are difficult to recite," but she did not say it out loud.
"It's a bit ironic." Ling sighed again. She looked very tired and said: "The entire country has a history of 4,000 years, and no one in the Upper Academy, where the elite gathers, is willing to listen to me. I can only speak to You foreigners who meet by chance describe your ideas."
After speaking, the young female doctor looked at everyone's expressions and sighed again with a slight disappointment at the silence of the people around her: "It's okay to not believe it -" "Bold speculation, but it's not groundless." The sage spoke, causing her to raise her head in surprise.
"No one has been able to fully explain the phenomena caused by magic power. But if we make statistics on the things we know, we will basically come to a conclusion: the life span of a creature that evolves into a Warcraft will be much longer than that of the original creature of the same kind. "Henry said: "There are occasional instances of human high-level magicians living for more than a hundred years. The lifespan of the elves is longer than that of humans. This can also be considered to be related to their generally stronger magical abilities than humans."
"So based on this statistics, it is obviously illogical that absorbing magic power will lead to a shorter life span."
"Coupled with the uniqueness of this ability, the occurrence of variables is also-" "..." Aya suddenly opened her eyes and shed tears little by little.
"The teacher is such a terrible adult." Mira rolled her eyes at Henry.
"No, no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just my first time." The doctor kept rubbing his eyes: "This is the first time someone listened carefully and agreed with my theory. I, I -" She lowered her head: "sorry Sorry."
Ling, who suddenly started crying, interrupted the somewhat profound discussion. A stupid guy like Galeva let out a long breath as if get out of class was finally over, while Mira and Lulu next to her came to comfort her for a while. , the doctor finally regained his energy and told the rest of the story.
All in all, since no one supported her theory, the doctor began to conduct field research alone. Although she lacked experience in traveling, with the noble clothes of Dr. Xingyong and the dark blue hair of the nobles of the Moon Country, she received help from many civilians along the way.
After pursuing various clues, she finally arrived at this small village - located in the far north corner of the Moon Kingdom's sphere of influence. Unless it was a special situation, almost no one would pay attention to it. It was a perfect place to hide secrets. .
This is the source of everything. Many years before the top management of Moon Country noticed gold-eating bacteria, people here were already using them. Aya discovered this through the clue of "strange-shaped gold", but after arriving here, she encountered the same situation as Henry and others.
In a hurry, she fled to the shrine and survived for a while with the help of stored supplies in the hut where the staff of the back mountain shrine rested.
But today I ran out of food and water, and when I was planning to go back here to try my luck and see what I could find, I saw a little unicorn standing outside.
Because only the samurai class can ride horses in the Kingdom of the Moon, she thought it was a noble passing by. When she was about to come up to communicate, she found out that she was "a tall and terrifying man who looked like a demon, with snow-white hair and crystal skin." "A woman who looks like a snow girl" - her imagination amplified by fatigue, loneliness, and fear made the doctor immediately panic, and this was the scene before.
"What is a snow girl?" "A kind of monster." "What is a monster." "Monster." "The teacher is such a terrible adult." After listening to the explanation, Mira rolled her eyes at Henry, and everything was in vain. The eight-year-old Ling drank the last drop of water in the Galeva water bag and exhaled a long breath: "In short."
"I'm not particularly clear about the current situation. I was the one who took away the parts of the notepad about gold-eating bacteria. If you want to take a look at it for yourself, put it over there in the cabin. But after sorting it out, I can That’s confirmed. The villagers here actually don’t understand what they are.”
"They just used these as funds to plan rebellion, but in fact they didn't even know what they were using. In the last part of the notepad, they wrote that gold suddenly came alive and wanted to eat people, so I threw all the gold into the underground passage where the ordnance is stored, and locked it so that no one can go down."
"I think there must be someone who can't control their greed, so..." Ling stopped talking. Because of the encounter of the group and the few blood stains on Henry and Mira's bodies, she was smart enough to guess something. : "Perhaps these gold-eating bacteria have undergone new changes."
"But fortunately -" "Hiss -!" The sudden snort of the little unicorn outside interrupted Ling's narration, and Mira and Henry looked at each other, their expressions becoming serious. stand up.
They grabbed their weapons and walked out cautiously, and a few people behind them followed because they felt uneasy.
"Only God!" Ai Ji fell to the ground.
A dense crowd of humanoid creatures surrounded the end of the stairs not far ahead, staggering and moving. Under the bright light of broad daylight, you can clearly see their exposed, twisted limbs outside their tattered clothes, and their skin that has turned deep purple, like a corpse whose blood has stopped flowing.
"Don't, don't worry." Ling's legs were obviously weak. She held on to Lulu and Mira to barely keep standing, but she continued: "Although the reason is unknown, they seem to be unable to cross the rope. "
"Boundary?" Priest Alfonso nodded, and the Luoan girl who didn't understand the word turned her gaze to the sage again in confusion.
"It's a defensive barrier made of some kind of magic power." Henry said this, and then several people next to him suddenly noticed that his eyes lit up with blue light.
"Well, it seems that it has something to do with the two fox statues." The sage said, and Ling, who saw his eyes shining next to him, suddenly changed her tone: "Are you a person with spiritual vision?" she said And Henry shook his head, neither denying nor affirming, but just changed the topic:
"In any case, being surrounded by these guys, it seems that we can only stay here in the short term." The sage said, while Mira turned her head and looked at the supplies on the little unicorn - they We have indeed made some preparations, but the quantity may not necessarily be sufficient.
"Anyway." The Luoan girl breathed out and then turned around.
"Let's eat first."
