The town of Tormento, more than thirty miles southwest of Avignon, is bathing in the April sunshine that is gradually turning from warm to hot. As the morning breeze blows through the densely populated town, the old stone houses covered with ivy and dots of flowers, or the brick and wood buildings, look particularly peaceful and quiet.
Outside the town, on the roadside covered with chrysanthemums, lavender and irises, there are large pastures/stalls where cattle and horses live, as well as scattered citrus and vineyards on the slopes; they are also surrounded by tributaries of the Rhone River The resulting vertical and horizontal ditches were divided into sections with different ownerships.
In the middle, there is a conspicuous ancient aqueduct, moss-mottled across the town, and finally merges into the town square at the other end, a large reservoir renovated from the ruins of an ancient theater; not far away, in the Luberon Mountains, there are undulating green forests. Against the background of the low hills, the pastoral flavor is particularly highlighted.
But this silence was broken by groups of Free Army soldiers. They surrounded the town and began to search and take away every resident they found; and the old hunter Ajax, who was the chief instructor of the Free Army Special Service Company, also stood on a high place, using a monocular circular mirror to carefully look at the town. situation.
But his thoughts were vaguely far away. Because just after Boragero Castle, more than half a year had passed since the followers of the Free Army marched to war; he had found and eliminated at least more than a hundred of all kinds of aliens; both those hidden in the crowd and those in the wild born.
There are even ignorant villagers who regard the deerclops/alien hiding in the caves as ancient gods that can bring fertility; they use various reasons to trick passers-by into participating in absurd Midsummer Eve sacrifices, and then wait for them to get drunk After falling asleep, they are tied up and thrown into it to serve as bait for feeding alien species.
There was also a town priest who fell into madness and even secretly imprisoned a blood monster. From time to time, he abducted and killed children from neighboring villages and fed them with their flesh and blood. He also mixed their harvested blood with the wine used in the Holy Communion ceremony. He faked miracles in the bread and gathered a group of fanatical believers.
Another group of frenzied local nobles accidentally discovered several ghouls while hunting; they were then captured and imprisoned in iron bars as a private beast-fighting game. First, large hunting dogs and some ferocious beasts were used; later, living people such as tenants in debt, their wives, and daughters were used as fighting animals.
And hidden under the troubled times, scenes full of ugliness in the human heart; this also made Ajax, who felt that he was well-informed, fully understand what the elder said: Sometimes the human heart is more terrifying and sinister than monsters and monsters. But no matter what, he eliminated more aliens than in the previous half of his life combined.
But this process also made Ajax feel some involuntary confusion and doubt; could it be that the time he spent fighting hard for the first half of his life was actually wasted and wasted in disguise because he couldn't find the right way. You must know that when he was young, he often spent several months and half a year searching for an alien.
Then, it takes a lot of effort to find the target you are pursuing from the complicated and various information; finally, while trying to find its nest and kill it without attracting attention, you also need to It is necessary to prevent this from causing panic among local people, officials, and lords.
Because many people are absolutely unwilling to believe or admit that there have been aliens under their governance or among the people around them until they see the culprit suffering from it with their own eyes; and the hunters who will kill aliens, Considered as an ominous omen like a mourning crow; be expelled or imprisoned.
There are even individual local dignitaries who are aliens themselves or have close connections with aliens; they will use their power and wealth to deal with and kill hunters; they even identify them as murderers and murderers in the name of the church and the government. Criminals, and mobilize everyone to hunt and kill.
Therefore, over a long period of time, the existence of hunters has become increasingly declining and their inheritance has been cut off. The secret strongholds and training venues they once used had to be abandoned and sealed. In the end, even a stable organizational structure could no longer be maintained; more Many people walk the world as mercenaries.
Then, under the temptation of the unsustainable hardship in reality and the affluent life brought by money, he slowly gave up his original responsibilities and inheritance as a hunter, and became a pure mercenary, killer, assassin, and even a servant of the powerful. Guards and followers. Just like the same person he met outside the inn.
But the understanding of all this was completely subverted and changed after Ajax met that adult. As one of the earliest members of the Free Army, he not only received the corresponding status and daily salary annuity, but also had more subordinates who could be driven to work.
They often have various specialties and abilities, and even experience in related fields; they can create a variety of customized weapons and armors for him, and provide sources of information from all walks of life; they can even provide company-based, follow-up Support and suppression in the projection of force and firearms.
The Lord even allowed him to teach the use of various weapons and experience in field activities in the Free Army; select some young people with qualifications and potential to rebuild the heritage of the hunter faction to which Ajax belongs, and support and assist him in the Free Army Next, continue to hunt the aliens who continue to appear in the world.
In the words of the legion commander whose origins are mysterious and filled with all kinds of doubts, one of his missions in coming to this time is to suppress and eliminate these aliens who should not have appeared in the world in the first place. So if necessary, the hunter's organization can even be rebuilt.
Of course, according to the private conjecture of a priest in the army during his sermon, this extremely capable legion commander may be a higher-level existence than those ancient human saints; a special being sent to the world by the Lord of the Hosts. apostle. Just like Saint Laurent who saved all people from darkness and barbarism.
He also understood why those of the Snake Sect liked to cling to the powerful; and the former great mentor of the Cat Sect even took some of his disciples to become peripheral members of the royal family's secret bureau, acting as assassins of the royal family; because with the help of It is too easy and convenient to act with power.
The hunters, who were originally afraid of others and kept at a distance, did not have to come forward themselves and work hard to inquire and buy information in the market; as long as they appointed a postman to and from the countryside, they could make all men, women, and children in the entire village unreserved. tell everything they know.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, as a member of the special service company, as long as the ongoing census and household registration are carried out according to the places where the Free Army has passed; and if the frequent disappearances in a certain place are determined, the abnormality can be found with certainty. existence, and the probability of its accomplices causing trouble.
Then, enough soldiers will be dispatched to blockade and surround them, and then search and transfer ordinary people one by one; finally, the hidden aliens will be forced to have nowhere to hide. When the full-time members of the special service company are able to complete the arrest or mission; there are also people responsible for the aftermath of display and publicity.
Even while cleaning each battlefield, a specialized labor team led by clergy is responsible for burying and processing the various remains exposed in the wilderness along the way to prevent excessive resentment and residual thoughts from accumulating and causing adultery. A group of beasts, the probability of producing alien species and beast distortions in place.
Just like this operation against the large town of Tuomin. First, specialized personnel from the special service company who are good at cartography and analysis will finally delineate a rough scope of activities based on the distribution points of missing people in many places on the map. Then, the center point of the radius is deduced from the edge, which is the town of Tomindo.
That is, the central blank area where missing persons have never occurred. Then investigators, using itinerant traders as cover, were dispatched; more evidence was gathered. The Free Army dispatched two garrison companies to conduct a direct raid on the grounds and suspicion that there might be remnants of the royal party.
From this, Ajax, who was accustomed to being alone, could not help but have some feelings; maybe he could no longer live without all this. However, while he was slowly recalling the story and observing the step-by-step search and screening process in the town, a hoarse voice sounded next to him again:
"Teacher, the Legion Commander, with that special being, has also arrived at the scene."
But it was Jett, another hunter who was rescued from the secret dungeon of Midonie City and has basically recovered now. He was seen with two swords on his back and a leather armor full of various large and small weapons and props. The tied up hair has completely turned into a frosty white color like Ajax.
Only the shocking large red scars on his arms and calves, chest and lower neck were exposed; they still remembered and revealed the tragic experiences and torture he had experienced. However, he still relied on the hunter's special physique to survive, and also restored his mobility through brutal exercise.
It was also he who disguised himself as a beggar and lurked in the town of Tomindo for three full days. He legitimately found some human skeleton fragments in garbage dumps and sewers. Only then did he finally identify the place where aliens might exist. In the neighborhood where nightingales hang out, and in the mansion in the center of the town.
Ajax was slightly shocked when he heard this, but responded with a normal expression: "In that case, let us go together to greet him."
Then a carriage without decoration, surrounded by a group of armored cavalry and gun-wielding sergeants, slowly drove into the town where most of the buildings had been cleared. Finally, it stopped at the largest square in the town; as the car door was quickly opened, Jiang Tian led out a petite figure holding a parasol.
"The Great Luo of All Worlds"
"There, there and there, two small groups and one large group, and one is particularly big." It was a little girl with silver hair and a lace headband, holding an ugly rag doll in her arms, and her impatient fingers were far away. Chu said: "Mother is still waiting for me to go back, please hurry up..."
