The relationship between Roya and Gerost can only be traced back to the year of the Weird Disaster.
At that time, the development of magic technology around the world was not going well. Although Yingnan had implemented a constitutional monarchy, most civilians were living the same life as before, and their lives were almost in vain. Either they were bought by a landowner as a "wage serf" at birth, or they were thrown into a factory for 0,000 jobs when they grew up.
By the way, the so-called 000 means 0 rest, 0 entertainment and 0 insurance.
Luo Ya's family background was pretty good, a family of merchants, and his family ran a medium-sized chamber of commerce, which was enough for him to receive a sufficient education in that era. Growing up, Luo Ya had hardly experienced the poverty of life. From elementary school to the National First Vocational University, Luo Ya spent his youth smoothly.
Then, the weirdness comes.
To this day, Roja is still unwilling to talk about the disaster that destroyed most of Yingnan. At that time, their family visited the swordsmanship teacher in the village far away. The moment they arrived, weirdos appeared in the village, and a massacre began.
In that disaster, Roja's father and mother died in front of him to protect him. His swordsmanship instructor was drained of blood by vampires and thrown into the garbage dump. Si's brother was devoured by trolls and his body was not preserved.
Just when a ghoul stretched out its sharp claws, preparing to eat Roja who was so frightened that he could not even lift his sword, a silver crossbow arrow penetrated the ghoul's throat.
"It's a pity that I can't even pick up the sword. I thought I could find a helper."
Roja still remembered the man in a gray trench coat holding a giant silver crossbow who bent down to draw out the crossbow. The ghoul screamed in fear and then struggled to death. Later, on that bloody land, a man named Gerost hunted and killed nineteen grotesques.
Sword, crossbow, holy water, flame. He is like a doctor wielding a scalpel, harvesting every grotesque life with precision. That's not a massacre, that's an operation, an operation to cleanse the world of germs.
From day to dusk, the man's windbreaker was stained with grotesque blood filled with corrosive acid, but the man didn't care about it at all. He seemed to be born to hunt grotesques. With just a wave of his hand, the blood dissipated.
"I want revenge."
Roya, who was only sixteen years old, tremblingly picked up the sword and said these words to Gerost who was about to leave. At that time, Geralost was not as calm as he is now. At that time, he was at the age where he could curse at each other at twelve o'clock. Regarding Roya, who couldn't even hold the sword steady, Gerost tried to scold him with a series of words like "A dish like this is nothing but a hindrance." However, what Gerost didn't expect was that Roya was far more stubborn than he thought. .
In order to drive away Roya, Gerost gave him an impossible task - "to hunt a monster alone." In fact, Gerost didn't want Roja to complete this mission at all. It was not because Roja was weak and couldn't kill the monsters, but because all the monsters within a radius of two hundred miles were killed by Gerost and were not hunted by Roja at all. of weirdness.
The subsequent story is very cliché, but it seems like a miracle. Among those weird things, there was a corpse dragging monster that hid in the carcass of a rabbit and luckily escaped Gerost's hunt. Later, the corpse-dragging monster couldn't stand it because of hunger, and wanted to hunt down a little girl after Gerost left. Coincidentally, Luo Ya was nearby at the time. When he heard the call for help, he suppressed his fear, picked up the long sword, and pounced on the corpse dragging monster.
Due to hunger and injuries, the corpse-dragging monster was on the verge of collapse. Although Roja could not escape the shadow of his parents, teacher, and brother's tragic death in front of him, he forced himself to throw himself on the corpse-dragging monster. It was a "tragic" fight, or in other words, it was a one-sided beating of the corpse dragging monster by a crazy child. Ten minutes later, the corpse dragging monster lost its breath, and Roja also lost his strength.
After witnessing all this, Gerost finally sighed helplessly. If it were him twenty years later, the veteran would definitely find a hundred reasons to make Roja willingly give up his idea of following him. However, he was young at that time and didn't know how to deal with it. In the end, he had no choice but to accept Roja and let him become his assistant.
"Do you remember the training I gave you?"
Geralost lit his cigarette and leaned against the door of the bar, exhaling the smoke with a look of satisfaction on his face.
"Yes, of course I remember."
Roja nodded and recalled: "You asked me to practice swordsmanship and holy light every day, mix potions, and learn weird knowledge."
"No."
After taking a puff of cigarette, Geralost threw the cigarette butt aside and stamped it out, turned around and pushed open the bar door.
"The first lesson I taught you was to drink."
At this time, Roya began to guess, and Gerost admitted that the first training program he would lead later was to communicate with the poor people he once looked down upon in a bar, and to obtain information that the official could not obtain.
The tavern was very depressed during the plague, but it was one of the few places where people still gathered. This bar is called Blues, and it's a price point for the masses. At this time, in addition to a tightly covered bartender, there were dozens of ragged civilians in the tavern.
They didn't drink or talk. These civilians put some sponge cushions under their bodies as if they were fleeing, and lay on them motionless. When Roja and Gerost opened the door, only a few people turned their heads to take a look, and then ignored them.
"welcome."
The bartender lowered his head and wiped the glass, and asked the two of them: "It's thirty copper coins for one night's stay, and five copper coins for one time collection of supplies, two copper coins for a large cup of pure water, and fifteen copper coins for one portion of food."
The bartender spoke a long list of "prices" with familiarity, but in a place like a pub, these priced services seemed difficult to understand. Geralost was not surprised by this. He walked up and sat in front of the bar, and knocked on the bar to attract the bartender's attention.
He raised his head and found that one of the two people in front of him was wearing a long windbreaker and carrying a giant crossbow and a long sword. Although the other one was wearing more ordinary clothes, the Templar badge on his chest shone brightly in the light. Seeing this, the bartender immediately put down the glass in his hand, with a look of panic on his face, and said quickly:
"I'm really sorry, sirs, please don't take it to heart what I said just now."
Subconsciously, the bartender took out a white cloth bag from under the counter and handed it to the two of them. Geralost looked at the cloth bag on the bar and the tavern with pleading eyes, smiled, and pushed the cloth bag back.
"Don't worry, we are not here to investigate illegal gatherings, and your price is reasonable. It can give them a way out."
Looking at Roya who was slightly confused, Gerost smiled and explained: "These civilians are farmers around Jordan who are homeless because of the plague. It just so happened that no one was going to the bar at this time, so they were doing it at the door. We set up a detection circle and let people who are not infected with the plague find a place to live here."
Hearing this, Roja understood why the bartender looked panicked at first when he saw the two of them. Because the laws of England and South explicitly prohibited gatherings of people for profit during the plague. According to common sense, the Templars are also law enforcers and should fulfill their obligations to prevent and punish such behavior.
but…
Thinking of those numb eyes when he opened the door just now, Roja chose silence. Although he is stubborn, upright, and sometimes does not know how to adapt, he can empathize with the common people better than most people.
He also knows what it feels like to lose.
Gerost placed two silver coins on the table, and then said to the confused bartender: "I came here this time to inquire about something."
"I can't accept this money. Please tell me. I know everything."
Geralost did not take the silver coin in front of him and said nothing. He just ordered two more expensive cocktails and pushed the silver coin in front of the bartender again. This time, the bartender did not refuse, took the silver coins and started making cocktails.
Valley fan
"Counting from the time of the powerful explosion in Jordan Tower, how many people have you admitted in total?"
Faced with this question, the bartender was a little wary at first, but after weighing the pros and cons, he understood that the two people in front of him didn't need any so-called evidence to arrest him, so he simply answered:
"In a total of five days, we took in six households. Three of them were farmers in the east, two were factory workers in the west, and one was a servant of Duke Mintz who was forced to be sent here after the death of the Duke. .”
After getting the answer, Gerost rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. Then he took out ten silver coins and threw them to the bartender. He said to the confused man: "Call these families out. I have some questions to ask them." . This money will be used as their food expenses in the future, do you understand?"
This time, the bartender hesitated for a long time and finally accepted the ten silver coins. He put away the silver coins and placed two cocktails in front of the two of them. Then he walked to the place where civilians gathered to talk to a few people. After a while, six people walked timidly to Roja and Jay. In front of Lost.
"Don't be nervous, we are just asking a few questions as a matter of routine."
Roja looked at the seven people in front of him and tried his best to calm down his tone. But his military temperament and the medal on his chest were hard to ignore. The seven people became even more panicked after being comforted by Roya.
"You go ahead and drink, I have to do this."
Geralost, who knew the character of his disciple well, waved his hand and said to the seven people in front of him: "Brothers, we are just here to chat and ask some insignificant questions. Don't worry, we have everything to do with this family. No one will come to check at the bar.”
After hearing Gerost's words, these people visibly relaxed a little. A brave man glanced at Roja, then looked at Gerost and said cautiously:
"Sir, we are just a group of poor people. We have no knowledge and are stupid. Please bear with us."
Gerost raised his eyebrows, looked at the middle-aged man in front of him, and asked with interest: "You speak Chinese very well. Are you the one who escaped from Duke Mintz's family?"
"Yes, I used to be a warehouse accountant. When the Duke fell, we were dismissed. Because I was timid and didn't dare to touch the accounts, I luckily escaped the liquidation, but I didn't end up with any property, so I had to Come here.”
It was obvious that this middle-aged man was very different from the others. He was very smart and his eyes had aura that no one else had. Geralost was also happy to deal with smart people. He looked out the window and then asked the middle-aged man:
"Okay, don't worry. I'm not the same as the military guy next to me. I'm a demon hunter. You can rest assured."
After that, Gerost drank the cocktail in his hand, and then said to everyone: "I want to ask you, have you heard any rumors after the Jordan Tower explosion?"
"What kind of rumor are you talking about?"
Facing the middle-aged man's inquiry, Gerost directly replied: "Any rumors are fine, I want to hear them all."
Under Gerost's guidance, the seven people began to slowly open up their chat boxes. They seemed to have found an outlet after not communicating with others for a long time, and they talked about various rumors. Fortunately, Gerost could clearly hear what these people were saying, but Roja was already confused and confused.
After a while, the seven people gradually calmed down. Geralost was also very satisfied with his harvest. He stood up and said to the seven people in front of him: "Okay, thank you brothers. I have gained a lot."
"As long as you are satisfied, that's fine."
The middle-aged man was more proactive than others and said to Gerost and Roya: "You two, if you have any questions, just ask them. We will tell you everything we know."
"Okay, I've asked all the questions I need to ask, so I won't bother you anymore."
Gerost waved his hand, and Roya followed him, preparing to leave the bar. At this time, the middle-aged man suddenly spoke and stopped the two of them.
"Both of you!"
Gerost and Roja turned their heads. The man froze for a moment, and then he bowed deeply to them, his voice trembling.
"Thanks!"
Gerost was stunned for a moment, but soon he understood what the man meant. He smiled, turned around, and opened the door.
"No, you just want to live."
"That's right."
*******************************
"How's it going? In the days of the Templars, we rarely came to places like this, right?"
Closing the bar door, Geralost, the old smoker, lit another cigarette. Roja on the side nodded, his tone a little heavy.
"I thought magic technology and the new constitution would make them live a better life, but..."
"No way, it's like this."
Holding a cigarette in his mouth and putting his hands into his coat pockets, Geralost said calmly: "This era is fucked up. Disasters are more common than food. Everyone is holding their breath just because they want to live, and that's all right."
"Back then you..."
As soon as he said these three words, Roja noticed something was wrong and kept silent.
"You want to talk about the time when I was betrayed."
The burning cigarette exuded the smell of tobacco. Geralost chuckled lightly, patted Roja's shoulder, and said slowly under Roja's astonished gaze:
"I still hate it now, but I hated everyone back then, and now..."
"I hate this world even more."
