The night curfew is coming soon, and the streets are full of people in a hurry. Starting tomorrow, a series of important meetings will be held in Bremi town, and the night curfew makes preparations even more hasty.
Griffith took Ulan and Lahuana to the restaurant downstairs and ordered three set meals with steak, apples and bread.
"Four francs and ten sous," the waiter in the restaurant quickly glanced at the medal on Griffith's collar, then looked at the two girls beside him, and stayed on Ulan for an extra half second, "Knight Sir, would you like some wine? We have the best martinis and ladies drinks."
The set meal for one person actually costs 30 sous. Is it so expensive?
Griffiths, who had mainly eaten in the school cafeteria and the Earl's Mansion cafeteria these years, was stunned when he heard the price. I remember that when he returned from the front line, a lunch of 20 sous already felt too expensive.
Maybe the hotels in the city are like this. Griffith immediately rejected the idea of having some wine, and just wanted to finish eating quickly and clarify the matter.
After talking with Roland, Griffith realized that something big was about to happen in Beyeland. The limited social circle and nearly non-existent intelligence network gave him a very unreliable feeling of powerlessness, and he continued to grasp the situation as quickly as possible.
Contacting Tina is based on this purpose. This former waitress is well-rounded and very popular in the market pubs of Bayerland. Through her, Griffith can develop a group of grassroots intelligence personnel to serve him, so that he will not turn a blind eye to the upcoming incident. A smear of darkness.
Unfortunately, Tina had other things to do, and Ulan and Lahuana came who didn't look very reliable. Even if these two people could get some clues from the lower-level citizens, Griffith would not be able to organize and question them personally.
The friends Griffith knew were Galadia and her ungrateful elves, Riddlers like Roland, and Sonia and Fei who might have been sold by someone but still helped count the money seriously. A young lady like Oona who has been well protected since she was a child, or a young lady like Rana and Ophelia who is as out of touch with the grassroots as herself...
We still need people like Tina to implement the specific work.
Griffith knocked on the table in frustration. He has sent people to look for Tina or Drizzt, but there has been no reply yet.
Wu Lan and Lahua Na sat across the table, not daring to take a breath.
Ulan's face didn't look good. She had never liked Griffith, and she had just been beaten again. However, when the aroma of barbecue wafted over, her stomach growled unsatisfactorily.
The same goes for Lavana. A lowly prostitute like her can get very little money from clients, just enough to make ends meet.
"Eat quickly," Griffith urged absentmindedly, "and then tell me about your situation."
After the fighting in Manisa Village ended that night, Ulan was sent to the local Holy Grace Church for treatment and observation. He was only allowed to go out for activities half a month later. By then the war was over and shipping became smoother. At first everyone was happy because the food became better. Soon, goods shipped from Beyeland gradually filled the port, and the prices were so low that local workshops and weavers had no way to survive.
"Although the farm needs manpower, the crops cannot be sold at a high price. The tax official from the town charges real money for land rent. When the autumn harvest comes, the farm will be very difficult."
Wulan said while eating. Seeing that the knight had no obvious ill intentions, she relaxed a little. She also knew that her family needed money, and she was one of the few sources of income. If the bad situation continues, she will have to do things she once despised to make money.
Seeing the trainee knight again, after the initial surprise and pain, she no longer had the courage to face Griffith directly. A true extraordinary person, an officer and a knight, could kill a girl like her with just one finger. If the other party makes certain demands, Ulan cannot resist either physically or mentally.
Fortunately, he was so preoccupied that he didn't think about it at all. Moreover, it seems that he just wants to find out information, which I am good at...
The aroma of milk and barbecue tickled Ulan's taste buds, and the golden crispy bread and apple pie were so tempting. Ulan himself would never do it if he came to such an expensive place to eat.
Griffith listened to the former adventurer lady chattering about trivial matters with food in her mouth, and then looked at Lahuaanna who was immersed in eating and occasionally glanced at him and Ulan with strange eyes, and said:
"In the next time, give Tina the information you heard about cultists and official movements, and I will arrange for her to collect your reports. As a reward, I will give you 12 silver coins every month. If important information is verified, I will pay additional rewards.”
Ulan and Lahuana's eyes lit up. This is a considerable amount of compensation, and it does not take up time from work, making it an easy way to earn extra income.
Griffith took out some money and handed it to them, and then said: "Secondly, you must select the smart ones from the children in the neighborhood, those wandering begging children, and report to me the information they collected. Select their first One criterion is whether they can sneak into the military barracks, the town hall and the Church of Grace."
The two girls nodded immediately.
At least one of these two people and Tina is an informant of the Investigation Bureau, maybe all three, it doesn't matter. Once I have initially established an intelligence network of lower-level citizens, I can then cross-verify their intelligence and identities.
The most urgent thing at the moment is that someone can collect for me the movements of the royal family, parliament and the Holy See of the Gods while I am away from Beyeland. Someone must do this for me.
After Griffith finished his instructions, Ulan immediately continued: "Recently, many wealthy people from the local and other provinces have come. I heard that the king and the Senate summoned them to a meeting to discuss raising taxes..."
At this time, Lahuaanna suddenly raised her hand tentatively.
"Sir Knight."
"you say."
"If you are looking for Sister Tina, I may know her whereabouts," Lahuana was obviously smarter than Ulan. She said carefully and in the most tactful way she knew, "Tonight, there are some people from other provinces. When a businessman holds a party, he needs to find some people to help him all night long. He invites the most beautiful girl, Sister Tina, well, generally, most of the time, that..."
"Tell me the address?" Griffith asked hurriedly.
He will also accompany Sonia to an official meeting tomorrow, and there may be a battle at any time during the night. In the limited time, he must entrust the work to Tina and let her organize the people in the next time.
"Three streets away is Mr. Havel's house. He is a businessman from the provinces, a wealthy gentleman," Lavana said, "but it's almost curfew, and when you get there..."
"Let me worry about these things," Griffith stood up and walked outside. "You go home as soon as possible. If you are in danger, you should find the military police or the city defense army."
…
For several days, the north wind had frozen the ground hard. At dusk, piles of black clouds carrying snow flakes flew over from the north, and they continued to fall until dark.
Griffith wrapped himself in his cloak and walked through the deserted streets. Occasionally, the gendarmerie and city defense troops under curfew paid attention to him, but as soon as they saw the woolen uniforms of the Guards officers, they stopped and stopped trying to move from the makeshift street post to the cold street.
From time to time, two sad howls of wild cats could be heard on the street shrouded in the cold night, children's cries and adults' curses, or the rapid coughing of patients.
Suddenly, the world seemed to be at peace.
Griffith noticed that the lights nearby also disappeared, leaving only a seemingly endless long street under the falling snow flakes.
“It feels really quiet, there’s no one on the street, and you can’t see the lights of Mr. Havel’s house.
"I should be here by now."
Griffith said to himself. The black snow flakes suddenly became denser, the light became worse, and the surrounding scenery was as depressing as if it had entered a dark pipe.
Finally, he came to the end of the street. There is a building standing here, with a cold door like a monster's open mouth. On the left and right are strange-shaped roofs, comically sloping walls, and rugged dead trees.
The door sign says——
"233B Baker Street."
Maybe it was the night and the light, but Griffith thought it was all weird. However, he did not feel dangerous hostility, so he suspected that he was lost and going in the wrong direction.
So, he turned around and walked back along the way he came to see if he had gone astray.
A quarter of an hour later, Griffith returned here. The dark gate, icy branches, and inexplicably high walls looked down at him from all directions.
No. 233B Baker Street, a series of numbers and letters connected together, like a long smiling face dangling in front of him.
The continuous snowflakes fall straight to the ground like a curtain, and at the same time shine dim reflections; it hides the appearance of various objects, and sprinkles a layer of ice moss on it; in this quiet and deep place buried by the cold In the silence, people could only hear the vague and indescribable friction sound of falling snow flakes. Let's talk about sounds, rather than feelings, rather the interlacing movement of fine dust that seems to fill the air and cover the earth.
Sweat broke out on Griffith's forehead. He was very sure that there was no fork in the road, but he was lost. At this time, the only explanation was that he was attacked.
He reached out to touch the mithril pendant given by Galadia. He just told people that if they encounter danger, they should contact the military police or the city defense army. But the brave soldiers can't deal with the unspeakable weirdness, so they can only ask for help from the elf lady who is favored by the goddess of silver moon and starlight. There is nothing to hesitate.
Strangely, the mithril pendant, which had always worked well, had no reaction at all.
This is not normal!
Griffith gritted his teeth, placed his left hand on the hilt of the sword, pulled out Judgment with his right hand, opened the hammer, and pushed the door in front of him.
"Zhiqua——"
The door opened inward with a teeth-grinding sound as if it had not been opened in a century. At this moment, Griffith suddenly felt a strong wind coming from behind, howling and pushing him into the house.
"boom!"
The door suddenly closed behind him and all the noise stopped. Griffith jumped up and hurriedly turned around to kick the door, only to find that the walls and door were like water, causing ripples, but he could not grab or touch them.
At the same time, a fire lit up behind him, and someone could vaguely hear someone talking quietly. Griffith took a breath, bent his elbow and held the flintlock gun, and walked towards the reception room step by step.
Next to the warm fire, there is a magnificent main seat. Opposite the seats are three couches, which form an arc around the main seat as if a meeting is being held. A few well-dressed couples sat and talked quietly, while others walked around restlessly, looking at each other curiously.
They looked up when they saw the cavalry officer coming down the corridor. A turbid dim light shone down from the skylight on the wall, falling right on the main seat, making it even more dazzling.
"He is here at last," said a gentleman. "Dear Earl Hill, Lord Wizard Labienus, Mr. Ram of the Cotton Company, and Mr. Beble, the venerable shareholder of the Shipping Company, ladies and gentlemen, if My eyes were not wrong in this dim light, the cavalry officer we have been waiting for has arrived, and we can finally start."
This remark caused a small commotion. Griffith noticed that everyone present seemed to have a slightly relieved smile on their faces.
They looked at him from every direction. The gentleman who just spoke respectfully pointed to the grand seat in the middle of the reception room:
"Mr. Officer, please sit down. We have been waiting for you for a long time."
