Blood of Mercury

Donald frowned and walked quickly down the East Street.

Because of that daring madman who pretended to be a blighter in Caral, he was very busy today.

As the security advisor of the town of Ram, after such a serious incident in the town, he has no reason to stay out of it. Even if he doesn't want to go out on such a cold day, since he has received the call from Your Excellency Farina, he must go immediately, even out of respect.

Everyone knows that Lord Farina is the real controller of this town. Since she wanted to hunt down the druid who didn't know what was wrong with her mind and wanted to pretend to be a blighter, she had no choice but to follow her.

At least it looks like it has to be done. But Donald would bet that not only himself, but also the other advisors who were summoned by Farina would never really care about this matter.

In any case, that is a Druid after all, and matters between Druids can only be resolved by Druids, and Farina has not given any evidence that the Druid is pretending to be the Blighter.

In the eyes of their advisors, this should be a persecution, a public revenge against an old enemy.

The perfect nature that can be handled is the best. But Donald and the others didn't get any information about the so-called "false blighter".

So Farina and the other consultants briefly discussed at the meeting, and decided to go through the process at least once according to Lord Farina's idea—and just go through the process.

After all, if the "false blighter" is actually the ruler of the Druid sect, then when he reacts, Farina won't necessarily suffer. None of their advisors can escape.

What Donald is responsible for is the security inspection of various places where people gather.

Caral's wood resources are very abundant, and expensive wood that sells for three gold coins a piece in Titan even costs one silver coin here. It is for this reason that most of the buildings in Caral are made of pure wood. Although Caral is also rich in ironwood, a rare wood whose hardness is comparable to steel, this does not mean that Caral is luxurious enough to use fire-resistant crystal wood to build a house.

Therefore, in every city in Caral, fire prevention is a very serious topic, and the position of the safety advisor becomes very important. Whenever the City Guards are too busy to patrol, security advisors go to fire-prone areas throughout the city to conduct a round of inspections.

——Actually, it was still a passing scene. Donald frowned.

He remembered that two days ago, at the request of His Excellency Farina, he had just checked the fire hazard and eliminated it effectively. What's more, people who have lived in Caral for a long time have a considerable degree of awareness of fire prevention. Unless there are hidden dangers that cannot be discovered by their professional knowledge, other factors that may cause the fire will naturally be avoided by the residents themselves.

Entering a hotel, he glanced at the lobby hastily, and Donald left straight away, not even bothering to go up to the second floor.

He has other places to go. It's not a good habit to go out for a stroll on such a cold day. Finishing some things early and going home and writing a "everything is fine" report and handing it in, then Meimei's sleep is the king's way.

But just as Donald just left the hotel, a sweet and soft voice came from behind: "Sir, how can I get to the South Gate?"

An educated lady.

Before looking back, such an impression was formed in Donald's mind.

But when he turned around, he immediately realized that he guessed wrong-

His waist-length black hair fluttered in the cold wind, his delicate little face was flushed red from the cold, and his long eyelashes flickered, timid and lovable like a small animal. The black corset dress outlines her slender figure like an elf. The slightly larger black trench coat shows the fair skin of the girl. The mink shawl does not make the beauty feel warm. Stomp lightly.

—The dress is a typical Banza aristocratic style, the leather of the boots is Caral’s snow deerskin, the shawl is this winter’s goods, and the windbreaker is a popular style designed by Master Nessel of Suze. The alchemy formula of heat preservation is written in a triple-fragmented way.

I don't know if I should feel ashamed or proud. As an honor student who graduated from Banza's noble academy, Donald almost instantly calculated the total price of this beautiful girl's outfit.

Each piece is worth at least three gold coins, and together this outfit is worth about thirty gold coins. Strictly speaking, it is not very expensive, and the overall style is more complicated. But in a small place like Ram, no one can afford this outfit.

If you put together the money of the "big businessmen" in Ram, it's about the same.

Coupled with the ancient etiquette of the Suze nobles, the beautiful long hair as black as the night sky, and the snow-white delicate hands that are completely free of calluses and scars, the identity of the girl in front of her is ready to be revealed.

Although he already had a family, Donald smiled slightly and asked in Su Ze's language, "Are you looking for someone? Do you need help?"

It was probably when she met a familiar accent in a foreign country, the girl as beautiful as a fairy was obviously stunned, and then she almost jumped up, leaned forward slightly, and cheerfully asked Su Zeyu with the accent of the imperial capital: "Do you know what to do? Speaking of Su Ze? That would be great. Can you take me to the South Gate? My guard... My brother and I got separated and couldn't get in touch. All I know is that he is waiting at the South Gate. Me, can you tell me how to get to the South Gate?"

The kind of authentic imperial dialect with an elegant long tail and a jumping pronunciation like singing made Donald feel dizzy. It is true that he taught himself Su Ze language in Banza, but that level is limited to daily communication. Once a pure Su Ze person speaks to him in accented Su Ze dialect and speaks very fast, he can only hear it roughly.

Although he only knew that the girl in front of him was going to the South Gate to find her guard or her brother, her accent already revealed her identity.

Geyasa, the imperial capital of Suze, is a place where every inch of land is rich in gold. Although it is located in the extreme north and covered with snow and ice all year round, the royal alchemists of Suze have established a giant constant temperature barrier in Geyasa. It makes the four seasons feel like spring and the air is fresh. Coupled with the reason that Su Ze is a permanent neutral country, many hereditary nobles from other countries will choose to come here instead of Titan for retirement after abdication.

One aspect is that the scenery is good, and the other is that although Titan is rich, the collision of ideas there is too fierce. One idea emerges today, a theory emerges tomorrow, and a doctrine emerges the day after tomorrow—it’s fine for young people, but for these old people. Said that they would rather go to Su Ze, where the transportation is not so developed but quiet and peaceful, to retire.

But that being said, there are not many nobles who may live to abdicate.

Therefore, the long-term residents of Gyasari are mostly officials from various places in Suze. Throw an axe there and hit ten people, there can be nobles with more than nine viscounts, and the remaining 80% is the director of some large chamber of commerce.

Anyone who can grow up in that kind of place can't be offended by any guard. What's more, this eldest noble lady who is obviously of extraordinary origin.

Don't look at her body is not expensive and the matching is very complicated, and every part is not rare, at least it can be bought locally in Ram-but there are some inner things that cannot be hidden by outer clothing.

Donald studied manor management and valuation for four years at the Jade Pigeon Academy in the capital of Banza. Although he still could not find a job locally after graduation, at least his vision was different from that of the pariahs like Caral.

This fluent Geyasa-style Suze pronunciation is by no means something that can be learned in a year or two. Because it is adjacent to the land of the winter elves, the pronunciation of the Suze language refers to the language of the winter elves to a large extent. Unless you have specialized in linguistics, ordinary people can only learn the minimum pronunciation when learning Suze.

The local people in Suze can hear the difference in pronunciation from the local people in an instant.

Because of the close relationship between Su Ze and the winter elves, some children of the great nobles of Su Ze will be arranged by their families to contact the next generation of the winter elves when they are very young. On the one hand, it is to continue this hard-won friendship. On the other hand, the people of Su Ze hope to use the bronze blood of the winter elves to optimize the blood of their family, make their blood more noble, and let their descendants be born with higher blood. starting point.

According to legend, it is because of the high concentration of winter elf blood in the royal family of Su Ze that it shows the characteristics of black-haired and black-eyed winter elf. So…

Donald hurriedly took a step back and bowed respectfully to the beautiful elf-like girl: "Please come with me, Miss."

"That would be troublesome."

With a sweet smile, the black-haired girl tilted her head, then thanked Donald with impeccable courtesy: "Also, just call me Hurland."

"Sorry. Down here is Donald, no last name."

Donald lowered his head and said his name.

Unconsciously, the dominance of the conversation between Donald and Hurland was reversed. Hurland was clearly walking behind Donald, and the two of them knew nothing about each other except their names, but they gave off a feeling of being between a guard and a young lady—the most bizarre thing was that the two parties didn't seem to notice either. , it was accepted as a matter of course.

"Speaking of which, Donald," the girl who claimed to be Hurland asked curiously, "how did I see so many regular soldiers running around the city in the morning? Is it morning training?"

Regular army?

Donald smiled wryly.

Where can a regular army come from in a small place like Ram? Even in the city guards, there are only a few people who can be equipped with armor, and all other armed forces are essentially the same as the militia.

So as he walked, he responded casually: "Those are Ram's city guards. There was a big incident this morning. There was a druid who had a mental problem pretending to be a blighter and swindling in the city. Those city guards were Farina. Your Excellency sent to hunt him down."

"Eh? Why did he pretend to be a blighter?"

Helland's tone was full of doubts.

Donald shrugged, indicating that he didn't know either: "I don't know either. But in my opinion, whether that is the fake Blighter or the real one remains to be considered. Lord Farina summoned him before and let him go. I got him, and now I want to want him again... I really don't understand what these big men are thinking."

"Wanted? Do you have a portrait of him?" Hurland was keenly aware of Donald's words.

"Yes. It hasn't been produced yet, but Lord Farina has described it to a few of us," Donald said as he recalled, "It was... pale skin, thin body, yellow hair, about seventeen or eighteen years old. And a rancid smell."

"...Can you be sure?"

For some reason, Hurland's tone was hesitant.

"Of course."

Donald said as a matter of course: "Lord Farina's memory is impossible. She can even remember a month's ledger in half an hour...a terrible woman."

"Is that so..."

Hellland thought about it.

He was keenly aware of this, and Donald was slightly surprised and then his expression became serious: "What's the matter? Does the eldest miss have an impression of this person?"

"You live in the East District, right?"

Helland smiled and said: "I heard from people in the West District that there is a stranger in the mule hotel, who looks similar to your description. You can ask the owner of the mule hotel later."

"Outlander?" Donald chewed on these strange words, "There seem to be quite a few outlanders in Ram..."

"—It's the kind that's very far away."

Hurland interrupted Donald's words, emphasizing the pronunciation of a certain word, if there was something in the words.

Donald seemed to have thought of something, and immediately kept his mouth shut.

He casually beckoned a guard passing by in a hurry, and whispered something in his ear. Then the guard glanced at Hurland in amazement, then immediately lowered his eyes, bowed and hurried away.

"I thought everyone here was well-informed," Hurland's expression was full of surprise, "After all..."

"After all, Ram's place is too small, right?"

Donald laughed.

When the laughter subsided, he sighed slightly and nodded: "Indeed, there is indeed something wrong with Ram here. Not only is the place small, but the people here are not quite right."

"When I was in Banza, I always heard that Caral's folk customs are simple, but when I came here, I found out that it is not the same at all."

"It's not too much to describe ignorance...and it's not just a matter of character, but even mental state..."

As if realizing what he had said, Donald immediately stopped, touched the back of his head cheerfully, and apologized to Hurland: "I'm so sorry, Miss, for making you hear such a boring complaint."

"It does not matter."

Helland raised his head and smiled slightly, that gentle smile made one's heart warm.

"Consultant! Donald Consultant!"

Suddenly, a guard with armor came running towards him with a panicked expression.

"What's the matter? You're so flustered."

Donald took a careful look at Hurland and found that she didn't show any unpleasant expressions, so he looked sharp and scolded in a low voice.

The guard glanced at Hurland and immediately realized that this was a big man. So he hurriedly bowed, and then fell into Donald's ear and said something vaguely.

In an instant, Donald's face changed drastically.

"What? You said the mayor..."

After he blurted out, his voice lowered immediately: "Can you be sure?"

The guard nodded vigorously.

Donald's face turned ashen. He bowed respectfully and apologetically to Hurland: "Sorry, Miss. Something seems to have happened here..."

"It's okay. I can understand, and the person I'm waiting for has already arrived."

Harlan nodded understandingly, and then pointed to a person in front of him with a particularly striking figure.

Donald looked over with his fingers and recognized that it was a mountain man.

Looking at the big shield behind him, it was probably a guardian. The momentum is very strong, at least the level of bronze rank, possibly higher.

The man looked anxious at the moment, looking around.

...is probably waiting for this eldest lady.

Donald knew this in his heart, so he bowed apologetically again and then retired.

If he has something to do, he must report to Lord Farina immediately.

But at this moment, a loud explosion from a distance made his face even more ugly.

That's the direction of the Hunting Knife Tavern. I heard that they just brought in a batch of high-strength spirits from Su Ze...

Visible to the naked eye, the fiery thick smoke rose up, and the nearby air became distorted. Flickering light leaked from the cracks in the building.

As if it had been agreed, several loud explosions came from Ram's directions. The exclamations, scoldings, and cries of the townspeople were connected together.

Driven by the wind, the fire spread everywhere, and in the blink of an eye, the dense flames formed one piece.

Donald, who was in a hurry before, stopped moving. He stood there stiffly, his eyes dull.

Suddenly, Donald felt a chill on his face.

He tentatively stretched out his hand and touched it.

- It's snow.

winter is here.

The last winter that Donald, and many people in this town can experience, has come.

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