Chapter 660 Locke Town
Under the leadership of the priest, everyone came to a remote corner of the cemetery behind the Temple of Tyr. The place was lined with green trees and seemed quite peaceful. In a corner of the cemetery, Duanmuhuai saw a small tombstone and a small grave.
There are also words engraved on it.
[Poor Lisa, she didn’t even have time to open her eyes and see the world, may she rest in peace]
"You guys even came up with a name?"
"Of course."
The priest nodded.
"The soul of the dead without a name cannot go where it should go... Of course, it is difficult to say whether it has a soul."
"Okay."
Duanmuhuai didn't say much, then he stepped forward and raised his right hand. Under the control of the gravity glove, the soil quickly opened up, and then a small coffin emerged from it. Duanmuhuai placed it next to it, and then pointed With a slight movement, the lid of the coffin was opened.
A disgusting smell emerged from it, and if you looked carefully, you could see a baby corpse inside that had begun to decay.
"Woo......"
Seeing the corpse and smelling the stench of decay, An and Gu Leiya couldn't help but take a few steps back. Although Mary frowned, she didn't move away.
"Aren't you afraid, Miss Mary?"
Seeing that Mary was still immersed in recording in her notebook, An asked cautiously, while Mary hesitated.
"Actually... I have seen a lot of similar things in our world with Mr. Duanmu..."
The disgustingness of the Outer Gods and Old Ones was far greater than the rotting baby in front of her, and Mary felt herself numb.
"Your world is not easy either..."
After hearing Mary's answer, An looked at her sympathetically and was speechless.
Duanmuhuai didn't care about the chirping of the little girl next to him. He stared at the baby's body in front of him carefully and looked at it.
Although some places have begun to rot, it can indeed be seen that this baby has traces of a beast on its body. For example, its fingers are not plump like ordinary babies. On the contrary, they are dry and thin. This is not due to malnutrition. , and is more similar to the shape of an eagle's talons, and through investigation, it was discovered that its mouth also has a sharp set of sharp teeth. The toes also appear to be forked like a hoof.
Well... according to the standards of the Inquisition, the alien has not escaped.
In fact, generally speaking, judges rely on teeth to determine whether they are aliens. Of course, if you say you lost a tooth, it will definitely not count. But if you were born with sharp teeth, you will have been completely expelled from the court. The registration is of a type that can be burned directly on the spot.
Because this is obviously the result of subspace erosion.
Similar to beastmen.
Duanmuhuai thought of the beastmen in the world of Novice Village. Those beastmen were the result of the mutation of babies due to the wind of magic. They were bipedal creatures with beast characteristics, and they worshiped chaos and evil gods by nature. In the novice village, the beastmen belong to the proper Chaos camp and should be killed on sight.
So judging from this sign, giants, orcs, goblins and the like in this world are all excluded from the human category. The teeth and huge mutated skulls alone show that they are no longer human.
Okay, the physical mutation is understandable, but the problem is that there is no soul...
Duanmuhuai looked at the magic consultant next to him.
"What do you think about this?"
"Hey...?"
Facing Duanmuhuai's inquiry, both An and Gu Liya showed obviously embarrassed expressions, and then they discussed quietly for a while before they seemed to have made a decision.
"Generally speaking, whether babies have souls is actually a very difficult subject to study."
"What, do you mean that babies have no souls before they are born?"
"Ugh...I can't say that, but according to the records of the college, there is indeed a discussion on this aspect. Some people think that the newborn soul enters the mother's body, so the pregnancy occurs. Some people think that before the baby is born, in fact, There is no soul, just like the fingers or hair on the human body. It is not until the first cry after birth that the soul completely enters the body.”
"Do you think it's possible?"
"I am not an expert in spirituality..."
Ann spread her hands.
"I have to go to the local area to study the specific situation. At least for now, we can't draw a conclusion."
"So what does Thiel think?"
Not getting an answer from Cong An, Duanmu Huai looked at the priest.
"You should ask Tyre for advice."
"The God of Justice has not answered our call."
"That's even Tyr himself doesn't know..."
"Uh..."
Hearing Duanmuhuai talking to himself, the priest looked a little embarrassed, but Duanmuhuai didn't care.
By the way, Duanmu Huai does not intend to rely on faith to expand the Tribunal and recruit believers. The reason is very simple - once the power of faith is collected, it means having a designated object to worship.
For example, Tire, the God of Justice, everyone knows that he is Tire, the God of Justice. We also know that he has lost his right hand. He is a very clear image of a god. Therefore, when believers pray, the power of faith will flow to Tire, the God of Justice. There, become his strength. Of course, whether it is a good god or an evil god, this is how it works.
To put it bluntly, for example, the gods on the continent of Faerûn are actually equivalent to the bosses of companies. The stronger powers are multinational companies, and the weaker powers are local chain stores. The so-called divine war is actually similar to a business war. Try to defeat the opponent's company as much as possible, annex it, and expand yourself.
Like the God of Murder, Cyric, the Prince of Lies, also compiled a Cyric Book for himself. The content is nothing more than that Cyric is the only great true god, and the others are false gods. This is essentially the same as in a business war where you give the opponent He said that other companies' products are knock-offs, but only his own products are officially authorized and authentic.
Duanmuhuai's Inquisition is not like this. The Inquisition is more like a robber. When your company opens, I will rush in, wipe out all the wealth you have worked so hard to save, and finally burn it down. Your company... Duanmu Huai did this to Rose.
The reason why Duanmu Huai did this was because...he had no intention of relying on the divine power of faith.
The reason is simple, faith requires a name.
For example, if someone believes in Duanmuhuai, they should pray "Duanmuhuai, the god of destruction, grant me strength! I am Ximan————!"
Oh, that's wrong, Duanmuhuai is not Duanmuhuai's name in this world - to be precise, it's ID. That's right, Duanmu Huai's ID is [Smash your head with a small hammer].
So if there are believers of the God of Destruction who want to call Duanmu Huai, they should shout, "God of Destruction, hit your skull with a small hammer and give me power! I am Seaman————!"
………………………
Well, so Duanmu Huai thinks there is nothing wrong with being a robber.
Proving once again the importance of having a decent name.
By the way, in fact, the Tribunal is more like a gangster than a gangster. They smash, loot, and burn while lending usury to the other party. If the other party uses the services of the Tribunal, it means that the soul is bound by the Tribunal and will automatically die after death. The soul returned to the Inquisition.
Well, it's a proper overlord's clause, but it's up to you to say it first, and it's up to you whether you listen or not.
However, Duanmu Huai does not intend to compete with other gods for believers in this world.
The efficiency of engaging in business wars is too low, it is better to just rob companies to make money faster. As the saying goes, a horse will not grow fat without a night of grass, and a person will not be rich without a windfall.
There are so many local gods in this world, aren’t they all waiting to be snatched away by me?
Okay, no more gossip.
"Thank you."
Duanmuhuai put the baby's body back into the coffin, and then nodded to the priest.
"We will continue to investigate this matter... By the way, regarding this body, I personally suggest that it be burned as soon as possible. It has been eroded by chaos. Just putting it here may cause harm to the surrounding environment. Bad influence.”
"This..."
After hearing Duanmuhuai's suggestion, the priest hesitated, but she was silent for a moment and nodded.
"Okay, I will make the proposal. I guess Tyr is not willing to let this child exist in such a blasphemous posture. Disappearing in the holy fire may be a better ending."
After confirming that this was indeed subspace erosion, Duanmu Huai took the others out of Waterdeep City without saying a word and went to Locke Town. For the Tribunal, there is nothing more important than investigating subspace erosion and the invasion of evil gods. It's important, especially now that there are already such traces.
It is not difficult to get to Locke Town itself. Locke Town is located to the east of Waterdeep City. Take a boat from Daggerford and follow the Drimbil River upstream. After passing Waterdeep City, you will come to the Gray Peak Mountains, and behind the Gray Peak Mountains It's the Lost Land, and at the foot of the mountain is Locke Town.
This was once a small town that made a living from mining. It may have been glorious during its most prosperous period, but like all resource points that rely on mountains and rivers, when the ore here was emptied out, Locke Town began to gradually decline. .
But even so, when Duanmu Huai and others arrived in front of Locke Town, the thick and hard-looking steel gate could still prove the glory of Locke Town in the past.
But only the afterglow was left.
And the group of people was stopped as a matter of course.
"You, who are you?"
The guard standing at the sentry looked pale, holding a crossbow and aiming at Duanmu Huai and others, and shouted loudly at the same time.
"I am Duan Muhuai, the Grand Inquisitor of the Inquisition."
Duanmuhuai showed his rose knot to the guard. Although he knew that the other party could not understand it, the process still had to go through.
"I came here to investigate the dead baby incident that occurred here."
"We haven't heard of any Inquisition."
However, at this moment, a man with a big beard walked up to the sentry post. He stared at Duanmuhuai and said coldly.
"Rock Town does not need help. This town is currently closed and no one is allowed to enter or exit. Please leave!"
"I think you're mistaken."
Hearing the man's answer, Duanmu Huai snorted coldly.
"We are not here to help you. It is the duty of the Inquisition to investigate any incident related to the Chaos Evil God. This is not help or assistance, but a job. Anyone who tries to prevent the Inquisitor from investigating, They will all be regarded as heretics----"
Having said this, Duanmuhuai suddenly clenched his war hammer and swung it forward.
"Kill without mercy!"
"Hey————!"
Hearing Duanmuhuai's murderous words, the soldier holding a crossbow on the sentry line was so frightened that his legs softened and he collapsed directly on the ground. The man stared at Duanmuhuai for a moment, and then spoke.
"From your tone, do you know what happened in the town?"
"We need to investigate and understand before we can be sure."
“……………………”
After hearing Duanmuhuai's answer, the man was silent for a moment, then raised his hand.
"Open the door and let them in."
"But, but the mayor..."
"This is an order!"
Soon, the originally closed steel gate slowly opened, and Duanmu Huai and others walked into the town, and then the gate closed again behind them, as if there was some terrible devil chasing them behind.
At the same time, inside the city wall, a group of heavily armed soldiers were already holding weapons, looking at Duanmu Huai and others uneasily and cautiously. Judging from their equipment, these soldiers were just local militia and did not have much fighting. Experience, in fact, they were already trembling all over just standing here, facing Duanmuhuai. Mary really doubted that as long as Duanmuhuai roared, all these soldiers would immediately run away like birds.
Then the soldiers parted, and in came the moustachioed man who had spoken.
"I am Glensa Brown, the mayor of Locke Town."
The man who claimed to be the mayor stared at Duanmu Huai and spoke carefully, but his expression was extremely haggard and he looked gloomy.
"Although now is not the time, you are still welcome to Rock Town."
(End of chapter)