Chapter 269 Village
This is an ancient forest with dilapidated paths and ancient trees. All kinds of small animals can be seen everywhere in it. Squirrels and hares are the most numerous, followed by all kinds of small animals. of birds.
The light is getting dimmer.
Brian and Santila gradually entered the depths of the forest. The sounds of various animals were heard all around, and there was even a small elk. It observed the surroundings vigilantly, lowering its head to eat grass from time to time. When he noticed the location of Brian and the two of them, he immediately ran out alertly.
"This forest has existed for at least two hundred years." Santila lifted her hair that was wet with mist and stuck to her cheek, and expressed her judgment using her intuition as a ranger.
Brian nodded slightly. He also noticed this situation, but didn't care.
After all, he had already learned from Storm that this magical demiplane was created by the elf mage Silinxi, who was also a chosen one of the goddess of magic. This makes it understandable why this demiplane is controlled by In the hands of the Harpers Alliance.
The two continued to move forward. Halfway through the journey, they finally met the first person in the forest, a half-elf hunter wearing a dark green cloak and holding a hard bow.
“Strangers?”
The half-elf hunter put away the sharp arrows on his bow, showed a surprised expression, and then greeted him enthusiastically, “Two strangers who came from afar. , welcome to Wisteria Valley. Where are you from? ”
Brian looked at the drow girl next to him.
He discovered a strange thing. The villagers in the demiplane did not show the slightest expression of rejection or fear regarding the identity of Santila's dark elf.
If the plot develops according to the normal situation, when seeing two strange foreigners, the other party will first show a look of caution instead of welcoming them enthusiastically.
He knew that the wizards of the Harper Alliance had created a construct out of wooden mannequins to impersonate the villagers without endangering any innocents.
Magic makes them look like flesh-and-blood humans, and the constructs themselves are convincingly real humanoids who only live in Wisteria Valley.
Detect Magic spells do not reveal their true nature, as each construct is protected by a spell that makes it appear to have no magical effects.
Although these artificial villagers can physically interact with their surroundings and hold long conversations, there are still some clues to their true nature.
When the half-elf hunter walked closer to Brian, he could clearly detect a faint ticking sound when the other party's body hit the hard surface.
Obviously, this kind of constructed human being made of wood is not as realistic as imagined.
Even so, Brian was still amazed by this simple construction of materials.
As far as he knew, among the many voters of the Goddess of Magic, the elf mage Silinxi was the one who was best at making constructs and devices.
In the war to repair the scars of the Ley Line, this elf boss created a group of mechanical constructs driven by clockwork, and killed all the lichs loyal to Larok, the elder of Netheril. Not stay.
It can be seen from the exquisite expression on the face of the half-elf hunter in front of him that this is definitely not something that an ordinary legendary mage can produce. At least Brian himself does not have such superb skills.
“We are travelers from the Kingdom of Cormyr.” Brian shook the hand extended by the half-elf hunter and smiled:
“The purpose of coming here is mainly to visit. A friend I haven’t seen for a long time, but we accidentally lost our way in the forest. Praise the forest goddess for letting us meet you here.”
When he came into contact with the rough palm of the half-elf hunter, he felt a cold touch similar to steel, which made him secretly surprised by the exquisite construction craftsmanship.
"The Kingdom of Cormyr?" The half-elf hunter looked confused, as if he was very unfamiliar with this name, and then he quickly changed to a hearty smile.
"It turns out that they are two lost strangers, praising the forest goddess. Don't worry, I will guide you to a road to Wisteria Valley. Who are the friends you are looking for?"
Brian thought for a moment and chose to tell the truth, "My friend's name is Azara, a ranger from the Harper Alliance. The purpose of our coming here is to cure his corruption."
< br>"Corruption?" The half-elf hunter once again showed the same confused look.
For some reason, seeing the hunter's confused expression, Brian had the feeling that when he looked up information on the computer, he couldn't find any relevant knowledge.
It can be seen from this that in order to make the demiplane feel as comfortable and familiar to Azara as possible, the Harper Alliance should have designed Wisteria Valley to be similar to his hometown, including the buildings. Villagers, and names.
People who live in the magic demiplane think Wisteria Valley is normal and do not question any problems in the demiplane. Although they know that there are other places outside Wisteria Valley, they have no interest in leaving their hometown.
"Mr. Azara has never suffered from corruption." The half-elf hunter recalled: "He is a charming ranger. He likes to share his stories and stories with us most in the 'Blooming Rest' Song, just..."
Seeing the hesitant hunter, Brian asked: "Just what? Did your village encounter any strange phenomenon?"
"That's right." The half-elf hunter frowned.
“One night three days ago, I undoubtedly saw a huge floating sphere appearing in the manor where Mr. Azala lived. This monster had a big eye and sharp teeth in the middle, and a stem on the side. There were many smaller eyes on it. Oh, damn! I was frightened by the monster, so I told Mr. Azara about it the next day, but he was not surprised and told me. Promise that he will control the situation and tell everyone in the village that anyone who sees this kind of monster must treat it as a distinguished guest."
After hearing this unexpected news, Brian asked. He nodded thoughtfully, and then under the guidance of the half-elf hunter, he and Santila continued walking towards Wisteria Valley.
As dusk approached, a village full of wisteria flowers appeared in front of them.
They stopped on the hillside and looked out over the green, fragrant fields.
To the west of the village, there are several farms dotted with a variety of crops and livestock, from pigs and sheep to medicinal plants.
Before the simple fence of the village came into view, Brian had already heard the sounds coming from the village: the squeak of the wagon wheels, the buzz of the crowd, the sound of the minstrel's flute and the body of the harp .
“It’s so strange.” Santila said curiously, “There is obviously only one small village in this demiplane, why is there still a caravan, and where will they go?”
As the crisp bird chirping sounded, their footsteps startled a group of brown birds hiding in the wisteria bushes.
Brian followed the drow girl's gaze.
This caravan not only sells food, cloth and goods, but also brings many common entourages: heavily armed guards, sitting in the shadow of the carriage drinking with a few companions, and craftsmen busy with their respective crafts, such as tin workers and fortune tellers, as well as minstrels of all kinds, from rumormongers to jugglers, and musicians.
The civilians in the village also relaxed, dressed in their best clothes, and praised the caravan's fabrics and handicrafts.
“It should be to further enhance the illusion that Wisteria Valley is a real village.” Brian explained to her:
“There is no doubt that this caravan is composed of civilians. They were supposed to come regularly, never staying more than a day at a time, or only showing up once every few weeks to break up the monotonous routine of the village, and we happened to bump into it today.”
Then they headed towards. I walked to the village's only tavern, "Huahua Xiaojie", and tried to find out any information available here.
The village's tavern sign is painted purple, and although the wisteria flower emblem adds a bit of color to the sign, the bright silver paint on it has peeled off and faded.
Insects sing in low voices in the summer dusk. The air is filled with chirping insects and the anxious grinding sound. Thousands of tiny mosquitoes are scattered among the shining lanterns scattered along the village paths. Wings fluttering around.
Soft songs with rich human voices and random playing of rough instruments escaped from the door. Brian and Santila pushed open the door and stepped into the tavern.
This is a smoky, low, narrow room with heavy black wooden beams and a bulletin board made of the same material.
As they arrived, most of the seated humans looked at them and interrupted their conversations uneasily. In the misty and warm and humid dusk, the whole tavern was steaming with steam, and the bearded faces were dripping with sweat, soaking their clothes.
One of the tall, thin men with slender hands was standing behind a badly weathered bar.
Obviously, he is the boss here.
The tavern owner was wiping a rough-made bowl and calling them in the common language of mainland China, "Two foreigners, what can I offer you?"
"I am Aza. Mr. La’s friend from afar, I want to know something about him.”
After detecting that there were no problems with these civilian constructs, Brian said directly: "I heard that a group of terrifying monsters appeared in my friend's manor. Do any of you know what happened there?"
The tavern owner frowned and shifted his feet.
Brian could see that it was probably his words that made him, as a construct, so surprised that he couldn't react for a moment and could only stay in place.
After a while, the tavern owner came back to his senses, wiped his hands back and forth on his apron and said:
"Mr. Azala is a charming ranger. He spends his time every day. He would be here in the evenings and share his stories and songs with us, but until now, he had not been here for two weeks, which was unusual. I speculated that his absence was due to the arrival of the multi-eyed creature, although we trusted Aza. Mr. La, but still concerned about his safety.”
"And, just this morning." The tavern owner continued: "Mr. Azala's servant suddenly notified everyone in the village, telling us that tomorrow night, he will hold a party in his manor, and everyone is invited. Participate.”
“Oh?”
Brian raised his eyebrows in surprise. He glanced at the drow girl standing next to him, looking around curiously, and smiled at the tavern. The boss said, "If possible, my friends and I would also like to join the invited ones. What do you think?"
Originally, he was thinking about what kind of reason to go to Azala. The manor where he lives and this village gathering are undoubtedly the best opportunities for him.
"Of course, sir." The tavern owner agreed without hesitation, leaving Brian stunned as he was about to take out the gold coins from his pocket.
However, when he remembered the identities of their constructed creatures, he was immediately relieved.
Then, he and Santila had a simple dinner, and then settled down temporarily in the village, waiting to attend a party tomorrow held by Azara, the ranger transformed from the beholder.
Thick curtains were hung in the simple guest room, and the only light source came from the two candlesticks on the desk. The candles burned quietly, casting two staggered shadows on the furnishings in the room.
Brian sat in front of the desk, flipping through the scroll in his hand. The hair hanging down in front of his forehead glowed with a slight golden luster against the candlelight.
At this moment, looking at the content on the scroll, his brows knitted together involuntarily.
The magic knowledge recorded in this scroll is the tenth-level spell "Protic's Mountain Movement" he obtained from Ms. Polaris.
Thinking that he would be able to step into the legendary realm after leaving the demiplane, in order to master the tenth-level spell faster, he took advantage of his stay in the demiplane where time passed slowly to learn about this spell in advance. Detailed knowledge.
In this case, when he has the ability to release the tenth-level spell, he can master this spell faster and start preparing for the floating city.
Brian just fell silent in the profound knowledge of magic. After an unknown amount of time, when his door was pushed open and closed again, he realized that someone had entered his room.
He was not surprised by this.
After all, he has the habit of being cautious no matter where he is, so whenever he is about to rest or study something, he will set up multiple warning circles in his room.
The reason why he didn't sense someone entering his room was not because he was too obsessed with magic knowledge and didn't notice someone touching his alarm, but because he gave the password to the magic circle to another person. people.
There is no doubt that the person entering his room at this moment is the drow girl Santila who followed him to this demiplane.
Brian put away the scroll and looked up.
Outside the window, the setting sun had long been replaced by a bright crescent moon. The bright moonlight reflected through the large floor-to-ceiling windows into the room filled with pink atmosphere, and shone on Santila's body.
The drow girl had obviously dressed up carefully before entering his room.
She was wearing a thin black gauze dress, her steps were brisk and elegant as she walked, and a pair of beautiful black silk legs were looming under the skirt.
The slender waist makes people want to hold her in their arms, and the beautiful face perfectly combines the softness of a girl and the charm of a mature woman, with a mixture of , a charm as sweet as poison.
Under the moonlight, the drow girl's thick white hair shines slightly, like a smooth gem on the endless black curtain, illuminating the entire dark night, like a rare work of art, exuding With elegant charm.
In a trance, the dark girl who had long since fallen in Brian's impression gradually overlapped with her.
In his opinion, this was not a dark elf.
This is an anemone that was born in a dark place and still blooms with light. This is a beautiful woman who longs for passion and love.
He really didn’t expect that Santila, who always liked to wear simple clothes, would be so charming after being carefully dressed up.
"Brian..." Santila's sweet and melodious voice interrupted his moment of absence.
"What's wrong?" Brian came back to his senses and asked subconsciously.
"Tomorrow... you have to wake me up..." She blinked her bright sapphire eyes at him, and raised the corners of her mouth slightly, revealing a playful smile.
"Why?...Are you looking forward to what will happen tomorrow?" Brian walked up to her and asked curiously.
Santilla came up to him in the blink of an eye.
The two were nose to nose, and Brian once again stared at her sapphire eyes with long eyelashes.
Her blue eyes were sparkling, and her breath blew on her face, giving her a feeling of nourishment.
Through the thin clothes, Brian could even feel the other person's soft body and pounding heartbeat.
"No. I'm looking forward to the morning when I can see you when I wake up...because finally no one can disturb us this time..." She said in a soft tone.
Brian smiled and stroked her smooth hair, gently smelling the fragrance remaining in the hair, feeling the smooth hair slipping away from his fingers, and he unconsciously pulled Santila In my arms.
Santila hugged his neck and pressed her gentle mouth on him.
The seductive fragrance exuding from the girl's body and the charming look on her face seemed to hint that this time it might be more than just a simple kiss.
…………20,000 words are omitted here
(End of this chapter)