Chapter 20 The Demon King's Key
When the shouts of killing lingering in the valley dissipated, the sun gradually moved westward towards the horizon.
The soldiers entered the camp that originally belonged to the bandits and began to prepare to set up camp, planning to stay one night and then go back.
The wounded had to be treated, the dead needed to be burned, and the prisoners had to be captured. They also had to search for loot, confirm whether any bandits had escaped, etc. After a set of procedures, it was already dark.
Instead of taking a bunch of captives on a mountain road at night, it would be better to just stay there for one night and wait until tomorrow to go down the mountain.
Viola found a relatively straight wooden stick and inserted it into the ground, then took off the Holy Emblem around her neck and wrapped it around it to serve as a simple altar, while she knelt under the Holy Emblem to pray.
Prayer is a very important thing, both for believers and for God.
So even if Viola didn't have time to wipe the blood on her hands and sword, she immediately found a place to pray when the time came.
Shelley approached from behind holding a document board. When he saw Viola praying, he also knelt down behind her.
Neither of them spoke until half an hour later, Viola opened her eyes and stood up.
"Is the statistical work completed?"
"Preliminarily completed, Your Highness."
Looking down at the numbers on the file board, Shelley said:
"No one on our side died, and the number of wounded was 55. Ten of the seriously wounded have been stabilized under your treatment. The enemy has 175 dead, 323 wounded, and 488 prisoners. There are about 30 more people who took advantage of the situation. Ran away, Hill has already led the team to chase him. "
It is not easy for twenty or thirty people to survive in the wilderness without cover, especially in the Spine of the World Mountains.
At night, not only wild beasts appear, but also traces of monsters are occasionally seen. They are obviously not vegetarians.
In theory, it didn't matter whether they were pursued or not, but in order to ensure that they would not threaten nearby villages, they still had to see people alive and dead or corpses.
"What about the loot?"
"Thirty pieces of cotton cloth, five cubic meters of glass, and twelve boxes of spices were found in the warehouse. 2,300 gold coins, and 82 gemstones. There are a huge number of silver coins, copper coins, and iron coins. There is no accurate figure for the time being. It is estimated that the value is more than 1,000 gold coins."
Viola frowned when she heard this:
"It's not normal, this is too much."
The purchasing power of 1 gold coin is enough for an ordinary family of three to live a good life with no worries about food and clothing for half a month. It can be imagined that this is a huge sum of money.
But the Leon Territory is a poor and remote place. Although Lord Leon regards it as his lifeblood, in fact, even if the land is scraped out, there will not be much oil and water.
A gang of bandits who were just making a living here, and had never committed any big cases before, couldn't possibly be so fat.
And the man named Roy is not normal either.
With a swordsmanship that can defeat the knights of the Guards, he can find a pretty respectable job if he finds refuge with any lord. There is no need to become a precarious bandit.
Viola felt that this guy might be a hidden stake placed specially by a certain country or force in Leon's territory. The overly wealthy warehouse could be explained by the fact that it was funded by the person who asked him to come here.
"How's Roy doing?"
"Military doctors gave him emergency treatment. He should not die, but he is still in a coma and is currently under strict supervision."
"When he regains consciousness, let him be handed over to Hill's team for interrogation. We must dig out everything he knows!"
Viola will come here to clear out the remaining bandits, mainly because she feels that the Demon King is guiding her here.
In this case, she naturally believed that it was also the Demon King who guided her to find Roy. There was an unexplained landmine hidden in a place that I thought was safe, thanks to its early discovery.
This is all in your plan!
Viola admires the Demon King God's omniscience and wisdom so much that even if she is asked to jump off a cliff, she will do it without hesitation.
While thinking about these, Viola found that Shelley was in a very low mood.
"What's on your mind?"
"Nothing, Your Highness, I just..."
After hesitating for a moment, she said:
"I just feel that even with the help of the Demon King and God Lord, I still let His Highness down."
Viola knew that it would be counterproductive to say that Roy was too strong and you couldn't beat him at this time, so she patted Shelley on the shoulder:
"It is precisely because Your Majesty has given you divine skills that you should continue to work hard in the following days to live up to Your Majesty's and my expectations."
The art of controlling one's subordinates is not about being PUA all day long, but stimulating the ability of every subordinate. Viola obviously understands this truth.
"Yes! Your Highness! I will never let you and your Majesty down again. Please allow me to continue reporting."
"Well, go ahead."
"In addition to the belongings in the warehouse, we also found a large number of letters and notes in Roy's personal dormitory, but the written words must have been encrypted, and the court magicians are trying to decipher them. In addition, in the secret compartment of the dormitory, Also found this.”
Shelley took out a small box from the bag on her back and handed it to Viola.
The latter opened it and saw a palm-long key inside.
The key itself appears to be made of brass, but has a very odd shape.
The tooth part of the key is slender and fragile, and as irregular and complex as a tree branch. There is a knob in the middle of the key handle. When turned, the key will become a cross shape, making it even more complicated. It is difficult to imagine how sophisticated a lock would be to fit this key.
At the bottom of the key ring, there is a brass eye-shaped structure. The terrifying and vivid vertical one eye seems to be alive, staring at everyone who picks up the key.
When Viola checked the key, Shelley explained: "While we were searching the room, the secret compartment suddenly opened by itself. I think this may be your guidance."
"Yes, it's very possible. But what does this key mean?"
The guidance of the Demon King, Roy's identity, and the reason why he formed a bandit gang here. These clues were mixed in Viola's mind, temporarily disconnected.
"Have you seen the court magicians?"
"I've seen it. They said that this key is very old, possibly dating back to the age of mythology. It also has an extremely powerful spell attached to it, but due to limited abilities, I can't see anything more specific, and there are no records in any books. Get over it.”
The mythical age refers to the barbaric period beyond the earliest written historical records. People's understanding of such a long past is only some oral legends.
When Viola heard Shelley's narration, she suddenly thought that the era when the devil god existed seemed to be an era of mythology. After that He became a legend to this day.
So maybe the key is related to the Demon King God?
(End of chapter)