The Swordsman of Faerûn

Chapter 212 I'm Helping Him

"What a beautiful treasure! It's fascinating." Old Dick's family surrounded the table looking up at the dazzling ruby. Old Dick swore that he had never seen such a beautiful ruby. When he was young, he was in a A wandering sorcerer had seen an onyx, but that was far less impressive.Other than that, he only heard that the archmage who came from Waterdeep City the year before was wearing several magic rings inlaid with rubies.

In the land of Faerun, gems have a very special status. Precious metals such as gold and silver may depreciate due to different eras or regions, but gems will never lose their value because they not only It can make beautiful craft ornaments, and it is also an indispensable magic material for releasing various spells and making magic utensils. Like the ancient Netheril gold coins, gems of various colors are also held in the strategic warehouse (treasury) of each force Things.

In front of the eye-catching gemstones, Old Dick's hands stopped shaking, and Maggie, who was a little nervous after being frightened, stopped shaking, and no one thought about cleaning up the broken farmhouse. With a dry voice: "Is she real? It can't be an evil magic illusion, right?"

Old Dick slapped away the little black hand who thought his youngest grandson Aaroni was going to touch the gem secretly, shaking his messy beard and said: "The great mother of the earth, Chauntia, can testify that there are no ridiculous tricks and tricks to deceive the old man. Dick's eyes, I'm pretty sure she's real. Look at that colored kid, and bring a dagger, we've got to pry her out, ugly wooden boards don't deserve the gorgeous colors."

"How valuable is she?" Old Maggie couldn't move her eyes from the gemstone.

Old Dick said excitedly: "It's hard to say! But she can at least get four of the best heavy horses, or build ten more farmhouses." As he spoke, he took the inferior dagger handed over by his youngest son, and carefully When you pry it, the delicate appearance seems to be afraid of scratching the gem (the hardness of the gem is second only to the diamond, commonly known as "corundum", but in the eyes of ordinary people in Faerun, the diamond is no different from the gem).

Just when Old Dick's family was intoxicated with the unexpected wealth, a chaotic "rumbling" sound of horseshoes came from a distance, and a group of knights came to the half-collapsed farmhouse with lit torches.Priest Toga Ainuwen was the first to jump off the saddle. This Chantia priest was a tall, strong man with brown hair and blue eyes, a slightly curved nose, and a slightly thick face with a bit of weather. Wearing a plain priest's sacrificial robe, it gives people a very stable and reliable feeling.

Pastor Ainuwen's voice was very thick, with a vicissitudes of life: "Dick! Dick! Have any of you been injured?" In fact, there are not many farms in the whole field. Ainuwen knows each of them and calls them Names, even most of their family members.

"No one was harmed, dear Mr. Ainuwen! I didn't expect you to come here in person, really." Hearing the sound of horseshoes, old Dick hurriedly put away the ruby, and told every family member to stay in the house. He went out to greet the pastor and his men.

The leader of the pastor made a reasonable expression, and approached the farmhouse with a torch in one hand to check the damage to the house. After a while, he said: "Well, it seems that it is indeed the work of a large creature more than ten feet tall. Dick, give me Tell me about those giants, what are their characteristics?"

"Huh? Giants? Oh! Yes, those giants." Old Dick looked a little out of his mind. "A giantess nearly eight feet, a human boy, two little girls, and a very beautiful woman, just The woman suddenly grew into a giant ten feet tall and broke my house. But they didn't mean to destroy it, and the children didn't look bad." Old Dick was not a greedy person, Although he is a little clever like a farmer, decades of life experience have allowed him to distinguish what is "contentment".

"Haha! Dick, 'bad guy' isn't written on his face, there's nothing scarier than 'a cruel, evil heart hidden under a face of hypocrisy', it's not up to you whether those giants are evil or not It’s up to the gods to decide.” Pastor Ainuwen’s smile was hearty, with some friendly jokes.

Pastor Ainuwen looked into the house through the gap in the farmhouse, and found that Old Dick's family was gathering together and looked out with a very strange expression. He pondered for a while and turned around and asked, "Dick, where are those people Which direction did you go?"

Old Dick, who was following the pastor, hurriedly pointed to the dirt road outside the yard, and said, "To the southeast, they went southeast along the dirt road."

"Southeast? That should be the river valley of the 'Golden Horn'." Ai Niuwen glanced in the direction pointed by Old Dick, and the wilderness under the night was dimly desolate under the illumination of Su Lun (the moon).

The pastor slowly looked around the farmer's home under the moonlight, and then walked back to the horses led by his men, but paused, turned around and sighed: "Dick, I am very sorry to suffer such a disaster, I allow your family Exempt this year’s donation, I’m really sorry that I can only do this for you.” As he spoke, he got on his horse and raised the rein and said loudly: “But don’t worry, those saboteurs will definitely be punished as they deserve! Chauntia's testimony!" After speaking, he turned his horse and left.

Old Dick's expression changed a few times, and he hurriedly said loudly: "Wait. Mr. Ainuwen, wait! Those people are not necessarily bad people, and they have already made compensation, a huge compensation." The farmer was saying When it came to "compensation", I couldn't help but increase my tone.

"Compensation? You said they gave you compensation?" Pastor Ainuwen, who was puzzled and surprised, flashed a hint of "really so" in his eyes, but no one noticed in the dark night. He asked pretending to be angry, " Then why do you report to the monastery?"

Old Dick explained with some panic: "They didn't explain when they left. We didn't find out until Basso rode to the monastery when we were cleaning up the ruins."

"Oh? What is it that convinces you that they (no longer them) compensated you? Is it gold coins? Or maybe they accidentally left it behind." The pastor showed everyone in a suspicious tone. His extensive experience.

"It's not a gold coin, Mr. Ainuwen, it's a precious stone, a precious ruby, which was deliberately set on the wooden tabletop they used to use." As he said that, old Dick returned to the farmhouse, and took out the treasure from the cabinet on which his family was leaning. Holding a ruby ​​carefully in the palm of his hand, the farmer walked out of the house. The farmer held up the gem and said in a showy tone: "I don't think our family needs to exempt the donation to the monastery this year, Mr. Ainuwen."
The eye-catching gem was like a burning flame flower under the moonlight, and the surrounding area was bright red. The dozen torches in the hands of the priest and his subordinates were as dim as fireflies in late autumn in front of her.All the people present couldn't help swallowing their saliva when they saw the ruby. Ai Niuwen stared at the gem deeply. He knew that kind of ruby. It was the top-quality ruby ​​that was only produced in small quantities in Mirabar, an important mining town in the north. Even he seldom saw it with his archmage friends in Waterdeep City.
You must know that most of the gems in William's hands were scavenged from the corrupt MPs in Mirabar. If you want to let those treasures carefully collected by greedy dignitaries in Mirabar, which is famous for its rich gems, how can there be inferior ones? goods.Sell ​​the inferior ones to others and keep the best ones for yourself. This is the most basic tenet of a qualified businessman.

Pastor Ainuwen jumped off his horse again, probably because his eyes were too focused on the color of the gemstone, and he almost lost his footing when he landed. He staggered a few steps before he stabilized himself, and glanced at the others in embarrassment. While staring at the gem, no one noticed his gaffe, he coughed hard to clear his throat, and asked pretendingly serious: "Dick, is this what those people left behind?"

Old Dick held the gem and praised: "Yes, that's her! I never thought she would be so beautiful under the moonlight, Mr. Ainuwen, isn't she very beautiful?"

Pastor Ainuwen sighed, "Dick, how many dilapidated farmhouses do you think you can buy with such a precious gem?"

"I think it should be ten, no! At least twenty, look at how beautiful she is, hehe, even if someone offered the price of thirty farmhouses, I wouldn't sell it." The old farmer looked at the treasure in his hand with a smirk, He was so happy that he was about to faint.

The pastor shouted angrily, "Don't be stupid Dick! Do you think someone will pay you with treasures worth thirty farmhouses for your pile of broken wood?" Of course, what he said in his heart was: It hurts. What a fool!Old Dick, I hope you're silly too.

The old farmer couldn't help being taken aback when he heard the words, he widened his eyes and said stupidly: "No?! What do you mean by that? Mr. Ainuwen."

Ai Niuwen said with "sorrow" and "fear" on his face: "This is an evil magic stone that has been enchanted with illusions. It will lure ignorant and greedy people to approach it, indulge in it, and try to possess it in every possible way. It devours souls and becomes an evil puppet."

Old Dick was dumbfounded when he heard that, and he cried out in disbelief, "Impossible! Mr. Ainuwen, are you joking? Look at how beautiful he is. It can't be the evil magic stone."

Pastor Ai Niuwen said in a deep voice, "You idiots see gems, but in my eyes, blessed by the gods, they are ugly rocks. Forget it, let me show you its true colors. "The priest cast a spell on the gemstone, and after a misty halo, the gemstone immediately turned into an ugly black stone in the shape of an eyeball. The farmer couldn't help but sigh when he saw the gemstone in his hand suddenly turned into a terrifying "eyeball". Shivering, he threw it away.

As soon as the eyeball-shaped black stone left the farmer's palm, it turned into a dazzling ruby ​​again, bouncing and rolling down to Ainuwen's feet. The priest quickly screamed "I'm at a loss" and jumped away, took a few deep breaths and said in horror: " The magic power of the magic stone is too strong, I can only disperse it for a while." Then the pastor took out a leather glove from his pocket and put it on his hand, he picked up the gem on the ground with a "nervous" expression, "Be careful" Packed in a very special little leather bag.

"Dick! I'm going to take it to the monastery and use the power of the gods to destroy this evil magic weapon. This is really a bad situation. I will send someone to dispel evil spirits for your family tomorrow, uh, don't worry, it's free Yes. In addition, the proposal on reducing donations is still valid.” Pastor Ainuwen jumped on his horse as if fleeing, and led his men into the moonlight under the desperate eyes of the old farmer’s family.

Under the moonlight, along with the sound of horseshoes, a few proud words were left in the wilderness.

"My lord, what you used just now didn't seem to be a dispel spell, it should be an illusion?"

"I can't help it. It's a disaster if such precious gems are left in Old Dick's place!" Although the farmer is not guilty, it is a disaster if he hides the treasure. 'I'm helping him!"

(End of this chapter)