Pillars of Ita

Chapter 1184 The past of the Nightingale King?

Going west through the Morningwind Woods and across Danteville, you will enter Sanshak. It is still unaffected by the "death plague" and the mountains are green. They maintain a clear boundary with the gray area in the east. The other side of the boundary is gray and hazy. The Papara people call it the White Branch Land.

After leaving Neckbrook Range's 'White Branch Land', the investigation team traveled day and night along a road between Oakshed and Finsado. About a week later, Fang He led everyone into the Silver Creek Valley.

The people of Linoril called this place the Green Hills - Rodel, the place of hills, and Sanshak itself means "the place where hills gather" in Elvish.

The roots of the sacred tree of Telaka, large and small, arched up here to form hills, like folds on a green carpet. A river, the Moss Stream, runs through the hills, and large and small tributaries flow into it, forming a shining light belt.

The land through which they all flow is the Land of Nightingales - the territory of the Lord of the Mountain.

Of course, the nightingale here is not the nightingale of the Paparlar people, but the birds in the forest. They have jointly shaped the homeland of the Paparlar people with their beautiful singing voices.

Therefore, this forest is also called the Nightingale Forest, and the ancient whispering woodland extends all the way to the middle of the Giant Tree Hill.

It is warm and pleasant here with spring-like weather all year round. The life-loving Papara people live here, and most of them believe that there is no place better than Sanshak in the world.

Therefore, except for the travelers among the Paparars, most of the Paparars live here all their lives.

However, even this land, beloved by the sacred tree of Telaka, is not completely free from troubles in the disaster. The shadow of decay is spreading through the forest, and some silver-mottled woodlands have appeared in Finsado and Loanhill.

The Paparars have now united to protect their homeland. They have hired some human mercenaries to solve the troubles in the forest, and the Star Ring has also intervened.

Before Fang He arrived, he heard that another mountain lord was visiting Silver Creek.

Walter Stonehill, Lord of Loanhill.

Hearing that the area of ​​Loanhill near Ninimere was severely affected by gray branches, he guessed that the latter might have come here to seek help.

This is the central area of ​​Sanshak, where business is flourishing. Most of the people living in Silver Creek are Paparal, but there are also many humans, and even some valley dwarves, so the investigation team does not need to hide their identities here. Moreover, Fang He has inquired that the three airships of the advance team are still staying in the Danteville area after losing two Silver Ranks.

This was similar to what Elisa, Sylvie and Trishis had expected. They all agreed that the advance team might not be aware of the conspiracy themselves - this was also normal. If more than a thousand people in a fleet knew about it, it meant that this was no longer a conspiracy - but a consensus of the Linorel Council.

In that case, there is no need for Silver Wind Port to send out this investigation team. After all, a conspiracy can only be called a conspiracy when it is known and mastered by a few people.

Elisa pointed out that the most likely scenario was that some members of the advance team were involved in the incident, so they only needed to find an excuse to cover it up.

There could be many excuses for this - wrong intelligence, misjudgment or human negligence. Both Sylvie and Tracis agreed with this assessment.

If the three ladies in the team reached a consensus, then the facts were probably not far off. However, Fang He did not dare to bet on who was innocent and who was the mastermind.

They just followed the 'beacon' all the way to this place. Three days ago, the Holy White Tree Heart arrived at Silver Creek and remained there in his perception.

Fang He did not expect that this holy white tree heart would pass all the way through Shafendor and come here. It was not taken to Silverwind Port, but came to Sanshak instead.

There is no Gray Zone nearby. If those people intend to do anything with it, they should take it to Loanhill further north near the Ninimere front.

But he soon understood.

Fang He judged that the ship that took away the Holy White Tree Heart should be a communication ship.

These were the light, single-masted sailing vessels that were sometimes used as dinghies on larger warships to keep in touch with other ships, regions and ports.

This is especially useful when communications are silent or interrupted.

There is an airship tower in Rodel, which is one of the most prosperous commercial areas in the Sanshak region and has the only airport in the Hills.

  Miss Nightingale, dressed in black, returned to the campfire as quietly as a pitch-black cat, sharing the news she had gathered with everyone:

"The ship arrived at the port three days ago and left Silver Creek after it was resupplied."

Although the people of Paparal have a rich material life, they are not as keen on commercial prosperity as the Council of Linoril, and the prosperous business in Silver Creek is only relative to other places.

They only had a large open-air market where they would trade whatever they had, or use their shiny coins to buy what they needed from merchants, or exchange items for other things.

An airship tower was also built there. Due to the leisurely lifestyle and abundant population, traveling merchants were willing to bring goods here for trading.

There are almost no decent commercial facilities in Oak Hills. There are no hotels or taverns. There is only a blacksmith shop and a few weaving workshops in Silver Creek.

The only tall building is the Adventurer's Guild, located in a tree house under a huge arch.

Most of the locals also live in such tree houses, low houses or hills, keeping company with the mountains and sleeping with the mountains. After nightfall, the lights lined up in the hills light up one by one.

Like stars falling into a valley.

Since there are no inns or taverns, adventurers traveling here can only camp in the wild. Outside the hills are countless camps of all sizes.

Fortunately, there have been many human mercenaries active here since the forest disaster, so the investigation team is not conspicuous among them.

Tracis was picking up a grilled fish from the wooden rack next to the charcoal fire and sharing it with Alyssa. She asked, "Do you mean that those people left the Holy White Tree Heart here?"

"If the captain's perception is correct. Although it is a bit strange, why don't they take the Holy White Tree Heart to the north? Or do they plan to cultivate the disaster branches here?"

Miss Nightingale took the fish, which was grilled to a slightly crispy skin. It was a white salmon, and the burnt brown skin still had a silver-gray tint. She lifted her hair with her hand, lowered her head and took a bite, then frowned.

"This one was grilled by Nini." Fang He explained to her a little embarrassedly.

Nini was standing on his shoulders with her hands on her hips, looking at Elisa proudly, as if waiting for her praise.

"It's well grilled," Miss Nightingale handed the grilled fish over, "Try it."

Then she took the grilled fish in front of him.

Fang He looked at the tooth marks on the slightly burnt white salmon and looked at the other party.

Alyssa raised her eyebrows at him, "Why, Master, do you still care about this?"

Cui Xisi looked at the two people and sighed, while the ship officer just smiled softly with her hands covering her mouth.

Fang He took a bite with a bitter face. It tasted fishy and astringent, not yet cooked, and some parts were over-burned. He wanted to put it back carefully as a souvenir.

But Nini was looking at him eagerly.

He had no choice but to pretend that the fish was delicious, and made up his mind to keep Nini away from the kitchen. The fish passed from one person to another and finally returned to him.

He thought that if he had known earlier that he should have given it to Lian Kuiya Arsana, given the elf princess's tolerance, she would definitely not have the nerve to return the fish.

Fang He didn't care what those people planned to do with the Holy White Tree Heart, because no matter what conspiracy they had, the tree heart was already dead.

But what he cared about was where the tree heart was, in whose hands it was, and why it came here and was in that person's hands.

"Ed, can you sense where the tree heart is?" Ms. Marian asked.

Fang He shook his head. This was exactly the problem. He could only roughly sense that it was still here, but he didn't know where exactly it was.

He could control the clockwork fairy to fly several miles away, but that didn't mean he could start it from several miles away. Moreover, the clockwork fairy in the heart of the tree had been modified by him, and now only a core was left.

He replied: "I can only sense that the 'beacon' should be to our southwest. If I remember correctly, that is where the residence of the mountain lord Aina Laughter is located -"

"The palace of the mountain lord?"

Marian, Karen and scholar Arian couldn't help but look at each other.

The Paparar lady's face turned serious. No one knew better than her what the Mountain Lord meant. The full name of the Linorel Council was the Linorel-Sanshak Council.

Half of the parliament's power and administrative structure are based in Silverwind Harbor, but the other half comes from the ruler of Sanshak - the Lord of the Mountain.

There are a total of five mountain lords ruling here. Except for Elvis Morningdew, the king of the Oakshed Mountains, who is an elf, the others are all Paparars.

Like the Silverbrook where the Seven Seas Brigade had just arrived, this place was called Doron Ishil by the elves - 'The Place of Oak Shade', or more directly called Oakshade Hills. The lord of this place was a familiar face to Parker -

The owner of the shade, Aina Laughter. The parliament of Linoril is essentially a noble house, which is composed of a speaker, a vice speaker, and a secretary general, and below them are the members from various regions.

The Speaker is usually the mayor of Yinfeng Port, who is mainly responsible for presiding over the parliament and coordinating the work of the parliament, and has a significant say.

The family from which he was born has always been one of the most prominent families in Linoril - in the early years, the Deputy Speaker was selected by people from the Elf Court.

But as the Linorel Parliament gradually became independent, this position was also controlled by the locals, and now Elvis Chenlu, one of the Lords of the Mountain, is serving as the Deputy Speaker.

In addition to the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, there are fixed seats in the parliament, and the five mountain lords occupy these seats almost permanently.

It can be said that in addition to the nobles of Silverwind Harbor, the five mountain lords of Sanshak play a vital role in the upper echelons of this political circle.

This is exactly why Marian feels that the problem is serious. Ina Laughing's family has ruled Silver Creek for a long time and is the legal owner of this land.

Her father used to be the deputy speaker of the parliament. Five years ago, she took over the ruling power here from him and became the youngest of the five mountain lords.

  If even a mountain lord is involved, the three have to re-evaluate the impact of this case and consider how big the conspiracy is behind it?

"...I have met Ms. Aina once," Kailan couldn't help but say, "She is a very upright person. I think this matter may have nothing to do with her."

"You can't judge a person by his appearance," Alyssa shook her head. "Maybe it's one of her subordinates. Besides, let's not forget that there is a guest in the mansion of the mountain lord right now."

"Mountain Lord Walter Stonehill?" The naturalist lady at the side pushed up her glasses, remembering this person, "But he is also a mountain lord."

Tracis also asked, "But Walter Stonehill just happened to be here as a guest. They shouldn't bring the Holy White Tree Heart in in front of another Mountain Lord, right?"

Miss Nightingale didn't see it that way.

"Assuming that the Holy White Tree Heart is really there, then everything is possible. Maybe it's a frame-up, or maybe they are planning something on the mountain lord's territory. It's also possible that both of them are involved—"

"In fact, they may have discovered that the Holy White Tree Heart is useless and simply left it there."

She replied: "In any case, we cannot rule out this possibility."

Fang He also agreed with Elisa's statement. Indeed, they could not rule out any possibility before finding out the truth.

In short, they still have to find the location of the holy white tree heart first. Only by finding a way to get close to it can they determine whether it is in the mansion of the mountain lord.

It is not in the hands of one of the two people.

Or is there someone else hiding in that place?

But scholar Arian asked: "Could that be a trap?"

However, Fang He shook his head, eliminating the possibility that it was a trap.

First of all, few people would expect that someone could track an object thousands of miles away, and even most divination spells cannot do this.

Only a few spells like 'Retrace the Legend' can locate an object across a country or even a continent, but those spells can only tell you where the object is at best.

The clockwork fairy with only a core left in the tree's heart will not produce any etheric reaction, so even if the other party uses magic detection, they will not find anything abnormal.

To put it bluntly, his perception of the 'snake pupils' came entirely from the special mechanism of the 'exclusive construct'.

If we have to explain this mechanism, it should be based on the divine power of Aimaya and Ms. Roman, or it should come from the system, but no matter which of the above three methods is used, it is not something that ordinary people can understand.

In addition, they traveled day and night, and those people might not even know where the investigation team went.

"To sense the specific status of the beacon," said Tracis, "we need to get at least ten meters close to it to determine who has the Holy White Tree Heart."

She looked at the others, "But if it is really in the palace of the mountain lord, how can we get into it?"

Fang He, Sylvie, May, Tianlan and Jita couldn't help but cast their eyes on the person present. The Papara people were immediately stunned, and the grilled fish they were chewing no longer smelled good. "Why are you looking at me?"

"Parker, didn't you say that you were acquaintances with that mountain lord?" Tianlan asked, "That holy sword - that dagger was given to you by Lady Aina Laughter?"

"dagger?"

Marian couldn't help but glance at everyone when she heard this, and suddenly remembered a rumor from a few years ago. The more she looked at Parker, the more familiar he looked, and she couldn't help but say:

"Wait, you are..."

"No, no, no, I'm nothing!" Parker jumped up as if he was pricked by a needle, and waved his hands quickly, "Then, then, those are all bragging, don't you know it very well?"

  Fang He couldn't help but sigh. How many of what this guy said were true?

But this place is Parker's 'birthplace', which should not be false. The other party also met Miss Elf, Big Cat Man and Tianlan in this place.

They passed a square during the day, and Tianlan told everyone that they had formed a team in that square.

Exactly.

The Paparar held up a sign at the time, claiming that he was the best night thief in Silver Creek and the king of nightingales of Sanshak's generation.

The poet lady was so young and inexperienced that she actually believed Sanshak's nonsense that the Nightingale King of this generation would be a crossbow archer.

Although the big cat people saw it, they did not expose it. After all, the Papara people did know a few tricks of opening doors and picking locks, which was enough for them.

And so, from there, they embarked on such an adventure.

If you must say it, that square is where the Seven Seas Brigade was actually formed.

After all, even Fang He himself joined the team after Jita and Luo Yu, and even he did not expect that the journey would be so long.

He couldn't help but silently recall the initial time when he met the elf lady, the big cat people and others, and when everyone contributed money to help him build the first magic furnace.

Then the ship officer also joined in, followed by Mr. Gray Rock, Alisa, Box, and Luo Hao, until the Seven Seas Brigade finally had its first ship.

Then they developed along the way, had the second group, and reached the size they have today.

Fang He was silent for a moment, missing the scene at that time very much. At that time, Sister Attila and Mr. Big Cat Man were still there and they had not left yet.

The ship's officer's daughter was aware of his low mood and reached out to gently cover his hand. Fang He turned around and saw her bright eyes.

And Alisa was asking the Paparar: "So where did the dagger come from?"

Parker said indignantly: "I stole that thing. Didn't I say it more than once? I am the Nightingale King of Sanshak."

"Unless there are two Nightingale Kings in this generation of Sanshak," Alisa shook her head. "Forget it, I won't talk to you about this. So where did you bring it out from?"

"Of course..." The Paparar was suddenly stuck.

"Mr. Parker," May replied softly, "The dagger was kept in the treasure house of the Ena Laughing Family before it was stolen."

"I... I've never been to that place," Parker was a little dumbfounded and stammered, "... Wait, you don't want to sneak into that palace, do you? It's not that simple in there, it's full of dangers, and if we are caught by the mountain lord..."

"Didn't you say you've never been to that place?" Alyssa asked back, "Then how do you know there are so many dangers in there?"

"I," the Paparar swallowed, "I guessed..."

"Okay," Fang He replied, "Parker, you come with us. We will stay here for a day, and then we will go to that place to have a look."

"No, no, no," Parker shook his head, "I'm not going."

But no one paid any attention to him.

……

(End of this chapter)