Shadow Covenant

Chapter 199 "Once"

"It's okay, okay, the spell disturbance set by Cecil came in handy at this time."

Donnie, who also kept up with the car, yelled for danger, and made Woody, who didn't know why, understand why the teleportation was gone, but he still stayed around the carriage.

Apparently, Cecil also took aim in this regard, so that the teleportation spell that could have been directly teleported back to River Valley City was directly restricted to the vicinity of the battlefield. I know that the failure of the transmission just now made him suffer a lot.

Woody rode grapes, galloping out like the wind, and soon saw the black horse running towards the depths across the field. There were only two people on the horse, and one was a human wearing a black cloak. The short brown hair who could see the back and the hood faintly exposed should be a man, and the other one, of course, was Tesia who passed out and was thrown horizontally on the horse's back.

Grasping the distance, Woody took a deep breath and shouted directly at the figure.

"You can't get away! Stop, maybe we can talk, Viscount Korn!"

As soon as this sentence came out, the bronze dragon Doni who was lying on his back was a little dizzy, because she had watched the whole process just now, and understood that the group of guards who surrounded him were sent by Viscount Korn, the lord of River Valley City. Xia Xia killed her, but this mysterious person who suddenly teleported her away and took her away from the battlefield did not have any intention of killing her at all, but instead had a sense of protection.

But now Woody said that the mysterious man was Viscount Cohen, which changed Donnie's worldview. Which passage did he miss?Or missed a clue?

However, after thinking about it, she still couldn't find a conclusion that could connect Viscount Korn and the mysterious man.

But what she didn't expect was that as soon as Woody's words came out, the mysterious man who was still riding with his head down and galloping in the wilderness suddenly froze, and the rein in his hand also subconsciously pulled, slowing down .

Woody quickly caught up on the grape, and this also allowed him to see the appearance of the mysterious man under the hood, but unfortunately, most of his face was covered by a red face scarf, only his pair of hands were exposed. Looking at his gray-brown eyes in doubt, Woody smiled and said.

"Viscount Cohen? I'm not wrong, am I?"

"You... how did you recognize it, a young adventurer, or a noble from a foreign land."

The middle-aged man who stopped his horse and was silent for a long time was still hiding something in front of him. His voice was dull and hoarse, but it quickly changed into a mellow voice with a slight tongue roll, and the baritone voice was magnetic.

It sounds like the role of being a leader and giving orders all year round.

Doesn't seem to be very afraid of revealing his identity?
Woody looked at the mysterious man who transformed very naturally, or Viscount Cohen, and frowned slightly calmly.

It seems that things are not as simple as he imagined.

But Woody's words are still natural and flat.

"It's very simple. The talisman you gave has an emblem I know branded on it, and there are not many people in the entire Golden River Valley who can buy the talisman and give it to a little girl with spare money?"

Woody put on a half-smile face, and got off his horse. He didn't feel his hostility, and his strength was far inferior to that of the previous knights. There was nothing to be afraid of in close combat.

Of course, he was still approaching with vigilance.

"Oh, it seems that you have been to our River Valley City?...Um...huh...Know Mr. Shaddo Gelfein?"

Viscount Korn, who was riding on the horse, turned over and dismounted naturally, took off his cloak, and tore off the red face scarf that covered half of his face. It seemed that he had been depressed for a long time. After taking it off, he took a few deep breaths, Then he looked at the black-haired young man who was riding a horse with a tabby cat on his back, and asked with a smile.

He grasped the key point, that is, Woody had entered River Valley City without his knowledge, and he knew the city very well. Otherwise, how could he recognize the embryo he chose at a glance, even if it was Golden River Valley? Among them, there are not many who can recognize that this amulet came from the hands of others.

"Acquaintance is acquaintance, but not here."

Woody replied half-truthfully, it is naturally impossible for him to tell the whole story of his past life in River Valley City, but fortunately, Viscount Korn doesn't care about it, now that he took off his cloak, it is natural for the man with a firm face to say Not these.

He put on an apologetic tone.

"It is imperative to take Tecia away this time. If I don't take her away, she will die."

"The time was urgent just now, and I didn't have time to explain to you, and besides, I'm not sure if you are good people..."

He first set a tone for his actions, then explained.

"Although I don't know how you recognized me, but since you guessed my existence, there is nothing to hide. There is still a while now, and I hope you will not be surprised by what I will say next."

"Don't tell me that Viscount Korn in River Valley City is not the same person as you."

Woody replied jokingly, but Cohen was stunned by this sentence, and a wry smile appeared on his weather-beaten face.

"You guessed it again?"

"After all, while grasping and releasing, as long as you have a little brain, you will think of this aspect, unless you are schizophrenic."

"What does schizophrenia mean?"

Doni, the bronze dragon who had never heard the message, asked curiously from the bottom of her heart, apparently quite interested in this new term.

"It's like a two-headed ogre, two personalities share one head."

Woody's simple explanation dismissed the curiosity of the bronze dragon, and then he set his sights on the dumb-faced middle-aged nobleman.

Viscount Korn, the lord of River Valley City, with his current face, probably no one would recognize him.

I don’t know if it’s from the sun or I haven’t bathed for a long time. Black oil is covering the skin, one layer is brown and the other is white, and the whole body is dirty and dirty. Most of the clothes are still soaked through. Unmanaged is like a chicken coop, and his beard is also messy, which is extremely embarrassing.

If it weren't for his temperament and straight figure that could prove that he had received an aristocratic education, he would actually be no different from the low-level people in the slums who sold coolies for food.

"That's right, you're right, it's not me who controls River Valley City now, but to some extent it can be regarded as me..."

The expression on the middle-aged man's face was full of nostalgia and reminiscence. What he said was indeed confusing, but luckily he didn't have the idea of ​​whetting his appetite. He planned to start from the beginning.

But it was quickly stopped by Woody.

"Needless to say so much, just tell why the trade is banned, the reason for the gray fog, and how to solve it. I'm not interested in hearing the history of your nobles."

When Woody heard that hundreds of years ago, he had a splitting headache. He knew that if he was allowed to continue talking like this, there was a high probability that he would have to listen to 90.00% five nonsense in order to obtain the key information. Therefore, Woody He directly grasped the key points for Viscount Cohen, and said that he can focus on these.

Viscount Korn didn't care, and said very easily.

"All right!"

"Actually, you're right. It's meaningless to talk too much, and I don't have time. Forget it, let me answer your question."

"Why doesn't the Golden River Valley open up to the outside world for trade?... Well... Actually, it's not that I don't want to open it as a lord, but I can't open it! Who doesn't want to charge a lot of customs duties and city entry taxes? The Golden River Valley is on the trade route By the way, this is more than the land tax collected from farmers."

Viscount Cohen was not slow to organize the language, but Woody was faster than him, directly cut off his slightly nagging complaints, and asked straightforwardly.

"That's why."

"Because of a curse!"

Viscount Korn said with a sad face, these words made Woody subconsciously recall the smell of the temporary camp he asked, as well as the knight from River Valley City.

"Curse of the living dead?"

"Hey, yes! You should have seen it, but you probably don't know what we used to describe it at the time."

"We all call it the "death curse". It's a lot gentler than before."

There was a hint of fear in Cohen's expression. Obviously, in his previous memory, all the memories brought about by this curse were gloomy.

"I remember that day very clearly. It was the anniversary of the founding of the Kamutra family for a century, and the population of the city also rose to 1. It was only 2 years before the kingdom's laws advanced to the big city-state. Thousands of people, at that time, you can still invite a temple priest to come here to build a temple. Come to River Valley City to share with us the joy of the birth festival belonging to the Kamutra family. At that time, I also invited many merchants outside..."

Viscount Cohen tried his best to describe the scene of that day, and even made it clear when the banquet started and ended on time.

"and then?"

"Then before midnight that day, a plague broke out in River Valley City, or a curse."

"All the infected people were accompanied by high fever and unconsciousness. Before twelve hours, they became living dead who could only breathe but would not wake up."

"It's not that I observed carefully and investigated seriously, but that at the evening dance after the banquet, I was still dancing a beautiful waltz with a beautiful lady. She... and more people at the dance, there is no A foreboding fall."

Speaking of this, Viscount Cohen's gray-brown eyes were full of sadness. That scene must have been a big blow in his life.

"It was half empty at once, do you know? The whole venue was boiling at that time. It was my father who left me the housekeeper. Old Foz called a dozen doctors and guards to control the situation."

He opened his hands, gesturing at the size of the banquet and the distribution of the number of people, as if the picture was displayed in front of him until now.

"It seems to be very serious, so how do you know that the curse is related to the number of people? Could it be that stopping trade and contact can solve this curse, and you haven't tried to trace the source? When did the gray fog appear?"

Woody frowned and asked thoughtfully.

He was asking questions while thinking. Although he already knew the answers to some questions, in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, he chose to do so. Asking more questions is not a troublesome thing. Saying his name to shirk.

"Because at that time we thought it was poisoned by a cultist or a hostile force, so we sorted out the number of people who passed out that night. At that time, our city had already conducted a census, so I remember it very clearly."

"More than 600 people, none of them made it through that night, including my youngest son, Cole, who is only eight years old."

Some crystal tears could already be seen in the corner of Viscount Cohen's eyes. As for how he found out that it was related to the number of people, he also gave his own explanation.

"It was discovered when the third plague broke out, because the first batch of business travelers from the outside world didn't die much, and most of them were residents of the Golden River Valley. The people in the valley could not find out where the disease originated from and how it was transmitted. At that time, all doctors thought it was a mutant cholera. Although the symptoms were different, the speed was different. Comparable to it, I spent a lot of money to invite a high-ranking priest from the city-state next door to get rid of the plague in this city, until later, when I opened up trade again, that strange curse struck again."

"I asked the guards to register and separate the residences of every caravan that entered the Golden River Valley. The purpose was to worry that the outside world would spread the curse to the city again. The coming of the curse, while staying in the Golden River Valley, the curse came again."

"This time, I took away the lives of hundreds of people in the caravan station."

"The same symptoms, the same illness, all the efforts I spent before, and the guarantee I said above on the high platform, in the eyes of the corpse placed in front of the city lord's mansion the next day, and the angry people around, it was like a joke."

The wry smile on Cohen's face grew thicker. Sometimes being a lord does not mean that he can control all life and death in the territory. When he encounters something that he cannot solve, his authority will be challenged.

"Then this time, have you found the root cause?"

"No, at that time we chose to push the pot on the witch's head."

Woody nodded after hearing this. This is indeed in line with the thinking of most lords. When something cannot be explained, in order to appease people's anger, the best choice is to pick a few evil witches and convince them that Woe has been purified in the fire.

"At that time, in order to catch the witch who spread the plague, I offered a large enough reward as a reward. Because I was so angry at the time, I said that I would give a part of the money reward if I had any clues, so that there was a hunting scene in the territory at that time. The witch movement, anyone related to occultism and pharmacy has been investigated and reported to each other. In order to solve the plague as soon as possible, I also encourage other rich people in the territory to invest in funding and make the bonus pool bigger, so as to attract more people. More powerful adventurers."

When he said this, Cohen showed a look of regret on his face. Woody caught it in his eyes, but he didn't ask, but continued to talk about the previous question suddenly.

"The third plague, should it be because of the increasing rewards?"

"Yes! But less than a hundred people died that time, and I discovered the pattern. When there are more than 1 people in the Golden River Valley, the curse will be triggered."

"That's great." Woody praised.

But the only response to him was the slow shaking of the head of the middle-aged man.

"But it was also at that time that I lost my wife."

"That can't be helped, who can say something like a curse."

Woody looked at the depressed middle-aged man and expressed relief, but what responded to him was Viscount Korn's strong rebuttal, and he cried out in pain.

"No, I killed her!"

"what happened?"

Woody is a little confused.

"Because, she was accused of being a witch..."

(End of this chapter)