Embers of Embers

Chapter 45
Carrying the pitch-black box on his back, Lorenzo slowly returned home after sunset. The fog rose on the road, and the colorful light filtered through the fine water droplets. The reflected light was so psychedelic that it made people lose their mind.
After briefly saying hello to Mrs. Verde, Lorenzo returned to his room and locked the door.
Lorenzo took out the only information he got in the underground palace that night, a bill. One of the main reasons why Lorenzo saved Eve at that time was this bill. At that time, it left the underground palace with Eve and the boat, so It is well preserved and the writing is clearly visible.
Human memory is unreliable. No matter how hard you try to remember, you may forget it in the end, and you will not even realize that it happened.
So no matter what organization it is, it needs a bill, a bill with detailed records of expenses, even if it is Saab's gang.
My fingers slid over the account and I looked back and forth. The things written on it were very messy. It seemed that the person in charge of the account was not very professional. The respective expenses were written in a mess and there was no order. Some transactions may be more important and were used in strange ways. symbol instead.
Lorenzo looked for a long time but couldn't find any clues. After thinking for a while, he calmly took out a cigarette with mandrake in it. He thought that the weird spiritual vision might be able to help him, but Lorenzo was also hesitant. , his connection with darkness has undoubtedly deepened a lot, and now he doesn't know what will happen if he takes this herb again.
But... who cares?Just a cigarette when in doubt.
Thinking of Lorenzo, he lit a fire and opened the box he brought back from the cemetery. There were more things in it than expected. In addition to sword blades, there were also many bottles and jars.
Picking up the reassuring blade, it felt like holding cold frost. He inhaled hard, sucked the medium's herbs into his lungs, stared at the bill, and then the whole world fell into darkness.
The familiar sound of the tide sounded again, the moist wind carried the smell of the ocean, and the angry waves crashed against the shore and shattered into white pieces on the rocks.
Lorenzo lowered his head with a rare solemn expression.
Underfoot is soft earth, on which the yellow grass dies.
This was such a clear and real environment that if Lorenzo hadn't been conscious, he would have even thought that he had arrived in this unknown place in person.
The advantage is that he can see more clues through spiritual vision, but the disadvantage is that his connection with the darkness is deeper.
A dark green light shines from not far in front of him, like a burning green sun, or some kind of huge pupils staring at the world.
Looking up, it was the lighthouse that Lorenzo kept seeing. He was right in front of him at the moment. The moist entity was covered with moss and vines, and the top of the tower was emitting an ominous light. If nothing else, the mysterious lighthouse at this moment The sacred coffin should be stored in it.
This is where it all comes from.
Lorenzo calmed down after a brief surprise. He needed more clues. Inverg was everywhere on the coast. There were at least hundreds of such lighthouses. He had to find the characteristics that could distinguish them.
But just as he was looking around, there was a hoarse voice, and a dark shadow enveloped him. The weird back was facing the green light, and warm breath like a giant bear gushes out of the bloody mouth.
Lorenzo was not afraid. He had had many visions. Although the things he saw contained a part of reality, most of them were still illusions, just the effects of herbs and the unknown power.
So it can be said that everything in front of him is illusion, and only the clue is real. But just when he thought this, the shadow in front of him launched an attack, just like a test, driving away the flies in the air at will, and simply waved Down, smashing to Lorenzo.
Instinct warned Lorenzo, and without thinking, Lorenzo raised the blade in his hand and chopped off the illusory shadow, and the warm blood sprinkled on Lorenzo's face.
The feeling was so real that every fiber of Lorenzo's hair could feel the blood brushing against his cheek, and every nerve was surging with electricity.
this is true?
The shadow roared and hit the sword blade with great force. The sharp claws left a bloody mark on Lorenzo's arm. There was no time for Lorenzo to judge whether it was true or false. He immediately swung the sword blade again, but the illusory However, under his sword's strike, his shadow dissipated like ink, the entire dark world collapsed, and the familiar room reappeared in front of his eyes.
He still kept swinging the sword, but there was nothing in front of him.
Before I knew it, the tobacco had burned out and the vision was over.
Lorenzo slumped down on the chair in a cold sweat and slowly placed the sword blade on the table. After a long pause, pain came from his arm.
It was a shallow wound. He wiped his face accidentally, but there was scarlet blood on his palm.
Everything the vision saw was real, and just at that moment Lorenzo fought the monster in the vision.
This didn't happen by chance, it had never happened before.
Taking a deep breath, a terrible suspicion arose in Lorenzo's mind.
His connection with the darkness deepened, so deep that Lorenzo could briefly and truly stay in that world in his spiritual vision.
This is not good news. As he and Eve said, you live in a world with dark creatures, but the two cannot observe each other, and now Lorenzo can see them, and they Lorenzo can also be seen.
"What the hell..."
Lorenzo cursed casually, and after thinking about it, he put the sword blade beside him, trying to increase his sense of security.
It was the standard weapon of the Demon Hunting Order. It was made of alloy and plated with holy silver on the outside. It was a deadly weapon against demons. Because it looked like a long nail, it was nicknamed a nail sword.
In the beginning, Lorenzo used the cane sword to a large extent because its appearance was very similar to this weapon. Except for the weight and the lethality against demons, everything else was similar.
"Lorenzo! What are you doing!"
Mrs. Verrode's sharp voice sounded downstairs. Only then did Lorenzo realize that his excited sword had knocked over the bookcase. The sound attracted Mrs. Verrode's attention.
"I fell down, it's okay!"
Lorenzo answered loudly.Mrs. Vanlude is already so old, so it’s better not to have anything to do with monsters.
After lifting up the bookcase and looking at the books scattered on the floor, Lorenzo was not in the mood to clean them up. He sat back down and suddenly glanced at the bill. The thick page turned to a new page, bright red. His blood was stained on it.
Lorenzo seemed to have discovered something. He saw that the blood stained one of the transactions red.
That was an address. Lorenzo dug out his map, but he couldn't find the address in the transaction after searching for a long time.
Stunned for a moment, Lorenzo remembered that with Yin Erweg's astonishing expansion rate, the city-states in the territory were changing every day, and his map was not timely enough.
Seemingly thinking of something, Lorenzo took the bill and strode out of his room and came downstairs. Mrs. Verde was sitting on the sofa reading the newspaper. Seeing Lorenzo in such a panic, she took off her thick Thick reading glasses.
"Are you stupid because of your fall?"
"No, I'm looking for something."
Lorenzo replied, and then stood in the center of the living room. It was a huge map. Mountains and cities were depicted in ink on the yellowed kraft paper, and all the information of the entire Inlwig territory was drawn in detail. Even Some secret things will be marked on them with symbols instead.
It was a military map from the Glorious War. It records things in more detail than Lorenzo's map. As for timeliness, you can even find on it the backup resources that the Yingerweg army buried underground at that time. Even that Cities that no longer exist are recorded.
This thing was supposed to be sealed in the military warehouse, but when Mrs. Van Rude retired, I don’t know how she did it. She actually smuggled a large map out and hung it in the living room. superior.
She said that this thing was more commemorative of her military career than the Medal of Honor. Sometimes when she and she were sitting in the living room, Mrs. Verde would always point to the land on the map and say to Lorenzo arrogantly, "Look. Are you there? From here to here on the map, I took down everything."
"What are you looking for?"
"An address."
Lorenzo's eyes searched back and forth along the sea coast of the map.
It was a transportation transaction. Sabo was transporting a large amount of food to a small town called Ende. There were countless small towns in Inverg, but Lorenzo saw the lighthouse in his spiritual vision and narrowed it down to He arrived in a coastal town, but despite this, he still couldn't find it.
"No……"
After looking for a long time, Lorenzo couldn't find the town on the map, but at this moment Mrs. Van Lund came over.
"Ende?"
Wearing those thick reading glasses, Mrs. Vanlude squinted her eyes slightly.
"Are you looking for this town?"
"Yes, a coastal town, but it's not on the map..."
"Coastal? Of course not."
Mrs. Van Rude heard the word "coast" and immediately gave the answer.
"No? Why?"
Lorenzo turned his head, he was a little confused as to why Mrs. Verde said that.
"Because of the Glorious War, there is a White Tide Strait between us and Gaul Naluo. During the century-long war, the fleets of both sides fought countless times. The coastal towns have long been transformed into military bases or relocated. It was not until the end of the Glorious War more than ten years ago that the population gradually returned to the coastal areas."
Mrs. Verde is someone who has experienced war, and she knows more about this than Lorenzo.
She said as her dry fingers slid across the map.
"Military maps must be read in conjunction with the symbol book. We usually use symbols and numbers to represent a location. In this way, even if the map falls into the hands of the enemy, they will not be able to understand it without the symbol book. Look at those triangular symbols, they represent the towns that were once The place."
There is no city name, just rows of triangular symbols with numbers suffixed along the coast.
Looking at Mrs. Verde, Lorenzo thought for a moment and said tentatively.
"Madam, which town do you think needs to rely on outside supply for food?"
"You mean the supply lines?"
"Probably so..."
According to that transaction record, Saab invested a large amount of money to transport food to this mysterious town of Ende, mobilizing it directly from the port of Rendona and going to the unknown town of Ende.
"Hmm...probably here."
Mrs. Van Lud pointed to the extreme edge of the map, which is the west side of Inlwig Island. The west side of Inlwig Island has not yet been developed, and there are not even many railways.
"Because of the war, Yin Erweg has very tight control over the places where he interacts with neighboring countries, except for the north and the west. Our north is the northern sea. If the enemy wants to attack, he has to go a long way around and endure the ice sea. The ice floes and those Vikings, while to the west is the endless ocean, and our main cities are concentrated in the center, where they can only eat hay when they land."
"So there is only this location. It is far away from the main city, there is no port, and even fishing boats will not pass by. Food cannot be self-sufficient and needs external supply."
"Then why not the north?"
Lorenzo was still a little unsure.
Mrs. Verde rolled her eyes at Lorenzo, and then said.
"I am really a child living in the new era. I have never experienced hardship. The north of Inverg is covered with ice and snow all year round. Before the emergence of new steam engines, the frozen soil there could not be developed at all, let alone the establishment of towns. But in recent years, With the expansion of the Port of Rendona in [-], the north has no development value.”
Listening to Mrs. Verrode's words, Lorenzo nodded and focused his eyes on the west of Inverg, where the triangle symbols were not dense. Just as Mrs. Verrode said, Inverg did not care about the west. Not much is developed, and the symbols become sparser and thinner toward the west until they disappear.
Suddenly a symbol jumped into Lorenzo's eyes. It was a symbol that appeared outside the land, a small town built in the sea.
"Ma'am, do you know what is here?"
There is clearly a triangular symbol representing a small town, but it is on the sea. This is a military map, and Lorenzo does not think this is caused by some trial and error.
"Hmm... It's probably a small town that was swallowed up by the sea. This is very common. Sometimes the water level will rise along the coast, submerging the lower land, but it will be revealed when the tide recedes, so that's why the symbol is there. Bar."
"Is that so..."
It was a very strange feeling. Lorenzo had obviously been unable to determine the location of Ende Town before, but after hearing all this from Mrs. Verude, he was certain that this was where it was.
Suddenly he remembered what the shrike had said to him at the beginning.
intuition……
The sacred coffin was luring him forward, dragging his intuition to pursue it.
"By the way, are you going to travel?" Mrs. Van Lourde looked at Lorenzo curiously. The west side can be regarded as no man's land.
"That's it."
Lorenzo answered.
"Well...then I recommend you take this line."
Mrs. Van Roode said, pointing to a dotted line running through the west, which was a railway.
"This is a military route. At first, everyone felt that the Glorious War could not be won. The superiors planned to evacuate to the west after the southern coast fell and continue to resist. But as you know, we drove the enemy out of Old Dunling and won the battle. After the war, the construction of the railway also stopped.
But in recent years, someone has developed a tourism project in the west to restart this route. I think you should use it. "
After Mrs. Vanlude finished speaking, she sat back on the sofa and continued to read the newspaper. After thinking about it, she said again.
"Lorenzo, there are a lot of weapons in the basement. If they are not damp, you can use them. They are all military supplies, and the quality is definitely better than those sold by profiteers in the lower city."
Lorenzo was just about to go up the stairs when he staggered when he heard these words.
"What are you talking about?"
"Huh? Do you think I will believe your lies?"
Mrs. Van Rude raised her head and looked at Lorenzo, her cloudy eyes seemed to penetrate people's hearts.
"Travel? You know how to travel? Who would believe it! The person who introduced you to live here was Shrike! Instead of traveling, you are going to kill people!"
Lorenzo always thought that he was hiding well in front of Mrs. Verde, but who would have thought that this shrewd old lady would have seen through it long ago.
"No...compared to this...military supplies?"
Lorenzo is a bit confused, which means he lived on top of an arsenal for six years and didn't even know it.
The situation was a little awkward, and Mrs. Vanlude was cursing.
"What's wrong? The medals I've received can be hung all over the wall, but my pension is only a small amount every month. What's wrong with me selling a few boxes of arms?"
This old lady is no longer as simple as hell... I have seen someone who smacks the country's wool, but Lorenzo has never seen someone who is so confident.
"I thought I could make a lot of money, but it turned out that it was military supplies. None of the normally aggressive bull ghosts and snake gods in Xiacheng District dared to take over, so I just left it now."
After rolling her eyes, Mrs. Van Rude finally said.
"By the way, Lorenzo, we agreed in advance that if you die outside, I will sell the things in that room to pay the rent."
Lorenzo's face darkened, this damn old lady...
(End of this chapter)