Heart of the Castle

Chapter 491 Tragic dinner, orc secret

During the period when Levi and Sir Rodriguez led the Griffin Knights to attack, Mr. Dish was not idle. He was talking with a dozen villagers including the village chief and old man in the simple meeting hall. From these The panic-stricken villagers got a lot of news from their mouths.

Most of these news are speculative speculations, and some of them are contradictory.But Mr. Dish still judged some valuable information from it, including those rumors about the fall of Westwind County and the demon army burning, killing and looting in Xifeng County; The strange act of robbing property; how the high-ranking knight lord of Kaidar Castle led the troops to exterminate the robbers, and how he was defeated by the orc robbers. Dare to step out of the city.When Li Wei and Sir Rodriguez walked into the low and simple village council hall one after the other, he had already sorted out many of the clues and roughly outlined what happened in his mind.

Seeing that the special envoy of the kingdom had won a complete victory and brought back the head of an orc bandit leader, many villagers in the meeting hall were happy, and of course there was no lack of fear of that ugly and hideous head.However, including the village head, several elderly villagers had to think further, and the joyful expression on their faces seemed a bit forced.

The apprentice bachelor's voice sounded from one side, he bent over and stood on the other side of the firepit, his face was covered with a dignified red light by the flames, "Master Viscount, we are very grateful to you and other knight lords for their help , to seek justice for us poor people, so that the souls of those who unfortunately died can rest in peace in the Kingdom of Eternal Night. But this is not the end, the number of those orc robbers is far more than what you have cleaned up, I am afraid that they will be in your hands Come back here after leaving."

"Master Li Wei, as the special envoy of the kingdom, has an important mission, and it is impossible to stay here to solve the problem of orc robbers for you." Sir Rodriguez said to the villagers in a strong tone, "Now we need rest, hot water And food. Tomorrow morning, we will take some time to talk to the lord here, defending the territory is his duty as a lord, judging from what happened tonight, he has already neglected his duty."

"Okay, okay, come right away, come right away." The village chief bowed again and again, and then ordered a villager to go and urge the cook who was in charge of preparing the dinner. As for the place to rest, there was no place in the village except for the spacious conference hall. cannot provide decent accommodation.The wooden houses of other villagers are quite simple and narrow, and dark and damp, more like a pigsty stable than a place to live.Even the meeting hall is not comfortable, because there is no carpenter in the village who can build a big house. Although the villagers have filled the gaps between the logs with mud and gravel, there are still air leaks everywhere. As long as the firepit is turned off in the middle of the night, the whole house will be cold. It's scary.

But for the team led by Li Wei, there is only one person who needs to rest, and that is the Griffin Lord himself.Sir Rodriguez is not only a death knight, but also the heart of the castle who saved him from the abyss of eternal sleep with unimaginable alchemy; although Mr. Dish looks like a decent butler, his body uses It originally belonged to a certain lich skeleton. If there were no alchemy props to cover it up, the villagers in the meeting hall would probably be scared to scream and rush out of the door. As for the Griffin Knights and their mounts, there is no need to rest at all. Well, alchemy creatures are different from natural creatures. They only need to supply enough energy to keep fighting and moving.

As for the supply method, there are many ways, the easiest way is to follow the holder of the Castle Heart, Levi Stone, and you can get a steady stream of replenishment; the second is to take a crystal ball produced by the Castle Heart. Each fist-sized energy body is enough to supply five spearmen, or four archers, or two griffins, or an alchemy swordsman for a whole week; the worst way is to draw energy from food , because the energy of most foods loses a lot after being converted, usually alchemists don't take this method.

Because during the time when the Griffin Knight was attacking, the dinner had already started to be prepared, so the villager soon turned around, followed by a few young female villagers. He put on his best clothes, but he still looked a bit worn out, and his face was sallow with malnutrition.In fact, no matter how beautiful they looked, it was useless, because the hungry young viscount didn't even look at them, but set his eyes on the big wooden plate in the hands of the female villagers.

The big wooden plates were placed in front of Levi, Sir Rodriguez, and Mr. Dish in turn, and then a plate was also placed in front of the village elder and apprentice bachelor.After the white steam dissipated, Li Wei stared at the dinners on the plate, his eyes could not help showing doubts.

The dinner consisted of some crumbs that looked somewhere between a stone and a gnocchi, a small lump of cheese that smelled mildly musty, slices of dried meat the color of obsidian, and a bowl of hot soup with a layer of The brown foam makes it difficult to identify the ingredients of the soup. Whether it is the smell or the color, it reminds Li Wei of the special food of the little monster tribe.

"This is the best thing that can be obtained in the village, Lord Viscount." The old village chief explained in a low voice, while sniffing the heat from the brown thick soup.It seemed that his saliva was about to drip. If it wasn't for Li Wei and the others not intending to eat, he would definitely be eager to scoop up a spoonful of hot soup and drink it down.

"Master Viscount, please forgive me. The fields outside the village have not been plowed for more than half a year, and the orc robbers plundered several times. It is very rare to be able to leave these." The performance of the apprentice bachelor was better than that of the village chief. , but when talking, his eyes are always glancing back and forth at the food in front of him. "Your status is noble, and you may not have eaten such things. Although these things look terrible, I can use the knowledge I have learned in the Star Academy to guarantee that the food has definitely not deteriorated, and there will be no harm in eating it. .”

There was a wry smile on Li Wei's face, and he didn't bother to defend himself.His background is definitely not as unattainable as those villagers imagined. In fact, he was born in a self-cultivating peasant family with ordinary background. A large field of the lord.Li Wei could have inherited the family business, married a wife and had children, and then died in obscurity as a farmer.However, when he was five years old, a catastrophe struck and the village was destroyed by the flames of war. Knight Ston who came to the rescue was one step late, and only found Li, who was hidden under his mother's body, between the burning house and the dying villagers. dimension.

Because he was unwilling to recall, the scene at that time had become very blurred in Li Wei's mind. He only remembered the two iron gloves stretched out like the salvation of the Father God in the dark abyss, and then the powerful arms of the knight.Since that moment, becoming a person like Ston Knight has become the most desired goal in Li Wei's heart.

"Master Levi, there is still some food in the saddlebag. I'll get it and heat it up to eat." Sir Rodriguez's voice woke Levi from his memory, "Okay." The young man The Griffon Lord nodded, and then added, "Take some more and distribute them to the villagers here."

Whatever shriveled the saddlebags on the back of the Griffin Rider's mount were, when Sir Rodriguez returned, the ones he held in his hand were stuffed with all kinds of food to the point of bursting.The villagers accepted the food in these saddlebags with trepidation, as if they had received a gift from heaven.Those big wooden plates were quickly removed. Although the food on it was not good, it would never be wasted.The quality and quantity of the food presented again has been decisively improved.

These dinners consisted of squeaky bacon smelling strongly of lard, fire-baked brown bread smelling of oatmeal and nuts, soft pale-yellow cheese and golden-brown cake, and dehydrated turnips. A mutton soup made from scallions, tomatoes, potatoes and dried minced meat.For a moment, only the sound of swallowing saliva could be heard in the meeting hall, and the villagers looked at the food in front of them and were almost moved to the point of crying.

Li Wei signaled the start of dinner, and the contented chewing sound lasted for a quarter of an hour before gradually stopping.All the food was swept away, and even the emaciated trainee bachelor desperately ate more than twice as much food as Li Wei, throwing the knowledge that it is not appropriate to overeat after being hungry to the back of his head.If Mr. Dish hadn't stopped him in time, some villagers might need treatment tonight due to overeating.

After dinner, all the villagers, including the village chief and the apprentice bachelor, left the chamber at Li Wei's request, leaving it to the honorable and generous Kingdom envoy and his entourage.

After all the idlers left, Li Wei began to describe the process of the attack.Mr. Dish listened quietly, without any expression on his calm face. Only when the narration entered the final stage, Levi showed a slight look of surprise when he mentioned the name that the orc leader yelled before he died.

"Karmos Bloody Rage?" The old magician repeated the name with some doubts in his tone, "Master Levi, are you sure you heard it right?"

Levi recalled it carefully, then glanced at Sir Rodriguez again, and after getting the latter's affirmative nod, he turned his head to Mr. Dish and said. "I'm sure it's the name."

"Then the scale of trouble this time is very large, and I'm afraid it will far exceed our previous imagination." Mr. Dish said in a stern voice. This was one of the few times in Levi's memory that the old magician showed a dignified expression. "The status of the name Kalmos among the orcs is like that of the name Arthur among the kingdoms."

"Mr. Dish, are you saying that Kalmos Bloodrage is the king of the orcs?" Levi was surprised from ear to ear, "But, I have heard that the orcs should not have established a country?"

"The term king is indeed inappropriate, but the fact that the orcs have not established their own country does not mean that they have no recognized leader." Mr. Dish's face was like a stone carving under the light of the fire, and his tone was so heavy that it made one's heart palpitate. "Master Li Wei, you may have heard of the way of life of the orcs. They form large and small tribes, live on nomads and plunder, and have always lived in no fixed place. Due to their warlike nature and harsh living conditions, so The orcs have developed a character of advocating force, and strength determines the status of all tribe members. Sir Rodriguez, I remember you said that you once traveled here in the Moon Language Plain, and you should have seen the horror of the orc tribe, right?"

Sir Rodriguez paused for a few seconds before nodding vigorously, "It must have been more than 30 years ago. I was an apprentice knight squire at the time, and I went to the Moonwhispering Plain with some adventurer companions. The leader is Martin Diers Blue Knight, Master Levi, you should remember him, right?"

"Of course." Li Wei replied, "Master Martin passed on the seeds of battle qi to me, and I will never forget his words in my life."

"However, the seeds of vindictiveness he hastily passed on to you have now become your shackles." Sir Rodriguez smiled wryly, "I'm afraid this is something that no one would have thought of, Master Levi, your progress will be so great! quick."

Li Wei scratched his hair, with an embarrassed expression on his face, "Sir Rodriguez... No, Lord Ston, I don't regret this at all. If I can really comprehend the seeds of vindictiveness in advance You are a genius, when you were in the Viscount's Castle, you don't have to be with your Squib servant called the Squib Knight."

Sir Rodriguez couldn't help laughing, "That's right, Squib, if you don't use the power of grudge, no one in the entire Viscount Castle is my opponent, even that genius Wilps, or that old man And the tough Herbert can't do it." He then shook his head, driving away the sadness and memories together, "Old Dish, our strength was extremely limited back then, although there were some conflicts with the orc tribe, But the strongest is to deal with a few captains of the orc raiding team called Yoku, and it is not clear whether the orcs have a leader, let alone who their leader is."

"Although I know a little about the situation of orcs, it was hundreds of years ago. I don't know how much it has changed now." Mr. Dish's words were full of vicissitudes, as if every word was covered with old sheepskin The burnt yellow color of the scroll. "The orcs have a large number of tribes, and often a small tribe is absorbed by a large tribe, or a large tribe is broken down into several small tribes, so even the orcs themselves may not be able to figure it out. However, there are only two leaders they recognize. Bounded by the Fenjiang River in the Yueyu Plain, they are in charge of the Eastern Gulun, which is closer to the human kingdom, and the more mysterious Western Gulun."

"Is the bloody rage of Kalmos one of the orc kings?" Li Wei said expectantly, "Is it possible that he inherited the position of leader from his father, but he is actually not very powerful?"

"The idea is very good, but unfortunately it is absolutely impossible." Mr. Dish shrugged and said, "The orc tribe has its own way of selecting a leader. It may be barbaric or bloody, but it must have nothing to do with blood. They can every time. Choose the mightiest Orc for chief, and when that chief is no longer strong, his life and his reign will end together under stronger arms."

"Of course the leader selected in this way is very belligerent." Li Wei felt his throat was a little dry, picked up a cup of hot water from the wooden plate, and took a big sip from his lips. "Aren't there exceptions? Like the smaller tribes?"

"As far as I know, this is also the case. Therefore, the orc tribe maintains a warlike tradition." Sir Rodriguez reminded, "Even if it is a small tribe of 300 people, the fighting power cannot be underestimated."

"A small tribe of 300 people?" Li Wei said in surprise, "Isn't that less than a village?"

Mr. Dish shook his head slowly, "Generally speaking, when calculating the size of an orc tribe, women, children, and slaves are omitted. A tribe of 300 people means that there are [-] adult orcs capable of fighting. Enough to put thousands of border guards in a tough fight."

Thinking of the battle where he led the Griffin Knights to raid the Orc bandits just now, Li Wei nodded in agreement, "The Orcs are indeed very powerful in combat. Even with the same number of elite cavalry, it is difficult to take advantage of it."

"A large tribe refers to an orc tribe with thousands of people. The leader of the tribe is called the commander-in-chief. Such a tribe leader is a strong candidate for the double king of the orc. The strength ranges from a viscount with a sword to a marquis with a sword. possible."

"If I remember correctly, Dou Qi should be a precious ability bestowed by God of War Barud to human beings. Even a half-breed can't comprehend the power of Dou Qi." Li Wei frowned and said, "Of course it is impossible for an orc to understand Dou Qi, let alone It is possible to get the inheritance of fighting spirit seeds from human knights, how could they be so strong?"

"Master Li Wei, you can't underestimate the orcs. They are all born excellent fighters. Although they don't have fighting spirit, the sturdy physique and weapon use skills of high-ranking orc warriors are definitely better than human knights of the same level." Mr. Dish warned, "Kasimos Hellscream, the orc king of Eastern Gulun, was a sword-wielding marquis. Although I don't know the strength of this orc king now, it shouldn't be too far behind."

The word Earl with a Sword was like a heavy boulder, which made Li Wei speechless for a while, and then the silence enveloped the entire meeting hall, only the crackling sound of the burning flames in the fire pit, and the cold wind outside the house was also blowing. Roaring, blowing bursts of chill directly through the bottom of people's hearts.

(End of this chapter)