Our family is in decline

Geralt's hearing was correct. There were really six people hiding in the tent, and they weren't even tied up.

In the chaos just now, even if they could leave the tent just by taking a few steps, these people's psychology had already collapsed and they didn't even dare to escape. They could only tremble here.

Faced with Lance's inquiry, they naturally couldn't reveal the situation without much concealment.

But what surprised Lance was that they were not refugees. On the contrary, they were once key figures in a small town, or figures in the city of Ovendo, who could be considered powerful among ordinary people.

It's just that because they blocked the development of the Ascension Sect, they were quickly controlled and then thrown here as slaves. They had to do all the dirty work in the camp.

The oppressors have become slaves here, what is the ancestor doing?

Lance soon realized that the ancestor was definitely not doing this for any good reasons. He was doing it entirely to psychologically win over the new ordinary people.

The oppressors who were once aloof could only become slaves, while these former oppressed people could trample them under their feet as long as they joined.

This is something they never dare to think about. To a certain extent, it can be regarded as a rise in status. No wonder they are so enthusiastic about capturing believers.

This guy, Ancestor, really has a way of playing with people's hearts...

As slaves, they had seen those cultists cannibalizing people in the camp and heard the violent screams. A series of tortures had already tamed them.

This is why they just heard the noise outside but didn't dare to take the opportunity to escape, or even take a sneak peek.

At the same time, they also explained that they would react this way when they saw Lance just now.

But it wasn't all their nonsense that Lance cared about.

"I'm not interested in your origins. I want to know what happened in this camp."

"I don't know, I really don't know. Help us leave quickly."

These people were still in a state of panic. They wanted to leave this ghost place more than answering Lance's question.

"If you don't tell me, how will I save you?" Lance seemed very calm, "I don't know when those cultists will come back."

This sentence immediately convinced them. Lance knew everything he asked, and was afraid that if he answered late, those people would be imprisoned again when they came back.

"When was this camp established? Why was it established? Personnel changes, material changes..."

It is not known exactly when it was established, but the specific time when they came to become slaves is not clear, but the longest time among them is said to be no less than a year, and he is the only one from the same batch who died.

They were in contact with places like the kitchen on weekdays, and they knew that the number of believers in the previous camp was not stable. Usually, these people were constantly consumed, but they would be replenished, and they were basically maintained at forty or fifty people.

Until some time ago, the frequency of personnel replenishment greatly increased than those who left. At the most, there were even close to two hundred people. But today, most of them were withdrawn directly, leaving some behind.

"What are the new believers like? Do you think of ordinary people or refugees?"

"How could those adults be refugees? They are all very strong."

Lance's eyes changed slightly when he heard these people calling the cultists "sir", but he didn't say it and continued to ask.

It was quickly determined from their descriptions that these were not newcomers, but guys who had undergone certain training.

"Did this camp have the habit of patrolling and sentrying before?"

"Yes, there are always patrols and sentries. Some people tried to escape, but were caught..." The man didn't tell the whole story, but he knew that there was a high probability that he would be eaten by them without even thinking about it.

When he said this, Lance couldn't help but glance at Geralt, which meant that the patrol here was not a follow-up situation caused by his annihilation of the camp, but had always been there.

If you are not defending yourself, then what are you defending against?

This is not a place to train new believers. On the contrary, trained personnel are transferred from other places, and losses often occur, which means that these cultists are fighting against some enemy.

And choosing such a weird place, and at the same time arranging manpower to guard against something, means that there is definitely something wrong here.

"Where have all the disappeared believers gone?"

"I don't know, but when they leave they always come from behind the camp, and when they come back they sometimes bring prey with them."

"Prey!" The word immediately made Lance react. "What prey?"

Several slaves did not answer immediately, but made eye contact with each other. The last one said: "I don't know, it's just a big piece of meat that can't be distinguished."

"Huh~" Lance took a long breath, but a confident smile appeared on his face. He finally knew what the real danger in Amanda's prediction was.

The situation once again returned to the familiar plot, and it was finally not something beyond his understanding. He had been a little nervous recently due to these things.

Lance understood, but Geralt and the others hadn't reacted to those strange conversations yet, so how could it be over? What's going on?

But Lance had no intention of explaining, and waved his hand towards Boudicca, "Let's move on. I seem to have discovered the purpose of the Ascension Sect's doing this."

After saying that, he turned his eyes to the place behind the camp, shrouded in darkness.

The slaves also felt something was wrong at this time and started crying.

"No, you have to protect us."

"That's right, we can't get out of here at all."

"Hurry up, or those people will come back later."

"What are you afraid of? There are no cultists here. You can go back to the city by following this direction."

Lance scolded unhappily, but he didn't satisfy those people. Instead, he kept urging.

"You all saved us, how could you leave us here!"

"Yes, there will be monsters here, and they will kill me."

"..."

Lance wanted to laugh for a moment when he heard that these guys wanted to kidnap him morally.

He was respectful to the cultists and did not dare to resist in the slightest, but when faced with Lance and others who saved him, he had many demands.

Isn't such an attitude ridiculous?

Seeing them like this, Lance waved his hand, his eyes looking a little gloomy.

"Boudica, then send them away."

Upon hearing this, Boudicca picked up his halberd without warning and struck at those people, cutting their heads open.

And this is not over yet, the halberd has been drawn out and slashed at the other one. The remaining five people suddenly screamed, but how could they escape Boudicca's attack? Two of the remaining four people were paralyzed, and two were paralyzed. The person turned around and ran away.

Wang Cai, who was beside Lance, rushed out and pounced on one person. Before the other person had time to rejoice that he was not chosen, a tearing sound suddenly came from the air. Before he could turn around, a halberd shot directly from behind. His heart was inserted, and his whole body fell to the ground.

Boudica hadn't picked up the action of throwing the halberd. It occurred to her that she had thrown the halberd just now, which meant that the remaining two were also eliminated.

Should good people be held at gunpoint?

Fortunately, he is not a good person.

Lance helped them collect the bodies casually, but the other two didn't think so.

This sudden scene did not even allow Geralt to react. He instinctively drew his sword and took a few steps back to distance himself.

But just when Junia was about to speak, she finished the killing before she could say anything, and for a moment she was a little confused and froze on the spot.

"These people are not the new batch of refugees." Lance didn't care about their accusations, but asked, "They help the cultists kill and dismember the bodies and then eat people. Do you think these people can return to normal life?" Life?"

This sentence immediately stunned Junia, and Geralt's sword-holding hand hesitated a little.

"No, although they were bullied by the cultists, these things have been deeply engraved in their brains.

Once they return to human gatherings, they will look down on normal people. They will continue to pursue flesh and blood and want to ascend. They will become cultists lurking among us. "

"That is to say, the moment they eat human flesh, there is no turning back."

First of all, it must be clear that he attacked this camp to save people, and the purpose of saving people was to find clues.

Once the clues are obtained, these people will be of no use. His values ​​have always been simple. No matter what the reason is, when they choose to succumb to the Ascension Sect and point the butcher knife at humans, it is impossible to let these guys who serve the cultists leave alive. here.

Geralt and Junia fell silent again. What they experienced today made their brain processing a little stuck.

"That's right, these people can't be put back." Junia admitted Lance's handling method. Cannibalism is unacceptable to most people at any time. As a cleric of the church, she hates this kind of guy even more. .

"The lords who have been fighting these cults for so long must know better than us. Do we want to search this camp now?" Geralt said to smooth things over and divert the topic.

He definitely doesn't want to conflict with Lance, after all, the money hasn't been received yet.

"No need to search. I'm afraid the really important things have been taken away long ago. What's left behind can't be anything good. It will be burned down later. I'll go to the place they mentioned. You two are coming with me." Or stay here and wait? You can go back first."

Since the ancestor has prepared a trap waiting for him, it means that it is not of great value.

But Lance's decision made Geralt wary.

Having been in the world for many years, his first reaction was that the lord might be looking for an opportunity to kill him and default on his debt, right?

There was no way, although the cultists were hateful, Lance's behavior was even more strange, as if he was hiding a lot of things, which put him in a very passive state, unable to figure out what this person was thinking.

Rather than following them deeper, it is better to check the camp to see if there is any loot, and go back early if you can't wait.

You can't refuse in front of Hamlet, right?

"I……"

But just when he wanted to express his position, Junia spoke out first.

"I'll go with you to see what these cultists are doing."

This made Geralt a little confused. Logically speaking, shouldn't you be with me?

If you two can at least take care of each other if you stay, you can follow...

The consciousness of entering the world was so poor that Geralt was in a dilemma for a while.

Compared to Lance, he must have more faith in Junia, a person who has fought side by side along the way.

But that's why he couldn't just watch Junia fall into danger.

Are you escaping or are you?

"Let me come too. Separation in a place like this is not a good choice." Geralt still chose to follow and take care of him.

Lance didn't know what he was thinking, but he also noticed something strange, but he didn't care. He just raised the torch and lit the tents while walking.

The flames spread quickly, greedily absorbing everything around them. When they walked out, all they could see when they looked back was the sky-high flames engulfing the entire camp.

Finally, Lance found a remaining building with ancient traces behind the camp.

A tall, arched circular entrance made of bricks and stones, most of which is buried in the soil and only a small part of it leaks out of the ground.

Above it is a thick black iron fence with cast iron bars as thick as a forearm that penetrate directly into the surrounding walls to seal off the hole.

It seemed to be shrouded in the deepest darkness. I passed the torch along the gap, but the firelight could not dispel the darkness. No one knew how deep it was.

"What is this place?" Junia was ready to fight, but found that it was just this place.

"There was a strong stench, like rotting corpses and feces..."

Geralt twitched his nose, as if trying to analyze something from the wind blowing from the passage, while Lance revealed the answer directly.

"This used to be part of the city's sewer system, but when that huge city was destroyed, the traces left by humans disappeared, and I don't know what is occupying it now."

Lance looked at the long-dried traces under his feet. Perhaps hundreds of thousands of people's sewage once flowed here, but now only weeds remain.

"City?" Geralt looked to the north and seemed to have realized what was happening. "Is it the Hamlet that has been destroyed long ago?"

In the northeastern part of the empire, there are only a few places that can be called cities, but it is obvious that this place is completely separated from those prosperous areas, and with the word "destroy", naturally there is only one place.

In fact, just like Tamara and Amanda, they didn't know about the Hamlet that once appeared in the northern part of the empire, but they really didn't associate it with him.

Because the location did not match, the current Hamlet was moved a long way south on the original site, and buildings and the like were added.

Also, the meaning of Hamlet is "home". This name is too common because ordinary people only know a few words, so it is used very frequently.

"You guessed it right, I am Hamlet's last lord, Earl of Lance." Lance looked very deep for a moment, raised his hand and pressed it on the cold wall of the passage, and slowly explained...