The Sun King's Evidence

Old World, Empire, Prince Rick Territory, an ordinary village in the west of Rick Territory.

In the middle of winter in January, the ground is still covered with ice. During this season, villagers hide in warm rooms, enjoying the fire and the afterglow of the Winter Curtain Festival. Every household closes the door tightly, and travelers can only see the rising sky. Smoke.

Reikland is rich, and even in winter, there are many militia teams that spontaneously organize patrols in the villages.

Reikland and Iverland are the richest provinces in the empire. They have the largest number of yeoman farmers. Farmers only need to pay taxes to the emperor or elector. The local lords can only collect trade taxes and poll taxes. The yeoman farmers Farm your own land and sell your produce at village markets or town fairs to earn profits and build wealth.

But because of this, the yeoman farmers will not be protected by the army of the nobles. This is unlike Britannia. Whenever the serfs are threatened, they only need to ask the knights for help. The knights will usually be dispatched unless there are special circumstances. This The rules have not changed much for thousands of years since the founding of the country.

The empire is different, especially in the wealthy Reikland. The nobles pay less attention to the life and death of the yeoman farmers. Some nobles even hope that all the yeoman farmers will die so that they can invade the land of the yeoman farmers.

In this case, the yeoman farmers must arm themselves to protect themselves, or... hire an army to protect themselves.

In the wind and snow, a witcher riding a skinny horse approached.

There was some unnatural paleness on his face, and he carried two swords on his back, a two-handed steel sword and a thin silver sword, and a short-handed blunderbuss hung on his waist. He wore a set of brown scale armor, with his hair Wearing a tall pointed hat.

The demon hunter was obviously quite heavy, and at least his skinny horse was a little unsteady. In the wind and snow, the demon hunter rode his skinny horse to this ordinary village.

He looked a little anxious. After arriving at the entrance of the village, the demon hunter immediately dismounted and splashed snow on the ground.

"It's the witcher!"

"The witcher is coming."

"Maybe that job can be left to him."

The villagers whispered and discussed the arrival of a witcher.

The Empire is more familiar with witchers than Britannia. The villagers hate witchers who often abuse their power and look for traces of depravity and corruption. They also hope that witchers can help them solve various problems and hidden worries. This makes the villagers have complicated feelings about the witchers. They will look good on them when they need them, but they will want them to get out when they are not needed.

The witcher has been traveling all year round, and he has never been less likely to receive all kinds of looks and discrimination. This has become a common occurrence for him. He didn't think much about it and just walked quickly towards the notice board in the village.

There are several notices posted on the notice board, namely that someone in the town is buying piglets.

Emperor Karl-Franz is recruiting a transport convoy.

Helmgart is in urgent need of a group of gutter cleaners, and the price is favorable.

The witcher looked anxiously for a while, and finally saw a reward notice underneath.

"There are traces of beastmen fifteen kilometers away in Rickward Forest. It is very likely that a beastman tribe is active. The village needs manpower to detect the activities of the beastman tribe. If the beastmen and beast kings can be brought back, For the first level, the reward will be an additional thirty gold marks.”

"The reward is fifteen gold marks."

The witcher let out a sigh of relief and tore down the notice as many villagers watched.

He found the village chief. The village chief was a middle-aged man with gray hair, standing at the door of the largest house in the village. He was wearing thick woolen clothes and a soft hat, with many strips of cloth hanging from his body.

"Did you issue this notice?" The demon hunter came to the village chief and handed over the notice offering a reward.

"Yes, this is announced by the village. Do you want to do it?" The village chief shrugged. His attitude towards the demon hunter was not very good, and he just barely maintained a communication situation: "If you want to do it, I can send someone to you. Point the way, and if you don’t, please put the notice back on the bulletin board.”

"I will do it." The demon hunter said quickly: "Since I took the notice, I have to accept this commission."

"But you still want to bargain?" The village chief shook his head: "Everyone says that demon hunters are greedy and are devils who eat people without spitting out their bones. Tell me, devil. What terms do you want to negotiate?"

"Fifteen gold marks is too little. Normally, this kind of task requires at least twenty gold marks." The scars on the demon hunter's face looked very fierce, but his tone was relatively quiet. He tried to bargain with the village chief. .

"That was the price before, and this is the price now." The village chief's face was relatively calm, and he said to the demon hunter: "Fifteen gold marks is a lot, and it will be enough for you to spend three months."

"Can I have more?" The demon hunter tried to bargain: "In winter, weapons become cold and muskets are not easy to use. I need to take a lot of risks when entering the forest. This is also for the safety of the village. I need more Some money to be fully prepared and maintain the equipment.”

The village chief looked at the demon hunter. He first focused on the demon hunter, then looked at his equipment and scars on his body, and then nodded: "Okay, considering that you also have to risk your life. If you enter the forest to deal with the beastmen, the village can give you three more gold marks, but you must leave before sunset tomorrow."

"Deal...and more." The demon hunter nodded in agreement. He seemed hesitant to speak.

"Is there anything else?" The village chief had already turned around, so he had to turn back: "What else do you want?"

"I haven't eaten since noon yesterday..." The demon hunter was a little embarrassed. He was very hungry. He had spent all his money and only had a few pieces of black bread left. He wanted to buy it on credit first.

"What's your name?" the village chief suddenly asked.

"My name is Abel, from Helmgart." The demon hunter said.

"Mr. Abel... how can you complete the task if you don't have enough to eat? In this case, I will ask the hotel in the village to get you some food first, and the cost will be deducted from your commission."

"Okay!" Abel was very grateful for the village chief's reasonableness. He nodded gratefully: "Thank you very much."

"No need to thank you. Just don't arrest me as a heretic and a Chaos believer." The village chief turned around again and wanted to go back to the house.

At this time, there was a heavy sound of horse hooves at the entrance of the village, and the village chief had to turn around again. He felt a little dizzy.

The experienced demon hunter Abel immediately realized that a big noble must have appeared.

At the entrance of the village, a group of noble knights riding tall horses were entering the village. The leading noble rode a pure-blooded elf war horse, wore a silk dress and a white fox fur coat of a noble Britannia, and held a thunderbolt. The surging war hammer, the Holy Grail Knight badge hangs on the chest.

Next to him were two richly decorated Reik Guards knights wearing silver full-body plate armor.

The iron cross, the skull, and the laurel wreath, these three patterns composed of the knight's emblem are enough to allow the guards anywhere in the empire to immediately pass.

Sure enough, the village chief, who had been so indifferent just now, immediately changed his face. He grinned widely, with a strong look of flattery and admiration on his face. He trotted all the way with a wooden cane and knelt on the snow. Medium: "Very, very, very welcome! Emperor's guards! Welcome to the Evil Smile Village."

"Hello, village chief, we were ordered by the emperor to escort the distinguished guests to Helmgart. We will stay here today and clean up your two best houses." A Rick guard said arrogantly, He took out two golden marks with Karl Franz's face on them from his arms, threw them directly in front of the village chief, and motioned to the village chief to get up: "Hurry up."

"Yes!" the village chief responded loudly. With excitement and uncontrollable excitement, he took the gold coin, rolled and crawled all the way through the snow, and shouted at the top of his lungs: "The Rick Guards are here! The Rick Guards came to our Bad Smile Village with the emperor's mission!"

"Wow~" The whole small village was like celebrating Midsummer Festival. All the villagers came out in full force. More than 300 villagers rushed to watch the two Rick Guards. They cheered and said hello to the group. Many villagers He even knelt down and tried to offer some exquisite handicrafts.

The two Rick Guards just smiled and waved hello. They conveyed the emperor's will, condoled the villagers' production, and also asked the villagers whether the nobles had collected taxes indiscriminately.

The status of the Reik Guards in the empire is similar to that of the Holy Grail Knights. They are not only one of the core forces of the empire, but also have the power to monitor various places and directly deliver news to the ears of the emperor. Since their establishment, they have followed the emperor and The endless battle against evil has earned them the respect and love of the common people.

"At least on the surface, the people here are living a pretty good life." The Rick guard said to Ryan, who was walking next to him.

After the Winter Veil Festival, the thirty-one-year-old Ryan became more and more calm after his marriage. He lost a little of the impulsiveness and sharpness of a young man, and had more of a sense of sedimentation that truly belonged to a great aristocrat.

"I'm surprised that you actually gave money to the villagers." Ryan raised his lips when he heard this: "When I was in Nord, the knights of the kingdom were lucky to live in farmers' houses."

"Ludwig, the savior, taught us that everyone is entitled to be paid for his or her own labor, at least in the Reikland and Aviland in the southern part of the empire." The Reikguard who spoke was actually a new recruit. His name was Rudolf Lichtenstein, and he was the eldest son of Duke Lichtenstein's family. He was sent to serve in the Reich Guard.

"Yes, or in other words, this is only true in the southern part of the empire." Another Rick guard said: "In fact, there is still a popular proverb in the northern part of the empire, 'Where you are born, you have to get used to who you are.' If you are born a farmer, you will be a farmer all your life; if you are born a noble, you will be a noble all your life."

This recruit of the Reik Guards is called Wagner-Schmidt. These two recruits were sent by Emperor Karl to escort Ryan until Helmgart reached the national border of Axbite Pass. Although they were two knight recruits, Rudolf brought There are eleven knights' retinues, and Wagner also brings five knights' retinues, plus Sulia, Veronica, Theresa and Sulia's servants, it can be said to be a mighty group of cavalry.

"I always thought that only Britannia had such a strict distinction between serfs and knights." Teresa, the cold sorceress who was riding on a mixed elf warhorse, asked curiously.

"The situation is different in different places, Ms. Trovik." Rudolf was not so enthusiastic when facing Teresa. The legitimate son of the Duke's family had a distinguished status: "Many nobles do not like this rule because it hinders They always block their way of making money, both covertly and covertly, and always resist the teachings of His Majesty Ludwig, but we must be grateful to the Savior. Without him, you would not be able to walk on the streets so openly."

The imperial nobles still have prejudice against wizards. The nobles need the power of wizards and are afraid of the power of wizards. Neither Theresa nor Veronica are certified wizards by the Empire's Royal Academy of Wizards.

That's why wizards all aspire to become the royal chief wizard, because it is a symbol of status and status, it represents the emperor's trust, and it can also gain the respect that wizards long for.

The graceful Sulia spoke, and the countess smiled movingly: "He is a great emperor. Without him, the old world would have been destroyed in the invasion of chaos."

"I'm glad we have reached an agreement, Mrs. Surya." Rudolf smiled understandingly, and out of the corner of his eye he noticed the demon hunter Abel standing in front of the village house: "Oh my God, the minions of Chaos have already Has it spread here? I actually saw a demon hunter!"

"Oh! It's Abel! Long time no see!" Ryan's eyes were sharpest. When he saw the figure of the demon hunter, he smiled. The count turned over and dismounted and came to Abel's body and patted Abel's shoulder. : "Mr. Abel, long time no see."

"Long time no see, Your Excellency, nice to meet you, Earl." The demon hunter said hello very bachelorly. He squeezed out a polite smile and shook hands with Ryan.

"What are the witchers doing in this village?" Reik's guard Rudolf said in a loud voice: "Did you discover a heresy, or did you accept a commission?"

"I accepted the commission." Abel knew that the other party had a distinguished status, and he was not the kind of demon hunter under the jurisdiction of the church. Archbishop Vicmar of the Church of Justice was in charge of many demon hunters, and these demon hunters had the right to Supervise the imperial nobles, but Abel does not. He joins the Demon Hunter Guild, a loose guild.

"Very well, I wish you a pleasant mission." Wagner didn't want to say more to the demon hunter.

Nobles don't like witchers either.

"What commission?" Ryan became interested instead.

"About..." Abel was about to say something about the commission, but Ryan noticed the paleness of his face and the growling sound of his stomach. The legendary strongman was obviously still hungry. It seemed that his Life was really not easy. Ryan laughed when he heard this and said, "This is not the place to chat. Let's talk about it under a warm fire and delicious food!"

"I agree!" Rudolf raised his hand, and the recruit of Rick's Guards said loudly: "Let's go to the hotel and see what food there is!"

Twenty minutes later, in the Butterbeer Inn in Bad Smile Village, next to the warm fire, five people, Ryan, Sulia, Rudolf, Abel and Wagner, were sitting on the simple tables and chairs. The wealth of the noble knight was obviously not The witcher could compare. Ryan took out a dozen silver coins and asked the hotel owner to prepare a table of delicious dishes, including fragrant broth, a basket of barley bread, delicious stews and refreshing butter beer.

"So... traces of beastman tribe activities were found in the Rickward Forest fifteen kilometers away." Ryan touched his chin and asked Abel: "You accepted the villager's commission. ? Planning to investigate the beastmen tribe? But you are alone, this is a really dangerous task, where is your companion? The one named Zule? "

"Zule returned to the Tal's Horn Fortress for the winter... The fortress is in a hidden corner of the gray mountains beside Helmgart." Abel added: "Repairing and maintaining my equipment has already cost me my savings. It has to be clean, so just after the Winter Veil Festival, I went out to look for commissions, otherwise I will starve to death."

"Is this the Beastmen tribe?" Ryan thought for a moment, and then said: "Now that we are here, let's do a favor for Karl Franz and his Rick!"

"Abel, I'll leave this matter to you. You go into the depths of the forest to investigate the beastman tribe, and then find a way to lure them out."

"This time, let us catch all these disgusting chaotic bastards!"

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